Author's Note:
It's Sunday! And time for a new chapter! I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. :D
As always, big thanks to all my wonderful, fantastic, amazing reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: mr-simba-722-97, Lunar13, TheJSmooth, 19vanelkc, WisdomDragon27, Wolves silver wind, Lucinda, TheOldIronKing, ravenqueen162, valerioux, stranger1999, RabbitMelody, KitsuneLover05, Ksta, Kzykat, Lady La-sara, kilatails, Leomae2.0, Firefly9917, and thetrywriter. Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewer: TitaniumRaven.
And on with the show! Be sure to stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D
"Oh good…" Lucy sighed in relief as she and Natsu staggered back into the forest and saw Mira standing guard next to Master Makarov, Happy, and Carla. The two wolves who were also there both nodded at Lucy and then poofed back to the celestial realm to join the rest of the pack.
"Why didn't you guys head back to camp already?" Natsu called.
"Master wouldn't have it until you two got back safely!" Mira chirped back with one of her perky smiles.
Lucy just sighed and shook her head before bending down to pick up Happy and Carla, while Mira picked up Makarov, much to the master's grumbles. Natsu wrapped his arm around Lucy's waist when she tilted at a dangerous angle and offered to carry both cats for her, but she declined.
"You sure Luce? You look like you're about to pass out or something…"
"I can carry them just fine Natsu…but…you might have to carry me…" she mumbled, only halfway joking. After the bruising she took, she didn't really feel all that steady. He gave her a grin and easily slid into the curve of her waist.
As soon as they were ready, all of them headed back to camp at a fast clip, eager to get the invalids to the medical tent and safety. Thankfully, it wasn't too incredibly far away, so they arrived within a reasonable amount of time… with some huffing and puffing and groaning on everyone's part.
However, as soon as they stepped foot inside the boundaries of their camp, a series of multicolored fireworks shot up from the direction Cana had gone in – as if on cue.
"Shoot, Cana needs help…"
"MY SWEET BABY GIRL IS IN TROUBLE!"
The nearly supersonic bellow had Lucy cringing, and Natsu nearly lost his grip on her waist. By this point, he had also started to lean on Lucy, and they were almost equally using each other as a crutch. The lack of balance became apparent as they both swayed and dipped towards the ground like some kind of crazy dance move – undoubtedly a drunken one.
Mira's hands were full carrying the master, so all she could do to help was press into Lucy on the other side and try to stabilize them through a sandwiching method. Thankfully it worked. So they all got to see Gildarts blast out of camp from upright positions… instead of flat on the ground while eating their daily allotted portion of soil. Lucy was pretty sure they had already overdone it on the dirt diet today, with all the being thrown around and stuff.
After a short pause to stare at the dust Gildarts had left in his wake, they all resumed making their way towards the medical tent.
As soon as they got there, they immediately laid Master Makarov, Happy, and Carla on cots.
"Oh my gosh! What happened?!" Wendy exclaimed, rushing over from where she had been treating a cut on Levy's shoulder. Gajeel was all bandaged up and laying on a cot next to her, still out cold.
"Attacked." Natsu said, grimacing.
"And you two?"
"We fought a demon too." Lucy groaned, lowering herself to sit on a cot as well.
She didn't plan to stay, but she wanted to rest. When Natsu didn't follow suit, she reached up, grabbed a fistful of his vest, and dragged him down to join her. He sat hard with a grunt.
After just a few minutes – during which, Wendy immediately began treatment on Makarov, Happy, and Carla – a loud whiz and bang got their attention. Everyone currently not unconscious leaned out from under the cover of the tent and saw the remains of a red magic firework starting to fade.
"That's Erza…" Lucy said dully, almost numb.
Natsu and Wendy both wordlessly nodded. Mira immediately ran off to lend assistance for a second time, and they watched her go silently, all wondering what sort of demon could cause Erza to send up an SOS call. Almost directly after that, another firework shot up… this one blue and with a distinctly watery sheen to it.
"Juvia too…" Wendy mumbled with a whimper in her voice.
"I'll go…I came with her after all."
They all glanced up at Bisca, who was perched on the stony ridge backing their camp. She had been even higher up, in a very tall pine tree sprouting from the ridge, but she'd descended somewhat to call down to them.
"Nah, you just stay up there, Sniper Girl. I've got it." Bickslow said with his tongue lolling and a broad grin.
"It would be best to have a lookout. And as a sniper, you are most qualified for that position." Freed agreed, and Bisca reluctantly resumed her station in the tree.
"What's going on?! We're being hit on all sides!" Lucy grumbled, letting her face fall into her open palms and scrubbing fiercely.
For a long time, silence reigned over the campsite as Wendy went back to treating the three comatose patients. Eventually though, she graduated to bandaging Natsu – who was indisputably hurt worse than Lucy – and the silence was broken as he loudly protested, saying he didn't need assistance.
"Either you let her bandage you, or I'm forcing your gate closed so you can heal back home!" Lucy put her foot down, and Natsu sulkily agreed to getting treated.
Soon though, Wendy's medical attention was redirected to a passed-out Elfman and Evergreen. They'd both been beaten to a pulp and were being literally dragged back into camp by Laxus, who looked a little worse for wear himself.
"Laxus! What happened?!" Freed exclaimed, rushing to his team leader in a nearly frantic manner.
For what seemed like the hundredth time, Lucy once again wondered if Freed's feelings for the lightning dragon slayer were strictly platonic idol worship, or something else entirely. The green-haired man fussed over Laxus like a mother hen…or possibly a worried wife. And the fact that Laxus didn't really protest being fussed over suggested that he might also be interested, but of course he was a LOT harder to read. All he really did was dump Evergreen into Freed's arms to carry, which the rune mage did happily – for both his teammate's sake, and to help lighten his team leader's load.
The two unconscious mages were laid on cots and Wendy rushed to help them, since they were obviously in worse shape than Natsu, Lucy, or Laxus – who looked about as badly beaten up as them.
"Meet a demon did ya?" Natsu said with a cocky and amused grin… which was ruined slightly when he coughed abruptly with a grimace and spat a little wisp of smoke into the air.
Laxus just cocked an eyebrow and eyed the curl of smoke drifting from Natsu's lips sardonically. "Looks like you did too, Firebreath."
"Yeah…they're no joke." Lucy agreed on a slight groan as she shifted and her bruised side protested the movement. With a hiss, she placed her hand on her ribs as pain shot through a couple, and she wondered if they were broken. Natsu shot her a worried look.
"No kidding."
She was startled when Laxus agreed with his own small wince. For the tough mage to show any weakness was a shocker.
"What'd yours do?"
"Some octopus dude that turned shit into swords." Laxus said with an exasperated eyeroll, and suddenly all the cuts on him made sense.
"Ouch. That sucks." Natsu said with a sympathetic grimace. "Hope you kicked his ass."
"Yeah, he's sushi now."
"I would kill for some sushi…" Lucy mumbled into her hands, startling the two men into silence as her stomach suddenly succeeded in announcing itself with a thunderous growl. She flushed a little in embarrassment, but then busted into surprised laughter when Natsu's stomach answered hers with an exponentially louder roar.
"I'm getting a fucking toothache over here. Finishing each other's sentences is bad enough… I draw the damn line at listening to your stomachs having a conversation." Laxus complained somewhat dryly, which only made Natsu join Lucy in raucous laughter.
Surprisingly, Laxus hung around the medical tent for a few bandages of his own, and Lucy stuck around too in the hopes that Wendy might take a look at her ribs. Unfortunately there were too many others with worse injuries, so she had to wait a good long while.
