Author's Note:
Alrighty! It's Sunday! And you know that means...an update! Yay!
As always, huge snuggly thanks to all my fantastic amazing reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: Mihara, SunnieDayys, Anna5949, agirl0ntheinternet, illleashya, Firefly9917, valerioux, TheJSmooth, Donthedarkdragon26, quidditchChick6, Leomae2.0, aliciacevbra, mikeczajk12, sakshishetty3003, Lady La-sara, Lunar13, FluffyWuffy, stranger1999, and Lucinda. Equally big hugs and thanks to my newest reviewers: roxasduelwielder and Lexi1994.
Anywho...I know you're all eager to get to the good stuff, so let's get right to it shall we? ;D Be sure to stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter.
"I believe we should make a three-pronged strategy…"
Master Makarov was interrupted by a golden flash and the appearance of a familiar ghost-like figure. "I agree."
Everyone erupted into shocked exclamations at seeing the first master, and then the comments quickly switched to, "Alright! Now there's no way we can lose!" – "Yeah, with the Fairy Tactician on our side, we'll be invincible!" – "I heard she was responsible for ending the Second Trade War…" – and the like.
With her assistance, a sound battle plan emerged. They'd be splitting up into three groups, each with their own objective. The first two groups would be composed of two infiltration teams, kept small to reduce any attention they might garner. Rogue would lead the rescue team to find Yukino, while the neutralization team would go after the infamous demon gate and destroy it to prevent another Acnologia Incident. Hopefully that would put a stop to everything. Meanwhile, the third group would be massive, essentially everyone else from the guild, and they would commence a full-on frontal attack to hopefully distract the enemy.
Luckily, while they were in the midst of planning, Rogue suddenly went rigid and announced that he could feel Yukino again, which meant they were a-go for Operation Defeat Tartarus.
As soon as the game plan was solid, everyone geared up with their most powerful weapons, armor, and any backup gear they may need. Plus, Erza zipped into town to procure a large pride of ridable cats…the fastest transportation they could rent. Sting and Lector complained though, saying that they and Rogue could fly much faster, and the three of them should just fly ahead of everyone else. Master Makarov nixed that idea real quick though, saying that if they flew ahead, there was a chance they could be targeted by the enemy and shot down. Not to mention that it might expose their presence before they were ready for it… or that Sting, Lector, and Rogue might get overly excited and leave the rest of them behind.
After a brief, but fierce argument, Sting and Lector conceded defeat and went back to getting their shit together for the upcoming battle.
Thankfully, during the hour that it took everyone to get ready, Kurama reappeared with a potion that could hopefully reverse the curse on their paper guildmates. Most of the guild paused their preparations and gathered around as he trickled a single drop onto one of the papers.
Levy popped into being with a loud crack, looking exceptionally confused and disoriented, but luckily unharmed. "Wh-what the heck happened?"
She – and everyone else who was quickly de-papered – was updated, and most decided to also participate in the upcoming fight. That slowed them down just a hair because they had to wait for the newcomers to get ready, but it was worth the delay for the extra numbers.
Of course, Sting and Lector were still chomping at the bit with impatience, and as soon as they were done with their own preparations they ran around urging everyone else to hurry up – which got them snapped at more than once. Rogue was obviously also urgent, but he managed to restrain himself…. though everyone gave him a wide berth thanks to his blazing red eyes.
As soon as everyone was ready and mounted, Rogue, Lector, and Sting's cat launched out of the guildhall like a bat out of hell, forcing them all to hustle to keep up with them. Lucy didn't blame them though, she also felt desperate to get to Yukino as soon as possible. For all they knew, at this exact moment the enemy could be torturing her to death.
As they all hurried after Rogue, Lucy scooted her cat up to the front so she could ask him, "Can you tell what's happening to her? Is she okay?"
For a long moment Rogue remained silent, then said in a low voice, "She's in a lot of pain and her magic is slowly decreasing, as if it's being pulled from her. I don't know how long she'll last."
Sting's knuckles went even whiter where he clamped onto Rogue's shirt for balance, but he stayed quiet for once. Meanwhile, Lector just looked like his tough exterior was about to be broken by tears.
…
Even with their frantic pace, it took several hours to reach Tartarus's base, and when they finally did reach it, they didn't even know at first. They were in the middle of a large stretch of completely uninhabited land, so nobody expected Rogue to screech to a halt…. which caused a massive traffic jam as all the cats piled into each other.
