Hola, everyone ready for a trip to Heaven? It's another long one, just under 8000 words, as usual, I hope you all enjoy!
15
Natsu and Laxus ran down the flooded hallway just as the tension of confrontation was draining out of Haru's body, he watched the water splash up around his fellow dragon slayers as they approached. Both their heads were swivelling back and forth, apparently taking in the destruction of the south wing, "looks like you had way too much fun without us," Natsu called to his partner. Haru shrugged a shoulder and laughed softly despite himself, but his worry was palpable, as his eyes shifted between his comrades.
"Listen guys, I was on my way to Mest when Juvia here, attacked me," he gestured to the bluenette behind him. "Mest was attacked by Sol of the Earth, but he isn't a combat mage and I can't reach him anymore." Juvia raised her hands before her in surrender in response to the calculating glares the other Fairy Tail mages sent her way. She vaguely registered Haru telling them to lay off, and without any further explanation the pinkette moved toward her with an unreadable expression. His hand glowed as he pulled something from his requip space and she braced, worrying that he was going to disregard Haru's call for a truce. But instead, he just silently reached for her wrist and began splinting it. She murmured a breathless 'thank you,' as Haru continued, "to further complicate matters, Siegrain might be more powerful than we realized, and he vanished without word of where or why."
Without further discussion, the reunited dragon slayers and Juvia took off toward the east wing in search of Mest. As the group skirted through the halls, Yajima explained to them that Grand Doma had also been imprisoned, though he wasn't sure where. Juvia had pointed out that the Element Four were taking their orders directly from Grand Doma, that the Council leader had in fact, been the one to command them to lock up the unruly members. But that apparently wasn't the case, Yajima was sure someone was using transformation magic to maintain control over the Council network and Siegrain was clearly pulling the strings.
"Have you heard anything about a tower," Natsu asked randomly, turning his attention to the small man on Laxus' back.
"No, sorry, I have not, however it might be interesting to note that the Lord Heartfilia has been coming around to attend private meetings with Lord Siegrain, for some unknown reason."
Natsu felt cold, a very foreign feeling for a fire mage, but he chose to let the subject go for now. "We need to find Mest and get back to Fairy Tail, pronto," he growled through clenched teeth. He knew Lucy was with Erza and Gray to ensure her safety due to her father's threats, Makorav had requested she always be with someone from Dragon Soul until this matter was resolved. Even knowing that, he couldn't stop the shaky breath that escaped him; he just didn't like not being there himself.
. . .
The group had long since escaped the flooded south wing and the clicks of their heels rang out through pristine hallways again. Back in the outer halls, large open-air arches granted unobstructed views of the gardens surrounding the Council headquarters, and the setting sun bled vibrant colour into the vast skies beyond. They'd been gone far too long, Makorav and their guildmates would surely be worrying at this point.
"I knew you'd come back to me, Natsu." A voice chimed, and the team came to an abrupt halt as they rounded the corner, taking in the unconscious form of their comrade slumped back in Ultear's grip. Natsu clenched his fists so hard his knuckles blanched as he eyed the dagger that she held to Mest's throat, no one moved an inch.
"How the hell did you get out of my cuffs?!"
"Oh, I have my ways, little dragon." She condescended, enjoying the growing anger wafting off of him in literal waves of heat. "Now, why don't you behave yourself and return the book you've been keeping safe for me, hm?"
"You stole it from us in the first place!" Laxus growled, taking a step forward as lightning crackled menacingly around him.
"Uh-uh, I wouldn't do that…" Ultear reprimanded, pressing the blade into Mest's throat just enough to draw a line of blood, they all immediately froze again.
Natsu dropped his head in defeat, bangs hiding his eyes as he cursed under his breath. He requipped the tome and held it up at arm's length. "You release Mest first, or you will never get this book back," he bit out in ultimatum.
"I don't think that I will," she retorted with a smile and the fire mage took a threatening step forward, "tell you what, you, only you, may come over here and trade the book for your friend."
Natsu watched her skeptically, taking a few steps forward before she laughed and held out a palm to stop his advance. She reached behind her back and pulled his anti-magic cuffs out of the sash of her kimono, "but first, I think these would look much better on you, than they did on me, don't you agree?" She asked slyly as she tossed him the cuffs, he snatched them out of the air and reined in the flare of magic that burst off him in response to his raging emotions.
