CHAPTER 14: ONE THEY FEAR 2/2
How many days had it been? Natsu had lost count. Maybe three or four. He leaned against the wooden bench and lowered his eyes to avoid the sun's burning rays. The last stop had been before the sunrise, and so nausea had cumulated to the point where he thought he'd die before the execution. Or maybe that's what they tried, to drive a motion sick man to death so they wouldn't be the ones to blame.
And as he felt bile rising up his throat again, he turned around to vomit, scarlet fluid flooding from his mouth to the ground. Exhausted, he let his head hung on the other side of the cart and watched how the cobbled stones and mountain flowers ran beneath him. He had grown familiar to that sight lately.
"Again? Ugh", Igneel commented scornfully.
If Natsu had any strength left, he'd punch him. "Fuck you."
"I'd give you water if I had any."
Natsu scoffed. "And if our hands weren't tied, idiot."
He was dying for a drink to wash the taste of iron from his mouth with. When they stopped to water the horses, each prisoner was given bread and drink and a chance to take a piss. Why such hospitality if they'd all be killed anyway? However, the small meals he had ended up on the side of the road as soon as the carts moved again. He'd never known why, but every time he travelled by a horse carriage, his insides twisted into a miserable mess and he threw up endlessly until the cart would stop.
"Don't worry", Igneel said, his tone calm and empathetic."It'll be over soon."
Natsu raised his gaze from the ground. The city walls rose at the end of the road with Legion banners wavering in the wind. Igneel had meant his suffering would be over soon, but his life would end at the same. And after the long days of torture, Natsu was almost eager to die. That way it would be guaranteed he'd never have to travel again.
Igneel pulled him up, the momentum feeling like his brains slid into the back of his skull. Natsu mumbled silent curses and didn't mind the stares he got from the two soldiers sitting on the other side of the cart. He wasn't supposed to be there, he knew. He wasn't a rebel. Maybe the Imperial captain would change their mind about his sentence. His crimes had nothing to do with the damn war anyway. The Jarl of Riften was supposed to be his judge, not the Legion. Five or ten years in prison would've been the most likely punishment. Natsu had once said he'd rather die than go to prison, but now that he was actually going to die, he wasn't so sure about it anymore.
Well, there was nothing he could do about it now.
One of the Stormcloak rebels chanted the names of the Divines, but none one the Eight would come to his aid. Natsu knew that. There was no point in asking help from things which didn't even exist. One could as well pray for a fucking dragon to come and save them, the result would be the same. The guards opened the city gates as the carts drove in. Natsu had never been in Helgen before, but the stone walls and towers somehow reminded him of Dragonbridge and Solitude. Funny how Imperial cities used to make him feel so safe when he had been a boy.
The carriage slowed its pace, and his nausea eased a bit. He let the buildings pass before his eyes, nothing particular catching his attention. The citizens were living their life as usual and had grown used to these macabre shows the Legion kept arranging for them. Parents gathered their children indoors as if walls and shutters would protect them from what was happening in this country. What would they feel if their sons and daughters were sitting in the carts instead? Natsu didn't know why he wondered that. What would his father think if he'd know where his son was headed? Would they even let his father know he'd been killed?
For the smallest moment Natsu regretted not staying in touch with dad, but the thought was gone as quickly as it had come. Natsu noticed how people stopped to stare, their eyes fixated on Ulfric Stormloack sitting in the first cart, bound and gagged. While not everyone had seen him before, rumours of him had spread all across Skyrim. Today he'd be the top attraction of the damn show. More faces appeared to the windows and porches, making Natsu feel almost famous.
A thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance when Natsu glanced at Igneel. The Dark Elf stared at his own feet, his copper brown hair covering his face. He had fallen deep into his thoughts, but Natsu wasn't in a mood for conversation either. There was nothing left to say anymore. Natsu had already said his last wish, and it was to be the first of them to die. Igneel had accepted that. There wasn't much Natsu feared in life, but after witnessing mother's death he didn't want to lose anyone before his own eyes again.
