The chapter you've all been waiting for! CHICK FIGHT! But really, hope the chapter makes up for the wait. Enjoy!
Instincts screaming, Lucy threw herself out of the way nearly the second she stepped into the clearing, before her mind had processed what was in front of her. A sharp pain in her shoulder made her gasp and flinch, and she fumbled her roll a bit, coming up into a defensive stance a bit shakily. She looked around wildly.
A huge glob of orange something sat at the center of the clearing, a blurred figure inside it. There was no time to investigate, though. A shallow slice to her right bicep bled sluggishly. Flesh wound it may be, it hurt like hell, and whatever had made it was clearly razor sharp. In front of her, turning around after the mostly failed attack, was… Lisanna?
The other mage was covered in silky, ebony crow's feathers. She was hunched oddly, her shoulder blades too high and sharp, like wings aborted halfway through creation. Her features seemed narrower, more like a hawk 一 but maybe that was just the expression of rage on her face. And as Lucy's eyes dropped to the six inch talons replacing her fingers, she knew what had given her injury.
There was no time to understand. Lisanna was coming at her again, much faster than Lucy remembered her moving, and all she could do was dodge, pulling out her whip as she rolled away. She lashed it once at Lisanna's feet, tripping the other girl up. Lucy winced. Of course it was the whip arm that was hurt.
She clambered to her feet as the takeover mage did the same. "Stop! Lisanna, what are you doing? We're teammates!" Lucy exclaimed, trying to reason with her. This had to be a joke. An insane, terribly thought out prank.
Then her eyes flicked to the weird orange goo, much closer to it after their initial scramble. Natsu was inside, pounding sluggishly at the wall. She saw him try to shout, but no sound came out. His eyes were wide and desperate.
Lucy's head snapped back toward Lisanna, incensed. What the hell? She requipped two keys, calling Aries and Leo to her. As they both popped into being, Lisanna stopped from where she'd been preparing to charge Lucy once more. She threw back her head and laughed.
"Of course! Went away for all that training and you still can't fight someone one on one! Looks like all that work didn't get you very far," she cooed.
Lucy gritted her teeth. "Well, you attacked me without warning! How is that fair?" she snapped back.
Lisanna stopped and tilted her head. "I suppose that's fair," she murmured, "perhaps we can come to an agreement. You don't call your spirits, and I give you time to address your injury." She smiled too wide and tilted her head the other way, almost until it touched her shoulder. "Then we can see who's really worthy!"
Worthy? Lucy thought, withdrawing to the other side of the field. She sent Aries away with a 'sorry!' and brought Virgo out to dress her wound instead.
Leo remained. "Lucy, you cannot be serious!" he snapped. "She wants to kill you! I can't let you put yourself in such an idiotic position."
Lucy glanced across the clearing to Lisanna. She had shifted back into her normal form and was sitting cross legged in front of Natsu's gel prison. "I know, Loke. But something… something doesn't seem quite right. I don't know what's going on, but if I beat her using you guys, I don't think she'll ever be able to forgive it. The only way to start fixing whatever this is is by doing it just her and I. I can feel it."
Leo leaned down to look her directly in the eye. "And this has nothing whatsoever to do with your feelings of inadequacy, however much training you've done? Nothing to do with proving to yourself and Natsu that you're 'strong enough' to stand with the team, even though you've already proven you are, time and again?"
She hesitated. "I can't say that's not there. It's part of it. But Loke," she rushed as he opened his mouth, "that doesn't change how I feel! This is important. Somehow. I think… it feels like we're fighting over Natsu. Like animals. Like I have to win him in a fair fight, or this will never go away," she rotated her arm as Virgo stepped away from it, testing her range of motion. "Besides," she growled, "she put him in a cage, and I'm gonna pound her into the ground for that."
Loke still looked like he wanted to argue, but Virgo laid a hand on his arm. "Let Princess do as she wishes," she stated flatly, "it will be enjoyable to see her deal out punishment."
"Alright," Loke sniffed, "but if you're really in trouble, I'm coming out on my own power."
Lucy smiled at them. "I wouldn't expect anything less, although I hope it doesn't come to that. Thank you, all of you."
They vanished, and Lucy turned to see Lisanna getting up from the bubble and moving to the center of the meadow. She had that creepy grin again, emitting a sense of wrong that Lucy just couldn't shake.
Natsu wanted to scream. He wanted to knock Lisanna out and drag her to the guild to get her help. And he wanted to shake Lucy by the shoulders for agreeing to this idiotic stunt! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why wouldn't she fight without her spirits? If she pulled a couple of them out they could have Lisanna tied in a pretty bow in minutes!