Natsu's eyes darted around, desperately searching for a solution that would see them walking out of here with both Lullaby's book and Mest, returning to their family unharmed and mission successful. There was none. He knew there was none. She had him trapped, and she knew it as well. Judging by the low grumbles of his fellow dragon slayers flanking him, they had no viable plan either. "Fuck," Natsu growled through gritted teeth and turned to Haru, handing him the cuffs and holding his wrists out to be restrained.
Haru gasped, "no way Natsu, we can't trust her!"
Ultear laughed maniacally and spun the blade in her hand before fixing it back to Mest's throat in a silent threat. Natsu had been watching her from the corner of his eye, but they shifted to meet deep blue eyes now and he slapped a hand over Haru's shoulder. "I don't like this either, but we can't put Mest's safety in jeopardy. Besides, you and Laxus have my back so I'll be fine," he reassured his partner confidently. Haru begrudgingly secured the cuffs and observed powerlessly as Natsu flinched at the feeling of being cut off from his magic. There were few worse sensations in the world for a mage.
The group watched with bated breath as Natsu walked straight up to the time mage without hesitation and stopped just in front to glare down at her. "Ah, yes, just how I like my dragons," she purred, "in chains." Natsu's eyes flashed and he bared his teeth at her, demanding that she release their comrade now. Ignoring the demand, Ultear responded by bringing a hand up to rest on the thin fabric covering Natsu's chest. Her eyes scanning over the mages behind him, "these coordinated uniforms are really something else, my props to whoever came up with them," she praised. Running her tongue over her bottom lip as she allowed herself a moment to appreciate the physiques of the three dragon slayers. She let her hand trail down the pinkette's abs to land on the book he was still holding, then, in a single fluid motion, she snatched the book from his grip and shoved Mest harshly toward their audience. Haru leapt forward to catch him, turning his attention back just in time to see Ultear throw him a victorious smirk, her grip on Natsu's upper arm as they both vanished without a trace, just as Siegrain had earlier.
"NATSUUUU!" Haru screamed in equal parts panic and fury.
"FUCK!" Laxus roared, followed by a torrent of additional curses as he pivoted to slam a thunder enhanced fist into the wall, obliterating the stone between the arches and leaving a massive hole in its' wake.
. . .
Juvia had to pull the guys out of their barely controlled anger as squadrons of Rune knights started pouring down the corridor on either side aiming to trap them. "No time boys, we have to get out of here in one piece first, if we are going to help Natsu!"
The group dove for the hole in the crumbling mess of a wall and made a run for it, but they didn't make it far before large groups of knights were converging on them in a matter of minutes. "We can't hurt them too bad, they're not mages and they aren't at fault," Laxus reminded, reining in his own instincts to take his anger out on them by way of association. The trio fought their way through the army with half-power spells aiming to just knock the knights back to clear their way. They were making some steady progress when the remaining mages of the Element Four appeared to challenge their retreat. Getting away was already proving incredibly difficult between carrying Mest and Yajima, not to mention Haru's own injuries from back to back battles.
Juvia headed off her teammates before they could attack though, defending Fairy Tail's mages and explaining what had happened with Siegrain. It took some convincing, and Laxus and Haru remained tense and ready to defend if she failed to reason with them, but soon their new comrade was rejoining them with Aria in tow. She'd succeeded in getting the Element Four to stand down, and the air mage was willing to teleport them back to Magnolia. The dragon slayers released a shared sigh of relief, time was critical here, and with Mest down for the count this couldn't have worked out better for them. The strange robed man stepped forward as everyone took grip of one another and in a nauseating whirling of space, Aria had them standing back in the town square of Magnolia.
Fairy Tail
Lucy sat quietly with her chin resting on the top of Happy's head, who was currently wrapped in her arms. The rest of her company wasn't anymore talkative than she was, the stealth team had left early that morning on what should have been a straight-forward mission. Number one priority: get in, find Yajima, get out, if everything had gone smoothly than they should have been back hours ago. Across the table, Gray was down to just his boxers not that anyone had the energy to scold him, he was turned away from them with his back leaning against the table. Erza and Wendy sat to his side; the younger slayer often took comfort in the redhead's presence when things were rough. Lucy shifted burying her face in the cat's blue fur as she tried to contain her growing nerves, when she felt the pressure of a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Mira joining them.
