Bridge Down!:
AN: This one shot is based a slightly off of the story of Kate Shelley, I suggest you look it up, it's pretty cool.
Farrah Lee-Dreyar: 10
Nashi Dragneel: 7
Storm Fullbuster: 7
Cato Dreyar: 7
Roman Fernandez: 6
Persephone and Koree Redfox: 6
Bianca Fullbuster: 5
Lorelle Strauss: 4
Eva, Minette, and Von Fernandez: 3
Layla Dragneel: 3
Igneel Dragneel: 2
Meeko Fullbuster: 2
Rumble. Rumble. Boom!
Nashi woke up with a start. She was in a white room filled with boxes.
"Where am I?" she wondered as she rubbed her eyes, then she remembered. Mommy and Daddy had added two new bedrooms with a shared bathroom onto the house so the three kids wouldn't have to share a bedroom anymore. She had one of the new rooms, Layla had the other, and Igneel was keeping their old room.
The rooms were pretty new, though, which meant they hadn't time to paint them, or unpack all their stuff. Okay, they'd unpacked some of the stuff. But because the three kids had shared a room there hadn't been enough shelves and trunks to go between three seperate bedrooms. So some of her stuff was having to stay in boxes until Mommy and Daddy got some more.
Boom! Clap!
"Doesn't it do anything but rain anymore?" Nashi groaned as she collapsed back against her bed.
Boom!
"Mommy! Daddy!" Layla's voice rang out as Nashi heard her scampering down the hall to their parents room.
She sighed, pulling the covers closer around her as heavy rain drops hit her window. As she lay there a bright light shown through it. She picked her head up and looked out. It was a train. Her new bedroom overlooked the railroad bridge near their house. Nashi leaned her head upon the window sill as she watched the train head towards the bridge. Ever since moving into her new room about three days ago she had memorized the train schedule. She wasn't exactly sure why she'd memorized it (outside of just because she could). But she had, none-the-less.
This was a smaller train, no cars attached to it. She'd asked Mommy what this train's job was and she'd said it was to make sure the tracks were safe each night at midnight before the first train of the morning headed out 8 A.M. Nashi had no clue who wanted to go anywhere at that time, but somebody must have because the past three days at 8:30 A.M. the loud chug-a-chug-a-chug-a, and bright light, and whistling came through her window as Mommy woke her up for the day.
A soft ding-dong from the clock signalled that it was 12:30.
Nashi smiled softly as she watched the train approaching. Right on time. Their house was about 30 minutes from the station, so 30 minutes after departure times the trains came riding by.
Only things didn't quite go like they always had tonight. As lightning cracked across the skies Nashi saw something floating in the river towards the bridge. She squinted to see what it was. Another lightning bolt struck. Nashi gasped. It was a massive tree that had been knocked over, and it was floating straight towards the bridge!
"Hey!" Nashi beat on the glass towards the train. "Hey, stop! There's a tree that's gonna hit you!"
Of course the train didn't stop, and continued onto the bridge. By the time it had reached the middle of the bridge the tree hit.
Even from where she was, several feet away, in her warm cozy room; and even with the rumbling thunder and blinding rain Nashi could her a loud CRUNCH!
Bits of wood and wire snapped a flew everywhere.
Creak! Sparks flew from the train's wheels as it tried to break, but it was too late.
As the bridge gave way the train went with it, plummetting into the swirling water. Nashi jumped out of bed, racing down the hall.
"Mommy! Daddy!" she screamed as she busted her parent's door open. Her parents were asleep when she walked in, Layla and Igneel tucked between them, apparently scared of the storm.
Natsu lifted his head, a sleepy scowl on his face.
"You scared too, Firecracker?" he asked as he rubbed his eye.
"No, there's a train in the water!" Nashi shouted.
"What?" Lucy grumbled, sitting up.
"The bridge broke!" Nashi said.
"What bridge?" Natsu asked.
"The railroad bridge! It broke and now there's a train in the water!"
Natsu sat up, a worried look in his eyes as he and Lucy ran to Nashi's room to look out the window. Layla and Igneel both awoke, curious as to what was happening, and followed after their parents. Nashi raced ahead, pointing out her window to the bridge.
"See?" she asked.
"Oh, crap!" Natsu shouted, throwing her window open and jumping out it, not wasting time to run to a door. As soon as he hit the ground he bolted towards the river.