But he knew why. This was Lucy's ultimate test. Her biggest fear. Was she good enough? Did she really belong on Team Natsu? It made him furious to think that she still held on to her insecurities from before, and he wanted to run his own head into a wall until he forgot that he'd helped them fester.
What would happen? His terror ratcheted up as Lucy's spirits vanished 一 damn that Loke, he'd beat him into next month for agreeing to this 一 and she turned to the battleground. He was pretty sure Lucy could beat Lisanna, but she was already injured on her dominant arm. And, Natsu hated to admit it, but both women looked enraged. Even if Lucy won, what would be the cost?
They stopped twenty feet apart, Natsu's prison in between them, as though he were chancellor to their battle. He looked pissed and scared, attempting to light himself on fire again and again. But the sludge held firm. Lucy focused all her attention on Lisanna. She'd never seen that crow-form before. She had to assume that the other mage had also been improving on her magic while Lucy was gone.
Sure enough, Lisanna rolled her neck, cracking it, before lurching forward onto all fours. Her body swelled with muscle, white fur sprouting down her neck and spreading over her thickening flesh. A second later a white lioness stood before Lucy, drooling and snarling. Lucy caught her breath, then requipped a golden key and placed it on her chest. Her magic swirled and crackled, and when it settled she was dressed in a cow print bikini top and leather pants. Her own muscles bulged, and as Lisanna charged she cracked the ground with her whip, creating a shockwave that blasted toward her opponent.
Lisanna rolled, her new feline form lending her a fluid grace, and swiped a paw at Lucy. She countered with her own enhanced block and threw a punch that sent Lisanna a half step back. The lioness came at her again, forcing Lucy to duck and weave. Despite her Taurus-enhanced strength, Lisanna's new form meant Lucy was unprepared for close combat. Her usual throws and twists wouldn't work here.
She tried to stay out of Lisanna's range, cracking her whip down to create Earth Waves whenever possible. She blocked several more crushing blows before one hit and sent her flying across the clearing. Pulling herself up on one knee, she cracked her whip and sent the other mage tumbling as well.
Lisanna staggered upright and they stared at each other a moment, both breathing hard. Then Lisanna rippled as she changed again, and Lucy requipped in response. This time, Lucy charged forward first, her twin Cancer blades slashing and swiping to meet the elongated jaw and rows of sharp teeth Lisanna had grown in crocodile form. Lucy twisted behind Lisanna, slicing at her back, only to have the blade glance off her hard, pebbly skin. Lucy nearly screamed in frustration as they continued their dance. She was breathing harder, sweat dripping down her face and into her cleavage, and she didn't really know why she was fighting.
But as they slashed and snarled back and forth, she noticed Lisanna was doing her absolute best to keep herself in between Lucy and Natsu. It was almost like she was… protecting him? On a hunch, Lucy cried out, "I'm not here to hurt him, Lisanna!"
The Takeover Mage froze for a moment, allowing Lucy to kick her back a few steps. "Stop lying!" Lisanna shrieked, before charging and changing her form as she came. Reptile skin turned into shiny white carapace, her face shrank as her tail grew. A shining white scorpion jabbed its venomous tail down at Lucy, and she barely deflected it.
Well. She had the perfect Stardress for this. Requipping Scorpio's key, she was just in time to dodge a downward stab of Lisanna's stinger with the enhanced speed allotted to her by the spell. She called up a Sandstorm and it whipped around the clearing, blinding everyone. She heard Lisanna's scream of rage from the center. She darted forward through the sand, striking Lisanna on the side as she went past. She dodged away as that merciless stinger swung in her direction, then swiftly crossed behind the takeover mage to again rush her under cover of the storm.
Natsu watched the swirling sand with bated breath. What was going on in there? He could hear cries and shouts, but the sounds were muffled by the gel and he couldn't tell who was yelling, even with his enhanced senses. His nerves were nearly at a breaking point. This was Lucy's Storm, so she should be able to navigate it, right? But after working closely with Lisanna for a few months, he knew she had creatures up her sleeve that might throw Lucy off guard, especially if she couldn't see the change.
Goddamn, but he wanted to be able to see! He pounded on his prison in frustration. Even with how high the stakes were, he couldn't deny his excitement at watching Lucy fight. Each move was fluid, almost as though she danced her way through the fight. He was burning to spar with her. And some of the outfits she was pulling out with these Stardresses… he'd love to see them up close when this ended. If it ended. His nerves were taut, stretched to the breaking point by his fear for both his friend and his lover.
As he tried futilely to break out once more, the sand dropped to the ground.
Lucy gasped out a breath as she hit the ground, smacked across the clearing by a lucky swing from the stinger. She wasted no time pulling herself to her feet. Across the way, she was grateful to see Lisanna breathing hard and favoring her left foot. Lucy's hits must have done some damage of her own.