"They'll be back before we know it," she told them, team Dragon Soul wasn't used to waiting on the sidelines for some of their own. But for Mira, the crushing weight of anxiety as she waited powerlessly for word of her comrade's safe returns, was a more common experience than she'd like to admit. It was moments like this that she felt the desperate urge to unleash the power she herself had buried, but her fears surrounding it still trumped that need. Trying to offer her own strength to her friends in return, Lucy turned to Mira, covering the hand on her shoulder with her own and hugged Happy tighter as he mumbled Natsu's name dejectedly.
"Mira's right, they're Fairy Tail's damn dragon slayers, and Mest is with them to teleport out if things get hairy." Gray put in as he turned back to offer his own reassurance, both for them and himself. "They'll be back any minu—"
The guild doors blew open and five figures stood in the doorway with shadows obscuring them, the night black behind them. Five, so they must have rescued Yajima, the mission was a success then. The group sighed in relief, but it was short lived, there was no boisterous calls, no celebrations of their return home, it was like all the occupants of the guildhall were frozen in that moment. The mages in the doorway hesitated, and their guildmates remained still as they tried to figure out what was so strange about the air that was settling around them.
Then Laxus stomped in, dragging Yajima with him, "come on, we need to go talk to Gramps," he offered no glances and no words to his guildmates as he brushed passed them.
Gray was on his feet the next minute leaving his stunned teammates at the table, as the remaining stealth team moved into the guild. His eyes raked over the vacant look on Haru's face and the severe bruising on his chest, then over Mest's unconscious form slung between the water mage and the unknown bluenette. Finally, a glaring absence, where was Natsu…
Gray's eyes shifted back to Haru, "what happened?" Haru's mouth opened slightly, before he snapped it shut with a resounding click, dropping his head in shame.
"Juvia can tell you everything that happened," the bluenette put in, sparing Haru for now, "but we should get Mest to a bed to rest." Gray eyed her, before shifting the burden of Mest's weight off Haru and onto his own shoulder. The three made their way across the guildhall toward the infirmary and Erza watched, torn between following to hear the information Juvia could provide, or staying with Haru. Wendy left, darting after Gray to offer her healing magic, hoping this new girl could explain where Natsu was and when he'd be coming back.
It was that moment that Lucy finally seemed to break out of her trance, she stumbled forward with Happy still in her arms. "Where is Natsu," she choked out, "why isn't he with you?!"
With his face still hidden behind his bangs, Haru finally answered, "Natsu was taken." It seemed with the admission finally hanging heavy between them, Haru snapped, he dropped to his knees and slammed a fist hard into the wood floor. The boards cracked under the blow, leaving a sizable dent, "Ultear took him, and there was nothing I could do to stop it!" Lucy released a breath, Happy began sobbing and the pair collapsed into a crumpled form on the floor, Erza moved to wrap an arm around her friends without taking her eyes of Haru.
Watching the entire scene with a warring mix of emotions, Mira moved to kneel in front of Haru, placing her hands on each of his shoulders. "This is not your fault," she told him with conviction.
He swatted her hand away, "you don't understand, I put the damn anti magic cuffs on him!" Haru met her eyes then, shining with unshed tears as he assumed his own were. "Natsu could have taken her out if it weren't for those cuffs. But she took him, probably to that stupid tower that Natsu mentioned, and we don't even know where to start looking for it." He paused before dropping his eyes once again, "I was powerless to stop it," he repeated in a whisper only loud enough for her to hear.
Mira leaned forward further, folding him into her embrace, "trust me, I know exactly how you feel."
"We will get Natsu back!" Erza's voice sounded behind them and everyone slowly pulled themselves from their grief and fear to give her their attention. A visible shudder went through her body, and she had to steel herself for what would come next, but this was for her comrade. "I know the tower they speak of."
. . .
"We should talk somewhere more private." Erza suggested, still warring with the instincts that told her to run, to hide her weakness, to continue the strong façade she worked so hard to put up.
Mira turned toward her friend, dragged Haru to his feet, "infirmary, Gray should hear this as well, and this idiot—" she cocked her head back in Haru's direction and he clicked his tongue in irritation, "should see Wendy." No one objected and Haru allowed Mira to drag him toward the infirmary as their small group followed her and Erza.
Gray and Juvia were still in the room, the former had his head buried in his hands leaning over one of the vacant beds. He glanced up as the rest of his team filed into the infirmary, Wendy was sleeping soundly on a chair beside Mest's bed. "How is Mest," Erza addressed the ice mage as Mira pulled Haru over to a third bed and he sat down grumbling about how he was 'just fine.'
"Wendy said she took care of his internal injuries best she could, she couldn't find anything else wrong so he probably just needs a few hours rest and would be good as new," Gray reported.
