There were booming sounds in the distance, and everyone stopped what they were doing. Was that thunder? The parents were commenting on whether they should head indoors soon. Perhaps more snow was on the way.
Alzack knew better. That wasn't thunder. He left the parents, walking towards his daughter, and saw the look of recognition in Gray's eyes. He'd heard it as well: Those were the sounds of explosions.
"Gray?" He said softly, trying to simultaneously convey a sense of calm for the kids, and one of urgency for his fellow mage.
He nodded, gesturing, "Go. I've got her." Alzack understood that much at least.
"Where are you going, Daddy?" Asuka asked, none the wiser.
Alzack kneeled and gently took Asuka into a hug, saying, "Daddy's gotta check something out. Be a good girl for your Gray-ni, okay? Mommy will be out here, soon."
"Okay. Bye, Daddy!" And she went back to adding the second head to her snow monster.
He turned back to Gray, telling him, "Tell Bisca I went to the northern district to see what's going on. I'll try not to be long."
Receiving a nod, he ran as fast as he was able through the deep snow. Gray was left with having to keep the kids occupied until at least Bisca returned. He couldn't keep the concern off his face. What the hell was going on over at the north end of town?
"Bubbles!"
He was brought from his thoughts when he heard the excited cry from one of the younger kids.
'Who the hell blows bubbles in sub freezing temperatures?'
"Where are those bubbles coming from?"
"There's so many!"
"They're falling from the sky!"
Both the adults and children were in awe. Gray frowned. Falling from the sky? There wasn't someone from within the plaza doing this?
Giving a short whistle, he gained Asuka's attention, gesturing, "Sprite, where are the bubbles coming from?"
"From the sky!" she shouted with glee, raising her hands as if to catch them.
"From which direction?" he gestured urgently. He received no answer. She wasn't paying attention. He grabbed her, turning her to face him, no time to feel guilt at her frightened gasp as he gestured once more, letting his face convey his worry, "Which direction?!"
"Umm, from that way, where Daddy went," she said as she pointed north.
Just then, as if to punctuate her statement, he heard more distant explosions coming from that direction.
"I need you to listen to me. This is very important. Tell all your friends and their parents to go home. Now!"
Instead of protesting or asking questions like most six-year-olds would do, she understood that things have gotten serious, and did as she was told, first yelling to her friends, then the parents. A strong gust of wind blew, sending drifts of snow, as well as most of the bubbles, towards the outskirts of the plaza. How fortunate, as it was then they started to land.
Lucy screamed, shielding her face with her arms as a shockwave threw her back, only to be caught by Happy, who flew her up just high enough to escape the blast radius. She looked down, seeing Natsu had pushed her behind him at the last second, and was now consuming the resultant flame from the explosion. Throughout the surrounding area, thunderous booms could be heard, as one structure after another caught on fire. These were only the first wave. Lucy looked towards the man in the park, watching him send out another wave of incendiary bubbles.
"Natsu! We have to stop that mage!"
"We gotta get a handle on these stupid bubbles, first! Happy, switch us out! I'm gonna take out that shoeless bastard, after I take care of those!" he shouted as he looked up towards the sky.
"You got it!"
Dropping Lucy to the ground, he picked up Natsu and took off. Reaching the perfect height, Natsu took a deep breath, and released.
"Fire Dragon's Rooaarrr!"
Every bubble still in the sky were engulfed in flame, setting off a chain reaction that caused them all to explode at once. Happy held onto to Natsu with all his might, trying to correct his course as they were caught in the blast, tumbling to the earth. Moments before they hit the ground, Happy righted them both, now able to spread his wings, swooping back up into the air, until he could land them safely by Lucy again.
Natsu, who had blacked out after the blast and subsequent fall, was coming around when Lucy kneeled by his side.
"Natsu! Are you alright?" she cried.
"Yeah. No way in Hell am I getting taken out by a flame attack. Luce! Get to Gray's house and tell Erza what's going on! In fact, send Lyon over, too. He can help contain the flames. Happy, get her there as fast as you can!"
"What about you?"
"Like I said," he replied as his fists burst into flames, "That bastard desperately needs my fist in his face."
"Just be careful. I recognized him, and he's not alone. I saw a few others. It was in the news a few weeks back. The dark guild, Leviathan's Wake, suddenly went off the radar. I remember these guys' faces from reading the member profiles, but not what their powers were!"
