A/N: Ahhh I was gonna be so worried that I hadn't updated in two weeks OR wrote anything for TCS, but I realized that I didn't post chapter 18 yet even though it's been finished for a while now! So, here you go!
(Thank you for the reviews, I am sososo grateful! They motivate me a lot!)
"We can't have her?" the blonde deadpanned. Sting, was it? Natsu's memory of the former Sabertooth dragonslayers' names was fuzzy. "Tell that to the king. Tell that to the Kingdom of Fiore."
Natsu scoffed. "What, you've really become a couple of government dogs, haven't you?"
"Better than a wandering bum," said the one Natsu seemed to remember as Rogue.
"Shut up and fight me," Natsu snarled.
Sting smirked. "Well, that's the idea."
"We'll make this quick," Rogue said quietly. "We still have the princess to chase after, too."
"Oh, it'll be quick all right," Natsu cackled. "Stay out of my way, Loke. Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
The formerly famous Twin Dragon Slayer couple was strong, but not strong enough. In a matter of seconds, Rogue was already wide-eyed and bloody, and Sting was snarling as he cradled his injured arm.
"What, that's all you got?" Natsu taunted.
"Natsu." Loke suddenly stepped into the foray and grabbed Natsu's arm. There was a flash of light and Natsu's vision became a dark blur.
When his vision cleared, the enemy dragon slayers had been replaced by Lucy and Happy, the latter of whom immediately tackled Natsu in a hug.
"I was so worried," Happy cried, rubbing his face all over Natsu's cheeks.
"I missed you too," Natsu said, holding Happy to his chest. He looked up at Lucy. "That was quick. I didn't even get to finish beating them up."
Lucy smiled. "I told you Pyxis would know the exact direction Happy was in. Virgo and I made a straight line here."
"I hid in the woods just like you told me," Happy said. "All our stuff is right here."
"Great! I can finally get out of these clothes," Natsu said, already stripping off his dress shirt, Happy tossed to the side.
"They'll be able to follow the tunnel eventually," Lucy said. "We don't have time to— Oh, whatever, go ahead and change." She turned a little red and faced away from him as Natsu's pants also came off. Natsu just grinned. It was kind of cute how embarrassed she was.
"Too bad we won't be able to return these borrowed clothes," Lucy said, looking down at the wispy white slip she still wore.
"You were gonna return them?" Natsu said.
She gave him a sharp look before turning back around in embarrassment. "Unlike you, I'm not a thief. Well, I try not to be. I can't exactly help it in this situation."
"What happened to you guys anyway?" Happy asked. "It was Natsu's fault you got trapped, right? It's always Natsu's fault."
"Actually it was mine," Lucy said with a laugh. "I was recognized. I'll explain the details later. For now, the most important thing is getting out of here. Once Natsu finishes changing his clothes, that is." She wasn't directly facing him, but Natsu swore she rolled her eyes. Hey, he liked his own clothes. And that dress shirt had been so stuffy.
"I take it you'll be okay from here?" Loke said.
Lucy blinked, seeming to have forgotten Loke's presence. "Yeah, we'll be fine. Thanks, Loke. I know you had to bend the rules a little for me."
"I'm sure the Celestial Spirit King won't mind. I took Natsu through the gates, but it's not like he was in the Celestial Spirit World for long."
"But what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Right, Loke?"
Loke winked. "Correct. Good luck, you two." And with that, he vanished.
"Is taking people through gates illegal or something?" Natsu said, pulling up his pants and securing them with a belt.
"Hmm, I don't know if it's illegal, per se," Lucy said. "It definitely bends the rules a little, though. It would be downright impossible to do without the Celestial Spirit King's permission if I'd asked him to open his own gate. Since I called him with a key, it was instantaneous enough that you were able to slip under the radar a little. I think you did, anyway. I hope Loke doesn't get in trouble."
"I'm sure he's fine," Natsu said quickly, staving off the cloud of worry that was starting to gather on Lucy's brow. "I'm all changed. Let's get going."
Lucy laughed at him a little. "You really did miss your usual clothes, didn't you?"
"He's worn the same ones for years now," Happy said.
"Natsu, that's gross."
"Fireproof clothing is hard to come by," Natsu said.
"Whatever. Let's get going."
"Aye!" Natsu and Happy cheered.
Thanks to Happy, they were able to travel quickly into the countryside and then up north toward Oak Town. They were to meet the others in a small nearby village. Natsu was a little worried that the information they gleaned wasn't enough to justify the trip, but Lucy seemed to think it was worth it. And, well, maybe it was, if only for the emotional catharsis Lucy felt at being honest about her past.
