Natsu X Lucy Reimagined

by hannaverian

Fairy Tale magic reimagined in real life. Lucy is home for the summer working as a sleezy waitress, a monster attacks her, Natsu who is just walking by offers aid.

18. Chapter 18

Thank you guys for being so patient with me. I know it's taken a long time for these chapters to get out, and I appreciate you all sticking with me. I do have a lot of good ideas about where I want to go with this story, and I am excited to write them. I hope you will enjoy them as wellJ

I am going to try to clean up the format of this story a little bit to make it easier to read. Please let me know if it doesn't translate very well.

Change of character: -

Change in time: ….

P.S.: I don't want to spoil it, but this chapter does get pretty heavy. Just FYI

Chapter 18

The Bloody Hares

"Jesus Lucy! You didn't tell me it was this bad!" Exclaimed Mirajane.

It had been three days since Natsu and I became official, and the wounds on my shoulder where becoming more than I knew how to handle. I was sitting in a bra on the poof in the middle of Mirajane's bedroom. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone." I reminded her hastily.

"I know I know, but Lucy. You can't let him do this shit to you." Said Mirajane concerned while she inspected the two punctures on my back.

"Eh, it was sort of in the heat of the moment you know." I supplied with a little shrug, now a little self-conscious that I'd decided to show her.

"These aren't…. human…. these holes go pretty deep." She took a moment examining the ones on the front and comparing them to the ones on my back. "You two really ought to be more careful or you're going to get seriously hurt Lucy." She scolded, leaning forwards, her delicately penciled eyebrows pinched together. Worry, I didn't quite understand, swarming in her deep blue eyes. What? Was there something she wasn't telling me?

"Okay, okay. Can you help me or not?" I asked impatiently, I hadn't come to Mirajane for a lecture. Although I suppose I couldn't blame her, I'd probably be saying the same thing if the roles were reversed.

With a surrendering sigh Mirajane said "I suppose I can pull some strings to get you antibiotics. Let's hope that'll be enough."

"Oh thank you Mira! I really appreciate it. I knew I could count on you!" I gushed with relief, pulling my shirt back on.

"But Lucy." She warned. "If this happens again I'm telling Laxus." I sucked in a breath. It would be utterly mortifying if Mirajane told Laxus, I'm sure I'd rather be buried alive. I understood Mirajane was doing what she thought was best, so rather than argue I just nodded. Truthfully Natsu really hadn't scared me that much by this point, it's not like he'd done it on purpose. Sure, it hurt but, I never felt like I couldn't have stopped him if I wanted to.

I had been able to postpone my kick boxing lessons with Erza due to my finals coming up. Which was a blessing because I was sure I wouldn't be able to hide my injuries from her and I was positive she wouldn't have been as understanding as Mirajane. As for Natsu, well our new relationship fell into a natural and easy pattern. Now that we were open about our feelings we didn't need to try to find excuses to hang out with one another. In the evenings I would allow myself a break, and I would force Natsu to rewatch the series Scrubs with me. He would pretend like he thought my taste in media pointless and boring, but I caught him hiding a chuckle every now and then.

Of course the whole guild knew within hours the way gossip travels around this place. Whenever we would walk into the guild hall together, without fail Gray and Gajeel would "Woohoo!", which usually resulted in me rolling my eyes and Natsu threatening to punch one of them. Everyone seemed to be excited about the news, even Lisanna it seemed.

Lately I'd been finding myself in the guild hall more often than not. I'd chosen to study there because I felt like it might soften Laxus up to the idea of me taking time off practice for school. With my finals coming up I'd set up shop at one of the many bench styled tables. I piled library books, printer paper, notes and my laptop up to set the stage. Sure, I got heckled from various Fairy Tail members from time to time, but it was better than sitting in a stuffy library all day.

Of course there was the obvious Gray and Gajeel, who would drop by now and again to pull my pig tails so to speak. Then there would be Gildarts, who would creep over my shoulder to see what I was studying, then go on 10-minute-long tangents about how much of an expert he is on the subject. Which was almost always a resounding not. At first his lectures were charming but they rapidly became annoying. At lunch time Mirajane would come over with a sandwich and chips, and I would take a break. She would catch me up on all the gossip that's happened. Apparently Jellal and Erza went to dinner the other night, which allegedly didn't happen often. Natsu would be sweet from time to time to bring me hazelnut latte's as an excuse to talk to me, though he was always too cautious of taking up what he called 'too much of my study time'.

For the most part the guild as a whole seemed to be supportive of my goal to finish my education. It was something I thought they might disapprove of and I was delightfully surprised to find them encouraging and understanding. I say most because not everyone had been so respectful of my decisions.

It was the night before my first final and I had stayed up studying. I hadn't expected to pull an all-nighter, but the material turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. I was in the middle of solving a problem when a noise that echoed off the guild hall startled me. Juvia was walking towards me, her silk blue night gown trailing across the tile floor.

"Evening, Juvia." I say politely enough. I was willing to play nice if she was. We hadn't had any sort of direct communication since our little spat in the hospital. She was honestly the only member of Fairy Tail that I didn't care to learn more of.

"Still studying I see." She says in a cool tone as she approached me. I wondered what she had been up to at this hour, or if she was petty enough to wake up just to come and taunt me in private.

"Yeah. I am." I sighed. "I guess this problem was a little harder than I thought it'd be. Haha."

Juvia's face fell from pretense. "We have a rumor that Fairy Tail tournaments are comin' up again soon. Looks like you and I are on the first bracket. I sure do hope you haven't been slacking on your training. Lord knows I haven't, can't afford to in times like these. Everyone's being having to take more perilous job lately. We can't afford to have a freeloader around." Juvia had the gall to say, her upper lip curled into a stilted sneer.

"Don't worry Juvia." I said with a plastic smile. "I'm not intimidated by you." It was true that Juvia was a formidable opponent, she's been training for a couple of years now, her skill level similar to where I would have been had I started a guild at seventeen rather than twenty-two. "It'll be a pleasure to face you in whatever category is chosen." I finished in a tone that was so sweet it was bitchy.

"We've got a meeting tomorrow1:00. Don't be late!" She calls out dismissively as she sauntered off back to her room.

…..

I rushed in through the oversized oak doors of the guild hall. My face was flushed and my back pack was hastily strewn over one shoulder. I had just come out of a final and had to dash to make it here in time for the meeting. Natsu scooted over to allow me a seat and I slumped my backpack on the floor just as Laxus started speaking.

"As we all know the job requests coming through are becoming more serious." Started Laxus stationed at the head of the guild hall where there as a small raised plateau for public speaking. There was a murmur of agreement through the crowd. "The media isn't explaining why, but we can all feel it. Change is coming, and everybody's on edge. Historically in times like these the guilds who remained successful, guilds like Fairy Tail, who have survived the test of time, need to adapt. We cannot afford to back down in times like these, or we will absolve. We need to grow and change with the world around us. That being said, we will have to start accepting some of these jobs requests that have been coming through. And I would like to remind everyone…." Laxus turned to give Natsu a long glance before continuing. "That I have all of your best interests and skill levels in mind when I chose these assignments."

"So I think it is time to come up with some more rules, as a safety precaution moving forward." There was an immediate disrupt from the crowd and Laxus had to speak louder to be heard. I began to get nervous because I was worried he might address my continued attendance at college, resulting in my training having to take a temporary back seat. "First of all." Laxus continued. "Lisanna, Wendy and Lucy must only go on missions with A class ranking members or higher."

As of right now the A class ranking members where Gray, Gajeel and Mirajane. This didn't really bother me much, as it probably meant that I was going to get to go on missions with Natsu. Lisanna, on the other hand, had other ideas. She shot up out of her seat.

"So it's every girl in Fairy Tail with every guy is it!? God forbid anybody consider Fairy Tail progessive thinking eh, Laxus?" She seethed, folding her arms across her huffing chest. Her small mouth wriggling over her teeth.

Laxus looked exhausted as he ran a hand along his face. With a sigh he said "Do we have to do this right now Lisanna?" As if this wasn't the first time he fallen victim of Lisanna's social justice warrior rants.

"Pairing up all the guys with the girls as if we need protectin' huh?" Lisanna looked around the room for support from her feminine peers.

"Look Lisanna." Said Laxus, a little deflated. "That's not what this is about. It's about pairing Junior members with Senior members. If whatever's going on out there dies down a little, we'll remove the rule okay?"

This didn't seem to put out any fires for Lisanna however, she retorted smartly. "Oh and it just so happens that all the Junior members are the girls!?" A notion that Juvia, I noticed, seemed to agree with.

Losing his patience little Laxus's voice rose a few notches. "Might I remind you that two of our most skilled senior members are women!? I am the guild master now and these are MY rules! Anybody else have a problem with it!?" Due to Laxus having lost his temper slightly, Lisanna shrank back down. The rest of the room fell into silence until Laxus said. "Good! Now, next! All new missions are to be run by me. No more running off doing jobs on your own. Got that!?" He made a pointed look at Gray and Gajeel, both of whom looked at the floor and nodded. "Additionally I find it a bit odd that we haven't seen anything from either Saber Tooth or the Oracion Sies for a while now. Although I find their behavior suspicious at best, I will reiterate that we are not going to plan any retaliations. It seems likely that those guilds have become so preoccupied with whatever they're up to that they've decided to leave us alone for now. Frankly I prefer it this way. We've got enough on our plates as it is."

After a few more details such as continued remodeling plans and the announcement of the upcoming tournament, Laxus read out pairings for the new guild missions we were all set to go on. I was with Gray, Natsu was with Gildarts, Lisanna with Erza, Wendy and Jellal, Juvia with Mirajane and Cana with Laxus. Like before we filed in line like preschoolers, to get our envelope from Laxus. I had almost expected Natsu to blow up again about the fact that we weren't paired together, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed when we weren't. However, Natsu didn't bat an eyelash, he didn't even mention anything to Gray. It's not like I was disappointed or anything, in fact I took it as a notion that he was starting to trust that I was capable of taking care of myself.

"Hey Lucy!" Said Gray brightly as he came to join me in line. "Looks like the prettier members of the dream team are back together, eh?"

"Haha yeah!" I say in a kind of polite fake laugh.