Behind his friend, Natsu saw a young woman in a yellow dress looking at the prisoners. She leaned to the wooden parapet, autumn wind swaying her fair hair. Natsu didn't know why, but somehow she looked dissociated from the scene, like she did not belong there. Like a swan amongst the chicken. Suddenly the girl turned to look at him, their eyes meeting for a brief second until Natsu turned his head away. He didn't know why he had looked at her for so long. Maybe it was just a distraction for a mind which would soon be dead, but either way, it didn't matter anymore. The carts stopped at the plaza and soldiers commanded the prisoners to get up.
The commander found their names in the list and send them to the line. Natsu's legs tingled as blood flowed back to them after long sitting. He stood by Igneel's side with a strange calmness in his heart. He'd soon be gone, but it wasn't that bad. The life he had lived had been full. Short, but full. His lips almost twitched into a smile when he thought of the adventures he had with his best friend. Somehow he had always known they'd die together, side by side as brothers. The Legion captain told the priestess of Arkay to give the prisoner their last rites.
"As we commend your souls to Aetherius, the blessings of the Eight upon you, for you are the salt and the earth of Nirn, our beloved -"
"For the love of Azura, shut up and let's get this over with!" Igneel shouted. The priestess lowered her arms, nodded and prayed no more. Igneel, of all of them, had no use for her prayers.
And suddenly, everyone's heads turned towards the Dark Elf. Natsu felt his chest tightening as the captain grinned.
"As you wish", the commander said and soldiers came to grab Igneel from arms, despite he wasn't the first on the line. Pure terror pumped through Natsu's heart as he was left behind and realised what would happen next. He wouldn't let that happen! His hands were tied behind his back, but it didn't stop him from fighting. He squirmed, writhed and kicked with all his might. More soldiers came to hold him still as he screamed them to stop, to take him instead, but they did not listen. Igneel's eyes found his once more.
"You've got this, brother", Igneel whispered as the soldiers pressed him to the block. The sound of thunder got buried under Natsu's desperate shout. Tears blinded his vision as they flooded down his face, and he despised himself for letting his tears be the last thing Igneel would ever see.
And a single swing of an axe was all it took to tear a young man's heart into a million tiny shreds.
As Igneel's head dropped to the ground, everything in Natsu's world went blank. The rapid beating in his chest came to a perfect still, leaving only the throbbing, wrenching pain behind. Suddenly and without a warning, everything came to an end. He had wanted to die bravely, not crying like a baby. The peaceful death he had wished for became nothing more than a youthful, naive lie, violently torn away right in front of his very own eyes. They dragged Igneel's headless corpse away like he was nothing but slaughtered cattle.
The soldiers dissolved into the white fog, blood turned colourless and all noises around him faded. Only the ringing in his ears remained. Someone grabbed him by the neck and dragged him forward in the mist, laid him down, a pressure on his back keeping him from writhing away. It had to be a soldier's boot, the steel as cold as their fucking hearts.
Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance again, the only sound reaching through the senseless humming. It brought him back to the moment. He opened his eyes, tilted his head to the side to face the headsman and his greataxe. A shape of a tower formed from the whiteness behind the man. Natsu's eyes followed the axe as it rose from the ground, his gaze catching a strange shadow in the sky. It grew larger and larger, spreading its wings as it landed on the watchtower, the entire plaza staggered by its impact. When did ravens become so big? Since when did they have horns?
But when its mighty roar pierced through Natsu's bones, he knew it wasn't a raven.
The screech tore the axe from the headsman's hands. It dropped and missed Natsu's head by mere inches. Frozen and numb, he stared at the winged creature, feeling absolutely nothing. Everyone around him screamed, shouted commands, called for the archers, but not a single thought crossed his mind. Stone and wood came grumbling down and fire spread from the creature's mouth, setting everything on its way ablaze. Paralyzed, he stared at the destruction, but it failed to evoke any fear in him.
Why should he be afraid when the worst possible thing had already happened to him?
Then the creature shouted again, and a sudden gust of wind threw him around like a lifeless ragdoll. His head smashed to the rocky ground. For a brief moment, the whiteness faded into black, until another shout reached through the dark. A human's shout.
"Rise!"