"What the hell man?" Gray spat from somewhere in the middle of the pile as he removed some of Juvia's hair from his mouth.
"We just passed it." Rogue muttered back, but barely even seemed to be paying attention to the ice mage. He was too busy looking all around, and then his eyes turned up. "There! It's above us!"
"What? Where?!"
Everyone looked up, but it took them a long time before they were able to perceive the barely noticeable square of moving sky.
"No wonder we couldn't find the damn thing…it's fucking floating way up in the sky." Sting growled.
Laxus grunted in agreement. "Yeah, not to mention it's obviously got some serious camouflage magic on the bottom. I can barely see it."
"It's a good thing it's moving. If you look close enough, you can see the magic warping at the edges just a little as it adjusts to the changing background." Mira pointed out.
"Lucky? That's another reason we couldn't find it! How the hell could we have pinned it down if it's not stationary?!"
"Calm yourself, we don't have time to argue right now." Rogue scolded Sting, which caused a few brows to raise in surprise.
"Besides, you've gotta appreciate the irony. As Big Sis pointed out, that movement is allowing us to see it. So one of their biggest defenses is also one of their biggest weaknesses."
"Intriguing observation, Lisanna." Erza complimented, and the shape-shifting mage grinned back at her as they untangled themselves from their saddles – which had locked together in the cat-wreck.
"Alright…so, now what? How do we get up there?"
"Easy!"
Natsu answered Gajeel's question by popping out his wings, which knocked Laxus and Freed off their cat – which was still trying to get its reins untangled from Lucy and Natsu's cat's tail. The lightning dragon slayer hadn't been able to stop in time and rear-ended them rather hard in the pile-up.
"You flame-assed idiot! Watch where you whip those things out!" Laxus barked from his place on the ground. The only reason he hadn't retaliated yet was obviously because Freed had somehow managed to land on top of him …despite having sat behind him in the saddle.
"Gee-hee…" Gajeel snickered at the downed blond and greenette for a moment, then turned his attention back to Natsu. "Nice shot, but are ya stupid? Panther Lily could take me, but what about them?"
For once, the iron dragon slayer seemed to be thinking about someone other than himself… though it wasn't really surprising that his thumb had jerked in Levy's direction when he gestured.
Meanwhile, Natsu was starting to get a little smoky after being called dumb twice, but Lucy grabbed a handful of his scarf and cut off any and all snarky comments he might have made with a sharp yank.
"Who here can fly?" she asked, trying to solve their current problem before her mate could create a whole new one.
Amy then popped up next to her and offered, "Anyone who can't, we can carry." Several of her pack poofed into existence to elucidate.
There were various announcements of flight capability, but then Cana cut in with a far superior idea. "We want to go in under the radar right? They'll see us coming a mile away if we all fly up there like that. Instead, I can take you all up with me in a card deck. I'll just need someone to fly me."
"I'm your man." Lector said, walking right up to her and popping his wings out. "I'll get you up there in a flash."
Cana had been training right alongside the rest of them, and she now had some super cool new tricks tucked up her sleeves…like the ability to 'capture' someone in a card. Though, in this case, it would also let her transport an entire army into battle undetected. Lucy had known about her new ability but hadn't ever considered the possible applications of it outside of immobilizing an opponent, so she was duly impressed.
So were the rest of them – aside from a few key people who loudly proclaimed their preference to going in under their own power. Both Sting and Natsu were shut up soundly by Rogue and Lucy, and within just a few minutes Cana had snapped them all up.
As soon as the last person was sucked into a card, Lector grabbed Cana and took off, knowing that time was of the essence. The card mage was under an enormous strain keeping all the spells active simultaneously without losing anyone. The red Exceed went into hyperdrive right off the bat, shooting through the sky like a shimmery comet, and within just a few seconds they were cresting the edge of what turned out to be a huge floating platform… on top of which sat a massive castle.
The instant they landed, she released the spells and everyone poured out into one giant Fairy Tail heap. Simultaneously, Cana collapsed, utterly spent.
The only downside to this plan was that it used up all of Cana's magic supply in one fell swoop, essentially making her a sitting duck.
