A/N: Heyyyy! It's been a while, haha. I finally finished the last few sentences I was missing for this chapter thanks to an unexpected kind review on my old story giving me some motivation back. Life's been busy, so sorry for the lack of updates! I worked really hard on this to make you guys happy thanks to all your kind reviews and such (thanks by the way, they made me super happy), but life got in the way (it's suuuuper hectic these days). But I did it! One more chapter complete!
I hope you all enjoy :)
Grimoire Heart dispersed, fleeing the inferno spewing from Natsu's mouth. Many left his field of vision and never returned, but he could sense their clashes with his comrades around them. The only one his flames hadn't scattered was this huge round guy with chalk-white skin. He towered over Natsu as if he was trying to be intimidating. It wasn't working.
"You look weak," Natsu noted, shifting his weight onto one foot and crossing his arms.
"I am strong to be one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory," the big guy said. "I am Kain. Who are you?"
Natsu scoffed. "You don't even know who you're dealing with here? Like I'm gonna tell you."
"I know who she is," he said, pointing behind Natsu.
Natsu looked over his shoulder to see Lucy standing behind him in a fighting stance, whip pulled taught. She caught his eye and grinned.
"This one's mine," she said.
"No way," Natsu said. "I was here first."
"So? There's some fire guy here too; you should go fight him since your magic matches."
"It can't match. Dragon slayer magic isn't a lost magic," Natsu said.
"It should be, given how rare it is these days. But his is a weird kind of fire magic too, see?" Lucy pointed to where one of the Seven Kin was on the top of the ridge, a loudly laughing guy with wild blonde hair. He was throwing black fire into the air as Wendy tried to use the wind to control its direction.
Natsu looked back at Lucy. "I should help her out with that."
"Yeah. That's why I'm saying to leave this guy to me."
"Stop ignoring me," Kain shouted, barreling toward them suddenly, huge hands pushing forward in a direct attack. Natsu and Lucy each dodged to a different side. Natsu followed up with a burst of flames that Kain and Lucy both dodged, sending it Gajeel's direction. Gajeel was already avoiding some underling with a sword, so he got hit full-blast by Natsu's fire.
"Natsu, you little shit! Watch it!"
"You get out of the way of my flames first," Natsu shot back. "Not my fault you came too close."
"Fuckin' asshole."
"Now you're just— Hey, Lucy, what's it called when you think someone else is being a jerk but really you're the one at fault? Like, you're imagining all your traits on them."
"Projecting?"
"Yeah, thanks. Gajeel, now you're just projecting."
"I don't even remember what I said, but I'll bet you're wrong," Gajeel said. "Just stop bein' a fucking idiot and keep your fire in your own fight, got it?"
"Take your fight somewhere else and it wouldn't be a problem."
Gajeel muttered something under his breath that Natsu missed, but it was probably just more cursing. Gajeel's battle actually did seem to be drifting farther away from where Natsu and Lucy were. Whether it was because of Natsu's comment or not didn't really matter; so long as Gajeel wasn't going to complain anymore, Natsu was satisfied.
"You really do need to stop picking fights with your guildmates," Lucy said.
"Natsu can't help it," Happy said. "He's even challenged Erza to a fight before."
"Did he win?"
"I almost did," Natsu mumbled.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Well, if you ever challenge me, I won't go easy on you."
Natsu grinned. "Even better," he said. Not that he ever planned on asking the Celestial Spirit to fight him (he wasn't that stupid), but he wasn't about to back down from her taunts.
"Stop ignoring me!" shouted Kain again, interrupting their conversation. Oh, right. Natsu forgot they were in the middle of fighting somebody.
"Won't you just collapse already?" Lucy sighed, readying her whip again.
"Never," Kain said. "I haven't even shown you my magic yet." He reached into his shorts and pulled out a familiar object that made the blood drain from Natsu's face.
"A doll?" Lucy said.
"It's a cursey doll," Happy said.
Lucy looked at Happy in surprise. "You recognize it?"
