Hi guys! Sorry this is late, this chapter gave me a lot of issues and took me a little longer to write. Huge thanks to my beta, Lady Lutka, for her suggestions and help.
Content Note: Mentions of death, suicide, torture. We get kinda heavy. But then we'll lighten up a little! Hope you all enjoy.
Lucy woke up slowly, the world coming into focus at an agonizing pace. Her head was pounding. Why was her head pounding? And what was around her wrists and ankles? They made her limbs feel so heavy…
Blinking, she narrowed her eyes as everything came rushing back. The mine. The hit on the head as the team was ambushed. That rat bastard Nyles, smiling as he indulged in her food. He'd been the one to report them, she was sure of it. He'd been all over the mine, tormenting people. If anyone was going to notice four new people in the crowd and then report it to the hated guards, it would be him. She'd make him pay. If she could get out of these chains.
They were thick, made out of a heavy metal with a bluish cast.. wait. She knew this metal. But there were no mages at the mines! They hadn't expected the enemy to have magic-nullifiers. Especially since none of the team had revealed their powers.
Lucy blearily lifted her head to meet the gaze of what had to be the mine foreman. He wore a wide, unpleasant smile, and she had the sinking feeling that they had underestimated their enemy.
Natsu woke up pleasantly, or as much as one can while sleeping in a hammock. Glancing around for Happy, he remembered that his feline companion had planned to spend the day with Wendy and Carla. Mentally wishing his buddy luck with his latest attempt to gift Carla fish, he jumped down to the floor and swiped the job request he'd grabbed from Mira last night.
Dark Guild in Need of Vanquishing! read the title. Even without the large sum posted on the bottom, Natsu was happy to oblige. It had been a couple days since his last mission, and he was itching to fight again. He hadn't quite healed up yet, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the restless feeling driving him forward, as it had for the past month Lucy had been gone.
Throwing on clothes and grabbing six apples and twelve muffins for the road (Lisanna had dropped them off yesterday, and he wasn't sure what he'd done to earn free food but he wouldn't be wasting it), he set off down the path. The dark guild had set up shop only two towns over, so he figured he'd be back by lunch. He only hoped it would tire him out a little bit so he could sleep tonight.
The foreman leered down at them, sauntering across the room slowly. It was a large space, turned claustrophobic with what seemed like every guard in the compound crowded into it. Lucy shared a desperate glance with Lona. The other mage looked to be straining, red faced and sweaty, and for a moment Lucy saw a glimmer of purple in her eyes before it was snuffed out.
Lucy could empathize. She'd been trying to requip a key or gather celestial light since she woke up. She could practically taste her magic, it was so close, but a wall lay between her and her power. It was frustrating and terrifying in equal measure.
The foreman had reached them. He was a large man, nearly six feet tall and heavy-set. His eyes sagged slightly and his mouth had a boyish pout to it when it wasn't twisted into a sneer. Lucy could tell immediately he liked to overindulge in the finer things in life despite his surroundings. The ostentatious house matched his embroidered overcoat, and his perfume was chokingly heady. New money, her father would have called it.
The man leaned down, hooking a finger under Lucy's chin and tilting her face up. Repulsed, she tried to pull away, only to be held firmly in place by a pair of guards. The man smiled, too wide, and his voice managed to be both slimy and rasping.
"So these are the mages hunting our illustrious leader. I'm sorry to break the news, but the search ends here."
Natsu stared through the bushes at the dark guild's hall, his scarf wrapped around his face. These fuckers would never know what hit them! The poster had estimated the guild at a puny ten members, so he wasn't too worried.
He hadn't seen anyone come in or out for the past half hour, and that was as long as he was willing to wait. Readjusting his scarf, he left his pack in the bushes and strolled up to the door with deliberate nonchalance. It opened with a satisfying boom as he kicked it in, fists blazing and ready to go.
"PREPARE TO MEET YOUR MAKER, SCUM OF THE EARTH!" he roared. "I'M NATSU DRAGNEEL OF FAIRY TAIL AND I'M ALL FIRED UP!" He was already halfway into the main room, fire surging around him, before he realized that no one was sitting there.
Spinning around, he watched the door close and a man with long dark hair and a blackened smile step forward. Behind him were at least twoscore guild members.