"I hope we get to go somewhere cool! Like Las Vegas. I love Vegas!" He says with a wink as he grabbed our folder from Laxus. We opened and read the printed out page together.

"Sorry to disappoint you." I reply as I read on. "No Sin City for us. Where is this place exactly…. Wait a minute" The mission was local, 4 hours away in a town I hadn't heard of before. "Hold on Laxus." I added, skimming the rest of the page. "This mission starts on the day of my last final."

Laxus started with a tsk. "Lucy…" In a way that implied he was about to lecture me about the importance of the guild being a priority.

"It's just a couple hours." I interjected quickly, before he made up his mind. "I just have to take the test that morning and we can leave right after, please Laxus!?" I interrupt with, batting my eyelashes and feeling like I was about 7 years old asking my dad for a sleepover.

Hours Earlier

"Seeing how this went the last time we had one of these meetings, I figured I'd better run this by you first. That way if we're going to have disagreements it's a least not in front of everybody else." Laxus said as he welcomed me into his office. These trips I was taking to his office have been becoming all too frequent. I couldn't tell if he was trying to appease me, or genuinely interested in my input. I suppose that meant I should be flattered, but coming from someone who considers themselves my brother, it was the least he could do.

"I've got a job for you an' Gildarts…." He started. As he said it, he sat back down at his desk, glancing up to shoot me a pointed look. I could already see why he wanted to meet me first, yet again he would be sending Lucy and me in different directions. The last time hadn't had a swell outcome. I could also tell Laxus was goading me, I wasn't about to fall for the bait. Instead I inclined my head as a gesture for him to go on.

"Do you remember that gang from a couple months back? The ones importing drugs from South America?" He asked. I nodded. "We've been contacted by the FBI again. They've got movements on the head honcho, his name is Mr. Dillinger. Mr. John Dillinger." Laxus pulled his picture out of a yellow envelope and handed it over. I took it from him and inspected the photo. He looked like a mob boss if I ever saw one, white leathery face, mid-forties, with a mustache that was a little of kilter. He had a thin face, and an even thinner tie. Laxus continued. "Apparently he's made a trip to the states to make it to a very important annual meeting with his distributors. They need someone to tail him."

"And you figured Gildarts and I the best men for the job, eh?" I finished for him.

"You are." Said Laxus simply. Made sense, there wouldn't be room for any more S class wizards if we were supposed to tailing someone incognito, and Gildarts and I where the most durable, and wherever the mob was concerned there where sure to be plenty of firearms.

"Alright fine." I agreed, folding my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes I ask. "And Lucy?"

Laxus heaved a sigh and said. "Look. It's not a surprise to anyone that you two have finally made it official. Honestly, I've been meaning to congratulate you, but this doesn't give you the authority over her career as a wizard. I know you feel responsible for bringing her into this mess, however it is my job to see to her assignments." Sensing my rise in tension Laxus continued hastily. "I'll humor you once more. I've got her going with Gray, working security several hours away. Job will take them less than two days. As you're well aware things rarely happen on security duty. It's a modest price tag for having the two of them stand around all day. Besides, even if anything does happen I have her stationed with Gray. He's more than capable of handling a few drunk idiots, seems to tolerate you just fine." Laxus mumbled that last bit under his breath.

"Seems acceptable." I nodded, Laxus was right about security, it was more standing around than anything else, most likely the only danger she'd encounter was boredom. "Is that all?" I asked, sidling towards the door. I had spent enough time in here as it was to continue idle chatter. I had more important things to do.

"Yes." Said Laxus returning his attention to some papers on his desk. "See you at the meeting… Oh and Natsu." He added as I paused in the door frame. "Try trusting me a little more would you? I know it might not seem like it, but I have put a lot of careful thought into these assignments"

How was I supposed to trust a brother who stole my girlfriend? Was I just supposed to forget? If I was being honest with myself, which I rarely was, it had been Laxus's betrayal that had hurt worse than the actual breakup. The relationship with Lisanna had been going stale for a while, we'd argued more than we got along. In reality we had out grown each other, naturally drifting apart. In comparison Laxus is more even tempered, more patient than I am, probably because he doesn't have a beast living under surface. My only response was to incline my head and duck out of the door. I didn't feel like opening that can of worms just then.

…..

"OUCH! Bastard! What'd you cut me for!?" Complained Gray as I barely made a paper cut across his right side with my katana. Gray had decided to spar with me today to improve his swordsmanship skills. He fancied taking on Erza for his S class trial, seems to think that'd make him more manly or something. Thing was, hell would freeze over before Gray ever beat Erza in anything that involved swords. He'd be much better off taking on Laxus. There were things that Gray was formidable with, but a sword wasn't one of them.

"You don't parry enough." I commented lazily, easily dodging his relentless bombardment. Gray's biggest mistake with the sport was thinking he was better at it than he was.

"The best defense is a good offense." Argued Gray as our blades clashed together, his ice forged demon blade to my fiery katana.

"Not in swordsmanship." I grunt as I push him back. While Gray was stronger than Erza he was not only much slower, but he left a number of carless holes in his defense. It was to only to save him from total humiliation that I didn't take advantage of all of them. "A day will come when you'll need more than just brute force to get out of the situation." I lectured. "All your strength is wasted on Erza, her form and technique are so immaculate, you cannot simply bash your way through her defenses. You'll have to outwit her." Which was why Erza was my favorite person in the whole guild to spare against, she tested my brain as well as my body.

"Says you!" Growled Gray as he feigned right, then, sharp as a tack, whirled back left and stabbed under my left arm. I smiled as I looked up, that had been his cleverest move yet. I had still managed to block him from cutting me, but only just, my own scorching blade millimeters from my skin.

Clash. "That's thick coming from you! Have I missed something? You haven't bested Erza either yet, have you?"

"I've come a far sight closer than you!" I rebuttal, taking advantage of one of his many blind spots. A razor thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek as I reminded him who he was dealing with.

Clash. Clash. CLASH. Our swords collided again and again at a pace so fast we were both panting. This continued until we were both drenched in sweat and it was time to hit the showers before dinner.

"Hey Gray listen." I say, changing the subject as I dropped into a more serious attitude. We sat down on a bench to change shoes before heading off towards the locker room. The indoor fencing room had two large mirrors in it, one consuming the western wall, and one to the north. The flooring was a deep red and the décor was an assortment of swords mounted on the walls, with historical significance to the long deceased members of Fairy Tail. The room itself serving as a kind of museum. The blades varied among styles and sizes, each one unique. Some had great intricately welded guards, some with finely woven tassels, even some with relatively impressive jewels. All of which held a spirit of grandeur and a kind of poetic sentiment, that a room full of weapons would also hold such beauty.

I caught a glimpse of the both of us in the mirror, bent over undoing our shoe laces, our swords propped up against the end of the bench. I took a moment to compare Igneel's Fury to the rest of the collection, wondering if it might make it on this wall one day. In comparison it was more utilitarian than flamboyance, it had a harsh darker gun metal appearance, and there was no garnish, no flare. Instead the blade was a master craft of weaponry, a simple marvel at the carnal terror that can be created when an expert blacksmith and dragon fire come together. Even Gray's ice forged blade had more character, the few times I'd seem him execute his demon powers while holding the thing, the deep blue blade developed an inscription carved in a glowing red. But still, even though my katana may look plain, with its cheap handle I had made out of tape rather than leather, the thing had never failed me. It never dulled, it was light, yet strong. The perfect length, not so long that it was clumsy and slow, but long enough to allow me to reach my enemies. And, although I had other powers, it was my favored tool of the trade.

"Yes Natsu." Prodded Gray, as for a moment there I had been lost in my own thoughts and had forgotten that I had been talking to him.

"The meeting tomorrow. You're going out with Lucy, just the two of you. Nothing to be too excited about… but if you run into any trouble… give her your sword." Asking for his help was admittedly hard for me, I had to wrestle each word as it came out. Ultimately I avoided the intimacy of making eye contact. Instead choosing to look at our reflections. Gray, being the better man, turned to look at me directly. "She's halfway decent with a sword." I admit, shrugging my shoulders.

"Don't worry Natsu. I'll make sure she's alright, and if it comes down to it, I'll give her my sword. Give you my word." He said earnestly, his posture that of an undeserved, unwavering loyalty. Understanding that by offering up his own sword was putting his own life at risk. I couldn't very well ask him to lie on his sword for Lucy, an honor and a duty I would place on no other shoulders than my own, which was partially why I was so passionate about being put on missions with her. And then there was Gray, who not only understands my intentions without so many words, agrees to them without question. I knew, as I had always known, that I could trust him. Gray was my best friend and he deserved that I tell him so more often, but if I said it out loud I would look like such a fucking pussy.

"Thank you." Was all I ended up saying back before we hit the showers.

"Get in loser, we're going shopping!" Gray says to me in a mock Valley girl accent as I slide into the passenger seat of the Lexus. Gray had been waiting for me on the curb while I took my last final of the semester.

"Really? You had all this time to think up a line and that's what you chose?" I laughed,

rearranging the things in my backpack.

"Got you to laugh didn't it?" He said smiling while he slipped the car in gear and sped off towards our destination. It would be a long 4 hours in his expensive, but cramped coupe. The job we had been hired for was to run security for a bar that had had some issues with gang violence lately. While the establishment usually hired full time bouncers, there was supposedly an important event this weekend that required extra security measures. I was a little apprehensive about the job and I couldn't explain why. I had certainly been on more dangerous missions before, but I had an uneasy feeling. Especially because how Laxus had acquired this job was through an agency rather than the client hiring Fairy Tail directly. Jobs through agencies tend to be only moderately magnanimous, as they're famous for skimming some off the top, however it does usually means a consistent work schedule.

Gray, who was forever in a bubbly mood, I could tell he was starting to become annoyed with how many times I'd requested we stop for a bathroom break. "Too much coffee." I say after the third time I'd made him pull over for a gas station.

"Ugh. We've got to hurry up Lucy! We're already late!" Gray whined. "And worry about fixing your makeup later!"

