Author's Note:
It's Sunday! And you know what that means! New chapter!
Alright, so, just to rehash, there won't be an update this Wednesday - because the next few chapters are sooooo long. It's taking me longer to edit them. But it's only for the next few chapters, so just bear with me. ;D And you'll be getting the same amount of content, so don't worry.
Anywho, as always, big humongous thanks to everyone who reviewed! Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: Anna5949, Azzzimoth, valerious, quidditchChick6, TheJSmooth, Leomae2.0, Donthedarkdragon26, SunnieDayys, KitsuneLover05, Firefly9917, Lucinda, and stranger1999.
Also, someone asked about Natsu and whether his training was strengthening him. Because if he isn't getting stronger, he'll just lose again if he goes up against Acnologia. So, here's the answer to that. Yes, he is getting stronger, but no he doesn't have a Second Origin. He's getting stronger through all the things that happen in the story, like that whole year of constant flying looking for Lucy. That increased his stamina, and strength, and therefore his magic by correlation. The month of training also made him stronger, fighting every day with Erza will do that to ya, even if he is a dragon. Plus, he and Lucy are getting stronger as a team, and jointly their attacks are going to become more powerful. So I hope that helps everyone who may have been wondering about that. ;D
Alrighty! On with the show! And don't forget to check out the sneak peek.
When the time to get back up rolled around, Lucy woke with a pounding headache from yet another fitful dream of being cold and lost. So, she was thoroughly unamused by the inevitable clanging and clattering of Erza putting on her armor. With a groan, she slapped her pillow over her head and burrowed deeper under the covers to try and block out the world.
"Well…you certainly appear to be under the weather. Are you feeling alright Lucy?"
"Hangover?" Cana asked from the other side – a certain groan in her voice suggesting that she was the one suffering from overindulgence.
With a sigh, Lucy peeled the pillow back gingerly and peered out with slitted eyes. "No, I don't have a hangover, but I did have terrible dreams. I barely got any sleep."
"Ouch."
"Yeah…" she sighed, and finally heaved herself out of bed with a groan.
After everyone had gotten dressed, they all headed downstairs for breakfast, and then both Team A and Team B geared up to go back to the Domus Flau for day one of the competition. Thanks to everyone's all-nighter, it was starting later than it usually would – noon instead of in the AM – but they were still cutting it a little close, so everyone had to get the lead out.
The rest of their guildmates accompanied them to the arena itself, but they split up once they hit the gates, since the competitors would be watching the proceedings from special booths that had direct access to the arena floor.
However, before they headed to their independent viewing boxes, all the participating teams had to be introduced to the crowd – since there hadn't been a very large audience for the preliminary round. So, Team A and Team B headed through the winding halls that snaked from the entrance to the arena floor and got in line. They would be going out one team at a time as they were introduced… to increase the spectacle of it all and ramp up the excitement of the crowd. Being that they were in order of who made it through last night, of course Fairy Tail was dead last in line and had to listen to all the cheers for the opposing teams first. Based on the decibel level, it was easy to see which guilds were the most popular with the crowd.
Sabertooth was greeted with the loudest round of screams, applause, cheers, and every other fan-like sound possible. Blue Pegasus and Lamia scale seemed about equal in popularity. Mermaid Heel was obviously third in the lineup, but still got a good amount of applause and cheers.
Quatro Cerberus didn't sound like they had nearly as much support as the others, but the fans that they did have made a cacophony as they all screamed, "WILD!" in answer to the question, "What are we?" But unlike the other four, they also got a few boos and jeers along the lines of, "You're gonna lose, you half-baked dogs!" mixed into their reception.
Raven Tail also received boos, but didn't get any positive sounds either – just confused silence and concerned mutters. One person shouted loudly, "Aren't they a dark guild?!" Of course, they couldn't possibly be an illegal guild if they were being allowed to participate…. but the naive comment certainly underscored the fact that people didn't know anything about Raven Tail, aside from their supposedly sordid past.
And finally it was Fairy Tail's turn. When Team A and Team B walked out onto the field, they received a mixed response from the crowd. There were some polite applause – perhaps from past supporters – but the overwhelming response was negative as people booed them. They even got a few pieces of trash thrown at them, and when a mostly empty soda cup bounced off Lucy's head, Natsu roasted it in midair and turned to glare at whoever had thrown it.
Erza hurriedly grabbed his arm and muttered, "Don't pay attention to them. That'll all change soon enough."
He grumbled something under his breath, probably something not too nice either…. and Lucy was in a foul enough mood to not care how rude he got.
Suddenly everyone's attention was distracted by Mato – the pumpkin mascot of the Grand Magic Games – as he made a new announcement.
"Alright Pumpkins! Now that you know who'll be competing, let me introduce your three commentators, announcers, and judges! First, our very own announcer, Chapati Lola! Sitting next to him is Yajima – a former member of the Magic Council. And thirdly, Jason from Sorcerer Weekly will be commentating and also covering the Games from up in the booth!"
There was a round of applause, and then Mato continued. "And of course I'm Mato! Your friendly pumpkin mascot!"
Then from up in the judge/commentator box, Chapati said, "Thank you for the introductions Mato! Now, let's go over the schedule and rules for the competition. Days one, two, and three will each have four battle rounds. On day one there will be one challenge, on day two, two challenges, and on day three, three challenges. Day four will have battle rounds between teams of two and the grand finale…an all-out fight between all the guilds!"
"Wow…sounds like we have a full schedule." Lucy muttered, feeling a few nerves kicking in at the sound of all that competing and fighting.
"Yeah! Bring it on! I'm all fired up!" Natsu predictably concluded with fire snorting out of his nose.
After the rules were explained, the first challenge of day was instantly sprung upon them.
"Contestants! Please choose one member to compete in the first competition of this year's Grand Magic Games!" The weird pumpkin-headed mascot yelled into his lacrima microphone.
Lucy wasn't exactly in a better mood… in fact, she was now also incredibly pissed – probably from all those boos from the crowd. By the tight set of her friends' shoulders, she could tell it bugged them too. There was something distinctly not fun about having thousands of people all jeering at you.
It grated on her nerves and got under her skin despite her best intentions, and before she knew what she was doing, she had volunteered to be the first contestant in the game. None of her teammates objected, they just cheered her on and told her to, "Go get 'em!"
She stepped forward alongside Wendy – who had been chosen from Team B. Next to them, all the other competitors stepped forwards as well, and Mato cheered, "Alright Pumpkins! Let's get started shall we?!"
Abruptly the scenery shifted with a suddenness that took Lucy's breath away and left her feeling a little dizzy. All the other competitors disappeared as well, leaving her alone in what looked like a jungle environment of some sort…reminding her eerily of the alien and tropical forests on Tenrou island.
The sound of Mato's voice echoed out loud over her head through the heavy leaves that hid a lot of the sky from her view. "As you can see, we have constructed a large magical illusionary field for this challenge! The rules are simple! It's a treasure hunt! You have to find three objects, and whoever does it first wins first place! The subsequent places will be decided in the same manner. All magic is allowed, and fighting is also allowed! If any contestant concedes defeat due to an injury or gets knocked out, they will receive zero points!"
It seemed simple and straight forwards, except for the fact that Lucy had no idea what objects she was supposed to be looking for. The answer to that question was given swiftly though, as a magical piece of paper suddenly popped into being and dangled in the air in front of her nose until she grabbed it.
Bringing it to where her eyes could focus on the text without having to cross, she read the paper's contents – which turned out to be a list of the items she was looking for. In order, it listed the items as: a compass, a star flower, and lastly a live minkrat. At the top of the paper it said in bold, "COLLECT IN ORDER," which, to Lucy, stank like crazy of a hint. Taking a wild guess, her first move was to summon Grandpa Crux.
"Open! Gate of the Southern Cross! Crux!"
With a hoot and puff of drab brown feathers, the elderly owl spirit poofed into existence, sitting on air as usual and looking a bit sleepy. "Hello Miss Lucy. What can I do for you today?"
"Hello Grandpa Crux. I'm participating in the Grand Magic Games, and the first challenge is a treasure hunt. I think the items here might be related somehow…" She showed him the page, and he glanced it over.