"Good job." Laxus complimented as he shook off Levy, Mira, and Freed, who had all landed on top of him. Then, he quickly turned and located Frosch. "Hey, how bout you take her back down?"
"Fro agrees." the little green Exceed said amicably, and whisked a very limp and sweaty Cana back down to the ground and safety. Fro obviously wasn't a fighter anyways, so it was a win-win situation.
Quite frankly, that had been a stroke of brilliance on Laxus's part, because mere seconds later, swarms of demons poured out of the mammoth evil-looking castle currently staring them down.
They all scrambled to their feet and untangled themselves, and then immediately split into their three designated groups. While the majority of the guild rushed forwards and engaged the oncoming demons in combat, Erza, Jellal, Mira, Laxus, Gray, and Juvia started edging around one side of the castle to look for an unobserved entry point. At the same time, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Kurama, Amy, Lector, Rogue, and Sting circled around to the other side for the same purpose and thankfully soon found a convenient window to penetrate.
Thankfully, it seemed to work, and they were able to enter the castle without any resistance.
Then it was just a matter of sneaking through the halls undetected as they followed Rogue on their rescue mission. At one point they ran into a group of demons apparently heading outside, but Lucy quickly summoned Sagittarius and shot them all down before they could so much as squeak. A few other instances like that occurred, but they always somehow managed to subdue the demons before attracting too much attention. Even Natsu was being sneaky and used long tongues of fire that zipped around like snakes, punching only his intended targets without blowing up the whole hallway.
When Lucy asked why he was always 'accidentally' destroying stuff when he had so much unexpected control over his flames, he just shrugged and said, "Well yeah…but it's not nearly as fun."
With a growl, she decided to let it slide for now, but tucked that little tidbit of knowledge away for a later date when she could really give him a tongue lashing. Now certainly wasn't the time, a fact which was repeatedly driven into her as they kept running into adversaries and taking them out. Still, they didn't run into nearly as much opposition as Lucy expected, thanks to Rogue.
By far, his was the most useful ability for an infiltration mission. Using his shadow form, he snuck along the walls and ceiling to check around corners and took any demons out before they knew what hit them. The only ones Lucy and the rest had to deal with were the few who came from behind – usually out of a doorway or from an adjacent hallway they'd passed.
In fact, things seemed to be going well for them…. which was precisely why the sudden and devastating attack took them by surprise.
Ice shot up the hallway, coating the walls, ceiling, and floor until every little nook and crevasse was frozen solid. It moved so fast that there was no dodging it. Lucy was only allowed a brief moment of recognition, and then the sensation of being frozen solid took over her body. She couldn't move, couldn't even breathe, and for a long moment she panicked as the burning cold overtook her entire frame. It was both numbness and agony, like the worst brain freeze in the world magnified by a thousand and spread throughout her whole body. Plus, asphyxiating wasn't particularly fun either.
Thankfully, she blacked out soon after she was frozen.
Unfortunately, Lucy wasn't the only one to fall victim to the demon known as Zero. Their entire team had succumbed. Normally, the celestial spirits could have just poofed back to the celestial realm, but even they were captured since the ice was apparently cursed.
Soon, a dark-haired man strode up the hallway in a casual manner, his hands tucked into his pockets. He stopped in front of the destruction he had wrought and pursed his lips. Quickly following behind was a lower-ranked demon, one of short stature and a slightly rotund figure with a single eye and spindly limbs. He huffed and puffed as he finally came to a halt behind the ice demon.
"King Zero! You did it! You captured the celestial mage! And look, you even captured six of her spirits!"
"No…only two actually. That one belongs to the blond male. That one is a demon. And those two are…something else entirely."
"Oh…but still! It is a wonderful thing! Three celestial spirits, and two celestial mages! What a haul!"
He just hummed and continued to inspect the iced enemies.
After a long pause, the single-eyed demon hesitantly continued. "Shall I transport them all to the extraction chambers?"
"No. Only these two. The rest will be sealed back in their realms."
"B-but Sir! Surely we can suck the magic out of the celestial spirits too! It would be a waste not to-"
The higher ranked demon turned to fix the other with a look that nearly froze his very soul. "It's too dangerous, they pose too great a threat. The celestial magic from these two and their keys is more than enough to complete the gate. There's no reason to endanger the operation by keeping these powerful spirits around. Look! The fire dragon is already melting my ice, it won't be long before they break free."