A knife cut through the rope around his wrists. Natsu rolled around and saw a young, brown-haired man with a dagger in his hand. The man ran through the flames and the smoke before Natsu could thank him. Natsu stood up on trembling legs and stared around, finding absolutely nothing to grasp on. He stretched his arms which ached from the days of being bound behind his back. The creature soared right over him, breathing fire like a dragon from the children's storybook.
Except that it wasn't like a dragon. It was a dragon.
What in the Oblivion was going on?
In a matter of a few minutes, the dragon had turned the lively town into a fiery pit of chaos. The store he had passed by was now in ruins, so was the inn next to it. Only charred corpses were left of the busy people he had just seen, and those who were still alive ran around in panic, hysterically screaming the names of their loved ones. The children cried, dogs howled, horses galloped frantically searching for a safe place. Natsu's eyes caught something under the collapsed wall; the fair hair of the girl who had stood on the porch, watching him, looking like she didn't belong there. Like a swan amongst the chicken.
And when the girl moved her hand, Natsu realised that she didn't belong under that burning wood either. No-one else noticed she was still alive. Everyone focused on their own survival, too scared to risk their lives to help her. But Natsu had nothing left to lose. He was already past the time he was supposed to die, so why not give it a try? He was still alive, still existing, and had to use that for something better than standing frozen in the middle of chaos.
She became the catalyst to move him out of that still, paralyzed point. The red string to follow on. It wasn't much, she could die the second he'd get her out, but it was something. Natsu took the first step and then another, still weak and powerless under the weight of the immeasurable loss. He kept moving forward until he reached the girl, dodging the flying rocks and flames along his way.
He wouldn't watch anyone die in front of his eyes anymore, and so he grabbed her arm and pulled.
"Hey, girl, wake up. Wake up now. We have to get out of here."
When the dragon's hollow eyes found them, only one thought entered Natsu's mind. He wouldn't let that red string slip through his fingers, no matter what it would take. The decision he had made in Helgen still kept.
He wouldn't watch anyone else die.
Acting out of his instinct, Natsu pulled Lucy behind the rock right before the dragon opened its mouth and breathed fire. Flames surrounded the stone, turning the air so intensely hot it burned his lungs. With his heart drumming in his throat he tried to come up with a strategy to survive this. The black dragon glided over them and spoke again.
"Nivahriin jorre, dir ko maar!"
Natsu didn't know what it meant, but the tone in its voice resonated pure arrogance as if they were only insects on its way. The light circling around the dragon's grave faded out, the ceremony or whatever it was doing now over. Its deed now done, the dragon rose above the trees and veered towards the mountains.
"What the fuck? It's just leaving?" Natsu whispered and watched as if flew east, faster than anything he'd ever seen. It disappeared from his sight, but he wasn't relieved. Not at all.
"One dragon is better than two", Lucy answered. "But what will we do?"
The ground quaked as the dragon behind them took its first steps in a thousand years. The mine's entrance opened as people rushed out to see what was going on, their faces growing pale as their eyes found the dragon. The man who had sworn he wouldn't believe dragons existed until he'd see one with his own eyes, was there too, with his breeches now wet.
Natsu pressed his back against the stone. Erza curled up in a hopeless ball at their feet, sobbing her heart out of fear. The mage had never seen anyone being so afraid, but he could understand why. There were many terrifying things in Skyrim – ice wraths, walking skeletons, giant spiders and giants, but none of them compared against a dragon. Natsu had absolutely no idea what to do. Should they run? Should they hide? Or should they fight?
"It will destroy Kynesgrove first, and then head to Windhelm", Natsu replied quietly, the words coming to his mouth without thinking. "And that's bad. Like really fucking bad."
Lucy crouched to pat Erza's back. The warrior didn't seem to hear what they were talking about. "I know, but what do we -"
"We fight that thing."
"How!?"
There was only one thing he knew. If that dragon had been put to its grave once before, it could be done again. "I've my magic and this dagger", Natsu said. "You have your ten arrows. Better make them count."