"Kids, stay here," Lucy said, taking off after her husband, already reaching for Aquarius' key. Nashi leaned out her window, watching her parents go. Some of the neighbors had alos noticed the train, a few of them went with Natsu and Lucy, though most just stood and stared, shouting to each other.
"The whole train went in!"
"That must mean their comunication lacrima's gone too."
"Wouldn't matter. Station's closed at this hour anyhow. There'd be no one to answer.
"Then how are they going to warn the station the bridge is down?"
Nashi gasped as she listened.
"I don't know if they can warn them."
"Should we do something? If they don't hear about this they'll send a train full of people right into the river!"
"Is there anything we can do? No way we'd make it there by foot in time to warn 'em."
Nashi stood up on her window sill, leaning further out to look at the train track. Those had to lead back to the station. All anyone would have to do is follow them to get there and warn them. The two neighbors had said they wouldn't make it there in time by foot to warn them, but Nashi didn't have to go on foot. She had Eos' wings.
"Twain go bye-bye!" Igneel shrieked, watching as the metal vehicle sunk under the black waters.
"Not to mention," one of the neighbors pointed out. "It's dangerous following the tracks! They've got that new high track going over the city, one slip and you're done for!"
"That is true!" a third neighbor piped up.
"Well, someone's gotta warn them."
"Well it ain't gonna be me! I don't feel like dying tonight!"
The high track? Nashi gasped again. What if that went out too? That would be two spots a train could go down. Only there it would be worse because it could fall on people's houses!
"Nashi?" Layla asked, tugging at her big sister's night gown, a worried look on her face. "What do we do?"
"You two stay here," Nashi said. "I'm going to warn the station. Eos!"
Her firey wings appeared and she took off into the air. The minute she jumped off the window sill she nearly fell. She hadn't thought about the rain putting her wings out! Furrowing her brow in concentration she managed to keep them ignited with a bit more focus and flew towards the track.
It was dark. Even with the light shining off her wings it was hard to see the tracks below her. Not to mention this rain!
"Ow," Nashi muttered, trying to shield the back of her head with her hands. Each rain drop felt like a rock was being thrown at her. It didn't take long for her hair and her nightgown to be utterly soaked! The cloth sticking uncomfortably to her as she spat and pushed her wet tresses out of her face. Funny, her hair had been braided into two pigtails when she went to bed, but the rain was so hard that it had ripped the plaid apart, leaving her hair free to whip around her face and blind her.
She felt herself falling again as everything went completely dark.
"Eos!"
Her wings sputtered and flickered, coming back just in time to save her from crashing against the tracks.
"Okay," she sighed in relief as she tried to fly back into the air. She'd only risen about a foot before her wings began sputtering again.
"Oh, c'mon!" she shouted. "Eos! Eos!"
Still, no matter what she did she could not lift herself more than a foot off the ground.
"Oh, well," she sighed. "Better than nothing."
She flapped her wings, opting to just fly straight forward as quickly as she could rather than trying to go any higher into the air. The only probleom was going fater meant the rain drops hurt even more, tearing at her face with such ferocity that Nashi began to wonder if the wetness on her face was rain water or blood.
"And Storm says he likes rain?" she sputtered as she spat her hair out of her mouth once again. "Well, I don't! Is he crazy?"
She forced her eyes to stay open, despite the stinging of the cold, wet air zipping in them and the rock-hard rain drops that pounded against her face, nearly blinding her. If she closed her eyes, though, she wouldn't be able to see and keep up with the track.
The light from her wings, which wasn't doing much for her as it was, began growing dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer, until it was nonexistant.
"Oh, no! WAH!" Nashi screamed as she crashed against the tracks, skidding over the wet metal and gravel, tearing her nightgown and scraping her skin.
"AUGH!" she screamed, a hot stinging searing through her left arm. She slowly pushed herself up, shaking as she looked down at her arm. The entire limb was scraped raw, blood oozing from the red blotched on her pracitically non-existant skin.
"Ow," she whimpered, cradling the injured limb in her other arm as she looked about. She was in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere in the woods just outside Magnolia. From the few times she'd ridden the train she new they came through here before passing by the small, suburb community she and her family lived in near the outskirts of town. At least she was on the right track, but how was she going to get there in time without her wings?
"Eos," she said hopefully. There was a small flicker of light, then nothing.
She furrowed her brow, concentrating with all her might. "Eos!"
A flicker then blackness.
