Chapter 37

"Say Your Goodbyes"

Song: Say Something, A Great Big World "You're the one that I love… and I'm saying good-bye."

Kidd stood tight against the wall. It took all the strength within him to keep himself from running to her aide, but he wouldn't be of any help if they caught him, too. He listened as they drug her over to Natsu and chained her up next to him. They didn't see Naomi as a threat, so they left her clinging to Natsu.

Back in the room the guards were still focused on Kashi and didn't see the mages within the cell breaking free of their chains. When the time was right, they would strike. Until then, all eyes were on Kashi, and her guild mates were both confused and worried for their friend.

Dunbar waited until the guards had locked Kashi up before starting his interrogation. Before any words were said, he charged up a kick and jabbed Kashi in the ribs. A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips, and her green eyes teared. "What the hell was that for?" She yelled in an attempt to sound un-phased by his action. He looked down on her, and grabbing a handful of her hair he yanked, pinning her head against the wall. Her green eyes burned with fury as her eyes met his.

"I order you to turn back into a dragon."

Whispers moved through the cell containing the Fairy Tail mages. "Is she really a dragon?" "How is that even possible?" "This guy's just crazy, right?"

Kashi glanced at her friends, and saw the judgment in their eyes. If it was true, they would wonder why she lied about her true identity. And in the worst-case scenario, they would never forgive her for that lie.

Kashi sighed, and when Dunbar let go of her hair she looked down to the floor. "I'm sorry guys, I should have told you sooner…"

Gasps were heard from those in the cell, and a smirk crossed Dunbar's face. Natsu pulled himself as close to Kashi as his chains would allow. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

Dunbar grabbed the whip from his follower and lashed at Natsu. "Shut up!" Naomi squeaked at the loud sound, and tightened her grip on Natsu. Dunbar turned his attention back to Kashi. "Did you want to say something to your friends?" She shrugged her shoulders. Dunbar began to pace in front of Kashi. "Do you know how I became a follower of Achnologia?"

Kashi's pupils shrunk at the name. She didn't answer him. "After my encounter with you… I went around bragging about it to the people in my guild. Soon enough, I was approached by this dark guild. They wanted to destroy all of humanity. To do this, they needed Achnologia's help." Natsu and Kashi exchanged a glance of annoyance. "And they wanted this dragon I spoke of to lure him to our location. We wanted a favor; he destroys the world, and we give him the last dragon."

Kashi swallowed hard. "So, we spent our lives finding Achnologia, and we made a deal. But in order for it to count, you must be in your dragon form." He leaned close to Kashi's face. "So why don't WE make a deal? If you defeat Achnologia, we'll give up on our mission, and let you all live."

Kashi glared, his face inches from hers. "Nobody can defeat Achnologia, not even a dragon slayer. Besides, I'm a dragon, not a genie; I can't change forms whenever I want." Kashi opened her mouth to continue her lecture, but Dunbar interrupted her.

"Then we'll force you to change. When your human body gives out, you'll be forced to change back into a dragon!" He chuckled, and the chuckle turned into a laugh of hysteria. He raised the arm with the whip, ready to strike. Kashi braced herself for the impact, but Naomi had stood and grabbed his arm, stopping him from going through with the movement. Dunbar's laughter stopped and he grunted in annoyance. "Get this rat off me!"

Two guards grabbed Naomi and pulled her off their master. Dunbar glared at the young lady and pointed the whip at her. "For your little act, this pink haired boy of yours gets another dose of pain…" As he raised the whip back behind his head again, Naomi felt her head get fuzzy, and the room around her started to shrink as black started surrounding her vision. Kashi's heart sped up as she saw Naomi wobble, her senses dulling. "Oh no…"

Naomi was suddenly surrounded by a dark purple flame, and she screamed. "NOBODY HURTS MY FRIENDS!" The whole building seemed to shake as her powers sucked the life out of the two men who were touching her. They fell to the floor with the clang of their metal armor suits, and Naomi turned her lifeless eyes to Dunbar. He stepped back as his guards ran in front to protect him and drew their swords. Naomi dodged each advance and continued making steps closer to the men. With a punch to the face, each man's life force was drained from their bodies, and they fell to the floor making a new obstacle for everyone to step over. Dunbar escaped the room, and exited the tower.

Levy finished taking the chains off Gray, and everyone was free. "All I have to get is the door…" Erza pushed her aside, changed her armor and kicked the cell door open. "Nevermind!" Erza, with her powers fully restored, took some attention away from Naomi and clashed swords with the guards. Gajeel reached for Levy's arm, but she pulled away. "I have to save Natsu and Kashi first!"

Gajeel nodded and followed Gray and Wendy out of the room and down the stairs. Wendy was calling out for Charle and Happy, but no response was heard. Kidd entered the room and took in the scene. Naomi was literally out of her mind, Natsu and Kashi were still chained, and the only two people on their side still willing to help were Levy and Lucy. Lucy saw Kidd and ran over to his side. "You cover me while I call for Taurus, okay?!" Kidd nodded, just as twenty more men from further upstairs ran into the room to join the fight. Kidd took their attention away from Lucy just long enough for her to call Taurus, and half of them were down for the count with one swing of his axe. "Lucy, you sure are beauuuuutiful today!" Lucy yelled at her celestial spirit. "NOW IS NOT THE TIME!"