I had been getting ready for the job on the road, in an attempt to look professional instead of a sleep deprived, brain fried, and over caffeinated. I had on a pair of tight black pants, with a matching black blouse. Gray was similarly wearing all black, but as we had driven he had slowly unbuttoned the first three buttons of his dress shirt, as though the feeling of the fabric against his skin was offensive. Gravel crunch beneath the tires as we parked the car and stepped out onto the establishment. It was a casual road-side bar and restaurant, your average burger and fries' kind of place. Although the front section of the building was recently renovated it was attached to a larger, concrete warehouse, the surface of which was rough and weathered. The owner met us out front, looking more than a little disheveled. He had on a messy apron over the top of his dress cloths, as though he was short-handed in the kitchen and had to step in as a replacement.

"You're late!" He proclaimed breathlessly, not bothering to shake our hands, or offer himself an introduction.

"Yeah… sorry 'bout that. 'Your Highness' over here has a weak bladder. I'm Gray and this is Lucy" Said Gray, chucking a thumb in my direction. I had to restrain myself from sticking my tongue out at him childishly.

"Nate Miller." The bar owner said matter of fatly. "It's about to start. Follow me. They'll be arriving any minute."

Gray and I nodded and he lead us through the kitchen to unremarkable back door. From inside the kitchen it looked like the room might belong to a closet, or a dingy rear office. This must be where the old building met the new. Beyond that door was an elaborate, secret, banquet hall, with carpeting that reminded mined me of an old movie theatre, and high ceilings that held an ugly chandelier that look liked it was from the 70's. The room was set up with rows of white table clothed round tables, the cutlery already set, tea lights suspended in vases of water for center pieces. At the front of the room there was a banquet table, where obviously the honored guest of this meeting was to be seated.

"You guys are supposed to prevent anyone that's attending this meeting to interfere with the customers out front, and vice versa. You can stand here at the entrance or in the kitchen, but stay outta my freakin' restaurant. Got it?" Said Mr. Miller as one of the kitchen attendants brought him a pot of sauce to sample. The restaurant owner stuck a pinky in it, sucking off the sample with a wet noise from his lips. "More salt, and I thought I told you fresh parsley!"

"But sir." The attendant meeped. "We didn't have any, and…."

"Did your grandmother ever use dried up leaves boy!?" They both rounded the corner back into the kitchen, the owner barking more orders to everyone. The door slammed shut behind them leaving Gray and myself alone in the banquet hall.

Lucy and I had barely made it on time. Moments after the door closed behind us it flew open again. In filed a group of three men, one seeming to be senior to the other two, as he barked at one of them to run off and fetch him a drink. The main one was of average height in a high street suit, with alligator skin shoes and a thin gold chain. He wasn't that old, yet his hair was starting to thin and he was desperately trying to hide it by combing his hair forwards. The second was just a kid, maybe nineteen or so, his suit looked too big for him, borrowed maybe. The third just seemed like a red headed, more timid, version of the second. The thing that alerted me to all of them however, was that they all had guns, either holstered under their blazers or tucked into their pants. This would be no ordinary security mission.

The one who seemed to be in charge slid an uninterested eye over me and Lucy, but then seemed to double back to Lucy. He gave her a none too subtle once over, and I could practically see the hairs on the back of her neck go up. I could understand why Natsu sometimes got annoyed with her for her looks, though it wasn't her fault. It was a burden every girl with movie star quality features had to endure, to be constantly ogled at. Today she wasn't really even trying, but I suppose the fact that at the last minute she had decided to put on lipstick in the cars passenger window didn't help. And that she was wearing all black made the peachy color on her lips pop.

"Agency hire you sweetheart?" He asked, having the audacity to approach her. As he did so the third lackie ran back from the kitchen with a tray of drinks. The man plucked one off the tray and took a sip while he waited for a response. I tensed, watching the situation very carefully. I wasn't sure if Lucy had picked up on the fact that these guys where packing heat, and we very well could have just walked into a very bad situation. I couldn't tell her outload, of course, in front of all of them, our best chance now as to try to finish the job without any hiccups and be on our way.

"Uh, yeah." She says in a way that was both a little awkward and a little cute.

"Hmm." He says as more, of what was sure to be more gang members, filed into the room and seated themselves. "At least if the agencies were going to hire some second rate wizards, they sent one that's decent to look at." He spat.

Lucy prickled and I prayed she wasn't about to say something dumb. I had half a mind to grab her now and make a run for it. My bad feeling intensifying as I was realizing that everyone who walked through the door, had a gun on them. Then I remembered what Laxus had said at the meeting, about Fairy Tail having to adapt. I wondered if this is what he meant.

"I'm not second class anything." She snubbed, her chin in the air and a dazzling grin spread across her face. "I'm a professional, and a pretty good one. I'm here to do the job I was hired for. Got a problem with that? Too bad." There was a twinkle in her eye, daring asshole to continue this conversation. I felt the tips of my fingers go numb, the way they do before I create ice with them, the magic flowing through my veins, ready to respond.

"You may be right about that. You're a first class piece ass that's for sure." The gang member with the comb over kept at it. His teenaged lackeys behind him covering their mouths in a failed attempt to hide their fits of laughter. He reached out an arm for her, but I stepped forwards. My reflexes where faster than his, I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from touching her. Frost spider-webbed across his shoulder of his suit where I had touched him.

"Why don't you find your seat sir." I deferred, my grip on his shoulder firmer than necessary. He peel off my hand and dusted the frost from his suit. I waited with baited breath for what his reaction would be. By this point I was sure that firearms would be pulled out at some point during this mission, and I was going to do my best to make sure that they weren't pointed at us. I could practically feel Lucy seething beside me, thankfully, she remained silent. Some of the gang members had begun to find their seats, some still mingling about in various conversations filled with masculine laughter and the sound of ice tinkling in crystal tumblers. They all dressed like well-to-do mobsters, with designer shoes and cloths, diamond earrings and rings. Most had tattoos and many had their head shaved. All of them concealed carried, a detail that might be overlooked unless you knew what to look for. I wondered what sort of deal they had drug up with the restaurant owner.

The man took a long last glance at Lucy before saying, in a smile that gave me chills. "A woman like you in a room full of men who think of themselves as god, someone was bound to notice. I just wanted to be the first…. come on boys, boss will be here soon." Fortunately, they retreated to a table nearby. The seats where nearly full now, a room of about thirty men. Doing the mental math there could be upwards of 500-600 bullets in this room. Even with all our magic, there was no way we could dodge them all, and with only one exit we'd be sitting ducks.

God didn't make all men equal, Richard Gatling did. In a world full of magic, there are few more effective ways to kill a man than a good, old fashioned bullet. It was sort of a rule among guilds to not carry any, it was considered immoral and unsportsmanlike. Not even dark guilds often carried them. Although in Fairy Tail we're all trained to used them because, the most dangerous threat to all of us is still a bullet to the head.

"You've gotta keep your cool Lucy. That was a close one." I lean over to whispered to her.

"Asshole." She cursed under her breath, staring holes into the back of that man's head.

"Yeah well. I don't like this. I don't like it at all. Let's is to try to keep a low profile and watch for a time to make our exit. Alright?"

"What!? Why!?" She hissed in a sharp whisper, a confused expression on her face.

"Take a good, long look around." I said, tilting my head towards the room full of nefarious characters. "They're not here to discuss their quarterly investments."

Lucy opened her mouth to reply, just then the door burst open and the room fell silent. Three men walked in, the first two clearly body guards sporting semi-automatic rifles as they escorted a middle-aged man with a mustache, in a three-piece suit and a silver pocket watch, to the front of the room. You could hear a pin drop as the legs of his chair pulled across the carpet. The two men with assault rifles didn't sit down, instead they backed up against the wall, stationed on either side of him. Lucy and I were pinned against the opposite wall on either side of the doorway, doing our best to keep an uninterested expression while pretending to be invisible. Lucy shifted nervously, crossing her arms behind her back. The mob leader reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a cigar, which he cut, letting the discarded shreds of tobacco carelessly litter the table cloth. He then plopped the cigar in his mouth, and one of his subordinates hurriedly lit a match for him.

The scent of cigar smoke filled the muted hall. Men shifted anxiously in their seats. Eventually he spoke. He had an accent that was hard to locate as it sounded equal parts New Yorker and Spanish, yet it was low and powerful like a politician in an old-timey documentary.

"I want to know." He said at last, taking a long whiff of his cigar in the middle of his sentence. "Who our fucking mole is." He finished calmly, but his next few words where anything but calm. "I. WANT. TO. KNOW. WHO. THE FUCKING MOLE IS!?" He demanded, slamming his fists on the table, making the cutlery jump. The room at large seemed to flinch. "It's been a month since the incident, and not one of you have been competent enough to flush out which one of us tipped of the fucking FBI. INFANTS! THE LOT OF YOU! A bunch of tit sucking, useless, swine! Twelve MILLION dollars' worth of cocaine…. CONFISCATED! AND NONE OF YOU CAN TELL ME WHICH MOTHER FUCKER IS RESPONSIBLE!" Shouted the man, spit flying from his mouth, the veins on his temple and neck pulsing dangerously, his face a tomato red.

"Mr. Dillinger." Said the man who had been antagonizing Lucy, with cool arrogance. Bravely, he stood up and straightened his tie. "I believe I have some new information for you, sir."

"A month! Took you a month to get this information! You incompetent, brainless stem of a man…. Tell me… Tell us what you've heard!" Bereted Mr. Dillinger, steam still practically rolling out of his ears. "Go on Lansky, but this better be worth my god damn time."

"Waited for the right circumstances sir." Said the man called Lansky simply, who was impressively unruffled by his boss's blatant outrage. It was at this moment that I couldn't find the two teenagers that Lansky brought with him. My eyes darted around the room, but I didn't see them, nor could I recall them leaving, as they would have had to walk right past Lucy and myself.

"And you've found this person?" Questioned Mr. Dillinger as he sank back into his seat, continuing to puff on his cigar. His body guards behind him remained still as a statue. Ghosts, Lucy and I would have to behave transparent to be able to escape this situation unfazed. I worked on keeping my breathing even, and my body language relaxed. I risked a glance over at Lucy, who fists where curled into sweaty palms, her eye's darting around nervously. I could tell she was trying to stifle the noise of her breathing as her chest rose and fell rapidly. Fuck. She couldn't have been more obvious. She looked at me as I looked at her, her eyes pleading, as if she was trying to tell me something.