Lisanna dropped to all fours, minimizing the disadvantage of an injured foot. Lucy let go of her Scorpio Stardress to watch warily. How many forms did the other woman have? She had to be running low on magic energy. Lucy certainly was. Her arm was pounding, the bandage soaking through. She was beat to hell and back. But as she risked a glance and Natsu, she steadied. She had to win. She had to find out what was going on, and goddammit, she was going to fix this whole thing. Or at least try. Fairy Tail didn't fight each other like this! She wasn't going to allow a guildmate to go off the deep end like this without at least trying to understand.
She needed to end this now.
As Lisanna sprouted pure white spines down her back, Lucy requipped her own key and placed it on her chest. She'd been too busy reacting to Lisanna's attacks. Time to launch one of her own.
Lisanna charged her, porcupine spines not only covering her entire back side, but also shooting from her hands. Lucy took her stance, thrusting her own hands out toward the rampaging mage and barely flinching when a spine scoured her cheek on its way past.
"Wool Bomb: Containment Puff!" she cried, and a massive pink ball shimmered into existence and surrounded Lisanna, catching on her spikes and thoroughly entrapping her. But that didn't mean anything; she'd proven herself adept at changing form and slithering through whatever defense might be set. Lucy had only moments. She stepped forward, charging up her hands to deliver a blast, and gasped in pain.
A spike had embedded itself in the meaty part of her outer thigh. Lucy whimpered as she tried to put weight on it. Nope, not happening. Sweat stung her eyes as she looked back up. Fine. She'd take the long shot, and she'd do it off balance. This. Ended. Here.
Her hands glowed with the last remnants of her power and she formed it into a ball, aiming. Lisanna saw what she was doing and ripped desperately at the wool.
"No! No! You can't! You can't win, I gave up everything for this, for him, it'll never be normal! I won't let you!"
Lucy sighed, suddenly exhausted, "Sorry, Lisanna. But this is Fairy Tail, and we don't give up on our nakama. Losing to you would mean I've given up on you. And I haven't," she let loose her orb of light, falling backward at the recoil from her own magic. The orb shot across the clearing, catapulting directly into Lisanna's chest, blasting her out of the wool and across the ground.
Both women landed at the same time, both back in their original forms, magic depleted. Lisanna was out cold, sprawled on her back, face turned to the sun. Lucy struggled to roll over. Her arm and leg bled sluggishly, but she knew better than to pull out the spine in her leg. It was the only thing slowing the bleeding until she could get to Wendy. Painfully, she dragged herself over to Natsu, but her strength failed when she got close enough to touch his cage. Her hand came up to gently rest where his fist pounded the barrier between them.
Huh. The pounding was a lot louder than it had been before… and it didn't match up with his hand striking the surface… Lucy hazily turned her head toward the path to the clearing and started to cry with relief with Fairy Tail members poured in, overtaking the scene of the battle in moments.
Wendy, Gray, and Erza rushed over to her. "Oh, Lucy!" Wendy cried, resting her hand over the quill. "We're so sorry we weren't here sooner."
"How…how did you know?" Lucy whispered.
Erza answered her from where she and Gray were trying to break Natsu's cell. "Cana had an intuition something was wrong. Happy confessed the 'surprise' Lisanna wanted to set up, and Mira led the charge. It seems she's been concerned about her sister for a little while."
She turned back to the cage, and swung her sword at a section Gray had frozen. The barrier shattered, and Natsu was able to push his way out. He fell to the ground, hacking up globs of orange gel, before scrambling up and stumbling over to Lucy.
Wendy helped her sit as he fell to his knees and pulled her to his chest. She hugged him back, mindless of the squish of his clothes. Neither of them said anything, just holding each other in the center of the chaos. Lucy opened her eyes, looking past Natsu's shoulder. She saw Lisanna, likewise cradled to Mira's chest as Elfman brushed her hair out of her eyes. Mira was crying, and Lucy felt her own tears start to slip down her cheeks.
Master stooped next to Mira, sharing a few words. She nodded, and Elfman gathered his youngest sister up as Cana laid a sleeping card on her head. They started down the hill, but Mira stopped them a moment and hurried back toward Lucy. She knelt down when she reached them, and placed a gentle hand on Lucy's own.
"I'm so… I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I thought something was wrong but I didn't… I never dreamed…"
Lucy cut her off. "It's ok, Mira," she said, "this isn't your fault. She needs help."
"If anyone should have known, it should be me," Natsu cut in, "and I didn't see it either. Before Lucy came up the hill she was talking to me. I think she's been hiding a lot of pain since she came back. She doesn't feel truly, anchored, I guess, in this world. It's killing her, and she somehow twisted all of her pain onto Lucy. She needs to feel like she belongs again."