Natsu leaned in and worriedly asked, "You doin' okay?" when she winced – this time from taking a too-deep breath.
"Yeah…my ribs just hurt a lot…" she mumbled, trying to get somewhat comfortable on her cot where she was now lying down.
"Here, maybe this'll help…" Natsu offered softly as he leaned in and rested his palm over hers, gently pushing it to the side so he could get to the most painful part.
Warmth suddenly flooded the area, which stung at first and made her tense up with a hissed breath…but after a moment all her sore muscles started to melt and relax, giving her blessed relief. Normally ice would be the better option for her injury, but apparently that rule didn't apply to Natsu's magic on her…probably because she was his mate. Right now she was thanking her lucky stars that she was, because the pain that had been radiating up and down her side was now quickly ebbing away.
Suddenly they were interrupted by a resounding boom, and the entire sky turned golden as a halo seemed to encircle the island. It slowly clenched tight, passing through all of them and centralizing somewhere off in the direction where Cana and Gildarts were.
"What in the heck was that?!"
"Fairy Glitter."
At the grunt, everyone turned to look at Master Makarov, who had apparently been woken up by the magic.
"It's one of Fairy Tail's three legendary spells…although as far as I knew, nobody could use it." he continued, and all eyes turned to the column of golden light that suddenly shot into the air. Even from this far away, the ground shook underfoot and the hairs on Lucy's arms rose.
"Well…I guess either Gildarts or Cana just learned how to, Old Man." Laxus grunted, looking a little sour about that. If Lucy had to guess, he'd wanted to be the one to discover the ancient lost magic.
"Now that it's been discovered, maybe you'll be able to learn it too." Lucy offered, and Laxus sent her a grimace…obviously not happy about being seen in a state of jealousy.
"I don't give a flying fuck about that damn sparkle spell." He snorted derisively. "They can have it as far as I'm concerned."
Makarov just gave a long-suffering sigh and closed his eyes, apparently deciding to rest some more. Or else he simply passed out again, that was also a distinct possibility.
A couple more explosions sounded from Erza's battle, and it sounded like it was picking up in intensity. With increasing frequency, the ground shook with concussions of magic fire-power and flashes of light came from that direction.
They all pretty much ignored it though.
Poor Wendy was starting to look a little frazzled, but was holding up impressively well under the strain of caring for so many people. She had finished bandaging Elfman and Evergreen, and was now heading back to Lucy, Natsu, and Laxus. Natsu and Lucy both waved her towards the lightning dragon slayer, who definitely looked worse off than them with all those still-bleeding cuts of his.
She healed the deepest and bandaged the rest before turning to them. Naturally, Natsu fended her off and insisted that she look at Lucy first this time.
Rolling her eyes at the dragon's insistence, Lucy pulled up her shirt on the side so Wendy could get to her bruised ribs. "The only real injury I have is here and on my back. It doesn't hurt as much now after Natsu soothed it with some of his fire, but it's still pretty tender."
When Wendy sucked in a sharp breath and Laxus let out a low – slightly impressed – whistle, she glanced down and was shocked to see the dark black and blue bruising already wrapped around her torso. It was much worse than she'd expected, and her eyebrows rose in shock at the sight. Natsu might have helped the pain, but his fire certainly hadn't helped the bruising any…. or if it had, then she didn't even want to think about what she'd looked like before.
"Ouch Luce…was that where you hit the rock?"
"Yeah…"
Wendy immediately set about fixing her up again, and soon her bruises were much more normal looking and her ribs felt perfectly fine, if still a tiny bit sore. The rest of her nicks and scrapes she could take care of herself, so she set about bandaging it all up while Wendy finally finished checking out Natsu. Thankfully, his tough dragon hide had done a pretty good job of taking the damage, because while he was pretty badly bruised and scraped up all over, he didn't have any broken bones or internal damage. Wendy helped to heal the worst of his bruises, but let him go at that.
They were distracted as yet another explosion sounded… this time from the direction of where Juvia had sent up her SOS call. An enormous spigot of water rose above the trees, twisting and turning like it was alive. Soon to join it was a huge mountain of ice, which quickly blasted apart soon after forming. At least that showed them that Gray was still alive and kicking. There was no way to know if Bickslow had made it over there yet, but over the next few minutes, increasingly loud and intense explosions of magic resounded from that direction.
That was soon joined by even more blasts coming from the direction that Mira had disappeared off to. The sounds of battle changed tone over there, and if Lucy had to wager a guess, she'd say that the she-devil had just joined Erza's fight as the explosions and earthquakes originating from that direction increased exponentially.
Both battles seemed to be heating up, and the intensity only grew as time went on. Gray and Juvia's battle wrapped up first, when an enormous magic circle appeared in the sky over there, and suddenly dark clouds covered that portion of the island. The temperature dropped several degrees, and they watched in shocked awe as what looked like a snow storm erupted underneath the magic circle.
"I think they just did a unison raid…" Lucy murmured, and Levy nodded from next to her.
After that, Gray and Juvia's battle apparently concluded, because all signs of fighting abruptly stopped.
Meanwhile, Erza and Mira's conflict dragged on for at least ten more minutes. In fact, before the last few massive explosions sounded from that direction, Gildarts and Cana had already come limping back into camp. Neither of them were hurt too badly thankfully.
Right about that time, Gajeel had begun to wake up as well, and the only people still out cold were Elfman, Evergreen, and Happy. Carla had fitfully stirred already, but she was staying by Happy's side.
Right when Erza's fight seemed to draw to a close – or at least no more sounds of battle came from that direction – Gray and Juvia stumbled into camp, followed by a grinning Bickslow. He didn't waste time shouting, "Got there right as these two lovebirds were having a victory make-out!"
Gray groaned and rolled his eyes, but Juvia just flushed and grinned happily, mostly unembarrassed.
They immediately headed for the medical tent as well, and Wendy busied herself dealing with them, since she'd already handed over some bandages for Cana and Gildarts to patch themselves up with. Gray seemed to be the worse of the two, with a really nasty wound to the gut that he'd frozen over to keep from bleeding out, but thankfully Wendy was able to fix it after several intense minutes. Other than that though, Juvia and Gray mostly just patched themselves up with a lot of bandages so Wendy could save the rest of her energy for Erza and Mira… who were hopefully making their way to the camp now.
It was a good thing too, because only minutes after finishing with them, Erza and Mira did indeed limp into camp … with Erza doing most of the limping. She was truly bad off, with some seriously nasty injuries all over her body, including what looked like third degree burns and some broken bones.
Wendy and Lucy immediately rushed over to them and helped Erza make it onto a cot in the medical tent, where Wendy set about doing emergency healing. While the sky dragon slayer was busy with her, Lucy worked to patch up Mira – who also had some pretty nasty wounds to deal with.
But at the very least, everyone was now accounted for.
Once Erza had been made as comfortable as possible, Master Makarov took control and everyone assembled in the medical tent for a group discussion.
"Does anyone have any idea what might be going on?" Makarov asked, sounding tense and beyond exasperated. "I know for a fact that the leader of Grimoire Hearts would usually never do something like this. They're a dark guild, yes, but only because they're pursuing certain dark arts that aren't sanctioned by the Magic Council. They have done some unforgivable things, but one thing that they've never been accused of is attacking another guild – light or dark – unprovoked."
"It sounds like you know Grimoire Heart's guildmaster personally…" Laxus mumbled, eyeballing his grandfather slightly suspiciously.
With a grimace, Makarov sighed and confessed, "Unfortunately, yes. Very well in fact. You see…as difficult as it is to believe…he was the master of Fairy Tail before me."
