Iron in the Stars
AN: Story is my idea, but I do not own anything Fairy Tail.
Chapter 16: Sting
"Bunny?" She grumbled, but didn't wake up. "Bunny." I nudged her this time to force her to wake up. I knew that she would go back to sleep if I forced her to wake up right now so it didn't exactly matter.
"Fuck off." Who knew that this woman would be so cruel in the morning? I laughed finding the whole situation light hearted. I smirked for a moment then shrugged and decided to just leave her a note. She won't remember even swearing at me so, meh. Besides, I wore her out pretty well last night. She won't be waking up for a while yet. I got my shit together and started making my way to the door and froze. I have never had a lock on my door because I was never concerned with the safety of a stupid little device, but that's because I knew I could take anything on myself. She was strong, but didn't have the same dragon senses I had and could sleep through just about anything when she was tired enough. I would worry about her if there weren't even a lock on the door. I grabbed the door handle and decided for the first time in my life to put a lock on the door. I would do anything to keep this girl protected, even if it came down to my life. Surely, a simple lock would do the trick. I laughed at my own thoughts thinking if someone wanted to get in then a lock would do nothing. Perhaps I would talk to the green haired book worm and see if he can write some runes later.
I haven't lifted weights in over a week. Bunny was throwing my whole schedule out of whack. On the other hand, she has been working out with Titania while I was at the guild drinking. I probably shouldn't blame her. I was almost to the guild when I came to a dead stop. What the fuck? I sniffed the air over and over again to confirm the scent in the area. It was Sting. His scent was lingering around the guild. It was pretty strong too. He must have been lingering around for a short while. Pulling out the communication lacrima I considered who to call. Another slayer would be able to help me track him down. It didn't take long to see a very cranky Laxus on the other end.
"What?" He did not sound pleased that I was calling him which I found highly pleasing. I had to suppress my smirk when I heard a woman behind him asking who was calling so early. Apparently he finally nailed Cana. It didn't take much, but I had to wonder if her father knew. Laxus was labeled a player; her father wasn't going to be pleased with their new found love.
"You need to get your ass to the guild, now! Sting is around. His scent it still strong in the area." His eyes widened in surprise and then he gave a short nod.
"I'll be there in a minute." The communication lacrima shut off and I started to jog around the outside of the guild. I heard thunder crash from the other side of the building before I even made it around the guild and ran the rest of the way back over to Laxus. I sniffed the air in one direction while he did the other side.
"I think it's coming from this direction." I pointed to my right. "Isn't that the direction Flame Brain lives?" He furrowed his brow trying to consider what I said. I pulled the communication lacrima back out and allowed my magic to call the little flamer. I groggy looking Natsu answered with what appeared to be firey drool hanging from his mouth. How is that even possible?
"Iron Face? What the hell do you need?" He suddenly became alert and his eyes became wide. "Is Luce okay?" His frantic emotion filled question made my blood boil. He had no right thinking I couldn't keep her protected from danger. He needed to back the fuck off when it came to her. I will not share her with the other slayers. I had to mentally calm myself down. She would never allow me to do that anyway. She loved them just as much as they loved her. I knew this insecurity needed to go away. It's not like little miss innocent would ever cheat. I had to internally laugh at myself. She wasn't too innocent any longer.
"She's fine moron! We're calling you because Sting was around the guild somewhere. It smells like he went your way. Get your ass up and look around for him. We will be there shortly." Natsu's eyes widened and it seemed as if he got excited.
"Sting is coming th-" I cut his sentence off by cutting the communication lacrima off. We didn't have time to chit chat. He needed to get off his ass and find him with us. Laxus started to sprint towards Natsu's direction. It took me half a second to follow him. This whole thing was much more trouble than it was worth. What was all of this shit for? What did these bastards want to happen?
"What do you think Sting wishes to accomplish coming here?" Laxus' voice pulled me from my own thoughts.
"I don't know. We need to get to him and try to figure it out. Do you think he is stronger now, like I was with the stone in me?"
"I don't know, I fucking hope not! There has to be more to this then we know though. Rogue said he was being controlled so we need to tread lightly. As soon as we got closer we heard commotion. Natsu must have found Sting and they were fighting. We heard a loud crash and looked at each other in worry. "Fuck, we need to be faster." I pushed with some of my magic to increase my speed. Laxus was still easily faster than me, but we kept a good pace together. There was fire around the surrounding area, but we didn't see the two in question. Where would they have gone?
As we got closer I felt pity for Natsu. I saw Happy flying in and out of their home gathering what he possibly could, but the house itself was engulfed in flames. I wish I had Lily with me to help.
"I got this! I'm going to go get Juvia!" Happy called out to us knowing that Natsu would most likely need us more than him we took his word for it and tried smelling the air for the two dragon slayers.
