Former Arrangements
By Genavere
Chapter Fourteen
Dirt flew up from the earth and splattered against Erza as she flew to the left. Better than being hit by the force of the monstrous sized spike-ball that plowed into the ground where she had stood a second before. Around them the clearing had become a pock-marked field of holes in various sizes as they moved further away from the rest. A war-torn land. One scarred by destruction, fire, and ice.
A common landscape for their team.
Quinn "The Crusher" Oakley had indeed proved to be a fierce opponent. Each attack held a dead-on precision and speed that could kill any unable to dodge in time. In truth, she knew that if the blows came any faster, she would need to requip to increase her speed output. Yet, as each attack came, a clear weakness became abundantly clear to her. While Oakley was strong and mustered to weld an incredible weapon, they did not seem able to formulate a plan further than slamming their flail into the ground and hope they struck the target.
That would be their downfall, Erza decided.
With each swing and eruption of the ground, she dodged and moved them further towards the forest. Once there, the fighting would take a complete turn and become an advantage for her. The flail would not be able to get maximum speed without potentially hitting the trees around them. And if they tried to use a larger size for the ball, it would be slowed by the trees. That would mean they would have to use the smaller size to keep their speed or be slowed. A prime time to strike and take down her opponent.
A command echoed through the clearing and the spiked ball shrank, leaving behind another large crater. "I must say," Quinn pulled on the chain and brought it back to swing around, "you are pretty spry." They pursed their lips together and a whistled tune flew between them. "A little unexpected with that baggage on your chest."
"I do not see what the point of that detail is meant to state."
"Oh, you know, just offering a compliment."
A haze of fog, mist, and smoke encompassed the clearing from the fires and moisture. A calm breeze gave delicious relief against her sweat covered face and brought fresh air to her hungry lungs. In the forest, the breeze and haze would be less, so she took the comfort as it came. That was unless the sky delivered on its promise and opened upon them.
"If we are offering compliments to one another, then I must also say that you are quite remarkable in your marksmanship," she said. It was truth, and she acknowledged the strengths of her enemies. "You would have done better in a legal guild with your skills."
Laughter pierced the air. "Oh my, you truly believe that drabble." They relaxed their arms, and the ball gave a small thud where it landed. "Those like me are never truly accepted anywhere."
Quinn reached out with their free arm. "Take your guild for an example. Look at the similarities of the four of you in this clearing right now. Big chested women, flaunting your feminine sexuality, and likely covering the pages of wizard magazines around the country.
'Men that are buff and ooze masculinity. They show off their skin just as readily as both of you to enhance their alure. Oh, so manly!" The tone dripped with sarcasm and disgusted. Their hand pressed to their chest. "Those who don't fit those molds are either in the stereotypes of book smart, fat, or dumb. Am I hitting the mark here?"
Erza opened her mouth to object. Fairy Tail was much more than that! They were family, a place where people could be themselves without worrying about the outside world. Families were built on that understanding and they had all kinds of people there. Each member flashed through her mind. Shadow Gear—with Levy, Jet, and Droy…Her mouth closed. Maybe they were a bad place to start.
Reedus and Freed came to mind then, but they were both slim, and even Freed was muscular. Honestly, she could not say what Reedus looked like under his layers of clothing since he rarely showed much skin.
Many of the women did have larger chest sizes, except for a small few like Levy or Wendy, but the latter was still young. But none of that was something that any of them could control, much less decide how tall or short they were. There were many she knew would love to change an aspect of their bodies to fit aspects they saw as more attractive or sensible for their work.
As for the men, most were muscular and strong because they trained themselves every day. If not, they were part of the older generation, or larger in size. How many times did they make fun of Nab for always standing in front of the request board and never selecting one. None of it meant they saw any of their nakama as less. They were all different.
