Harry barely had time to gather the barest of essentials for what seemed to be a rather long mission before he found himself rushed out of his house that morning. Kosmos brought up the tail of their group with a scowl firmly in place that Harry doubted would be removed until Natsu and Happy had been cowed by Erza. Erza seemed to be the only person capable of keeping the two in check for any length of time. It took them about fifteen minutes to make it through town. Harry was surprised to see more than just Erza waiting for them though. Lucy was there giving them a warm smile and to her right, standing a fair distance from Erza, was a shirt-less guy Harry was pretty sure was named after a color... if he was remembering right. And there was about a thirty percent chance he wasn't.
"Glad you could make it." Erza said by way of greeting.
"Try not to be so late next time." Shirt-less guy quipped with an annoyed look at Natsu.
"Next time could you send someone less ugly to get us?" Kosmos asked petulantly, shooting Natsu her own heated glare. Natsu either didn't catch it or was completely unaffected by the girl's anger because he'd moved on to picking a fight with the other boy. The words grew more heated as Harry shifted his attention back to Erza.
Erza frowned minutely. "We must develop a sense of camaraderie among all members of the guild." was Erza's no nonsense reply to Kosmos. "Why, just learn from Gray and Natsu."
'Harry watched the two teenage boys flinch at being called out by name. He supposed the half naked boy was named Gray then. He was right about it being a color. He marked that win down in his mental score book.
"When they were younger they used to fight any time they got near each other." she turned their way and they both snapped to attention. "Now they're the best of friends."
The boys wrapped arms around each other looking intensely nervous. "The best of friends. Right Natsu?" Gray asked shakily.
"Aye!"
"It's fine." Harry waved off the demonstration. "They just broke a table. I fixed it. No big deal."
Erza frowned. Natsu looked like he'd broken out in a rather fierce sweat.
"What can you tell me about this job?" Harry waved the flyer around. He'd held onto it out of curiosity. "The flaming beast of Clover."
Erza seemed to put Natsu's act of vandalism to the side much to his delight as she focused in on explaining the job at hand.
"It seems the town of Clover is being terrorized by some giant creature that's setting all their fields on fire. They said the creature was coming South from the Waas forest. Each time it approaches it comes closer to the town. They're requesting immediate help so they can prevent further crop damage and loss of life."
"They don't know what the thing is?" Lucy asked uncertainly.
Erza shook her head and started walking, a clear signal they should all follow. "No one knows what the beast is. That's why it's so concerning."
"Do you think it could be a dragon?" Natsu piped up practically vibrating with excitement. "It could be Igneel!"
"Igneel would set a bunch of crops on fire and kill people?" Lucy replied uncertainly.
"Who's Igneel?" Harry asked with confusion.
Natsu grinned manically at Harry like he hadn't heard Lucy's question. "My dad!" he replied with an almost blinding amount of warmth in his voice. Harry was thoroughly confused.
"I'm... um..." Harry tried to think of a polite way to phrase his question. "Your father is a giant fire breathing monster?"
"He's a dragon!" Natsu supplied happily. Harry had to stop for a moment.
He had to be giving Natsu the most incredulous look he'd ever given anyone to date. Erza gave his confusion a smile.
"His adoptive father was a dragon."
Harry puzzled through that. It made slightly more sense he supposed than Natsu's biological father being a dragon, but it still left a lot of unanswered questions. Like, how does a dragon feed a baby? Or, who changed Natsu's diapers? So many questions. This world was so odd sometimes.
Although, after meeting the dragons that had come through the gate in Crocus he fully believed that dragons were capable of enough higher thought nowadays to look at a human baby and think of it as more than 'lunch'. Harry took a moment to reevaluate his world views in light of the new information that the hyper kid that lived next door was raised by a dragon. Then he started walking again.
"We'll take the train to Clover and then go North on foot. The beast's patterns are fairly consistent. If we're quick we may be able to head the beast off before it gets too close to the town."
