Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Fairy Tail, the rights to them belong to Hiro Mashima. Not me.
Spellbound voice
Natsu kept right on steering the beast he was currently mounted upon the back of.
The monster's large paws thundered as they slammed into the ground with each charging step, the beast snorted in an exerted manner and growled as it ran with its current rider tugging hard on its back fur to steer it from left to right.
The Fairy tail wizard with pink hair ground his fangs so hard that sparks shot out from the sheer severity of the friction. His eyes had never stopped being narrowed with rage, his eyes seemed to refuse to change back into their normal obsidian orbs and were instead diamond-shaped with a jade green colour with the pupils and irises slitted, his arm and leg muscles bunched together and tightened, angry veins pulsated against his forehead, sweat stuck to his skin. His heart was in his throat the entire time as he heard the crashing of thunder rumble the castle inside, his worry and anxieties always at its peak.
None of that actually mattered to him, though, since all he could think about was Lucy...
Ever since he had read that confession of hers in that letter she'd left behind, his heart felt as though a hole had been ripped in it and the only way to fill it was to...he didn't know what but he knew that Lucy was involved with whatever it was. He had never realised that she felt that way towards him. He would have been lying if he didn't have some attraction towards the Stellar wizard.
But that wasn't even the point.
When that yellow flash of light happened earlier, the Dragon slayer knew that it had something to do with Lucy and almost nothing could convince him otherwise.
Natsu bounced with each and every charging step the ursine-like-beast took but he kept a very tight hold on the fistfuls of fur he was gripping on to to keep the monster charging forth like a bull. His breaths hissed out through his gritted fangs and his eyes burned from a lack of blinking, his heart pounded hard and thumped against his skull.
It was painful.
He gasped and his eyes shot wide open when, in the meantime, a painful cluster of memories burst into his mind that started striking his psyche like a bolt of lightning. The voices of Lucy, Happy and himself echoed through his brain as a multitude of different occasions of the things Lucy had said all came together and pounded through his skull and rang in his sharp ears.
All those memories came flooding back to him like a tidal wave.
—-
"Is your match about to start?"
"Yup and I'm gonna win it for sure!"
"Natsu, I believe in you. I always have from the moment I joined the guild..."
"Thanks! That means a lot to me!"
—-
"C'mon, Lucy, we are not gonna go out crying!"
"Fairy Tail never gives up the fight!"
—-
"She's our best friend and teammate! The one who completes us!"
—-
"Thanks for saving my butt back there, Lucy."
"U-Um, sure don't mention it."
—-
"Don't worry about me, just keep running and don't look back!"
"Nngh...N-No way..."
*Screams*
"I refuse to run away, I-I won't do it. I'd rather stay here with you, I can't think of anything that would make me happier..."
—-
"If that creep hurt a hair on Lucy's head then I'll gladly burn him into a pile of ashes!" He growled to himself internally.
Natsu was snapped out of his violently forced lightning strike of memories as his eyes widened in horror as he quickly picked up on a sound, his sharp Dragon slayer hearing picking up on the foreign noise that echoed through the hallways. The fire wizard's expression was one of pure shock as a sudden sound carried through the wind and found its way into his ears.
It was a peculiar noise...but it was a noise that made his heart pound.
A loud high-pitched ringing...
...a whistle?
Natsu froze as realisation hit hard at that moment.
The whistle he gave Lucy...!
He lifted his head and sniffed the air, his nose quickly picking up that single scent that seemed to overwhelm the entire area; as he approached his destination, that specific scent grew stronger and stronger and he found the scent concerning.
It was the faint yet flickering smell of vanilla and cherries.
That was Lucy's scent!
Natsu pulled hard on the beast's fur, signalling it to come to a screeching halt.
It was only when it did just that that he disembarked from the monster's back and started to let his heightened senses guide him to his friend since he managed to inhale her scent through his nostrils. Judging by how strong the scent was, he knew that he was getting close to finding her and, without wasting another instant, he took off running into the darkness once more.
He left the monster behind, dumbfounded.
Natsu broke into a hasty sprint down the lengthily dark hallways. It was like traversing a Labyrinth. Despite the fact that it was near pitch black and he could hardly see a single thing in front of him, he let his instincts and good sense of hearing guide him.
Fires licked at both sides of his body, sweat had begun to steadily drip off his face and he could feel his gut clench inward. He felt his mind pulsate and his chest wouldn't cease rumbling and the closer he got to his supposed destination, the stronger his fire became. The flames that erupted from his very limbs managed to illuminate his path and reveal that he had been running down a very long hallway that appeared to stretch on for what seemed like centuries.
Heck, even his hamstrings started to pull after doing nothing but run for minutes at a time!
His heavy pants echoed and reverberated through the walls and ceiling, his echo seeming to carry on for miles in this dark and cavernous hallway.
Thankfully he didn't have to run for too much longer, though, thus he skidded to a halt when he abruptly reached the bottom of a stone slab staircase. The heavens had opened by now and the rain was now pouring down in bucketloads, the skies were filled with dark gray clouds and raindrops pelted everyone who was unfortunate enough to be standing beneath it.
Natsu's salmon pink spikes of hair had flattened thanks to the rain.