Erza nodded, dropped onto the top of the bed that Gray was slumped over and took a deep inhale, she started to tell them her story when a sharp hiss of air from Haru behind her divided her attention. She raised a questioning brow at Mira, "sorry, pretty sure Haru fractured his sternum," she supplied, tapping the bone again for good measure as Haru cursed. "But yeah, you're totally fine," she told him sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Geez Mira, message received, gentle please!"
"Sorry about the interruption Erza," Mira said ignoring the water mage as she methodically spread an ice-infused medicinal cream over his sternum and chest to reduce the inflammation. Erza chuckled in spite of everything and dismissed it with a wave. Again, she began to tell the few mages present about the hardships of her past, how her family, neighbours and friends had been slaughtered when she was just a child. As most of the younger Fairy Tail generation were orphans, they knew this pain all too well having experienced similar traumatic events. But for Erza, that trauma had continued for years after. She told them how all the children of Rosemary Village were rounded up and shipped off to be enslaved in the construction of the Tower or Heaven. Erza subconsciously massaged her wrists as the phantom pressure of the cuffs she had worn for years crawled through her body. The subtle action didn't escape her friend's keen attentions, and Gray reached over to cover her hand with his own. She turned a grateful look on him as she continued. Children were the preferred workers because they were seen as easy to control, so the majority of the people Erza was surrounded with were other children as terrified and powerless as she was.
A small smile graced the redhead's face despite her tragic story as she recounted the close-knit community of friends that developed within in her cell block. They protected each other where they could, picked up extra slack if someone wasn't well so they wouldn't draw the attention of the merciless enforcers that oversaw their work.
"For three years we were beaten, starved, toyed with, and pushed to our limits to construct the tower as fast as possible and in those years, I had to watch idly as people I came to see as family, died." She paused to catch up with her thoughts and rein her emotions back in, all her friends sat around on the infirmary beds waiting patiently. Haru's chest now sported layers of bandages, and Mira and Lucy had both taken up residence on the bed on either side of him. Gray was still offering silent support in the form of a firm grip on her shaking hand, and Juvia had pulled a chair up beside the bed they occupied. She released a long breath, scared to see her comrade's reactions to the next development of her story. "Finally, one day my dearest friend Jellal was taken, he had been the strongest of us and I, like most of our block drew on his optimism and strength. I never saw Jellal again, but years later Siegrain appeared as a council member seemingly out of nowhere, with my friend's face."
A visible shudder went through Haru, his short battle with Siegrain still fresh as was the expression on his face before he vanished that could only be described as unadulterated evil. He had been caught up in Erza's story, and now his fears for Natsu were heightened all over again, Siegrain had seemed all too interested in the power of dragon slayers. Haru dropped his head forward into his hands, it wouldn't be the first time some deranged psycho had wanted to get their hands on a dragon slayer for malicious intensions. Lucy's hand came up to stroke his back, offering what comfort she could, considering she could only guess what he was reacting to and Mira's hand squeezed his leg. 'Natsu. Please be okay, I don't know if we can make it without you,' Haru thought a lot of the guild drew on Natsu's strength the same way Erza's block had drawn on Jellal's.
"Shortly after Jellal was taken, Grampa Rob— we all called him that… told us he would fight for our freedom." Erza's voice dropped a little as she explained that as the guards began ushering them back to their cells for the night, Rob had unleashed a magic power that he'd kept concealed. His power was strong enough to single-handedly knock back and hold off their captors as the children all made a run for it. They were fortunate that their cell block happened to be on one of the lowest levels of the tower, but the majority of them still didn't make it out. Rob had held the enforcers off as long as he'd been able before taking a fatal blow, and Erza would always hear Millianna's screams beside her. Erza remembered desperately wanting to run to his side, but as her friends froze around her, she knew she was the only one who could get them to safety. She pulled the youngest of them, Millianna and Sho, along with her, and in the end only the three of them had been able to escape amidst the chaos. They hid in the crevasses along the tower until the searches had died down and it was assumed, they'd drowned trying to swim for it. The trio had crawled into one of the small boats and rowed away from the tower, struggling with the weight of the friend's they'd been forced to leave behind.