"Welcome, Natsu of Fairy Tail. We'll be glad to meet your challenge."
As they came at him, Natsu realized that he might not make it home in time for lunch.
Oh.
Oh shit.
This guy knew they were hunting Domme Malleolus, leader of the Underlords? This was bad. It meant the Underlords knew that the team was onto their trail and had anticipated their arrival. Hell, Nyles might have been told to keep an eye out for any interlopers.
It meant that this outpost had been prepared to capture and hold four strong mages. Add in the fact that they hadn't been killed outright… that didn't bode well either. Lucy swallowed hard. The foreman saw the realization in her eyes and his smile widened, almost grotesquely. He dropped her chin.
"I'm sure we can reach an amicable conclusion here. We'd hate for things to get messy, you understand," he simpered, wiping the dirt of Lucy's chin off onto an embroidered handkerchief. She gritted her teeth, sensing a similar repulsion from the rest of the team.
Well, maybe she could buy them some time, at least. Lucy might not be the strongest mage or the most tactical thinker, and she still didn't have a good enough grasp of all the ins and outs of her teammates' abilities to work out the best way to utilize their strengths to get out of this. But if she'd learned one thing from her father, it was how to negotiate.
And she'd use the once unappreciated skill to buy them some time.
She looked the man in the eye. "Perhaps we can come to an agreement. Contrary to appearance, we don't like mess either."
It was the right card to play, as he broke into another froglike smile. "My dear, it's simple. Tell me what you've uncovered about the Lord's plans and we won't need to...shall we say, persuade you."
Lucy pretended to think about it. "And what happens once you know everything? Killing us seems awfully wasteful."
He nodded. "We do hate to waste. You'll continue to work in the mine until we send the last load of lacrima next week. You can go with to meet the Master in person. I'm sure he would love to speak with you himself."
Lucy lifted her nose haughtily. "Hah! Do you think you can contain us that long?"
"I think we can hold you for a few weeks, whatever your strength. Clearly it hasn't paid to underestimate us," his face hardened, "now, what do you know about the Ascension?"
That threw Lucy for a loop. The Ascension? Fucking what? Well, no reason to stop bluffing now. "I think you can safely assume we know everything. We didn't come here by chance, after all."
"And how, pray tell, have you come by this information?"
Time for her big gamble. Hopefully Lona, Rai, or Torin had something they could use to get them out of this, because Lucy was pretty much out of options. Despite kneeling on the ground, she did her best to look down at her overdressed opponent. "I'm afraid I cannot reveal the name of our source," she said loftily. "I will not put them in danger after they've done so much to undermine you."
Another, darker smile split the foreman's face. This one didn't remind her of a frog. It was more reptilian. There was a cold, uncaring predator in those eyes. He pulled out a daintily jeweled dagger, and Lucy knew that the time for stuffy manners was over. She'd bought all the time she could.
Natsu punched one mage in the face, sending him flying through a window. He spun, letting his magic flare out from his body and pushing the enemy back, buying him a few moments to use his wing attack on a woman trying to use her water magic against his flames.
He spared a glance for the leader. The guy was just sitting on a table at the end of the hall, watching his people attack Natsu. And honestly, he might actually be home for lunch if these pansies were anything to go by. So why was the guy just sitting there?
Forty minutes later Natsu was drop kicking the last man into the rafters, and the leader finally stood. He sauntered over to Natsu, who dropped into a fighting stance, panting. Ok, so they might not have been the strongest, but fighting that many mages while still a little beat up from the last mission was no easy feat.
Still, he could take this guy. But something about his relaxed posture, and the way he walked with his hands in his pockets, was setting him on edge. The man stopped twenty feet away and smiled at Natsu. From this close, he could see that his teeth were rotted. The Slayer's sensitive nose picked up his putrid breath, and he did his best not to gag. The leader's words, however, froze him to his core, and he forgot all about the smell.
"Welcome, Dragonslayer. You will make a strong addition to my cohort. Now, give me your mind."
He gestured abruptly and Natsu found himself on the ground, screaming, as images and sounds slammed into him with the force of a tidal wave.
Lucy screwed up her courage. She was a Fairy Tail mage, and she wouldn't let these bastards break her! Although try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from trembling as the leader stepped toward her.
Then one of the guards nearest the door cocked his head. "What's that? You guys hear that?"
