The Next day - Back to the Battle!
"Yo, you gonna explain or what Freed?"
"Yes Freed, please do explain" Makarov had been observing the fight perched on a rock nearby – given there was nothing to be done to stop the dragon fight he'd resigned himself to watching, if his children were to fight, he would be there. He had forbidden a crowd to the event though, Gajeel had been allowed attendance as the referee of the dragon match. And so Freed launched into a very brief explanation of their mission and how Laxus had been taken over by the strange lightning he'd ingested.
Laxus on the other hand had taken the momentary interruption to his advantage, Natsu was still looking at Freed listening in and caught the movement of Laxus too late. He was struck full force with a lightning dragon roar which slammed him into the wall of their battleground bubble. The bubble struck him hard with lightning too, a penalty for falling into it and he screamed out in pain as the lightning coursed through his body.
When Laxus finally let up his roar Natsu crumpled to the floor motionless.
"NATSSUUUUUUUUUU," Happy launched himself off Lucy's head, tears streaming from his face. Lucy managed to snag him back by his tail bringing him back towards her where she spun him around and hugged him tightly to her chest so he couldn't see what was going on. Her own tears were freely flowing silently down her face as she ducked her head down towards Happy, she felt the sobs wracking through her entire body feeling the world go numb around her – she didn't want to imagine a world without her best friend, especially when it had been all her fault. "Natsu, no...you stupid idiot..." barely a whisper as Lucy gave in fully to her hysterical crying, legs giving out from under her until she was on her knees still clutching Happy.
Everyone stood there staring at Natsu as he lay as still as a rock on the ground, the only sound was Laxus' manic laughter.
"OI FLAME BRAIN, DON'T TELL ME THAT'S THE BEST YOU'VE GOT!"
"Yes Natsu, do get up! I taught you better than this!"
"You can do this Natsu!"
As if from nowhere Gray, Erza and Wendy had appeared, a slightly out of breath Levy in front of them on her hands and knees. Lucy looked up from Happy towards her friends and then slowly back towards Natsu, some hope their taunts and encouragement had woken him up but he still wasn't moving.
Before she had a chance to react Happy was up and flying out of her arms again towards the barrier edge closest to Natsu, he stopped a short distance from it, "Natsuuuuuuuuuuuu! You still owe me a fish so you better get up!"
"Gihihi, sneaky lil Shrimp making some invisible barrier," a small smile and look of pride flashed across Gajeel's face. "You heard em Salamander! You really gonna give up on yer girl that easy! Come on, the great and powerful Salamander don't get taken down this easy"
"It's useless you pathetic fairies – he was never going to be a challenge. Now then blondie, my cover has been blown but you are still going to come with me," a large sinister grin spread across Laxus' face as he started to stroll towards Lucy only to be stopped by the barrier blasting him away with a ball of fire and on to the ground as he tried exiting. "What the heck, he's out, this should be over"
"Ain't nothing over yet," Natsu slammed a closed fist into the ground and started pushing his way up to his knees with his head hanging over as he gasped in some breaths of air. "Thanks guys, I'm really fired up now," he pushed himself fully to his feet, stumbling slightly as he faced Laxus who'd just stood himself.
"See, first you attacked Lucy. Then I hear you're not actually Laxus, which means whoever you are, you've attacked two members of Fairy Tail and that just doesn't float well with me ya hear" finding firm footing, Natsu ripped off the remains of his vest that was in shreds after his encounter with the wall and lit his fists on fire, turning his deathly glare on Laxus. "Now, well now you've made Lucy cry. And NO ONE MAKES LUCY CRY"
With his declaration, Natsu launched himself at Laxus with the cheers of his guildmates around him. Happy did some loops of joy with him back on his feet, looping back to Lucy's side who was still crying but also now smiling. He landed a 'fire dragon iron fist' squarely to Laxus' jaw, the power of which seemed to turn a switch in Laxus, his eyes flashing between the dark orbs and his usual eyes.
"Quick Natsu, take me out now!"
Sensing the change and not to turn down an opportunity he launched all the power of attacks that he could towards the lightning dragon slayer who put up no fight as he was currently winning the mental battle for control of his own body. The mage controlling him was too cocky and therefore too thrown off when Natsu had gotten back up it had given Laxus the opportunity to push him back out of full control. It seemed he wasn't able to move his body and after his outburst he'd lost control of speech, but the mage also seemed unable to make him move or talk which he took as a win.
Although not fighting back, Laxus was still a powerhouse and it took many attacks to get him to fall over. When he eventually did fall, Natsu came over and knelt next to him grabbing his shirt to bring him back up to his eyeline, thankful to see the darkness in his eyes more subdued than it had been earlier he guessed Laxus was at least somewhat in control.
"Give up. Just, admit defeat Laxus." However, no words or movements came from Laxus, the internal battle raged on with both at a stalemate, neither being able to move a muscle in Laxus' body. Natsu dipped his head, emotions conflicting, "Please just admit defeat Laxus, I don't want to kill you".
"Natsu!" he swung his head around to see Makarov trying to get his attention, once he had it he continued. "Bickslow can see the souls fighting for control within Laxus. I don't think he is able to take back full control to answer you. Maybe try something else!"
"Huh, what do you mean Gramps?" he turned his head sideways in confusion, not understanding what he was meant to do instead. As Makarov grumbled about him being an idiot Lucy came to his rescue.