"I see… well, let me take a look and see what I can find about these three items." The old spirit's eyes closed as he performed a search.
Soon snores could be heard, and Lucy waited patiently as golden spirals of magic escaped his body in wisps of information that she could only glimpse for brief seconds. It was as if the pages of a million books were all fluttering around him like butterflies that just happened to line up in perfect spirals and corkscrews.
With a hoot that sounded more like a screech, he jerked awake – wild-eyed for a few moments before ruffling his feathers and settling back into his normal sleepy expression. "Ahem. Yes, it's quite clever really. You see, Star Flowers are impossible to find normally. They grow at the very top of trees, hidden in between foliage. The only way to find them is with a compass, because they give off such a strong polarity that they attract the needle. As for minkrats, they are absolutely vicious little beasts, impossible to catch, unless you happen to have their favorite food. If you feed them, they will follow you loyally for at least a day, if not more. Their favorite food is…"
"Star Flowers…right?" Lucy finished for him, already seeing where this was going. "So this treasure hunt really is reliant on finding the things in order."
"It seems that way Miss Lucy. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No thank you Grandpa Crux. You've helped me tons." she responded with a grin, and waved goodbye as he poofed away with a puff of feathers. "Now I just have to find that compass."
…
Meanwhile, outside the huge jungle environment – the audience was treated to large lacrima vision screens that displayed each of the contestants, as well as a huge map that showed both them and the items. What the challengers didn't know was that there were lots of compasses, but they were all hidden in very random spots – such as the upper branches of a tree, under a rock, buried in a pile of dirt, dropped in a mound of loose leaves, and tossed carelessly into a bush. You really had to hunt for them and have your eyes peeled, or you would miss them.
Poor Wendy wasn't having much luck at all, since she didn't have access to outside information. However, Hibiki had done the same thing as Lucy, and was now operating on a higher level of understanding. The other competitors seemed to be in the same boat as Wendy… and all of them – including Lucy and Hibiki – were generally running around looking for compasses completely randomly.
Some seemed to be under the impression that there would be a building, or a monument, or something where all the compasses would be located, and were running around blindly looking for something big. Only a few slowed down and started to really search the area they found themselves in, and it was those few who uncovered their compasses first. There was one person however, who didn't seem to be hunting for compasses at all. Instead, they and their long red hair appeared to be hunting an entirely different sort of prey.
Out in the audience, Natsu was barely paying any attention at all to Flare… naturally all his focus was on Lucy, and to a smaller degree, Wendy. He could clearly hear the cheers of the rest of their guild – who had their own huge viewing booth within the general audience. Happy, meanwhile, was parked right next to the fire dragon and was helping him cheer on both Lucy and Wendy.
Wendy was one of the first competitors who slowed down from a frantic run and started to really search her surroundings – which didn't surprise Natsu at all. He suspected she had run out of spiz and just settled for hoping and sheer luck. Meanwhile, it took Lucy much longer to run out of stamina and stop running. She wasn't running aimlessly though, her head was up and looking around, eyes sharp as she looked for any glimpse of gleaming metal probably. As a celestial wizard who worked with metal keys, he knew she had been instinctively trained to look for small shiny things – from however many times her keys had flown from her hands and other similar situations.
Even at her high speed, she caught sight of one located high up in the branches of a tree and screeched to a halt. Natsu felt a broad grin strain his cheeks a bit as he watched her scowl up at the imposingly tall tree she now had to scale. Leave it to Lucy to look up, when most of the other competitors were looking at eye level. None of them had even glanced at the twigs over their heads, and plenty had already run under branches holding compasses. Despite being small, and way up high, those were the least hidden of all the compasses, which were all covered by something. It was funny that they weren't being found.
Meanwhile, Lucy was busy summoning her celestial whip from its handle. With a little pop of the glowing gold and blue tip on the ground, she judged the distance and angle of her swing. Her options here were to either grab a branch and swing herself up into the tree, or else she could aim directly for the compass. Aiming right at the thing ran a risk of breaking it though…. she didn't know how sturdy it was. So, with a sigh, she aimed at a high branch.
With a roll of her shoulders, she took a stance and snapped her whip, hooking the branch. Keeping the line taught, she stepped backwards and then jumped, swinging from her whip like Tarzan. Since she'd aimed for one of the highest branches, it gave her plenty of good velocity to reach the lowest branch at the peak of her swing. With an 'oof,' she hit the branch and hooked her arms over it, her stomach protesting the rough treatment a bit as the bark dug into her middle.
With some scrambling and ungraceful maneuvers that involved a lot of thrashing, she managed to get herself into the tree. Once against the trunk, scaling her way up to the compass was easy, although she wasn't a fan of shimmying out a branch to get it.
Once it was safe in her possession, she snapped her whip again and snagged another branch. Since she could lengthen her celestial whip at will, she simply lowered herself out of the tree with her prize.
…
Out in the audience, spirits and tempers were riling up as a few competitors met on the field. Most managed to completely miss each other, since it was such a large playing field, but Lyon and the Quatro Cerberus contender, Jager, managed to run smack dab into each other. Lyon seemed amenable to simply passing by and going on about his business, but Jager wanted to pick a fight. So, a small spat broke out on one side of the field and was displayed on a lacrima screen for the audience's viewing pleasure.
On the other side though, a less pleasurable beat-down had taken place. Flare from Raven Tail had stalked Yukino without anyone realizing it. Nobody knew what was going on… up until a rope of red hair snapped forwards unexpectedly and snagged Yukino's leg. It wrapped around and around, and then clenched tight, bending the appendage in unnatural ways. The tendril then grabbed the compass right out of the celestial wizard's hand. The entire audience seemed to express sounds of pain in unison as they saw the aggressive attack, and then boos and jeers quickly followed as Flare snuck away with her prize before Yukino could retaliate. It was a hit and run meant to cripple her opponent.
"Ouch…what the heck was that?!" Natsu grimaced, thoroughly disapproving of the sneak attack and cowardly retreat.
"I don't know…" Erza said, also looking highly displeased.
Gray sighed. "Well, Master Makarov did warn us about them. I mean, we all know that Ivan's a pretty bad dude… for Master to kick his own son outta Fairy Tail, I can't even imagine what he did. And he's their master."
Juvia nodded along to what Gray was saying, and then she added, "They might be a legal guild now, but they obviously still play dirty."
"Yeah…no kidding." Natsu grumbled, still feeling unsettled, but turned back to focus his attention on Lucy.
…
As for Lucy, she had no idea that battles were now taking place around her… she was entirely focused on the face of her compass. It was pointing her directly to her next objective, and she was heading there at top speed. She was making great progress, and then suddenly the needle flipped. She skidded to a halt so fast she nearly tipped over, but managed to regain her balance and spun around. Retracing her steps back to where it flipped, she found the spot where the needle suddenly went out of control, jiggling around like it was having a seizer. That meant the flowers were either directly above her, or below.
She doubted the flowers were actually growing, since the environment was just a magical construct. They would probably be in a container of some sort, not in the top of the trees growing naturally… and that made it equally likely for them to be buried. In fact, if someone was trying to throw her off the trail, burying them would be a really good ploy.
It would be easy enough to check.
"Open! Gate of the Maiden!"
With a pink wisp of smoke and flash of light, Virgo popped into being. "Hello Princess. Is it punishment time?"
Rolling her eyes at the odd greeting, Lucy simply shook her head. "Uh…no. Actually, could you check and see if anything is buried right beneath me?"
"Certainly!"
Quickly Lucy leapt out of the way as Virgo disappeared. Sure enough, only a moment later she reappeared right where Lucy had been standing, and to her delight, the maid was holding a box.
"This was buried beneath you Princess."
"Wonderful! Thank you so much Virgo!"
"Of course Princess. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No thanks, I've got it from here."
With another puff and flash of light, Virgo poofed back to the celestial realm as she bowed.
Opening the box, Lucy stared into it at the tiny little flowers piled high within. She could see why they were called star flowers. Not only were the tiny blooms white and shaped in five points like a star, but they also glowed. Quite frankly they were the prettiest flowers Lucy had ever seen – especially with her fondness for the heavens – and she couldn't help but feel sad that she would have to feed them to some little creature. Just because she couldn't resist, she slipped one into her hair and then closed the lid of the box and tucked it under her arm.