This was followed by exclamations of surprise from everyone present, but they all hushed when the Third Master continued his explanation.
"He decided to pursue something called "the void," believing that it was the birthplace of magic. Unfortunately that line of exploration is forbidden to all mages, so he formed a guild that was unafraid of the dark arts and pursuing forbidden ancient magics…. all purely for the sake of gaining knowledge. However, in the process, they also gained tremendous power, which has made them one of the most feared dark guilds. However, normally Precht would never attack another guild without cause – much less Fairy Tail – so something has to have happened. When I fought him…"
"Wait, you fought him!?" Gray interrupted, sounding impressed.
Erza joined in, sounding skeptical. "The man I fought wasn't named Precht..."
"You're right Erza, I fought Precht before you arrived. He left with grave wounds, and it's lucky that you arrived when you did, because I doubt I would have won against my second attacker."
After a troubled sigh, he continued. "While we fought, Precht said some very concerning things. He mentioned an alliance with Tartarus – a truly evil dark guild that he would normally never associate with. And, even more troubling, he stated that his purpose for attacking Fairy Tail was to prove that he has found "true" magic…a magic more powerful than any other. It was like he was trying to convince himself that the path he chose was the right one…which is entirely unlike him. Precht is many things, but doubtful isn't one of them. He's single-minded in what he believes is the right path and never looks back. For him to have been shaken so badly – to the point of making such a rash and uncharacteristic decision as attacking Fairy Tail – something must have happened."
There was a long thick silence as everyone absorbed what the master had said, but then suddenly Natsu raised his hand. "I think I might have an idea what got to him."
All eyes turned to Lucy's pink-haired partner, including hers.
"Go on." Makarov prompted, and Natsu ran a hand through his messy hair, squinting and looking like he was trying to figure out what to say.
"Well…guess I better start with Juvia getting kidnapped by that little guild that fucked us over so good."
Everyone who had participated in that particular house of horrors cringed and grimaced in distaste.
"What's that got to do with this, Squinty-Eyes?"
"I'm getting there, ya Popsicle-Stick! Chill out!" Natsu snapped back, and for a second it looked like the two would get into a headbutting contest… up until Erza latched onto their necks and yanked them apart.
"Please continue Natsu."
He stiffened and got to the point under Erza's dark red eyes. "Right. Well, I happened to come across a … well sorta a friend of mine, more like a frenemy really, but anyways…. She's a demon, and I got some info outta her while I was there. Apparently that dark guild was under Tartarus's influence too."
Whispers sounded through the crowd, which were quickly hushed by a sharp glance from Titania.
Natsu quickly continued when she turned that gaze back onto him. "Uh, so that dark guild was after Lucy and her keys…Juvia was just the bait. Arachne told me that she was working for her bosses, the higher ups, meaning the new demon emperor. I dunno if I'm right, but my gut tells me that this dark guild "Tartarus" is just a front. They may have mages working for them, but I think it's really run by the demons."
A little shocked that Natsu hadn't ever said anything about this before, Lucy muttered, "And why haven't you said anything about demons before?"
He shrugged and grinned a little sheepishly. "Um…it slipped my mind?"
She scoffed, but was quickly interrupted.
"What the heck do these demons want with us!?" Gajeel spat, sitting up with a wince.
Natsu was all business again real quick and jerked his thumb at Lucy. "They want her. And me – but really, they just want my key, which will give them access to my magic. I dunno what they want with us specifically but…"
"Wait, if they just want me and my keys, then that means they want celestial magic for some reason…right?"
He blinked at her and grinned. "Yeah, good point Luce. You're probably right." Then, a few seconds later, his face suddenly did a 180 and went from smiling to serious, as if a nasty thought had just occurred to him. "Actually, you must be right…and I'll bet you anything that he's planning to make another attempt on the celestial realm."
"Explain please." Erza ordered.
"Well…it's complicated." he replied with a somewhat pained look. "The demon realm is pretty similar to the celestial realm. They've got low level demons, high level demons known as lords, and demons with the same kinda power as mythic keys that they call kings and queens. We've been going up against the kings and queens. But…above those…"
He grimaced and seemed to dry up for once, which shocked everyone. Natsu was nothing if not chatty, and to see him stall for words was like seeing a fire hydrant run out of water.
"What's wrong Natsu?" Lucy asked, sensing his deep discomfort. He cut her an uneasy glance and then lowered his gaze.
Amy – who had just returned from the celestial realm – stepped forwards when he remained silent. "Above the kings and queens are dragons…like Natsu. Dragons are a breed apart, unlike the rest of us celestial spirits…or demons for that matter. They're the most powerful creatures in this realm and the demon realm. But unlike the celestial dragons – who coexist peacefully with us – the demon dragons rule the demon realm, each one claiming territory and fighting to expand. They've fought over who will become the next emperor of the realm for hundreds of years since the last emperor died. Even the demon kings and queens all bow to the dragons, and if they don't … well, bad things happen to them."
Apparently that was the part Natsu was uncomfortable with, because he cleared his throat and took over again, ignoring the shocked looks he was getting from everyone as they absorbed the new and unexpected information about their comrade.
"So yeah, uh, demon dragons are douches basically. And like I said earlier, I found out from Arachne that a new emperor had taken the throne…but I had no idea that it was him…not until the demon that I fought earlier used a lacrima to contact his boss, and I heard his voice." He paused to grit his teeth. "I'd never forget that voice…not after what he did…"
Natsu stalled out again, but this time for a different reason. His jaw clenched, and his eyes shifted to gold and practically spat fire as he glared at the ground, visibly trying to reign himself back under control.
Once again, Amy stepped in to help the fire dragon, sympathy deep in her voice as she quietly explained. "He killed Natsu's father – the King of the Celestial Dragons, Igneel – during his last attempt to take over the celestial realm. They went head to head in combat and were equally matched. However…"
"Acnologia fucking cheated is what happened. He laid a trap and offed my dad by stabbing him in the back when he wasn't looking." Natsu growled, heat escaping him in alarming waves. Everyone aside from Lucy cringed away from him, but she just laid a supportive hand on his arm. Slowly he began to unclench and the heat faded somewhat.
After taking a deep breath, he lifted his eyes and fixed them all with a hard and deadly serious stare. "Acnologia is a monster. And he's running this whole operation. I have no clue what exactly he plans to do with the celestial magic, but he'll probably use it somehow to attack the celestial realm again."
Then he sighed and turned to look at Makarov. "He's got all sorts of demon lords, kings, and queens under his control, and plenty have powers that'll twist your mind. That's probably what made Prat go nuts."
It took a second, but everyone quickly figured out that he meant 'Precht'. There was a mixture of eyerolls and snorts from everyone assembled, but it slid by without comment since this was such a serious situation.
"So that's what happened to Precht! Tartarus was merely using Grimoire Hearts as a smoke screen… a distraction to get to their real goal!" Makarov said, hitting his fist into his open palm with conviction.
"Yeah…but that's not the worst part." The tone in Natsu's voice caught everyone's attention. It was deep and hollow, full of rage and pain. "By now, Acnologia definitely knows that his demons were sent home with their tails between their legs. And that fucker isn't exactly known to take defeat well."
Chilling silence met this statement, and with a slightly hesitant and solemn voice, Levy asked what they were all thinking. "So what now Natsu?"
There was a brief pause, but one that felt like it lasted an eternity as Natsu took a deep breath and then blew it out with a sigh that almost sounded defeated.
