Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Fairy Tail, the rights to them belong to Hiro Mashima. Not me.
Spellbound voice
Lucy blinked her eyes, her swollen black eye especially, with exhaustion.
Had she fallen asleep?
No, she must had passed out due the weakness she felt thanks to not being able to use her magic power because of her voice being gone...
She grit her teeth as she regained the first few semblances of consciousness and she began to realise that every single bone, ligament and muscle in her body hurt like mad and it was extremely difficult to even gather the strength to lift her head. She struggled to find her feet for a minute but, when she did, she started to hobble and limp straight over to the Poacher of sound.
The nerves in her body screamed with pain as her body protested her moving, only for the stellar wizard to try hard to ignore them.
Her eyes (especially her darkened one) were narrowed into a tight glare as she wrapped one of her own arms around herself to clutch at her right side that had more than likely been injured. She was sure that she gong to get quite a bit of internal bruising...
She moaned (without making a sound, of course) as the thunder crashed over her head and the raindrops falling from the sky hit her hard. She felt as though the very sky above was trying to come down around her and it made her head pound painfully.
Lucy sat up gingerly, her lungs burning and her body shivering with cold and that was the moment when her gaze fell upon a scene that made her heart sink.
Natsu and the Poacher of sound grappled and threw multiple kicks, punches, headbutts, letting their limbs fly all over the place, biting each other and even scratching one another as they tumbled about violently on the rooftop of the tower. The guild wanted to join in on the scrap but decided against it when they all came to the realisation that they wouldn't be able to without possibly harming Natsu and adding to the danger.
Lucy's heart ached at the sight as Natsu hadn't seemed to notice that she had regained consciousness —she looked down at her own two hands and clenched them into tight fists since she couldn't afford to doubt herself now especially with the very lives of her friends at stake...!
She had to act!
The Celestial mage squinted her good eye at the scene, trying to focus her eyesight so she could focus on the two quarrelling wizards.
Natsu was throwing several fiery punches and even a "Fire dragon fist" before breaking away from the poacher of sound and then lifting himself into the air before he spread his arms, lighting them both aflame, before smacking both arms together as they made the shapes of a pair of dragons wings.
"FIRE DRAGON WING ATTACK!" He cried out, watching as his attack scorched the wizard's chest.
But, in Natsu's momentarily airborne state, the Poacher of sound seized a grip on one of the rails of the Dragon slayer's scarf and proceeded to yank on it hard and make Natsu flinch as he was tugged back down. Natsu's current jade green slits for eyes were wide in alarm as he felt his scaly scarf tighten around his neck.
He hadn't imagined that someone so callous would think to use his own scarf as a weakness...! But, then again, he supposed that Lancer, a wizard who stole peoples and other things sounds before selling them off to the highest bidder, would know all about taking other strengths and turning them into weaknesses.
In his moment of panic, Natsu gagged as he clawed at his neck but the sound stealer took his moment to strike and proceeded to scratch his opponent's face. Natsu cried out in pain as he continued grappling with Lancer, his fury doubling thanks to the pain of the new injury he'd just received. Even though he threw a multitude of fiery attacks, Lancer barely flinched even though each attack from Natsu left scorch marks on his clothes/body.
It was difficult to watch...!
Lucy had watched all of it in terror and she made a wobbly attempt to run forwards but was stopped mid-step when she heard a familiar voice.
"Luuuuuucy!"
The stellar wizard of Fairy tail whirled around to face the direction of the voice and it turned out to be Happy, soaring to her, with a small something in his paws. The mute Celestial mage had to squint her chocolate brown eyes until she realised that it was the charm that contained her voice.
Her eyes widened in a mix of alarm and joy.
Happy gave it to her, Lucy cracked the charm and then pried it open like a chestnut and she closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, blocking out all noises and distractions. She started focusing every inch of her being on to making her voice work. It felt like someone had stuck a cork in her food pipe, still preventing her from making a sound, but she could feel a golden aura surrounding her body intensify, especially as she stood tall to straighten her posture and her eyes flew open again.
She felt revitalised!
"...Nnnn...Naaaaa...Naaatsu...Natsu! NATSU!" Lucy struggled to find her voice at first but when she did, she couldn't even hide her enthusiasm.
Her voice came out as a hoarse rasp, though.