Natsu peeked behind the stone again, the dragon's focus now on the miners. It was a lot smaller than the big black one, but still larger than a mammoth. Its bones collected muscles around them, and green scales formed as their shield. Where there had been only a bare skull a minute ago was now a living dragon's head, it's eyes now as black as the night. The beast kept crawling forward, pulling itself with its wing bones – and Natsu realised one important thing.
"It cannot fly before its wings are restored", Natsu said to Lucy, who replied with a nod. She had released her bow from the straps and searched for her arrows. "We have to kill it while it's down, or we're doomed."
Without hesitating furthermore, Natsu summoned a flame atronach on the beast's way and sprinted to the road. The men who stood on the base of the hill had no fighting experience, especially against a dragon, but all of them had pickaxes. That counted as something. There wasn't much he and Lucy alone could do to a dragon when Erza was paralyzed from fear.
"Don't just stand there doing nothing!" Natsu shouted at the miners, who barely seemed to hear him. "One of you dumb fucks runs to Windhelm right now to get the guards and soldiers over here!"
There were a dozen men but only the youngest of them, a boy probably at Natsu's age, nodded back to him. He tossed the pickaxe away, turned around and ran as fast as he could – and Natsu only hoped he'd head to Windhelm instead of chickening away. Even in the best case it would take a while for soldiers to arrive, and everyone's effort was needed to keep the beast at bay until then. But none of the men did a fucking thing.
"Pick your fucking axes and fight!"
Natsu heard a snarling sound behind him, and all the miners ran away screaming. He froze, the ground quaking at the rhythm of the fast-approaching steps.
"Yol Thoor Shul!"
Just before he got caught in the inferno, he crouched and raised his arms to cover his body. A shield of blue magic formed from his command, the Steadfast Ward, a restoration spell he so rarely used. He kept it up as flames surrounded him into an embrace more hot and intense than anything he'd ever known. The boiling hot spring was cold compared to dragonfire – and as he felt his magicka draining, he knew he couldn't risk lowering his guard anymore. Sweat ran down his forehead as the fire dissolved. He patted the hem of his robe to smother the sparkles so they wouldn't spread. If not for Igneel's scarf, nothing but ashes would be left of him.
His atronach was gone – while fire didn't work on flame atronach, nothing matched a dragon's physical strength. Nothing. The beast had probably just picked the atronach into its mouth and grind it into dust. While he couldn't risk getting too close to its fangs and talons, he couldn't stay too far either or he'd get caught in its fire. The dragon had to be distracted, but how?
"Natsu!" Lucy shouted, the beast immediately turning its ugly head towards her.
Definitely not like that.
Natsu put his hands together and cast a firebolt, painfully aware of how much more costly dual casting was. While it made the spell much more powerful, it came with a price. Natsu aimed and threw the flaming ball towards the dragon, the beast staggering as it exploded on its side. As he had intended, it lost interest in Lucy and focused solely on him again. It stared at the mage, the brief moment facing that beast eye to the eye feeling like an eternity.
The dragon inhaled air and Natsu jumped sideways, rolling on the ground as the beast exhaled fire right where he had just stood. He had no time to stand up, for the dragon stroke its wings at him, a cloud of dust puffing into the air. Blindly, he crawled out of the road and into the forest. He breathed heavily as he took support from the tree as he rose up.
The dust settled, letting Natsu see how far he had stranded from Lucy and Erza. They were left alone on the other side of the road. On the other side of a dragon. As its tail swung in front of him Natsu understood the dragon was facing them now. Silently, Natsu cursed at himself and created another firebolt.
"Hey you ugly, overgrown lizard! Leave them alone!" he shouted and launched the firebolt. It struck on the dragons back, the creature staggering as it exploded. But besides that, there was no damage. Not a scale had bent, not even a drop of blood shed. Was it resistant to flames?
"I see that mortals have become arrogant while I slept."
Staggered, Natsu could not believe what he had heard. The dragon's deep, growling voice formed words of a human tongue, directed straight at him. Quickly, Natsu glanced at Lucy, her expression equally shocked.
"You can fucking speak!?"
"Of course I can! I am Sahlkonir! Hear my voice and despair!"
