Iron in the Stars
AN: Story is my idea, but I do not own anything Fairy Tail.
I have to apologize to everyone. I will read and go over the last chapter and update it with corrections. I was frustrated with it and tired so I just posted it without bothering to go over it and make any edits.
Chapter 13: Beasts
"I can't see anything!" I've been complaining for the last hour or what felt like an hour, honestly it could have been five minutes. It was just so dark around us and I could barely see the trees in front of us. We had to be stealthy though. Stealthy my ass. I had to laugh. When Erza said that we were going to stealth through the forest so the beasts couldn't see us Natsu got excited and started screeching about ninjas. I swear sometimes he had the maturity of a five year old. Poor Lisanna. Although, I was whining now and poor Gajeel was putting up with me. Meredy thought it was adorable. She's made fun of us all day. I thought that Gajeel was going to freak out by the time we got dinner. That little vein on his forehead was starting to make a permanent appearance and I had to squeeze his hand to try and get him to ignore it. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen though because he snapped at her and told her that if she didn't shut her mouth he was going to make her a metal coffin and keep her in the sun. Seemed harsh. She shut up after that though so apparently it was effective.
"Be quiet Bunny. We need to keep a low profile." He didn't say it in anger or with malice, but he did have authority in his voice, which made me feel a little ashamed at my complaining. "I can't believe I forgot about this! Open! Gate of the Peacock! Pavo!"
"Yes my princess? What may I help you with this evening?" He bowed while grabbing my hand and kissing it. Even though Gajeel growled in a threating manner he did not stop his actions. "I'm sorry if this upsets you Sir, I am not making a pass at your mate, I was raised to show women respect and our princess deserves more than respect. You must know that I would do anything for her including ending my life for hers to continue. You have not to worry about myself." I couldn't help, but feel a swell of love in my chest for my spirits. I always want to have this connection with them. They were very amazing!
"Doesn't mean I have to like it." I barely heard him grumble, but it was adorable. He heard me giggle and scowled at me. Meredy was going to say something too, but her smarter senses kicked in.
"Pavo, I know you do illusion magic, but can you blend us into the area so we can't be noticed?"
"As long as I am with you, I can. It doesn't use up much magic either. Is that what you'd like me to do princess?" I nodded to him and hummed in appreciation when we all blended into the foliage. "You can talk freely now as well. Anyone who is around us will only hear animals in the area or the wind."
"Perfect! Thank you Pavo! See, we can talk now. This will be so much easier!" Everyone seemed to agree because we all sighed in relief. We were hunched over and quiet for too long as it was. I'm sure everyone's back were sore already.
"How long do you think we have to wait for these beasts? It's already dark, shouldn't they be attacking already? Maybe their pattern was just a fluke." Gray was talking to Gajeel it seemed. I listened to them discuss theories about what type of beasts they could be as I stroked Lily's ears. I smiled down at him as he putted in content. Meredy and Racer chatted as well separately. It seemed that Meredy was Mira's twin. They were talking about Jellal and Erza being together.
This was much more enjoyable than trying to be silent and not move around. "You guys it's already around midnight, I don't think that -." He never got to finish his sentence because that's when we heard them. They were to the south of us. We started to run as fast as we could to what I assumed would be hell. As soon as we got out of the trees we could see them. There were seven of them. It was strange though. They all glowed a different color. The monsters themselves looked alike. They all looked like dragons. They all glowed though making them look unrealistic, almost holographic. Were they even real? I watched Erza swing her sword down on to what was a solid form. The dragon itself that her and her team were up against had a layer of red fog coming off of it.
"We need to get over there!" Gray shouted as he took off faster than the group. Well, faster than most of the group. Lily used his sonic speed to make himself faster and Racer was just Racer. He was already over there starting to take a different one on. Meredy and me were the slowest to reach the beasts. Apparently each team was taking one on. The beasts that weren't fighting started to walk off around the forest. They didn't seem to go in a certain direction, just near the town. I would be more worried to gather them near us once they hit the town. After all, it was our job to destroy them so they couldn't demolish anymore towns.
"Bunny, be careful. If you need me scream out to me and I will get here as soon as I physically can!" I nodded to him and he was off to fight the closest one with Racer. The dragons were large, easily the size of our guildhall! It looked like all four teams were here already. We were all divvied up to fight against them. The one I was about to reach was the one omitting a green glow. It was so strange. I was able to actually inspect it up close for a minute. The glow was similar to fog like the other ones and it was just rolling off of the dragon's bodies. It hasn't attacked yet. It was observing its surroundings. This act made me nervous. This means that this dragon was cunning and patient in its attack. Why did we have to pick this one? Luckily Pavo was still with me so I was hidden in the shrubbery with Gray to calculate the best form of attack.
"Are you ready?" Gray's hand was on my shoulder. I took a deep breath and nodded over to Pavo.
"It's time for you to go. Thank you Pavo." He bowed to me and sparkled out of this realm. "Open! Gate of the lions! Leo and Leo Minor! Open! Gate of the archer! Sagittarius!" I knew I would be pushing myself too hard if I opened another gate. This was all I could do for now and it had to be enough. As soon as the brothers came out they disappeared. "What the hell!" Why weren't they fighting with me? They reappeared a moment later and I no longer could feel them using my magic.
