Author's Note:
Hello! It's that time again! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's a fun one. ;)
Also, on a fun note, I just wanted to say that I'm going to start personally thanking everyone who does review. I'll also answer any questions here that I think other readers will benefit from. (And don't worry, all feedback is welcome, including constructive criticism.) So, a huge shout out to Elphaba818 and dihan. You guys are awesome! Thank you for reviewing chapter 2! And since I missed chapter 1: big hugs and thanks to WisdomDragon27, dihan, Elphaba818, Missy63, pixiecatost, and 1 anonymous reader.
Alrighty, and on to the next topic...unfortunately there's no sneak peek for Ch.4 since there weren't enough reviews. As always, 5 reviews for a sneak peek and 8 for an early posting. So if you enjoy this chapter and want the next one early, be sure to send me a review!
Okay, I'm done. Happy Reading!
Soon, she was riding in a small cart that had been drawn into existence by Reedus. The two of them were heading to a safehouse nearby that had been decided on as a backup during one of their planning sessions. It was a ten-minute drive at least, but thankfully they seemed to have thrown off the phantoms with their feint. The plan was for Mira to impersonate Lucy as long as possible, and then expose that she wasn't there, so the phantoms would hopefully disperse and stop attacking the others. That would give them a chance to attack instead as the phantoms hunted Lucy down.
Of course Lucy wouldn't be hunted down easily. Their safehouse was located in a tiny little shed, which led to the sewer systems and then to an ironclad bunker. It was one of Fairy Tail's secrets, only one of many that anyone outside of the guild wasn't privy to. There were even secrets that the members of Fairy Tail didn't know.
Soon enough, they reached the entrance and made a quick swap from the cart to the shack, and Reedus dispersed their craft. The great thing about his drawn transportation was that it didn't leave any tracks, as if it hadn't been there at all, so their pursuers would find it harder to follow them. After hustling inside the shed, they moved around some boxes and Lucy descended down the stairs that were revealed, while Reedus painted someone to cover back up the hole behind them and then disappear. Reedus shortly followed Lucy and soon his creation was sealing off the exit behind them as they walked down the stone steps into the sewer.
The smell wasn't great by any means, and Lucy found herself gagging a little. Still, she didn't complain. This was for the good of her guild after all.
It took a little while to get to the bunker, but hopefully being underground would prevent the phantoms from finding her if Mira lost their attention before Lucy and Reedus could get to the safehouse. Once in the bunker, there was no way they would be found. A magical spell was gridded into the ground surrounding it and would prevent all forms of magical detection as well as any form of penetration, be it physical or magical. They weren't truly safe until then though, so they were distinctly on edge as they treaded the narrow path alongside the river of sewage.
The roof was pretty short, so Lucy had to duck, but Reedus had it much worse since he was quite a hefty fellow. Eventually, he gave up on size and released some of his stored magic so he could shrink to a much thinner version of himself. It was risky, since not only was he giving up a good chunk of his magic, but it also eliminated his sketchpad – which was normally his wide stomach. Thankfully he had brought a small sketchpad with him in the artist's bag he slung around his shoulder.
They made much faster progress though, so perhaps it was worth it.
They were only a block or two away from the bunker when they heard something that sent a chill down both their spines. The noise of destruction reached their ears, and it sounded like it was getting closer by the second. It was a godawful sound, crashing and crunching accompanied by the screech of metal against rock, and it echoed through the tunnel like the apocalypse was upon them.
Lucy and Reedus picked up their pace, desperate to reach safety.
Long before they saw the steps that would lead to the bunker though, huge cracks started to appear in the ceiling.
"What is going on?!" Lucy whispered desperately, starting to panic in earnest. Obviously they were being pursued, but by who?! Or maybe she should ask, by what?!
By now they were both running, which was nearly impossible stooped over and crowded against the side of the small tunnel, but somehow they managed. Reedus suddenly stopped though, and Lucy stalled out too and turned back to look at him.
"Hurry up Reedus! We've got to get to the bunker!" she whispered urgently, wondering what the hell he was thinking.
"You go ahead Lucy, I'll stay behind and slow them down for a while."
"What?! No way!" Lucy almost shouted, but quickly lowered her voice.
She wasn't given much of a choice though, because Reedus drew a purple boar that started driving her down the path against her will. "Come on Reedus! Stop this!" she cried, tears springing to her eyes.
"Go on Lucy. I'll be just fine." He called back, and obviously there wasn't really anything she could do about it.
"You better!" she eventually said, and finally turned and started to run again with that boar hot on her heels to make sure she didn't change her mind. There were crashing sounds behind her, and soon it turned into the discernable sounds of battle. The enemy was gaining much too fast for such a small space.