Erza didn't tell her guildmates that she'd never shaken the overwhelming feelings of cowardice and shame that burdened her for abandoning so many of her friends and the other slaves on the upper floors. Those feelings had pushed her to locate the guild Grampa Rob had hailed from. She had spent the majority of her first years with Fairy Tail training and honing the first sparks of her magic power, vowing she'd never let another loved one down again. It wasn't until Gray, Natsu, and shortly after Mira and her siblings had joined that she'd slowly begun to open up and allow herself to live and laugh with them.
Makorav had quietly entered the infirmary just toward the end of Erza's story, he was the only one fully aware of her past and he had been surprised to find her opening up on the details. It didn't take him long to figure out that sharing her story was her way of committing to one hundred percent trust in them, she saw it as part of what she needed to do to prepare her team to rescue Natsu. As the murmurs of support faded off, Makorav grumbled out, "what is with you Dragon Soul brats and getting caught up in dangerous rescue situations?" He asked no one in particular, he knew Erza would want to get the focus off of her and back on Natsu as quickly as possible. Lucy, Gray and Haru all blushed in response and looked away, garnering light chuckles from their friends, before the launched into planning their counter strike.
He must be seeing things, or the motion sickness finally killed him he considered dully. He couldn't decide which but there was no way the vision he was currently watching get clearer by the minute as they got closer, could possibly be real. Haru groaned as he swallowed another wave of nausea, dropping his forehead onto hands propped up on the nose of the boat without ever prying his eyes away from the crystalline tower reaching high into the sky. Wendy was to his side, but he had told her to save her magic for any number of people, Natsu included, who might need her healing. Normally Master wouldn't have approved such a young, non-S class mage on a mission of this calibre, but she had insisted, and Makorav had caved knowing they may need her unique skills.
The tower loomed up in front of them on the horizon, surrounded by the sparkling ocean waters and the afternoon cast the crystal in tones of blues, purples and greens. It would be beautiful if it wasn't for the disgusting nature of its' existence. Haru slumped to the side as another wave shifted their boat again, he let his head lull on to an arm folded over the side of the boat. If Natsu was lucky, Haru thought pessimistically, Ultear transported him right here… or knocked him out so he didn't have to experience this long trip on the ocean in a damn rowboat of all things. He could swim for it; he was faster than the boat anyway… why did he tell Wendy to save her magic? She was right. there.
"You hanging in there, Haru?" Lucy asked from the back of the small vessel, pulling him from his unhelpful internal dialogue. Even when she was dealing with her own overwhelming fears, she was still constantly checking in on her friends.
Sighing loudly, he replied, "yeah, just peachy," giving her a half-hearted thumbs up and a weak smile. She chuckled at the effort as Erza and Gray stopped paddling a mile out to let the boat drift while Erza reiterated the plan of attack.
Natsu
Natsu found himself leaning against a crystal wall, his wrists and ankles both restrained as a precaution to remove his hand to hand prowess from the equation, in addition to his magic. He glanced around the large open space that took up the entire top floor of the tower, the back wall opened onto a wide ledge with no barrier to prevent a lethal fall. The other occupants in the room stood at a long stone table, discussing plans as they flipped through a thick tome, he assumed one of the demon books.
"You know, it's rude to ignore a guest," Natsu shouted blandly in the direction of Siegrain and Ultear who was pulling another of the books in front of them.
"Could at least get me something to eat… no? A beer then? No luck? –worth a try." He continued spewing out random requests and comments when they both continued to ignore him.
"How about loosening these cuff—"
"Would you shut UP!" Ultear snapped back at him anger flaring, her usual endless patience failing.
"It was your choice to take him and not the water dragon slayer." Siegrain told her, voice void of emotion, as he flipped a few pages in the tome before him. His eyes left the page to fix her with a cold stare, "so I suggest you live with your choices and stop letting him get under your skin."
She sounded a grunt of annoyance before turning back to the books between them, until Natsu distracted her again, "don't feel bad Ultear, not many people can resist my fire, I'm just too hot."
"Gods damnit!" She cursed, rounding on the cocky annoyance and stomping towards him. He was wearing an unbelievably smug smirk despite being rendered completely helpless and she wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face.
"ULTEAR." Siegrain barked, and she stopped in her steps to glare back over her shoulder, "it appears we have guests arriving, why don't you go prepare to greet them properly."
It was a command, not a question, and she begrudgingly pivoted and walked toward the stairs, heels sounding her annoyance clearly on the crystal. "Yes, Lord Jellal."