No sooner had she set off in search of a minkrat though, than something snagged her. Of course she'd been oblivious to the warnings shouted by her friends as they watched a certain redheaded aggressor heading right towards her. In fact it looked like the Raven Tail member had actually hunted her down, because she had passed up several other contestants on her way to Lucy. This had not gone unnoticed by Fairy Tail's resident redhead, but most other members of the audience had missed this little detail.
As for Lucy, all she knew was intense pain as something wrapped around her ankle and then squeezed tight. She had faster reflexes than Yukino though, and a key was in her hand before the tendril of hair could snake around her whole leg.
"Open! Gate of the Crab!"
With an audible snipping sound, Cancer's sheers cut the hair that had accosted Lucy and her ankle was freed. It was tender, but not broken thankfully, and she quickly spun to look at where it had come from. Glancing down at the ground, she frowned with confusion.
"What the…hair?"
"That's right Baby…" Cancer agreed, although he sounded a little bemused too.
As soon as Flare stepped out of the shadows though – with her weird hair wiggling all around her like tentacles – Lucy had a clearer idea of what was going on. It still left her more than astounded though.
"You can move your hair?" she asked the wizard, who she recognized as Raven Tail's candidate in this particular trial.
That fact alone would have put her on edge around the other woman, and considering that the Medusa-impersonator had just sprung a sneak attack on her, Lucy wasn't exactly feeling like making friends with this new arrival.
"Yes…" the redhead chuckled, and something in the tone sounded disturbingly demented. The way she tilted her head and locked strangely unfocused eyes on her also unnerved Lucy, and she took a step backwards while her fingers found the rest of her keys. "Too bad for you, Blondie…I found you."
"…Found me? Were you looking for me?" Lucy asked, not liking the sound of those words.
Flare just giggled and grinned in that unsettling way, before attacking. Long coils of red hair shot at her like a hundred lashes, and Cancer leapt forwards. His razor-sharp red sheers snipped in super-fast motion, cutting all the hair that zipped towards Lucy.
"My hair! My beautiful hair! How dare you cut it!?" their opponent shrieked, sounding horrified.
"Looks like it grows right back. I don't know why she's complaining." Lucy muttered and Cancer chuckled.
"That's right, Baby. She doesn't have any reason to whine."
She held her own against the strange woman from Raven Tail…up until something – or someone – stabbed her in the back with a shaft of pain.
It was unreal… unlike anything Lucy had ever felt before. There was no physical wound. There was no blood, no weapon that she could see, but it felt for all the world like something had just pierced her…and yet not, at the same time. Aside from the pain of it, whatever it was, there was also a remaining sensation, as if something had been left inside of her.
At the first impact, she had gasped and staggered forwards, wide-eyed and shocked… but as soon as she gathered her wits, she spun to look behind her, trying to figure out who'd attacked her. Nobody was there though, and when she looked back at Flare there was no indication that the redhead had been the one to do anything. Actually, she looked just as surprised as Lucy, but judging from the quick smile and glitter in her eyes, she quickly figured out what had happened. That was more than could be said for Lucy, but if she had to guess, she'd bet that one of Flare's teammates had just cheated and did something nasty to her from up in the stands.
It soon became apparent what sort of nasty spell it was, and Lucy's theory was even more solidified when her strength slowly began to drain away. It was like she was a balloon and a hole had been popped in her… just enough to let all the wind in her sails flutter away, until every bit of her magic flickered and died. With a spark, Cancer flickered and then left as his gate shut unceremoniously on him – thanks to Lucy's draining magic.
He managed to get out, "Sorry…Baby…" as he got dragged back to the celestial realm, but he was gone before she could respond.
Very soon she found herself on her knees and at the mercy of Flare's long scorching tresses…a fact which the other woman took full advantage of. As a rain of blows started to land across Lucy's still-pained back, all she could do in retaliation was use her whip, which she pulled from her waist and snapped forwards to snag Flare's ankle. With a yank, she managed to rip her opponent's feet out from under her, and Flare went down hard on her butt with a squawk.
That little trick wasn't going to work twice though…a fact which was made abundantly clear to Lucy when a rope of red-hot hair snapped around both wrists and ankles like shackles and lifted her to dangle helplessly in the air.
At that point, Lucy was completely drained of magic. Though she could feel hints of warmth that must have been Natsu's flames, it was like they were reaching her from behind a closed door…as if whatever had punched a hole in her magic to drain it away also acted as a shield against Natsu's magic. It must have been an incredibly strong spell to hold up against his fire, which just made her more anxious about it.
She couldn't spend too much time thinking about that though, not when the hair binding her had begun to burn her skin, and the lashes that bombarded her once again were likewise scalding. It hurt too much for her to even be worried if her clothes were going to survive the experience.
Then abruptly the blows stopped, with a suddenness that was almost as disorienting as the constant rain of blows.
"Wh—wha…?" she groaned, and then grunted as she was dropped. Looking up, she saw a green glow that signified a familiar shield had popped up in front of her, and the white fur right in front of her face was none other than Amy's.
"You okay?" the wolf asked as she spat out bits of red hair…suggesting she had been the one to sever Lucy's shackles.
"I'm…not sure…" was all the celestial mage could wheeze as she barely managed to push herself up to her hands and knees.
That spell was draining more than just her magic power. It also seemed to be draining her physical strength too. Or maybe it was simply taking so much magic that it was giving her magic reduction sickness. It was just lucky she still had the tiny smidge of power necessary for her mythic celestial spirits to summon themselves.
"I think you'd best skip outta this game and go get checked out in the infirmary." a male voice said from behind her, and she didn't have to look to know it was Bartolomeo. His turtle shell shield was ID enough.
"I…I don't want to give up…"
Amy came even closer and sniffed her all over. "You stink of demon magic…like you've been cursed. And that woman over there is no demon. So I agree with Bart on this one…you should really head to the infirmary and get that curse fixed before it hurts you more than it already has."
"Shit…" Lucy grunted and then raised a hand and loudly announced, "Forfeit!"
A beeper sounded, and Mato popped up in front of her. "Forfeit you say? Are you sure? Oh my, you don't look well…"
"I…need to go to the infirmary." she admitted with a grimace…trying to ignore the sounds of Flare's insane laughter and the jeering and boos that she could hear coming from the audience outside.
"Alrighty then." Mato said, and she was instantly transported outside of the gaming field with him. Both her spirits dissipated as she was magically transported out of the arena.
Natsu and Happy rushed over a few seconds later, and the last thing she felt before losing consciousness was a pair of warm arms wrapping tight around her body and lifting her.
When Lucy opened her eyes only a few moments later, after a short blackout, she was being carried. "Wha-what happened?"
"You passed out." Natsu's voice rumbled against her ear, and she chuckled at the obvious statement while nestling her face closer to the warmth of his chest.
"Obviously…"
She could feel his shrug. "You're the one who asked."
When her eyes drifted upwards, he was giving her a small smile and she returned it. "True. So I guess you're taking me to the infirmary?"
"Duh!" Happy responded this time. He was perched on Natsu's shoulder, and despite his almost aggressive response, he was busy trying not to cry. "You're hurt Luushy!"
She cooed at him, his telltale slurring of her name meaning that he was really upset. "I'm gonna be okay Happy…don't worry."
He sniffed and nodded, and she reached up to pet him for a moment, but soon had to let her hand drop back into her lap. It was too exhausting.
Normally by this point she would have insisted Natsu put her down and that she could walk by herself, thank you very much, but at the moment she didn't bother. For starters, she already knew it was pointless, he would just continue to carry her while laughing and probably calling her weird or stupid. Besides that, with the way she was currently feeling, she didn't even know if she could walk on her own.
"Yep. Maybe Porlyusica can get rid of that curse for ya."
"That's the second time a curse has been mentioned. Amy said something about it before…"
"She was right. The smell's all over you. Raven Tail must have a demon in their team…and they're cheating." A hint of a growl entered his tone, and she could easily feel the way his arm muscles bunched with tension.