"Uh. Yeah. I've heard of it before."
Natsu couldn't take his eyes off of the straw-colored cloth doll held between Kain's huge fingers. It looked so small and limp, but Natsu knew better than to underestimate its power.
"Lucy," he said, "whatever you do, don't let him get even a strand of your hair."
"My hair?"
"He can use that doll to control you," Natsu said. He wiped the cold sweat from his face. Now was not the time to be like this. Compartmentalize, suppress.
"Then all we have to do is defeat him before he can swipe hair from us."
"Easier said than done," Natsu muttered to himself, dodging Kain's large hand again. "This guy's got impressive range for his body type." The tall-and-round guys were usually not very agile which made for easy pickings, but this guy knew how to use his size to his advantage.
Natsu let out another Fire Dragon's Roar at Kain. Lucy dodged by slipping between Kain's legs, wrapping her whip around one ankle as she tripped him up. Kain did trip, but when he landed, he was giggling.
"Uhh, Natsu?" Lucy said, extracting her whip to ready it for another attack.
Natsu jumped toward Kain, going in for a couple punches as he listened. "Yeah?"
"I know you literally just said not to let him get my hair, but I felt a tug on my ponytail just now," she said. "He might have—"
Natsu didn't remember what happened next. One second he was punching Kain while Lucy was saying the word "ponytail." The next he was hunched over the unconscious Kain, breathing heavily with one ripped half of the cursey doll in each fist.
He blinked. Looked up.
What had just happened? Apparently he beat up Kain, but he didn't remember doing so. The last however-long was all a huge blank.
Really though, what just happened?
Lucy's eyes met his. They locked gazes for a moment.
Finally, Lucy spoke. "That was…scary," she said.
"What happened?" Natsu said. He realized his voice was raspy.
"You…did you just black out?" Lucy said, brows furrowed.
"Uhh. I think so." Natsu looked at the torn doll in his hands. At least it wouldn't be able to hurt anyone from now on. How Kain had gotten his hands on it, Natsu didn't know, but it was over now.
And there was no hair stuck on the doll's head. Lucy had been safe this whole time. A wave of relief swept over Natsu.
"You kind of went berserk," Lucy said, walking over to slowly extract the doll from Natsu's hands.
"Did anyone else see?" he asked.
Lucy looked around. "I think everyone's busy with their own fights."
"Right."
"You okay?"
Natsu took a moment to collect himself. Whatever had just happened, he'd used an awful lot of magic power. "Yeah, I'm good," he said. "Sorry, you said to leave him to you."
"That's fine. You did it yourself anyway. That's one less member to worry about. Didn't Gajeel say there were seven?"
"The Seven Kin of Purgatory," Natsu said. "But those are just the members; there's gotta be a leader around here somewhere, too. And other guildmembers. Where'd they all go? Two are fighting Gajeel, but there was a lot more earlier."
"Everyone scattered pretty quickly," Lucy said. "Sniff them out for me and I'll take care of them. You can go get that other fire guy."
"I think his name is Zancrow," Happy said from Natsu's feet.
"How do you know?" Natsu said.
"I flew up there to check on Carla while you were beating up Kain."
"So that's where you went," Lucy said, rolling her eyes. "You always disappear during fights."
"Oh, and the rest of the Grimoire Heart underlings are behind that big rock," Happy said, pointing down the canyon. "They all ran away after seeing you, but I could see them while I was flying. There's a bunch of mages. One of them's a goat."
That piqued Lucy's interest. "A goat? Are you su—"
"Help," came a shout from Levy. Train of thought interrupted, both Natsu and Lucy instinctively turned to the sound and ran toward where Levy and Gajeel were fighting off a group of mages, all of whom seemed to be requip mages judging by their swords. Or were they mages at all? None of them were requipping.
Natsu blasted several of them away from Levy while Lucy pulled out her spirits to back up Gajeel.
"Thanks," Levy said. "I can only write so many spells at once before it starts becoming too much. Sorry if I distracted you, but Gajeel's too proud to ask for help when he needs it."