No matter how fast she ran, more cracks kept chasing her, and soon they were spreading far in front of her. Soon, chunks of the ceiling began to rain down on her and she had to cover her head as she ran. Her lungs burned and her feet ached, but she kept running at a full tilt. Now, not only did the boar drive her, but pure panic as well – to the point that when the boar eventually disappeared she didn't even notice. Whatever was after her was apparently not too perturbed with the thought of potentially killing her first, since the tunnel was starting to cave in. Rocks pelted her head and shoulders, leaving bruises and a few shallow cuts.
Soon, one particularly large rock hit her shoulder and knocked her off balance, sending her sprawling out flat on her stomach. Thankfully she managed to somehow stay on the ledge and not fall headfirst into the river of offal, but it sent a different sort of panic jolt through her as she fell.
With a groan, she pushed herself up and started running again, despite the sharp pain in her shoulder.
That awful screeching sound was gaining volume and soon it was deafening. When she risked a glance back, she saw a figure coming after her through all the dust and falling rocks, and it seemed like he was actually just beating his way through the tunnel with some sort of…sword? Chainsaw? It was really hard to tell, but it was allowing him to stand and run at a pace far faster than her, which was ridiculous since Lucy would have thought that it would slow someone down to deconstruct the tunnel. But apparently not.
She was distracted sharply though from the terrifying sight, when a hefty rock fell and beaned her on the head, and suddenly her vision went black. She struggled against going unconscious for a second, but it was useless.
….
The next time she opened her eyes, it was not to see the sewer. Instead, she gasped to realize that she was being carried – rather roughly in fact – and whoever it was that had gotten her was jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
'How long have I been out?' she wondered. It must have been a good chunk of time for the enemy to have left the sewer already, unless they just busted up through the ground…which was probably what had happened, given the amount of dirt and bruises she seemed to have been covered with while being passed out.
There wasn't any time for her to be contemplating these things though, because she had to attempt an escape. Her captor was holding her under his arm, which wasn't comfortable by any means, but it did give her a great opportunity. His crotch was pretty close. Keeping herself lax until he had landed on the next roof and was positioned correctly, she suddenly lashed out and landed a fist solidly in his family jewels. He dropped her like a sack of turnips and yelped some very interesting words that she didn't think she'd heard in those particular combinations before.
Rolling away quickly, she staggered to her feet and reached for her keys, taking in the sight of her opponent as she did so. He was tall, muscular, pierced in all kinds of strange ways, and had a mane of spiky black hair that went down his back all the way to his butt. This was undoubtedly Gajeel she was dealing with, and Lucy felt the pit of her stomach go tight. There was no way she could take on a dragon slayer in a fight. But she didn't really have a choice.
Pulling Taurus's key, she summoned him while Gajeel was still busy clutching his crotch and glaring at her with unnerving red eyes. He noted the motion with her key, and then his eyes widened slightly as Taurus made an appearance.
"Moooo!" the spirit bellowed as he popped into being in a shower of sparks and bright light. "Helloooo, miss Luuuucy. What can I do for yooou?"
She managed to gasp and point at Gajeel. "Take out that guy!"
Taurus gave her a glance, and when he saw the state of her – bloody, bruised, and beyond dirty – his nostrils flared and his eyes went feral, the way they always did when he saw her hurt. He turned to Gajeel and planted one hoof into the roof hard enough to crack it and send a few shingles flying.
"Now yoooou've done it! How dare yooou hurt miss Luuuucy!"
With another low, he charged, his ax raised high. However, instead of looking afraid like most of her opponents had in the past at this particular moment, Gajeel looked downright happy. With a fanged grin, he laughed, "Alright Girlie, it looks like you might be fun after all! Come on, give me all you've got!"
The battle didn't last nearly long enough. Taurus proved no match against Gajeel, much to Lucy's horror, and she sent him back to the celestial realm bloody and hurt in ways that made her want to throw up.
Before she could summon another spirit, Gajeel was on top of her, and he ripped her keys from her belt like he was pulling a leaf off a branch. The broken ring and all her keys went falling to the ground far below. Lucy made a mad dive for them, sliding down the side of the slanted roof in a deadly way. She had one hand ready for her whip, to hopefully snap it out and grab onto something to save her ass. Before her reaching fingers could snag the metal ring just in front of them, her foot was grabbed, and she was yanked back harshly.
With a scream she went flying, all the way to the next roof where she landed with a bone shattering impact. With a cough and a weak cry, she managed to peel herself from the shingles as Gajeel landed neatly on her roof. She stood shakily and drew her whip, ready to battle it out. Thankfully it didn't seem like any bones had been broken, hopefully, although the sharp aches and pains felt like bone deep bruises at the very least. But she could stand, and that was the important thing.
Gajeel was in the middle of gloating.
"Well you're putting up more of a fight than I expected, Blondie. But you're still done."
"Not yet I'm not." she countered and snapped her whip across his face. Obviously it had caught him by surprise and he was sent reeling back with a yell and some curses.