"It wasn't Flare. Amy said she didn't smell like a demon. And it hit me in the back…so I'd have to agree with you there. They cheated. Unless of course it was just some random demon who randomly decided to pick on me at that particular random moment for unknown reasons…but that doesn't really seem likely."
It took Natsu a moment to pick apart her odd sentence, but he soon seemed to understand and snorted in amusement. "Demons are like celestial spirits. We don't generally hang out in Earthland for no reason. This guy was either summoned or is a mythic type like me who's on a mission of some kind."
"Which means it might have something to do with Tartarus." Lucy surmised and could feel her voice go flat.
Natsu answered with another displeased rumble in his throat and Happy whimpered a little.
Soon they were entering the infirmary and Lucy was busy with Porlyusica and her crotchety attitude, so their conversation took a backburner.
"What in the devil happened to you child?" she fussed, tsking over her as Lucy was placed on a cot. "You're all bruised and burned. And…oh dear."
It seemed the older medical wizard had picked up on Lucy's other problem, which wasn't surprising since she was so powerful and wise – if also a pain in the ass.
Instantly, wizened hands were running over her, and she could feel the tingle of magic as Porlyusica did all manner of diagnostic spells on her body. "How in the world did you come by such a nasty curse?" she finally groused, looking as sour as if she had just sucked on a sour plum. "Honestly, you Fairy Tail wizards always end up with the strangest ailments."
With more mutterings she walked over to a cabinet and started pulling out supplies as she made some sort of potion. Natsu came and parked himself in the chair next to her bed and Happy hopped up next to her while they waited for Porlyusica to finish making whatever magical remedy she was working on.
As she left them to their own devises, a new visitor to the infirmary caught their attention. It was Yukino, who looked in a bad way as she was brought in by Rogue. Her leg was wrapped in some sort of cast but she still seemed to be in an enormous amount of pain.
"Yukino! What happened?!" Lucy immediately called, and the two Sabertooth guildmembers looked over. Their path veered from the bed they had been aiming for to instead park in the spot next to Lucy as the Sabertooth medical personnel rushed over to start treating her leg.
"I…" Yukino started and immediately stopped to wince as the doctor cut off her cast, exposing a truly grisly sight. Though the bones looked like they had been professionally reset, Lucy could see blood where they must have broken the skin.
"I was caught off guard…the redhaired woman from Raven Tail snuck up on me and stole my compass, breaking my leg in the process. She ran before I could return the favor. Thankfully I had found several backups, so I still finished second place…"
"Wow…you still finished even with those injuries? Your leg looks like it was broken in…" Lucy eyeballed it before her stomach gave out and forced her to gag and look away. "At least 5 places. You had to be in absolute agony. How did you even move? And who set it?"
"I summoned Ophiuchus … the thirteenth zodiac. One of her forms is a nurse, and she brought me a crutch and reset the bones, putting me in that temporary cast. She didn't do anything else to heal me though because I didn't have the time. If I hadn't finished at least second…I probably would have been kicked out of Sabertooth."
When Natsu and Lucy's horrified eyes rose to meet Rogue's for confirmation, he solemnly nodded. "Yes, it's true. Sabertooth is based around the concept of strength, and even finishing second could put you at risk for being expelled. The fact that Yukino was injured so badly is also dangerous…our master could decide she's too weak to stay…but since she pushed through the pain to finish in second place, he decided to give her another chance. It was close though."
Natsu and Lucy shared a look of disgust. Lucy wasn't going to say anything, but of course Natsu didn't know the meaning of holding back for the sake of being polite.
"Your guild sucks." he stated, and Lucy almost laughed at the shock that crossed Yukino and Rogue's faces.
"That's…that's an incredibly rude thing to say…" Yukino gasped, while Rogue recovered quickly and just sighed and shook his head with a slight smile.
"Natsu's like that. He calls it as he sees it." the other dragon chuckled mildly, but then a serious expression overtook the one of amusement. "But…in all honesty, we have been…contemplating the possibility of needing to relocate."
Yukino drooped and sighed sadly, nodding. "It's true. I think of Sabertooth as my home but…there's only so much a person can take. Sting though, he's still determined to tough it out. He never gives up, not on anyone or anything. He was there long before I joined, and I'm afraid that some of their principles on strength have been drilled into him too deeply. Anytime the topic comes up, he gets incredibly angry, so we haven't mentioned it to him in a while."
The conversation stopped, and all eyes turned to Natsu as he leaned in to Yukino and sniffed her deeply.
"Um…what are you doing?" the other girl asked, cringing back a little.
"He's probably sniffing for demons. I also fought with the redhead from Raven Tail… and got cursed in the middle of it. All my spirits tell me that I stink of demon magic."
"Demons? Do you think Raven Tail is connected to Tartarus?" Rogue asked, his eyes instantly growing sharp.
"Oh yeah, they've got a demon with 'em for sure…but I guess it's not the redhead. You don't smell like demons. So that means whoever cursed Luce was on the sidelines. The dirty fucking cheaters."
Yukino also looked highly perturbed. "That might also explain why the redhead went after Lucy and me…"
"That's not good…do you think they wanted us both in the same place for some reason? Like to kidnap us or something?"
"Maybe…"
They were interrupted then by the return of Porlyusica, who glared at them all and then turned her back on the Sabertooth team, cutting them off rudely.
Then she shoved a bubbling noxious liquid in a vial at Lucy. "Here. Drink all of this. It will at least put the curse on pause until we can find a proper cure. Otherwise you're going to drain dry, and it'll start affecting your life force."
Cringing – both at the thought of her draining life force and the substance now being presented to her – Lucy gingerly took hold of the flask. With a deep breath she raised it as if offering a toast to Natsu, who grinned encouragingly – and then she downed it. Somehow she managed to slam back the majority of it before a nasty burning and flavor hit her and she started to sputter in distress. The last bits filled her mouth and she dropped the vial – which Natsu snatched up quickly to hand off to Porlyusica. With watering eyes, she valiantly did everything in her power to swallow the last bit, but it took several seconds of struggling before she managed to get it down.
She finished the whole ordeal off with a bout of choking and coughing, which caused Porlyusica to roll her eyes and walk away with something that sounding like, "Overdramatic to a fault…the lot of them…"
Once her choking fit had settled down – with very little help from Natsu, who simply patted her on the back rather harshly – she lay back and groaned. "That was nasty stuff…"
"Smelled pretty nasty." her boyfriend agreed with a sympathetic nod.
The sounds of cheers from outside drew his attention for a split second and he glanced at the tiny windows high up in the wall.
"You should go watch the rest of the matches and stuff…" Lucy mumbled, already feeling her eyes getting heavy as a thick sort of lethargy began to make its way through her limbs. She'd bet anything that the concoction she'd just swallowed had a good dose of sedative in it as well … or else this was just a side effect of the stuff.
"Luce…"
They were interrupted by a certain pink haired medical sorceress. "Go. She needs her rest. And I need peace and quiet to bandage her."
"But…what if the Raven Tail creeps try to kidnap her or something while I'm gone!?"
"She's safe here. This is the infirmary, not a damn battlefield. Now get lost. After I tend to her wounds, I have to make some more potions and poultices for her and you'll just be a distraction."
"I'll stay with her." Happy squeaked, hiding when the medical mage gave him the stink eye.
With an exasperated sigh she rolled her eyes. "Alright fine, you can stay, but keep your trap shut and sit over there!" she pointed at the chair next to Lucy's bed, which was vacant because Natsu had leapt to his feet at some point.
The rest of their words were lost on Lucy as she started to drift off to sleep.
…
After a good deal of time spent arguing pointlessly with Porlyusica, Natsu finally conceded defeat and left while the old hag started to bandage up Luce's burns.
On the way out, Yukino and Rogue gave him matching expressions of sympathy, and Rogue subtly whispered, "Uh…your healer is very…interesting."
Natsu snorted and rolled his eyes as he exited, muttering back, "Yeah, you've got no idea."
Soon he was slouching through the halls and back to their balcony.
"So, what'd I miss?"