She hadn't heard her own voice in what felt like years.
It felt good to hear herself once more.
Natsu froze mid fight and looked over at Lucy with a wide-eyed look of momentary amazement. His strong sense of hearing picked up on that familiar voice the instant he had heard. His Dragon force powers snapped off, as though someone had flipped a switch, and he (as well as everyone else on the scene, like the other guild members present) whirled his head around to stare at Lucy.
It didn't take long until he broke out into a huge fanged grin.
The salmon-haired dragon slayer was so joyful that he had completely forgotten about the bad man he was currently pinning to the ground; he was about to scramble to get himself off of the bad guy until Lucy hobbled hurriedly over, still clutching her painful side, smiled joyfully as she plopped down on her knees before wrapping her arms around Natsu's neck in a huge embrace.
Natsu was more than happy to return the hug and her nuzzled her face with his nose affectionately.
"I'm so glad you can speak again!" He cried.
The Celestial mage smiled in reply and the Fire Dragon slayer made sure to hold her just a bit tighter in his arms —however, while Natsu was distracted, Lancer slipped out right from underneath him and got to his feet so he was towering over Natsu and Lucy.
This was easy since the two Fairy tail wizards were on the roof tiles now and he smirked cruelly down at them with a deranged hint of a twitch in his left eye.
Natsu pulled Lucy close to him in a protective manner as he snarled like some animal protecting his mate from an oncoming threat. His eyes turned back into their jade green colour and he felt his spine arch and a monstrous hiss slipped from his fangs. He had been in a lot of battles. He sort of knew what to expect and he was in enough fights before to know, from a mere glance, when a foe was trying to bring harm upon him or anyone he held dear.
He was on the qui vive for anything this evil man would try and pull.
However that was when something unexpected happened as, without even wasting another instant, even forgetting her extreme fatigue, she whipped out one of her Celestial keys and summoned one of her spirits in the most joyous and loudest tone anyone had ever heard from her.
"Gate of the goat: Capricorn!"
Within seconds, a very tall anthropomorphic goat wearing sunglasses and a full on tuxedo appeared on the spot with a golden glow. The goat man seemed to be in disbelief that he was even there for a split few seconds before he clenched both his fists readily and smiled at Lucy.
"...You won't believe how good it is to hear you again, mistress Lucy!" He exclaimed happily with a genteel tone apparent in his voice.
Lucy couldn't have agreed more.
She smirked right back at him and gave him a thumbs up in agreement.
Natsu could help but stare at the blonde Celestial wizard in bewildered astonishment.
Lucy had recovered quick! Just a mere five minutes ago she could hardly muster the energy to even lift her head up and now she was commanding her Celestial spirits as if she had never lost her voice to begin with. She had that look in her eye and a large emboldened smile spread across her face, she appeared so strong in contrast as to how she appeared earlier.
Natsu smiled.
Lucy was back!
Lucy, Natsu, Happy and the rest of the guild watched in shock as Capricorn charged straight over to the stealer of sounds, using his horns to head him in the abdomen. It didn't take too long before Capricorn vanished with a golden glow following the sound of a doorbell.
The voice poacher cried out in pain from the impact the goat spirit's horns had collided with his stomach as he tumbled back and fell to the ground; his previous bravado had all but dissipated by this point.
Especially so when Natsu and Lucy joined hands and scowled darkly at him.
They grabbed tightly to each other's hands, a sparkly golden flame engulfed them both. Lucy panicked for a second when she saw the flame engulf her body but was overcome with surprise when it didn't burn in the least, in fact, she hardly felt a thing. She looked to Natsu who looked as used to this as he was to breathing. They shut their eyes simultaneously and let the flame increase in size and intensity.
They channeled the magic inside their bodies as much as they could and focused on the power within each other.
Natsu and Lucy chanted together in perfect harmony.
"Unison raid..."
Their eyes simultaneously opened —Natsu's eyes were a radiant emerald green colour and Lucy's eyes were a crimson blood red— and they both thrust their arms forth and shouted out as one.
"...CELESTIAL BLAZING STAR!"
With that, a pulsating yellow and orange beam of fiery light shot from their intertwined hands and it was directly aimed at the now attempting-to-flee wizard who had started to take off running but he couldn't even dodge it in time as the blast hit him full force and sent the Poacher of sounds hurtling through the air and he fell off the roof.