And while they were not part of the guild, they were friends with others who did not share those same traits. Beth and Risley from Mermaid's Heel. Blue Pegasus's Ichiya and Guild Master Bob, who had been part of Fairy Tail when he had been younger. Fairy Tail and all of the guilds they befriended through the years were always willing to accept anyone who was willing to be part of their families. No way would she let anyone, especially someone from a dark guild, speak ill of her home.
"Fairy Tail is a home for all who want to be part of a family!" Voice raising in volume, her body glowed as her armor changed to her Clear Heart clothing and brought her demon blade up. She would prove their strength. "It doesn't matter what your gender is or how you wish to be as long as you follow its values. If you could only seemingly find that acceptance in a dark guild, then I know you failed to look passed your own clouded judgement!"
The two clashed together, Erza's demon blade sparked against the chain of the flail.
"Shrink!" Quinn commanded, the ball shrunk and it was thrown around the blade to tangle up around it. Back and forth they fought, neither allowed the other leverage.
"Any who try to insult Fairy Tail will be punished!"
"Look at me shaking in my boots," they said with a mocking roll of the eyes. "You are all the same, and I will prove it!"
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All the fighting around Lucy shook the ground like an earthquake tearing apart the land. It reminded her of Guiltina after they defeated the labyrinth. Thankfully, she knew everything that had come from that had been taken care of, and the only reason for the tremors now were her friends protecting them.
Across the clearing, she could barely make out Erza fighting against the flail user who had tried to strike Natsu while he was down. Even so, each time she saw them move, the ground shook again. A shudder ran down her spine at the thought of what would have happened if they had not arrived when they did.
Closer to them, Gray faced off against Bear Flint, the air around him added to the fog as the ice met the fires on the ground. Shirt long gone, she watched him press his hands together and Ice Eagles flew through the air. A volley of needles appeared and took out each one. To her horror, the needles continued passed him and headed toward them.
A large wall of ice erected itself at Natsu's feet before they buried themselves into the frozen water. The metal gleamed at her mockingly before they fell to the ground with disappearance of the wall. If she were able to get one of his neutralizing needles, the poison could be cleared. But the one he had used on himself had been tossed into the flames.
With Gray and Erza fighting, and her limbs still numb, there was no way they could get him to Wendy. Wherever she was.
"Natsu…" His chest rose harshly with his short gasps. Skin clammy but covered in sweat. Tears welled in her eyes at the feeling of being so hopeless and useless to help anyone, even with her collar off. "You can't die, not like this."
Tugging at his shirt, she gritted her teeth as she tied to pull it off him, determined to use it to wipe the sweat from his face and hopefully help his breathing. The fabric was itchy and nothing like the soft fabrics he normally wore. Not many knew that he had a keen fashion sense and took comfort to the max. It made her wonder how he had managed to wear these clothes for this long. Even the coat he gave her scratched against her skin, but it was warm compared to her torn nightgown.
Fabric slipped through her numb fingers when they refused to hold tight to the material. His limp body added another layer of challenge to get the shirt off with his weight on it. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the leather tie out of the holes on the shirt and threaded her own fingers through them. With what strength she could muster, she yanked at the fabric and watched the V stretch and pull. No sound came from the shirt, though she knew if it had, her own grunts covered them.
Panting, her arms fell uselessly on his chest. Even made with low quality fabric, the stitching held firm and challenged her mockingly. A pout lingered on her lips. A shirt like this would have been nothing for either of them to tear apart if they had been home and eager for skin contact.
Maybe, she pulled in her lower lip and worried on it, he had managed to find weapons when he had grabbed these clothes. The idea made sense. Eyeing the belt, she checked it over for a sheath, but only found a pouch. Still, beggars could not be choosers, she reminded herself and lifted the flap.
A slight glint of metal caught her eye and her breath caught. It was too thin to be a dagger, yet too long to be a mending needle. Carefully, her fingers wrapped around the long needle and pulled it out of the pouch.