"Not much. They're just finishing up the treasure hunt. How's Lucy?" Levy responded from her spot as Lucy's temporary replacement. Or at least he assumed that's what she was doing here.
"She's sleeping and Porlyusica is patching up her wounds." he answered, not bothering to ask.
"Good." Erza grunted, nodding in a satisfied manner.
As the game wrapped up, their little conversation – such as it was – was interrupted by Mato as his voiced boomed through the auditorium across lacrima speakers. "Alright! And that concludes the Treasure Hunt! All the final scores are now displayed on the board!"
A lacrima screen popped up and displayed the scores for everyone to see. It read:
Raven Tail: 10 – Sabertooth: 8 – Lamia Scale: 6 – Blue Pegasus: 4 – Mermaid Heel: 3 – Quatro Cerberus: 2 – Fairy Tail Team B: 1 – Fairy Tail Team A: 0
They all blinked up at the scores with varying irritability.
"How in the hell did Raven Tail get first!?" was Natsu's first question.
"With all the stuff that redheaded chick stole, of course she'd get first. She took Lucy's flowers when Lucy forfeited, and then she went after Wendy and got her Minkrats." Gray answered with an angry scowl.
"And that's why Wendy got last place…but at least Wendy managed to escape without getting hurt." Levy added on with a sigh.
"Technically we got last place with zero points since Lucy forfeited." Erza corrected.
After a brief pause, Juvia's voice sounded and they all turned to glance at her. "I'm just surprised that Sabertooth managed to nab second place after…what was her name…Yukino? I think that's correct…anyway, after Yukino got hurt so badly. I'm impressed."
"Me too. That girl's got spirit." Erza agreed with a nod. "But still, we can't afford to lose focus. We must win our matches in the battle round to stay in the running."
"Speaking of…" Natsu muttered, as Mato got back on the speakers at that very moment and bellowed, "And you know what this means Pumpkins! It's time for the battle round to begin! First on our list of competitors today is…Raven Tail and Fairy Tail Team A!"
Fierce grins lit everyone's faces as they all thought the same thing. It was payback time.
"For this round, our competitors will be Gray Fullbuster and Nalpudding!"
Gray eagerly hopped down into the arena and was joined by an odd, squat, purple guy. He was pretty weird looking, and that was saying a lot coming from a celestial spirit like Natsu. But the fact that Gray's opponent had purple skin and bright clashing blond hair was pretty hard to miss.
As soon as both contenders were in the arena, Chapati Lola from up in the judge box said over the lacrima speakers, "Contestants! The rules of battle are simple. You have thirty minutes to knock out your opponent or force them to forfeit. At the end of those thirty minutes, if you are both left standing, it's a draw."
Mato, who was in the arena with them, chirped, "That's right! Now I want a good clean fight! Begin!"
A gong sounded and the two combatants went at it. Natsu gave a full-blown fangy grin and bellowed, "Kick his ass, Popsicle! Or I'll have to kick yours!"
"Shut up Flame-Fart!" Gray shouted back and then yelled, "Ice Make: Hammer!"
A massive hammer made of ice slammed down into the arena, cracking the ground right where Nalpudding had just been. Unfortunately the guy proved to be quick on his feet and dodged to the side at the last second. He took advantage of his unexpected speed and launched an attack on Gray – which took him by surprise. One of his arms turned into a huge spiky purple club – sort of like a puffer fish that just blew up – and bashed Gray over the head, putting him on the ground.
"Ouch!" Levy hissed, sucking in her breath.
At the same time, Juvia shrieked, "Gray!"
Natsu winced at the shrill sound and figured this was going to be a long match if Juvia couldn't tone it down a little.
Thankfully – although the hit had been heavy – Gray was able to peel himself back up off the ground and wiped a trickle of blood from his forehead, but aside from that he looked pretty much okay. He responded swiftly and made a battle axe… but this time he expected his opponent to dodge and launched a lance from the side to hit him. Nalpudding managed to leap over the projectile though, and then landed on it, smashing it to bits with a spiky butt.
"So… don't let him sit on you. Good to know." Levy muttered to herself, and Natsu snickered.
Gray looked really pissed now, which wasn't surprising. When Nalpudding launched another spiky attack his way, he erected a thick shield, before swiftly directing it to fall forwards when Nalpudding skidded to a halt in front of it. The purple guy managed to slip out from under the thick slab of ice before it could smash him flat, and he zipped around to smack Gray in the back. Thankfully Gray was able to duck and blocked with his spiky ice elbow, before spinning and slashing forwards with his other hand that was encased in a long ice lance. His opponent disengaged and jumped back, but not before the sharp tip cut a shallow slice across his chest. The Fairy Tail section erupted with cheers of support for finally landing a blow.
The fight continued and Gray began to gain ground against his adversary as he adapted to Nalpudding's quick moves and fast attacks. In a speedy combination of attacks, Gray made an ice floor and then slammed a thick cage over him as he slipped. Nalpudding couldn't break out of the cage before Gray had another huge hammer poised above it, ready to smash the cage and his opponent flat, but he suddenly winced and wobbled on his feet.
The hammer shuddered, and then it shattered at the same time that Nalpudding managed to break out of the cage.
"What the hell was that?!" Natsu yelled, and then winced when Juvia let out another screech of Gray's name as he got smacked over the head again with a spiky club. It looked like he was dizzy or something all of a sudden and hadn't been able to get out of the way in time.
When Juvia screamed again, Natsu flinch and yelled, "Pull yourself together and kick his ass already before your girlfriend makes me go deaf!"
His comment didn't even get a shred of recognition from Juvia, who was way too freaked out to pay attention to anyone other than Gray.
It looked like he was shaking off the dizziness, or whatever the hell that had been, and started to hold his own again. But every time he was about to land a hit, he would stutter again and lose hold of his spell. It was all timed so well that Natsu didn't even really notice, but Erza certainly did, as did Master Makarov and Yajima. There was no way to prove foul play…yet…but it was obvious that something wasn't quite right.
When Gray eventually lost by being pounded into the ground, it came as no surprise. The crowd erupted in a fit of jeering and booing at Fairy Tail's expense, which did nothing to make Gray's mood improve as he slowly peeled himself off the floor of the arena. Waves of anger and frustration rolled off him, tangible even from this distance.
By that point Natsu had figured out that something was wrong, and he was also boiling with fury and rage. He just couldn't wait to get his hands on that Raven Tail guild.
When Gray finally reappeared next to them, bloody and bruised, Natsu caught whiffs of demon magic off him that said he'd been in contact with a curse…though one hadn't been put on him directly. Instantly Natsu zeroed in on him and sniffed deeply – which got him a fist to the face from the irritated ice mage who apparently didn't appreciate being smelled.
"What the hell Ash-Breath?!"
Natsu would have retaliated, but he was still distracted. "You stink of demon magic…like Lucy." he growled, and Gray stalled out with his fist still cocked for another punch.
"I do?"
"Yeah, but it's not the same. A curse hasn't been put on you… only thing I can figure is that it must be on the arena itself."
"That must have been why you kept running out of magic power at the worst moments." Erza surmised, and everyone heard Gray's teeth grind with an unsettling sound.
After a long pause, Juvia gingerly stepped forwards and gently laid her hand on Gray's shoulder with a restraint that said she'd finally learned how to deal with him – after dating for months. "Gray…Darling, let's go get these wounds taken care of okay? Just a few bandages here and there and you'll be good as new."
Her tone was carefully controlled – a complete opposite to her frantic screams from before – but it was obvious that she was now well trained in getting him to do what she wanted. When he just grumbled and then followed her back into the hall and towards the infirmary, everyone watched with shock. They were all impressed.
"Well…it looks like Juvia has really learned how to manage our temperamental ice mage." Levy said lightly after a moment, and Erza chuckled.
"Indeed. She's something else. To go from…well, the way she was before, to this, says she has a great deal of empathy and adaptability. She really does seem to know just what to do and say to communicate properly with Gray."
"Hah…never saw that one coming." Natsu scoffed, thinking back to how she had been such a crazy stalker that just freaked him out.
"Love can be the best teacher." Levy shrugged.
