Chapter 76:
Natsu grinned, a dark, sinister show of his teeth that made Lilith's already growing unease rise exponentially. The demon spread his wings wide, showing their impressive span of over three dozen feet before he launched into the air with one powerful push. Lilith barely had time to roll out of the way before he came crashing down, both feet wrapped in dark and red energy that made an impressive hole in the obsidian. He rolled as he landed, wings tucked to his side and Lilith couldn't help but admit that the size of those things should make such graceful movements impossible. But Natsu was one giant impossibility. His tail struck at her like a snake, the sharp blade-like edge leaving a deep cut in her forearm and she hissed turning around and finally acknowledging that this was no time to stand around gawking.
Her legs twisted as Natsu came closer, her whole body suddenly looking a lot more boneless as she sank to the ground and avoided a kick aimed for her head. Natsu continued with his momentum, spinning in spot and stomping with frightening force on a spot where she was moments earlier. She slithered along the ground like a snake, rising next to Natsu in seconds and pushing her palm towards his stomach. Natsu caught the fast kick with ease, long claws digging into her arm but Lilith pushed past it, her neck elongating to more than a feet as she opened her mouth, suddenly filled with sharp teeth which she sank into his shoulder. Natsu jerked the arm that was holding her, ripping a good chunk of flesh and muscle out in the process and he leaned back, forcing Lilith to let go of the shoulder least her teeth got pulled out as well on the sharp scales covering it. Natsu dropped to his arms from his position and turned in the air and Lilith suddenly found herself avoiding not only his curse-wrapped legs but the sharp tail and the muscled wings.
Instead of landing on his feet as Lilith expected he spread his wings with a snap and lifted himself into the air. Lilith's whole body jerked with her curse as she sank to the floor in a desperate attempt to avoid what came next. Natsu's jaw split in half, a gory display of muscle and teeth and the back of his throat burst into sinister red. ''Chaos demon's ROAR!''
The roar was a tornado of red and black, passing barely above Lilith and even though the brunt of it missed her the clothes and skin on the side facing it were torn to shreds and her eyes widened in pain as if the poison seeped into her from the wounds. She moved along the ground, arms shooting up, wrapped in their own yellowish-red light as she sank them into Natsu's forearms he used to block the hit. Lilith jumped back when his arms suddenly wrapped in black and red and his voice carried through the Eight Circle. ''Chaos demon's iron fist!''
The first she dodged but the second struck into her side and she howled as the energy tore deep into her side. Natsu's grin widened and his other hand shot towards her while she was still stumbling from the first strike. His claws dug into the place where her shoulder met the neck. The long claw on his thumb dug right under her collar bone and as she wheezed from the pain he made his other hand come up and the clawed fingers wrapped around the spine in her neck.
Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up, a distant thought echoing through her head and marveling at how tall he was on those bent legs. To someone standing further away, it might look like they were about to kiss, the way he practically hugged her with the position of his hands and the wings that rose around the two. But Natsu had no intention of being gentle now, Lilith knew and she once again watched as a line appeared on his lower jaw before it opened and the red glow in the back of his throat came more slowly this time.
She was trapped with his hand around her spine where one jerk could render her immobile for a foreseeable future. She now realized as he spoke the name of the spell how his voice still carried even without him moving his tongue or his mouth. ''Chaos demon's –''
She knew she didn't have much time – she didn't have any time left so she once again stretched her spine, twisting her head a good feet away as the roar fired and her legs came up, wrapping around his waist tightly as her own clawed hands dug into the joints of his wings and Natsu's whole body went still. Both of them were wast, Lilith knew and it usually meant the faster one was the one less distracted.
And now Lilith could very nicely feel as the most sensitive muscles in his body shifted under her claws just as Natsu could feel her spine stretched beyond anything even remotely human.
''What now?'', Lilith wondered in the sudden lull of the battle. Natsu didn't answer right away, probably thinking. He could break Lilith's spine in a second – but so could she both his wings. He would have a good hundred pounds of dead weight on his back unresponsive to his movement. Both his wings and her spine would heal but neither had the time needed to wait.
