We're on chapter 20! I'm excited about this chapter because I told myself every 20 chapters I would take a suggestion from you guys and make it into a side story!
Leave your reviews on what you want the side story to be (maybe it's a Gruvia story, or maybe it's what happens at the warriors Institute with Erza!), and I'll pick a few of my favourites!
Enjoy this latest chapter!
Chapter 20: The Pack
Natsu strolled over to the ashes.
The man that he had just watch decay and crumble before his eyes had gone. But he knew this wasn't the end of the attacks. If it was Bora behind these attacks, he was aware that Bora would throw everything he had in his arsenal at them and more.
He kicked at the pile of grey dirt, watching as it reached high into the sky and then dissipated into nothingness. He crouched down, taking the bag that the Assassin had, and the clothes that had survived the decaying.
He opened the black bag, peering inside to see its contents.
He reached deep into the bag and pulled out a handful of crystals that had come from beasts of the fifth rank. They rolled off his fingertips back into the bag, making a light clinking sound as they did.
He opened the side pocket of the bag, pulling out a small map and notebook, and a few other bits of paper that didn't make sense to Natsu. He placed them on the floor beside him and continued rummaging through the bag.
He pulled out a few more bits of paper with small, yet elegant handwriting on them. He pulled out rations that would last three days; the rations consisted of bread and water in a flask and lots of fruits.
He tipped the bag upside down, pouring out many magical beast crystals of assorted colours and ranks.
He eyed the bag carefully. Something is missing, he thought to himself.
Although Natsu had emptied the bag of all its contents, he could still feel a significant weight in the bag, and when he shook it, he could hear a light jingling. He placed his hand in the bag again, feeling around the bottom of it.
His fingers roughly grazed a corner right in the very left corner of the bag. He flicked his forefinger underneath it, then his second finger, and so on until his pinky finger could reach under it.
He pulled at it, ripping it from the bottom of the bag. It was sealed shut like it had been nailed or sealed with magic, but Natsu's brute strength had rendered it useless.
He placed the board on the floor, looking at the black panel with different cravings. He could faintly see the outline of many of a magical circle and various magic letterings that he couldn't read. He placed his hand back into the bag.
His fingers curled around a chain and a leather pouch, and he lifted them in front of his face. The chain was made from gold and had a small, dark purple crystal hanging from it. And the pouch held a hefty sum of gold inside of it.
"Can you read any magical letterings?" Natsu turned to Lucy, who had sat on the floor in shock.
She gulped and nodded, "Yeah," she said softly.
"On this crystal, there are some small letters that I can't read or make out, maybe you can?" he walked towards her, noticing how her spine was ramrod straight and her eyes were wide. "Are you afraid of me now?"
He crouched down in front of her, looking at her arm that had begun to bleed from her fall. He ripped a small part of the, now dead, Assassin's shawl and wrapped it around her wound.
"No," Lucy glared at him as she spoke sternly, "you are just reckless and idiotic, and you can kill so quickly. What would you have done if it were me that had accidentally fallen into that circle?"
He looked up at her, his eyes were soft, but his mouth was tightly shut in a line. He handed her the necklace and Lucy's brown; doe eyes wandered over it. Neither of them uttered a word.
Natsu turned from her and stared deep into the forest, "I would have dived into it and pushed you out." He could feel Lucy's eyes burning into the back of his head, but he continued, "I was in a place where it would be easy for me to switch places with whoever was inside the circle, just in case you did fall into it. I wouldn't be able to get myself out afterwards, but if you were the one in there... it would have been a worthy sacrifice."
"So, you were prepared to die for me if I had been the one in that circle?" Lucy asked, feeling rather cherished by Natsu, but also seething with anger that he would throw his own life away so carelessly.
"The moment we came out here, into this forest, I was prepared to lay down my life to make sure you got out of here alive." Natsu turned around and grinned at her, holding the black bag in one hand and the pouch of gold in the other. "In here, it's just you and me. We have to look out for each other."
Lucy nodded, and the silence that was once uncomfortable and tense was now a little more relaxed.
Natsu began packing away the things that he had just pulled out from the bag, placing all the crystals and scrap pieces of paper inside, then he piled on the rations after.
The one thing he didn't put away was the brown, leather bound note book. Instead, he opened it and saw different drawings and sketches of weapons. One of them looked similar to Dezeus, but the hilt was a dragon, it was a serpent.
He read the caption under it, 'The Serpent Sword, a mighty sword that feeds off the envy of others. If used correctly, it can feed off the users envy and kill'. Natsu's eyes moved to the top of the page, and read the title, 'The Seven Deadly Swords.'
"Dezeus, what does the dragon represent in the seven deadly sins?" Natsu knew that Dezeus had read his mind.
"The dragon represents wrath, Natsu." Dezeus said gruffly, knowing that Natsu had found out about the set of swords that seven OverGods were trapped into, "I feed off your wrath."
Gray took another knife from his belt.
He infused it with water and sent it slicing through the air towards a tree. When it hit the tree it stayed in place, the water never moving from the knife.
Grey mumbled a few words, closing his eyes as he concentrated. He ignored the sweat that trickled down his face, or the water that cascaded down his back from the waterfall he was under.