An arrow flew past him and struck the dragon's wing, piercing through the half-restored skin. Natsu turned and saw the innkeeper standing next to her inn, holding a fully drawn bow in her hands. Though the mist blurred most of her, Natsu could see her wearing nothing but her brown dress. Her arms shivered, not out of fear, but out of the cold. Fierce determination shone through her eyes as something the cowardly miners could only envy.
"Don't you dare to destroy my inn, you bastard!" the woman cried and shot another arrow. It found its way into the dragon's neck. Blood burst from the wound as the beast roared in pain. "Go back to where you came from!"
The miners who hid in the wheat crops peeked at her, and Natsu could feel their shame from afar. He held his breath as the dragon screeched and sprinted downhill as if it completely forgot his existence. The innkeeper stood her ground against an approaching dragon, drawing and releasing another arrow. Natsu turned to look at Lucy, who followed the innkeeper's example and readied her own bow. Her eyes calmed down as she focused, aimed and released the string. The dragon shrieked again as Lucy's arrow flew straight through its open rib bones, hitting somewhere in its insides. Against his hope, the dragon didn't slow down. Not at all.
Natsu's stomach sunk as it reached the innkeeper, caught her between its jaws and tossed her body away. She screamed as she landed in the field. Two men ran to her, possibly her husband and son. When the miners picked up their pickaxes and charged into a battle, Natsu rushed back to Lucy and Erza. It wasn't safe to get separated anymore, he knew. Rogue attacks would be as good as suicide.
"Fire doesn't work against it", Natsu said quietly. Lucy shot another arrow as the dragon worked to dodge the swings of the axes. "Fuck, that beast breathes fire, what was I even thinking when I thought it would work."
"Iron arrows don't do much either, it's scales are too thick", she answered with a sigh. Lucy gathered her bow in her left hand, but the look in her eyes showed she hadn't given up yet.
She created a portal to Oblivion with her free hand, purple light dancing on her palm as she summoned her familiar. Natsu realised the same thing as her. If flames or arrows did no damage, maybe another beast would. Natsu summoned his own wolf and commanded the ghostly creature to follow Lucy's. Together they trotted down the hill and sunk their fangs in the dragon's tail, only to be swept away in an instant. Natsu grit his teeth as he watched how the wolves faded back to Oblivion, whining as they died again.
Though he had sworn he wouldn't feel despair, now the hopelessness of their situation began to dawn at him.
Natsu grabbed the warrior's shoulder and shook her. "Erza, we need you and your sword. Get up now!"
With blank, lifeless eyes she stared at the dragon and flinched every time she heard a miner's scream. "No", Erza whispered, staying perfectly still. She squeezed her legs against her chest, curling up like a terrified child.
"Oh c'mon. We'll all die if -"
Erza shook her head. "We'll all die if we don't escape now."
"We can't let it -"
"How can you not see?" she turned her eyes to Natsu, and the mage flinched as she raised her voice. "Just look at it. It thinks of us as low as if we're nothing but ants. It knows we can't do anything! We're nothing but insects in the eyes of a dragon!"
Natsu averted her gaze and watched how the miners fought against the dragon. The pickaxes bounced back from its scales. Nothing seemed to work. The dragon swung its tail and ripped men open with its talons as if it did it for its own entertainment. It didn't even eat them. Natsu had seen it back in Helgen – the dragons didn't prey on humans to feed, but to wipe them off existence and claim the world as theirs once again.
And yet he still stubbornly tried to deny that.
"If the dragons were killed in the past, they can be killed again", he said and tried to get her to stand up. Her sword was sharper than the pickaxes, maybe it could work. "Damn you're heavy! Lucy, help me."
Erza yanked her arms closer to her body before Lucy even toucher her. Natsu let his grip go. If Erza really wanted to sit there doing nothing, he couldn't help it. Lucy secured the bow in her back again and hung her head in defeat.
"The ancient Nords knew their tongue, they could use the same power as them. We don't!" Erza cried as tears ran down her cheeks. "And even if we could kill them, the black dragon would resurrect them again, and again, and again! It's the end times. The end times have come, and what can we do about it? Nothing!"
"Then we just kill them again, and again, and again. I don't know about you Companions, but I won't surrender so easily."