By the time they reached their destination, Lucy was feeling better already. Calling three spirits at once had drained her, and she had to be carried by Happy much of the way while Natsu walked. But after their first night on the outskirts of the village, she woke up almost hyper.
"The produce will be so fresh here!" she exclaimed, eyes scanning the vast farmland that surrounded them. They were probably squatting on someone's property at the moment, but as long as they didn't get caught, it was fine.
"It's a little late in the season," Natsu said.
"But pumpkins!"
"Okay."
Lucy pouted. "Your lack of enthusiasm is boring."
"You've been talking about how fresh the produce is for ten minutes now. Can we at least change the subject?"
"Fine. How about this? You can go sniff around and see if any of the others arrived overnight. I'll stay here and keep Happy company."
"All right." Natsu stood up and stretched his legs. "I'll be back soon."
"Good luck."
"No, don't leave me alone with her! She'll talk my ear off!"
"Now, listen here, you stupid cat—"
Natsu left their little camp behind to go into the main part of town. It really was a small village, with only a few shops and a tiny town hall, so checking around wouldn't take long. The smell of something delicious cooking drifted from the town's pub, mixed with something slightly metallic.
Something metallic!
Natsu burst into the pub and laid his eyes immediately on the iron dragon slayer seated inside. "Yo," he said.
Gajeel, Juvia, and Levy looked up.
"Oh, hey, Natsu," Levy said. "Are the others with you?"
"Lucy's with Happy back where we camped last night," Natsu said. "I'm surprised all three of you came." He knew Gajeel and possibly Juvia would come back, but even Levy had returned with them.
"The old man wanted us to investigate in Crocus," Gajeel said. "He thought we might need more people."
"But Lucy and I already did that."
"What?" the three exclaimed.
"Oh. Right. We decided that after you guys left. Lucy wanted to do some stuff in Crocus, so Erza, Gray, and Wendy went to see Ivan."
"What did she want to do in Crocus?" Gajeel said.
Natsu scratched his head. "Uhh, might want to ask Lucy that question. Ain't my story to tell."
"Fair enough," Gajeel said. "We weren't supposed to meet until tomorrow, so we should have plenty of time before the rest get here."
Levy and Juvia forced Natsu to put up with staying at the inn, which he reluctantly accepted. He much preferred roughing it under the stars, but Levy insisted they should all stay together, and they already had a room at the inn. So Natsu was forced to pack up his little camp and lug everything into a hotel room with Gajeel.
"Why's it always split boys and girls?" Natsu complained as he arranged his stuff on his part of the room.
"You're only saying that because you wanna be with Lucy, pervert," Gajeel said.
"Shut up. Any of the girls is better than you."
"Definitely a perv."
"Call me a pervert one more time and I'll melt you down into Erza's new armor."
"Stop saying pervy things then."
Gajeel's ass was saved by Lucy knocking on the door. "Can we come in? We need to talk and regroup."
"If you don't mind repeating it all when Erza's group gets here, sure, let's hear it," Gajeel said.
Lucy laughed. "I don't mind at all."
But two days went by and still no sign of Erza, Gray, and Wendy. On the third day, they were definitely worried.
"Did we get the place wrong?" Lucy fretted. "Erza picked it, but maybe we're reading the map wrong…"
"No, we're definitely in the right place," Levy said. "I must've double checked a hundred times now."
"Juvia is very worried," Juvia said. "Erza, Lord Gray, and Wendy are all very strong, but perhaps something went wrong with Ivan. Juvia thinks we should go check on them."
"But if we leave when they're already on their way here, we might miss them," Levy pointed out. "Erza's trusting us to stay put."
Lucy stood up. "I'm going," she said. "It was my idea that we should split up. If something went wrong, I need to take responsibility."
"It wasn't your decision alone; we all agreed," Nastu said.
"Still, it was my suggestion. I assumed they would be fine on their own. What if I was wrong?"
"Then we were all wrong," Natsu said.
All six of them were frowning. There was no way Erza would mess up the time and place to meet, so that only meant something had gone amiss on their end. Trouble or not, backup couldn't hurt.
"Let's go," Natsu said. "If they get here after we've already left, they'll understand. But helping them if they're in trouble is more important than losing another couple days' time."
"He's got a point," Gajeel said. "I vote we go."
"Me too, I guess," Levy said. "Better safe than sorry."
"Me too," Lucy said.
"Me three," Happy said.
"Then it's settled," Levy said. "I have one more use of this teleportation lacrima, which was supposed to get us all to Crocus, but we'll have to use it now. Let's go pick up those slowpokes so we can do Makarov's mission."
"Do we even need to, though?" Lucy said. "Natsu and I already got the information when we were in the palace."
"At the very least, we need to talk it over with the others. And we can't just go back without them," Levy said.