"A comment spoken from personal experience I imagine?"
The taunt from Erza made Levy flush five hundred shades of red. She seemed relieved when Mato interrupted the strange conversation.
"Ten points to Raven Tail! On to the next match!"
That brought Raven Tail up to 20 points total, and they all winced in unison and groaned. The only thing to distract them from that humiliating defeat was to watch the following matches, which they all did with a lot more interest than any of them really felt. The second match was Arana Web from Mermaid Heel against Ren from Blue Pegasus. It was over pretty quickly… Ren blew away the spidery mage with a tornado. That put Blue Pegasus at 14 points. After that, War Cry from Quatro Cerberus went up against Yuka Suzuki from Lamia Scale, and nobody was particularly surprised when Lamia Scale took the points, bringing their score up to 16.
Next up was Gajeel versus Rogue, but right at the start of their match Natsu suddenly sensed that something was very, very wrong, and instantly refocused his attention onto Lucy. When he abruptly spun to glare down the hallway behind them, his teammates all gave him funny looks.
Gray grumbled, "What sparked a fire under your butt?" He and Juvia had returned during the second fight.
"Something's wrong."
...
Meanwhile, Lucy was sound asleep…up until she woke to the jarring sensation of someone throwing her over their shoulder. She jerked awake with an unpleasant start that made her head spin, and she groaned somewhat pathetically. Her befuddled brain took a second to kick into gear, but at the sound of a scream it scrambled to catch up a little faster. She blinked and stared, catching sight of Yukino. The other girl was currently fighting off a masked and hooded attacker who seemed intent on snatching her out of bed. Rogue must have also left to go watch the games, or maybe he had been summoned to compete.
Lucy's attention was quickly rerouted though when she realized that she had been snatched as well and was dangling over someone's shoulder face down. As soon as this realization stung her in the butt, she instantly started to thrash in her captor's hold, especially when she spied him grab up her keys which had been on her nightstand.
Porlyusica was nowhere in sight, nor were any of the other medical staff, but Lucy didn't have time to worry about what might have happened to them. She was too busy shoving a knee into her masked assailant's gut and then trying not to plant face-first into the wall as he staggered and grunted. She brought an arm up to guard her face from the wall as he bounced off it. If this person thought that taking her keys was all it took to subdue her, they were very mistaken.
She threw her elbow next and clocked him in the side of his head, making him stagger again, and his grip on her loosened.
Before she could even call for help, she felt two familiar paws latch onto her shoulder and airlift her out of her assailant's arms.
"I've got you Lucy!"
"Thanks Happy!"
A couple more masked men appeared as if from nowhere, making Lucy suspect that they might be demons of some sort, and one grabbed her leg. She kicked with the other, but he hung on, prompting a tug of war with Happy for possession of her person. Meanwhile, Yukino was being whisked out of the room and Lucy felt panic wash over her.
"Yukino!"
With a vicious flash of light, mist, and foresty smell, Amy and a couple of her pack blasted into being, already snarling. They tackled the attackers going after Lucy, but she immediately cried out, "Quick! They've taken another girl out of here already! We've got to save her!"
Amy nodded to three wolves who took off out the door, and within a matter of seconds Lucy heard screams and loud growls echoing back. And then the roar of a dragon ricocheted off the walls, and she couldn't help but smile. With a blast of fire he appeared next to her, and immediately started throwing his weight around, knocking masked assailants in all directions.
It wasn't long before the mystery men (or women) dispersed, a couple jumping out the window and others just seeming to melt into the shadows or ceiling. Some of the wolves tore off down the hall to track the few that went that way, while others leapt out the window. Natsu naturally made to pursue them, but Lucy quickly called out, "Yukino was taken!"
Nothing more needed to be said for him to bound out of the room after their new white-haired friend, and Lucy muttered under her breath, "I hope he doesn't cook anyone he's not supposed to."
While he was off tracking down Yukino, Happy gently lowered Lucy back onto her bed. Meanwhile, Amy and a few other wolves started sniffing everything over to try and pick up as much information as they could about these attackers' scents.
It didn't take long for Natsu to return with Yukino thrown over his shoulder somewhat carelessly – though, when he set her back onto her bed it was done gently. It seemed the other girl was out cold, and a bloody gash on her forehead suggested it had been done with a blow to the head.
"Is she okay?"
"I think so, just knocked out. And how about you?" her partner and lover asked, as he hurried to her side and lightly patted her all over to check for injuries.
"I'm okay…"
Natsu scowled down at the new bruise and scrape on her forearm where she'd bounced off the wall. The bandages that had been there were all torn up.
"So were those guys demons?" she asked, partly to distract him.
He frowned and looked around, sniffing deeply. "No…they were just human, although they reek of dark magic. I bet they work for Raven Tail."
Amy nodded. "None of them smelled like demon magic, though one or two had a very faint whiff that suggested they may have been in contact with one recently."
"That would suggest they really are working with Raven Tail then…" Lucy murmured, greatly concerned, but still feeling a little dizzy. Her brain rerouted though at a terrifying, infuriated shout.
"What the devil is going on here?!"
The loud voice belonged to Porlyusica of course, as she walked back into the infirmary which was now a disaster zone… and was also rather crowded with all the wolves.
"Well…you see…"
For the next few minutes, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy did their best to explain the situation to the grouchy medical mage. Amy was busy with her pack and didn't participate in that part of the conversation.
"So let me get this straight…in the ten minutes or so that I was gone getting supplies from the chemist, you managed to get yourself kidnapped and then rescued, while utterly wrecking the infirmary?"
"Um…basically."
"Where in the world were the guards?! How did this happen?" she growled, her arms crossed over her chest as she tapped her foot. "And where are all the other medical personnel?"
"That, I can answer." Amy suddenly spoke up. "Kuro just found them."
As a group, they all followed the black wolf Amy had pointed her nose to, and he led them to a closet a little way down the hall. Inside, they found all the medical personnel tied up and gagged.
Soon after releasing all the medical personnel and returning to the infirmary, the rest of Team A showed up. As soon as they were caught up to speed, someone ran off to inform Master Makarov. He arrived very quickly along with several guards to file a report, and Lucy lay back and watched as Porlyusica tore into them, saying that security was disgustingly lax and that she would be filing a formal complaint. It was almost amusing to watch the large, previously over-confident men quickly wilt under her tongue lashing. With a great many apologies, they promised that it wouldn't happen again and that security would be greatly increased around the infirmary. Naturally, nobody had seen any of the attackers' faces, so there wasn't much to go on, but the guards also promised to do their best to find them.
Amy had already been working on that though. The entire pack had been dispersed throughout the colosseum to search for any hint of the attackers, but apparently they'd used some sort of crazy intense scent blocker, because even Natsu couldn't track them. If her celestial spirits couldn't find them, Lucy didn't have a lot of hope that the security guards could.
The general consensus of everyone else was that it was likely a disgruntled fan or someone from one of the opposing guilds – which wasn't unheard of to happen in the Grand Magic Games – but since there was no way to tell exactly who had committed the act, nothing could be done. Lucy and Natsu decided not to tell anyone their suspicions about Raven Tail, since it would just look bad and there was no way to prove it. So everything proceeded as usual, although Natsu stuck by Lucy this time, instead of rejoining their team to watch the match between Team B and Sabertooth. Amy and her wolves stuck around too, patrolling the halls to keep an eye out for any more would-be attackers.
Naturally Porlyusica commented on that as well, saying, "Do you think your wolves are up to the task?"
"Of course."
She hmphed. "Well, it's better than the incompetent guards here at least."
As she walked away, Amy commented, "For being so talented and powerful, she's not very good at social graces is she?"
"Aye." Happy agreed.
"Why is she even here? She isn't acting like she volunteered to be our medical personnel for the Games."
Lucy shrugged. "I've been wondering the same thing. Master must have twisted her arm somehow or called in a favor."
"Well more power to him if he can get that woman to do anything she doesn't want to." Amy snorted, and Happy chuckled from his spot on her back. When she sat, he slid down her with a sputter and then popped out his wings to fly over to the chair and Natsu.