Natsu watched her disappear down the corridor, "So it's Jellal now then?" The blue haired man turned, placed a hand on his hip and fixed Natsu with an indifferent stare, waiting for him to ask whatever asinine question was on his mind. "What do you want with Haru and me?" To Natsu's absolute infuriation, Jellal just smirked, eyes narrowing, not divulging any information. Then he turned away, requipped the books, and disappeared in Ultear's direction, leaving him alone. The fire mage's eye twitched at the implied insult, that clearly, bound by two sets of anti-magic cuffs and unable to make much use of his combat skills, he wasn't even enough of a threat to be left with a grunt to guard him. His eyes scanned around the room again, desperate to make Jellal eat that choice in the form of a fiery fist to the mouth. Unfortunately, he already knew there was no secret play to be made, he'd just have to wait patiently, and trust that Levy could figure out the location of the tower and back up would have him dishing out payback in no time.
Trusting in his guildmates, Natsu dropped his head back against the wall behind him, resigning himself to the idea of a nap. Until he heard heavy foot falls moving toward him, he cracked an eye open and glanced around. He wasn't surprised that he hadn't noticed the new arrival earlier, between the ethernano saturating the air and demonic magic pouring over the tower, his sense of smell and ability to track magic signatures was practically non-existent. A large man came to a stop in front of him, 'well, I guess they left a guard detail after all,' he thought as a bitter laugh bubbled up from his throat.
"You're Salamander."
Natsu narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "what of it."
"Is Poseidon somewhere around here too?"
"How the hell do you know us?"
"Tales of the Twin Dragons, among others, spread even here."
"Okay… and? That still doesn't answer how you'd know me, or Haru. As far as I am aware, there are no photos of us just floating around. Certainly not all the way out here."
"Jellal mentioned the capture of a fire dragon."
Natsu shifted to bring his arms to rest on bent knees, rolled his aching wrists as he did so, he was getting impatient with the seemingly pointless conversation. "Okay, great, you got me pal. What do you want?"
"Fret not Salamander, I am not your enemy."
"You'll have to excuse me for not taking you at your word, the last person to say that locked me in these cuffs," he retorted bitterly.
The man removed a short sword from his belt and Natsu deadpanned at him, cocking his head at the sword, "whatcha doing pulling a sword on me, friend," he spat sarcastically. The man swung the sword down in a straight-line slashing through both sets of cuffs in one go and Natsu yelped at the unexpected move as his restraints broke apart. His vision shifted from the shattered remnants of his cuffs back to the eyes watching him intently, "what's your name?"
"Simon, I am a very old friend of Erza's. Now let's get moving, we don't have time for pleasantries," he responded cryptically and pulled the fire mage to his feet, dragging Natsu with him to the stairs. Natsu's mind reeled, Erza?! Where the hell did that come from, why would a friend of Erza be here, working with Jellal of all people. He didn't have much time to ponder it or question his unexpected ally as Simon came to an abrupt stop and Natsu bumped into his back before peeking around the man's large frame. They were in a room filled with people in black cloaks and masks hiding their faces.
"I will create a diversion, you need to escape and bring reinforcements," Simon instructed, and before Natsu could ask what he planned to do, the room went black.
Natsu blinked, he flinched when the black had surrounded him, but this wasn't a void like Midnight's magic. Far as he could tell, Simon's spell simply stole the light, and as Natsu's keen eyes adjusted he could see his enemies fairly clearly. He eyed Erza's supposed friend one last time before bounding forward and agilely skipping through the cloaked enemies, reaching out to grip the rounded edge of a wall to spin himself down the stair well at the opposite side of the room. Leaping down multiple stairs at a time, he skidded to a stop and pressed his body into a wall at the bottom of the stairs to assess the next floor. An eerie glow bathed the open space with a muted yellow as it failed to fully banish Simon's spell that had extended down to this room as well. Natsu's eyes shifted around to analyze the room between clusters of people in restraints and cloaked men barking orders at them. Most disturbingly, was a group of five children secured to the far wall, a pulsing glow consuming their bodies in time with the ethernano crystal that was casting the odd light.