Levy unchained Natsu and he immediately tried to stand up, but he fell to his knees with a grunt. "Damn… whatever they injected me with sure messed me up." Levy helped him to his feet, and once he got his balance back she moved out of his way and began to unchain Kashi. Kashi looked up at her guild mate with sad eyes. "I'm sorry…" Levy nodded, and smiled as she got the second cuff off. "It's okay; everyone has their reasons."

Without another word she dodged out of the room and followed the path her guildmates had taken. Kashi watched her go, and sighed with relief when nobody followed her. Naomi saw Kashi stand up, and in her blind rage threw a punch at her. Kashi gasped and dodged the attack. "Holy shit! Naomi, knock it off!"

Erza fought off some more men and watched as her adoptive sister attacked everything that moved, including their dear friend Kashi. Her scarlet red hair hung in front of her face as tears threatened to surface; knowing that nobody could save Naomi from this rage except herself. With a heavy heart, she made the decision to escape, knowing very well that if she didn't she would be in serious danger from Naomi. And by the looks of it, Kashi would be the first to fall victim to Naomi's powers.

Naomi continued to throw punches of life-or-death at her friend. Natsu had one hand on the wall to steady himself, and another arm was hugging his side to relieve the pain from his wounds. Normally something like that wouldn't bother him much, but without his magic, he was just a normal human being. He watched as Kashi nearly dodged his fiancée's attacks, and knew he would have to stop her before she killed somebody she cared about. She had brought him out of a blind rage once; he knew he could do it for her. He just didn't know at what cost.

Kashi dodged an attack from Naomi, only to have another one of her fists coming at her in a surprise punch. Natsu jolted forward and with a single punch to the stomach, Natsu flung Naomi back halfway across the room. With a grunt he headed in Naomi's direction. Kidd ran to Kashi's side and looked her over carefully to make sure she was okay. Lucy shut Taurus's gate, and ran over to Natsu, stopping him in his tracks. "You need to leave her! Nobody can save her now!" Grabbing his arm, Lucy tried to pull Natsu towards the exit. He shot a fiery glare that stopped her in her tracks. "NO! I've already lost her once; I'm NOT about to lose her again!" Natsu forcefully pulled his arm out of Lucy's grasp, leaving the blonde celestial wizard crying by herself. Lucy shook her head and after yelling a profanity in his direction, she exited the building, leaving Naomi, Natsu, Kidd, and Kashi to fend for themselves. And Kashi couldn't use her magic, lest she blow everyone up with her.

Naomi was surrounded by three of the five remaining enemy soldiers. She stirred from her position on the floor where Natsu had thrown her, and two of the men decided to go after Kashi and Kidd. Kashi took on one, and Kidd took on another. With a single sword each, it was hard to defend themselves when the enemy also had armor and shields. Natsu regained his strength with every step, and as Naomi defeated the men surrounding her, he got closer. Determination filled his onyx eyes as she killed the last man who had been attacking and her attention was turned onto him. He gazed into her ocean blue eyes and missed the sparkle that they were currently lacking. Before she had the chance to start attacking him, he captured her in the tightest hug he had ever given. Pain filled his entire body and his vision threatened to disappear as Naomi's life sucking powers attacked him even through this simple touch. His muscles felt like they were on fire, and his thoughts became fuzzy. Blood dripped from his nose, as he felt his pulse begin to slow.

Kashi glanced away from her attacker for a moment to see Natsu lunge for Naomi and wrap her in a tight embrace. "Natsu! You can't touch her, you'll…" While she was distracted she stepped back away from a swing of her enemy's sword and tripped over a body. She fell back and hit her head with a crack on the hard stone floor. Ringing filled her ears, and her heart racing as she saw her opponent raise his sword up, pointing it down over her heart. She couldn't even muster a scream in her panic as she saw the sword come down at her in slow motion. She closed her eyes and heard the sword pierce through flesh, but didn't feel any pain. She heard a cough above her, and opened her eyes to meet those golden orbs that belong to her beloved. She gasped as she saw the tip of the sword sticking out of Kidd's chest. He smiled. "You're okay…" The enemy pulled out his sword and Kidd collapsed onto Kashi. Blood soaked through his black and white suit, and dripped onto Kashi. Kashi's eyes filled with tears as she rolled him off her and hovered over him, trying to take in the reality of what had just happened. All she could do was scream as he tried to smile up at her; blood trickling from the side of his mouth, seeping from his wound in his chest, and his hand grasping onto hers.

"KIDD!"