"I have." Smiled Lansky, a shit eating grin tugged at the corner of his lips. Without breaking eye contact with Mr. Dillinger, he shouts back to the kitchen. "Bring 'em in boys!" The door between us was kicked open. In came the two teenaged boys who had been with Lansky, one with black hair grabbing on to the arm of the restaurant owner, who was bound, gagged, and blindfolded. He wasn't struggling too much because the second teenager, the nervous ginger one, had the barrel of his gun pressed to his head. "Apologies for the delay in our results, it seems however, that these little meetings might not have been as discrete as we might have liked!"

Mr. Dillinger got up from his seat then and rounded the table. His body guards made to follow him, but he put up a hand to stop them. The teenagers presented the restaurant owner, shoving him down onto his knees. From thirty feet away I could tell that he was shaking, and that the back of his dress shirt was greasy with sweat. Mr. Dillinger knelt down to peel off the restaurant owners blind fold. Chuckling manically, he said "Thought squealing to the FBI might free you from debt eh, Mr. Miller? Thought you'd get me out of the way, eh? Might I remind you who loaned you the money for this …... fine …. Establishment. It'd be in foreclosure by now if it wasn't for me!"

Mr. Miller remained silent, though the whole room could hear him breathing heavily through his nostrils as his mouth had been duct taped shut. "You know what we do to rats in the Bloody Hare's Mr. Miller?" Mr. Dillinger had lowered to an unnaturally calm voice, the volume barely more than a whisper. As if they had been given some kind of invisible que, with well-oiled military precision, the body guards broke their stance to march into the center of the room in rehearsed unison. They lowered their rifles, muzzles pointed at Mr. Millers head. I could hear Lucy gasp and then cup a hand over her mouth to silence it. I shot her a sideways look that meant "for once shut the fuck up." We couldn't very well just run out of the room, they'd all be after us. I was certain we'd seen enough at this point that we wouldn't be permitted to just leave, but still I was trying to conceal my powers until the last possible second. Doing anything premature would be like showing my hand at a black jack table.

The restaurant owner was now trying to say something through the tape. "What was that Miller? Have something to say for yourself!?" Growled Mr. Dillinger, motioning for Lansky to remove the duct tape. Lansky did so in one, cruel, swift movement. Immediately Mr. Miller started vomiting words, stuttering and tripping over them in haste to get them all out.

"I got something you want m-m-more than m-m-me, m-m-Mr. Dillinger."

"Curious Miller, now that I've got you cornered. What do you think I'd want to dispose of more than a filthy rat like yourself?" Mr. Dillinger pulled the cigar out of his mouth to lean down and blow smoke in Mr. Millers face.

I turned, Lucy was tugging on my sleeve, her eyes wide, motioning for us to leave. Again she was trying to tell me something, like she had put two and two together and I hadn't caught on. I yanked my arm away, motioning for her to be quiet. Looking back, I should've listen to her, we should have tried to get as much distance as possible while they were all distracted.

"What about the guild that did it? The guild that killed your son-in-law?" Finished Miller, no longer stuttering. He knew that what he had said had just bought himself valuable time. He broke into a smile as he said. "And two of its members are in this room right now."

I froze as everyone turned in unison, while all thirty some guns where pointed at me and Lucy. Both Lucy and I shot our hands in air, surrendering, my mind racing a million miles a minuet trying to find us a way out of this mess. I could freeze the whole room, grab Lucy and run, but with the heating units indoors it would buy us maybe a minute or two. A move I could only risk once. One of the body guards grabbed me roughly by the arm, Lansky had grabbed Lucy, forcing us forwards to the front of the room. They pushed us onto our knees next to Mr. Miller.

"You two where hired by the agency correct?" Asked Mr. Dillinger, taking another long drag from his lit cigar. Both Lucy and I remained silent, neither of us willing to reveal anything about Fairy Tail. Getting frustrated, he asked again. "Let's try this again… you were hired by an agency correct?!" The guard holding me pressed the muzzle of his gun hard into my back. I was pretty certain that if I ducked out of the way, and kicked the guard in the legs hard enough he'd loosen his grip on his rifle enough for me to claim it. The risk was that it would momentarily leave Lucy vulnerable.

"Yes. We were hired by Wizards Anonymous." I say. I decided that to go along would buy me more time to think.

"Was this whole incident planned? Or was it pure coincidence that lead you to your deaths this evening?" Asked Mr. Dillinger. He pulled his pocket watch out to glance at it before stuffing it back into his pocket. The lid of the watch had a rabbit embroidered on it. I looked over at Lucy before I answered. She had struggled against Lansky, causing her hair to be all disheveled, half of it loose and half still in the bun. Lansky ran a hand down the length of Lucy's jawline, stopping at her chin in order to force it upwards to look at him. I struggled a little against the body guards grip, testing his strength.

I pretended to lose, I answered. "Coincidence. At least on our end." It had been no coincidence, Mr. Miller had to have known exactly who he was hiring, he had banked his life on it. Lansky was now running his fingers along Lucy's hair, his digit's centimeters away from her breast. Lucy sucked in a breath to scream, fighting against her assailant's grip. This wasn't Lansky's first time apprehending a hostage, he clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her. We were running out of time.

"Tell me…." Mr. Dillinger said dangerously, leaning in so close our noses almost touched. "What guild are you two from…. Careful now. Answer correctly and I might just leave one of you alive."

I smiled darkly. "Lean in any closer and I might've thought you wanted a kiss." Despite themselves several of the gang members snorted with laughter. I took the moment of distraction to break out of the bodyguard's grip by backwards head butting him while simultaneously stepping on his foot. He tried to take a step back and tripped, I broke my arms free and punched with my right fist, while yanking his rifle away with my left hand. By the time I turned around I dropped the weapon, letting it land in a heavy dull thunk on the carpet. Lansky had pulled out his gun from under his suit jacket and pressed firmly into Lucy's temple, his other hand firmly on her mouth. She had a fierce, fiery look on her face that promised retribution.

"Lemme ask you again." Mr. Dillinger said again, tearing my focus back to him, his cigar he had been chewing on dribbling at the tip of his lips, the end moist with saliva. Some of his men closing in on me and Lucy, their bodies casting shadows over us in the dim light of the banquet hall. Goose pimples spread over my skin as I heard a metallic click. A shiver sprang up through my spine.

"If I tell you…. You let her go." I growled, frost spreading up my fingertips and hands. The members of the mob seemed to think better than to try to grab me again. Lucy was struggling against Lansky wildly, making her stance known. In trying to contain her Lanksy had loosened his grip on her mouth just enough for her to sink her teeth into his hand as hard as she could.

"Ouch! You bitch!" He cried, temporarily letting go.

"Don't! Don't tell 'em Gray!" Was all she managed before Lanksy had recovered her again, this time he had forced her to face plant onto the table. Standing behind her, his hip pressed against her ass in a way that gave me a fowl taste in my mouth. Lanksy held her hands behind her back with one arm while holding his gun to the back of her head with the other.

"If you promise to let her go…. I'll tell you." A layer of black magic began to incorporate with the ice on my arm.

"Fine." Dillinger agreed. "We won't kill her. Now tell me before I order them to kill you both. And believe you me… they'll take their time with her." He said, pointing his head at Lansky.

"Fairy Tail." I say quietly, with nothing but pure hatred and loathing in my eyes. I could feel the demonic tattoos burn into my skin as I allowed the dark spirits into my body, to become their vessel. A blueish black haze starts to blur over my vision. My subtle transformation must have startled Mr. Dillinger because he feebly pulled out his own hand gun and had it pointed at me.

"Louder!" He commanded. "I couldn't hear you…"

I shot out my right hand as if I was grasping for something that wasn't there. But there was something there. My fingers clasped around my sword. The sword that would be my only inheritance from my bastard of a father, who had abandoned me and my mother to join a dark guild when I was a kid. When I summoned this sword while my demon slayer powers where activated, it glowed a dark, ominous blue. Red inscriptions, not unlike my tattoos, marred its surface, rendering its appearance as other worldly. I fixed my gaze onto Mr. Dillinger, my whole eyeball an inky-black, a hint that I was summoning powers from the underworld. Powers that were not given freely and without a valuable penance. My sudden change in appearance must have scared him because he pulled the trigger.

"GRAY!" She screamed. Lucy had mule kicked Lansky in the testicles which gave her enough time to send a rough elbow into his sinuses. He sent off a shot that missed and hit scaffolding in the ceiling, bits of it raining down on us. Faster than I thought her capable of, Lucy upholstered her whip and lassoed Dillinger's wrist pulling is arm in such a way that caused him aim to miss his target.

I sent rifts of power and ice in star pattern, careful not to freeze the whole room because that would've included Lucy. Few enemies succumbed to my ice but it was enough distraction to regroup. Lucy took this time to summon Virgo, who wasted no time in issuing combat. She sank her mace into the body of the body guard who had been restraining me. The man howled his pain, his partner seeing this aimed his rifle at Virgo and started emptying his clip. From then on things went to hell in a hand basket.

The bullets tore holes through Virgo, leaving ethereal gold dust that lingered in the air. She continued to fight as more bullets tore through her, the celestial dust pulling her back into her own realm. The whole room broke out in a symphony of gunfire. Having to act quickly I erected a crude ice blockade to temporarily shield myself and Lucy.

"Lucy! Catch!" I say, remembering what Natsu had said and tossing her my sword. She looked a little shocked but caught it.

"Gray!" She said, panicked. "What are we going to do!?" The ice barrier I had made was quickly being stripped away with all the gunfire. We could hear Mr. Dillinger and the other members of the Bloody Hare's shouting orders and one another.

"We're going to have to make a run for it." I said. She nodded, and pulled out one of her keys in her hand. "Follow my lead!" I raised my hands upturned and closed my eyes, allowing just enough darkness to seep through my body and overpower the lighting in the banquet hall. The light bulbs resisted a little, it wasn't a power I exercised often so I wasn't all that good at it. With a final flicker the lights went out, enveloping the room in velvety darkness. The gunfire stopped, as I had predicted it would, in the dark they were just as likely to shoot each other as well as us.