"A dark guild, huh? They've got some nerve, attacking our town. It's their funeral pyre. Thanks for the heads up. Get going!"
They departed ways, Lucy to bring backup, and Natsu, flames raging, running towards the epicenter of the initial onslaught.
Gray didn't know what happened. He was gathering the kids together to deliver them to their parents, when all of a sudden, explosions were heard all around. Instinctively, he threw himself over Asuka and some random kid who's hand she was holding, covering them with his body, as the concussive waves of the multitude of blasts spread across the landscape. He could feel the shockwave as he kept the kids' heads down, hoping everyone else had dropped as well. Throughout the plaza, he heard glass shattering, and structures collapsing in on themselves. Whole buildings were falling.
What about Bisca and Loren?
"Mommy!"
Asuka was screaming, terrified. He grabbed her before she could run towards the café, positive that it wasn't safe for anyone to approach. The children were crying, the parents picking themselves up and running to collect them. He vaguely heard one mother's tearful gratitude for his having personally protected her daughter, before he was relieved of one more child under his care. That left him only with Asuka, who was panicking.
"Mommy! Gray-ni! She's inside! She's still inside! MOMMY!"
She was struggling, trying to free herself from his grasp to run straight to where her mother was trapped. He had to calm her down. He threw his glasses off, knowing the sight of his scarred eyes had never failed to keep her fascinated gaze, and grabbed her face with both of his hands, switching between clicking his tongue like he does with Joy, and shushing her, wiping her tears with his thumbs. She settled down, sniffling and grabbing his hands in her tiny ones.
He slowly released her, and gestured, "Are you okay, now?"
"*sniff* Yes."
Nodding and giving a sigh of relief, he continued, "I need your help. I'm going to help your mom, but I need you to tell me what you see. Do you understand?"
"Mmm hmm. *sniff* All the buildings are broken, and... and there's glass all over. People are crying, and running away. There's a bunch of fires, and lots of smoke. The top of the building... where Mommy went in, fell down. A bunch of people came out, but I didn't see her!" she finished sadly and worriedly.
Gray fought hard against the anxiety that tried to settle into his heart, keeping his focus on her words rather than the visions of burning flesh that instantly arose at the mention of fire. Taking a steadying breath, and hoping Asuka couldn't sense his fear, he tried to be the strong tower she needed right now.
"Calm down. It's going to be okay. I'm gonna go look for her. Is there anyone here you trust?"
Looking around, she saw several of her friends' moms still nearby. In fact, everyone was still here. Gray couldn't possibly know that the collapsed buildings had made it unsafe to escape the chaos, leaving the families to huddle where they sat, out in the cold, waiting for someone to give them guidance.
"Everyone's still here."
'Damn it.'
So he was too late to warn them away. He could only hope no one was hurt. At least he could leave her with someone.
"Tell them to stay together, that help is on the way, and that I'm going to go find your mom. One more thing... I need you to take me closer to the café."
He wished he had another option, but she was the only one who could understand him. There were doubtlessly too many obstacles between him and the building now, and time was an important factor. He just needed her to get him to within the debris field. He could find his way from there. Hopefully, that help he promised would be here soon.
With a brave face and steely eyes, she turned towards the scared families and repeated his words. Securing the promise of several moms to watch over her when she returned, she turned back towards Gray, but stopped when she spied his shinai in the snow. Knowing he'd need it to feel his way around after she was to leave him, she scooped it up and handed it to him as she took his other hand, and confidently lead him through the snow.
As they got closer to the collapsed building, he started feeling several magic auras approaching. Good. Help was almost there. Except... something felt off. They felt off. He now sensed a malevolence within those auras. Whoever was coming meant no good for the victims of this attack. There was no doubt in his mind that this was exactly that. His worry increased. How was he going to protect those families against whomever these enemies were?
There was something else odd. Where were these auras coming from? If he concentrated, he was usually able to sense their avenue of approach, but these auras were vague, hard to read, but still getting closer. Suddenly, he felt it. A vibration from below. The sound of earth parting.
'Are you freakin kidding me?'
By instinct, he pushed Asuka away, bringing his shinai up in time to block a strike from an enemy's blade.
'Damn it all!'
Lyon had just slammed a note on the table for Loren and Gray, explaining where Erza and he were heading to, when Lucy threw open the door, news of the attack on her lips.
"We know," Erza said, forestalling Lucy's explanation, "Do we know who's attacking us?"