''I will tear you apart,'' Natsu spoke softly and Lilith's eyes narrowed, her hands tensing and ready to move – but she couldn't. Her entire body suddenly seemed sluggish, slow and unresponsive. ''Wha – What did you do?''
Natsu's hand started squeezing her spine and Lilith gasped and she realized she felt this before when Natsu demanded those answers from her and she was feeling it now. The nauseating sensation that gripped her stomach and squeezed her lungs. ''I learned, Lilith. I knew I did something that first day. I just didn't know what. At least not until I had enough time to test it. You told me yourself torture sessions are incredibly useful. I agree fully''
Lilith couldn't move yet she knew very well Natsu still left her spine intact. It was a feeling that made her panic and she shuddered in his hold. ''I'm a demon of Chaos, Lilith. Tell me what that means to you?''
Lilith's eyes widened and a strangled denial left her frozen lips as Natsu finally jerked his hands back, one ripping out a good part of her collar bone and the other a fistful of her vertebrates. She collapsed to the ground, feeling completely foreign in her own body. ''It can't be... It's im – impossible...'', her voice was a whisper and Natsu walked towards her, one hand rubbing his shoulder as his wings flexed out of their tense state.
But Natsu was one giant impossibility.
No more thoughts went through her head as her eyes looked up, glazed over from the foreign pain she couldn't explain and Natsu's clawed foot came on her head, crushing it in a second.
Had someone told the Gatekeeper he would worry about humans being stronger than him he would have throttled them and then swiftly sent their carcasses to their circle to wake up. But now... he looked at them, gathered in a loose circle around his feet, looking little bigger than rats to him. He thought he'd have to worry about Acnologia. Only about Acnologia but as he turned his attention to the dragon king the white-haired woman slammed a ball of pure black energy into his side from the left, successfully breaking two of his lower ribs. He growled, more out of anger than pain and the fight started with each party fully concentrated at their opponent.
Acnologia jumped into the air, easily scaling the height of the demon in one powerful jump. ''Chaos dragon king's wing attack!''
The Gatekeeper, let it be known, was despite his size, very fast. He prowed it easily, moving out of the way of the powerful attack and in one smooth movement that extended from the bent state he slammed one fist at the blonde lightning mage. Laxus jumped to the side, his form turning to lightning as he scaled the demon's arm easily in his form, stopping mid-air in front of his eyes as he gripped at his right eyelid. The Gatekeeper brought his hand up, just as the mage released a powerful blast.
''LAXUS!'', Lily yelled, his black form transforming as he shot towards the mage that had been swept aside like a fly. ''You will have to try better than that,'' the demon informed them, smoke rising from his burnt skin and eye. Even before he finished saying that the ground below his left foot turned to sand and he sank down, out of balance and startled. He quickly recovered, lashing out with his tail at the mages behind and ramming his horned forehead into the raven-haired ice mage.
Gray responded with a shouted formation of his shield that formed a dome over him. The bluish, several feet thick ice shattered on the impact with the Gatekeeper's head but it slowed it enough to allow Gray to escape with only a bruise from his rough landing. The tail was caught by grinning Gajeel who promptly brought down his blade-like hand and ended up with half of the demon's tail twitching vividly in his hand.
The Gatekeeper howled at the sudden loss, moving to turn around to promptly smash the human only to almost break his leg that instead of the sand once again stood on the rock, only now firmly encased in the black rock.
Ultear grinned at him, twirling her fingers in the air towards the roof just as Acnologia rushed towards him. ''Chaos dragon king's iron fist''
''Time arc: FORWARD!''
The ceiling above his head crumpled, the spikes rushing down suddenly far sharper while Acnologia came at his head. The Gatekeeper howled in fury, on leg kicking into the ground and the rock around his other leg cracked. He used his hands to push more firmly but the shadows suddenly rose up to his forearms, his arms sinking into the murky darkness and both the spikes and Acnologia's fist met their mark. Acnologia's fist, coated in black and blue went through the skull of the demon above his right arm and one of the spikes managed to pierce far more than just the skin as it burred deep into his back.
