Welcome back everyone, I just wanted to say a big thank you for all of your continued support, those of you following along on this journey keep me motivated to work through the writer's block! Here we go!
11
"Well fuck." Natsu said, "guess we just got dragged into those idiot's self-imposed mission."
Erza nodded, her lips pursed, "it seems so, we can't turn a blind eye on a potential conspiracy plot, especially with a tenuous relationship between Seven and Fiore." The redhead cursed under her breath, they didn't have any way to contact the master for input, so they'd just have to rely on their own instincts. "I am going to knock their heads together when I finally get my hands on them."
Her comrades sweat dropped a bit, as reckless and impulsive it had been for their friends to run off without a word, Deliora, and whatever Ultear was planning would be happening regardless. But Natsu knew, there'd be no talking sense into the redhead when they did catch up with the boys, he'd just be relieved if they were both well enough to take an Erza-beat down.
"Well, we have no other information," Natsu began, raising an eyebrow at the journalist, who raised his hands and shook his head in response, "so, I guess we start west then. We follow the last known direction Deliora was heading in…" growling under his breath, he added, "even if that was eight months ago."
"At the very least, we know that is likely the direction the guys would have gone in, our first goal is still finding them." Lucy interjected. Her comrades nodded, and the blonde turned to the sleezy reporter again, "could you provide us with a map of Seven?"
The journalist huffed, crossing his arms at his chest and leaned back in his chair, but changed his tune really quick when the redhead turned a dangerous look on him. He pulled up a map of the train line that ran up the west coast with a few branch lines into the interior, he held it out to Erza with a bored look. "Take the train to Taurence… one of the largest cities in Seven, if you can't get information there, you won't find your friends."
The trio simultaneously turned dangerous looks on the man, "you haven't had many friends in your life… have you." Lucy spat, her fists clenched, "you're also a sorry excuse for a writer," she added for good measure before pivoting and storming out. Erza glanced at Natsu with a hand hiding her amusement, the pinkette just gave a toothy grin back and followed after the irate blonde.
Nearly two weeks of travel and recon later, the Fairy Tail mages find themselves in a deserted town in the far north of Seven, they were worn out and feeling more than a little discouraged having found no new leads on their friends. After making it to Taurence, they discovered all the inns and guest houses to be fully booked, as it turned out, there had been mass exodus from the northern cities to escape Deliora and the resulting influx of Zeref cultists wreaking havoc in the region. The trio had made their way through various towns and cities experiencing the same, which meant they hadn't had a decent sleep in days, having camped out with the refugees most nights.
"Nothing about this feels right," Lucy began, as she surveyed their surroundings, "why do you think we haven't heard about any of this?"
"I've been wondering the same, if Deliora has been rampaging and causing such a huge disaster in Seven, how have we not heard anything in the global news reports?" The redhead chimed in.
"What if…" the blonde paused, pressing a knuckle to her lips, her comrades turned questioning looks on her. "What if that reporter was on to something? If this isn't dark mage activity, but actually the Magic Council behind this… than they could be censoring outgoing news reports."
Natsu glared at the ground as they walked, "the Magic Council may be full of a bunch of old rule-sticklers and blowhards, but this, this doesn't make any sense. What could they possibly want with a demon of Zeref?"
The mages fell back into silence as thoughts kept running through their minds, they continued moving through the deserted town until Natsu froze abruptly, scanning the homes.
"Guards up, we aren't alone," the pinkette announced urgently, and the three moved into a circle back to back to reduce blind spots. Lucy's hand twitched over her keys as her eyes shifted over the shadows between the buildings, she could feel the magic pressure of the S class mages behind her increasing as well.
"Natsu, how many, can you tell?" The redhead addressed the fire mage.
Without taking his eyes off the buildings in front of him, he assessed their situation with his senses in over drive, 'too many,' he thought, "shit, we're surround—" Walls of glowing purple burst from the ground slamming in around them and sealing the mages in a cube in a fraction of a second.
Erza's clothing flickered as a light flashed and died out abruptly, "not good," she called as her requip failed, "we're being hit with anti-magic."
"What?!" Natsu shot forward thrusting a fist into the transparent shimmering wall in front of them, smoke rose from his fist as deep purple runes pulsed out from the contact point. "DAMNIT!" He skipped backward, returning to his spot between the girls.
A figure seemed to materialize from the shadows, stepping forward to stand a few feet in front of Natsu, "more interlopers sticking their noses where they don't belong?" A baritone voice questioned.
"What… more? Think he's seen Haru and the others?" Lucy whispered to her comrades.