"Gray… I can't see anything." Whispered Lucy. Ordinarily my eyesight is just like anybody else's, but when I was possessed by the powers of the underworld and my eyes go black, I can see better in the dark than I can in the light. I grab her hand and we make a mad dash for the door, Lucy trailing behind me in blind faith. I manage to navigate through the room without bumping into anybody or anything that would give away our location. I freeze the two dudes standing guard of the door and we burst through into the florescent overhead lighting of the kitchen.

The kitchen help had heard all the gunfire and had taken cover. Lucy and I dashed through the kitchen and into the main restaurant, a stampede of footsteps not far behind us. The guests of the restaurant screamed and scrambled at the sight of us, crowding the exits and slowing our progress. "Shit!" I say out loud.

"God damn it!" Curses Lucy in agreement. We were trapped until the restaurant guests cleared out. We turned to face the mob chasing us, standing back to back. Lucy raided my sword with two hands, and I raised my fists. Lucy had summoned Taurus, with a loud bovine like moan, he charged head long into a barrage of bullets. His double sided axe was so big that there was a series of metallic clinking noises as many of them ricocheted off of it. With Taurus acting as Lucy's shield, I kicked over restaurant tables and reinforced them with ice to make obstacles for our enemies. For moments Lucy and I fought like this, she was protecting my back as I was protecting hers. I tried to fit the puzzle pieces together, to try and figure out what we had missed, why this was happening. I knew that Lucy knew, but I didn't very well have any time to ask her.

The exits cleared, and in a wordless understanding Lucy took the opportunity to bolt of the door. I was two steps behind her when I noticed that for a split second the air in front of her looked hazy. It happened too fast for me to even warn her. We'd over looked and underestimated them this whole time. Lansky materialized out of thin air right in the doorway. He was a wizard, a wizard with transportation magic. A serious, no bullshit, look on his face as he blocked her escape.

Again her reaction time surprised me as she moved to stab him. The sword sliced through vacant air, however, Lansky dematerialized and then rematerialized behind her. I could do nothing to help her as I was holding off the rest of the gang, throwing up barriers as fast as they were coming down. Taurus had been helpful, but his body was becoming Swiss cheese and I could tell that he was fighting hard to stay in our world as tendrils of celestial dust where dragging him back to his own. I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold them off, I would have to do something drastic soon and I would just have to trust that Lucy would be able to handle herself.

Fortunately, being indoors gave us a tunnel effect, there was a small comfort in that as it limiting how many guns could be pointed as us at one time. There were too many windows to try the lights out trick again, and it doesn't work so well in the daylight anyways. They were closing in on us, every moment became a small eternity as I filed through our options in my brain. I was seconds away from freezing the whole kit and caboodle, grabbing Lucy's body and making run for it. Casting a particularly large wall to afford a glance at Lucy's situation again.

Natsu had been right about her being alright with a sword. Her brows where furrowed and her lips where pursed together in concentration. She would pirouette, feign left and jab, in what I recognized as one of Erza's exercises. She was executing her training routines flawlessly, unfortunately it wouldn't be enough against another wizard. He kept disappearing and reappearing in short distances but in quick succession all around her. She had been able it seemed, to knock his gun out of his grasp as it had scattered across the floor and was now hiding under a booth. He had resorted to trying to kick her with shoe knives that had been concealed in his alligator skin boots. She went for an over handed swing.

I had missed exactly what had happened because I was too busy hoarding off a literal mob, but I snapped my head back to her position as I heard my sword clink to the floor. Lansky had a hand to Lucy's throat, dangling her inches off the ground. Her feet kicked out at him wilding and her hands flew to his wrists. She tried to scream but all that came out was a strangled gurgling sound.

I paused and froze the whole front line. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my arms falling to my sides. I needed to concentrate, to try and gather up as much magical power as I would need for what I was about to do. I could feel the power flow through my veins, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, so charged up that stray static electricity was snapping around me. I opened my eyes slowly, and at first what I saw I did not comprehend.

Being gifted as I am with extreme intelligence, it only took a moment before I understood. Lanksy was crumpled on the floor after having crashed into the bar counter. He was groaning as he pushed a stool off of himself. Someone had thrown him there. I look over to find Lucy in the arms of a hooded man. A few pink wisps of hair were all I needed to understand.

Their mission was to follow someone, that someone must have been Mr. Dillinger, the mob boss they had confiscated the cocaine from months ago. Mr. Miller must have alerted the FBI a second time, informing them of this meeting. Then I realize that Mr. Miller must have greased the hands of some employee at Wizards Anonymous to make sure that someone from Fairy Tail would be here tonight, as a contingency plan for himself in case he was found out. What Miller didn't realize was that the FBI would turn back around to hire Fairy Tail to tail Mr. Dillinger. Never underestimate Fairy Tail.

Gildarts caught up, panting heavily and wearing a backwards hat and sunglasses. "What are you two doing here!?" He asked.

He sent a small blast of air that knocked over the two men in the front that had become thawed, into the men behind them. "I should be asking you the same question!" I countered casting up yet another barrier. The barrage of bullets never ceased, and at this point there had been many near misses. "By the way! You look utterly ridiculous! Was that supposed to be a disguise!?" I couldn't help myself, I took one look at him and busted out laughing.

"What are you laughing at punk!... Ugh! He's getting away!" Shouted Gildarts pointed to Dillinger, who was clambering over his comrades to make it from the front lines back into the kitchen. There was a second exit to the outside through the kitchen, and I knew for a fact that he was going to try to escape through it.

"Gildarts!" Shouted Natsu over all the shots. "We've gotta get them outside!" For a split second Gildarts looked conflicted, like he was torn between listening to Natsu and going after the guy. Now that he knew our names it was imperative that we catch him.

"Don't worry Gildarts!" I say. "I'll go after him!"

"Lucy! Go hide behind the bar!" I ordered as I stand in front of her, my one arm outstretched to hold her behind me as the other was continually casting fire shields to protect us from the bullets. She scoffed in frustration.

"I will not go cower behind the bar Natsu!" She bites out. That's that stubborn streak of hers again. "I'm going with you!"

"Now!" I roar back at her. "We don't have time for this!" My fire shield was so hot it was causing the bullets to melt instantly, causing a puddle of molten alloy at my feet. Still Lucy hadn't moved, she rooted herself to the spot, digging her heels in. Gray had just frozen half the room in order to give chase to Dillinger. With all that ice, and as quickly as my fire was turning it to steam, we had to take this showdown outside or the whole thing would blow.

"NO!" She shouts back mulishly. "I will not just leave you and Gildarts to the these…!"

"…GOD DAMN IT LUCY! AS YOUR SUPERIOR OFFICER, RETREAT THE BAR ALREADY! THAT'S AN ORDER!" I growled at her, flames seeping out of the corners of my mouth in anger. She flinched as I had never yelled at her quite like that before. Blessedly she retreated wordlessly, allowing me to cover her until she ducked behind the counter. Doubtless she was pouting behind there, but I would have to deal with that later. Right now I had to clean up this fucking mess, god damn it Gray was a fucking idiot! What was he thinking!

Luckily Gildarts had understood my meaning without me having to spell it out for him. An instinct that came to him after having worked so closely together after all these years. Gildarts managed to get a hold of the guy who had been choking Lucy earlier, he had assumed correctly that he was of some kind of rank within the Bloody Hare's. He had his palm placed flat up against his head, which in Gildarts hands was the equivalence of holding a sawed off shot gun to his temple, and he was dragging him backwards out into the parking lot. Like sheep they all followed, they had stopped shooting up everything but they hadn't laid down their weapons.

Suddenly, as Gildarts had made it halfway across the parking lot, the man he had been dragging disappeared. We both realized too late that he had been a wizard. Before I could do anything about it the man reappeared behind Gildarts, getting him through his ribs with shoe knife. Gildarts growled in pain and swung a powerful arm behind him, but no one was there. The man with the alligator boots startled Gildarts again by sifting in front of him, he had tried for an underhanded shoe knife to the throat. Gildarts was a fraction of a second too fast for him as he caught his ankle in his hand, and with a kind physical strength known only to Gildarts, he twisted his leg until he fell unceremoniously into the gravel. Not wanting to allow him time to disappear again Gildarts sent out a blast from his hand causing an explosion that totaled a few cars and tossed so much dirt into the air it was raining on us in painful clumps of rocks and debris. When the dust began to settle Gildarts looked around wildly. In his best efforts, he had been too slow, the man had disappeared anyways. Gildarts was now whipping around wildly, unsure he'd turn up next.

While all this was going on I was casting up fire shields, with two hands I could keep this up all day long. My plan was to just wait until they were out of ammo, mainly because the look on their faces when they realize they're screwed would be priceless. I had made an error; I should've just simplified things by burning them all to smithereens. I had allowed my humanity to take over, to show mercy. A luxury I would soon learn I could no longer afford.

The man Gildarts had been fighting, the same one that had tried to strangle Lucy, reappeared where Gildarts wasn't suspecting. This time he had a kitchen knife and he stuck it through Gildarts's abdomen. "NOOO!" I cried. In my distraction I had let one of my fire shields to go out, as I reached hopelessly in Gildarts direction. The man who had been like a father figure to me, a kind of mentor, the man who seemed to understand me when no one else did. I had never seen him injured before, in all my life at Fairy Tail, I had never seen him more hurt than your typical scratches and bruises. Sure, he'd needed stitches a few times, but that was considered ordinary in this line of work.

He sank to his knees, his hands covering his abdomen. Trying, unsuccessfully to hold off the blood that was already seeping through his sweatshirt. I was done playing Mr. Nice Guy. I inhaled deeply and blew out a blistering heat. Some of the gunfire ceased as half the men dropped to the floor, rolling in agony as my fire melted their flesh off their bones. Thinking this had bought me some time I spun to go help Gildarts, whose assailant was nowhere to be seen. I had miscalculated. I grunted as a wrenching pain suddenly seared the nerves in my arm. I'd been shot by one of the men I had missed with my fire breath.

Before I could even register what was happening I got shot again, this time in the hip. "Fuck!" I cursed. Sinking to one knee. Worried and angry I cast out a series out half crescent blades of fire. That had taken care of a few more of them, actually killing two of them as it sliced one in half and the other into thirds.