Turning back to his handywork, he swiftly made what looked like magic circles appear in front of all the spirits and demon – layering three in front of the fire dragon, since he was partially immune to the ice demon's magic.
Of course, they weren't 'magic circles'…. they were curses.
Instantly, the ice around the spirits cracked and then fell away to expose the empty insides, displaying that the once frozen occupants had disappeared, sent back to their worlds and sealed with a curse that froze their gates shut.
"Alright." he grunted while dusting off his hands, and then circled around behind the two humanoids left. Unfreezing only their hands, he snapped magic canceling handcuffs around their wrists, and then turned them completely loose. They both fell to the ground comatose, like two sacks of potatoes.
"They'll wake up soon enough." he said to the lower leveled demon.
"Indeed…and what about the little ones?" the squat demon asked, pointing at the little blue and red cats currently passed out.
Zero looked at them dismissively. "Leave them."
Then he bent and grabbed the keys off Lucy's belt and Yukino's keys from around Sting's neck.
Tossing the magic laden metal to the smaller demon, he said almost contemptuously, "Go on Arboss, take them to the extraction chamber."
Arboss grinned. "On it!" His face scrunched up, as if he was constipated, and then he suddenly began to expand, his short squat body becoming tall and muscular. Once he was about the size of Taurus, he quit, grinned again – showing off several rows of sharp pointy teeth – and bent over to sling both unconscious mages over his shoulders.
He took off at a leisurely jog towards the extraction chamber.
…
Meanwhile, two dragons and one wolf were very, very upset. They had been unceremoniously thrown into the celestial realm with a sensation that was very close to motion sickness. As soon as Natsu had completely upchucked his lunch, he threw himself at his gate, planning to go back out there and kick that icy bastard's ass.
But instead of crashing through his gate, he crashed into it and came to a dead standstill with his face plastered against the thing.
"What the fuck?!" he cursed, punching at the magical golden gate that he'd summoned to his courtyard. It didn't budge, not even a little.
A familiar enraged roar from another part of the celestial realm suggested that Rogue was having the same problem and had lost his marbles. That was precisely what they needed…a feral dragon on their hands. Great.
Angry howls also stung his ears and he winced at the racket everyone was making. Other spirits were starting to take notice and make a fuss, and he could already tell this was going to become a big problem.
Taking a deep breath and shoving his pride down, he bellowed, "BARTOLOMEO! GET OUT THERE AND HELP HER!"
Of course naturally, that was the universe's cue to have Lucy's magic get cut off. She didn't drop off the map, Natsu could still feel her through their mate bond, but it was as if something had sealed her magic away completely, making it unreachable. It was like looking at her through a glass door that he couldn't break.
"I CAN'T!" Bart yelled back from across the realm, already saying what Natsu knew.
"I KNOW DUMBASS!" he responded angrily, and pounded even harder on his gate.
Right now, he was the only one who could summon to her with their mate bond, and he was damned determined to make his idiot gate work. When pounding didn't do it, he pressed his hands to it, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with it. When a deep cold slowly started to bite into his palms and the stench of a curse filled his nose, he knew he was in deep shit.
That jackass had frozen his gate shut with cursed ice, and now he had to melt the stuff – which could take a while. Keeping up a constant stream of curses, he immediately set to work and transformed into his full dragon form – which took up all the space in his courtyard. Widening his stance, he took aim and started roaring at his golden gate, putting every ounce of magic he possessed into his breath and burning it with every fiber of his soul.
Even with that, he could tell it was going to take a while, but hopefully by using this much fire it would cut the time down dramatically.
The heat coming from him increased dramatically when he felt her wake up, and he widened their bond as much as he could to try and at least be there with her. He couldn't send her any magic with his gate locked up tight like this, but he could at least lend her his spirit, and could only hope she felt him through their connection.
"Hang in there Luce…I'm coming for you."
It wasn't long before other spirits started showing up…Leo…Aquarius…Bartolomeo…Amy…every single one of Lucy's spirits came to visit him, and soon they all started lending him magic, which was the only thing they could do to help. With her magic offline, none of them could summon to her.
His fire leveled up again as he started to feel pain from her…all sorts of emotional and physical pain that made him want to rip something to absolute pieces. He swore to himself that when he got out of here he would destroy whoever was hurting her…and in the most painful way he could. Hell, he would take apart that whole castle piece by piece.