He opened his eyes and spoke the last few words, and the water around the knife exploded, making the tree rip open and blast tree bark in all directions, including towards him.
He closed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his head, waiting for the stray tree bark to hit him, but it never did. He opened his eyes to see Juvia stood in front of him, her hands out wide as multiple dots of water stayed in the air, holding the tips of bark in them.
He watched as she lowered her arms, her blue hair now flat and drenched from being under the waterfall, and her clothes sagging on her body from the amount of water they had soaked in.
"Thanks, Juvia," Gray spoke quite roughly, he was not annoyed at Juvia, but at himself.
"Gray does not have to thank Juvia, Juvia is happy to protect Gray while he works on his new technique," she smiled at him, her eyes closed and a large, not broad smile on her face.
"Maybe we should take a break," Gray suggested, looking at the destroyed area. He picked himself up and then moved to stand next to Juvia.
The two had been practising for a long time now, and no matter how much the tried and experimented, Gray could not control the blast like his father had taught him how to as a child.
Gray looked at the blue-haired girl, who still stood beside him. His eyes widen at the sight of her cheek that was bleeding. The water must not have caught one of the spikes from the explosion; he thought as he ripped off a small part of his white shirt.
"Juvia, you're bleeding!" Gray placed the ripped cloth under the waterfall, making sure it was damp before putting it to her cheek.
She took her hand and put it on top of his, "Juvia thinks Gray is caring and kind. Juvia loves Gray."
She passed out in his arms, her body had exerted itself too much, and now she was paying the price for it. He rested her on the floor, using a soft sack as a pillow.
"Stop saying that all the time, I already know." Gray's cheeks flushed a little as he rested his chin on his hand.
Natsu, Lucy and Happy paused for a second.
They had been walking all day and only now did they hear the low growling that came from the bushes beside them. They froze, not daring to move.
"When I say go," Natsu began, he was sweating profusely, and his eyes had grown enormous, and his pupils had dilatated, "jump on Happy's back."
Only now did Natsu realise the actual threat of what they were facing. A pack of hungry, wild magical beasts had been following them. He could tell from using the wind particles that they were large and prepared for their assault.
A pack of starving, and spontaneous wolves.
Lucy nodded her head slightly, while Happy stretched out his paws to make an easier starting sprint. These wolves were of the sixth rank, and if there was only three of them, Happy and Natsu could have taken care of it.
But, there wasn't three - there was ten!
"Go!" Natsu yelled, hurtling off into the forest straight ahead.
He used his wind magic to speed himself up a little and also used a tiny flame to let Happy know which way he was going. He could hear the sound of paws hitting the ground behind him, but these weren't Happy's paws because Lucy and Happy had gone a different way.
He extinguished the flame. Cursing under his breath, he leapt forward. He kicked off a tree with his right foot, making him fly high up into the trees.
Only now did he get a good look at the rabid wolves, who snarled and drooled. He didn't want to stay around and see if they could climb.
He jumped from tree to tree, the wolves on the ground following him were hot on his trail. Occasionally they would try and jump up and nip at the heels of his feet, and whenever they did that he would jump to a tree on the other side and continue moving.
From the looks of it, the majority of the wolves seemed to have followed him, which meant Happy could most likely take care of one or two of the wolves on his and Lucy's trail and keep themselves safe.
Natsu, on the other hand, would have to run till he lost the wolves. And, that didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon.
"Natsu!" Natsu recognised the voice, but he didn't have time to put a face to it.
The yell had come from in front of him, and within seconds he could see red hair and blue hair on the ground.
"Erza!" Natsu yelled back, jumping onto the ground and continuing his running, "Unless you, the blue-haired guy and I can take on seven sixth ranked wolves we should get out of here!"
"I agree with the pink haired boy, we should get out of here," the blue-haired boy spoke, turning on his heels and preparing to run.
"Agreed, it seems we are out numbered." Erza turned on her heels too, taking off with the male.
In a split second Natsu was in front of them, "I lost Lucy and Happy while these things were chasing us, anyways why are you guys out here?"
"I don't think this is time for a casual chat," the man with a red scar over his eye said, slightly confused as to what was going on. "I think we should focus on saving our own asses."
"I came out here because apparently you and Lucy were out here, and meant to be meeting up with Gray and Juvia soon," Erza said, ignoring her partner's words of wisdom.
"We are," Natsu said, "next week, I mean. Who's this guy?"
The pack of wolves slowed down slightly, "I'm Jellal, and I think we should head into the trees and wade them out. I can mask our scent."
"How can you do that?" Natsu inquired.
"By using my darkness magic, I can mask us into our surroundings and we can hide amongst the trees." Natsu nodded, bending his legs and jumping into the trees.
"That's the best plan I've heard!" Jellal and Erza silently followed after him, whilst Jellal mumbled some incantations.
They perched on different branches. Natsu was on a branch above Jellal and Erza's, who had decided to stick on the same branch to make it easier to mask their scents.
They waded out the padding of paws that went straight under them and then waited for a bit of time after. After checking that the coast was clear, Natsu jumped down onto the ground and sighed heavily.
"Time to find Luce!" He pumped his fist into the air and turned to Jellal and Erza. "You two coming or not?"
The trio moved forward into the darkness.