"Gildarts!" I cried, finding the strength to stand back up and drag my useless leg over to him. He was still on his knees, staring aghast the hole in his stomach.

"Natsu…" He wheezed, a bloody foam at the corner of his lips.

"You're alright." I tried to assure him. "You're going to be alright." I lied. I wasn't so sure Gildarts would make it through these injuries. If I were to wager in that moment, I would've wagered that he wouldn't make it. One could survive a stab through the ribs and one in the abdomen, but those injured combined I wasn't so sure. There was a nagging feeling, a certain numbness married to a thought. A thought that I had had for quite some time now, the knowledge that this was how I had imagined my own death. A death too soon, while fighting an enemy I had underestimated. But not Gildarts. He couldn't die like this, I refused to accept a world that Gildarts wasn't in. He was supposed to be my rock, a pillar, a voice of reason and understanding I could always turn to when my own body frightened me. The concept impossible to bare.

"Where are you, you Bastard!" I shouted at the empty air as I stood before Gildarts, protecting him from the unseen enemy. Most of the non-magical gang members where either incapacitated or dead, few of them where stirring to their feet. In a blind rage I sent out more blades of fire.

"Natsu! Natsu! Behind you!" Shouted Gildarts in an effort that cost him the last of his reserves, red foam leaking from the corners of his mouth. I whipped around in time to see the man materialize in front of me. This time he had a gun. And this time he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

I crouched behind the bar with nothing but my own breath to keep me company. It was ragged, and try as I might I couldn't steady it. Everybody had left me now. I could hear gunfire coming from outside, an explosion rocked the windows and doors in their frames. The sound of men burning to their supposed deaths ringing horribly in my ears. At times like these I wondered who the real enemy was, us…. Or them? It was an awful cruel death, and again I considered the souls that must lay weight on Natsu's conscious…. That laid weight on mine. Maybe Natsu was right. Maybe it was better that I not see this. As horrible as it sounded, I worried about them, but I had to trust. Trust that they knew what they were doing.

I crawled towards the end of the bar to peak around the corner. The restaurant was a war zone, with most of the tables over turned, broken plates and glasses litter the floor, spilled food and drink had been trampled on making a slimy surface that reminded me of a fraternity house on Sunday morning. There where bodies to, civilians and gang members alike. I recognized the nervous, ginger teenager among them, he was in pieces, his guts strewn across the floor. This was unmistakably Gildarts handiwork. From that moment on I understood why he always worked alone. Bile rose in my throat from the sheer violence of it. The vision of his young body, his guts and shapeless limps, mixed with the stench of burning flesh wafting in from outside. I suddenly felt very nocuous. Unable to control it, I hurled all over the floor. I stayed like that, on my hands and knees for minuets, my palms sweaty, my stomach tied up in knots.

I remembered that Natsu and Gildarts were out there, they were still fighting. I clung to that thought like a life raft. I couldn't leave them to get injured, or even die while I stayed cowering in here. I didn't care what Natsu had said, or how mad he would be. They needed me out there, even though I couldn't see what was happening I could hear it, could hear how desperately they called for each other.

Slowly I stood up and started sorting through the rubble, trying to find Grays sword that I had dropped in the commotion earlier. Unable to find it I had assumed, without anyone to hold onto it, it had dissipated backed to whatever realm Gray summoned it from. With a gasp I jerked up. There was a series of gunshots and then…. Silence. I couldn't tell if it was a good silence or a bad one. I checked my holster, with Taurus and Virgo used up I didn't have anyone left that would be useful. Aquarius can only be summoned in a body of water; god why couldn't the restaurant be by a lake! And Horologium, well I was trying to reason a way, if even remotely, that he might be useful. Perhaps to shield me as I go to them.

The sound of boots crushing on glass, followed by a sinister laugh startled me. Slowly I turned to face it, with cold dread cloaking over my body. I knew then that it had been a bad silence, a very bad silence. Natsu would have never let this man come after me unless he was seriously hurt…. Or worse.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Looks like it's just us and you now blondie." Said Mr. Lansky. The look on his faced inspired a different kind of fear. The kind of icy feel a girl gets when walking alone down a dark alley. I also knew that I was going to fight with everything I had because Natsu and Gildarts, they were out there, and they needed me. I couldn't be weak. I wouldn't let myself.

"Stay. Away. From. Me." I said through clenched teeth, snapping my whip in front of me as a warning. Mr. Lansky was unfazed. Not bothering to walk across the messy floor, he disappeared and then reappeared in front of me. His clothes had been singed and his hair-do was messed up, revealing the receding hairline he had been so careful to conceal. He was trying to crowd me. The nineteen-year-old from before was with him, his eyes kept darting to the bits of his companion left on the floor.

I raised my right arm, powering it up to whip Lanksy across his face as hard as I could. With incredible speed he caught my wrist, he twisted it harshly until I let out a cry and was forced to drop my celestial whip. He kept trying to push me backwards, but I refused to accept that. With my free hand I clawed him across the face, gouging my nails in where it counted.

"Aaarg! You'll pay for that one bitch!" He cursed, clamping a hand to his face where I had scratched him.

Before I could steady myself, brace for impact, or even have a clear thought, the teenager was on me. He socked me in the stomach, then shoved me backwards with his forearm at my throat. My back slammed hard against the wall causing me to grunt as he knocked out all my air. I could tell the kid was exhausted, he was breathing heavily and his arms shook as he held me back. My lips firmed as I leveled with him eye to eye. The look I got back was pure wrath. Hate danced in his pupils and he bared his teeth at me as I struggled against his grip. He was weaker than Lansky, but still stronger than me.

"That's right Justin." Lansky egged on from behind the kid. "This is how you get revenge. You fill that void. Fill it with her. They killed him, that's your little brother on the floor there." Both my gaze and the kids flickered to red headed boy who was in pieces on the restaurant floor. "This is how you get back at the people who did this."

I didn't dignify them with my screams. I jerked wildly under Justin's grip, he struggled to keep me contained. At one point I escaped and tried for a mad dash for the exit. Lansky got a fist full of my hair and with a force I'm surprised didn't snap my neck, slammed me into the bar. I fumbled for my keys then. A wild, primal terror had entered my body, gasping for any and every straw that might give me a chance. I knew I couldn't summon Aquarius on dry land, but I was desperate. I didn't even have my fingers over the right key before Lansky yelled. "Help me hold her down!"

Justin grabbed my arms and Lansky had my legs, I flopped like a fish on top of the bar. I worked to try an eel my hands out Justin's grip, I just needed a moment to try to grab the right key. The top of the bar was wet with spilled beer and I hoped that would be enough. I felt Lansky around my waist, a new wave of dread blanketed over me for what I knew in my heart was next. He unclasped my key holster and chucked it carelessly across the room. My whip on one end, keys on the other and neither where in by either exit.

Eventually you'll come across that moment, when you realize whether or not you're made of steel or full of fluff. Everybody thinks they're made of steel, that they'll be the last survivor on the island, that they'll do whatever it takes to win. I thought I was. I thought I was pure steel, right to the core. Although I maybe all girly, and frilly on the outside, that my insides where made up of something tougher. Turns out I'm all fluff in here to. The steel had been a façade for my squishy vulnerable insides. After all my training and conditioning, after everything. I was Barbie after all. I was all petals and pollen, no heavy metal in here.

I screamed then. With nothing left, my muscles void of even the extra oomph of adrenaline. My keys were across the room somewhere, with no idea what had happened to Natsu or any of the others. I screamed and screamed, my shrill voice ringing in my own ears, my lungs bursting with air. It was the desperate last cry of a desperate women.

"Go get something to tie her down with!" Yelled Lansky over my cries.

"What!?" Said Justin, clearly unable to hear him.

"God damn it! Would you shut up you dumb cunt!" Yelled Lansky. He slammed the butt of his gun into the side of my head. For a moment or so all I could see or feel was black.

I woke back up moments later, my head pounding with blood in my mouth and nose. I coughed and turned to spit out the contents of my mouth, that's when I realized I couldn't move very much. I was face up on a table, my arms tied under it with what felt like extension cord. My legs where tied to each leg of the table. With my brain foggy, it took a moment before I registered what was happening. There was a ringing silence, except for a slight tearing noise.

"She's awake." I heard from somewhere above me.

I felt a tug on my shirt. I looked down to see Lansky, ripping through my sweat and blood soaked silk blouse. What was happening to me dawned on me again, my brain finally catching up. I struggled against my bonds again, screaming as loud as I could, although this time my voice was so hoarse and my diaphragm so fatigued that I didn't have the volume that I needed.

"Go ahead." Grinned Lansky as he climbed on top of me. Thankfully, blessedly, he was still clothed. "Scream." He said. "There's no one around to hear you. Besides..." He lowered his face to mine, where I could examine it in greater detail. I guessed that he was in his mid-thirties, judging by the start of crow's feet around his eyes and the lines around his mouth. He wouldn't have been so bad to look at except for, he had never had braces which caused his lips to fold over his teeth in a way that reminded me of a parrot. He smelled awful like bourbon and an old foot.

"….. I like it when they struggle." He leaned even further to whisper in my ear. With nothing else left to me, I spit right in his face. Now spitting is not something I condone, it's not lady-like and not something a pretty girl should be caught doing. But I had no other options and I was clinging to every last shred of dignity I had.

Lansky recoiled and slapped me so hard across the face I saw stars and the room started to spin as my cheek felt like it was on fire. I could feel him ease back off of me and in one quick, swift tear, he ripped my bra completely off. I was now topless, bare breasts exposed, heaving hard as I tried to suck in the pain. He scooted back off me and onto the floor and whistled.

"Holy shit!" Exclaimed Justin. An evil, slimy grin spread across both of their faces, exchanging disgusting nods. Lansky was grease ball scum bag; any women with an eye for intuition could see that. He had these sort of tendencies lurking beneath the surface. This kid, Justin, he was only two or three years younger than I was, not a day over twenty. His reasoning's where different, you could tell in his eyes. For him this wasn't going to be about pleasure, this was supposed to be an outlet for his pain, for his dead brother laying on the floor. "How are we going to take her pants off with her tied up like that?" He asked.