Before he could regain his balance, she cracked her whip at him again, hitting him hard enough to knock him off balance, and he tumbled off the roof. She heard him crash to the ground on the other side but didn't stick around to find out if he was hurt. She turned and ran in the opposite direction, limping a little but going as fast as she could. Glancing around, the only option she could see was to force a nearby gable window to open for her – which she could do easily enough with her gate powers. She could open any lock with a spell that produced a golden glowing key.
Rushing through the open window, she tripped and tumbled to the carpet inside the room, but hurried back to her feet and made a mad dash for the door. Down the halls she went, and thanked her lucky stars when she determined that no one was home. She made it all the way to the front door and then yanked it open, only to come face to face with a very mad looking dragon slayer. He had blood dripping down the whiplash across his face, but otherwise he seemed unharmed.
With a gasp she tried to slam the door shut, but he just punched it back open, sending Lucy crashing into the nearby table and wall. The table broke, cutting up her back in a few places as sharp wooden shards dug into her skin, and she yelled a few expletives of her own. Heavy bootsteps proceeded Gajeel as he approached, and before she could do much he had grabbed her, seized her whip, and tied her hands up with it. He gave a heavy sigh, seeming depressed that the fight was over, and then slung her over his shoulder without any mind to her injuries. She squawked as more than one bone protested the treatment, and all her bruises screamed at her.
She tried kicking but that didn't work at all, and only resulted in a fist to her spine. Lucy pretty much went limp then as pain stunned her into silence and immobility.
The trip to Phantom Lord's guildhall was both the shortest and longest she had ever experienced. It passed by faster than she would have liked, since she never wanted to get there, but it seemed to last forever as all her injuries ached at every harsh movement that the bastard made. Soon, she was being dumped in an inelegant heap at the feet of what she had to assume was Phantom Lord's guild master. He was certainly fancy enough for it, wearing a long cloak, bat wings, and dark purple lipstick.
"Ah, I see you have a present for me, Gajeel. Well done."
The dragon slayer just sniffed and tapped his nose. "Never underestimate the nose of a dragon slayer."
"I see that." The fancy man chortled and then turned to her and fixed her with a polite smile that didn't seem nice at all. "And you must be Lucy. My name is Jose, the guild master of Phantom Lord. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"The pleasure's all yours, I assure you." Lucy snapped back and struggled to her knees.
He just laughed in a way that – had it been a different situation – would have sounded friendly. "Well aren't you spunky? Now, how about we let your little guild down there know the situation."
So saying, he turned and fiddled with something, and suddenly the quality of his voice changed as he cleared his throat and said, "Attention, Fairy Tail! I have now come into the possession of Miss Lucy Heartfilia." He was obviously broadcasting this now to the outside world, and Lucy felt downright sick knowing that her friends were going to be hearing this and how they would feel about it.
Jose turned to her and said, "Lucy dear, how about greeting your guild and letting them know that I'm not lying?" With that, he reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking her into a much straighter upright position as he did his best to apparently scalp her.
Burning pain shot through her scalp and skull as her hair was used as a handle, but despite that she refused to give this sick man the satisfaction of crying out in pain. There was no way she wanted her scream to be broadcasted to her friends in a form of phycological and emotional warfare. She refused. So she just gritted her teeth and grunted as softly as possible.
With a murderous glare, she hissed between her teeth, "…fuck…you…"
Normally Lucy wasn't one to cuss - at least not like that. A few milder words would pop out of her mouth from time to time, but she rarely ever dropped the F-bomb. Now seemed as good as any situation to use it though in her opinion.
At her response she heard a snort come from behind her, as apparently she amused Gajeel. Jose seemed less than impressed by Gajeel's response and sent him a nasty look, then turned his attention back to her.
"My, my, young lady, how is that any way to greet your guild? Shall we try that again?" Jose crooned pleasantly. Out of his free hand came a black and purple ball of magic that sparked ominously. It was the exact same colors as his phantoms.
Lucy had a feeling it wasn't magic of the happy sort, so she eyed it with a good deal of aversion as he held his hand out to her. Sure enough, the ball leapt from his palm and hit her in the chest. It sent shards of pain sparking through her entire body from the entry point and felt like she was being simultaneously electrocuted - complete with the sensation of burning - and frozen as a sharp ache encompassed her chest reminiscent of brain freeze.
She hadn't even realized she'd screamed until the sound was out, and even then that was really the least of her concerns. It took a moment for the pain to fade and her body struggled to hold itself up. If Jose hadn't been grabbing her hair to keep her upright, she would have just let herself plop over – but with his grip on her it hurt too much to let her muscles go limp.
She didn't even really hear much of what Jose said after that. The only part she really tuned into, was when he said, "And now comes the fun part. Since I have my prize, I can safely eliminate all of you without fear of killing her."
