A/N: First of all, thanks for the reviews and such! They make me super happy. Yessss praise me more~ hahaha

** Small Content Warning **

This chapter contains some fairly graphic descriptions at the end. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you want to avoid it, it starts in the paragraph that begins with "But no". I'll summarize what happened at the end of the chapter for those who (like me) are total wimps.

** End Content Warning **


Before Natsu could even blink, Angel was lying on the ground tangled in Lucy's whip, snarling. Lucy hadn't even reached for her spirits' keys.

"Fight me properly," Angel growled as Lucy sauntered back to Erza to take a pair of anti-magic cuffs.

"Sorry," Lucy said, cuffing Angel's hands behind her back. "We're in a bit of a rush so I don't have time to play with you."

"I learned new celestial magic just so I could defeat you. I will win back my spirits," Angel insisted.

Lucy disengaged her whip, tucking it back through her belt loop. She looked down at Angel, frowning. "When we're all done, maybe I'll humor you. That's if you tell us where your base is."

"I'm not telling you anything," Angel snapped.

Gray turned to Natsu. "Hey. Why did we even have to come along? Lucy's good enough to take them all by herself," he said.

Natsu shrugged. "Ask Makarov. Maybe this one's just weak."

"That's right," Angel said with a laugh. "Even the Celestial Spirit won't be able to take on the others. Once they realize what happened to me, you're all dead."

"Not if we find them first," Natsu said. "Wendy, can you do that for us?"

Wendy looked at him and nodded. "I'm on it." Closing her eyes, she spread her arms wide. A light breeze rustled the leaves on the trees around them, sweeping through Natsu's hair. Wendy's relationship with the air was intimate. She didn't have to see things with her eyes to know they were there, so long as they obstructed the wind.

Eyes on Wendy, they silently waited.

"There's a cave," Wendy said, "two kilometers to the north. There is one figure standing outside of it. Four others are hiding nearby in the trees, probably watching us and waiting to ambush."

"That cave might be their hideout," Erza said. "Wendy, take Levy there to investigate. The rest of us will stay here and fight the potential ambush."

"There is also an unnatural mountainous structure to the east," Wendy said. "Be careful."

"So that's where they're keeping the demon, huh?" Natsu said, narrowing his eyes.

Gray nodded tersely. "Deliora was frozen in a block of unmeltable ice. It was supposed to be sent to the polar north, but if they brought it down here to revive it, it'd be awfully hard to hide. Deliora's huge."

"Then we defeat the Oración Seis first, take care of the demon second," Erza said. "Wendy, Levy, get going. Good luck."

"There's two of us and only one of them," Levy said. "We've got it covered."

Charle sprouted wings and picked up Levy. Wendy worked up a wind, and together they flew off to the north. Natsu turned his focus to the forest around them. Somewhere in here, the rest of Oración Seis were hiding, and he had to smoke them out before any of them could go after Wendy and Levy.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he shouted. He ran forward and spewed a large circle of fire covering the whole area in their vicinity. When he said he was going to smoke them out, he meant it literally.

"Watch it, Natsu," came a deep voice. Natsu looked behind them. Approaching them was a man in a dark robe, and when the hood was pulled back, it revealed blue hair and red symbol over his eye. Jellal?

"What're you doing here?" Natsu blurted.

Gray put up a hand. "Yo. Long time no see."

"I would like to ask the same question as Natsu," Erza said, crossing her arms.

"I have some business with the Oración Seis. I see Fairy Tail does as well," Jellal said. He walked closer to Erza to whisper a few things in her ear. Natsu sighed; they held secret conversations every time they met, it seemed.

Lucy came over and nudged Natsu in the side. She nodded toward Jellal and Erza. "Who's the guy with the tattoo?" she said. "I'm guessing he's a friend?"

"Sort of. That's Jellal Fernandes. He's haunted by his past sins, or some shit."

Jellal turned and leveled a hard look at Natsu. "It's not just 'some shit,' Natsu."

"I know what you did," Natsu called back. "Pretty sure it more than counts as shit. It was some pretty dark shit, too."

Erza crossed her arms. "If you're turning this into a poop allegory, I swear to the gods…"

"I'm not! I'm just saying his life was fucking shitty and he did some really fucking shitty things," Natsu said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Guys, focus," Gray shouted. "While you were bickering, we got some company."

Gray was right. "Shit," Natsu said, pushing Lucy away so he could surround himself with defensive fire just in time to block a quick attack. The attacker came and went in a blur, so fast that even Natsu couldn't get eyes on them.

"We've got a time manipulator," Jellal said, watching the blur disappear back into the trees.

"You sure it's not just speed magic?" Erza said.

"I know this magic. He's not that fast; he's just manipulating the space around us so everyone but him becomes slow. I'll take care of that guy. You all stay here; I can feel several points of magic power approaching, and since we're in that guy's time magic, they're approaching quickly."