'What the fuck. Are they draining the untapped magic potential of CHILDREN?!' Natsu raged in disgust, now that he took a second look, the vast majority of the people in chains seemed to be children. He ground his teeth until his jaw ached from the effort as his eyes darted around the room counting the apparent guards, —6, 7, 8 of them. The fire mage cracked his neck, took a deep breath in and blew out eight quick condensed bullets of fire, each hitting its' vital point with deadly precision. Flashing across the room, Natsu spung a fire talon across the far wall and severed all five sets of chains in one sweep, all before the guards had hit the floor. He caught the small girl on the end as the children dropped, they were all unconscious with a sickly green colour to their skin that was symptomatic of magic depletion illness. But he knew they'd be okay with some rest, their magic containers weren't developed enough to cause long term or potentially fatal damage. Natsu glanced around at the rest of slaves in the room, they were all nervously keeping their distance, unsure what to make of him. He addressed one of the eldest in the room, the boy still couldn't be more than 14 or 15 years and it wasn't fair for him to put this burden on the teen's shoulders. Natsu considered the boy, recalling the dangerous missions he was already taking at his age and shook his head, "take these kids, find a safe place to hide, until I can come back for you."
The boy stared at him unmoving, nodded a couple times numbly and Natsu grit his teeth in response. "I need to hear you say that you understand," he said sternly.
"I, I understand," the boy confirmed.
Nodding Natsu walked over and pressed the small girl into his arms, "Fairy Tail will liberate all of you, that's a promise, if you see this mark," the pinkette tapped the crimson emblem on his shoulder, "than know you can trust whoever bears it."
Calling a final reassurance over his shoulder, Natsu spun and took off for the next stair well, he encountered similar scenes on the next few floors and repeated the same tactics. Just as he was getting into a tactile flow of action, he slid to a stop on another darkened floor, but this one was void of people, as far as his stifled senses could tell anyway. The pinkette crept into the room cautiously, eyes surveying the space thoroughly as he moved toward the next set of stairs. "HOO HOO," a sound screeched and in the muted tones of darkness Natsu could only make out a hulking shape before it smashed into his side propelling him into the wall.
"Damn. That hurt," he groaned, peeling himself out of the crater his body had formed in the crystal. His attacker was already looping back around and whirling to aim a powerful kick for his chest and Natsu just managed to skirt out of the way. Another large chunk of crystal broke off the wall and crashed to the floor as the owl— 'OWL? What the fuck am I looking at,' –man, landed and stood to his full height.
"Fukuro at your service, I will eliminate you for all your sins, Salamander," the owl reject informed him, Natsu blinked dumbly back at the strange mage. "Ha HOO," he hooted again, leaning forward as the jets on his pack powered up and he shot at Natsu again with blinding speed. Dodging to the side, the pinkette puffed his cheeks out and released a massive wave of fire to engulf his opponent. Sprinting forward into the flames for cover he snapped his jaw shut to cut the attack and appeared right in front of Fukuro to deliver a brutal upper cut to his chin. The owl went flying into the opposite wall creating a crater of his own, he dropped forward cracking his neck at inhuman angles that had Natsu cringing. Just before he was about to re-engage Fukuro before he could fully recover, the rhythmic tap of new footsteps drew his attention and an elegantly dressed woman joined the fray dragging the tip of a katana along the crystal floor. The woman was singing an odd haiku in a monotone voice, and Natsu deadpanned, wondering if all the Death Head Order assassins were this unsettlingly weird or if he was just lucky enough to attract the crazies. His eyes shifted between her and the owl reject, but she commanded his attention when she gracefully lifted her blade and slashed it through the space before her. Confused by the distance she attacked at with a close ranged weapon, Natsu scoffed, until a pain sliced through his shoulder and half his shirt fell in scraps around him. There was no mark at all on his shoulder, but his arm dropped limply to his side, all sensation suddenly unavailable to it. Natsu cursed loudly and skipped back multiple times to try to put more distance between him and her dangerous abilities, had she severed his nerves without breaking his skin? Was something like that even possible? Either way, he was in serious trouble here.
Shifting his gaze between Fukuro just managing to stumble back onto his feet and the statuesque woman, he pondered his options. Keeping a close eye on them for signs of an impending attack, Natsu carefully pulled his useless arm across his body securing it inside the intact half of his top. The tight fit of the combat shirt helped immobilize his arm against his own body, creating a decent temporary sling.
Jumping high to get above Fukuro as the assassin jetted over making an attempt to grab at him, Natsu flipped to gain momentum and drove two subsequent powerful kicks down into the owl's head and then lower back. Fukuro crashed head-first into the ground, his hard beak cutting a line through the crystal, and Natsu landed a foot between his shoulder blades before spring boarding off with flames whipping around his body. The trails of fire grew exponentially before he whipped them all together and threw a massive brilliant flame at the other assassin. She remained ever still and unphased, and with barely any motion, she sliced the fire ball cleanly in half. Natsu's eyes blew wide as he watched with mild fascination and a healthy amount of dread as the two halves of his spell careened into the walls on either side of her, causing heavy damage.