"You bastard…" she hissed. "What happened to leaving after you'd got me?"
He shrugged. "Plans change."
"Typical."
It seemed he had no more use for her, and so he tossed her aside. Without her hands, there was no way to catch herself, so she landed hard on her shoulder and did her very best to keep her head from cracking into the hard ground simply by straining her neck muscles.
"Gajeel, take her. I have other things to attend to for now."
"Geehee, sure thing boss." The black-haired man stomped forwards and grabbed her up, again handling her like a sack of potatoes.
As he turned to take her who-knows-where, Jose said, "Do not kill her. We need her alive for the ransom."
Gajeel grumbled something in response, but Lucy didn't feel any safer at all. Really, the fact that Jose had felt the need to caution Gajeel sent fear shooting through her.
She was carted away, and this time she didn't bother to struggle. It was probably smarter to wait for an opportunity to actually escape before she attempted anything, and doing something right now would just get her hurt worse. Soon enough she was dropped, quite literally, onto a stone floor, and Lucy couldn't quite hold back a soft groan as her body made its displeasure known. Everything hurt.
Thoughts ran lightning fast through her head and she went with the first one that seemed like a good idea. Play dead. Maybe, if she pretended to be passed out, she could steal a few moments to think up an escape plan. So, with this thought in mind, she stayed where he dropped her and didn't move a muscle.
There was a long silence as apparently Gajeel stared down at her, and then a hard kick to her side nearly sent her plan into the trash bin. Somehow, she managed to remain unmoved and just clenched up all her inside muscles to keep from flinching or crying out.
With a disgusted sigh she heard the sound of his steps seem to walk away from her. Lucy risked letting out a very shallow breath of relief. It seemed like her ploy had worked…for the moment. Frantically her brain rushed to think up an escape plan.
She was somewhat distracted by the sound of two new voices entering the room and greeting Gajeel.
"Yo! Gajeel!"
"Hey Boss…woah. Is this the girl? Damn, she sure is a looker, just check out that ass! But shit, man, you really did a number on her."
Lucy could just imagine how bad she looked right about now. And she would look much worse if she couldn't figure out how to get away from this crazy dragon slayer guy, so she tuned out most of what they were saying in favor of thinking.
The way she saw it, she had three big problems here. One, she was beat up and couldn't really fight or run. Normally that wouldn't be too terrible a problem since she could just summon one of her spirits, but that brought her to problem number two. She had lost her keys, and therefore couldn't summon anyone to help her. And the last hurdle to overcome was the fact that she was tied up, which just reduced her chances of running or fighting even more.
For a long moment she lay there, feeling a sinking sensation in her gut that just got worse and worse as she came up with one plan after another that were doomed to fail. Then, suddenly a shot of heat hit her breast when something warm shifted ever so slightly on her chest as she breathed. With a bolt of adrenaline, she realized that she wasn't entirely up a creek, because she did in fact have one key left…the one she had decided to never use.
It was her only option now…but to get to it she would have to get herself untied.
Subtly, she tried shifting her wrists inside the wrapped whip, trying to loosen it just enough to slip a hand free. Risking it, one eye cracked open just a little to figure out where the other three in the room were. Unfortunately, her body was facing the wrong way and she couldn't see if they were facing her or not, so she would just have to wing it.
After a few minutes of carefully twisting and extending her wrists to stretch the whip out a little, it gave her just enough room. Thankfully her whip was leather, which did stretch, even though it cut into her wrists as she did so. Very carefully and slowly, she started to ease the one hand out, ignoring how her other hand started to go to sleep due to how tight the tether was around that wrist. Her hand was almost free when Gajeel apparently heard her or saw her movements, because suddenly he was addressing her.
"Oi, Bimbo, think you're getting away?"
This was accompanied with a boot planting itself into her upper arm and stomping down to pin her to the floor. Her opposite shoulder ground down into the floor and she grunted, her body flinching with pain.
"Neat trick you pulled. Looks like we might have some fun after all." Gajeel sounded much too pleased.
Lucy gritted her teeth and waited. All she needed was an opportunity to give one or two good yanks on that one arm and her hand would pop free.
"Oh come on, give me a scream. I'm so fucking bored…." he groaned, and his foot stomped down on her again.
She barely had a split second before the sole of his boot crashed back into her arm, but in that time she managed to get in half a yank and more of her hand slid free. It was maddening … she was almost there.
When all he got was another mild grunt from her in response to his stomp, he made a disgusted sound and kicked her. It was so strong that it lifted her and tossed her into the wall face first, but she didn't waste the opportunity to get her hand free…finally. She crashed into the wall before she could get her arms in front of her to protect herself, so all she could do was turn her face into the impact to at least prevent her nose from breaking. Hopefully if she needed plastic surgery after this she could get Porlyusica to help her out.