Naomi blinked away the blur in her vision as she heard the painful scream of her friend. Pink hair filled her vision, and he found herself unable to breathe. "N-Natsu? Why are you hugging me so tight?" He sighed, his grip loosening. "Thank God, I brought you back…Don't ever do that to me again." Natsu collapsed to the floor, and Naomi blinked in confusion. She quickly kneeled next to Natsu, and tapped him on the cheek. "Hey! Natsu, are you okay?!" She tore her gaze away from Natsu long enough to see the damage around her. Probably three dozen men were dead, and the rest of the guildmates were gone. Reality struck her as she figured what must have happened as the last thing she remembered was protecting Kashi. "Oh no… oh no… Natsu… please tell me you didn't…" Natsu's breathing became shallow, and he managed a painful smile. "I couldn't…lose you…not again…" Naomi grabbed Natsu's scarf and pulled on it. "WHAT ABOUT ME?! I CAN'T LOSE YOU EITHER!" Natsu opened his mouth, and took a deep, staggered breath and whispered.

"I love you…" Taking in the sparkle of Naomi's ocean blue eyes as he had always loved them to remember for all eternity, Natsu exhaled, and ceased to draw another breath. His eyelids closed on his lifeless onyx eyes, and Naomi fell back, tears overflowing. "No... no no…" She suddenly remembered Kashi, and knowing Natsu couldn't be brought back now, ran over to her friend.

The sword had pierced through his lung, and he was quickly drowning in his own blood. Kashi sobbed and had wrapped both of her hands around one of his. Her forehead was resting on his, and he was whispering into her ear. Naomi watched in horror. Kidd weakly brought up his free hand to caress Kashi's cheek. "Hey, don't be sad. You accepted me for who I was… and it was an honor to do the same for you. If I had the chance, I'd do it all over again." Kashi opened her mouth to speak, but only sobbing noises came out. "I love you… dragon or human… I will always love you…" Kashi sobbed as Kidd has tears of his own running down the sides of his face. "Please don't leave me… I love you too…" Kashi managed to speak between hiccups. "You'll be okay." Kashi punched the floor. "But you promised to always be there for me!"

Kidd smiled, and sighed. "I'll always be in your heart Kashi." Kashi watched as the golden eyes she had come to love so dearly shut, and his breaths became too shallow to even notice. Naomi tried using her life force powers to save him, but it was too late. As he took his last breath, she looked at the blood on her hands as she stood up and looked around. She felt the effects of the insanity taking over again. Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her and Kashi slapped her hard across the face, bringing her back before the insanity took over. "Don't you dare do that again!" Kashi framed Naomi's face with her two hands. "We need to stick together! For them!" She pointed to their dead lovers, and Naomi nodded. They wrapped an arm around each other and slowly headed for the exit; the last two guards gone off in search of the escaped guildmates instead of staying here to finish them off. As the two reached the door leading into the hall, Naomi looked back to Natsu and Kidd, and suddenly remembered a very forbidden magic. She stopped in her tracks. "Kashi… you might hate me for this… but there's something I need to do." The redhead let go of Kashi and ran over to Natsu, dragging him over to Kidd's side. Naomi sat by their heads, and placing a hand on each head, starting pouring her life force into both of them. Kashi ran over, and yelled at Naomi. "You idiot! You'll kill yourself! Besides, you don't have enough to completely heal both of them!" Naomi nodded, her nose starting to bleed profusely, dripping onto her knees. "I know… but my life should be enough to bring them back long enough to get them the treatment they need to live!"

Kashi shook Naomi out of the spell. Naomi cried to her friend. "I can't let them die!" Kashi nodded. "I know… but I have an idea." Naomi watched as Kashi offered a hand to Naomi. She looked at her in confusion. "I'm a dragon, remember? I have a few extra human lives to spare in this body." Naomi smiled, tears falling from both of their eyes. "Okay."

Naomi placed one hand on Kashi's head, and hovered the other over the two men's heads. With a bright white light, Naomi sucked life force out of Kashi, taking hundreds of her dragon years off of her life to bring back the two men they loved the most. Minutes passed, and Naomi and Kashi both grew weak. "What if it's not enough?" Naomi questioned. "It's enough…trust me." Kashi responded. Naomi's blue eyes looked over Kashi, who was obviously in worse shape than Naomi was. Sweat covered her face, and she began to shake. "What if you die?" Kashi shook her head. "I won't."

Just as Naomi was about to give up on the forbidden magic, both men sat up abruptly and started coughing. Naomi gasped and halted the spell, and looked them over. They were both alive, and neither of them were bleeding or weak. She turned to her friend, eyes gleaming. "Kashi! We did it!" Kashi smiled weakly before collapsing herself onto the floor. Naomi quickly checked for a pulse, and sighed when she found she was alive, just deprived of magic power. She turned away from Kashi and glomped Natsu, who was still coughing. "You're alive! Natsu, you're alive!" Natsu looked around, and frowned. "Where the hell did everybody go?" Naomi laughed at Natsu's oblivious nature, and Kidd patted himself down, and looked at Naomi with a questioning gaze. "How am I alive?" Naomi smiled, hugging Natsu. "Kashi gave up her extra dragon years for you guys." She pointed to Kashi, and Kidd propped up her head in his lap. Naomi chuckled. "She'll be okay. She just needs some rest." Kidd let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and smiled, golden eyes gleaming down at Kashi.

"You idiot."