I couldn't see his face anymore; Lansky had grown quiet for a moment, presumably thinking about this predicament. Finally, he said. "We're going to have to cut them off. There's gotta be a sheers in the kitchen."

It must have been a mark of how much of a roller coaster my last six months had been, that I didn't struggle. Six months ago I'd been wallowing over my ex-boyfriend, eating lucky charms and working at a bar for tips. My concerns about things like manicures, parties, and dying my hair just the right shade of honey blonde seemed a lifetime away. Laying there as these men cut off my pants with a pair of kitchen scissors while being tied to a table really put into perspective how frivolous my life had been. All I could think of was how right my dad had been right all along, and how I should've spent more time with him. I thought of Natsu, worried about him but at the same time deeply shamed for what I was allowing.

Now I know what you're thinking. How dare I give up. Sometimes I think that same thing to myself. If I had only got in one more jab or a head butt, screamed some more, anything, maybe it would've changed the outcome. But after a while, when your limbs feel like dead weights, and your throat is raw from screaming, giving in seems really tempting. What if I just let them? Will they let me go? If I close my eyes and pretend I'm somewhere else, will this whole thing be over sooner?

They were successfully down to my panties now, at least grateful to myself for not having put on a thong this morning. The two men were staring down at my almost naked body, stretched across the table, my long hair sticking to my clammy skin. As Justin hastily pulled his shirt over his shoulders, I turned my head to the side, hot, silent tears sliding down the sides of my face. I looked out one of the shattered windows, the sun disappearing over the horizon leaving a warm dusty glow over the earth. Morbidly I wondered if this was the last time I would ever see the sun.

A shadow loomed over me. The lights started to buzz and flicker. Briefly, I, for some reason, was reminded of the night I met Natsu on the street. Just as Justin had curled a finger under my soft, baby blue panties, someone exploded into the room.

"Get. The. Fuck. Off of her…" Growled someone. It was a guttural sound that seemed like a chorus in a hall of echoes. His words rang off the walls, and as the soft restaurant lights surrendered, the room was filled with nothing but the dusky orange light of the setting sun. Shadows expanded, enveloping the whole room and, unable to sit up to see properly, I could sense rather than see that they were moving. Something unworldly was slithering among the shadows, and not something…. Somethings. There was multiple.

"Oh not you again!" Groaned Lansky. Justin had scurried off of me. The shadows around the room started writhing and wriggling more intensely.

Then there was a fight I could not see, and didn't care to. My mind had slipped into a dark place, having faced a fate worse than death moments ago, I hadn't allowed for hope. For all I knew this was the start of something worse. So I laid there in a pitiful state, no longer caring what happened to me. I would like to blame the trauma and violence of the day, or perhaps all the concussions I'd suffered not just today but in the past few months, but deep down I knew it was something more than that. I had been totally and utterly defeated, mind body and soul. I was nothing but fluff.

Eventually my two assailants scurried off, slipping over all the debris on the floor in their haste to get out the door. "Oh Lucy…." Said a voice full of sorrow and regret. Again, I couldn't turn to face who it was, my thousand-yard stare drifted off to the last sliver of sun that sank beneath the horizon. I felt someone cut the cords that bonded me to the table, and still yet I didn't have the strength to move, to turn my head. I couldn't face who it was that had saved me.

With an immeasurable amount of care, he peeled me up off the table. Finally, unable to avoid yet another heart wrenching devastation for the day I finally looked up to see who it was. To my complete shock, it wasn't Natsu. A warm tidal wave of relief flooded into my body, giving me the strength to move. To cry.

"Gray!" I breathed, and upon realizing who it was wrapped my arms around his neck. Not caring that I was pretty much naked except for my underwear I clung to him. Real sobs shook my entire body and like a small child I nuzzled into his chest, my fists curled by my face. He wrapped his arms around me, one of his hands cradling the back of my head. For a long while we stood like that, him silently holding me while I cried and cried. It was the empathy and understanding I didn't know I had needed in that moment that put my shattered soul back together.

Natsu would have killed them. He wouldn't have turned to look upon my face until he was bathed in blood. It was who he was, I couldn't fault him for it, his fierce loyalty was part of the reason I loved him so. His temper was so red hot, so hostile that, had he walked into that scene, it would have consumed him. And despite his best efforts, when he did finally turn around to look at me, I guessed that judgement and suspicion would have swarmed in his eyes. But not Gray. When I looked in Grays eyes I only saw love, and sympathy. In a way that was quiet, that didn't ask questions. He was just there, when I had needed him most.

"Oh Lucy…" He said again seemingly at a loss of words for what to say, despair and compassion laced in his voice.

She felt smaller in my arms than I thought she would. Lucy was above average height, her personality and hair were so big she always seemed to take up a lot of space. For months, in the secret of the night I had dreamed of this moment, but never had I ever wished for it to be like this. In my heart of hearts, I had committed the worse sin a best friend could. I did my best to try to deny it, to distract myself with other things, sometimes that thing was Juvia. It wasn't fair to Juvia… or to Natsu, or even to Lucy.

Lucy, I'm sure was oblivious to my secret, I worked hard to keep it that way. But sometimes my feelings would slip through the cracks, like they are now. I hated myself for thinking it, for thinking that way after whatever horrors she'd endured today. It was hard for me to ignore the way her breasts pressed against my chest, how impossibly soft her skin was.

"I'm so sorry…" I was finally able to say after what felt like an eternity of racking my brain for something, anything, that would make this better. Upon coming to the realization that nothing would, I selfishly settled for what I was feeling. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner." Guilt diffused across my emotions.

I had chased Mr. Dillinger through the woods out back, despite his age he was in pretty good shape. We eventually emerged onto a highway on the other side of the forest, where by pure chance he was picked up by hitch hiking before I could reach him. I called Laxus to tell him the make, model, and license plate number of the car he got in, who would then in turn call the FBI and Police where an Amber Alert could be made. Defeated I had back tracked my way back to the restaurant, with the intention of helping clean up, having easily assumed Natsu and Gildarts would make short work of the gang. Never in a million years when I opened the door from the kitchen to the main restaurant did I expect to see what I did.

"Thank you." She said through her crying. "Thank you for getting here… before… they you know…" She couldn't finish that sentence, instead we both let the unsaid hang in air.

"It's alright Lucy. I've got you now." I say resting my chin on top of her head. "You're alright now." I cooed. My chest expanding as I was the one she was cuddling up to this time, not Natsu. Natsu, my best friend, who always came first in everything and what was worse, never rubbed it in my face. Not once. Coming in second place grew old after a while, and jealous would rear its ugly head, eventually. Especially when it came to Lucy.

Suddenly she ripped away from me, her eyes red and swollen, blood crusted at the corner of her mouth and nose. "Natsu!... Gildarts!" She exclaimed. "I don't know what happened to them! We have to find them Gray!"

I nodded. I knew that if I had found Lucy in this state, I could except to find Natsu and Gildarts in a worse one. "Alright." I say, trying to keep my voice as calm and even as possible, for her sake. "But you can't go out the way you are…here" I say unbuttoning my shirt and draping it around her for her to button up on her own. "At least wear this." Those bastards had at least left her shoes on, and my shirt on her was big enough on her to at least cover all the important bits.

"I think I last heard them from the parking lot." She says, scooting herself off the table and wiping the moisture off her face.

"Alright." I say gently. "I'll go look for them, you stay here."

"NO!" She says very vehemently. "I'm going with you."

Detecting a bit of fear for being left alone, I agreed. We picked our way through the destroyed restaurant together, and I didn't miss that Lucy was clinging onto one of my arms. Despite myself, my heart swelled at even this smallest of gesture of confidence.

The parking lot wasn't a parking lot anymore; it was a crater created by one of Gildarts explosions. By some miracle my Lexus teetered just on the edge of it, covered in mud and dust, but at least not totaled and in the crater like a lot of other cars and trucks.

"Look! Down there!" Exclaimed Lucy, pointed at a heap in the middle of the crater. It was dark now, and we had nothing but the faint rays of the street lights to go off of, but even so we could make out a mound of pink hair.

Together we rushed forward, my heart thudding rapidly against my ribs. We slipped and slid through the mud to get to them, Lucy seeming to have recovered a second wind having seen Natsu like that. It worried me, Natsu was our shield and our sword, not just for me but for all of Fairy Tail. He was our heavy. If ever someone got themselves in a situation that was over their heads, Natsu was always able to get us out, albeit in his own destructive way. For him to be this incapacitated, it didn't look good, and why hadn't he healed yet? Gildarts on the other hand, he was human, like the rest of us, he didn't have super human healing powers. Although none of us would ever tell him so, Gildarts was starting to slow down. From the outside looking in, you would never know it because he was so strong and talented, but for those of us who know him best, we've been noticing a hitch in his giddy up lately.

Lucy reached Natsu first, her legs and arms covered in dirt. Natsu was flopped over Gildarts, both of them half buried. She shook his shoulder as if she was trying to wake him up. When nothing happened she became more frantic. "Natsu… Natsu!? Natsu!" She cried rolling him over into her lap. He was riddled with bullet holes, his sweatshirt and jeans soaked with blood, his mouth gapped open when she moved him. I looked down at Gildarts, he'd been stabbed through his hoodie twice, the worst of which cut through his abdomen. Both of them were still alive, passed out due to blood loss. Neither had much time.

"Gray! We have to get them an ambulance!" Lucy cried, tearing her eyes away from Natsu's face to look at me. What I would give to see that look on her face for me.

"For Gildarts." I say. "We've got to get Natsu into my car. Come on, help me lift him."

Lucy looked at me like I had sprouted an extra head. "Are you crazy!? Look at him Gray! I don't even know how many there are!" Judging by the scene Natsu had jumped in front of the firing squad to save Gildarts. He'd saved Gildarts life, let's hope it didn't cost him his own.

"No! No hospitals for Natsu. Not ever! We've got to get him back to the guild hall, Wendy can patch him up."

"Gray! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard…"

"….Listen to me Lucy. He can't go. They won't know what to do with him. The healing. They'll ask questions. He'll be taken away if we bring him to the hospital. He's the last one… we can't let them have him. Not ever. He'll make it. Promise. Look, he's already stopped bleeding, but those bullets need to come out for it to heal properly. It's Gildarts we've got to worry about. Come on. Help me get them out of this pit."