And all hell broke loose.
Images roared past him, flashing in front of his eyes for barely a moment before being replaced with another. He hardly recognized them as his own memories. The noise accompanying was too much for his sensitive ears to sort out, and blurred into one meaningless roar.
The onslaught continued, and just as he thought he would go mad, it stopped. The silence was deafening. As his eyes refocused, he saw the black-toothed mage leaning casually against a table.
"Trained by a dragon, hmm? And then taken in by the most powerful guild in Fiore. No wonder your strength is such," he caught Natsu's look of pained surprise. "Oh yes. I see it all. What is agony to you is near elation to me! So, Slayer," he crouched to come eye level with Natsu, "submit your will to me, or you will be in pain for quite a while."
Natsu ground out two words;"Fuck you," and had the pleasure of seeing the other man's smile vanish before his memories assaulted him once more.
The too large, ornately carved double doors slammed open and nearly off their hinges by the tide of furious bodies piling into the room. Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. The slaves screamed obscenities and swung pickaxes. She saw one with a cattle prod shock a guard into unconsciousness.
Before the guards could get over their initial shock, the uprising had swept through to the captive mages. Hands grabbed at them, yanking them back through the doors and into the courtyard as the fighting began in earnest. The courtyard was in chaos. Clearly the slaves had overwhelmed the few guards that were left when the team had been taken inside and then broken into the shed where the picks were kept. Lucy turned her face away at the sight of several bodies laying amongst the rubble.
The four were hauled over to a large rock at the side of the yard. A burly man directed Rai to stretch her manacles out on the rock and advised her to keep steady. He swung his pick high and brought it down on the side of her manacle next to her hand, shattering it, then doing the same with the other wrist. Rai stumbled away, white as a ghost, and Lucy made sure to close her eyes when it was her turn, sending up a quick prayer to the Spirit King that he didn't miss.
She lifted her head to the man as the last chain shattered. "Thank you, thank you all so much… but why did you help us?" she asked, a little breathlessly.
He looked down at her, face hard. "You're the only chance we have. We saved you, now fight for us and put these monsters down before they slaughter us all," he growled. He swung the pick back up on his shoulder and started across the yard to the house.
Lucy started toward the doors, too. She requipped Loke's key into her hand, but instead of calling the lion she placed it on her chest. She called on her power and between one step and the next, the spell settled around her. It was more solid and powerful than ever; maybe the piece she'd been missing was adrenaline.
She felt rather than saw her team similarly power up around her, and this time when they entered the main room it was not as captives but as conquerors.
Lucy blasted two guards into the wall. A slave rushed over and grabbed their cattle prods before diving back into the fray. Lucy turned in time to jerk out of the way of a prod coming at her stomach. She punched the man wielding it in the face, following it up with a Leo-powered Lucy Kick. She didn't see where he landed, because she was too busy nailing more guards with her light blasts.
Although the mages were turning the tide, the fighting was horrific. Despite Fairy Tail's philosophy of never kill, it seemed that they were the only ones honouring that policy. The guards had no such compunctions, and the slaves were driven by a vicious rage and fear after their treatment at the hands of their captors. Anyone who fell to the ground ran the risk of being crushed in the melee. The only way to save as many lives as they could was to end this, and quickly.
A roar echoed above the din. Every head in the room whipped around. The source was the froglike leader. He was holding a fist sized lacrima orb in one hand, held to his mouth. He inhaled sharply and Lucy thought she saw a haze flow into his mouth from the orb. He threw his head back and let out another roar. Then his fists burst into a sickly green flame, and he sent a jet of it at the nearest slave. With a shock, Lucy recognized Anise.
Anise screamed, throwing her arms up over her face. Time seemed to slow as the flames shot toward her, and Lucy knew she could never get there in time.
But Torin was closer. He jumped in front of her and tackled her down to the floor, covering her with his body. The flames roared around and past them, and Lucy felt weak in the knees as Torin stumbled back upright, a little singed but both of them alright. That's right. His magic made him resistant to heat and burns.
Lona and Rai both cleared a path to Torin in seconds, and all three of them turned a furious focus on the man. Faced with the three of them and Anise, who was double wielding cattle prods, he did exactly what Lucy had expected, and why she hadn't moved from her spot.
He ran.