There was no doubt in her mind that this had come from Bear Flint. His magical essence ebbed from it. But, in her mind, she could not fathom why a lone needle of his would be in the clothing Natsu stole unless her partner purposely put it there. If it had been a weapon to use against him, he would have pulled it out before, right?
A million possibilities ran through her mind as she tried to piece together whether this had been planned or not. With him, one could not begin to guess where his battle-honed mind went.
"Wait…" A conversation she had heard from the duke and Bear Flint came back to her. There had been benefits to acting how Sawarr thought she should have by being silent and being a piece of furniture in the room. They had talked about the task of keeping Natsu unconscious, but the duke had been adamant he be fed, which infuriated the hunter and he said it would require additional doses of antidotes to do so. A shimmer of hope gleaned in her eyes.
"Please," she whispered and brought the needle to his forearm. "Please let this be the reason you had this with you."
Holding her breath, she pierced the tip into his skin and pressed down until a good portion was imbedded. She knew that if the contents on it happened to be something that could not negate the poison, his chances of dying were high. Her heart screamed at the thought of taking this chance with his life without testing it on herself, but she did not know how his magic quite worked. Even if she had tested it on herself, would the needle be a one-time use? That was something she could not risk.
A dribble of blood slid down the side of his arm similar to the sweat on his face. From above, a raindrop plopped somewhere nearby, followed by another. Her chest and lungs ached as she refused to breath, determined to hold out for any sign she saved him. The ground below them rumbled again and lightning above lit the area with a crack of thunder following. Pain spread through her body from the injuries she sustained earlier and the heartache of her partner's condition.
Soon, rain pelted down around them, but she felt none of it nor the cold wetness it usually brought. The air around her grew warmer. A sizzling filled her ears.
"Tell me," a guttural voice pulled her attention up, "the fighting's still goin'."
A noise, mixed between a sob and gasp, escaped her. "N-Natsu!" Green eyes looked up at her before closing and his face brightened with his trademark grin. She grabbed his face between her hands and squished his cheeks together. "Do you know how close you were to dying on me? Why didn't you tell me about that needle before?"
"Sorry, Luce—" he mumbled out between fish lips. With her help, he sat up and groaned with a hand over his stomach. "Man, whatever he hit me with felt gross."
"He said it was his Rebuke spell." She wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his back. "It released some sort of poison when you hit him. How are you feeling?"
"Like a dragon landed on me, or Gramps put me through the guild floor again." He looked down at his clothes. They seemed a bit different than when he had last saw them. He narrowed his eyes at Lucy. "Did you try undressing me while I was out?"
Heat welled up in her cheeks. Of all the things he could say! Not caring that he just came back from death's door, she walloped him across the back of his head. "I was trying to help you!"
"So you were undressing me!"
"Not like that, I wasn't!"
"You couldn't wait until we were back home to get your hands on me, could ya. Geez, Luce, here I thought you were a lady of class!" They glared at each other, neither willing to back down. A snicker broke from one of them. They laughed, leaning into each other and pressed their foreheads together. "I missed you."
"And I missed you, Natsu."
He glanced away to see Gray fighting. "Wait for me here, okay? I need to teach a dark guild what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail. Especially when they mess with my partner." Pushing himself up, he cracked his neck and loosened his muscles. A string of soreness rippled through his body and the fabric from the shirt added to the discomfort. Glancing at Lucy, he grinned and pulled the offending material over his head. Muscles clenched and flexed as he set the shirt over her head carefully. "Keep yourself wrapped up and warm until I get back."
She watched him head toward Gray and Bear Flint, fire already lit around his fists highlighting the movement of his back muscles. Even in her condition, there was no harm in indulging how good he looked or imagining her nails scratching deep into his skin.
Then, as if the heavens could hear her perverted thoughts, cold rain pelted down on her like a bucket as the heat he had used to evaporate the rain around them traveled with him. "Oh, come on!" She wailed and clung to the clothes he gave her tight. "He better make this fight quick and not make me wait."