It didn't take long before he found the Poacher of sound standing on the edge of the tower rooftop with his back turned, this evil essence emanating from his body. Even though Natsu couldn't see his face, he could easily envision the vile smirk twisting upon his lips. The man was thoroughly soaked to the bone so it was easy to tell that he had been standing in the rain for a good long while.
"Where is she!?" The dragon slayer shouted, growling angrily.
The man had his back to him but decided to taunt the angered Dragon slayer by pretending to act all innocent.
"What could you possibly be referring to?"
Natsu snarled. He wasn't in the mood for any of this and he could swear that his fury was ever increasing to the boiling point. He barked with his fangs snapping menacingly at the stranger each and every time a word spat from his mouth.
"You know what I'm talking about! Give me my Lucy back!"
Natsu almost stopped when he realised what he had just said.
His Lucy...?
He shook his head to snap himself out of his momentary stupor.
He'd think about that later!
"Oh you mean..."
The mysterious stranger trailed off yet decided to answer his question, he turned around with a visible dark grin tugging at the corners of his lips and revealed what he'd been holding. He was holding a struggling Lucy tight in a choke-hold, the tip of his sword pressed firmly against her throat but not enough to cause any damage.
"...This?"
Lucy tried to struggle but the pressure of the blade forced her to stop and she just looked at Natsu in a look overflowing with pity, knowing, this sense of apology, sorrow, frustration, pain, frustration and many more emotions that not even she could describe. The blower of the whistle still hung from her lips.
Natsu faltered for a sec before regaining his determined stance.
He gasped in horror
"Lucy!"
Now that he found her, Natsu couldn't help but feel an intense growl rumble from deep within his throat. His obsidian eyes flashed a menacing jade green and he thrust his fists forwards, igniting them into an aggressive inferno. He started to shake with rage and fury and the raindrops trailed down his face as the drops mixed in with the droplets of sweat that stuck to his skin.
The Dragon slayer snarled.
"Look, you voice-stealing jerk! You had better give her back or I will...!"
"Or you'll what?"
A devilish grin widened on his lips and his posture straightened when in the maddened mage repositioned Lucy's head and neck in his arms so the blade was pressing dangerously close to her jugular vein.
Natsu felt his threat die in his throat at the sight of the dangerous position his friend was in.
That adjustment this guy had made implied that this poacher of sound would do the unthinkable and he couldn't risk Lucy's health and life if he could help it. He forced the thought from his mind instantly and just stared at the man.
"You can't hope to lay a finger on me~" He taunted darkly.
Natsu reluctantly extinguished the flames and slowly lowered his battle stance.
His face was serious and so were his eyes.
Then he noticed something around his foe's neck, Lancer's necklace; the Dragon slayer noticed that the yellow light contained in the necklace, presumably Lucy's captive voice, was fading and had a rather low opacity.
Natsu and Lancer stared each other down, their eyes narrowed into tight daggers.
So sneering were those glares that they were looking increasingly like they could shoot laser beams from those darkening scowls. Their faces were tight as they frowned and they both circled one another; neither wizard spoke a word until they finally stopped circling each other like vultures in the desert skies who circled their deceased prey but their scowls grew ever darker.
The Poacher of sound glared right at Natsu.
The sound stealer kept his grip tight on Lucy as he kept his sword raised and ready to slice her neck should she try and escape his grasp. He spoke up, his eyes slowly becoming wild as he grit his teeth in a menacing way.
"What makes you think that I would give up your precious Lucy and her voice?"
Natsu growled, his own glare darkening while he snarled from the deepest depths of his throat and he flared his nostrils and his muscles tightened as his rage flared up. His, his eyes somewhat animalistic and his smirk twisted as he chuckled grimly under his breath and he snapped his fingers suddenly, causing his entire hand to combust into flaming fire.
He was going to make the Poacher of sounds eat those very words...as forcefully as possible.
He was about to launch forwards to knock his flaming fist into the side of the man's face but was stopped by a light blue blur zipping passed him and then proceeding to streak over to Lancer's smug and punchable face.
Lancer cried out in pain and agony.
Natsu had to blink repeatedly until he finally noticed that the blue blur was none other than a certain blue exceed. Happy launched himself out of nowhere, soaring through the air like a bullet, and instantly took to scratching the mysterious foe's face with his sharp claws. He let out several cat yowls and squeals as he assaulted the guy by clawing his face again and again without stopping even for a second.
As the exceed attacked the sound stealing wizard, the rest of the Fairy tail guild had arrived on scene and went to join Happy in distracting the man who dared harm their friend.
"Natsu, we've got this! Go get Lucy!"
Natsu was stunned as he watched the blue cat attacking the man's face, his face pure disbelief. He hadn't expected Happy to arrive so soon and he must have decided to intervene the instanthe had spotted how Lucy was in serious danger. He did feel a great measure of pride, though, and he struggled to pick his jaw up from the ground.
When he regained his bearings, he nodded.
He didn't need to be told twice!
He ran to rescue Lucy, hoping to catch her.
But he didn't know if she would be ok.
A/N: Here's a new chapter of "Spellbound voice"! And it seems that Natsu and Happy are about to fight back against Lancer the Poacher of sound. Will they succeed in getting her voice back? And what about the guild? Will they get there in time?
Stay tuned, everyone, and find out!
-Chloemcg