Acnologia gave laughed as he ripped his fist out of the skull and the Gatekeeper crashed into the ground. The large demon huffed as he lied on the ground, one leg and both arms sunk into the ground. ''Is he dead?'', Arthur asked as he walked next to Lucy who shrugged. ''I don't know.. I mean, aren't they all dead already?''
''They are,'' Laxus acknowledged as he walked towards them, Lily sitting on his shoulder. ''You okay?'', Annie asked worriedly, eyeing the dark purple that spread over the right side of his visible skin. ''It'll take a lot more to take me down, twerp,'' Laxus laughed and Annie huffed. ''I'm not a twerp!''
''Keep your head in the fight, brats! It's not over!'', Acnologia's yell did good to shake them into action, and barely even aware what was happening Laxus grabbed Lucy and pulled her away while Arthur sank Annie and himself into the ground as the demon's hand suddenly came crashing above them.
It didn't even start to lift when Erza came from above, black wings on her back and a long sword in her hand that she buried into the hand with all her might. The sword went through to the other side and the Gatekeeper growled in frustration. ''You rats!''
His blue eyes flared and before Acnologia had time to warn anyone of what was obviously coming a wall of blue fire rose around the demon and spread around him inside the cavern. Acnologia jumped over it, feeling the heat easily even from the distance he made. The others moved, quickly and desperately out of the way. Arthur barely snatched Erza out of the way and Laxus, still clutching Lucy followed Acnologia's example and jumped over it. Ultear spread her eyes in a circle, quickly wrapping herself and Mira inside a rocky dome and Gajeel and Gray snatched Happy into an iron enforced ice shield. Barely out of the way and feeling like in an oven for that brief second the three came out of their shield huffing and blinking the haze. But the Gatekeeper pulled out his leg and arms free, both hands lit in the blue flames as he slammed them together. A ball formed between his slowly parting palms and Acnologia frowned.
''Enough,'' he growled to himself and brought his hand up, palm facing the demon as a ball of condensed black and blue energy crackled to life. The light of the cavern seemed to disappear in the spell and the Gatekeeper's eyes widened, his hands suddenly moving far more quickly. ''Dragon king's sacred art: –''
''Blue infer –!'', he tried frantically but Acnologia would have none of it. ''- Black cannon''
The ball that formed in front of his palm turned into a ray of black light as it rushed at the demon, the ray large enough in radius to cover the large demon's whole head. His outline dusted in the light, blood exploding from his now headless body as the dark blood sprayed from his neck. The body stayed upright for a brief moment, hands still holding the ball of energy and then, as if the switch went out, the light disappeared and the body tipped to the side.
''Bloody move!'', Acnologia growled as he realized Ultear and Mira stood underneath the body. Mira blinked as if only now waking up and with a snap she spread her wings and rushed out of the way with Ultear in her hands, the dust rising to the ceiling as the body finally hit the ground.
Gray huffed, both at using his magic to hit the demon from the side and from the shock of it all. ''That was... anticlimactic,'' Jellal said after a moment and Gajeel snorted. ''I'll take anticlimactic for him rather than anticlimactic for us. I like my head where it is''
Arthur released a startled laugh and Annie smiled uneasily staring at the ground that was covered in enough blood to reach her ankles.
''...What now?'' Laxus suddenly asked, looking at Acnologia who was walking towards them. ''Now we go get Natsu''
''At least we know he's here,'' Lucy muttered and her brown eyes moved to the corner of the cavern as if expecting to see Natsu still standing there.
Natsu sighed, looking down at his feet dejectedly. Demon's blood was almost black, a red shine in it only under bright light and Lilith's blood could barely be seen on him despite it coated his both hands and a good portion of his leg. All four limbs were covered in black scales and all the blood did was make him look wet. Ironically enough, despite the amount of blood covering him it was only the trail that led from his shoulder and neck down his front and back that was seen where Lilith had bitten him.