"I thought you were only fighting two of them," Natsu said, punching a few more swordsmen.
"So did I," Gajeel said. "Then a whole bunch more came outta nowhere. The first two are requip, but the new ones seem to be normal people. The skills they have ain't normal, though. Or their swords." Natsu noticed that Gajeel was nursing a pretty bad wound in his iron-encased upper arm; apparently these weapons could pierce solid steel.
"When he's saying they came out of nowhere, he means it literally," Levy said. As she spoke, she conjured up the word "fire" for Natsu to eat, which he gratefully scarfed down to replenish his magic energy. "They appeared as if summoned. It must be the lost magic of one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, but the summoner isn't among those we're fighting and I can't see anyone from here."
"The guys behind the rock," Happy realized.
"Right. I'll go," Lucy said, leaving the fight to Natsu to run back to the large boulder behind which some Grimoire Heart people were apparently hiding.
"Hey, don't go alone," Natsu called, but he needn't have worried because Loke was already running after her. Still, he couldn't help the urge to run after. "You good now?" he said, sparing a glance at Gajeel, who grunted.
"Who d'you think I am?" Gajeel said.
"Don't make Levy overwork herself to protect you again, all right? I don't wanna have to come running to save your sorry ass a second time."
"Just go after her already."
"She can take care of herself," Natsu said, even as he took Gajeel's advice and followed Lucy and Loke. She was his teammate now. Teammates worked together.
Just as Happy said, there was a small cluster of mages behind the rock. They were all surprised to be spotted, except for one, the goat guy Happy mentioned. He was tall and wore a suit. It looked stuffy.
"What are you doing here?" Loke demanded.
"Lucy and I are a team," Natsu said, feeling offended. Yeah he and Loke had never been besties, but they were guildmates. That accusing tone was completely unnecessary.
Loke rolled his eyes. "Not you, moron. Him." He pointed to the goat guy.
"Is that the summoner?"
"Stay away from Master Caprico!" one of the Grimoire Heart lackeys shouted, pointing a spear. They rushed Lucy and Natsu, only to be knocked aside easily. Why was everyone in Grimoire Heart so weak? Not counting the Seven Kin, of course; they were supposedly pretty strong. Kain hadn't been, but then again Natsu had blacked out during that fight so he couldn't be certain.
"Step aside," Caprico said. The lackeys all immediately froze and stepped to the side in perfect unison. Caprico punched them out of the way. "Worthless humans," he scoffed.
That got Natsu's blood boiling. "Hey, aren't they your comrades?"
"And who are you? Just another weak human," Caprico said. He raised a fist, and Natsu quickly blocked the hit.
Well, he did block it, but the sheer force behind Caprico's strike sent Natsu hurtling backwards into the opposite canyon wall. Dust and stone fell around him, the rock wall crumbling.
Feeling a trickle of wetness, Natsu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His lip was bleeding. Great. Just one hit, and his lip was bleeding. This guy's physical strength was something else.
Lucy and Loke came running over to help him up.
"Go," Lucy said. "This one's mine. I mean it this time."
"He's strong," Natsu said. "Just one punch and I got landed all the way over here. You'll need backup."
Lucy shook her head. "That's Capricorn."
"What?"
"He called himself Caprico, but that's Capricorn. That's the last of the 12 zodiac spirits."
Natsu frowned. "Who's summoning him?"
"Not all spirits need summoning to appear in the human world," Loke reminded them.
"Right," Lucy said, spreading her feet into a fighting stance. "Well, it's time to bring him back from the dark side. Ready, Loke?"
"Ready."
"Natsu, we'll take care of this one. You go after that Zancrow guy. Wendy might be in trouble."
Natsu nodded. If that was a celestial spirit, this was Lucy's fight for sure. No more interfering. "Just yell and I'll come running."
"That won't be necessary," Loke said.
"You'd better hope it won't be."
"Natsu, just go."