"He's been sending his demons here somehow. They aren't contracted, so that means he's somehow got control of a gate he can open and close at will… and that means…" He paused again to swallow thickly. "He'll be coming. And he'll wipe us out. I…there's no way I can beat him, not after I've already been fighting and hurt. We've gotta run, like, now if we have any hope of survival. If we can get off this island before he gets here, maybe we can outrun him. If we're lucky, there could be some sort of time limit to how long that gate can be opened."
This statement was met with ringing silence as everyone absorbed the fact that Natsu had just told them all to run for it. If he was saying run, then…
They all shared looks of utter terror and panic.
Suddenly, a whirring mechanical sound interrupted them as it slowly got louder. Everyone quickly looked in that direction, to see the Grimoire Heart airship flying again. For a terrifying moment, Lucy worried that they had discovered Fairy Tail's base and were coming to attack directly, perhaps from a canon or something on board the ship. That concern abated though, when they turned and started flying away from the island instead, as if they'd come to their senses and were finally leaving.
However, any relief they might have felt was exceptionally short-lived, because only a moment later the ship blew apart in midair – assumedly taking every member of Grimoire Heart with it.
The ground shook, and a massive, ear-shattering boom resounded through the air. That was closely followed by the most horrendous sensation Lucy had ever had the misfortune to encounter…a cosmic ripping that felt for all the world like a gate had just literally been raped. It was a tearing sensation accompanied by a soundless screech that grated across every one of her magical senses.
Normally she couldn't feel gates opening or closing other than her own, but this one was such a massive gaping hole that she couldn't help but feel it…as much as she wished she couldn't. The sensation of a gate being split open with something that wouldn't fit, and then having that massive something shoved through anyways, was NOT pleasant.
Instead of the normal pop that she felt when a gate closed, like a satisfying click, there was a distinct crash and collapse that was almost painful in its intensity as she perceived the complete destruction of the insanely powerful gate.
It was an assault on her magic, and every magical sense she possessed screamed in pain, causing her to bend almost double and retch. She wasn't the only one to cringe either, Amy and Natsu did as well… but the rest of their comrades just watched with concern and fear written on their faces.
"Lucy? Natsu? What's happening? What are you…?" Levy started, but then stopped when a wave of magic practically plastered them all to the ground with all the subtlety of a bulldozer plowing them flat.
It felt like gravity had just been cranked up several hundred pounds, and everyone was knocked off balance to some extent…some more-so than others. Although, the positively terrifying roar that blasted their eardrums to bits and shook the soil probably would have put them on the ground by itself. Even the air trembled with shockwaves from the sound that rent the world asunder.
"Too late. He's here." Natsu hissed.
The only reason Lucy could think of for why she hadn't perceived such a massive magical gate before was probably because it hadn't been opened particularly wide…. but whatever had just shoved its way through was on a whole different level than the demons who had been kicking their asses so far.
"Quick! We have to -!" Natsu's frantic yell was interrupted by another monstrous roar… similar to the one he used in battle, but about a thousand times louder and more terrifying.
"- get out of here!" he finished after everyone had peeled their hands off their ears.
He certainly needn't have told them…. they could all see that quite plainly.
It didn't take any more convincing, they instantly abandoned camp. Thankfully everyone was awake – aside from Happy, who Lucy carried. Anyone who had injuries that slowed them down were propped up by others as they all ran through the trees in the opposite direction of an enormous crash that suggested the monster behind them had touched down on solid ground.
"Natsu…did you feel that ripping sensation too when he came through the gate?" Lucy panted as she ran alongside him.
He nodded. "Yeah, Acnologia just totaled whatever gate they've been using. Stupid bastard."
"Is impatience just a general trait in dragons?"
He sent her a chagrinned smile. "Not always…but it's common enough. Especially in us guys. But now's not really the time to joke around Luce."
After a second's pause to scramble over a ditch, she continued the first line of frantic on-the-run conversation. "So, if he ripped the gate, why is he still here? Shouldn't that have sent him straight back to the demon realm?"
"Nah. It's broken, but it hasn't collapsed yet…. He's using his magic to prop it up."
"So once his magic runs out, it'll fall apart and he'll be dragged back to the demon realm, right?" Lucy summarized.
"Yeah, but he's got plenty of magic to keep him here for a while… long enough to take us out and wipe this whole island off the planet at least. Then he'll probably run out and poof back to his world."
"Still, that means we don't have to defeat him in battle. We just have to stall or avoid him until his magic runs out." Erza wheezed from a little further up.
By this point the rest of their comrades had tuned in to what they were saying, and Lucy could almost see everyone's ears perking up in interest.
"Yeah." Natsu growled and skidded to a stop, a blood vessel pounding on his forehead.
"What are you doing Natsu?!"
"I'm gonna go make him use up all his magic. That'll get rid of him faster." he snarled, and spun around, running back the way they came. Before he ran off though, he paused and eyeballed Erza and Gray. "Keep Luce safe for me. This fucker is after her."
Erza solemnly nodded and Gray cussed.
They all watched him go with clenched jaws and then continued running. Soon, they reached a rocky overlook, which was luckily perforated with some shallow caves and tunnels that they could hide in for a little while. By this point, Wendy had to do a few touchups on some of the more injured parties, and the caves were a good place to park for a moment. It also provided a great place for Lucy to stay out of sight as she looked back down into the basin to try and eyeball Natsu. Many of her friends also gazed uneasily out of their shallow cover, obviously looking for the pink-haired idiot.
Lucy was the first to spot him of course. In the time it had taken them to get to the top of their ridge, he had doubled back across the entire basin and was now perched on a tall spire of rock. There were plenty of tall jagged outcroppings all over the island… and he was perched on the very tip of one that jutted from the rocky ridge opposite to theirs. From where they were, they could clearly make out his small form.
A blast of heat escaped him… one so massive that even they could feel it despite the distance between them. His entire form rippled as he released an immense amount of magic, and all the trees close to him incinerated to ash within a second. They couldn't see the smaller differences in his body from this distance, but his wings were visible, and the enormous aura now hanging over him was impossible to ignore.
"I'm never gonna get used to that." Cana muttered, cringing back further into the shallow cave she was taking shelter in.
With a roar that still sounded somewhat human and small in his current form, a column of fire blasted straight up into the air… a calling card.
Then he bellowed, "Acnologia!"
That was all he said, but he didn't need another word to communicate his pure rage. Every syllable was laced with deadly venom.
An answering roar sounded from the other side of Natsu's rocky outcropping… which was apparently hiding the monstrous being now hunting them. With an earth-quaking crunch, one massive paw landed on top of the ridge and then pressed down, crumbling it with as much effort it would take someone to squash a cupcake under their heel. Next came an equally massive and terrifying head as the other dragon easily lifted himself onto the same ridge as Natsu.
As their enemy rose into view, Lucy suddenly realized that what she had thought were particularly strange black pointy rocks were actually the spikes along his back… which had been plainly visible over the tall rocks. Everyone paled as they took in the creature's size. His shoulder was easily taller than a two-story building, and his wings and head rose much higher into the air as he arched his long neck to eyeball Natsu. A broad fangy grin split his jaw.
"Natsu Dragneel! It will be a pleasure to destroy you." Even his voice was enormous, and it made the rocks beneath their feet tremble.
A deep growl started up, and as it slowly grew in intensity and volume, everyone looked around to try and figure out if it was coming from Acnologia or some sort of mounting earthquake. After a moment though, it became clearly apparent that the vicious sound was actually originating from Natsu, and soon everyone's wide eyes were fixed on him.
Another blast of heat came from him and fire engulfed his body, this time so hot that the rock he was standing on started to glow and cracked. Even from this distance, a scorching wind smacked them in the face, as if an epic oven from hell had just been opened.