He carefully lifted his fingers towards the wound when looking to the side didn't help even as he started walking away. She bit the part where the scales met skin, and her teeth burrowed deeply into the muscle. It wasn't hard to sense the poison in the wound and as his fingers brushed over it he felt the swollen area, skin, and scales pierced and turned by the teeth. The poison barely slowed him down. It hurt, sure, but Natsu knew how to deal with pain. He imagined it was quite deadly to those who were weaker than her.
Eight Circle was not large but it still surprised Natsu briefly as he came face to face with the doors of the Seventh Circle.
He didn't hesitate nor pause as he moved forwards pushing with both hands the gate that loomed over him. He did not, however, expect, that every Guardian in the Seventh Circle was waiting for him.
His eyes narrowed at the sight of them and some obviously coved but others still growled ominously.
Suddenly he wished he had taken Lilith's temporary corpse with him. It would serve as a clear warning to many here.
"Traitor!", one accused and the snakes that made her hair hissed. the guardians here were a disturbing image of Medusa, twisted shapes of women whose lower body was that of a snake and the upper part half-rotten and smelled the part. The temperature in the Seventh Circle was hardly higher than the Eight and its freezing quantities shown in the frost gathered on the women's eyes and lips.
Natsu responded with a blank face, cocking his head to the side and blinked. Right above the gates hung a lantern, its greenish-blue fire perfectly showing that his hands and feet were not in fact 'wet'.
"You call me a traitor? Traitor of what? I was never loyal to anyone here"
One of the closer women spat at the ground, hissing in anger. "A blasphemer then!" Natsu paused, turning to look at her, the golden snakes and the purple scales and he grinned again, his lips pulling the skin over his thin cheeks. "Closer"
"And he admits it!", she growled harshly and bared her toothless mouth at him, only two long fangs dripping with poison showed proudly in the black-tongued mouth. "We'll tear you apart, we will!", another bared her fangs and as one they rushed at him, nails suddenly longer than his forearm that, just as the snapping fangs, were dripping with poison.
Natsu bared his own teeth and spread his claws jumping over the first to reach him and swiftly driving his knee in the head of the next one.
The gorgons were livid and their poison easily matched Lilith's. It usually wouldn't pose a problem, especially as they were far slower than Lilith was but they were still fast and, more importantly, far greater in number. Without even counting Natsu could see over two dozens and he suspected more were on their way.
'No one said it'll be easy', Natsu thought grimly, well aware this will be far harder than his one on one with Lilith - a fight he would never admit left him quite winded and as if to remind him the muscles of his wings twinged painfully as he took flight.
In the end, it was pure dumb luck that saw them safely through the First Circle. It would seem that no matter how many heads a dog had they will move out of the way when an alpha shows and it would seem a king of dragons qualified.
Acnologia wasn't sure whether to feel smug or insulted. They did, after all, consider him a part of this place obviously. "It must be the Gatekeeper's blood," he reasoned and since he was the most knowledgeable about their current area others had little choice but to agree. The fact that Acnologia knew barely a thing himself was left unmentioned. "Just how large is this place?", Laxus wondered, looking around them. As far as he could see dead trees and broken dirt were the only things dotting the landscape. Acnologia had an inkling, and he wasn't sure if he liked the idea of walking that long or far when the time was of the essence - who knows what was happening to them without their knowledge. They were, after all, alive in a place where nothing alive should be. He had felt the dimensions closing through the levels as soon as it happened but as they walked through he could feel the brief pockets and windows and the feeling of being watched always was more pronounced there.
Acnologia was no fool. He knew exactly what made those pockets or better say who. Gods were curious and they went through no trouble to hide it. "It is almost as large as Lurioa - that is to say too large to walk around until we find the doors or what else it is that will take us down"
"Then what are we supposed to do?", Ultear demanded, feet coming to a stop only to be pulled to a walk before she managed that by Jellal who whispered, "No stopping, remember?"