Not needing another urging, Natsu ran off in the direction of Zancrow and Wendy. He hoped his help wouldn't be necessary in her fight, too, but these mages all used lost magic. Wendy was strong against average mages, but Natsu wasn't sure she was aggressive enough to take on someone of Zancrow's level.
Natsu slowed to a stop and looked back at Lucy, instinct tugging him back toward her. It was just an illusion, he reminded himself. It was just an illusion, her head and neck were perfectly intact, and the cursey doll was torn in two. She and Loke would be fine. He needed to stop worrying about the girl who saved his ass against Cobra.
Forcing the fears back down, he continued on to Wendy. Sure enough, the youngest dragon slayer was struggling.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, arriving in time to sweep Wendy off her feet away from Zancrow's black flames.
"Natsu!" Wendy said, practically sighing in relief.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, putting her down and patting the top of her head affectionately. "So this guy's a flame mage, huh?"
"Not just a flame mage," Wendy said. "He calls himself a 'god slayer.'"
Natsu wrinkled his nose. "There are already dragons slayers; what do we need god slayers for?"
Zancrow laughed at Natsu's disdain. "There's a reason the old gods haven't been with us for millennia. The lost art of god slayer magic is superior even to dragon slayers. After all, what is a dragon in the face of a god?"
Natsu made a show of cleaning out his ear with a pinky finger, yawning in exaggerated boredom. "You must be real proud," he droned.
The Seven Kin all seemed to share one trait: excessive pride. Just like Kain, the moment Natsu showed a lack of interest, Zancrow became enraged. But that rage quickly turned into amusement, and he started giggling.
Natsu scowled. "Cut that out. It's creepy."
"Natsu, he's really strong," Wendy whispered. "I-I don't think I have much magic left."
"Don't worry," Natsu said. "I got this."
A dark inferno began rising around Zancrow, and Natsu set his fists aflame to match. Zancrow's creepy giggles suddenly transformed into outright evil laughter, and the black fire towered into the air, swirling in intricate patterns above their heads.
While Zancrow was distracted by his little artistic show, Natsu ran in to start the melee.
But Zancrow wasn't as distracted as he seemed, and he matched Natsu blow for blow. Natsu found an opening to strike a quick uppercut to Zancrow's chin, only to be met in turn with a knee to the groin.
He backed off, vision spinning for a few moments. Okay, he'd set himself up for that one.
He rushed forward again with reckless abandon, turning himself into a human fireball hurtling straight for his opponent. Zancrow met him head-on, stepping back to absorb Natsu's momentum, then flipping him around and sending him flying toward the edge of the woods. Natsu stood up quickly, checking to make sure the brush was still wet enough from Juvia's rain that it hadn't caught fire.
In that moment of delay, Zancrow followed up his throw with a shout of "Flame God's Bellow!"
With black flames rushing toward him, Natsu did what was only natural: he swallowed them.
The fire sat in his belly for mere milliseconds before pain began to shoot through his body.
"Natsu! Natsu, are you okay?" Wendy cried. Natsu could vaguely feel her tiny hands fluttering over him, but all he could think about was the pain that had him doubled over and retching on the dirt.
What was this? He'd tried eating his own fire before, but the backlash from that hadn't been this bad. Natsu couldn't even see straight. He'd had every bone in his body broken, swallowed every poison imaginable, but this was something else entirely. It was all he could do not to pass out from the pain.
Meanwhile, Zancrow was laughing in the background. "That's what you get, foolish dragon slayer," he sneered. "A mere human trying to eat the flames of a god!"
So these god flames couldn't be eaten. They overpowered Natsu's own fire like a raging wildfire in the face of a candlestick. They actually hurt to the touch. Natsu, with skin as tough as the scales of a fire dragon, was hurt by this fire. Fire, something he was supposed to be immune to.
And even attempting to eat them had him bent over vomiting blood.
Okay. Maybe he lied when he told Wendy he "got this."
Maybe he didn't got this.
A/N: *praying that life calms down so I can get the next chapter up in a timely manner*
Thanks for reading!