All her other spirits felt it too, even though it was muted since her magic was sealed. However, it soon became apparent what exactly was going down when Virgo suddenly shuddered and yelled, sounding like she was in a lot of pain.
Everyone – aside from Natsu, who continued focusing on the gate – turned to her with questions of, "What's wrong?"
"My key…it was just…destroyed somehow." she gasped, and then winced. "No, not destroyed exactly, but something just happened to it…and…my link with Lucy…it's been severed."
Suddenly things became crystal clear.
"They're making a celestial gate too…and they'll be coming here directly." Aquarius intoned solemnly.
The fastest person there – Amy – immediately ran off to tell the king so countermeasures could be made. They'd be ready for the bastards when they came, that was for damn sure.
Meanwhile, Natsu just put every ounce of attention and power he could into getting his gate open, and willed Lucy to stay strong.
…
A little while earlier, Lucy woke to the sound of Sting's yells, shouts, cusses, and growls.
Her shoulders ached, and the tension and pain in her wrists told her she was dangling from a pair of cuffs. With a groan, she opened her eyes and blinked, peering around at her surroundings and instantly kicking her brain into high gear.
As her ears had already told her, Sting was next to her, chained up in the same way, and he was in the process of throwing an absolute fit. It didn't take her long to figure out why.
Horror hit her hard and low, nearly taking her breath as she watched the strange squat creature drop Rogue's key into a small cauldron heavily encrusted with all sorts of magic symbols, circles, and enchantments. He used tongs to do so, because the cauldron was hanging inside a furnace, which burned so hot that when he opened the door to the thing, it felt like the first few layers of her skin had burned and flaked off in an instant.
The demon wasn't exactly quiet about it either. Throughout the entire process he gloated and jeered loudly at Sting's distress.
"Awwww….so sorry. Did that celestial spirit mean something to you? Was he your widdle fwend… Ahahaha! Well, too bad! You're never gonna see him again, not after I melt down his key to make our gate! Without that, you won't ever be able to summon him again!" he started laughing maniacally as Sting continued to yell and scream. "Even better! That key's going to help us get into the celestial realm! You two brought us the means to destroy all your friends in the stellar world!"
Of course, half of the things he was saying weren't technically correct. Sting could still summon Rogue just fine with his mate mark… it was Yukino who had really been hurt by that. But of course Sting loved Yukino, so seeing her keys destroyed still hurt him.
By now, Sting was absolutely furious, but he also had tears streaming down his face, and Lucy couldn't bear to see the agonizing guilt and sorrow in his eyes. She didn't have time for it either, because Yukino's keyring only had one key left on it. She had to get free somehow, otherwise she knew her keys were next in the fire, and she would rather die than let that happen.
Looking up, she eyeballed the cuffs holding her wrists. They looked thick and sturdy and utterly unbreakable. Still, she refused to be intimidated and immediately began plotting her escape. Forcing herself to stay calm and logical, she instantly started with the best option available to her and attempted to summon Taurus's star dress to give her the strength to break the chains binding her. However, her magic refused to come… which meant that the cuffs must have magic dampening powers.
Her gut lurched and she felt a cold sweat break out over her body. Despite her best efforts to stay calm enough to think, panic started taking over her senses, making her feel numb and cold – and for a terrifying moment the world warped as if she was about to pass out. Her heart was hammering in her ears, making it difficult to concentrate on anything other than the panic rushing through her, and her rapidly quickening breath made the situation even more difficult to handle.
Lucy desperately grappled with herself, trying not to drown in the sudden wave of paralyzing dread and fear. The world was caving in on her, making everything dark and frigid and hopeless…until suddenly a little warm spark ignited deep inside.
Without seeing him or feeling his magic, she knew it was Natsu, instantly and without question. He was obviously stuck, otherwise he would be here, but wherever he was, he was sending her a piece of himself somehow…widening that bond that had been forged between them when she took his mate mark. As her shoulder begin to burn with comforting heat, she managed to shake off the debilitating panic, and refocused on the task at hand. Even without her magic, she had to get free…no matter the cost.