"Natsu!" he swung his head to meet her eyes, she was smiling and her eyes were full of warmth albeit she had tears staining her face but the warmth she shared reassured him she was ok. "Tell him that he has 5 seconds to get up and continue your fight else it's a forfeit of the dragon fight and you win!"
He flashed her a big grin in thanks before repeating her words to Laxus, as he finished he dropped his shirt allowing Laxus to drop fully to the ground, he thought he saw the smallest turn up of Laxus' lips as if in a smile as he hit the ground.
The next 5 seconds passed in silence, no one daring to even breathe. They passed and nothing seemed to change, that is until the whole bubble cracked and shattered – wisps of fire and lightning dancing in the air as everyone watched them.
In the same moments a lacrima surfaced out of Laxus' body gaining Natsu's attention while everyone else was still transfixed with the elements dancing in the air. The lacrima floated above him a few seconds before dropping to the ground next to him, it was yellow with lightning crackling around it but it was laced with veins of blackness.
"Hey Natsu, thanks for freeing me from that psycho."
"Just don't go getting possessed again deal?"
"Ha, yeah I'm all good and done on the possession thing. Now...hadn't you best get to blondie" he gave Natsu a wink and chuckled at the uncharacteristic blush that spread on Natsu's cheeks. However, undeterred Natsu stood from Laxus' side and turned in the direction he knew Lucy had been.
He'd barely turned around as he was tackled by Lucy, whilst everyone else had been memorised by the fire/lightning show she'd started running for him. He stumbled back a few steps but managed to stay upright, looking down he saw the top of her blonde head buried against his scarf with her arms wrapped tightly around his middle. It barely took a second for him to return the hug wrapping his own arms tightly around her, he let out a breath of relief that it was all over and she was safely back in his arms, right where she belonged.
They stood there lost in their relief, at some point the Thunder Legion had come over to take Laxus and the lacrima away, Freed crying his apologies for allowing Laxus to become possessed. They passed the lacrima carefully to Makarov for further inspection of the infected black lines. The group dispersed back towards the guildhall, even Happy left with Erza, Gray and Wendy to give Natsu and Lucy some time together.
Once he'd heard everyone get a decent distance away Natsu pulled back slightly from Lucy, "Hey Luce, told ya I wasn't gonna lose"
She pulled out from her place in his scarf, rolling her eyes playfully at him before fixing him with a warm smile. "Thank you for saving me Natsu"
He dropped his forehead down to rest on hers, eyes shutting on reflex, "anytime Luce. I'll always be here to save you"
She bumped her nose against his gently, "and I'll always be there to save you too". Both standing with their eyes shut they couldn't see the huge grins they each sported at the others words.
Their moment was interrupted as little zaps of lightning sparked from Lucy's skin. "Hey! What's with the sparking!"
"Ow, ow, ow! It's worst at my neck, where that dragon is!" she pulled one of her arms out of their embrace to sweep her hair off her neck and shoulder so he could get a better look, placing her hand back on his chest when she was done rather than back around him.
"Hmphh I almost forgot about him, time to say goodbye to mini spark here Luce!"
"Goodbye mini spark and good riddance," she smiled up at him, and he got distracted for a moment as their eyes met, only broken from his gaze by some more sparks.
"All right let's get on with this. Sorry if this hurts Luce," giving her an apologetic look he ducked his head down towards the sparky dragon on her neck giving it a stern glare. He left one arm around her lower back with the other raising to the back of her head angling it slightly so he could get better access to her neck.
And then he bit down. Hard.
She felt the lightning for the first time since she'd originally been bitten, it pulsed through her and she fought back tears of pain as she cried out grabbing on to Natsu's scarf, clutching it to ground her through the pain as her body tensed against his in agony, he in turn tightened his arm around her back as he pushed his magic into her as fast as he dared hoping to get her through the pain as quickly as possible.
After what felt an eternity the surging of lightning seemed to reach its peak before vanishing completely, what replaced it was warmth – soothing warmth as Natsu's magic could finally take its place instead. Her body immediately relaxed, she hummed with pleasure as the warmth overtook her body.
Sensing that his magic had filled her Natsu stopped biting her and switched to giving small licks where he'd bitten her before pulling back slightly – he could see the former lightning dragon was no more the ring was glowing in a spinning circle of fire dying out completely before a fiery red dragon appeared in the centre. The dragon flapped his wings and circled around spitting out fire balls which took placement around the ring before settling and curling up contently, he noticed there were far more fiery symbols in the ring than there had been lightning bolts previously.
He watched the whole change intently, absently noting he thought that the fiery dragon suited her much more than the sparky one had previously. He had a silly grin on his face as he looked to Lucy only to find her passed out leaning her head against his shoulder, looking exhausted but a smile still adorned her face, if not for his tight grip around her back she'd have collapsed to the floor.
Sweeping her into his arms with a small chuckle, he started walking back towards his house thankful they'd had the fight just behind it, he needed somewhere to put Lucy to sleep and he was pretty exhausted himself.
Unseen from any of those in attendance were the red eyes in the trees that had been watching. They had been frozen and shaking in fear for what their master would do to them. As they regained motion and went to flee they were stopped with a heavy force around their neck.
Slightly behind on my schedule sorry! Had some writers block on a chapter I had planned but decided this flowed better and we may just get some flashback in future chapters rather than a full on chapter for moments in between...or I may drop them altogether.
Anyway...hope you enjoy this update! :)