Over the next hour or so, Happy, Amy, and Natsu watched as Porlyusica fussed over Lucy, trying to completely remove the curse that was now mostly dormant thanks to the potion she had already drunk. No matter what the pink-haired mage did though, nothing seemed to work on the thing.
After a while of watching, Natsu perked up. "I think I might have an idea on how to get rid of that curse."
"What is it?" Lucy asked, excited.
"Maybe I can burn it out of you. I tried giving you my magic during the match, but it got blocked by the curse. Maybe at this range I can get past it."
Porlyusica stood at the foot of her bed and crossed her arms. "Won't burning it out of her injure her?"
"No, I'm immune to his magic." Lucy responded, sitting up and turning to face Natsu.
She could feel waves of disbelief coming from Porlyusica, but ignored her for the moment – though it was a little hard to do when she could feel the prickle of her stare. Instead, she focused on Natsu and his warm hand as he grabbed up hers. His eyes closed and he scrunched his eyebrows in concentration as he did his best to force his magic through the curse. She could barely feel him though, only a hint of warmth got through what must be a formidable curse indeed.
After a long moment he huffed and let go of her hands, and then he abruptly stood, leaning over her and staring.
"Um…it didn't work?"
"No…I can't transfer any magic to you that way. So we're just gonna have to do this the hard way. Where did the curse hit you?"
She blinked, wondering where this was going. "In my back."
His hands landed on her shoulders, and he pushed and pulled until she had turned around. Then he stared at her back and leaned in to sniff at her. After a moment he barked, "Take it off."
"What?"
He jerked at the fabric of her shirt to explain, and she yelped before giving him a glare over her shoulder. "No! I'm not going to strip in here! There's no privacy!"
Happy snickered from where he'd taken over Natsu's chair. "Don't be a pervert Natsu."
"Actually, that can be fixed." They all turned from Happy and looked at Porlyusica.
She reached up and activated a magic circle over the bed, and suddenly curtains popped up all around the bed.
"Great! Now take it off already and let me get a look at your back Luce."
With a few more protests, she reluctantly pulled her shirt off, feeling a little uncomfortable about being basically half naked with Natsu while Porlyusica was observing. Turning her back to him, she crossed her arms across her chest – bundling her shirt there for some modesty – and grumbled to herself.
Natsu poked around on her back, seeming to try and find the curse with little warm sparks from his fingers. When he finally touched it, he knew – and Lucy sure as heck knew as well, because she felt a zap of pain. It was right between her shoulder blades in the center of her back, over her spine, and it sent tingles up and down her whole body.
"Yiouch…!" she yelped and stiffened a bit.
"Uh huh, that's it all right." Natsu agreed, and laid his whole palm over the spot. "Brace yourself, this may sting a little."
"I figured as much…" she grumbled.
Sure enough, when he set fire to his hand it felt like a brand, even though his flames didn't hurt. It was the curse protesting and causing her pain. This time, she didn't complain, just grunted and hunkered down a little as she bore with it.
He started with a low flame, but naturally that did little, and the heat increased quickly as he grew frustrated with the stubbornness of this curse. The power of his flames soon caused enough light that she could see her shadow against the curtain in front of her, and felt the heat lick up and down her back. Her hair blew up and over her shoulders, pushed forwards by the intensity of his flames but not catching fire of course.
As for Porlyusica, this was the first time she'd ever seen anything like it, and she was left in absolute shock as fire blasted the girl's back without causing any sort of harm to her skin. It was a sight to behold, and she was positively stunned.
Of course Lucy wasn't aware of the older mage's reaction…. in fact, she'd basically forgotten about her presence. All her focus was directed on the pain shooting through her back as the curse fought back against Natsu's fire. She was slightly distracted however when the smell of smoke filled their small space.
With a hiss, she snapped, "Are you burning my bra?!"
"Oops, sorry."
She felt the fingers of Natsu's free hand reach down and unsnap her bra – or more likely he just ripped it off, since it was already flimsy from being fried to a crisp – and suddenly the straps over her shoulders went slack. With a sigh and groan, she slipped it down her arms and removed the still smoking fabric from under her bundled up shirt before tossing it aside. Yet another piece of lingerie down…she was going to have to go shopping again. Or maybe she could convince Virgo to bring her some more celestial garments…they were always quite pretty, and free of course.
The pain distracted her again though, because it was mounting fast as Natsu increased his fire power, pressing his blisteringly hot palms directly against her skin and trying to scorch the curse off her. It literally felt like he was pressing a red-hot hand-shaped iron to her skin, and even though his fire didn't hurt, the curse was agonizing. She couldn't help but let out a few pained whimpers, wincing and cringing under the torture but toughing it out.
"Sorry Luce… I've almost got it… just a… little… bit… more…" Natsu gritted out between his teeth, obviously hating to cause her pain, but determined to kick the curse to the curb.
In one brilliant, vicious, torturous, blistering flash, his fire hit an all-time high and the curse flared white-hot, feeling like it was melting right through her body and burning every bit of her it touched. And then suddenly it was gone, like a balloon that had popped into nothing. Lucy's sharp, high pitched scream cut off on a relieved groan and she slumped forwards, nearly toppling over until Natsu's palms cupped over her shoulders and steadied her. His fire snuffed out to a warm glow, just enough to sooth her aches.
Just to be safe, he swept one flat palm up and down her entire back, searching for any other spots he might have missed, but he was pretty sure he'd gotten it all.
"All right, I think I got it." He glanced over at Porlyusica, and she stepped in - shoving him back - and briskly examined Lucy in his place. He leaned back enough to give her room but didn't leave the bed.
"The curse is completely gone. Good. Now…" With that done, she concocted a recovery potion that would help speed up Lucy's healing and also the regeneration of her magic.
Once again, as soon as Lucy took it, she conked out almost immediately and it was up to Natsu to slip her shirt back over her head. Then he curled up on the cot with her, holding her as she slept. This time when Porlyusica griped at his presence, he just bared his teeth at her and growled, twining his tail around Lucy's leg to stake his possession and intent to not move.
She wasn't intimidated in the slightest and just cocked an eyebrow. "I suppose that means you aren't moving?"
"Damn right. If you need to treat her, I won't get in the way. But I'm not leaving."
For a long moment the healer eyeballed him and then eventually rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if I tell you to move, you move."
He shrugged and settled back down next to Luce.
…
They both dozed for a little while, and only woke once Gajeel made his way into the infirmary, limping and shockingly bloody. Rogue followed shortly behind, also beat up…which suggested he had been Gajeel's opponent.
"Yo…" Natsu grunted as he woke with a start, gently untangling himself from around Lucy. Gajeel just snorted and rolled his eyes at the sight of them twined together, while Rogue flushed and looked away.
"So who won?" Yukino asked groggily as she also woke. The Sabertooth hired doctor had already checked her over and fixed her up again from the botched kidnapping.
"I did, but I'm so sorry for not coming to help you. I should have just left the battle…and I would have if I hadn't heard Natsu's roar. But…"
"It's fine Rogue, you know what would have happened if you left in the middle of a fight to come and save me. We would have both been kicked out of Sabertooth. You did the right thing." Yukino soothed her spirit. "Besides, I'm fine. I just got a little goose egg, that's all."
Rogue breathed out a deep sigh of relief.
"So you beat Metal Head over there?" Natsu grunted, hooking his thumb at Gajeel.
"Oh shut up, ya little pissant!" Gajeel spat from his bed next door.
Natsu whirled around. "You trying to start something?"
"You want a beating? I'll give you one!" the dragon slayer snarled, cracking his knuckles.
And then suddenly he grew stiff and fell over in a dead faint. All eyes went to Porlyusica, who had just pinched his shoulder in what looked like a gentle manner.
"What the hell did you just do to him?!" Natsu sputtered, his eyes wide with shock.
"It was just a nerve pinch. Now all of you shut up! I have a job to do and you're being pests!"
They all cringed under the withering glare she sent them, and silence reigned in the infirmary as she worked.
After a moment, Rogue quietly continued their conversation as Porlyusica started work on patching up Gajeel. "Yes, I did beat him, but he somehow managed to absorb some of my shadow ability. I'm still not sure how."