"Remember that dark guild that disappeared a few weeks back?"
"Leviathan's Wake. I saw the headlines, but never read the articles," replied Lyon.
"Yes. It looks like they went underground in order to plan this surprise attack. Can't imagine what they hope to gain from this. Maybe to score some bragging rights? Take out the number one guild, gain some recognition?"
"This is a dangerously foolish decision on their part, regardless of their reasoning. They may have thought us vulnerable since most of our guild mates are out on missions, but those of us that remain will not stand for this. What have they done so far?" Erza asked as they were out the door.
"There's a mage that uses explosive bubbles. He's setting the whole city on fire. That's why I came, to get Lyon's help. So far, Natsu's kept it contained in the northern districts, but we saw stray bubbles flying everywhere on our way here," Lucy informed. She halted, remembering where she was, and looking back towards the house. "Where's Gray? We can't leave him alone!"
"He's not here," said Lyon, "Loren came by earlier, and took him to the café at the market place."
"What?! Oh no! We saw a bunch of those bubbles heading that way!" cried Happy.
"I'm gonna head there!" cried Lucy, "I'll let him know what's going on, and have him come back here. I'll hurry back as fast as I can!"
As Lucy ran off, Erza requipped into her Black Wing Armor, leading the way to their battle ground as Happy followed closely behind with Lyon.
Natsu didn't want to complain, but this guy was really starting to piss him off. He wasn't even that strong! If anything, he was more annoying than formidable. Natsu could barely get to within striking distance, before the son of a bitch would release another barrage of incendiary bubbles into the sky, which he would have to quickly dispatch before they had a chance to ignite. The safety of the town had to take priority over beating the guy's face in. Unfortunately, a few of them had reached their targets, and Natsu was doing all he could to contain those flames, at least the ones he could reach. If only Happy was here.
Consuming the flames from a nearby bookstore, he turned back towards his quarry, trying to figure out another tactic to take him out. For now, he'd have to keep his distance. From here, he could spread his roars out in a broader range, taking out the bubbles more efficiently, but denying him a chance to pursue the perpetrator. Four more times did he dispose of the bubbles, able to switch locations from where he could strike, but never having the time to get close enough to attack the man directly. He couldn't send a roar his way. There were too many innocents within his line of fire, too much risk of collateral damage. He didn't want a repeat of what happened during his spar with Lyon, when he'd put Gray and others in danger. He needed a better strategy.
His strategizing was put on hold when he caught a sound behind him, from above, and across the street. He shifted just barely a step to the left, just in time to feel the graze of a bullet on his arm. The sound he'd heard was the action of a bolt chambering a round. He heard it again, and ran zig zag across the park, dodging more rounds, before ducking behind a large oak tree. Wood shreds were flying with the impact of more bullets, but the thick trunk was more than sufficient cover. But now he was bogged down, prohibited from controlling the fires, and unable to approach his target. The target that was about to release another barrage of floating bombs.
Wait. They stopped shooting. Listen. What's the shooter doing? Ah! The bolt's been reengaged. Natsu gathered some snow, and packed it into a large snowball. As soon as he threw it, it was blown apart, the report of gunfire heard as it echoed throughout the park. The sniper was reloading the magazine. How many shots would they have before they'd need to reload again? There was a pause before as well, now that he thought about it. About six seconds was his estimate. How many shots were fired between reloads?
'The first one grazed my arm. Then one, two... five shots before the first pause, five shots after."
If he could get the sniper to fire four more times, he'd have a six second window to at least burn off the bombs before they got out of range. But that would only work if he could time it to coincide with the dirtbag's release of his bubble spell! Looking towards the park, he saw the man inhaling as he raised his hands again like before. He had seconds. No time to think, just do.
Taking his scarf, he wrapped it around another large snow ball, and flung it around like a sling, letting them both fly. As soon as he heard gun fire, he started leaping and climbing up the tree. A bullet tore through the space where the scarf flew. One... The man released more bombs into the air... two... They were spreading wider and farther into the sky. All the branches were bare. There were no leaves to offer concealment ... three... That shot took out the branch he'd just leapt from. Some bombs were about to alight upon a school. There was no more time.
He reached the top, took a deep breath, flipped off the top branch, and roared.
...
... Four...
Next Chapter: Gray's fighting a battle on many fronts, while Erza and Lyon defend against the bomber and the sniper.