Mira nodded. "Thank you. Master knows a place. She'll, um, she'll go live there until she's better. We're all welcome to visit. But I think it would be best if neither of you came for awhile." She saw the pain in Natsu's eyes. "I'm sorry. To both of you. This never should have happened. But thank you for stopping her, Lucy. And for not ending things like I think she would have, had she won."
She got up, brushing off her long skirts. "I'll let you know if… when… she's good enough to see you again. I have to believe we'll get to that point," she nodded firmly to herself, then turned and walked away to join Elfman.
The clearing emptied quickly then, until it was just Natsu, Lucy and Happy. The little cat floated over, dropping into Lucy's arms. His eyes filled with tears. "I'm so sorry, Lucy," he whimpered, "I thought it was going to be a surprise for you! Something nice!"
She ruffled his fur, "It's ok, Happy. You didn't know. None of us knew. So don't blame yourself, ok?" he sniffled again, then nodded.
Lifting out of her arms, he hovered above them. "Well, then, you should really get cleaned up, Lucy. Orange is so not your color."
Lucy looked down at the globs of gel that had dripped and smeared on her from Natsu's tight hold and gasped in outrage. "Damn cat! All colors are my colors!" she tried to swipe at him, but he was too far away and Natsu was too warm.
So instead she watched from the comfort of his arms as Happy zoomed off down the path, yelling something about "alone time with Carla." As bratty as the Exceed could be, she appreciated his tact in allowing herself and Natsu a little time on their own after what had happened.
For a moment, they didn't speak, both taking in what had happened. The only sounds were birdsong and the wind murmuring through the trees. Lucy closed her eyes and leaned against Natsu's chest.
"I'm sorry," she looked up at him, surprised. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop her," Natsu continued, "not just today, but earlier. I don't know how long ago she…would you have even left if it wasn't for her? I've been thinking about it, that fight in Glissfield from months ago. When you got this," he lightly touched the scar on her arm, remnants of the hit she'd taken for Lisanna. "She told us all a story about you wanting to prove yourself, and I yelled at you. I'm sorry for that, too."
Lucy stirred, pulled herself away enough to look into his eyes. She paused a moment and chose her words with care. "I don't blame you for Lisanna, Natsu. And it's awful what's happened and I hope she can get help, but… I can't be upset for leaving. Whether she was the tipping point or not, you and I needed to have this talk. I needed to go off on my own. I was trying to prove my strength while relying on you too much and not taking enough initiative to train on my own or to even talk to you about it. I just wallowed in it."
He nodded, "And I was always coming to your rescue, whether you needed it or not. I never gave you an opportunity to get better and then I helped you beat yourself up about it."
They looked at each other a moment, small smiles gracing both their mouths. "Let's be better teammates from now on, yeah?" Natsu asked, holding his hand out, a little awkwardly since he was still cradling her.
She took it, smile widening. "This time we'll promise to talk to each other before little issues become big issues," she agreed.
Natsu grinned enthusiastically. "Yes! Be good for dating, too!"
"D-Dating?" Lucy quavered. Mentally she smacked herself. Of course they were dating! Like hell she was letting someone take her virginity in a forest and grow a tail and then not be her boyfriend! She grinned back at him, "Right! Dating!"
He shook his head and stood up, taking her with him. He started toward the stream, still carrying her. "C'mon, Lucy! Let's go get cleaned up in the river!"
"Outside! I'm not getting naked outside!"
"Well geeze, why not? We did it just this week!"
"It's not the same, Natsu!"
"I don't see 一 ow, stop pulling my hair! 一 Fine, I won't look then! But I keep my soap in a tree down there so we have to go anyway!"
"Ok, see, this is one of those issues we have to talk about…"
As he ran headlong down the path to the water, cradling her securely in his arms as they bantered, Lucy couldn't stop a wide smile overtaking her. Despite all the confusion and pain and uncertainty of the past few months, she wouldn't trade it for a second. She was home, and it felt like home, with none of the insecurities of the past.
As he reached the water and lept into a pool, both of them still fully dressed, she couldn't help but let out a shout of laughter. She couldn't wait for where life took them next.
And there you have it. The next chapter will be the epilogue! (It won't take two weeks, promise. It's been in my head for awhile) As usual a huge thank you to Lady Lutka for her endless help and patience with my writing. Drop me a review!
Authors:
Mooifyourecows: Her Strength is totally awesome.
Starmini: This author is great with words and plot! Highly recommend.
Silken Ink: An interesting take on Natsu and Lucy's story, and so far has been updating regularly!