Once again, she eyeballed the cuffs, judging the size of them and the space around her wrists. The only option left that she could see was to squeeze her hands through the cuffs. It was doable, though it would undoubtedly leave her hands broken… but that was a small price to pay for her freedom. The biggest problem was the force it would require, and she began working the logistics out in her head as she started to work her hands in the metal restraints. She yanked and pulled and twisted, testing the strength of her bones and skin against the unrelenting shackles to calculate not only the force required to break herself, but also which bones would have to be broken to fit her hands through.
"Ah, I see our second mage has woken up just in time to say goodbye to her spirits." the demon said, and she risked a glance to see him already reaching for her keys.
"Don't you dare!"
He snorted derisively. "That's the best you could come up with?" he grabbed her key ring and broke it.
He reached over with a long hook and snagged the swinging arm that the cauldron was attached to before pulling it out and pouring what used to be Libra's key into what looked like a funnel that stuck out of the wall. The white-hot glowing liquid poured down the tunnel and out of sight.
He then swung the cauldron back into the fire and snagged one of Lucy's keys with his tongs, before tauntingly dangling it over the flames.
"NO! DON'T! PLEASE!" she screamed, but it was already too late. He had dropped Virgo's key into the pot, and she could already feel her contract and the bond of magic she shared with Virgo dissolving.
A wail escaped her, and tears flowed from her eyes, which she barely even noticed. After a desolate moment, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to try and ignore the shattering pain, knowing that she had to focus on escaping. Looking back up at her bindings, she yanked harder, paying no heed to the way the metal bit deep into her or the blood that started oozing down her arms. She barely felt the pain, her adrenaline was much too high.
The delicate bones in her hands creaked and protested as she yanked hard, again and again. She was only focusing on one hand to start with, and carefully angled herself so that one particular bone hit the metal in the same place over and over. By testing the restraints, she knew that was the first that had to go. Finally it snapped with an audible pop and the pain finally overcame her adrenaline for a moment, nearly blanking her mind. That hand slid down further through the manacle but hung again before her knuckles.
Her attention was jarred from that task though, when she felt Aries's bond suddenly melt away, and her eyes snapped back to the furnace to see him withdrawing his tongs. Another stab of agony shot her in the heart, squeezing it and choking her, until she felt like she couldn't breathe anymore. She had to get free!
She yanked harder, ignoring the tears that poured down her face. A shard of agony shot up her arm as another bone gave way and that knuckle got displaced. Her hand slid a little further, but it still wasn't enough. With a gasp, she nearly passed out from the pain. For a brief terrifying moment her world went a little funky around the edges, but she managed to shake it off… right in time to feel Scorpio's bond go down the drain.
A choked-off cry ripped from her hoarse throat, and with an almighty full-body pull her hand went through the shackle. Most of it anyways. Several more bones had broken, allowing her knuckles to get pushed out of place, and she had left behind a good amount of skin and flesh. One glance at it nearly made her throw up and a wave of dizziness overtook her again.
The demon who was severing her ties to her friends and family one after another was apparently confident that she couldn't escape, because he didn't even bother to look at her, although he kept up a constant stream of taunts, which she mostly ignored. Sting wasn't looking either; his chin was tucked against his chest and he hung from the restraints in a limp fashion and trembled from shock.
She immediately started on the next shackle, using her free hand to pull on and manipulate her trapped wrist. However, her focus almost shattered again when she felt Horologium's bond break, and her chest heaved with both sobs and exertion. Somehow she kept going, repeating, "I must get free," as a mantra in her mind to try and block out the anguish and horror of the situation.
Another cry escaped her when she felt Aquarius's key go in the pot, and she went limp for half a second. After gasping in a series of painful breaths, she braced herself and yanked again, finally getting the first bone to break in her second hand. She slid down to her knuckles in the restraint, just like the first, and a new surge of strength flooded through her, brought on by practically tasting victory.
Using the new rush of adrenaline, she violently twisted in her bonds, managing to turn all the way around to face the wall. Both legs reared up so she could plant her feet on the wall, and the weight on her hand nearly numbed her brain with agony. Gritting her teeth hard enough to taste blood, she used not only her body weight but the strength of her legs to push against the manacle. When she felt Capricorn's bond break apart, her foot slipped, nearly sending her slamming into the wall, but the jerk actually forced another bone to pop out of place, leaving only a few more adjustments to make. A pained cry escaped her throat, but she tried to fight through it, the stabbing in her heart far worse than her hands.