"Maybe Lucy, but we need to take care of ourselves, first." Erza responded, eyeing the crowd of cloaked Zeref cultists that advanced upon them in a thick circle. 'Not good… we're in serious trouble.'
"Crush them," the cloaked leader stated, and another cultist stepped up beside him, spreading his hands out. He began pushing his hands together decreasing the space between his palms and the walls of the cube that trapped them pushing in toward the trio in time with the mage's hands. "Drain them," he added.
All three of the Fairy Tail mages gasped suddenly as a magic circle appeared beneath them and a spell took hold, beginning to steadily zap their magic power from them. Erza took another step back as the walls pressed further in on them, her shoulder hitting Lucy's to her left prompting her to glance around, they were almost out of space. She fought for air as the space shrunk quickly, forcing her and her comrades into smaller and smaller quarters. As the ceiling began to press down upon them, Erza and Lucy dropped to their knees. Natsu, behind her, let out a draconic roar forced down to one knee in front of the girls, he pressed his palms out to either side against their invisible barriers. Rage building, scales burst across his skin as bright golden flames simultaneously burst from his palms fighting against the anti-magic spell. Lucy cried out recoiling into Erza's side, gripping her forearm, but neither felt any heat off the fire. The redhead pivoted her body inward toward Lucy, Natsu's roar continued as he poured fire into their cage, the runes pulsing in protest.
The rogue mages before them backed away slightly, getting nervous, but Natsu's spell broke before the runes could give out. The fire extinguished and the pinkette collapsed back, magically exhausted. Lucy gasped, releasing her grip on Erza's arm to catch Natsu, "no," she choked out, "what are we going to do, my magic… I'm almost out of magic power," she said weakly.
"I wish I knew Lucy, I am sorry," she apologized weakly to her comrades, just as Lucy collapsed forward onto Natsu's chest. Erza shifted her body trying to shield them as much as possible, she glared defiantly at the cult mages before her, not ready to give up just yet. Her eyes widened as a crystalline orb flew out of nowhere colliding with the temple of the metsu spell user, and the scarlet mage immediately felt the steady drain on her magic halt. The orb swung around before slamming into the gut of rune user, and their prison immediately shattered around them. A figure leapt down, landing in front of Natsu's downed form, arms spread wide as Erza's vision finally went black.
. . .
"Erza… Hey Erza, wake up." The scarlet mage squeezed her eyes before gradually opening them to find darkness, and a very relieved looking Lucy hovering over her. "There you are," the blonde smiled, gripping one of her friend's shoulders to pull her up into a seated position.
"Lucy… where are we?" She scanned the room they were currently in, it was a small nearly empty space, a simple table in the corner with a pile of cuts of cloth and a bucket of water. "Where is Natsu?"
Lucy shifted slightly, gesturing to the dragon slayer who was on his side a couple feet from them, still unconscious. "He seems okay, I think the idiot is just suffering from magic depletion illness from expending so much magic while under anti-magic and with metsu draining us."
Erza shifted in her spot, bringing her hands up in front of her and eyeing the cuffs on her wrists, "any idea what is going on?"
"Mmm. No, I only came to a little bit before you. Someone saved us from the cultists, but, judging by the anti-magic cuffs," Lucy said, raising her own bound wrists, "we may have been better off taking our chances with the cult." The stellar mage stood, moving toward the water and dipped a scrap of cloth in the water and ran it over her face, sighing at the cool moisture. She submerged the cloth again, ringing it out and returned to Natsu's side, pushing his bangs back and setting the cloth on his forehead. "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, all three of us," she cut herself off, deadpanning as her eyes drifted over to the unconscious pinkette, "that is… if Natsu comes to, soon," Erza shook her head before continuing. "All three of us are well versed in hand to hand combat, magic or no, we can put up a serious fight," the blonde nodded in confirmation. "We stay on alert, wait for someone to come in. If they wanted us dead, we'd already be dead and if they want us alive, then they will need to feed us at some point. When someone comes, we strike, before they even know what hit them."
Natsu groaned then, pulling against restraints that bound his hands behind his back, "what the hell happened, I feel like I was hit by a fucking train," he cursed, noticing Lucy and Erza both smiling back at him. The girls each grabbed a shoulder pulling him up. "What? Why are MY hands behind my back?!" He snapped as he noticed his comrade's hands were both cuffed in front of their bodies.
Lucy shrugged a shoulder, "maybe they wanted to be kind to delicate maidens," she said with a smirk.
"You two?! Delicate maidens?!"
"Hey, watch it pal, it'd be awfully hard for you to block with your hands cuffed behind your back."