"Three, right?"

Jellal nodded. "I saw you guys send off Wendy and Levy. I'll keep the speedy guy from reaching them. You guys take care of the rest."

"Why do we gotta listen to you?" Natsu griped, but he didn't try to stop Jellal from running in the direction Wendy and Levy left. One less enemy for Natsu to worry about, and one less ally to coordinate with. Natsu wasn't great at teamwork, what with his fire burning everything in his path. The fewer allies he had to watch out for, the better.

The ground underneath Natsu's feet was becoming soft. Was this the doing of another enemy? His feet sank into the malleable dirt, extinguishing parts of his fire. Natsu growled. How inconvenient.

Parts of the ground began to ripple like waves as a new face stepped into view, silently smilng. This dude was huge and strangely square-ish. He looked like he was made out of stone or crystals, probably a side-effect of using too much earth magic.

A sudden chill came from behind Natsu. "I'll take this one," Gray said. Natsu turned and saw a large section of the ground had been frozen around Gray. A mage that softened and a mage that hardened, each with a different element. Perhaps that was the best matchup.

"Keep him away from here," Natsu said. "This whole mud thing is annoying."

"You're annoying."

"Just get out of here."

Natsu was mildly surprised when Gray actually used his magic to move several meters away, drawing the earth magic user with him. One less enemy, one less ally.

To Natsu's side, Erza tensed. Did she detect something?

Natsu's sharp ears listened for movements in the forest around them. He couldn't hear anything other than Gray and that tall, geometric dude he was fighting in the distance.

Then two figures burst from the trees, and Natsu only had enough time to throw up a quick block to repel his enemy's attack. He blinked, and looked into sneering red eyes. He knew this guy's face. But from where…?

Natsu hardly had the time to think before a fist connected to his stomach, making use of his momentary distraction. Natsu growled and leapt away. He stared down his opponent, analyzing his stance. Obviously he was fast and good at fist-fighting, but so far he hadn't used any magic. It was hard to get a read on him.

The enemy smirked. "Just give up now. I can hear your moves before you even make them."

"Who are you?"

"A dragon slayer."

"Same here." Natsu fired up his fists and clocked the cocky bastard in the jaw. Or, he tried, but the move was anticipated and he missed. But Natsu didn't give up, aiming one punch and kick after another. Soon he became frustrated. Literally none of his attacks were landing.

"Fire magic, huh? Well, even fire magic users are weak to poison. And your ears aren't as sensitive as mine, thanks to my sound magic. Like I said, just give up."

Poison. That jogged Natsu's memory, and he realized he'd seen this man's face on wanted posters a while back. He was known as Cobra, a poison user who had caused some pretty gruesome mage deaths back in the day. But there had been nothing on those wanted posters to indicate he was a dragon slayer, or Natsu would have remembered it. Just how many dragons had taught humans their magic?

Well, no matter. If only Natsu could land a hit…

Something whizzed by him, countering a strike that had been coming from his left side unnoticed. Natsu turned to see his savior, and…was that a centaur with a bow and arrows standing by Lucy on the opposite riverbank? No, it was just a guy wearing a horse hood. Who had hooves. What was with these celestial spirits?

"Thanks for the backup," Natsu called, refocusing on the enemy in front of him.

"Sagittarius, cover our blind spots."

"Hello, yes."

Soon Natsu was aware of another presence beside him. Lucy was joining the fight.

"Careful not to get burned," Natsu said. He was really not good at teamwork.

Lucy just tightened her grip on her whip. "I'll be fine," she said. "Worry about yourself." She let out a loud shout as she joined the brawl.

Natsu aimed a punch at Cobra and missed, again. He whirled around to block the coming attack, only to find that Lucy had already beat him to the punch, tripping him up with her whip.

"How'd you do that?" Natsu asked. He hadn't been able to land a hit at all, yet she did it so easily.

"Yelling," Lucy said simply. She resumed her shouts, causing Cobra to wince.

Oh. That was…brilliantly simple. He felt like an idiot for not realizing it for himself.

A slow smile spread across his face as he looked at Cobra. "Oh? So your ears start to hurt if we yell too loud, huh?"

Lucy was still screaming, and gods did she some strong lungs.

Cobra scowled. "I don't need to hear your movements to destroy you. Don't forget I'm still a dragon slayer."

"Oh yeah? Don't forget: so am I." Natsu punched his fists together, unleashing a whirling burst of flames in Cobra's direction. Without skipping a beat, he followed up by leaping after the fire with his signature flaming punch. Cobra managed to dodge yet again, but his reaction time was significantly slower, and he stumbled backwards.

Natsu grinned. Suddenly he had gained the upper hand.

Two more flaming punches and Cobra was on the ground, arms pinned by Natsu's knees.

"Who's destroying who now?" Natsu taunted. The poison from Cobra's claw-like fingers was starting to seep through his veins in his left arm where he'd been struck, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Now that Cobra was distracted by Lucy's shrieking, he was an easy target.