With both hands free she pushed herself up onto all fours, right in time for Gajeel to angrily stomp over and give her a solid kick to the stomach. That put her right back down onto the ground as she coughed up what tasted like blood. A bit of fear spiked through her. She really hoped he wasn't doing irreparable damage to her. She needed to get to a doctor…. fast.
Worming her hand up between her body and the floor, she stayed put as she grabbed hold of the little box that held her key. The tiny safe popped open as she willed a key to form and unlock it, and then something blisteringly hot fell into her palm. With a gasp she nearly fumbled it due to just how hot it was, but through force of will she kept hold of it even though it burned her. Gajeel lost patience – again – and grabbed a handful of her hair to yank her onto her knees and get close to her face in a move meant to intimidate her.
"Give me a scream!" he growled into her face and gave her head a shake as his hand tightened painfully in her hair.
Instead of responding to him, she instead thrust the key forwards between them and shouted, "Open! Gate of the Dragon!"
He jerked back and released her as the key touched his chest and burned a hole through his shirt to singe his skin.
Lucy gasped and nearly doubled forwards as the instant drain on her magic made her dizzy. Never had she been forced to use this much magic to open a gate before. She could feel the gate bend, but not open, as if the lock was jammed tight. With a harsh yell she forced even more magic into it, almost completely draining herself as she put every last bit of magic, will power, hope, and strength she had left into it. Her vision went a little wonky and a wave of exhaustion crashed into her like a tsunami into a house of cards, but she held forth. Digging deep, she forced out the last little bit it needed, putting all of herself into it. Golden light created a blinding ring around her, power blasting hot and loud and tossing her hair around her head.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she resorted to praying and pleading. "Please…please open…please…"
The power built to a crescendo … and finally broke. With a blast like a bomb had gone off, the gate finally opened, releasing a wave of heat that nearly cooked Lucy alive. She was sent flying back, as were Gajeel and his two lackies.
The heat and light were so intense that Lucy had to shield her face for a moment. When it seemed to pass, she gingerly lowered her arm to look and see just what she had done. She half expected to see a dragon standing there in front of her, but instead what she saw was a young man. He didn't even seem much older than her and sported vivid pink hair of all things. Gaping at him in surprise, her eyes did a full once over.
He was wearing white baggy pants that tied with a drawstring right under his knee, and they were covered by a weird black skirt-tunic-thing with a slit up the front. Up top all he wore was an open vest that exposed a rather impressive physique, and a white scaly scarf wrapped around his neck. In terms of shoes, he wore a pair of plain sandals.
For a dragon he was kind of … normal looking.
The only thing that told her he wasn't human was the tail. He had a long red scaly appendage poking out from behind him, and it was currently wagging in what appeared to be excitement. It looked kind of like a lizard's tail, being taller than it was wide, and iended in a delicate point.
"Wha…um…" She cleared her throat. "I'm guessing you're the celestial fire dragon?"
His dark eyes squinted a little as he sent her a blinding grin, showing off pointy canines. "Sure am! My name's Natsu Dragneel. It's about fucking time you summoned me."
"Um…sorry about that." Lucy mumbled with a blush. No need to tell him she hadn't planned to summon him at all. "And also, I'm sorry, but we don't really have time to make a contract right now. I'm in the middle of a fight so…is that all right?"
Normally it was considered incredibly bad manners to ask a spirit to serve you before making a contract with them, so she really hoped he wouldn't be too pissed.
To her surprise he scoffed. "No problem there! I'm all fired up! Who do you want me to beat up?!" Fire burst around one fist as he punched it into the open palm of his other hand. He gave her an excited grin.
She wordlessly pointed at Gajeel, who was already back on his feet and was stomping forwards with a broad grin.
Lucy could only hope that she had enough magic to keep Natsu out. Then again…strangely after summoning him, the drain on her magic entirely stopped. Normally it took magic to both open a gate and also maintain a spirit's presence as they helped her, but this time it was as if it took absolutely no magic for her to keep Natsu in this world. Weird.
Lucy refocused on the fight and pushed thoughts of that off till later.
Natsu turned to Gajeel and gave him a once over. They sized each other up.
"So…did I hear Blondie right? You're supposed to be some kind of dragon?" Gajeel asked, while his toothy grin widened. "If so, then you're in for a bad surprise, cause I'm a dragon slayer."
Natsu just cracked his knuckles. "Oh yeah? Great! Maybe you'll help me vent some of this energy. I could really use some exercise!" Based on his voice Lucy could just imagine how broadly he must also be grinning right now.
Without saying anything else, Natsu lunged forwards and clocked Gajeel across the jaw with a flaming fist, sending him flying back and crashing through the adjacent wall. Lucy's jaw dropped as she stared at the gaping hole in the wall, as did Gajeel's two lackies. They got over their shock fast though and hightailed it out of the room at top speed, obviously picking up on the fact that they had no chance against Natsu.