"Oh, shut up, and wipe the smug off your face…"
"Shut up both of you, will you concentrate? Or did you forget that we are being held captive by, who knows who?"
The three were snapped out of the squabble as the doorknob rattled, Erza was on her feet and behind the door in a scarlet blur in seconds. The door opened and a man walked in with a tray of food, looking at the two mages on the floor. Just as it seemed to dawn on him that the third was missing, Erza jumped out of hiding, throwing a devastating sidekick into his head and sending him crashing into the wall. She twirled around the open door and sprinted down the hall as Lucy darted over to the unconscious enemy to search him for a key to their cuffs. Erza's scream sounded from the hall and an explosion sent her flying back into the room, Natsu leapt to the side absorbing the impact of Titania's body. He dug his boots into the ground skidding backward until they slammed into the wall behind them, collapsing down with a combined groan.
A second figure stepped into the room, covered in a cloak, "can you three give it a res—" Lucy was on her feet instantly, launching a powerful round house kick at the newcomer. The enemy got a forearm up to block and extended their arm to grip the blonde's shin, using her own momentum to send her flying into the opposite wall.
"LUCY!" Natsu called out, still pressed between the back wall and his red-haired companion.
Lucy rolled onto her side, forcing an elbow under her to prop herself up a bit, "okay, that hurt," she groaned.
"As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," a female voice said, "if you three can behave yourselves for five minutes," she raised her hands to slip her hood off, and shook her raven hair out to let it fan over her shoulders.
"Ultear," Erza stated with malice, "what the hell is going on here."
"Tell me what you want with Deliora," the fire mage demanded.
"I knew you'd show up at some point, Natsu." The trio of Fairy Tail mages looked up in surprise as the pinkette was addressed by name, another person appeared, standing over Ultear's shoulder. He pulled the hood off his head, his eyes roaming over Lucy on her side to his right and Erza slumped against Natsu's chest, the wall heavily cracked behind the two. He sighed out and rolled his eyes, "always causing trouble."
"Gray?!" The trio yelled in unison.
Gray stepped around Ultear, "I'm going to get them out of those, they're comrades not enemies," he addressed Ultear in an accusatory tone as he held his hand out for the key.
"What'd you expect? It's not like I could predict their purpose for being here." She huffed out, dropping the key into his hand regardless.
Gray unlocked Lucy's cuffs, before moving to Erza and repeating the action and the redhead pushed herself off of the pinkette's chest. Natsu narrowed his eyes at Gray, "what the hell are you doing with these assholes Gray?"
Placing a hand on his friend's shoulder to guide him forward a bit so that he could reach the cuffs behind his back, the ice mage paused to meet Natsu's gaze, "don't do anything stupid Natsu, okay?" The fire mage glared back defiantly at Gray's request, but gave in anyway, nodding his head in agreement. The cuffs clicked and fell off, and Natsu rolled his shoulders, pulling his arms across his torso one at a time to stretch them.
"Okay Gray, I think it's about time you get explaining." Erza commanded.
Gray grunted dropping back onto his butt with one knee folded in front of him, joining the circle of his comrades; Ultear remained silent, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.
"Judging by the looks on your face regarding Ultear, I imagine you found and spoke to the journalist in Verona." He scanned the silent nods in confirmation.
"Yeah, so why would you team up with her?!" Natsu cut in, getting a threatening look from Erza that he promptly ignored, "and where is Haru?"
"If you'd just shut up, I would get to that… Haru is fine, he and Lyon are with Meredy." Gray watched as the pinkette's mouth opened again with more questions, he held up his hand in irritation to stop him, "seriously man, please shut up so I can explain. I know we owe you guys that much." Natsu crossed his arms and leaned into the wall behind him, chewing the inside of his cheek to keep from spouting out all the questions flooding his mind.
"We—Haru, Lyon and I, have been here about two weeks, we are currently in the basement of a small shop where we have been taking refuge. We made our way north following rumors of the ice demon, and when we arrived here, we decided to split up to inspect the deserted town, communicating with Haru's telepathy. I became ensnared in the same trap that you all fell victim to. As we learned, the cult that has taken over this town is mostly made up of your average misguided Zeref worshipper, but they have three mages among their ranks that combine their magic to form the perfect trap. A unison raid between a rune and an anti-magic user, and metsu cast after the trap is sprung to drain magic power. As I imagine Natsu learned, the more you fight against the anti-magic, the faster and more devastatingly your magic is depleted." Natsu scoffed, turning away and clicking his tongue in irritation, the girls both laughed in response confirming Gray's suspicions. Gray chuckled, "Ultear saved me, just as she saved you."