It was no use. The rain was getting too strong. It was putting out the flames before they could even take shape. Nashi sighed as she stood to her feet. She knew the neighbors said that no one would make it in time by walking, but she really didn't have much of a choice now. She began running along the track.
She only realized now, too late, that she'd forgotten to grab shoes. Running barefoot along the wet gravel was not only difficult, casuing her to slip and trip over herself numerous times, but it was painful. Trying to minimize the discomfort, Nashi made the choice to run in a hopping like pattern, leaping from one wooden board to the other. That helped a bit, but there were some spaces were too wide for her to jump, or stretches of track where there were no boards and she was forced to power through the pain.
It was on one of these painful patches when she finally came out of the forrest and upon-
"The high track?" Nashi gulped. Of course she'd seen it. This stretch of track hovered over several portions of Magnolia since being constructed a year ago. Still, Nashi hadn't realized how big and how tall it was. She felt her knees knocking as she thought of climbing up that thing. The neighbors hadn't been kidding. One slip and she'd be done for!
"Eos?" she asked again, hopeful, but nothing.
She stared up at the track again. Was this such a good idea? Maybe she should just go back…
...she turned and began walking the other way, then stopped. She couldn't go back now! So far no one else was coming. No one else was going to warn the station that a bridge was down. If she didn't get word to them in time then a train full of people would be heading right towards a death-trap come morning.
She turned back around and headed for the high-track. She shakily grabbed one of the boards in her hands, pulling herself up as if she were on a ladder, and began climbing. It was slow, slippery, terrifying going. The boards were slick in her hands and under her feet. The rain was merciless against her back as she crawled along on her belly. Lightning split the skies on every side of her and thunder shook the ground, making the tracks even more unstable. How she wished Uncle Laxus or Farrah could be there with her right now, they could at least make sure no lightning would hit her.
Her hands and feet began to sting, rubbed raw by the wet wood that filled her palms and soles with splinters as the climb up began to level off and she reached the flat area of the track. Her hair kept falling in her face, making it hard for her to see what she was doing. That may have been all for the best though. She wasn't sure how high up she was, but she knew it was a lot. She hadn't even flown this high using Eos before! She had to feel her way about, reaching ahead of her with shaky hands to grip onto the board in front of her as crawled along, to scared of falling to stand.
The rain made her scraped arm sting all the more. With every thunder clap, every gust of wind, every crack of lightning near her, the tracks swayed and shook, casuing her to whimper in fear. Still, she kept going forward. It was too late to go back. The tracks were too slippery for her to turn around on. If she did more than scoot along on her belly she'd fall for sure.
Up ahead she could see the tracks starting to go down. She'd almost made it!
Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. A tingling feeling creeped all over her body.
POW!
A tall, factory building right next to her burst into flames, lightning shooting up from it's roof. She jumped up. Now on her knees, the swaying of the track began to knock her off balance. She waved her arms, scrambling to grab hold of something as she involuntarily leaned back, her lower body slipping through the tracks, dragging the rest of her with it. At the last second she managed to latch onto one of the boards, leaving herself dangling a good 5- feet in the air.
"Help!" she shouted, but there was no one around to hear her. "Help!"
She tried to pull herself up, but she didn't have the stregnth. Her body was trembling from exhaustion, barely even able to hold on.
"Someone, please help me!" she cried, but no one answered. Her heart began racing, her breath growing faster and faster as she kicked, shaking her head, trying to pull herself up but unable to.
"No! No! I don't wanna fall!" she screamed. "I don't wanna fall! Someone help! Mommy! Daddy! Help me!"
She began to cry, terrified, shrieking sobs racking through her as she felt her fingers slipping. She looked about, trying to find anything that would save her from this fate. The factory next to her was still burning. It's fire hadn't gone out!
"Eos!" she shouted, but to no avail. Her fire wasn't strong enough to fight against the rain. The fire on the factory was, though. But she couldn't use any fire, other than her own. Could she?
"Fire!" she shouted, hands growing more wet, bloody, and slippery by the second. "Fire, come here!"
The flames bent towards her, cutting through the curtains of rain to reach her side. It had begun to curls it's way underneath her when her fingers finally gave out and she began to plummett towards the ground.
Time began to slow down for the little girl as she made her choice. She wasn't sure it would work. She had never used this spell on herself, and she had never sent anyone that far. But she knew it was the only chance she had. She closed her eyes, entire body trembling, terrified as she screamed:
"STYX!"
