Chapter 13

Laxus stayed awake monitoring the perimeter of the camp, testing the ruins Freed put up for weaknesses. At 1:30 in the morning Laxus woke Freed and Evergreen up so that he could get some sleep. Everything was silent through the second shift; Freed woke Lucy and Bickslow up at 5:30 in the morning. Bickslow was fidgeting the entire time, making his tiki dolls and Lucy move in circles from his agitation. Finally, Lucy stomped up to the blue haired mage and demanded, "What is it? Your anxiety is rolling off you in waves. Tell me what is bothering."

Bickslow never took his eyes off the surrounding forest as he replied, "It is too quiet. There is no sound not even of insects. The only way that it is so silent is if the animals sense a predator in the area. They would have gotten used to our presence by now; they sense something else." Lucy began to watch the darkened area of the forest more closely. Every now and then Lucy would see a bush or tree leaves shutter, but no sighting of an animal to go with it.

Soon the sky started to lighten and Lucy started making coffee and simple breakfast for everyone. Laxus woke first and immediately started walking around the camp, checking the rune barrier. Laxus remained silent when he sat down and waited for the food to be done. When the coffee was finished, Lucy began to pour it into cups and that was when Freed woke up. Laxus said, "Bicks take Evergreen some coffee and get her butt up, try not to piss her off too much with your smug cheerfulness." Bickslow put a cup of coffee on one of his tiki totems and sent it over to Evergreen's tent with the others. All of sudden you heard a bunch of synchronized voices loudly sing song, "Up uppity up up."

Evergreen came out of the tent with Bickslow's babies dancing around her head, drinking the coffee they gave her. She glared at Bickslow and whispered evil, "The only reason they are not in pieces is because they had coffee." Bickslow had serious look on his face for the first-time Lucy could remember; Lucy quickly realized Evergreen's comment had upset the blue haired mage. Once everyone was gathered around they began making plans while they ate their breakfast.

After all the conversation was finished a formation was decided on for the exploration they were about to undergo for their first day on the mission. It had been Freed's idea to make an arrow formation of sorts. Laxus was to be the point with Freed and Bickslow on each side a few yards away and to the back. Lucy was to take the center position to provide support to anyone who might be attacked; leaving Evergreen to bring up the rear of the group a few yards behind Lucy.

It did not take long after the group of mages left their camp to notice strange things. First there was still no sightings of any animals not even insects. Second there was always bushes moving behind the group but nothing seemed to be following them. Thirdly there seemed no obvious signs of any people being in the area other than some tree that had been cut down. After about an hour the group finally walked into the clearing that would eventually become a town. The group was looking around the clearing when they heard a high-pitched squeal come from the woods.

Everyone froze in place because after the squeal came the noise of hoof beats. As the hoof beats came closer the group got into attack possession; suddenly a small herd of boars came crashing through the tree line straight at the group. Everyone jumped in different directions out of the way to avoid being trampled. Laxus landed on a tree branch and began looking to make sure the others had made out of the way, being most worried about Lucy.

Bickslow was riding on his tiki dolls in midair, and Freed had landed on a branch across the clearing. Evergreen had used her wings to fly up into the air, but Laxus could not locate Lucy. After looking all around the area Laxus yelled out, "Guys where is Lucy?!" Evergreen who had been walking behind Lucy yelled back, "She used her whip to swing up into the tree next you but I cannot see her from here." Laxus began searching the tree branches for a sign on the celestial mage.

Evergreen and Bickslow used their ability to fly to search the higher parts of the tree but found no sign of Lucy. Laxus began to worry and yelled, "LUCY! Where are you?!" Evergreen was still up at the top of a tree when she noticed stars falling from the sky in a clearing in the distance, when she reported this to Laxus the group ran toward the area. After fifteen minutes of running full out the worried group of mages reached the clearing where Evergreen saw the stars fall. When the group reached the edge of the clearing they froze in shock to see a giant dragon covered in stars with Lucy sitting in its claw.

Laxus began to attack the dragon with his lightning roar but Lucy jumped out of the dragon's claw and yelled, "No, don't Laxus!", then Lucy collapsed from exhaustion. Laxus' attention was immediately diverted from attacking Lucy's spirit to trying to catch her before she hit her head. Before Laxus got close to Lucy the dragon picked the celestial mage up with its tail, then curled around the girl. Laxus growled out, "Let her go now!", and took up a fighting stance. The dragon just snorted at Laxus and wound tighter as it spoke, "Silly child, she is mine to protect; you are the ones who are acting aggressive. Though I think from the scent of you, you seem to know Miss Lucy."