"Natsu -"
The mage formed a fireball, the stronger version of a regular firebolt and tossed it at the dragon. Black smoke surrounded the beast and maybe blinded it for a moment, but soon it continued the slaughter as nothing had happened. Lucy pulled Natsu's sleeve and forced him into an eye-contact. The determination in her gaze was gone.
"Natsu, please", she pleaded. "Just… don't."
The mage blinked. "Lucy?"
"If… If we escape now… we'll make it to Winterhold… right?"
Tears glimmered in her eyes as her words began to shiver. Natsu fell speechless and let his gaze drop to the ground. Maybe she was right. Everyone who stayed in Helgen had died. Everyone who would stay there now would die.
Natsu's heart skipped a beat as a blast of wild wind hit his face. He raised his head and forgot to breathe. Wings spread wide over the treetops as the dragon rose up, its life restored enough to let it fly for the first time in centuries. It let out a delighted roar which echoed all across the mountains, the song of the dragons no longer silenced.
Suddenly, Natsu's legs refused to move. His gaze followed the dragon as it flew over them and stopped to hover above its empty grave like an ironic icon. Could Erza be right? With the black dragon rising the others from the dead and no-one knowing how to kill them, was the world really going to be overrun by them? Would they really fill the skies and reign in fiery chaos? Those who believed the dragons were only a legend would die in terror, and those who'd survive would be enslaved by them, their pride removed and humanity reduced to the level of an ant.
And that's how small he felt when the dragon locked eyes with them again. As small as an ant. As if smirking in pleasure, the dragon opened its mouth and Natsu knew what would happen next. With nowhere left to run, nowhere left to hide, he stepped in front of Lucy to cover her before the dragon shouted.
"FUS... RO DAH!"
The shout summoned a powerful force from the dragon's throat, its raw strength pushing aside anything and anyone standing in its wake. And just as if he'd ran into a stone wall, the unrelenting force dashed against his body and threw all three of them down the hill.
Like lifeless dolls.
Air burst out from Lucy's lungs as she slammed to the ground, not knowing how far she had ended up. Her head spun as she struggled to catch her breath, her life flashing before her eyes. She had landed on her back, and when she couldn't find her toes, she feared the worst. But then her legs moved as she rolled around, her fingers clawing the dry grass underneath her. None of her bones felt broken, but her every muscle throbbed in pain. Staggered, she pulled herself back up and looked around, trying to find a hint of Natsu or Erza.
A glimpse of scarlet stood up from the wheat crops as Erza rose. Her forehead bled, but otherwise, she looked uninjured. Lucy flinched as a mighty roar filled the skies like thunder when the dragon soared above them, flying in circles as if it was looking for them. Panic began to spread in her chest when she couldn't find Natsu anywhere. He had been there just a minute ago, but now he was nowhere in sight. The surviving miners ran around, some dragged their unconscious or dead loved ones into someplace safe like they'd wake up once the dragon would have gone away.
Except that there wasn't safe anywhere in this land, not anymore.
Lucy's heart sunk as her eyes found the innkeeper lying in a pool of blood, her son and husband beside her, their bodies ripped apart. She raised her shivering hands on her mouth, the sickness in her stomach forcing her to look away from the grisly scene. Fiercely shaking her head, she tried to command her legs to run, run as fast as they could and as far as they could carry, but they wouldn't move an inch. She stood there frozen, staring at the abandoned pickaxes and the malachite ores next to the smelter waiting to be turned into ingots. They'd have to wait forever.
Lucy's eyes ripped open when the cinders by the smelter moved, the charcoal pile forming into the shape of a human. It turned around, a strand of something pink contrasting against the blackness. Lucy realized it wasn't a charcoal pile.
"Natsu!"
Lucy ran across the yard and collapsed on her knees by his side. He didn't answer, but his eyes found hers, the greens lit in pain. Slowly, his right hand moved to hold the left, blood soaking through his fingers. Lucy's guts twisted in terror.
"S-shit..." the mage groaned and pulled up his sleeve, making Lucy gasp. A deep, jagged wound ran from his wrist to his elbow, crimson liquid pulsing out in the rhythm of his frantic heartbeat. "Oh well, it's… It's nothing..."