The world vanished around her in a cloud of darkness, heat, and smoke. There was nothing. No sound. No light.
Am I dead? Nashi thought.
Then it all came back as she feel through a firey whirlpool and onto a cracked sidewalk near the end of the high track. She fell on her back, kocking the breath out of her. She didn't mind the pain, though, because it meant she was alive. The rain hit her hard, causing small, pin-point size bruises in their wake. Still, it made Nashi laugh, and cry, and scream all at once. She couldn't do anything else but lie there trembling, screaming out like a maniac.
A light began to glow in the sky.
"No!" Nashi gasped.
Sunrise! The train will be leaving soon! Nashi forced herself onto her feet and ran, following along the last bit of track. She didn't even care that the gravel was cutting the bottom of her feet now! If she didn't hurry all those people could die!
Despite all the water falling down and soaking everything in sight Nashi's lungs felt dry, shrivelling up from a lack of air as she ran, knife like pains jabbing into her side. Finally, up ahead, she saw it.
Magnolia Station. And the train was still there!
She'd made it!
She forced herself to run fater, cupping her hands to her face as she screamed:
"Hey! Hey! Stop the train! There's a bridge down!"
A few people turned and looked at her, but most kept ignoring her. Those that did see her only looked at her like she was crazy. Did they not hear her? Finding a stregnth she didn't know she had, she bent her knees and jumped, leaping from the tracks to the platform in one go.
"Stop the train!" she shrieked. "There's a bridge down!"
"Who is this creepy kid?" Someone asked.
"Probably a street rat looking for attention."
"There's a bridge down!" she screamed again. "Stop the train!"
"Ah, kids these days. You never saw them running around in rags and shouting nonsense back in my day."
"Did you not hear me? You can't send the train!"
Still no one paid her mind. Nashi looked about, trying to find someone, anyone who might be in charge that she could talk to.
"Hey, you," a gruff voice called from behind her. She turned and saw a Rune Knight making his way towards her. "This ain't no place to be causing a ruckus, you little ragamuffin! C'mere!"
He grabbed her by her left arm and began dragging her away.
"No!" Nashi shouted, fighting to get away. "They've gotta stop the train! There's a bridge town! If they don't people could die!"
"Eh, what do you know, you little street rat."
"I'm not a street rat!" Nashi declared, still fighting to get away.
"Oh, yeah?" the knight stopped and turned to her, a horrible smirk on his face. "Then what are you?"
Nashi frowned, and held her right arm out, wrist up. "I'm a Fairy Tail wizard! I'm here to save these people!"
The Rune Knight arched an eyebrow, his smirk never leaving. "Eh, them hooligans are always taking in orphan trash anyway, that don't mean nothing!"
He began dragging her away again, when a loud, familiar voice shouted:
"Stop!"
Nashi and the Rune Knight turned, and Nashi gasped in relief.
"Uncle Jellal!"
Jellal stormed forward, fists clenched, the rest of Crime Sorciere watching along from a few feet behind him.
"You unhand that girl right this instant!"
"Oh, yeah. And what are you going to do if I-"
Clunk!
Jellal waved his hand and a suitcase flew through the air and smashed the knight in the face.
"Hey!" Sorano shouted.
"I'll pay you back if it's damaged," Jellal said as he knelt to Nashi's level, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright, little one? What happened to you? Why are you here?"
"Uncle Jellal, the bridge is down!" Nashi cried.
"What bridge?" his brow furrowed.
"The bridge next my house. A tree got stuck in the river and smashed into it! If the train goes now they could fall in the river!"
Jellal's eyes widened. He scooped the girl in his arms and raced towards a flight of stairs.
"Jellal?" Meredy asked, but he didn't stop.
Instead he kicked down the door of the office at the top of the steps and raced to the very startle woman sitting at a desk inside you.
"Stop all trains now!" he shouted, Nashi still clutched in his arms.
"What? Why? What do you mean? Who are you? Why's there a dirty kid?"
"The bridge west of here near the Aster Suburbs was taken out in the storm last night. If you don't stop all trains now you could be sending hundreds to their death!"
The woman's brow furrowed. "Hey, Tommy?"
"Yeah?" a man in the office behind her's poked his head in.
"Did the midnight scout ride ever check-in last night?"
"No, I told you that when we got here this morning. I told you not to trust those drunken-"
The woman grabbed a magical microphone off her desk and screamed into "Stop all trains! I repeat! Stop all trains!"