Harry nodded along as Erza explained her strategy. Apparently Gray was an ice wizard, which could potentially be useful against a fire enemy, assuming Gray's ice was strong enough to stand against the fire. Natsu ate fire, Lucy had several spirits capable of lending a hand in the situation, Erza herself was incredibly strong if the situation came down to brute strength, and Kosmos was a good fit for both fighting and helping the town recover from the devastating fires. The only person whose power he couldn't immediately place as useful was his own. Not by the standards they had to judge him on at least. They hadn't seen a lot of his spell work. He was a virtual unknown to them. Sure, he'd helped them down a dragon in the capital during the attack, but they had no guarantee they were dealing with a dragon at all. He was curious what made Erza decide to invite him along. Was it just a test of his versatility?
"Is everything okay?"
Harry glanced at Kosmos. Leave it to her to notice he'd drifted into his own thoughts. He gave her a smile and a nod. She seemed to take the reassurance at face value but she still gave him a lingering look before focusing back in on Erza's in depth talk about battle armor that Lucy had somehow sparked.
Travel went smoothly, all things considered. The group Harry and Kosmos were joining seemed to be a well oiled machine. Or at the very least they'd learn to accommodate each other's weaknesses. It was obvious they worked together quite a lot. As they approached the train and Natsu had started to raise a fuss about them just walking the whole way Erza had landed a swift punch to the gut and the kid had gone down hard. Lucy assured Harry that was normal as he'd started to object to the treatment. Though she did turn to Erza herself and remind her of some 'flute incident' that Erza seemed to have completely forgotten if the blank stare Lucy received was any indication.
The train ride wasn't particularly long but Lucy explained that Natsu was very sensitive to motion sickness. Erza was just trying to 'make the ride easier' for the dragon slayer... apparently. Harry frowned but figured if the treatment hadn't seriously injured the kid up to that point it likely wasn't going to do much this time around.
They disembarked the vehicle in the town of Clover and the tension in the air was palpable immediately. People moved hurriedly from place to place. There seemed to be no children in the streets, and lots of the shops in town seemed to have boarded up.
"I'll make contact with the client." Erza said, watching the few people out and about with a frown. "We'll meet at the North gates in an hour. See if anyone has information about the monster."
The remaining group members made eye contact for a moment. Natsu grabbed Lucy's arm and immediately the two broke off into their own little sub group even as Lucy protested being dragged away. Gray seemed to decide that meant he should go his own way. Harry bounced in front of the ice wizard before he could get too far away.
"Hey, Gray right?"
Gray gave a questioning but obviously uncomfortable look. "Yeah."
"It's... well we don't really know much about the monster. It's not really safe to go wandering around alone, right? Why don't you stay with Kosmos and me?"
Gray's gave him a surprised glance, eyes darting back to Kosmos briefly as well before shaking his head. "Nah man. We're just hanging around town right now. It's fine."
Harry put a hand on either of Gray's shoulders and took a deep breath before giving his best pleading look. "Please?"
Now Gray looked panicked. He shifted like he wanted to forcibly remove Harry's hands but was unsure if it was wise.
"He has a terrible sense of direction." Kosmos piped up. "And he doesn't want me to scold him again for getting us lost."
Harry gave him a pathetic look, but nodded. "If no one came with me I'd probably end up in another town sooner than I'd find the North gate."
Gray shrugged Harry's hands off his shoulders. "Fine, just don't get so clingy. It creeps me out."
"You're a good kid." Harry said patting the teenager on the back.
"Whatever."
The three walked around as reluctant companions. Harry was happy to take the back seat and let Gray lead them around. For the most part no one really seemed interested in talking. Every time they'd ask someone a question they'd get deflected. Harry could tell it was grating on Gray's nerves quite a bit.
"It's been nearly an hour. Maybe we should start heading to the meet up spot." Kosmos suggested after what had to be their fifteenth or sixteenth unsuccessful interview.