Everyone (except for Natsu) made a mental note to let the Rune knights handle him later on.
Now that Lancer was out of the way, everyone started to focus on the blonde wizard...but they instantly saw that something was wrong as the blonde young woman had suddenly gained a very pale complexion, seemed to barely be able to stand on her own, was wavering on her own two feet due to an abrupt lack of balance, and her eyes were suddenly glazed over with pure exhaustion.
"Lucy!" Levy gasped in terror, pointing over towards Lucy as she started to slip right off of the rooftop. Her gasp directed everyone's gazes over towards the blonde-haired Celestial wizard and they all instantly mirrored the blue haired Solid script wizard's terror as they saw the situation that she was now in.
Alarm spread through everyone like wildfire, what was going on!?
Lucy was so instantaneously out of it that she hadn't realised that she had been standing on the edge of the tower roof this whole time and was dangerously close to toppling over the edge and falling a great height down below. She couldn't help but gasp softly as her foot slid over the edge and she started to seriously lose her balance.
Everyone felt a mix of terror, horror and panic hit them all at once.
"Oh no!" Wendy gasped, starting to try and run to rescue her but Gajeel reached down and grabbed her shoulder before she could take another step.
"Don't try it, kid. None of us could get to her in time...!"
And the Iron Dragon slayer was right...sort of.
Wendy was a bit too small and young to rescue an older woman who was taller than her so if she tried to pull her up it would probably rip her small slender arm right out of its socket. Gajeel may not have been all too favourable when it came to children but he always felt this urge to protect the young Sky Dragon slayer...just like Natsu.
Anyway, everyone observed as Natsu seemed to notice Lucy's dire situation and promptly ran as fast as he could to grab her before she plummeted over the edge. He threw himself down on to his chest and tummy as he leaned over the edge of the tower and grabbed on tight to Lucy's hand before she could fall to her death.
Natsu felt a bit of déjà vu at that moment.
This reminded him of the time after he'd "defeated" Hades and he, himself, after using a bunch of his magic power in one go, had fallen off some platform thanks to fatigue but he was saved by Lucy at the last second.
Only this time it was Lucy who needed to have someone save her.
Natsu gripped on tightly and desperately to the Celestial mage's hand, refusing outright to let her go.
Lucy's panicked eyes locked on to Natsu's worried ones.
She gripped on as tight as she could, trying not to let her fingers slip out of Natsu's hand. Her lower lip quivered and her long blonde hair blew backwards from the force of the gale force winds that threatened to pry her away from the Dragon slayer. She tried to keep her eyes directly on the pink-haired pyro's face as she felt her clasp start to slip.
She clenched her teeth.
"N-Natsu, I can't...hold on...!" She thought. "My magic power...is completely drained...!"
Natsu squinted his eyes through tears and the oncoming pain that pounded through his eardrums, still gripping to his partner's slipping hand.
"Lucy...h-hold on, please...!" He pled desperately.
Then it happened.
Natsu watched in frozen terror and he felt his heart drop when Lucy's hand slipped from his tight grip. A sickening sense of dread swept over him in a cold chill and time seemed to slow down as he watched. Tears of fright streamed down Lucy's face and she cried out his name but, as expected, no sound at all came out and she was pulled away from the Dragon slayer by some unseen but strong force.
As Lucy fell towards the ground below, she begun to pass out once again.
She felt faint, her throat hurt, her vision spun as though she was on a rollercoaster.
Her heart was pumping.
Black spots filled her vision.
Her eyesight faded in and out as if she were looking through a broken camera lens.
Her ears rang yet she could hear voices scream her name as her legs gave out suddenly and fell towards the ground below, only to be caught by someone last second. She was dimly aware of being cradled in someone's arms and she felt cocooned in warmth while strong and muscular arms enfolded themselves around her frail form as the last strands of consciousness abandoned her.
The dominant voice her ears latched on to was an unleashed strangled cry born of anguish and terror:
"LUUUUCCCCYYY!"
That (and the thunder wreaking havoc above) was the last thing Lucy heard before her whole world went black.
YAAAAAAY! Lucy has her voice back...but what will happen now? I hope you lot enjoy this chapter however, will Lucy wake up?
Stay tuned and find out next time!
-Chloemcg