Nashi let out a sigh of relief as her eyelids grew heavy, dropping closed without her even realizing it.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
"...busy trying to save the men from the scout train we didn't think-"
"It's not your fault, Lucy. You and Natsu saved those men's lives. You did what any other Fairy Tail wizard in your position would have."
"How did she make it all the way from our house to Magnolia Station in time to warn them?"
Nashi slowly opened her eyes. She was at the Guild Hall, in the healing ward. Porlyusica was standing in a corner near the bed she was lying in, flipping through a book. She slowly sat up. Her hands, feet, and left arm were bandaged in white cloth. The sun was pouring through the windows as she turned her head and looked out the door. Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Jellal were standing in the hallway, talking.
"I haven't the slightest clue," Jellal said. "But I'm glad she did. There's no telling how many lives she saved today."
"We couldn't have been the only ones to notice the bridge was down," Lucy crossed her arms. "No one else had the bright idea to, I don't know, tell someone!"
"Alas, you give people too much credit," Jellal sighed. "Most are happy to simply stay on the sidelines when bad things happen. Especially when they are aware of a family of heroes living next door. I'm sure they all assumed you Dragneels would take care of it."
"Sure, this time," Natsu said. "But what if we hadn't been home? What if Nashi hadn't spotted the crash when it happened? Then what? What if something had happened to Nashi while she was-"
"Don't ask 'what if,' Jellal said, setting a hand on Natsu's shoulder. "You'll drive yourself crazy. Just be happy things turned out well this time. And don't be so hard on her when she wakes up."
Natsu sighed, lowering his head.
"As dangerous as what she did was, she did save several people. So, I think she deserves praise rather than punishment."
"I just hope this doesn't become a regular thing," Lucy sighed.
"She's your daughter," Jellal chuckled as he began to walk off. "Honestly, what did you two expect?"
Natsu and Lucy stood there for a little while longer, exchaning glances before turning to head back into the healing ward. It was then they noticed Nashi was awake.
"Nashi!" they both gasped, running to her side.
"Am I in trouble?" Nashi asked, ringing her blanket nervously.
"No," Lucy giggled, relieved to see Nashi was acting like herself.
"That doesn't mean you didn't scare us to death!" Natsu shouted. "We had no clue where you'd gone. We were tearing the whole town apart all night looking for you!"
Nashi winced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"We know you didn't," Lucy said, stroking Nashi's hair. "We just wish you would have told us so we could help you."
"But you were busy," Nashi said. "You were trying to save the ones in the train that wen-" she gasped, eyes wide. "Those people! Are they okay?"
"They…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head. He and Lucy had gotten to most of the workers in time, but one of them had sadly gotten washed away in the current before they could reach him. They had gotten word about and hour ago that his dead body had been found a few miles away.
Nashi waited for him to answer, big, brown eyes filled with worry. He wanted to lie to her, to tell her that everything was fine. She had such a compassionate nature, his little girl. Even though she'd never met this man his death would hurt her. But he couldn't. That wouldn't be fair to her.
"All but one," he finally said.
"What happened to the one?" Nashi asked, brow furrowing.
Natsu sighed. "We...didn't get to him in time."
Nashi gasped, eyes filling with tears.
"Sh," Lucy pulled her into her lap, stroking her hair to comfort her. She knew this was going to be hard on Nashi, but sometimes the lessons one has to learn are hard.
"I know this is sad, and it's okay to be upset for a little while, but don't let it eat away at you. We did what we could. You, me, your father. But sometimes it's not enough. It doesn't mean it's our fault. It doesn't mean it's your fault. So don't blame yourself for this or focus too much on it, or you'll never have victories. For example, think of all the people you saved today."
"Huh?" Nashi asked, eyes still brimmed with unshed tears.
"A man lost his life today. And that's very sad," Lucy continued. "But if you hadn't gone to warn the station the bridge was down then hundreds of people could be dead."
Nashi shrugged as rubbed her eyes. "I guess so."
"Guess so?" Natsu ruffled her hair. "Nashi, there's no guessing. You did save all those people. You're a hero. That's something to be proud of."
Nashi shrugged. "I was just trying to do the right thing."
"We know," Natsu smiled. "And we're proud of you."
Nashi smiled as her father hugged her.
"Seriously though, you don't let your Mommy and me know before you go off on another life-saving mission, I'll kill you!"