Natsu's eyebrows shot up. "No shit? Well…he is a dragon slayer…I wonder if that's how he did it."
Despite himself, he was impressed, but like hell would he ever let Gajeel know.
After that, all conversation quit, thanks to an acidic look from a certain temperamental healer, who apparently still had trouble with them even though they were being so quiet. Even when Sting joined them shortly, after a very quick whispered conversation between Sting and Yukino, silence once again took over the room.
By the time she finished bandaging up Gajeel, Lucy had woken and felt good enough to leave. With a very brisk approval from Porlyusica – which mainly consisted of, "You're fine now. Get out," they left and headed back to the hotel, bidding Yukino, Rogue, and Sting good night.
They met up with the others and then traded information. Lucy and Natsu told the others in greater detail about the almost-kidnapping and their suspicions that it had to do with Tartarus. The others then told them about the battles that they had missed. At some point Lucy started nodding off though and had to head to bed before any of her roommates. She probably still had lots of medicine in her system, so they all wished her a good night, and her roommates said they would be along shortly as well since they were all very tired too.
She told Natsu good night and gave him a peck on the lips, which he thankfully didn't deepen since she really wasn't up to it tonight. Then she headed for the stairs and bed.
Amy and Happy joined her on the way up, and Amy muttered, "My pack is patrolling all around the hotel. We've smelled those masked goons snooping around, but we won't let them get close. I'll be patrolling the hotel itself with one other wolf, so we won't scare any of the other guests."
Lucy tiredly nodded at the white wolf. "Thank you so much Amy…I feel safe knowing you and the pack are out there. We'll need to tell the others that you've been smelling those creeps though."
"I'll be sure to let your master know." Amy said and turned, heading back down the stairs.
Lucy staggered up the last few stairs and somehow made it to her room and bed, before plopping down onto it fully dressed. She was absolutely exhausted, and the medicine still in her system was making it even worse and a little dizzy on top of it, so she was beyond ready to get some shut eye. Happy curled up on Lucy's pillow as she bundled up for sleep, expecting to pass out as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She was correct. She didn't even hear anyone else come into the room. However…it was a very different story a couple of hours later, after most of the celebrations had petered out and everyone had gone to bed. Lucy woke with a jolt from some muddy dream that left the stench of anxiety floating through her head, and the abrupt awakening left her utterly disoriented. With whatever was left of Porlyusica's potions, combined with being exhausted, plus not having Natsu with her, and sleeping in a strange bed, she suddenly didn't know where she was…or even what day it was.
Panic hit her hard and fast, causing her heart to race in her chest, which only made her panic worse. A deadly cycle began…leading to an all-out panic attack as she suddenly grew afraid that she might have a heart attack. Naturally – and ironically – those fears only made her heart pound harder and faster, until it was almost painful. Her breathing came in harsh pants, and the darkness of the room did nothing to help her calm down. Acting on instinct, she practically fell out of bed and crawled her way over to the light of the glass doors and the balcony. She clambered outside and the cool night air slapped a little sense back into her.
Still, the panic remained, making her chest tight and painful as her pulse throbbed in her ears. It was all she could hear. At least now she knew basically where she was as fuzzy memories began to surface through the sticky, lingering terror, and the one thing she latched onto was Natsu. He could fix this…she knew he could.
She was just about to wheeze his name, when a spark of light flashed in the shadows of her nighttime balcony, and from a wisp of fire and smoke Natsu popped out. He must have sensed her fear and transported to her directly from his room, instead of using a conventional travel method.
As soon as he saw her sitting curled up almost in a fetal position against the balcony fence, he softly yelped "shit!" and made a beeline straight for her. Instantly she was surrounded by warmth as he fell to one knee and grabbed her face gently with both hands, staring anxiously into her wide eyes.
"Luce! What's wrong?!"
"I…I woke up…and I didn't know where I was…must've been the leftover medicine…" she panted. "It…triggered a panic attack…and…my heart…it won't stop pounding…it hurts…I'm scared…"
She was winding up again, and he could feel her mounting fear. His eyes cleared though, and his face lost a lot of the anxiety. "Hey, you're gonna be okay."
Somehow that was exactly what she needed to hear, and she looked up at him with teary eyes. "R-really? I'm gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, sure you are Luce. Everything's gonna be just fine. Just breathe and your heart'll calm down here in a minute. Don't worry."
He wrapped his arms around her and gathered her up before turning them and sitting down under her, leaning so his back rested against the balcony. He sat her on his lap and she was surrounded by warmth as he guided her to lean back against his chest. With her resting against him, his slow even breaths pressed against her and she actively tried to imitate them.
It was hard though and slowing down her breathing just made her feel like she was suffocating, so she had to pick it back up a little. Natsu's presence did a lot to ease the fear, but there was still enough of it that she felt extremely uneasy and anxious. After a long moment, Amy also popped up and joined them, not making a fuss or saying anything really, just curling up at their side, close enough for Lucy to reach over and pet her if she wanted to.
It wasn't long before Happy sleepily tottered out onto the balcony too. He'd slept through her ungraceful exit from their bed, but apparently her extended absence had woken him up.
"Luuushy?" he mumbled sleepily, slurring her name.
"Here." she called back softly, not wanting to wake the others.
"What're you guys doing out on the balcony?"
"I had a panic attack…"
His eyes instantly cleared and worry replaced the sleepiness. "Oh no! Are you okay?"
"Getting better." she replied, wincing a little.
He immediately hopped over and plunked himself in her lap, cuddling up to her to provide as much comfort as he could too. She was still trembling a little, the remainder of leftover anxiety still shivering through her system. Negative chemicals were still being processed and flushed out, which she knew would probably take a few more minutes, so all she could do was wait it out.
"Hey, check it out." Natsu muttered in her ear and brought their linked hands up in front of her. In an obvious ploy to distract her, he made little flames dance in their hands and twine around their fingers.
"Pretty…." Happy sighed as he looked up at it from their laps.
Their blue companion was correct. It was enchanting, and it helped to ease her fears even more as she happily took the bait and watched the fire instead of focusing on the tension still thrumming in her stomach.
After a while of that, Natsu snuffed out the flames in their hands and instead hugged her close again.
With a one hand, Lucy reached over and buried her fingers into Amy's silky fur and stroked her head, letting the repetition of the movement and the tactile sensation lull her. Her other hand rested on Happy's head, not petting because he had fallen back asleep and she didn't want to wake him, but simply absorbing his warm furry presence. All the rest of her anxiety flowed out and left her limp in Natsu's arms as exhaustion weighed heavy once again.
"You ready to go back to bed now?" he asked softly, and she tensed up. Fear spiked in her belly and made her heart clench at the thought of going through that again. She had no way of knowing if she would wake up disoriented again and go through another panic attack, and the idea was utterly terrifying.
"But what if it happens again?"
"It won't."
"How do you know?"
"I just do." He kissed her on the temple.
"I'll come and sleep with you." Amy suddenly offered.
"I'm…not quite ready yet."
And so, they stayed out there on the balcony for a little while longer. Eventually Lucy started nodding off, and Natsu helped her and Happy back to bed. As soon as they were settled, Amy hopped up onto the bed too and curled up right next to her, taking Natsu's place as her space heater.
Sneak Peek:
After the cooking battle, it seemed strangely appropriate for the next battle to be between Mira and Jenny from Blue Pegasus. Apparently they had agreed to doing a pose-off instead of a traditional battle, which Lucy hadn't known about until they both walked out onto the field in bikinis and started striking poses. It was like a beauty pageant really, and was both funny and slightly embarrassing to watch.
Then, out of nowhere, all three girls from Mermaid Heel dropped down into the arena and joined in, apparently fired up and not wanting to be left out. Lucy just gaped at them… not that she wasn't already somewhat in a state of shock from watching Mira and Jenny sex it up out there in their teeny bikinis. Things just spiraled downhill from there, because - predictably - Sherry from Lamia Scale jumped down and joined in too, saying something along the lines of, "What's beauty without looove?"
And when the first master popped up in front of their balcony, Lucy had the sinking feeling that Fairy Tail wasn't going to be taking the high road on this one.