"Just make her stop already," Cobra ground out, glaring in Lucy's direction.

Natsu shook his head. "Nah. Not until I get a few more punches in to get you back for all the hits you landed thanks to that cheating magic."

"It's sound magic."

"Same thing."

Once he was done getting his little revenge, Cobra was tied up tight with Lucy's whip and then cuffed by Erza. The red, swollen face on his fellow dragon slayer pleased Natsu greatly. What was the point of winning if your opponent didn't come out looking worse than you did?

Sometime during Natsu's fight with Cobra, Erza and Gray had also won their respective battles. The man Erza fought was knocked out completely, and Natsu wondered if she'd accidentally killed him. For the amount of violence Erza inflicted on her opponents, she had a surprisingly low kill rate.

"This guy was Zero, their guildmaster," Erza said, stomping her boot on the poor guy's head to rub his face in the dirt. "Now that we've taken out their leader, they're all done for."

"Is that the last of them, then?" Natsu said, wiping his hands on his pants.

"No," Gray said, nodding to the forest. "We've got one more."

A young person emerged from the trees, hand lazily covering their mouth as they yawned. Their hair was black and wild except for two beaded locks of white that framed their face. They were androgynous and frail-looking, but an aura of evil and darkness wafted around them. It was an aura similar to Erza's opponent, but not quite as powerful. Still, Natsu had a bad feeling.

"Are you with the Oración Seis?" Erza demanded. "Speak your intentions."

"Yeah, he's with us," Cobra croaked. A sly grin crossed his face. "If Midnight woke up, you're all in a big deal of trouble."

"So your name's Midnight, eh?" Natsu said, pounding his fists and looking at the new person. "You look strong. This'll be fun."

"You're too naïve," Cobra said, snickering.

Lucy nudged his face with her boot. "You're one to talk," she said.

"Yeah, we just kicked your ass," Natsu said. "Just pass out alread…y…."

The sky was clouded over in a foreboding shade of purple that for some reason reminded Natsu of dried blood. The trees disappeared. He wasn't sure what this magic was, but in an instant everything around him became consumed in this enemy's darkness.

Natsu looked to his right. Erza was already on the ground, gasping for breath as if the darkness was suffocating her. Gray was gone. Was he fighting Midnight?

But no, Midnight was still standing there at the edge of the forest, waves of dark something emanating from his body. His body started to bubble, skin boiling and peeling off in huge, wet chunks that squelched as they hit the ground. As Natsu watched, eyes widening, Midnight's body grew and transformed into some hideous creature with five arms and a grotesque face covered in wrinkles and hair.

What kind of horrible magic was this? Even Mira's demon takeover magic had never given off such an evil aura. Natsu swallowed thickly. Maybe he'd underestimated this guy a little bit. And after fighting Cobra, Natsu's magic power was already somewhat drained. He'd have to be strategic about this.

Before Natsu could even react, Midnight moved forward, lunging toward Natsu. Natsu dodged, rolling out of the way and skidding to a stop, ready to attack. But Midnight's aim wasn't Natsu, and he realized this a moment too late.

Lucy's head was no longer attached to her body.

Blood.

Veins.

Torn skin ragged and limp hanging from what was left of her neck.

Natsu couldn't tear his eyes away from the beheaded form of his new acquaintance, no, his new friend. He begged his muscles to move, to fight, to stop this horrific vision in front of his eyes, to rip up the fiend who had dared to do this to his friend, but they were still as stone.

But the sight of her head, silky golden hair contrasted with the bloody lumps of flesh it was attached to, threw him over the edge.

It all came bubbling out. That familiar horror, the grief, all came at once, rushing from inside his chest and bursting out in a scream so ragged it felt like he came from outside himself.

He fell to his knees, limp and helpless. He couldn't fight anymore. It was over. He'd dodged and let her die. It was his fault. Lucy was dead.


A/N: For those who skipped/skimmed, Midnight turned into some grotesque creature and uhhh kinda decapitated Lucy. Natsu freaks out that it's his fault, and can't move. Lucy's dead. End of chapter.

Urk. I know it's probably not much of a cliffhanger to those who are keeping canon Midnight's magic in mind, but just how much of canon am I following...? Mwahahahahahahaha

I generally hate horror and gore and stuff, and I'd definitely be one of the wimps who opted to skip the graphic descriptions, so writing the end in that way was an exercise in creativity. Also it makes things so much more dramatic than just being like, "yeah he transformed into this gross thing and ripped Lucy's head off," which is how I usually would write that (maybe with less of a flippant attitude but still). I uh...hope it wasn't too over-the-top. I had a little too much fun (?) with it haha.

Anyway, finally getting to post this chapter is making me a bit too excited. I apparently love killing off characters in really horrible manners. Bad news for readers haha.

This author's note got long. As always, thanks for reading!