He sent a blast of flame through the wall and didn't hesitate to jump through. In his haste to get away from her teammates, he hadn't noticed that she had a clear path to his exit. Signaling her team to keep fighting inside, Lucy jumped out of the hole and went after him.
Natsu screamed his throat raw as another memory was pulled from his mind for the mage to inspect. It felt like they'd been at it for hours. The mind reader had started with his earliest memories, ones Natsu hadn't even known he had, and systematically worked his way forward from there. Every so often he would stop and demand Natsu surrender his mind. Senses overloaded, Natsu found himself unable to resist.
He was weak as a newborn fawn, gasping on the ground like a drowning man starved of air. But still, Natsu tried to fight. Like hell he'd let this guy control him. Groaning, he rolled over onto his stomach and lifted his head.
The dark mage crouched down, just out of reach. "Are you ready yet? You must know it's useless to resist. I can see every little detail of your mind. I'm impressed. Most people don't last so long, you know," the man said, cocking his head and studying Natsu like a particularly interesting science experiment.
Natsu shook his head doggedly, ignoring how his head swam as he did so. The man sighed, "Very well. Although… I think it's time we changed tactics, don't you?"
Before Natsu could respond with something crude, he was hit again, the pain forcing him into the fetal position and drawing another cry from his mouth. But this time, the images weren't an orderly recitation of his past. This time, the memories were all of Lucy.
Lucy waving at him as she ran up to him in the guild. Lucy serving up an enormous plate of fire chicken. Lucy screaming at him as she literally kicked him out of her apartment. Lucy reaching up to pull him down to her in the dark of her room… Natsu froze, clawing for the memory. That was his! He wasn't sharing with anyway, especially not this bastard!
He focused on it, harder than anything in his life. It was agonizing, but they didn't call him hard headed for nothing. The pressure ceased after what seemed like an eternity of struggle. Natsu opened his eyes to find the dark mage's rotted teeth bared in a snarl inches away from him.
"So this is what happens when we tap your emotional center, hmm? It's unusual to see someone get so focused, but that will only make you break more when I finally get in!" the mage laughed cruelly. "Perhaps when you're done with this pointless struggle, we can go find her. You can have her sometimes if you're good. After me, of course."
Natsu ignited, whipping up a hand toward his nemesis' face. But as fast as he was, he couldn't beat the speed of a thought. His muscles spasmed as pictures of Lucy converged on him. Her light laugh tinkled all around him and her voice layered over itself as the memories overlapped.
Natsu felt himself tiring. What had the man said? They would go find Lucy? He'd wanted to go find her for ages. It sounded nice. He would get to see her again. Dimly he was aware of the dark mage cackling as Natsu's will foundered. The river turned into a stream, which slowed to a trickle. One last image floated by, Lucy sitting at her desk, writing, as he came in the window. She turned as she heard him, smiling at him and reaching out with one ink smudged hand to welcome him home.
Surrounded by darkness, Natsu reached out toward the light of that last memory. He grasped it firmly. Something was buzzing, and as he focused it resolved itself into a little voice in the back of his head, yelling at him. It sounded surprisingly like Makarov.
"Get up, brat! You're more stubborn than this! Who's supposed to welcome that girl of yours home if you don't? Now get up and protect your nakama!"
Natsu exploded up from the ground, the last of his magic setting him ablaze. He saw the shock on the mage's face before he tackled him to the ground, hard. Natsu punched the man in the face, leaving an ugly burn on his cheek, before pummeling his torso. He thought he heard a rib or two crack.
"Stop! You shouldn't be able to do this! I see everythi—" he choked off as Natsu grabbed him by the throat.
"You see everything, do you?" he growled, pushed over the edge by the torment and the threat to Lucy. "Well maybe it's time you see nothing."
She tore down the path after the man, gasping for air. Her head throbbed where she'd been hit, and after working all day with little food, her magic took more of a toll on her than usual. Lucy didn't think she'd be able to hold her Stardress much longer.
A jet of that sickly green fire came her way and she dodged, throwing herself into a forward roll before continuing the chase. She was gaining despite the fire he kept shooting back at her. Lucy aimed as best she could while dodging through trees, and sent a beam of light at her quarry's back. She missed, barely, but he sent a look of pure terror over his shoulder. Good.