"I guess we can wait to discuss that for when we're all reunited," Lucy agreed. "So, where's this Ivan guy live?"
Levy had kept a copy of Ivan's address, so they were able to find the location quickly once they got to Oak town. Neither Natsu nor Gajeel could smell their teammates around town, and even in front of Ivan's mansion, there was only a faint trace.
"Have they left already?" Lucy wondered.
"Dammit," Gajeel said. "All this way for nothing."
"I don't know," Levy said. "Maybe it's just because it's Ivan, but this place seems eerily quiet."
"And it smells like fire," Natsu said.
Lucy took a long whiff. "You're right, now that you mention it. Even I can smell it a little. This isn't the smell of normal firewood."
"It's closer to gunpowder," Natsu agreed. "Can't be from a fireplace. But it's not gunpowder either."
"That bastard did something," Gajeel snarled. "I'll kill him."
"Juvia too," Juvia growled. "No one hurts Lord Gray without feeling the pain of Juvia's vengeance."
"We should proceed with caution," Levy said carefully, brows furrowed. "We don't know what happened; we can't just run in recklessly."
"Let's move slowly and stick together," Lucy said. "Got it, Natsu? Nobody rushes ahead."
"I didn't say anything!"
"That's what's most suspicious."
"I'll fly over and look around. You guys come in after," Happy said.
"Aye," Natsu said. "Good luck."
Happy leapt from the ground, looking every inch a normal pouncing cat until wings sprouted from his back and he glided high into the sky.
"What is Happy, anyway?" Lucy asked.
Natsu turned to her. "You don't know? He's an exceed."
"Yeah, what's that?"
"I thought you'd know this stuff because you're a royal," Gajeel said.
Lucy frowned. "Why, should I?"
"Well, it was the kingdom that commissioned research into genetics to make exotic pets for nobility. You know how they're always importing weird animals from other kingdoms. But it didn't work well, and cats were the only species that were a success. The project was scrapped, but a couple of the eggs got out of the lab. Gramps bought up a few of them so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."
"Huh," Lucy said. "I can't believe I never heard of that before."
"Well, it was apparently all top-secret, so I can't really blame you," Levy said. "Genetic testing really freaks people out, so they pretend the project never existed. We only know about it because of Gramps."
"What kind of connections does the Master even have?" Lucy marveled.
"Nobody knows," Gajeel said. Somehow, it sounded ominous when he put it that way. But his contacts were the reason they knew as much as they did about this whole Tartarus affair, so no matter how he managed to get spies in such high places, for them, it was a good thing.
Gajeel and Juvia were only two of what was probably a huge network of Fairy Tail spies, most of which the regular members couldn't even know about because of how high up they apparently went. To get this level of information, Lucy thought, he must have a contact on the Council itself.
"It's still too quiet," Gajeel said, sniffing the air. "And that weird smell is getting stronger."
"It's not gunpowder, and it's not fire. But it smells similar," Natsu said. He frowned. He didn't like not being able to name a smell, especially one that felt so familiar. It was almost something he recognized, but not quite. And it was bugging the hell out of him.
"Juvia is getting very worried," Juvia said. "There are no birds. It is too quiet."
"I hope nothing happened," Lucy said.
Natsu crossed his arms. "Erza can handle herself. Wendy and Gray are strong, too. Even if something happened, I'm sure they're fine. I trust them."
Lucy frowned, her eyes trained on the eerie mansion that loomed in their vision as they slowly made their way up the winding driveway. "I hope you're right," she said.
A/N: We're approaching the halfway mark! In a way, it feels like it's been longer than just half, but when I think about the central plotline we really are reaching the halfway point. Huh. (I think I might've mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, I have allotted this story 43 chapters. So yeah, halfway point for both the central plotline and chapter count.)
Pointless ramble: It's kinda weird writing a Fairy Tail AU that keeps all the same magic elements in but isn't in the canon universe. I feel like a lot of the stuff is ripped straight from canon, but really I did change around more than I sometimes realize. Like, I took FT and adapted it into my own style of fantasy storytelling. It'll be super interesting to look back at this in a year or so and be able to judge it objectively, just to see how my mind works and what kinds of stories appeal to me as a writer. The tropes I use most often, the patterns that show up in my writing in both original and fan fics. To me, while writing it, it feels unoriginal. It's been done before. But what isn't pulled from canon (characters and their magic and their relationships) is pulled from me; it's been done before by me. I dunno, it's just an interesting thing to think about. I like analyzing my own psychology so. I don't know how many people actually read my personal ramblings in these author's notes, but if you've ever wanted to know why I get self-depreciating about this fic when I used to be so excited about it, this is the main reason actually. /ramble