When Bartolomeo's magic dissipated, she gave one last desperate kick and pull, and the bones finally gave way with an audible cracking, popping, and grinding sound. She fell back hard, the stone ground hitting her back like a kick and driving the air from her lungs.
Sting's head snapped up at the sound and he stared down at her with shocked eyes, as did the demon who finally decided to pay attention to her.
"How did you…?!" the demon sputtered from behind, but Sting spied her hands – or what remained of them – first. His jaw dropped and he looked speechless.
"What did you do?" he finally whispered, sounding both horrified and in awe.
"What needed to be done." she grunted back and pushed herself to her feet with a deep cringe.
No sooner had she gotten to her feet though, then pain radiated through her center as the demon punched her in the gut.
"How dare you break free?! Slippery worm! You are a prisoner!"
With a huff, she threw herself back and in a violent and unbalance move lashed out with her foot. The attack was apparently so unexpected that she managed to catch him solidly in the side of the face with her Lucy Kick and they both fell to the ground. She was up first though and was across the room in seconds, where she gingerly scooped up her precious remaining keys: Taurus, Sagittarius, Pikachu, Leo, Grandpa Crux, Gemini, Cancer, Amy, Natsu, and Kurama. And unfortunately, the last three gates were sealed.
Seven had been melted…but she couldn't let herself dwell on that fact, otherwise the grief would cripple her. All she could hope for…pray for…was that she could somehow get them back. It might be impossible, but that was the only way she could continue on right now, and she had to focus.
While she had gone for her keys, the demon had gone for some sort of lacrima intercom implanted into the wall. "I have a prisoner breach in the extraction chamber and I need backup pronto! Anyone close enough to respond, get your butts down here now!"
Lucy gritted her teeth. They had to get out of here before backup arrived.
"Open! Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
"Moooo!" he came in lowing a war cry, and from the ferocity, she could only imagine that her celestial spirits had all probably felt their links being severed as clearly as she could.
"T-Taurus…" she gasped, nearly breaking down at the sight of him. She wanted to apologize, wanted to say she did everything she could to protect the others, but she just couldn't. They had no time. All she could do was tearfully meet his eyes, which were uncharacteristically serious.
"Use my star dress Miss Luuuucy, and let's take him down together."
She nodded and wiped her eyes.
Reaching for her magic, she melded it with his and felt her clothes changing. The leather gloves that appeared on her hands made her wince, but at the same time she was grateful to them. Maybe they would help to keep everything sort of…together. She also wouldn't have to see the grotesque sight, aside from her fingers which – side from being at some odd angles, weren't ripped up.
"Keep him busy and I'll get Sting free." she said and ran over to her comrade when the bull spirit nodded and drew his ax.
When she reached Sting, she planted her foot solidly into the ground and then aimed a Lucy kick at his chains. With Taurus's strength flowing through her, her ankle easily broke the chains, and the wall cracked where they'd been tethered. He fell to his knees in front of her. She followed, and tried to break his cuffs, but she couldn't touch them without her magic flickering alarmingly and the dress fluttering around her.
"Sorry, you're just gonna have to do without your magic until we can get the keys. Hang in there." she muttered and then stood, pulling him up too.
He seemed despondent, obviously burdened by a crippling sense of guilt over losing Yukino's keys. She understood – if she were in his place, she'd probably never be able to forgive herself – but this wasn't the time or place to be drowning in sorrow and doubt. They needed clear heads and sharp minds to escape and finish their mission.
"Pull yourself together!" she snapped. "There's always hope! We'll get them back!"
"But Lucy…the keys were…"
"I know!...I know…but you have to hope, just until we get out of here if nothing else. You have to fight, and if the only way to do that is to convince yourself it was a lie, or a dream, or that we'll get them back somehow, then do it!"
He sucked in a deep breath and they met eyes for a long moment.
Turning, she joined the fight with Taurus, lashing out with a kick that sent the demon into a nearby wall. He had been stupid to turn his back on her. Quickly she spun on her heel and made for the door.
"Come on, let's get the lead out! We don't have much time!"
Sneak Peek
For a while they met very little resistance. The few demons they stumbled into were relatively low-level and were quickly taken care of with Taurus's star dress… but it was inevitable that they would eventually run into a much stronger opponent.
It was just their bad luck that one wrong turn ended with them confronting the same ice demon who had defeated them before.