Lucy skidded to a halt as she passed the last tree, finding herself suddenly in the barren area next to the gaping chasm. She could see the bridge a ways off to the north, but her focus was on the man in front of her. He raised his fists, flickering with flame. Her first scornful thought was that his stance was all wrong. But then, she was used to working with a world-class fire mage, not this poser.
She held her hands in front of her, a few inches apart, and began forming a ball of light in between them. "Give up! It's over, and I'm bringing you in! You can tell us all about this Ascension!"
His eyes bulged. "You said you knew everything about it! What could you possibly need from me?"
She laughed. "I didn't even know it existed until you told me! You fell for the bluff and now you're going to pay for it."
He roared in rage and thrust his hands forward. Lucy tensed to jump out of the way of his flames, but they never came. As he pushed, the fire flickered bright around his hands for a moment, trying to reach toward her, before snuffing out altogether. He screamed.
"No! No, no no! It was supposed to last, it was supposed to keep giving me power!" he grabbed the orb she'd seen earlier and shook it roughly. The dim glow she'd seen it give off at the mine, however, was absent.
The portly foreman looked up at her, face rapidly turning the color of his flames. "Don't… don't take me," he pleaded, "the Lord won't accept failure. He'll find me. He can get to anyone!"
Lucy hesitated, the light between her hands waiting to be released. "If you tell me what you know, we can protect you!" she called to him. "Just come quietly and I can keep you safe."
She tried a smile and for a moment saw him waver. He took a step toward her. Then, "I can't. He'd know. He'd know and he'd come for me!" he cried out. He reversed directions, and before Lucy realized his intention, the malicious, pompous, cruel man had run to the edge of the abyss and thrown himself off, driven by a terror she had not known existed until now.
"NO!" Lucy screamed, running to the edge and throwing herself flat on her stomach to peer over desperately. The ravine was deep, dark, and jagged. She saw a glimmer for a moment as his bejeweled coat caught the light, and then it was gone.
Natsu glared down at his torturer. All the memories he'd dredged up had left Natsu raw, teeming with dark emotions. He couldn't let this man go. He would go after Lucy, now that he knew she was the way to Natsu's heart. He'd find her. Hurt her. Use her. Natsu wasn't going to let that let his fire start at his shoulder and slowly twine down his arm. Inch by careful inch, it snaked its way toward his hand, gripping the other man's face. His fingers were set just below the dark mage's eyes, which were now wide with terror.
The flames had just reached his wrist when he heard a whimper coming from under one of the tables. His head whipped around, searching. Was it another enemy? Someone else here to make him a willing zombie?
Natsu craned his neck, and finally spotted a huddled lump half hidden in the shadows. The lump realized it had been spotted, and scrambled backwards, inadvertently revealing itself as a little girl. Her eyes were wide, and tears had run down her face and mixed with snot. She was trembling as she stared at him.
Natsu shut off his flames immediately. Cursing, he punched his captive between the eyes, knocking him out. What was he doing? He'd let the beast within him take over, stripped down to instinct alone by the fight. But there was no mistaking the fear in that kid's eyes. It was directed at him. The thought made Natsu ill. What had he almost become?
Carefully he climbed off the other man, taking a moment to tie, gag, and blindfold him. He wouldn't be able to stand up to another onslaught. Moving ever so slowly, Natsu awkwardly crawled over to the little girl, trying to look small and nonthreatening. She looked about seven, with reddish brown hair and large grey eyes.
"Hey there, kiddo," he held his hands palm out, plastering on a friendly smile. "My name is Natsu. What's yours?"
She sniffled, "Tara. Did my dad send you?"
Natsu blinked. "He didn't, but I can help you try to find him. Do you know where he might be?"
"We live in Oakton," she mumbled, "we were gonna go camping this week after my uncle visited but then he brought me here instead." Her eyes flicked to the bound man behind Natsu. He stared uncomprehendingly before it clicked.
"This guy is your uncle? Why the hell, shoot, heck, why the heck, would he bring you out here? Does your dad know?"
She shook her head, tears welling up once more. "He said he was gonna be my dad now because my daddy wasn't doing good enough training me," she cried, "but I was doing a good job! I'm just little! Daddy says when you're little your magic is little too, and that's ok!"