He had a small cut on his cheek, too, and maybe several others all around his body. Many iron instruments laid on the ground beneath him, some of which Lucy had seen used in smelting ores. Of all the places on fucking earth he had landed on a set of blacksmith's tools. Lucy had known his luck would run out sometime, but why did it have to run out like that?
Not knowing what to do, Lucy's hands waved rapidly before falling to her lap. "No, that's… that's bad!"
Natsu bent forward to sit, but the pain made him fold in two. Blood stained his white scarf and no matter how hard he squeezed the wound, the bleeding didn't cease. Red drops fell on the dry grass, and the moment he lifted his hand a bit, blood sprayed from the wound in thin strings.
"I'm… I'll be fine, I'll be fine… fuck..."
"You can close that with magic, can't you?" Lucy asked, speaking so fast it almost couldn't be understood. Natsu stared at his wound as if he struggled to realise it was his own arm. From the way his face lost all colour, Lucy knew he wouldn't be fine. It was the shock telling him he would.
"I could, but… I wouldn't have any magicka left if I did."
"It's better than not having any blood left."
"But -"
"Heal that!"
"Fine, fine, just, okay..." Natsu mumbled as he reluctantly followed Lucy's order. A light appeared on his left, bloody palm. It shone brightly in the dark and danced on his wound, the bleeding stopping as the edges of skin moved closer to each other. Lucy couldn't help but feel amazed by what magic would do. If Nords didn't despise magic so much, restoration mages could heal the sick and wounded far better than any other healers. The light faded as his magicka ran out, his arm not fully healed, but at least it no longer bled.
"Will you be okay now?" Lucy asked with a meek voice. The dragon soared somewhere in the skies, and Lucy wasn't sure if it was gone or not. She had a feeling it wasn't done with them yet.
Natsu moved his arm around and winced in pain. Grimacing, he gazed at the closed wound and lowered his sleeve. His face was still pale and his breathing short – it would take a while for the shock to wear off completely.
"It's my better hand, but whatever, if it still moves it's all good", Natsu answered and looked up at her. "But Lucy, your bow is broken."
She blinked her eyes. "It is?"
"You didn't notice?"
Lucy reached for the bow secured in her back. The weapon dangled from the leather straps, the string keeping the cracked pieces together. How had she not noticed it yet? Lucy took it off, the quiver too, only to find out the arrows had faced the same fate. She tossed them to the ground as the dragon flew above them again, her heart growing cold as she realised there was no way they could see another day.
"Well, fuck it all, then", Lucy muttered silently. Her fingers curled into fists as she stared at her broken bow.
"What?"
"I said fuck it all."
Without reacting to her swearing, Natsu cranked himself on his feet as the dragon stopped to hover above the inn. He reached for his belt and pulled the bent, dull orcish dagger from its sheath. The dragon landed on the wheat field, screeching the mockery for the human race. It stepped closer to the warrior hiding in the crops, snarling at its next victim.
"You go grab Erza and run. You run and don't stop until you reach Windhelm, got it?" Natsu said, glancing at Lucy.
"What are you talking about?"
"When you're in the College tell them that Natsu of Dragonbridge sends his regards."
"Wait, what -"
Before she could grab his sleeve he was off running to the dragon. The beast faced towards Erza and didn't see how the mage appeared from behind. Natsu put the dagger's handle between his teeth as he jumped and grabbed on the spikes growing on the dragon's lower back. Its tail swung vigorously as it realised what the mage was doing, but neither its tail nor its wings could hit him as he mounted the dragon. Natsu ran along its spine until it reached its neck. He seized the dragon from the horn and shoved the dagger into its flesh with all of his strength, the beast roaring in pain.
Natsu looked so incredibly small in the back of a dragon.
"Why are you still standing there!? Run while I keep this thing busy!" the mage shouted as he struck the dagger through the dragon's shoulder, the blade piercing through the weaker skin. It flapped its wings, continuously trying to throw the mage off his balance, but Natsu's grip on its horn persisted. Lucy shook her head with her limbs frozen. All she could do was watch, knowing that such insane bravery would be his undoing this time.