Freed stepped forward to be the diplomat as usual and spoke, "Please explain? Lucy is our guild mate and currently under our protection. We were on a mission but got separated." Draco quickly responded, "I am the celestial spirit Draco. Lucy is my key holder, she summoned me here. Those odd monkey creatures had a hold of Miss Lucy when she called. I sent them flying with my tail, but I could not finish them off since Miss Lucy was too close. I assumed when I heard you coming that it was them coming back for another round."

Laxus still was not relaxing because Lucy was still unconscious and not in his arms. Laxus gritted his teeth and asked as politely as he could manage, "May we please have Lucy back now?" Draco chuckled, "No, she called me here to protect her. She is my charge until I know she is safe. You have already lost her once and it got her in trouble." Laxus could not stand it anymore and yelled, "Give her to me she is my family!" Draco chuckled at the dragon slayer and stated, "you should not lose one so precious to you so easily then."

"I did not lose her; she was stolen.", Laxus replied. Draco just continued to chuckle at the dragon slayer without letting go of Lucy. The Thunder God Tribe attempted to keep Laxus calm, while trying to figure out a way to make both protective males happy with the situation. Before any of the mages could come up with an idea, Draco came up with an ultimatum, "I will give Lucy back into your care when your little lightning mage figures out what is confusing him so much. He needs to tell me why he has more of a right to protect Lucy than I do." Laxus growled under his breath but kept his mouth shut; which made Draco laugh out loud.

Freed decided to change the subject to distract from the tension in the air and asked, "How are you still here? Usually when Lucy passes out her spirits disappear back to the spirit world." Draco grinned at the mages, "I am not like the majority of Lucy's spirits, once Lucy expands the energy and magic to call me, I use my own magic once here. I am not dependent on Lucy to keep me here thus I do not return when she is asleep."

After Draco, had answered the group's questions, everyone lapsed into silence waiting for Lucy to wake up. Lucy woke up about an hour after she had passed out, and she was surprised to find that Draco was holding on to her. The large dragon slowly unwound his tail from around Lucy to make sure she regained her balance properly. As soon as Draco let go of Lucy completely Laxus walked over and stood next to the celestial mage as closely as possible. Laxus' actions made Draco chuckle at him. Laxus ignored the irritating creature and asked Lucy, "Are you alright Lucy? What happened to you when the boars came?"

Lucy sighed and replied, "I am fine guys, just drained too much magic and energy all to close together. When the boars came, I used my whip to jump into a tree. When I landed a vulcan grabbed me around the mouth, so I could not yell for help, and carried me here. When he let go of my arms I tried to use the whip to fight him but then more vulcans showed up. There were too many for the zodiac to handle so I called Draco. I'd guess there were at least ten, but it was hard to tell with them jumping around."

After Lucy's explanation Draco and Laxus suddenly came to attention and began to look around the clearing. Laxus told the others, "We are being watched, they are in the trees surrounding us. I would say at least a dozen, put they are moving. I cannot get a solid location or number." Draco snorted and replied, "They have been around the whole time; they just finally got close enough for me to actually worry about their presence." Bickslow asked Laxus, "What is the plan?"

Laxus just shook his head and had a serious look on his face. Freed spoke up saying, "Vulcans are very obsessed with territory, but I am not sure how we can use that to our advantage." Lucy sighed and stated, "I have dealt with a vulcan once before… he was a pervert. It abducted me away from Natsu and wanted to keep me. The one who stole me today was obsessed in a similar fashion. I hate saying this, but maybe Ever and I should be bait…?"

Evergreen was not pleased with Lucy's plan but had to agree that it was probably the only way to lure the monkey creatures out. Laxus did not like the plan either but said nothing because he could not come up with a better plan. Lucy whispered quietly hoping the vulcans could not hear, "Laxus teleport outside the clearing far enough away to be undetected. Bickslow and Freed fly into the sky with Draco. Make it look like you are going to leave Ever and I alone for a while. Hopefully they will believe the act and come in to the clearing where they can be seen. We will try to stay close to the center of the clearing, to draw them as far away from the cover of the trees."

Everyone agreed with Lucy's plan and the males in the group left the females standing in the clearing. It did not take long after the others had left for Evergreen and Lucy to begin hearing movement in the trees. The two female mages stood in the center and pretended to repack their backpacks, but actually kept their eyes trained on the tree line. It had been ten minutes since the rest of the group had left when the mages saw a vulcan.