"We're going to need more man power princess. Open up Taurus or Capricorn. Do not try and open both." Taurus would be powerful, but I didn't know if he was the best option. Capricorn held his wisdom well in fights and treated them as a game of strategy. I did as I was told and called out Capricorn. He would be able to handle this dragon better with his wisdom rather than Taurus' straightforward approach of attack. I just hope his wisdom was enough to bring the beast down.
"Sagittarius! I need you to stay back and try to attack from afar. Capricorn I need you to fight with us. Try and find a weak point. The dragon has a form, but isn't real. We need to find a way to bring them down." Gray had already started to form ice around the dragon making it impossible to move much, but the dragon calculated all of our moves. He still was strictly being defensive and I didn't know what kind of magic the beast possessed. That was until it opened it's mouth and a roar came out. It was identical to Gajeel's iron roar. Shit, so the dragon is an iron dragon. "Sagittarius aim for his eyes so he has to rely on other senses. Lev and Loke we need to keep Gray safe so maybe we can enclose him in ice."
It felt weird calling out orders, but no one else seemed to mind. I was usually the one who just listened and did as I was told. Since I've been training I could tell that my confidence level has greatly increased. I knew that the others have seen it too. Gajeel liked to point it out whenever he could. Especially when I take charge in the bedroom. He especially seemed to enjoy it then. I was not shy to tell him what I wanted to do or what I wanted him to do now. Cana was certainly right that I was starting to let me freak flag fly proudly. I really should focus back on the fight though.
We jumped up onto the beast and started pounding on it with the regulas blast. Gajeel was on its head not listening to anything we said with Lily just trying to keep him at bay with his own attacks. Apparently the hide on the beast proved to be thick. His blasts as well as ours were not penetrating. The brothers were with me on its back and it seemed like we were doing no damage. Capricorn was near its chest trying to make swift attacks there. Gray was making his ice cannon to join Sagittarius with long-range attacks. Meredy was observing the situation to find the best course of action. Nothing made an affect against him. The fog on top of his skin started to get thicker starting near his chest and branching out. I eyed it, but had no idea what it was doing. It was almost where I couldn't see anything in front of me. "Bunny!" I vaguely heard someone call out to me but I was transfixed. Gajeel was running down its head towards me. I felt paralyzed. The green fog was drawing me in and I didn't want to move. It was beautiful. It took my breath away and I wanted to get closer to it. I started to kneel, but felt a force against me stopping me.
I felt arms lock onto my waist and pull me off of the beast and away from the fog. It was like I was drugged. Everything about it pulled me in. I couldn't feel myself at all. As soon as I was away from it though I could see what was in front of me. Plus, I could feel the stabbing pain on my side. What the hell happened? My side felt horrible. I could even feel warm liquid start to make its way down. I couldn't look at it.
"Maguilty Sodum!" Meredy's swords came rushing out and towards the beast. I looked up and noticed that the fog was completely gone and there was no green glow on the beast. It was covered in iron spikes though instead. "Racer now is your chance try and go in between the spikes! Guys! Aim for its chest! Watch for the spikes though." I noticed Gajeel's hesitation as he looked down at me. I still don't know what happened, but we couldn't hesitate. I pushed myself away from him and grabbed my whip. Shooting it in time with Gray's attack. As soon as it made impact I felt the pain spread on my left side. I refused to look down and see the damage. If I looked at it I knew it would make me feel worse.
"Iron dragon sword!" Gajeel's arm shot out and attacked the dragon. The attacks struck and punctured the thick hide in front of us. It roared in pain and coiled its body like it was curling in on itself. When it roared again it shot up and uncoiled its body allowing the spikes to shoot out towards us. "Open! Gate of the shield! Scutum!" I felt my magic scream at me in protest. Having both Sagittarius and Capricorn out with my magic already was taking its toll. The spikes crashed into the shield and then fell the ground. I felt Scutum, Sagittarius, and Capricorn disappear. "Damnit!" Everyone was safe though. I fell to my knees and was breathing heavy. We had to finish this beast and soon before we all couldn't fight anymore.
I took a glance around and noticed that the other dragons were still up as well. Fuck. There were six others and we were still only on this one. What were we going to do? There was no winning. The green fog started to form around the beast again and I groaned in frustration.
"Yes! It's what I thought!" Meredy was excited. Why the fuck is this girl excited? Did she not understand what was going on in front of her? We were in a damn fight against a dragon that was winning. We were all pretty tired and this bitch is celebrating. I knew she was a dark wizard once and I thought her ways have changed but, hell, I make mistakes with people. Maybe I was wrong? Maybe she was still an evil bitch.
"What are you going on about?" Racer was the one that confronted her though. "Seriously, Meredy, this is not a time to be excited. We are exhausted. I don't know about you, but a lot of my magic is gone. What could possibly be good in this situation?" I had to stifle a small laugh. At least someone said something. I didn't expect it to be someone on her team, but hey at least I wasn't the one who made the tension.