"What are you waiting for? A miracle? There won't be any! Get off already, goddamnit!"
"I just can't leave you here to die!" Lucy cried.
"And I won't watch anyone else dying in front of my fucking eyes!"
Tears fell on her cheeks as she followed his desperate attempt. The dragon's vital parts were protected in scales harder than the orcish steel, and so deep that a small dagger would not reach them. Natsu stabbed its neck and brownish blood burst from the wound as he pulled the dagger back. 'I'll see you using that spell, I promise', he had said, but everything he did would lead into breaking that promise.
She wouldn't let him die in front of her eyes either.
It's just a bow stored in Oblivion...
Lucy closed the battle out as she concentrated deep. She hadn't even tried to summon that weapon before, but she imagined its might, heard its call as it stood in the shelf of another realm, waiting for her to pick it up. Purple light began to form around her palms, the magicka in her already running dry. But if she couldn't afford to cast it with today's magic, she'd just steal some from tomorrow's.
'If you'll die today, I'll let you see me casting that spell now.'
And so she forced the Bound Bow to cross the liminal bridge to be seated in her arms, ready to be drawn. If the manmade weapons wouldn't hurt a dragon, maybe those made by the Daedra would.
Lucy's head spun as the purple light took the shape of a bow, as light as a feather. It had recurved shape and a demonic design with spikes protruding from various parts of its body. A quiver full of arrows accompanied it. Even though she was on the edge of passing out from exhaustion, she notched an arrow, kept her stance and drew – it was a hundred times lighter to draw than a regular bow. She released the arrow, sharper and stronger than any other kind. It flew through the air and struck straight through the dragon's wing. The beast jerked and turned towards her, still trying to shake the mage off its back.
As quickly as she could, she drew another arrow and released. It found the dragon's chest and sunk deep into its flesh, flames pouring from the hole. And suddenly the beasts great dark eyes lit with fear. Natsu kept stabbing the dragon with the blade which had bent in half, too busy to notice her.
With her final strength, Lucy drew the last arrow. She let go, feeling as the world around her came to a slow. The arrow hit the dragon's head and tore its way through its skull. Its head swung far back and a dying, fearful scream escaped its throat as it life faded away. The beast collapsed to the ground and spread its wings for one last attempt to soar through the skies as the mightiest creature in all of existence, only to be brought down by a mere, pathetic human.
Natsu jumped down from the dragon's back and stared at Lucy and her magical bow, his expression in full awe. He threw his useless dagger at his feet, his limbs falling lifelessly to his sides. The bow disappeared from her hands. Feeling too weary and worn, she couldn't fully understand what had just happened. Was the dragon really dead? How could she have killed a dragon?
Lucy stepped back as the dragon's scales set ablaze. Its skin and flesh began to dissolve towards the darkened sky, but something else was happening, too. A shining mist fumed from its remains and danced in the air until all out of sudden, Lucy's body absorbed the mist. It surrounded her into a mystic embrace and seeped through her skin, burning as it entered her bloodstream.
"Lucy?" she heard Natsu's voice. "What's happening to you!?"
She'd answer if she knew.
Her heart drummed in a rapid rhythm as visions from the ancient times flashed before her eyes. As if she could see the world as only a dragon could – then she realised the mist had been the dragon's soul which merged into her own, its life and knowledge now becoming a part of hers. Lucy fell on her knees as the air got stuck in her throat. Natsu and Erza ran to her, but Lucy couldn't say a single word to them. She saw them speaking, but didn't hear their words.
And then the mountains rumbled as the Greybeards called for the Last Dragonborn, who'd appeared on the world in the time of great need, by the command of the gods.
"DO – VAH – KIIN!"
A/N: First of all, sorry it took so long. It was a lot harder to write than I first thought. As English is not my mother tongue, writing battle scenes is hard, but I hope it came out good enough.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the biggest reveal so far! How do you feel about Lucy being the Last Dragonborn? Did you guess it or think it would be Natsu? And what did you think of seeing Natsu's point of view from the events of Helgen? Anyway, this is where the story really starts!