Natsu ran at the wall and hopped through the hole he'd just made in pursuit of Gajeel. Lucy stayed where she lay and listened to the sounds of intense battle coming from next door. It sounded not only dangerous to Gajeel, but also to the entire structure as resounding crashes and bangs shook the walls, ceiling, and floor. Lucy cringed at a particularly loud boom, and then yelped as cracks suddenly sprung up all across the ceiling and upper portion of the wall. She could see a blast of rubble through the hole Gajeel had created, and a few loose stones flew through it.
The sounds of battle grew different, as if the location had changed, and it took her a moment to realize that they were now coming from above. Once again, Lucy was left gaping in disbelief. She looked up and tried to judge just where they were, and then flinched as another huge sound resounded and a section of the ceiling cracked. Then, she threw herself forwards with a grunt as another immense bang crashed through the room and the wall behind her shuddered violently, huge cracks suddenly running down it and showering her with pebbles. She covered her head and wondered if she was going to survive this fight after all. Grandpa Crux had been right…this dragon spirit was beyond destructive.
That thought was underlined as the entire center of the ceiling suddenly gave way and collapsed down on top of her. She managed to throw herself back again and squeezed up against the cracked wall to avoid the falling chunks of rock. Natsu and Gajeel crashed down in front of her in a rain of fire and rocks. To Lucy's shock, Gajeel seemed to now be made of metal and she had to do a double take when she saw the shiny metal scales covering his body. He was holding up not too badly against Natsu, and even got in a few hits of his own.
One of his arms turned into a massive chainsaw sword and he swung it at Natsu with full force, taking out another wall. Suddenly they had a view of the outside as the exterior crumbled away, and Lucy glanced up to see that they had taken out a really good chunk of the building above her as well. This whole castle was going to go caput if they didn't finish this up really quick.
She shrieked as an especially strong attack caused the floor to crack and shudder. Natsu glanced her way and seemed to realize the problem. He turned back to Gajeel and said, "Well, it's been fun, but it looks like I'm gonna have to finish this up."
Gajeel laughed and launched an attack that sent a tornado of iron bits at him. "Iron dragon roar!"
Lucy blinked at the odd attack. She had never seen Laxus spit lightning, but then again, she hadn't been on any missions with him either. The only thing she could figure, was that a dragon slayer's magic was the same as a dragon's…sort of. Only, Natsu's magic seemed significantly more powerful than Gajeel's, because he answered with his own roar of fire that blew away the iron completely … and Gajeel with it.
Gajeel recovered though pretty well, but his armor was definitely cracked in a few places. Still, he had the audacity to laugh at Natsu. "Nice try! But like I said, my magic is made to destroy dragons! So you can't win against me!"
Natsu laughed right back. "I think you were lied to! You can't beat me! Maybe several slayers could bruise me a little, but just you…nah. No way."
The whole castle seemed to shudder, and Lucy wondered how much more it could take. As if to say 'not very much' a huge chunk from somewhere up above them fell down across the room from her. That toppled over more of the wall and made the room even larger and more destroyed. It felt about as stable as a house of cards right now, and she was pretty sure that if the wrong thing collapsed it would set off a chain reaction.
The next flurry of attacks managed to knock down the wall behind Lucy, and the meager ceiling bits above her collapsed. She managed to get out of the way, but not without bruising herself and getting a good yell in. That seemed to get Natsu's attention, and he turned serious.
"Alright. Fight's over." He almost seemed disappointed by that.
Gajeel didn't seem to believe him. "Oh yeah? Where I'm standing, we're just getting started!"
In answer to that Natsu released a blast of power that had Lucy scrambling back behind some nearby rubble for cover. The amount of heat and power coming off him was enough to make her feel like she'd gone through a fryer. However, when she peeked out from behind her makeshift shelter, she saw that Natsu was doing quite a bit more than just blowing fire at Gajeel like she had assumed.
What she thought was just another fire attack turned out to be a transformation.
Long glossy black horns sprouted from Natsu's temples – growing from short little horns that she hadn't even noticed before. They swept back along his skull before the tips spiraled up and around to point forwards. Red scales erupted across his skin, covering the back of his neck, across his shoulders, and down his arms and legs. His hands and feet shifted into more pawlike ones with long sharp claws, and his sandals disappeared. His tail significantly thickened and lengthened, and a row of shiny black spikes popped out along the top of its spine and continued up the length of his back, poking out of holes in his vest that had previously been unnoticeable. Perhaps most impressive though were the massive red wings that sprouted from his back.
His power signature from before was completely blown out of the water by these additions, and as he spread his leathery crimson wings with a snap that sent a gust of wind careening through the room, Lucy's thoughts consisted of little more than, 'oh shit.'