"I'm looking for pockets or windows that will let me make a jump and hopefully pull all of you out in one piece"
"What?", Mira deadpanned and Acnologia paused in his talk though his steps reminded sure and steady. The dragon king could see how that might be wrongly interpreted so he gave a put-upon sigh and tried to sound reassuring though it came a lot more irritated than it should've, "We don't have time to walk and I can't use the Void wherever I want here so I'm looking for the windows. Once I find one I'll pull us all through it"
"But don't you need to know where you're going in order to know where to reappear?", Arthur asked, his confusion obvious, "Natsu always said it was impossible to appear where he hasn't been before"
Acnologia rolled his eyes, realizing how much he missed Natsu's acceptance of what he said as something that will work. He was the one that more or less beat it into him but obviously, Natsu didn't employ the same teachings, and stupid questions were a thing with humans. "Tell me, when you jump through a window do you jump into oblivion? While usually true that I can't just go wherever I want I can move through these windows in space"
"So it's like a tunnel? With a beacon at the end?", Lucy tried to picture it. Acnologia nodded, not particularly thrilled with the oversimplified explanation of what was in essence very complicated and complex time and space manipulation through already existing media that should not exist nor be used for that purpose.
"And what's on the other side of this window?", Erza asked, her eyes narrowed.
Acnologia smirked at this, knowing full well it will freak them out. "Why gods, of course"
This time it was Ultear who pulled Jellal's sleeve when he almost stopped. "Ugh.. aren't we supposed to.. you know to try and avoid them?"
"They know we're here and they are watching us, and while jumping in front of them wouldn't be my first choice I hope there are more windows there"
"Windows that will take us to Dad!", Annie exclaimed and grinned. "When can you do it?"
Acnologia smirked again, "With any luck, we won't even have to land wherever those assholes are and we'll just reconnect two different exits"
Mira sighed, looking around and only finding determination. She couldn't help but think they should be a lot less sure of themselves and a lot more worried. They truly had no idea where they were going. When Acnologia suddenly gripped Jellal's hand she felt her heart rise into her throat. "Hold together!", they stopped for but a second as they all took each other's hand and soon they sank into the ground, a howl of a Cerberus above them as it appeared on the spot where they stopped and the void closed above them.
Natsu stumbled hurriedly through the doors that separated Seventh and Sixth Circle, turning in his half run and slamming the doors shut with his tail.
He paused as the sudden silence stretched around him the hissing and screaming of the guardians of the Seventh Circle still echoing in his head. They might not be able to pass the closed doors, being bound to the Seventh Circle as they were but they made sure whoever tried to pass had a hard time doing it. He grimaced as he tried to move on, his right leg felt just about ready to quite literally fall off. He stopped, deciding some damage inspection was in order before he ended up facing whatever was here. He looked down at himself. There was definitely a lot more blood on him now, but he could take satisfaction that still most of it wasn't his.
The demons fought tooth and nail for each scratch while he cut them down. It was truly only their numbers that made it possible to land as many hits as they had.
Natsu hissed as he pushed at the gaping holes in his leg where at least ten tiny bites and one large one cowered his whole thigh. The greyish skin on the bony limb was a sickly green color from where one gorgon bit into the muscle and yellow and orange puss was seeping out of the wound - while he knew it was his Curse pushing the poison out it looked... well revolting was putting it mildly and the smell did not help. He sighed as he tried to take another step and all but landed on his face when he applied pressure to the leg. There were bites and cuts all over his body, each and every one of them left enough poison to kill half of Magnolia and he knew well enough by now the brief blackouts he had during the fight and the darkening of his vision was the result of him 'dying'.
With his leg more or less useless until it healed he stretched his wings and gave them a careful swing, glad to notice they were mostly undamaged. With that he went up, gliding through the air easily, wondering where were the guardians of the prideful and cursing up and down every god he knew if anything happened to the Fairy Tail members and his father. He paused in his flight, his ears twitching at the odd sound and with a snap of his wings he dived to the side, avoiding a bright blue ball of energy that sailed past him. He twisted in the air, his eyes searching through the area and finally landing on two figures almost completely concealed by the drapery high near the ceiling.