Erza and Lucy turned their attention, still tainted with suspicion, to the council woman. "I have a comrade undercover in the cult, they contact me if someone falls into the cult's trap," Ultear explained, "or if there is any movement to be reported on Deliora's location."
Natsu's eyes shifted from the raven-haired woman back to the ice mage, "okay… so she saved you, and us," he begrudgingly added, "that doesn't explain why you'd align yourselves with the council."
"The enemy of my enemy, is my friend." Gray responded simply, "I don't pretend to trust them, and I would guess that Ultear feels the same way. They still want control over the demon, Haru, Lyon and I, want to see its' elimination from this world."
From his spot still leaning against the wall, Natsu looked no more pacified than before Gray had started his explanation. Grumbling he stood up and moved toward the door, glaring at Ultear as he stalked passed her. "I assume we aren't prisoners anymore," he stated and turned down the hallway, "I'm going to find Haru," he called back to his comrades. Natsu surveyed the basement they were currently in as he explored, noticing the hall must have been fashioned roughly with magic to connect various cellars of the surrounding businesses. His eyes shifted to his right taking in a small space lined with shelves of food products, and then to the left to find another room identical to the one he and the girls had been held in. He came to a stop in front of a closed door, letting himself in without knocking, he stood in the doorway looking at the small cellar turned makeshift living space. Rugs lined the concrete floor, and an assortment of chairs surrounded a fire pit with kettle hanging over it, stairs at the side led up to the shop above ground.
"Natsu," the addressed mage's eyes turned to fall on the water slayer, who stood up and walked over to his partner. Haru looked at Natsu's face carefully, the irritation was plain to see, but the layer of betrayal hidden beneath hit Haru with a stab of guilt. He sighed heavily, wrapping an arm around his partner's shoulders pulling him into a hug, "it's good to see you, Natsu."
"Yeah," the pinkette agreed quietly, he reluctantly brought up an arm and returned the hug.
Haru released him shortly after, "do you want some tea, or a coffee," he asked pointing at the kettle, "though I have to warn you, the coffee is shit, all we have is instant."
Grimacing, Natsu replied, "tea it is then."
The laughter in the corner drew the fire mage's attention, "Haru said the exact same when we first arrived," Lyon said, lounging on a cushioned chair, his leg slung over one of the high arm rests, "I will stick with the sad excuse for coffee, regardless," the ice mage raised his mug.
Natsu chuckled, "it's good to see you out of your zombie-state, Lyon."
"I owe that much to Gray and Haru, for giving me a chance to overcome past traumas."
The pinkette nodded in understanding, he may not have liked two of his closest friends leaving without talking to him, but he could empathize with the trauma that could drive someone to do something reckless. Natsu dropped into one of the empty chairs next to the other pinkette in the room, he raised his hand at her in a silent greeting. The girl looked to be not much older than Wendy, she wore a golden winged headband in her hair, "you must be Meredy," he said, and she nodded in confirmation but remained stoically quiet.
As Haru pressed a mug of tea into his hands Natsu told him flatly, "so I guess you guys aren't much better than their prisoners either."
The water mage smirked, "it goes both ways, they don't let us out of their sight, but us guys always make sure one of us is with each of the girls as well." He eyed Meredy as he returned to his chair across from her, "there is no trust between us, isn't that right, Meredy?"
The girl still didn't say anything, just leaned her head against her palm and narrowed her eyes at him, Haru's eyes shifted back to Natsu, "so, just how pissed is Master?"
Natsu finally let a grin break across his face, the tension easing. "He was already plotting punishments while our team was preparing to leave," he watched the colour drain from his fellow slayer's face, his own grin widening, "when this is all over, you'll have to let me know if it was worth it."
Dropping his face into his palms Haru groaned, listening to Natsu laugh all the harder, "oh man, one year, Gray and I were punished for nearly totaling the guild hall, WHILE Sorcerer's Weekly was visiting for a feature spread," he broke off in a peel of laughter, wrapping an arm around his middle. "Gramps was so angry, he sent us BACK with the reporter to do a multi-page PIN UP spread!"
Lyon spat out his mouthful of coffee, bursting into laughter and falling forward as he imagined Gray in bunny ears and a humiliating skimpy costume. Haru glanced at him from the corner of his eye and back at Natsu who was still in the grips of an uncontrolled laughing fit. "That's just perfect." Haru said blandly, rolling his eyes.