He started a powerful inhale which seemed to last forever, until eventually he reached his max. There was a split second for Lucy to cringe back further behind her shelter, and then Natsu roared. The sound was massive, like the roar of what she thought a dragon would sound like, and a blast of flame spewed from him. It made his previous roar look like a sneeze in comparison. It literally took out that entire side of the building, and Gajeel of course went flying. Lucy didn't know what happened to him …. but she did know what happened to her.
The floor under her feet collapsed, and with a scream she started to fall. 'This is it, I'm going to die now,' she thought, and covered her head with her hands while squeezing her eyes closed. Suddenly though, she was being yanked out of her free fall. With a gasp her eyes flew open to see Natsu giving her a bright grin. He had his arms around her in sort of a bridal hold, although he fumbled her a little until he got his arms in the proper places after catching her on the fly like that.
The building was collapsing around them, so Natsu quickly flew them out through the huge gaping hole in its side and they watched as it crumbled. Lucy really hoped all her comrades had been able to get out alright….
"So … I didn't get your name by the way."
Lucy started. "Oh right! My name is Lucy! And thank you for … saving me." Even if he'd also nearly killed her, it was definitely true that he had saved her life. Twice really, once from Gajeel and once from himself.
"No problem!" he said with another of those easy grins that she was starting to think might be a signature of his. "Now let's get you to some solid ground."
His upper body tipped forwards as he started to fly, his chest getting basically horizontal as his wings beat, and she squeaked and wrapped her arms around his neck when she swung a little in his arms. He kept her body tight to his chest though and she felt his arm muscles working under her back and legs.
"Over there…if you don't mind." she said, motioning in the direction of Fairy Tail.
"No problem." he answered and swerved towards her guild, getting there quickly with only a few strong wing beats.
They landed a little ways away from her guildmates and Natsu put her down. She took a shaky step back, and then nearly tipped over as her legs went out on her.
"Woah!" Natsu yelped and quickly grabbed her again, looping her arm over his shoulders. "You okay, Looney?"
She didn't even bother to glare at him for the horrible slaughter of her name. "Uh…I think so," she groaned. "But I definitely need to get to a doctor, so let's head back to my guild." She pointed to her guildhall.
It was obvious that the fight was over, especially after a glaring light blasted from the guildhall. Lucy recognized the sight and feel of Fairy Law and breathed a sigh of relief. It was definitely safe for them to go back now.
"What the hell was that?!" Natsu sputtered, pulling up short and tightening his grip on her protectively as the wave of light passed harmlessly over them.
"Don't worry, it's Fairy Law … a spell that my guild master uses. It means the fight's over now."
"Wow…that's pretty cool."
He sounded impressed, but after a small wince from her he snapped back to attention and continued to help her limp towards the guildhall.
After a brief silence he asked, "So, did that guy really beat you up this bad?"
"Well, yeah. Pretty much."
"Maybe I should have pounded on him a little more…" She heard Natsu mumble under his breath, and he sounded pissed. Apparently he hadn't realized until just now how badly she was hurt.
She staggered on slowly, the pain in her whole body throbbing. It hurt…so bad. But she pressed on through the pain. She was shocked that Natsu was still here and hadn't gone back to the spirit realm yet, but it wasn't like she was going to complain. She honestly didn't think she could make it the short distance to the guildhall without him. Well, she probably could have just crawled, or sat here and waited for one of her guildmates to find her. It wouldn't have taken long, they were already pretty much at the guildhall now after just walking for a couple of minutes.
Everyone who saw her looked positively shocked and rushed over to see if she was alright and ask how she had gotten away. Of course the first to come was Happy, and he made a beeline straight for her and plowed right into her chest where he clung like a barnacle and sobbed.
"Luuuuucccyyy! I was so woooorriiiiied!" he wailed.
She was distracted from soothing him by another voice asking her if she was alright.
"I'm fine, really, but…well I should probably see Porlyusica," Lucy said with a wince to both Happy and Cana as the brown-haired mage rushed over.
Mira also soon popped over and joined the conversation. "Oh my! I should say so! You look absolutely terrible Lucy, what in the world did they do to you?"
"I just put up a really good fight, that's all." Lucy boasted with a weak grin and gingerly separated herself from Natsu. "By the way, this is Natsu, my new spirit. Thanks for all your help." She addressed him for the last bit and fully expected him to return the spirit realm after being thanked.
He didn't though. All he did was grin and say, "No problem Looney!"
At that, her two girl friends both stifled a snicker and Lucy flushed. "Uh, it's Lucy actually."
"Okay, cool." he said airily, and Lucy was ninety percent sure he had just totally blown her off as his eyes drifted around to take in their destroyed guildhall.
"Damn, you got really beat hard by those guys, huh?"
"That's just because they weren't MANLY enough to attack in broad daylight! They destroyed the guildhall at night when no one was around!" Elfman bellowed from nearby as he approached.