Natsu felt anger flare up in him again at her words, but tamped it down. What kind of monster took a kid's dad away for what was undoubtedly a dark purpose? He held out his arms, "Well, I'm gonna take you over to Oakton just as soon as the Guards get here, ok?"
She came out from under the table, hesitating only a moment before snuggling into his side.
Lucy sagged in despair, pulling back from the ledge and laying on her back, looking up at the sky. Why? He had been so afraid… she let the Stardress go, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes, hard, trying to stem her tears. She should have seen it. She should have stopped him. Whatever he had been and done, she hadn't wanted this.
She lay there for what felt like forever, barely aware of the sun passing over the lip of the horizon. She was finally roused by footsteps padding toward her, and the soft sounds of someone settling down next to her.
"Lucy," it was Anise. "I'm glad you're alright. What happened to the foreman?"
She was too upset still to say anything, so she just pointed to the ravine. Anise sighed, "He threw himself in there, didn't he?" Lucy nodded, still facing the stars. Anise carefully lay down next to her. She placed one hand over Lucy's.
"It's not your fault."
"Is it not?" Lucy cried. "I should have realized. I should have stopped him!"
"Lucy. Listen to me," Anise had turned her head to face Lucy, "sometimes you do everything you can, and it's not enough. He was cruel, a coward, a bully. A murderer," she whispered the last part softly, voice full of pain. "I'm not sorry that he's dead. I can't be. But I wish it had not happened this way. But please," she sat back up, tugging Lucy with her, "come back to the fort with me. Everyone is worried. Your team would be out here, but I offered to come so they could try and handle the mess at the mine right now. You can light a candle for his spirit later, if you want, but don't feel that you've failed. Come use what he told you to help finish this mission you're on."
Lucy wiped her eyes with one hand. "Alright, Anise," she croaked. "I'll be back in a minute. Can you let everyone know I'm alright?"
The older woman nodded, "Of course, Lucy. And for what it's worth—thank you."
She got up and walked away, leaving Lucy to lean back against a tree. The smell of ash from one of the gouts of flame wafted into her nose, and she closed her eyes. Funny, that ash should be calming. She breathed it in and imagined a warm arm around her and a bright voice reminding her that Fairy Tail did not give up. She opened her eyes.
"Ok, Natsu," she whispered. "I'm coming."
She got to her feet and carried on up the hill toward the mine.
Natsu walked slowly, the events of the day making his limbs more sluggish than usual. That, and he didn't want to jostle the girl on his back. Tara clung to him, sucking on a lollipop one of the guards had given her. She hadn't said much on their way back to Oakton, but now she pulled the sweet out of her mouth.
"Mr. Natsu?" she asked in a small voice. "Can I ask a question?"
He nodded. "Sure, kiddo. What's up?"
Her voice was almost a whisper, "Who was the pretty blonde lady that made you so angry?"
He hesitated before answering. "You saw her? Your magic is… is like your uncles'?"
He felt her nod."Kind of. I can only see the pictures someone else makes, though. My dad lets me sit with him and learn when he has patients. But he doesn't hurt anyone. He says our magic should be to help people, not hurt them."
"How does that work, then? What does your dad do?"
Tara beamed with pride. "He helps people with bad memories they can't forget! Or sometimes the guards come to our house with a… with a… wit-nuss?"
Natsu grinned. "A witness? People who saw a crime and can't quite remember?"
"Yeah! But when he does it everything feels warm and bubbly. It's nice."
Natsu nodded thoughtfully. He would have assumed that this form of magic could only be used for evil. But as always, it was the mage themselves who made their choices guiding their power. He realized he hadn't answered Tara's question.
"Lucy is my partner. She's my best friend, and she's on a mission right now to help a lot of people," he told her.
"You must miss her a lot, Mr. Dragneel."
"Yeah. I'm mad at her, too, though," he murmured, "she left without really saying goodbye and I haven't heard from her since. And I worry about her a lot. I just want her to be safe." He didn't know why he was telling a child all this, but it felt good to get it off his chest. He left out the part about seeing Lucy in his dreams, though. He had some sense of propriety, whatever Erza might say.
Tara was quiet a moment, looking at the sunset as she sucked on her lolly. "I bet she misses you, too, Mr. Dragneel," she said cheerfully. "I'd miss my boyfriend if he was gone!"