Gray nodded in acceptance. They could all see this was a lost cause. "Should be this way." he motioned down a narrower side street. As they approached a small figure came barreling out and didn't have time to change course before slamming straight into Gray, knocking them both over.
Harry hastily pulled up a young boy with blonde hair as Kosmos offered Gray a hand. "Watch it kid!" Gray yelled with irritation.
Harry took one look at the kid's face and lost what little amusement he'd had at the situation. "You okay? You seem a little freaked out." The kid seemed to be working himself up further as he stared directly at Harry's guild mark. Harry wasn't entirely sure what about the Fairy Tail guild mark was making the kid so anxious. The kid wrenched his eyes from the mark to Harry's face. Tears were growing on the sides of the kid's eyes, but he still reeled back and kicked Harry as hard as he could in the shin. The wizard was caught so off guard that the pain barely registered as the kid took off again.
"Get back here you little jerk!" Gray called after the retreating figure, but he didn't move to run after him.
"You okay?" Kosmos asked, though she seemed more amused than worried as she looked at Harry rubbing his leg.
"Yeah..." Harry replied distantly. The kid's reaction had been strange. It bugged him more than the kick had.
"We should get going." Kosmos reminded the two.
They weren't far from the North gate at all. It took them a grand total of perhaps five minutes to walk over. They didn't bump into any more children, or anyone else for that matter. This part of town seemed to be deserted. Most likely because of how close it was to the attacks. And now that they were on the North side they could see some of the overwhelming damage. Just beyond the town laid acres and acres of farmland and most of it had been razed to the ground. It was a miracle the attacks hadn't hit the town yet, but Harry doubted it had much to do with luck. There had to be a reason the monster kept retreating and coming back. It didn't sound mindless.
They were only waiting a few minutes before Natsu and Happy turned up, Lucy in tow. Lucy looked absolutely livid.
"Is everything okay?" Harry asked taking in the happy go lucky attitudes on the boy and his cat in contradiction to Lucy's.
"This idiot," the pointed a shaking finger at Natsu. "Threatened to set someone on fire because they wouldn't talk to us. And then the town police started chasing us!"
"Come on it wasn't that bad!" Natsu defended happily.
"Did you find anything out?" Kosmos asked hopefully.
"Nothing!" Natsu laughed.
"Anyone seen Erza yet?" Gray asked.
Harry did find it a bit strange she wasn't there. It had to have been over an hour at this point, and she seemed the punctual type.
"Maybe she's gone on ahead?" Natsu suggested, looking excited to head out.
"She wouldn't have done that without telling someone would she?" Kosmos asked the three who knew her better.
Lucy laughed a bit nervously. "Hard to say."
"Should we wait a little while and see if she's just running behind? Maybe the client is just really talkative." Harry suggested.
"Awww! I wanna go fight something!" Natsu protested, loudly.
"Chill out!" Gray snapped.
"Make me ice princess!" Flames burst to life around Natsu's fists.
Gray opened his mouth to retaliate but was cut off by an ground shaking roar. On the horizon Harry could make out a quickly growing shape blotting out their view of the forest in the far distance.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Natsu called excitedly and ran toward the thing.
"Guess we can't wait around for Erza then." Harry sighed and he was pretty sure he heard Lucy lament that very fact. He took off after Natsu and he could tell the others were right behind him.
The question of the moment became how far from the town could they keep the behemoth thing, and it was BIG. Harry thought it was easily twice the size of the dragon they'd fought in Crocus. As it came closer he had to admit it had some fairly dragonish features too. But he'd never seen a dragon with fur before and he was fairly certain there was golden fur springing in tufts from the mammoth creature. It was moving fast enough that the fur was flattened to its hide but he could still see it waving slightly.