"Come out," he spoke briskly, not in the least surprised when the two guardians sank deeper into the shadows. One dropped out of the shadows behind him, the screech that left its beak enough to bring blood bursting from his eyes, nose and ears and Natsu blinked away the vertigo, diving to the side and just as the second one left its shadowy comfiness he grabbed it by the head and sent it flying at its friend.
The two sirens screeched again but this time because of their abrupt collision and Natsu looked more closely. One was a male and the other female and both were at least two times larger than he was with an impressive wingspan appropriate to that size. And bellow them, half-submerged in the frozen waters were large, transparent eggs, sinners staring up at what must be the first entertaining thing to happen in eons.
Natsu grinned as an idea formed and he spun in the spot as the two demons rushed at him. "Chaos demon's wing attack!", the two dived into the shadows and Natsu's grin became diabolical. He turned in his spot diving towards the eggs and the sinners scrambled to the edge as far as they could as he flew over them, promptly tearing the shells as he passed over them. The sinners screeched just as the demons did. They out of thrill and excitement and the two out of horror as they dived after the escaping spirits, their primary task of keeping the spirits in the shells far more important than losing a fight. Natsu twirled through the growing cloud of spirits that went after the two sirens, most ignoring him likely to thank him the only way they could and Natsu all but walked into the Circle of Wrath, the Fifth Circle.
Acnologia rushed through the Void, pulling at the connections as soon as they appeared. The void looked different to him here, more confined and he knew it was not just his imagination that made it seem like it was getting smaller. He reached out with his magic, pulling the thread between his fingers and twisting it in a sprint before finally pulling at it and propelling himself and the Fairy Tail members behind him out of the Void. His muscles strained and breath escaped his lungs at the sudden, mind-numbing cold he felt and in the corner of his eye he caught sight of movement before he managed to pull them through the next window, too fast to allow even the gods to stop them.
They all fell out of the Void in a heap, the brief second they spent in what couldn't be anything else but Ninth Circle left them all covered in frost. Acnologia shook his head, pushing the thoughts of what would happen had they stayed there longer out of his head. Distracted, and half-frozen it took him a moment to gather his thoughts enough to pay attention to his surroundings. Considering the hostile environment he was not particularly happy with that thought but when he suddenly saw two red eyes staring at him from the dark it was a knee-jerk reaction that sent the blue-and-black blast of energy towards them. The human mages jumped to their feet, still nauseous and dizzy from the void but pushing through it in the face of danger.
The eyes disappeared before Acnologia's attack connected and the dragon king growled, looking around. Wherever it was that they landed it was pitch black, barely a sliver of light around. Acnologia didn't doubt that in their group of misfits he was the only one capable of making anything around them and even he had a hard time mapping their surroundings aside from the closest few feet.
''What's happening?'', Laxus whispered, eyes uselessly searching the blackness. ''I can't see a thing,'' Jellal muttered, taking a step back, one hand in front of himself and the other around Arthur's wrist as the teen stood back-to-back with the older mage. ''Something's watching us,'' Acnologia supplied bluntly, looking around. The two red dots of light had been far but since he missed his shot he couldn't find a trace of them and that unnerved him. ''Should I light the area around us?'', Annie asked, uncertain. Mira and Ultear were standing around her, both ready to fight but both well aware they were all but blind.
''We can't fight like this,'' Grey sounded his agreement and Acnologia paused. ''It could attract unwanted attention,'' he began at length. ''but without it, if we are attacked I won't be able to protect all of you at once''
''You can see here?'', Gajeel asked, following the voice of the dragon and turning to face him, even though he couldn't see him. Acnologia shrugged, shivering once as the cold from the Ninth Circle slowly crept away only to prove that they were in a place that was far colder than the stifling heat of the First Circle. ''That's... debatable,'' he said when he realized his shrug was completely useless in their current predicament. ''I can see the outline''
''So... Do it?''
''Do it''
The light didn't so much as flare around them before it was turned off and Annie stood frozen in the dark, clawed hand wrapped tightly around her wrist. Terror squeezed her throat and she could tell Mira and Ultear froze as well. She wanted to scream at the fear clawing at her throat. She could feel the cold, wet hand on her wrist, like a snake holding her in a vice grip and she felt sweat sliding down her back. The thing standing there released a rasping breath and it seemed to break the spell, every member now acutely aware that something was there and they turned, spells flaring to life and shooting towards the pair of red eyes standing above Annie.