Natsu choked and stumbled, righting himself before he sent them both into the dirt. "Boyfriend?" he spluttered. "No, no, no, we're just friends!" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and caught a worldly look that seemed too mature for her young features.
"Mr. Natsu, you totally like her. Like, you like-like her. And your memories looked like she like-liked you, too," she stated with an air of certainty found only in childhood. "I can tell. When she comes back you can tell her, and then she can tell you why she didn't write."
He couldn't help it, he laughed. His chest felt lighter than it had in days. What was that saying? From the mouth of babes, or something? He'd always figured it meant 'from super hot women,' but apparently not.
They reached Oakton as the first stars popped out. Tara's father was overjoyed, sobbing and hugging Natsu a few more times than he was comfortable with. He turned down the reward from the man (for once, he'd received the full amount on the job posting), but couldn't say no to some food pressed on him for the road.
On the walk back, he looked up at the stars, trying to pick out the constellations Lucy was always showing him. He was still mad at her. Still worried, and confused, and full of longing. But the storm constantly raging had calmed. For the first time since she left, Natsu Dragneel felt that he could rest.
He just hoped she came home soon.
When she stepped foot back in the fort it had changed drastically. She could hear laughter and singing, and as she came into the light cast by a large fire the newly freed slaves cried out greetings. Lucy couldn't help but smile. Whatever terrible events the day had held, at least these people would get to go home. She deliberately avoided looking at the dark corner where all who had fallen, guard and civilian alike, had been laid.
She accepted a large sandwich from Torin, who was presiding over a massive cauldron sitting in the flames. He rested a large hand on her shoulder for a moment, then patted her back as she walked over to Lona and Rai. They both smiled and reached out to pull her onto a bench, leaning on her and murmuring soothing words as she ate. Lucy smiled again. If she had to leave her team for a bit, she was glad she'd chosen this one.
Once she'd washed down the last bite, Lona spoke. Torin had come to join them at some point. "We found out a few things, Lucy. You're not going to like it."
The Celestial mage looked up sharply, "What is it?"
"We talked to some of the guards and the man you mentioned who works with lacrima. We also broke into the foreman's study and went through his papers. The lacrima is really rare. When processed, it can not only store power, but a regular person can absorb that power and use it. Basically, you can create a mage. For a short time, at least."
Lucy frowned. So that's what the foreman had used to create his flames. No wonder he'd run out! "Where does the lacrima get the power, though?" she asked.
"That's the part we don't like. You would have to take it from another mage, and they don't need the mage to be willing. The foreman didn't have much in his papers, but it seems like the one he had was a gift from Malleolus and they'd used the power of a fire mage."
Lucy felt the blood drain from her face. "So they could be stealing power from anyone? Is that why they separated out mages at the warehouse?"
"They might have used those mages for some lacrima, but from what we've found it looks like this Ascension needs some special kind of magic. Half of this crap is in code, so we don't know what kind or what the actual process is," Rai explained, taking a frustrated gulp of her water. "But we do know our next stop."
Lucy leaned forward. "Where are we going?"
Torin grinned. "Well, this is the good news. We need a codebreaker if we're going to decipher these notes, and luckily for us there's one a few towns over from where they've been sending the lacrima."
"Where?"
"The lacrima goes to a town called Desmonde in Fiore."
Lucy gasped. For a moment she felt lightheaded. "You mean…"
Rai laughed, "That's right. We're headed back to Magnolia as soon as the Rune Knights get here to take over."
Magnolia. Fairy Tail. Natsu.
They were going home.
Hooray! Lucy's finally headed back to Fairy Tail! Drop me a review to let me know what you think!
This week's author shoutout is getting expanded a bit-I have too many authors and not enough chapters (I think. Tis the sketchiest of outlines right now)
But let's give it up for the NaLu gurus, MsLead-Kytrin! I have to assume we've all read their work; they're amazing. Parallels was the first NaLu fanfic I ever read, and it inspired me to start writing my own.
We also have to give a big round of applause to Snogfairy, another amazing author.
And of course, when we look at the three of them, we have to include the joint account between MsLead, Kytrin, and Snogfairy: Eviltrinity. Everyone go leave a review begging them to finish "Into the Ring," because I have to know how it ends.
That's it for this week! Can't wait to see you all next week with the homecoming chapter.