Harry stopped as he reached the edge of a field. There was still a fair amount of distance between himself and the thing, but this seemed as good a place as any to start throwing spells to see what would stick. Kosmos stopped on his left, her blue dress billowing out as air from the creatures wings buffeted all around them. She made eye contact and nodded to show she was watching his back. Lucy stopped to his right and started fumbling through her keys obviously trying to decide what the best match up was going to be.
Harry started by throwing several barriers up. He made them about twenty feet long and half as high. Hopefully if the thing decided to shoot flames the shields would keep them from roasting alive. He saw Kosmos fling an arm forward and a thick set of roots flew forward snaring one of the beasts arms as it came too close.
That seemed to be everyone's cue to let loose. Natsu was hurling flames at the thing. Gray was trying to spear it with ice. Neither seemed to be doing much. The flames bounced off its tough scales and the ice splintered where it hit. The thing did seem to notice though. It gave another almighty roar and swiped with its free arm almost clipping Natsu who was pulled out of the way just in time by an attentive Happy.
"I'll leave the barrier up. See if you can get its other arm." Harry called as he rushed past Kosmos and through his own protective spell. He could see more roots attempting to snare the thrashing arm. He cheered just a bit as they succeeded. Good job Kosmos!
Time to see if the thing had similar weak points to a dragon. He threw a conjuctiva at its eye as he raced to the side. He didn't much want to make himself its primary target now that it was landlocked. The thing screamed in pain and he shot a severing charm down its throat which caused a gagging sound followed by a snarl.
That had done less than he'd hoped. It seemed he'd have to step up his game to take the thing down. "Natsu!" Harry called, attracting the boy's attention. "I'm going to distract it. Aim for the throat!"
Natsu grinned manically and took off for the front of the thing. Hopefully he'd distract enough for Harry to get in position as well. Gray slid over near Harry trying to freeze the thing's back legs. It wasn't a bad idea. The less mobile the thing was the better their position would be.
Harry transfigured the ground into a simple ramp and threw himself from it to land on the creature's back. He ran quickly toward the head going through his spells mentally. He settled on one he knew would do some damage. He slid into place along the creature's nose and watched the giant, golden eyes focus on the closer of two threats. Before it could decide to do anything Harry yelled out, "Sectusempra!" and directed as much energy as he could into the eye that was roughly as tall as he was. It had the desired effect, blood rained and the thing cried out, earning itself a throat full of whatever spell Natsu had aimed there.
What Harry hadn't planned for however was the thing to rear back. He heard the deafening crack of Kosmos's plants ripping apart. He was sure she would have been fortifying them the whole time. It had to have exhibited a colossal amount of strength to sever both at once. Harry lost his footing and began to slide along the thing's skull. He was gaining momentum as he slid. The thing was standing almost straight up. He had to be at least sixty feet in the air. If he hit the ground going this fast it was going to hurt, a lot.
Something snagged his wrist and he cried out as the fine bones there snapped with effort of stopping his velocity. He grit his teeth and looked up and was immediately horrified. The hair like substance covering the thing wasn't just simple hair. It was moving to pull him back. It looked like the arms of an octopus, curling around his arm and pulling him. He was thoroughly creeped out and was certain he'd prefer the six story drop to being held by... whatever the hell those were. He pushed his feet against the tough, thankfully hair free, skin beneath him and tugged at his injured arm.
In a sudden move that sent Harry's feet out from under him the beast broke free of Gray's ice and twisted its body away from the group of wizards. Without a proper way to break his fall Harry's face smashed straight into the beast's scales, knocking him out cold.
Hello. I am back. The next chapter is already mostly done so don't worry. No 9 months gaps on that cliffhanger.
Apologies for the really long delay. A lot changed in my life very abruptly and although things are better now than they were before. I wasn't so sure I would be okay.
Life is rough guys.
I will eventually pick back up my other works too, but I'm easing myself into this.
Thanks for the likes, comments, favorites, and follows during my long absence.
It's nice to be back.
Til Next Time
~Kanathia