"Oh." Natsu grunted and a little puff of flame escaped his lips in what Lucy assumed was an expression of his annoyance. He definitely seemed disapproving, judging by the deep frown on his face. "Yeah, that's a real shitty move."
Suddenly another of those broad grins split his lips and he did a 180 on his mood. "But hey! I got their castle pretty good for you guys, so don't worry too hard."
"Really? You did all that? I was wondering what had caused that much destruction." A new voice said, and Lucy turned to see Erza approaching.
"Oh thank goodness! I was worried you'd been hurt by the castle imploding. Do you know if Gray, Macao, and Wakaba got out okay?"
"They're fine."
"Good!" Lucy sighed with relief.
At that point Master Makarov tottered over, still looking a little green around the gills. Fairy Law had obviously taken a lot out of him, which didn't surprise Lucy since he'd been drained so badly by those phantom things.
"Lucy!" he gasped, bending over to clutch his knees and wheeze a little. "I'm so glad that you're safe!"
"It's all thanks to Natsu here." Lucy said, giving his shoulder a pat, and then gripping it to steady herself.
"As Master of Fairy Tail, I give you our sincerest thanks for rescuing one of our family members."
Natsu just grinned and shrugged it off. "Geez, it's no big deal! I mean, she is my master, so it's my job to keep her alive."
"Master? Oh! So he's a new spirit we haven't met then Lucy?"
"Yeah, he's uh…the celestial fire dragon." she said with a very slight cringe, since they all knew she hadn't planned to summon him in the first place.
All their eyes grew wide. "I see. Well that explains things." Erza said with a nod and then turned to Lucy. "Whatever the case, we need to get you to Porlyusica, because it looks like you're about ready to fall over."
Lucy nodded eagerly and then turned to Natsu. "Um, it's probably best for you to go back now. Thank you again for all your help."
He grimaced, "Awww! Why?!"
Lucy wondered just what the heck was wrong with this spirit. Most returned even before she told them to because her magic ran out. And here he was arguing with her about it!
She gave him a stern look. "Because I'm going to see the doctor that tends to my guild! And that probably means an examination, which means clothes off, which means no boys!"
With a disgusted sigh he groaned and poofed out of existence with a spark of flame and wisp of smoke.
Mira and Cana took over as her support and both gave her similar looks. "That's quite an … interesting spirit you've acquired."
"Oh save it." Lucy grumbled, knowing they were probably going to give her sass about how he was so argumentative … and maybe how he was walking around with his abs out, considering how much they teased her over Taurus's pervy attitude and nearly nonexistent outfit and Cancer calling her "baby" all the time.
She wasn't in the mood.
They both just chuckled and led her off to the basement, where Porlyusica had set up shop in a corner. Apparently she had already come, probably because she'd heard the ruckus and knew they would need her help, so all Lucy had to do was go and find her. That was easy, since she already had a line waiting in front of her to be seen to.
Most of them she sent away with a scowl and sharp words like, "Go get yourself a bandage! I'm not a nurse! There's people who actually need my help here! Stop hogging the line!"
When everyone saw Lucy approaching – on the arms of both Cana and Mira and with a still teary eyed Happy sitting on her shoulder – they all stepped aside to let her through and empathetic murmurs sounded in her ears. Even Porlyusica seemed shocked by the sight of her.
"Good gracious girl, what the hell happened to you?" she barked and quickly whisked her behind a privacy curtain and stripped her.
Soon she was being looked over and Porlyusica was tutting and making displeased comments on her condition. Finally, after examining her thoroughly and prodding her and doing some diagnostic spells, she started bandaging her from head to toe, smearing all kinds of poultices on her as she went.
Happy kept pestering her, asking, "Is she gonna be okay?" until the healer snapped "yes!" and then threatened to neuter him. He took cover under Lucy's chair after that, and Porlyusica was able to finish bandaging Lucy in peace and quiet.
After she was done, she mixed a bubbling concoction and handed it to Lucy.
"Here. Drink this."
Lucy did and grimaced at the taste.
"Good. Now, take these bottles and drink one every hour. Change your bandages once a day and use this poultice. You should be fine in several weeks, but you'll need to spend them resting. Go home and sleep. I'll check in on you tomorrow."
Lucy nodded and stood with a wince. She already felt much better, but now she was dead tired and about to fall asleep on her feet.
Suddenly she felt familiar paws land on her shoulders and gently pick her up by the subtle harness she always wore for exactly this purpose. "It's okay! I got ya Lucy! I'll fly us home so quick you won't know what hit ya."
She murmured something probably incomprehensible back, and felt her feet leave the ground.
She must have dozed on the way home, because the next thing she knew she was being set on her feet. Her first few steps were beyond wobbly and uncoordinated, but she managed to stagger forward and get the door open, then shut behind her. Happy thankfully took over again and flew her to bed, where she collapsed in a pile and almost instantly passed out.