Slowly Natsu raised one fist and then deliberately planted it in his open palm. Despite the action being relatively slow and measured, a shockwave blasted out from him, and the ring of scorched foliage around him was burned yet another ten or twenty trees deep, while many more were simply knocked over.
"I promised myself…that one day I would kill you with my own two hands for what you did."
The words should have been quiet, but somehow the growl was projected clearly enough that even they could hear it, and the pure menace in it raised every hair on Lucy's body. What followed had every Fairy Tail member flinching back and taking cover behind anything they could find. The earlier blasts of heat were little sparks in comparison to what now felt like a volcano erupting right under their noses.
Magic suddenly exploded from him, and his entire form rippled as his aura basically ignited. It was like watching Master Makarov grow into a giant, only stranger. For the first time, even Lucy was a little scared of her boyfriend as he turned into something else entirely. In the span of a few seconds, he ceased to look human at all. Instead, in front of them was a dragon, equal in size to the one opposite, but instead of black scales and blue markings, he had crimson scales. His head was also more traditionally dragon-like, instead of the nearly alien snout their enemy sported.
The magic coming off him was so massive that it felt like ants were crawling all over her as every magical sense she possessed sparked with awareness. The very air was thick and heavy with magic, making it almost too dense to pull into her lungs, and the sheer heat coming from him made it even harder to breathe. Naturally, the rock spire he had been standing on crumbled away to nothing, dropping him down to stand on all fours halfway into the basin.
As soon as his transformation was complete, he inhaled a deep breath and then blasted the enemy with a roar that was just as loud and ferocious as the one that had sent them all to their knees before. The rocks shook, any trees left fell over and burnt to ash, and cracks appeared under his feet as he set the ground itself on fire. Thankfully though, it wasn't a true dragon roar… he didn't spout flames from his mouth. Instead, the enormous sound was actually just him yelling at his opponent really aggressively.
With a sound like thunder, his back claws spread and dug into the ground as he bunched up his powerful back legs, and then he propelled himself towards Acnologia. His jaw clamped down on the other dragon's throat, and then his wings snapped open and he was airborne, dragging their enemy up into the sky with him. Lucy could feel every member of Fairy Tail let out a communal sigh of relief that the battle was going to be taking place hundreds of feet above them instead of right on top of them.
Even so, when Acnologia managed to yank himself free and shoved away from Natsu's grip, everyone cowered at the roar that came out of the black dragon's mouth, spewing some sort of powerful magic at Natsu. Lucy had no idea what sort of dragon he was supposed to be – from what she understood, most dragons were affiliated with a specific element, but she couldn't place his off-hand. All she knew was that his roar took the form of a silvery laser, which quickly clashed with Natsu's fire. The repercussion of the two massive magics meeting in midair sent a blast down to the island and knocked everyone onto their butts. Wendy almost got flung right off the overlook and back down into the still smoking remains of what was once their camp, but Juvia managed to snag her with a water extended arm.
After that, everyone hunched down and took cover, huddling into the caves for some sort of protection. Really, they should probably all run for it while Natsu was buying them time…but aside from being simply frozen in place with shock and fear, the cataclysmic battle raging above was battering them with so much wind and magic that they could easily get tossed off a cliff or blasted by some stray ammunition if they weren't careful. There was every chance that the caves they were currently taking cover in might collapse under the stress, but it still seemed safer in there than out in the open.
Meanwhile…
As for Natsu, all he felt was pounding rage as he went at Acnologia with full force. He might have admitted to everyone just a little while ago that he probably wouldn't win this fight…but that didn't even cross his mind now. All he cared about was kicking his father's killer in the teeth and making him choke on them. Plus, the knowledge that this bastard was going after Lucy added another thick layer onto his wrath, and it wasn't long before all he could see was red.
He immediately went for the lunar dragon's throat, ripping and tearing at any piece of him he could get to. One clawed foot landed in his diaphragm and he was knocked back cartwheeling through the air, but he just twisted and roared at his opponent upside down…sending a blast of flame to cook him. Acnologia blocked it with another of his own roars, but Natsu had anticipated that and ducked under the combined explosions to come up from underneath him, getting a jawful of his tail and biting down hard. With a powerful crank of his neck and wings, he dragged the other dragon down and onto his back – which wasn't an easy position to fly in – and Acnologia started to flounder a little. That gave Natsu the perfect opportunity to kick his opponent in the face, making sure to dig his back claws in.
With an extra yank and twist, a good part of the black dragon's tail came off in Natsu's mouth, and they separated to both regain their respective air space and altitude. Natsu recovered faster of course, and mounted the air quickly, trying to get the higher position. Acnologia responded by shooting another of those lunar roars at him, but he just angled his wings and slid to the side…easily avoiding it.
As soon as he got high enough, he tucked his wings and made like an arrow straight down at Acnologia. Of course his enemy saw him coming and pulled up…meeting him with teeth and claws bared. Several sets of talons raked his belly, but he still clamped his jaw over Acnologia's head, digging his own front claws into the other's shoulders as he yanked, basically trying to pull his head off. When that didn't work, he sucked in air and geared up to cook the bastard's skull – but before he could, he was knocked back as Acnologia roared and hit him in the chest with a beam of magic.
Meanwhile…
As the truly horrific sounds of battle continued, intense forces continuously pounded the ground, and more than one of their caves collapsed. At that point, they weren't given much of a choice in the matter, and they all started inching down the other side of the ridge. Thankfully this part of the island was pretty mountainous and full of even more caves - as well as some deep valleys - that might provide protection from the fighting dragons.
As they made it to another cave and quickly ducked in to hide from yet another explosion, Bickslow muttered, "Damn Lucy. How much magic does it take to summon something like that anyways?"
She blinked at him, a bit shocked. "You mean Natsu?"
At his nod, she suddenly felt anger heat her blood. "He's not a something. He's your guildmate!" she hissed.
He rolled his eyes, unaffected by her mood. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I just meant… he's a goddamn dragon." He pointed, and when Lucy glanced up at Natsu – who was undeniably not human at the moment – she sort of saw his point.
Undeterred, Bickslow continued. "And holy fuck is he powerful. It's gotta take some major magic to pull him outta the ol' magic bag."
"Only the first time, and I'm pretty sure it nearly killed me." she finally conceded, getting a few sucked-in breaths and shocked mutters from the others.
Most of her attention remained on Natsu however, and soon she was refocused entirely on him as she watched the battle from just inside their new protective cover. Though they were trading blows and he was holding his own, she could feel him starting to tire. Strangely, it was only now - as he started running low on power - that she felt just how intertwined their magic had become, and the sensation of his fire slowly dimming inside her was truly petrifying.
A warm nose nudged one hand, and she glanced down to see Amy standing by her side, also looking up at the spectacle with deep concern in her amber eyes. Happy was perched on her back and looked like he was going to start crying. He'd woken at the start of the battle and was now very much invested in the current goings-on.
"Lucy…Natsu's gonna be alright…right?" he sniffled.
"I don't know…" she whispered back, getting a whimper from her blue-furred partner. "But I believe in him."
"Aye sir."
For a long time they watched – still moving from shelter to shelter – but it quickly started going downhill for their fire dragon ally as he began to take more and more damaging hits from the black dragon. He was landing a good number of his own, but though they slowed his opponent down, none of the injuries Natsu inflicted seemed to incapacitate Acnologia in any way.