"You guys don't understand? Seriously? The fog keeps it safe. One of us must have triggered it to go into himself? His fog disappeared, but I noticed that his eyes turned the color of the fog. When the fog went away his hide got much weaker. I suspect that his attacks would get weaker too. His other defense came out when the fog went away which were the spikes. We need to watch the fog and spikes. I think if we can get his defenses to go into himself again we have a chance to take him out!" Okay, well at least that makes sense.
"There is only one problem. We are all tired and it doesn't look like the other teams are having any success either. How are we supposed to keep fighting this thing and then fight the other ones?" Gray's words were disconcerting. He was right. There was no way we were going to be able to win this fight. Even if we won against our dragon we wouldn't be able to continue with all of the dragons. I felt arms wrap around me and pull me against a firm chest. I looked at Gajeel. He didn't look back at me instead he was watching the dragon intently. It didn't look to be fighting us at all. It was scanning the area past us like it was trying to analyze a way out of the forest and into the town.
"It's sniffing. It's looking for a scent. I wasn't sure before, but I'm positive now. These dragons don't seem to be very offensive, just defensive. They are for sure looking for someone or something." He kissed my head and did something I would never have thought he would have done. He nuzzled his face into my neck and ran his nose against my cheek. "Stay back here for now, okay Bunny?" I nodded.
"Loke and Lev, can you go fight along side them for now? I will stay back here and use my whip." Just like that they ran back against the beast. The only people to stay back with me were Meredy and Gray. We attacked from a far. I could feel some of my magic coming back. Granted, it wasn't near the same as it was, but I could do some damage if I needed to. I watched them try and make headway into the beast's hide, but the fog wasn't going anywhere. They were down two people. Technically three if you include me as well. My regulas blast was much stronger than fighting with my whip. The beast didn't even seem fazed in the slightest. Shit. I had to do something. This wasn't going to work. We had to make this work so we could over to the other groups.
I knew this was going to most likely make me worthless in the other fights, but once they can group up with the other teams they would be able to fight more efficiently. The other teams were still struggling too. We had to end this now. "Survey the heavens, open the heavens all the stars, far and wide show me thy appearance with such shine. Oh Tetrabiblos I am the ruler of the stars aspect become complete open thy malevolent gate. Oh eighty-eight stars of the heavens Shine! Urano Metria!" The stars slammed into the beast and immediately his defenses went into himself. The spikes came out and the hide was being ripped apart by the spell. The others took the opportunity to do the same and stab at the flesh. The beast never had the chance to even try to shot out its spikes.
I watched as the beast's form turned into just a holograph and then to the green fog that surrounded it. The fog started to form from its large shape to an unidentified shape. It swirled into a circle forming into sand it seemed. The sand compressed further and further until all that was left there was a green stone. The stone floated in the air for a moment before falling to the ground. The glow was completely gone now. All of my energy was gone. I watched as Lev and Loke looked at me concerned before rushing over with Gajeel on their heels. "I'm fine, just tired. Help the other teams!" Lily was the last one over by me. Meredy and Racer ran straight for Erza's team. "Go help them you guys. I'll be fine. Once I have a little bit of energy left I will try and come over to help. Until then I will stay in the bushes hidden."
"I don't like the idea of you staying here by yourself. I will carry you over there and put you in a tree so you can stay out of harms way." I went to protest, but his lips descended on mine for a split second. "Don't argue with me Bunny. I will not fight and not be able to see you. You need to rest for a bit at least."
"Lucy, perhaps you can hold onto this?" Lily dropped the green stone into my lap. I started to expect it and could feel that it was warm. There was magic inside of it.
"Gajeel, this stone is radiating magic. It's strong too. This must have been the fuel to make it more than just an illusion. I guarantee that all of these beasts have these stones fueling them." Gajeel grabbed the stone away from me and then started to scream.
"Fuck!" The stone started to smoke and evaporate into him. I grabbed at it and his eyes lost focus. He started to growl ferociously at me. The look he was giving me was screaming threats. Something was very wrong!
"Lily!" Lily flew behind me to grab me just incase something happened. I went for the stone again before it was completely inside of him and that's when he pulled one of his arms away from the stone and slammed it into me. His power was exceptionally more than what it was just a few minutes ago. When I got back up the stone was gone. "Gajeel?" I tried to walk over to him and he growled at me again.
"You need to back off Lucy, I don't want you to get hurt. Gajeel would never forgive me or himself if you got hurt." His eyes were different. It was like the dragon we fought. They were the same green as the fog. He was angry. This is beyond bad. We can't fight Gajeel and the beasts at the same time. Gajeel went to attack me again, but Lily was quicker. We flew into the air over towards Erza and her fight. It didn't matter if I was tired now. I had to fight. This was going to suck.
AN: TADA! Yay for fights, boo for evil Gajeel. I wonder what will happen? What did you guys think? Seem good? I know you all are sad because there wasn't any smutty love in this chapter, but I promise there will be much more in the future. By the way, I totally made this up as I went. Haha, I had no idea what was going to happen! Alrighty. I love getting the emails that someone followed or favorite'd me so keep them coming. I also love reading reviews. I hoard them on my phone and read them at work when I get cranky so thanks for that.