''Get away from her!'', Mira screeched and Ultear screamed, both hurdling spells at point-blank to the figure and the rest followed, aiming and firing in a split second. The monster moved, its eyes disappearing in a blur of speed before it reappeared next to Acnologia, only to duck when the dragon king raised his leg and spun to kick the demon. The demon hissed like a snake, sprung from the ground and away from the dragon king into the air with a snap of sound of the wings opening. The mages paused, searching for the eyes that they used as targets but the demon landed on the ground next to Annie just as the girl raised her hand to light the room again, the light once again dying before it appeared. ''Stop that,'' the demon hissed out and Annie choked at the numbingly cold breath that brushed the back of her neck.
''Who's there?!'', Gray yelled, ''Show yourself, coward''
''Be quiet!'', the demon once again hissed and Gray paused, staring at the general direction, unable to truly aim when nothing shone in the dark. Arthur found his way to the demon it seemed, his shadowy form raising from the ground and wrapping around the demon while pulling Jellal at him. The blue-haired mage pulled his fist back, a golden light suddenly flaring to light around his closed fists as he readied the punch. Annie tore herself away from the grasp of the demon, finally able to cast the spell and the light fully flooded the area around them.
It didn't give them enough time to react before Jellal landed on the red-eyed demon. It happened in a blink of an eye, too fast for most to follow but in that split second Acnologia was there, hands going towards Jellal even as Jellal's eyes widened at the face his magic cast into light. Arthur's grip loosened around the demon, the demon too strong for the shadow user to stop him and the demon moved, clawed fist rising towards Jellal and in that second Annie's magic burst to light.
Natsu grasped Jellal's fist in front of his face, his claws dug into the other mage's hand in order to stop it. Acnologia stood an inch from Jellal, too far away to actually stop him before the attack connected while Arthur sat on the floor behind Natsu with such dumbfounded expression it would've been funny in any other situation. Natsu spat like a snake, red eyes squeezing shut in the bright light as he pushed Jellal away turned to Annie who in her surprise, released a squeak and the light died down leaving them all in darkness again.
''You idiots!'', Natsu hissed, rubbing his eyes. ''Are you trying to blind me?!''
''...Natsu?'', Mira probed, her voice uncertain and hopeful, the image of the demonic shape that stood in front of her before the light went away burned into her mind. Natsu sighed, blinking again before looking at the mages around him. His chest squeezed at the sight, red eyes trailing down their faces and he couldn't help the bubble of laughter that escaped his lips at the sight. Before he could say anything a figure slammed into him, strong arms wrapped around his shoulders and over his wings. Acnologia didn't say anything as Natsu stared at him in shock, the dragon prince going still in the embrace but slowly relaxing into it, resting his chin on the dragon king's shoulder. His chest fluttered and squeezed, light and heavy at the same time as he laughed again, ignoring the sudden heat in his gaunt cheeks and the trailing liquid sliding down the scales underneath his eyes.
End of chapter 76.
Ehh... sorry for taking so long, sorry for promising to be faster, you know the usual. I honestly don't have a good excuse aside from being busy with life in general. So... sorry about that. That being said... How do you like it?! They finally found Natsu. I've been thinking long and hard about the meeting, unsure how to make it and this was how it ended up looking. Technically Ultear, Mira, Annie, and Arthur might be closer to Natsu but I always thought of the relationship between Natsu and Acnologia as something.. well special. Father and son and all that and with how Acnologia felt after Natsu died and how Natsu felt it seemed fitting Acnologia was the first one to hug him. And he was the only one who could actually see him in the darkness so.. yea. And as usual, feel free to ask any questions (though I won't give away any spoilers). And keep in mind that I was writing this pretty late so I would appreciate if you pointed out any and all mistakes I must've made.
Please review and thanks for reading :)