To her horror, there came a point where his magic actually dipped below hers, and in pure agonized fright she reached out with hers, lending every bit of magic she possessed to help him. Within seconds she couldn't stand upright. The drain was so intense that all her strength left, but she still propped him up to the best of her ability. For a terrifying moment it felt like she was Atlas holding up the world…a tiny insignificant speck propping up a mountain.
Tears streamed freely from her eyes, and she couldn't even hear her friend's concerned shouts through the despair she was wading through.
Then, all of a sudden, what felt like liquid sunlight flooded her. If magic had a taste, this was a clear mountain stream, crisp from a glacier and warmed by the sun, and full of the energy of nature…as if the earth and sky had combined to form a cocktail of life. With a gasp, her drooping head jerked up, and she found herself staring into a pair of golden lupine eyes…level with her own since she was currently on her hands and knees.
"…Amaterasu…you…" she gasped, breathless with shock.
"I may not be as free with my magic as Natsu, but I won't let my mage or my friend die." she calmly replied, then gently bumped her nose into Lucy's. "Now get up, you're scaring your friends."
Bolstered by Amy's magic – and what felt like the strength of the whole pack – that flooded through Lucy and freely into Natsu, his attacks picked up strength again and he managed to land several heavy blows on Acnologia. Over the next several tense minutes, the Fairy Tail mages continued to scramble from one shelter to another, running from the destruction that rained down on them, and Natsu continued to fight tooth and nail to protect them.
Even with Lucy and Amy's help though, he was starting to slow. The cumulative battering he had taken was draining him fast and weakened his tough hide…essentially tenderizing him and making it easier to land more devastating and deeper blows. He dodged to the best of his ability, and dished out as good as he got, but his previous fight was obviously starting to really wear him down as exhaustion dragged on his limbs and made him visibly sluggish.
Eventually, the inevitable happened, despite her and Amy's every attempt to prevent it. In a gut-wrenching move, Acnologia managed to drag his claws through the webbing of one of Natsu's wings, making him roar in agony, and hot blood pelted the ground. The dirt hissed and steam erupted as every bit of moisture was boiled away from both the blood and whatever it happened to land on. The Fairy Tail wizards watching had to take cover or risk being burned badly…all except Lucy, who stayed to watch. Her friends and family begged her to join them under an overhang of rock with urgent whispers and calls, but she ignored them.
When a large drop spattered across her shoulder, her flinch was not out of pain… at least not physical pain. However, it felt like it had burned her heart with agony, and her hand came up to touch the red stain on her shoulder as tears distorted her view of the struggling dragons. When she refused to come in of her own accord, Erza dashed out of hiding and grabbed her, yanking her back with a firm grapple around her neck and waist.
Lucy lunged against the hold, struggling to at least still be able to see the battle, nearly mindless with fear for her partner. Slowly Erza – and now Gray – eased out with her so they could all see what was going on, but they kept their grips on her – not that she really paid attention to why they might be doing that. She found out soon enough though.
The airborne wrestling match took a turn for the worse, and with a crippled wing Natsu had a lot of trouble evading the vicious attacks still pounding him. Acnologia grabbed onto that hurt wing again, and then his massive jaws latched onto her partner's neck and face, biting down hard until more blood spattered the ground. Natsu choked out a screeched roar of both fury and pain as he snapped at his opponent's head in vain. He managed to lock his teeth onto a spine that poked out of the black dragon's face, and he chomped down like a dog with a bone, shaking his head furiously to try and dislodge Acnologia's grip on his neck and jaw.
Both dragons reared up their hind legs and kicked at each other in a battle to get to the other's belly with sharp talons. The black dragon gained the upper hand – or foot in this case – when he cruelly twisted Natsu's hurt wing, causing him to stutter in pain, and Acnologia used the opening to carve his belly open with deadly claws.
Between the crippled wing, the torn throat, and the ripped belly, Natsu was taking beyond critical damage…. it had easily gone into the realm of fatal. Lucy didn't even realize she was screaming until a hushing hand clamped tight over her mouth, silencing her screams for fear that she would attract the enemy's attention.
When Acnologia released him, Natsu attempted to stay airborne, but only managed to thrash his truly torn and now twisted wing and fell at a slightly slower rate than a true freefall. The wounds to his throat, wing, and belly sprayed copious amounts of hot blood through the air as he thrashed. Naturally, he also happened to be falling nearly on top of them, and they all suddenly had to scurry higher up the rocky terrain to try and avoid him, while also dodging the spattering blood.
One brilliantly gold eye shot towards them, and he urgently twisted and angled his body to avoid landing on them, which undoubtedly opened his already gaping wounds further. Lucy's heart clenched and she choked on a sob when she realized that he was hurting himself to spare them. Despite the slightly slower fall, he still hit the ground hard enough to create a small earthquake, and he roared once again as a tall spire of rock jabbed into his ribs and back in what had to be an incredibly painful way.
He still landed pretty close to them, on the floor of a forested ravine they were currently skirting, and he was certainly close enough that Lucy could reach him after a minute or two of full-out sprinting – which she instantly made to do. However, tight grips latched on and held her prisoner despite her violent thrashing, and the hand over her mouth stayed clamped tight. Gray grunted when she elbowed him hard in the stomach, but his hands stayed firm. Another couple of Fairy Tail members lent a hand in holding her back – because the black dragon was already descending towards Natsu's struggling form.
A rush of magic filled their newest rocky hideout, and suddenly furry bodies were flooding the narrow space as snarling wolves began to pour out. In the lead was Amaterasu, in full glowing glory as she charged into the air, running into the sky and meeting Acnologia head on. She was backed by her whole pack – which was even more numerous than Lucy had known – and they quickly converged on him.
At first, Lucy was terrified for them, thinking that surely they couldn't stand up to such a monster. They were the size of rats compared to him! But that fear quickly turned to awe as they deftly circled his massive body, darting in to nip at his tail or wing or flank whenever it was exposed – always aiming for the wounds that Natsu had inflicted – and then they darted away when he spun to snap at them. Based on his snarls and loud grunts, their teeth actually hurt – though they probably didn't amount to any true damage.
While he was thoroughly distracted, Lucy was able to break away from her guildmates, who hesitantly released their death-grip on her, and she ran headlong down the incline towards Natsu. The mad dash was spent halfway on her ass or a bloody knee as she skidded down the sharp drops, and a few times she ate dirt, only to roll back to her feet and spit it out. When she finally arrived near his landing site, she had to brave an ongoing forest fire and covered her nose with her shirt. Soot coated her feet and legs, and a burning branch seared her arm, but she just kept on running towards where she could feel Natsu's presence.
Finally, she skidded into a completely barren circle of land where the ground had turned to black rock… at the center of which was Natsu, still in his dragon form. His blood spattered the entire area in great puddles which steamed from the heat still coming off them.
As soon as she saw him, she grabbed Horologium's key and gasped out a summons, then desperately asked, "Please…give Natsu and me as much time as you can…."
He solemnly took in the situation and nodded, saying, "I can give you five minutes."
"…thank you so much…" she wheezed and instantly dashed towards the huge red form of her fallen boyfriend as everything around them wound down to an infinitesimal crawl through time.
Gasping for breath, she sprinted around his enormous body to reach his head, noting the way his ribs heaved and shuddered with every breath. For a brief moment, he tried to get to his feet, but slumped, barely staying propped up on his forelegs while his entire back half remained limp and splayed out on the ground. His nose dragged the blackened earth, and each heavy breath heated the rocks touching his lips, which curled in a pained growl to expose blood dripping from between his teeth…and she had the sinking feeling that it was his and not Acnologia's.
She finally skidded to a halt next to his enormous head, and one golden eye blinked open to look at her.