Natsu kept moving and kept his distance to make it as hard as possible for the rogue mage to pull her nerve severing trick again. If she severed anything more central spine, the battle and quite possible his life would be forfeit. Sprinting around the far edges of the room he released his magic power and noted that his opponent who had been undaunted until this point, flinched back subtly. Entering fire drive in a burst of flames, he flipped over a burst of power Fukurou shot low at his feet from across the chamber, planting the palm of his good arm on the ground to spring himself sideways into the wall. Natsu drove his feet into the wall and exploded forward disappearing into his flames leaving a sizable dent in the crystalline wall from the fire enhanced propulsion. "Fire dragon king's demolition fist!" Natsu called the attack just as he materialized in front of his target, fist connecting right between the owl's eyes. "Why don't you STAY DOWN!" Fire continued to build up after impact and with his punch still driving the assassin back, the pair collided with the already damaged wall in a devastating explosion, blowing a gaping hole in the wall. Natsu pulled his fist back as the two began to plummet out of the tower, channeling fire from his feet the pinkette kicked off the unconscious bird and propelled himself back to the safety of the ledge.
Rescue Team
A few feet off the narrow stretch of shoreline that surrounded the tower, Haru dropped off the boat's edge into thigh deep water to guide it up onto the sand. His comrades jumped off the nose of the boat to join him on shore and all six stood staring up at the towering structure. The base was smooth, uninterrupted plains of crystal, but higher up, points or raw crystal jutted off in random directions toward the sky. As far as Haru could tell, there was no obvious point of entry. He moved to run his palm along the cool surface, the raw magic power emanating from it felt somehow stifling and empowering at the same time. The group split in half, each moving in opposite directions to circle around the tower searching for an access point. The base was massive to offer stability to the daunting height it supported, and it took a decent amount of time before Haru caught sight of Gray's group approaching.
"How on Earthland do we get inside?" Gray asked, an obvious edge of frustration in his voice and posture as his eyes crawled over the purple-blue exterior.
Erza held her chin pondering, "I could fly around, see if there is a higher—" a massive explosion shattered the silence and the redhead's thought. All six heads whipped upward in unison as a blast of fire erupted out the side of the building near the top of the tower, plumes of smoke filling the calm blue sky.
They gawked collectively, as they caught sight of a large bulky figure falling from the upper levels of the tower, and briefly after, a second fiery figure launch back up into the tower. Watching in a slight stupor as the former crashed into the surrounding ocean, the rescue team remained briefly quiet as they processed the sudden turn of events.
Then, "only one idiot I know is that is that destructive!" "That's gotta be Natsu!" Gray and Haru shouted over one another. A wide grin split Gray's face, while relief flooded through Haru and the rest of the team.
Erza took a few steps back to the edge of the shore to try to scope out the new entry point over a hundred feet above them. Her requip flashed and she flexed the wings of her heaven's wheel armour preparing to fly, "okay team, looks like if we can't find an entrance, we can make our own!" She scanned the matching smiles on her comrades, "Wendy and I are flying up there to back up Natsu, the three of us will make our way down, while you four make your way up." Erza could tell by the shared expressions on both Haru's and Lucy's faces that they'd rather be joining her to meet up with their pink-haired partner. Giving them both an apologetic smile, Erza knew they both understood why Wendy was the better choice to fly up there and neither one of them objected. They still didn't know what condition they'd find Natsu in, just because he was fighting didn't mean he wasn't in need of medical care.
The knight gripped Wendy under the arms and flapped her wings to raise the two of them into the air testing her centre of balance a bit. She smiled down at her team, "okay, be careful. And remember, there will likely be slaves in there. We are here to free them, as well as put a stop to Siegrain's plans. See you in the middle!" The remaining four chorused back in a range of cheers and with another flap of her wings, Erza shot up the tower with Wendy as the two water mages below began blowing an entrance of their own into the base.
'I will take this tower down with my own hands, finally,' Erza vowed internally as they neared the smoking hole above them.
A/N. I love a flirty smug Ultear… just can't help myself. Side note: I am aware Ultear doesn't have teleportation magic in the manga/anime, my creative license says she does now :P
This is a longer arc than the previous ones so buckle in. Lots of fluff, fun and relationship development to look forward to post tower!
Have a lovely week my fantastic readers!
R&R.
xx Loka Muse