I'd stuffed Natsu into the cramped back seat of my Lexus and called an ambulance for Gildarts. Then I called Laxus, gave him a brief update on the situation, which hospital they were sending Gildarts to and that we were on our way with Natsu.

The EMT's jumped into action upon the sight of Gildarts, hooking him up to all kinds of tubes and monitors, getting him on a stretcher. "How did the bleeding stop?" Asked one of the EMT's. I shrugged, I had suspected that Natsu's body draped over his could have something to do with it, couldn't tell them that without telling them about Natsu. The EMT looked out into the parking lot riddled with bodies and the partially destroyed restaurant. "I don't know what's gotten into you guilds lately, this is the third call like this I've made this week. Don't you people know that these people have families? Do you ever even give that a consideration before you go and blow them all up?"

"Yeah. Well. They attacked first." I supplement, not really knowing how to answer that, nor having any patience left to argue with a volunteer. We were just doing our job, and if there where casualties, well, that was part of the job to. "You'd never ask a soldier how many people they've killed. How many families they've torn apart. We're hired to keep the peace, what people like you don't realize is that peace and freedom come at a price."

"Hmm …. Maybe the good just isn't outweighing the bad anymore." Before I could reply he changed the subject. "Want us to take the girl to?" He asked, gesturing over towards Lucy. She had been shivering so badly that they had wrapped her in a blanket and given her a bottle of water.

"Nah." I say. "She's alright, just shaken up a little. She'll come with me. Doesn't take a $7,000 ride in a red truck to tell ya she needs a hot shower and some rest." The EMT nodded, seeming to accept that answer as he latched up the back of the vehicle after having wheeled Gildarts into it.

As soon as the ambulance turned on its sirens we dashed for my Lexus, taking off in the opposite direction. I put the pedal to the floor, determined to make it home in half the time it took us to get here, although I silently cursed realizing we would have to stop for gas.

Lucy kept turning around in her seat to look at Natsu with so much care and love in her eyes I felt a pang of insidious envy. Eventually she seemed to accept that she had done all she could do for the moment and, resigned herself to looking out the window, watching the lights outside whip by. We were dead silent for over an hour. What do you say after all of that? But there was something that I noticed. Something that was eating me.

"Those holes through your shoulder…" I say finally, cutting the stretching silence. "They're not from today are they?" I had a strong suspicion, and it made me sick to my stomach.

It was a moment before she responded carefully with. "No, they're not."

"….Natsu do that to you?" I say though clenched teeth, my grip tightening on the steering wheel as I decidedly focused my gaze on the road. How dare he!? How dare he be the one have her heart in his hands and then treat her like that…. If it where me…. It was almost imperceptible but out of my peripheral vision I could see her nod.

We were silent again for a while before I pulled into a gas station and shut the car off. For a moment, with my hand on the door, and biting the inside of my cheek I said. "You deserve better than that Lucy…. If I ever find out he hurt, you again…" I couldn't look at her, knowing my face would betray the emotions I tried so hard to conceal. Unable to finish that sentence because, quite frankly I didn't know what I would say. "Just… anyways..." I fumbled over my words, Lucy refusing to look at me and instead her expression unseeing out of my passenger window. Giving up I sighed finally deciding on. "You know you can always talk to me about it…about Natsu…. okay? I know not everyone will understand him, but I do." She gave a faint nod before I opened the door and started pumping gas.

Once we were back on the highway and the city lights glistened on the horizon Lucy said.

"Hey Gray."

"Yeah, Lucy."

"Don't… don't tell anyone about how you found me okay?"

"Lucy…" I almost growled, having already began planning the revenge Natsu and I would inflict upon those mounds of flesh that had the audacity to call themselves men.

"Please." She pleaded, placing a hand over top on mine on the gear shift, her warm brown eyes melting into my soul. With a look like that I could refuse her nothing, but it would mean betraying my best friend. I tore my eyes away from the road to look at her face longer, saving the moment, revealing in the electricity I felt, one sided though it was.

"Ah, fuck Lucy." I say, caving.

"Please!" She said again desperately. In her face I could see all the pain, all the shame and humiliation she had endured, and as much as I wanted to squash the life out of the men who had caused it, I also knew that it would only hurt her more if anyone else found out. I couldn't be the person to cause her any more pain, and in this I could be something for her Natsu couldn't be. Together, we would keep our sinful secret. I was the world's worst best friend.

"Alright." I relented.

….

Laxus ran out in the driveway to meet us, and he helped me carry Natsu into the guild hall, and arm slung over each shoulder. We laid him down on a cleared off table in the guild hall, which was empty except for Wendy, as everyone else has rushed off to the hospital for Gildarts. Face up, his breathing was shallow, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his eye lids twitching. My stomach dropped as I took stock of all the bullet holes. One in his shoulder, one in his arm, one in his hip and two in his legs. Had he been any other man, he would have bled to death by now. But he wasn't any other man. He was Natsu Dragneel. Each point of entry had red reptilian skin around the edges, and the edges looks swollen and purulent, as though his body had tried to heal around the led.

Wendy shot Laxus a nervous glance and I had to stop Lucy from trying to crawl onto the table with him. "Do what you can." Said Laxus firmly to Wendy, who nodded and sucked in a nervous breath. She started with the one on his shoulder, using magic to carefully extract the bullet from his tissue. Her brow beaded with sweat and her tongue peaked out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. The rest of us stared at her, waiting with bated breath. The seconds ticked by and nothing happened. A scowl marred Wendy's features and she brushed sweaty hairs from her face.

"What!? What is it?" Said Laxus, his composure impressively cool. Although the two adoptive brothers had their differences, I knew that deep down Laxus loved Natsu more than anything. Lucy on the other hand had her nails clawing into my forearm, her face as white as a ghost and I was worried she was moments away from feinting. She'd been through more than all of us today and I wasn't sure when it was the last time she'd eaten.

"It's Natsu." Wendy said, her voice strained with effort. "I think…. I think I'm going to have to pull the bullets out manually. My magic… it's not working. He's repelling whatever I try."

Laxus nodded. "If I remember correctly dragons are resistant to magic."

"But my magic's worked on him before." Supplied Wendy, confused.

"It's gotta be the scales. That's the only thing that's different. Maybe it's the scales that are resistant."

"That makes sense." I say.

"Then what are we going to do!?" Lucy said worriedly, her hands shaking.

Wendy looked right at Laxus as she said. "I'll have to pull them out with foreceps, but the skin has swollen over the edges. It'll be painful, and if my magic won't work on him there's nothing I can do to relieve the pain." She looked at the three of us taking stock of our situation, I could see a plan develop in her kind eyes. "Lucy." She said turning to Lucy who perked up, eager to do something that would help Natsu. "Go into the kitchens, start boiling some rags in water."

"Right." She said as I let her go and she ran for the kitchen.

"Now Laxus, you get his arms, Gray get his legs." Ordered Wendy. A part of me finding it a bit silly that two grown ass men were taking instruction from a teenage girl, and if we all made it through this okay, I made a mental note to pick on her for this later.

"What's the water for?" Asked Laxus as we all got into position, Wendy using a lighter to sterilize a pair of tweezers in preparation.

"To get Lucy out of here. She looks about two seconds away from hitting the deck and Natsu isn't going to like this… alright you two. Ready!? One! Two! Three!" With a grunt of effort Wendy dug around in Natsu's skin, trying to get her tool clasped firmly around the bullet.

Bolting to life Natsu screamed, writhing on the table, Laxus and I held him down with effort. Wendy quickly shoved her hands over Natsu's mouth to dampen his screaming so Lucy wouldn't hear. Natsu's eyes returned to consciousness for a moment before passing back out, his breathing rapid. Without the bullet there anymore the scales dissolved back into flesh, and blood welled in the wound. Wendy quickly shoved gauze in it, working to put pressure on it as she had Laxus lift up his torso so she could bandage it.

"Alright. One down." She said breathlessly, blowing thin strands of black hair from her face. "Four more to go, we'd better hurry before Lucy comes back."

And so the process began, for the ones on Natsu's arms and legs she but a tourniquet on, making the bandages much cleaner, but the ones on his shoulder and hip she couldn't so those ones bled through. It was on the last bullet on his leg that Lucy emerged from the kitchen, holding a big pot with oven mitts on her hands. Her timing was inopportune as at that moment Natsu sat up again, and Wendy had been too slow to stifle his painful howls.

"Natsu!" She gasped as she lost her grip on the steaming pot and it crashed to the floor splattering boiling water everywhere. Unfazed by her burns Lucy clambered across the room, reaching Natsu just as he faded back into unconsciousness.

Finishing up Wendy said. "He'll be alright, but he needs rest. Now that the bullets are out his body can do its super healing thing on its own, my guess is he'll sleep for a while." Laxus and I carried him to his bedroom and laid him on his bed, Lucy tucking him in.

"Thank you." She said to Laxus, Wendy and I, exhaustion plain across her face.

"No need to thank us." Said Wendy, giving Lucy a hug. "It's what guilds are for."

"We'll uh… leave you two alone." Said Laxus a little uncomfortably.

I waited for the other two to leave the room before I said to Lucy in a low voice. "If…. If you need to talk to somebody about what happened to you tonight…. Just… just know I'm here. I know you might not believe it, but I'm a pretty good listener."

"Thanks Gray." She says, once again tearing her eyes away from Natsu to look at me. "For everything."

"What are friends for?" I shrugged, and noticing Lucy's attention turned back to Natsu's face I said "Good night, Lucy." Slowly closing the door. Before the door could latch into place I spied through the thin crack as I watch Lucy climb from Natsu's arm chair into the bed with him. Snuggling into the crevice of his arm, as if by her mere presence she could heal him. Hell, I knew if she held me like that, it would heal me. Another pang jealously burned in my gut as I closed the door on them, leaving the two alone together until Natsu woke up. I turned around to meet Laxus who was shrugging his coat on, startled as I hoped he hadn't caught me spying on them.

"I'm going to go see Gildarts. You coming?" He asked. Unwilling to lay by myself in the room next-door while the girl of my dreams cried hot tears over the injuries of my best friend, I agreed to come.