The moment was broken by a light clinking sound that caught their attention as three metallic spheres bounced down the stairs from the shop above them, one rolling to a stop at the leg of Natsu's chair. In a flash Haru grabbed Lyon's wrist pulling him over to Natsu, Meredy leapt forward, kicking the orb at Natsu's chair away. "Water dragon's lair," Haru shouted as water swirled up around the four, sealing them in a protective dome. The spheres cracked open and a translucent mist spilled from them, filling the small cellar in a matter of seconds. The four mages turned in unison watching as cultists started pouring down the stairwell before them, outfitted with some sort of gas masks. "Ready everyone?" Haru asked, sweeping his arms out and showering the room with the water from his dome, the moisture weighing down the gases.
Natsu burst forward from the water spell with a flaming knee into the gut of the first enemy to hit the bottom of the stairs, vaulting over him to plant a fist into the next one's face. "No destructive spells while we're underground!" He called back to his comrades, side stepping the slash of a sword and ramming an elbow up into the jaw of its' wielder.
"Ironic, coming from you!" Lyon shouted back, as he leapt between the two dragon slayers planting his hands on the ground, "ice make, floor!" Ice shot up the staircase forming a smooth slide and a group of cultists slipped and landed in heap at the base of the stairs.
Chuckling in response, Natsu jumped over them, a fire-coated foot making contact with the ice and melting the step instantly, he bounded up the slide and burst out of the cellar in a stream of fire, throwing back a large group of people in the store front. He launched out into the street finding hundreds of cultists, the others darted out on his heels skidding to a stop in the street framing him. "Careful everyone, they may not be mages, but their numbers could easily overwhelm us if we lose focus!" Natsu announced, Haru smiled, it wasn't often he saw his hot-headed partner taking his S class leadership so seriously.
The group fanned out, throwing a barrage of attacks into their enemies, "stay spread out, we can't risk all getting caught up in that rune trap, if one of us gets caught the others can break the spell." Haru called to his friends telepathically, receiving a quick round of agreement. Haru ducked under the swipe of a sword, skipping back a few steps to gain some distance, "water dragon's piercing bullet," pointing his hands in front of him like a pair of pistols he shot off multiple compressed bullets of water.
"Fire dragon's wing attack!" Dozens of cultists went flying as Natsu landed on one knee, eyes scanning the numerous enemies, he looked up watching a flock of ice eagles arc over his head to slam into more of their enemies halting their advance. Meredy walked by calmly, raising a hand over head as glowing spectral swords appeared and shot outward as she coldly stated her attack.
Suddenly, Taurus exploded through the entrance of a building a block down, swinging the flat of his axe and bowling over a large group of enemies. A blur of crimson and gold shot out of the newly destroyed entrance, the Fairy Tail women skidded to a stop, standing back to back. Erza launched into air instantly reappearing in her Heaven's Wheel armour, flying over the crowd of cultists with countless swords swirling around her.
Lucy whipped around nailing a man in the chest with a strong kick before dipping to a knee and spinning a leg out to knock another attacker down. Still on her knee with one leg outstretched to the side, she extended her arms overhead, "star reform:" she called as a ball of glittering gold built up around her hands, "shatter!" The light shot into the sky, exploding into a shower of piercing lights taking out a wide circle of cultists.
Natsu smirked as he watched his comrades easily decimating the overwhelming numbers of the Zeref cult while continuing to throw fire laden strikes into a circle of enemies that had ganged up on him. His eyes shifted to his left as Gray and Lyon when shooting by, shedding their cloaks in unison as they both slammed their hands into the ground and spires, of ice exploded outward adding more screams to the chorus of pained shouts of their attackers.
"They're too powerful! Retreat!" A voice commanded, and weapons were abandoned all around them as Zeref's worshippers spun to try to escape the group of monstrous mages.
"Not so fast!" Gray shouted, pounding a fist into an open palm, "ice make, prison," an icy jail crashed down around four of the cultists seizing their escape. The ice mage smirked as he leaned against his creation throwing his victims a malicious look, "we have some questions we need answered." The four inside the prison cowered back as the group of mages advanced on them, all looking entirely too predatory for their comfort.
A/N. Deliora's on scene next chapter, should be a fun one.
Big thank you to LewtonSpoons for your support and leaving me your thoughts, I am super appreciative. For any of you who caught and are confused by my Fiore Magic Council/Seven Magic Council, I will expand more on the concept of local 'country branches' of the Magic Council down the road, I promise haha. For now bear with me, the actual canon Ishgar Magic Council does come into play, but I am messing around with the hierarchy and structural set up of the Council for fun. If anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear them!
I hope you're all having a lovely week, and I will see you for Saturday's update!R&R.
xx Loka Muse