"Luce…. What the hell are you doin' down here? Get back to safety…" he wheezed. "Actually, you should've all gotten off the island while you had the chance…"
"No! I'm not leaving you to deal with him all on your own!"
He chuckled, the ground shaking with the deep sound. "Should'a known…"
Her eyes drifted over his enormous body, taking in the deep gashes, and she gritted her teeth as tears started to stream from her eyes. "Natsu…you should go back to the celestial realm. You have to heal. If you keep this up…."
His growl almost made her cringe, but she held firm.
"How can you say that right after saying you weren't gonna leave me to deal with him on my own?! It goes both ways, Idiot! Like hell am I gonna let him kill you!"
"We'll be fine, we always are!" Lucy said with fake bravado, which he saw right through.
"Yeah right. If I leave now, you guys are all gonna be killed. I'm not leaving."
"But if you stay, then you'll be killed! Can you honestly tell me otherwise?"
"If I do kick the bucket, I'm takin' him with me!"
"No! Not good enough! I can't let you die!" she screamed back, and he glared, snorting a little smoke.
Then his eyes softened, and he bent his head forwards until his cheek and nose rested along her whole body. "No…If I'm gonna die… fine. I'll protect you with my life and happily die in your arms. That's a hundred times better than running away with my tail between my legs and having you die instead."
"Chances are we'll both die! What's the point then?! It's better for you to survive at least! You're a celestial spirit, you're not supposed to die! You're immortal! But I'm mortal! I'm gonna die someday!"
He flinched. "I don't care. And…if we both die, then at least we'll die together. I'd rather die here with you than go on living a meaningless existence."
By now she was bawling and had her arms wrapped around as much of his head as she could reach.
No matter his desire, she just couldn't accept the idea of him dying at all. As she'd said, he was an immortal celestial spirit…he shouldn't die here. He had a long life left ahead of him, and she was sure that he would eventually get over her death and be happy again someday. He would probably even find another mate eventually…a hundred, two hundred, maybe three hundred years from now. He had centuries to spend searching for happiness, and she couldn't stand to have that cut short just because of her.
The bottom line was simple. She loved him too much to let him die…not when there was still something she could do about it.
"I…can't let you do that…" she gasped, pressing her forehead to his scales and letting her tears drip down his face where they evaporated only moments later.
"You can't stop me."
"Actually…I can. I'm so sorry…"
Feeling like she was about to commit the worst kind of betrayal, she opened their link wide and latched onto the magic she had been feeding him. Reversing that abruptly – and cutting off Amy's link – she instead started to steal his magic. Her heart felt like it was being torn from her chest as she did it, because what she was doing was unthinkable. He would probably never forgive her…. She already knew that she wouldn't ever be able to forgive herself.
"Close! Gate of the Dragon! Dragneel!" she screamed, her voice breaking on a sob and shattering to bits by the end. All the magic she stole from him went to close his gate, but he pushed back with the little magic he still had remaining.
"Luce! What are you doing?!" he choked, sounding stunned and betrayed…as she had known he would.
She couldn't breathe thanks to the sobs seizing up her chest, but still managed to hoarsely whisper, "The only thing I can…I'm so… so… so sorry, Natsu…but you can't die. I love you too much…."
He fought back, keeping his gate open even as she drained his magic. He tried to cut off her access, but their trust had been so wide open and implicit that he couldn't reverse the bond between them – even as she shattered that connection with her betrayal. She drained him of every drop – feeling like a murderer almost…like a vampire sucking out the soul of the one she loved.
"Please…don't do this…" His broken whisper was almost enough to splinter her soul into a million tiny pieces.
Soon he didn't have enough magic to hold his dragon form any longer, and he shifted back to the much smaller version of himself. Pink hair landed in the crook of her arm as she wrapped her arms around his head and held him through the transformation…knowing she was the cause…that she was forcing him to do it against his will. He ended up cradled in her lap, his whole upper body in her arms and his face pressed against her chest.
Bleary golden eyes opened and stared up at her with an expression of utterly broken trust and agony. She couldn't stand looking at it, so she closed her eyes as she sucked the last of his magic out and used it to slam his gate closed behind him.
He disappeared with a burst of fire and smoke, even as he reached for her and brokenly whispered, "…stop…please…Lucy…why…?"
Suddenly she was holding empty air and her chest felt just as gaping…as if a massive hole had been punched through her very being. She curled into a ball, sobbing into the ground – knowing that she had just lost her best friend and soul mate forever. Even if she survived, he wouldn't want anything to do with her. He would break their contract, take his key, and that would be the end. She had just betrayed him in the worst possible way, and in doing so had completely destroyed everything they shared. Every promise between them, both implied and spoken, was now shattered, and there was no coming back from it.
Her moto had always been that she would rather die than betray a friend. In this case though, she was probably about to do both…. however, the rest of her guild was also likely to suffer the consequences.
She stayed balled up on the ground, willing to accept her own death and hoping it was enough to appease Acnologia. Maybe he would leave after capturing her, and the rest of her guild would be safe. However, instead of dragon claws wrapping around her, a warm hand gently landed on her shoulder.
She had been so wrapped up in her own grief that she hadn't even noticed when Horologium disappeared and the world resumed its normal speed.
"Lucy…. We have to go." Gray murmured.
"Just leave me Gray. Let him have me. The rest of you could escape."
"You know we'd never let that happen." Erza's voice joined in.
"But I…I sent Natsu back to the celestial realm. I just signed your death warrants. All of ours. He…" she started crying again as his hurt eyes shot through her memory. "He didn't want to…but I forced him to go…with his own magic…I stole it and…he'll never forgive me…"
It was doubtful that anything she was saying was actually understandable.
Erza's hand landed on the shoulder that Gray wasn't holding. "You did what you had to. He would have died Lucy, we could all see that. And don't count us out just yet…we're Fairy Tail after all. We'll all fight to the very end."
"Yeah, so pull yourself together. This fight ain't over yet." Gray added, squeezing her nearly painfully and then sliding his hand down to her elbow and yanking her to her feet. Erza assisted in the venture on her other side until she was left wobbling on her feet and wiping her dirty tear-stained face.
"Right…yeah, you're right." she hiccupped, nodding and doing her best to pull herself together.
And it was a good thing she did, because a sudden explosion had them all looking up. Acnologia had apparently lost his patience and started blasting indiscriminately, driving the wolves off. They scattered, unable to keep up with him, and more than one poofed in a flash of light and mist as he zapped them. It wasn't going to be long before Fairy Tail was dealing with him, and Erza, Gray and Lucy all ran at top speed back towards everyone else.
They dashed through the still-burning trees, not wanting to risk using Gray's magic and expose their position even a second sooner. Thankfully, they reached the rest of their guild relatively quickly, though they were all wheezing and coughing a bit by the time they made it. Then, as soon as they were all together again, everyone made a beeline for the thick jungles further into the deep ravine they were currently in. There was eventually a river running through it, which would help to mask Lucy's scent, and they could try to follow it underground into a series of deep caves…if they made it that far.
Crashes and booms suggested that they wouldn't even make it to the river though, and trees began to fall just from the earthquakes caused by Acnologia's pursuit. When it became apparent that they weren't going to be able to hide, they all scattered into the trees, ready to commence guerilla warfare tactics.
Lucy, Gray, and Erza kept running, but everyone else worked to distract the dragon by dashing out of the trees in small groups to hit him with all their firepower. Then, as soon as he turned in their direction, they dashed back into the trees while another group shot from the opposite direction. Basically they were mimicking what the wolves had done earlier.
Despite everything though, he just shrugged it off like they were a bunch of annoying gnats and managed to send more than one team flying with a few sweeps of his tail. Even when Master grew into his giant form and put Acnologia in a headlock, it didn't do much but slow him down for a moment. His eyes were locked onto Lucy and he was obviously single-mindedly pursuing her.
After he had knocked all their comrades off him, he came after Lucy, Erza, and Gray, who had managed to put a little distance between them and the dragon, but not much. Before they knew it, he was on top of them and had already sent Gray and Erza flying into the trees… leaving Lucy by herself to stare up at the monster in horror.
It was like looking down the barrel of a loaded magic canon. All of a sudden, every thought in her head flew right out, leaving her mind blank with terror as she looked up at him. He reached out, his talons sharp and catching the light, and she squeezed her eyes closed, expecting to be grabbed in that vicious grip any second. Instead though, nothing happened, and she slowly eased her eyes open after a second.
When a shield of green met her vision, both eyes slammed open wide in shock. "What the…"
Glancing to the side, she spied a spirit she hadn't seen in quite some time. He was facing away from her for some weird reason, but still spoke to her. "Seemed like you needed some help…"
"Bartolomeo! Thank you so much!"
By this point, everyone was already heading towards Lucy at top speed, undoubtedly intending to rescue her. Anybody who had been tossed around by Acnologia had apparently survived the experience so far, because she didn't notice anyone missing from the approaching mages, which made hope blossom in her chest.
"Hurry! Get inside the shield!" she called to them, and everyone put an extra oomph into their run.
She urged them on with wild gestures and shouts of encouragement. When the first bounced off though, she whirled towards Bartolomeo and urgently asked, "Please! Let my guildmates enter the shield too!"
With a longsuffering sigh, he grumbled, "…okay, fine."
Suddenly everyone was tumbling into the green bubble with her, doing their best to dodge the enraged dragon outside as they did. He was obviously beyond pissed, and now was bashing on the shield above them with claws, teeth, and blasts of his magic as he tried to break it in any way possible. The land started crumbling away at the edges, and the last few Fairy Tail mages had to jump the gap as well as dodge his attacks.
And yet, even though he wasn't leaving a scratch, he kept beating at them, getting visibly more and more agitated as Bart's shield rebuffed him every time.
The green-haired man snorted, sounding almost bored – but also kind of preoccupied in a weird way, as if his attention wasn't even on the dragon. "Like your attacks would hurt my impenetrable shield. Pfft."
This only riled Acnologia up further. Up till that point, he hadn't deigned to talk to them, as if they weren't worth it, but now he did. "Irritating turtle! Every shell cracks sometime!"
"Oh yeah?" the celestial spirit countered mildly, sticking one of his sharp claws into an ear and scratching it. "Not mine."
"You…!" the dragon roared, and even more ground fell away. By now, they were situated on a tall thin spire of rock.
"Er…this doesn't look too good…" Levy mumbled as she eyeballed their precarious perch.
"Bartolomeo? What's going to happen when Acnologia blasts away that last little bit of ground?" Lucy worriedly asked him.
He cleared his throat, and while still firmly facing away from her, he said, "Nothing really. We'll stay right where we are."
"Seriously? This shell-thing can fly?" Gajeel grumbled, still looking pretty skeptical.
The turtle spirit's head barely turned in his direction and he shot the iron dragon slayer a mild – slightly disinterested – glare. "If you don't like my shell, then get lost."
"What'd you say?!"
"Gajeel! Don't!" Levy yelped and jumped to stop him, ending up basically hugging his waist. "We can't start a fight in here!"
Surprisingly, the irritable mage stopped with a huff, and Lucy could swear she saw a very slight pink tinge to his cheeks. "Eh…fine. He wasn't worth my time anyways."
"You looooove her…." Happy mumbled from his place in Lucy's arms.
Gajeel sent the blue cat a look so nasty that Lucy could feel every hair on her cat's body stand up in a wave that passed from his ears to his tail. He promptly 'eeped' and hid as best as he could in her boobs – but the interaction hadn't gone unnoticed, and Lucy caught Laxus, Mira, Gildarts, and Cana all hiding smirks.
However, aside from that one mildly humorous moment, the rest of the situation was very much serious. Eventually, the ground did fall away from underneath them…leaving them floating in midair…but as Bart had promised, his green shell stayed put. Meanwhile, Acnologia continued attacking the shield with everything he had, completely tearing up the land, trees, and rocks within a huge radius.
He very quickly seemed to reach a boiling point though where his patience ran out. "Fine! If I can't collect the little celestial wizard, then you'll all sink to the bottom of the ocean!"
With that bellowed statement, his wings snapped open and he rose into the air…. Where he immediately started to suck in a deep, deep breath. They could all feel the magic accumulating, and hairs rose on everyone's necks.
"Even if we do have this shield, that blast is gonna wipe out Tenrou! We'll be stuck like a duck in the ocean!"
"It'll probably take us out too…" another muttered, trying to be too quiet for Bartolomeo to hear.
They all seemed to collapse in on themselves with fear…up until a few key voices spoke out.
"This isn't any time to be giving up! Come on! Pick yourselves up!" Laxus barked sounding irritated.
"We're mages of Fairy Tail…if we go out, let's go out standing!" Gray joined in, taking Juvia's hand in his and offering his other to Erza.
"That's right…because that's what we do! We stand together!" Makarov joined in, taking Erza's other hand and latching onto Laxus as well.
"Because we're a family!" Cana bellowed, taking her dad's hand as well as Juvia's.
Everyone looked at each other, a feeling of unity and faith building up within them.
"That's right. We're family…" Lucy smiled tearfully and offered her hand to Levy, and Levy took Gajeel's.
Eventually, almost without realizing it, they had made a perfect circle, all of them holding hands. All they could do was pray and wait for the incoming blast. The ties holding them together were powerful, and everyone's magic surged as they were each reminded that they were Fairy Tail wizards…and why they had all joined in the first place.
Lucy could feel a wave of warmth and comradery, so strong that it was like a physical presence among them, watching over them all and protecting them. Peace and tranquility flowed through her, and she closed her eyes, missing the golden glow that began to encompass them all.
"We're all together, and that's what matters…" she thought to herself, and her heart pulsed, seeming to lock into a magical rhythm with the rest of her guild. She could feel them all around her, sense them clearly, and she let herself be carried away into that feeling.
A wave of light passed over them, brilliant and blinding, and then…nothing.
Sneak Peek
For months, they slowly canvassed the sea, with Natsu flying out and searching the whole area around the boat for miles and returning to tell them that he found nothing. Warren's telepathy magic also proved invaluable as Natsu sent him messages while he was on the fly. They would then mark off that small area and move to the next.
The boat was slow, and nobody was surprised when Natsu lost patience with it and dragged it to each next section behind him – while everyone clung to the sides and hoped he didn't accidentally capsize the vessel.
Whenever they started to run out of food, or get sick of fish, Natsu would take the fish they had caught and would fly it to the nearest town, sell it, and then purchase food for everyone. He was so consumed with thoughts of finding Lucy that he wasn't distracted by the food himself. All he allowed himself was brief trips to the celestial realm where he downed ambrosia – the celestial realm's version of an energy drink and a complete nutrition drink. It kept him going but wasn't particularly filling.
He didn't care if he was full, didn't care if his wings felt like they would fall off or that one of them still occasionally cramped up and burned with pain, and didn't care if he couldn't sleep because of how badly his muscles hurt…not that he would have slept anyways. He basically passed out when his body demanded rest, and if he happened to be flying when he passed out…well, he woke up real quick when he hit the water.