"All I can smell in this is fire, do you see them anywhere?" Laxus looked around for any sign of them. It seemed as if he couldn't smell them either because his face started morphing into one of complete frustration. "Damnit! I can't smell them either. They couldn't have gone far though! Gajeel head in that direction and I will head in this direction. Call out if you find anything."
I started sprinting in the way I was told to go to try and find any inkling of the two idiots. They were certainly more trouble than they were worth. Maybe they killed each other. I wasn't that lucky. Annoying little pests. I didn't seriously want them to be dead, I was just angry that my workout was disturbed and that the two annoying dragon slayers seemed to always get themselves into trouble. I kept a keen eye on everything around me and couldn't smell them at all. I don't think I am going to the right way. They weren't over here.
"Gejeel!" I heard Laxus shout out towards me. It was more of an urgent call that struck me as concerning. I ran as fast as I could in their direction. The forest around me started to get darker. There was more fire and ash. Half of the forest was burning down. The fight couldn't have lasted long. How could it have possibly have gotten to this point? Their fight couldn't have been this powerful in the short time it took for Laxus and me to run over here. I finally made my way to the now clearing. The trees were uprooted and both individuals were on the ground completely unconscious. They looked like they both went through hell and back. Both of them were covered in burns and had singed clothes and hair.
"We need to get them both to Wendy. I will call Freed to get them in some ruins just incase they are both being controlled. I'll have Master call Rogue too." I grabbed a hold of Natsu while Laxus took Rogue and we started to make our way to the guild.
"Good morn- Oh Mavis! What happened? Is that Sting? Are they alive?" Mira ran over to us with worry in her eyes.
"Mira, call Master and Wendy and get them here as soon as possible." She nodded and ran back over to the bar.
"No need to call me Mira, I am already here." Master walked out of the office. "Bring them to the infirmary boys. We need to be very cautious with these two. Sting was certainly here for a reason. It is not by chance that he came to Fairy Tail."
I watched as Erza appeared into the communication device. What the hell, she was supposed to call the squirt! "Erza! Can you get Wendy and come to the guild right away?"
"Yes, I was just leaving to wake up Lucy, but I can do that instead. Is everything alright?" Her bringing up Bunny caught my attention. I wonder if she knew that Bunny was at my house and not at hers. It's probably the best that Erza couldn't find out. She was always on me about protecting her. It was rather annoying too.
"Sting and Natsu are in the infirmary and we need to keep them there. We need Wendy to heal them though. Please hurry." Mira had an edge of urgency to her statement knowing she still had to call Freed and she didn't want the Dragon Slayers to get away.
"Yes! I will be there as quickly as I can. Bye Mira." Erza disappeared and Mira pulsed her magic to call out Freed. I didn't miss the nervousness coming off of her. There was a small blush on her face as well.
"Mira? What can I do for you?" Freed smiled at her. I wonder when they were going to come out to everyone. I'm pretty sure everyone already knew that they were together.
"Freed can you please come to the guild? We need your ruins around the infirmary." He apparently didn't need any more explanation, which I was thankful for because we were already wasting time. Laxus was playing babysitter upstairs, but it didn't seem the idiots would wake up any time soon. I really didn't want to find out if I was wrong though. The guild door opened and I looked over expecting to see Wendy. It was Bunny. She smiled over at me and it just melted my heart. I loved her. I walked over to her and wrapped my arm around her. She sighed in appreciation and I couldn't help, but to bury my face between her neck and shoulder nuzzling my face into her hair. She started giggling at me, but I didn't care.
"You realize that you are purring at me, right?" I growled at her. She shouldn't make fun of my love for her.
"Shut up Bunny." I heard someone squeal behind us and looked over at Mira with eyes in her eyes. Damn Demon. The guild door opened again before I could snap at the demon and Wendy came rushing in with Titania.
"What's going on Gaj?" I frowned at her. I didn't have the time to talk to her about it. She is smart though; if she followed us she will figure it out. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly. She smiled at me and I knew that she understood that I couldn't exactly explain what was going on.
"Go on upstairs Squirt. Laxus is up there waiting for you already. Freed is on his way too. Mira can you send him up when he gets here?" She nodded at us and we made our way to the infirmary. I could feel Bunny tense next to me and I squeezed her hand again to reassure her.
"It's about time, I hate playing babysitter!" Bunny stopped in the doorway completely tense and Wendy gasped at the sight of the two of them. They really did look horrible. There must have been some sort of explosion that did this type of damage to the two of them. If it weren't for the fact that their magic was already close to fire and light and full of damaging properties, they probably would not have survived. With a little Squirt doing though, they'd be fine. The concern was directed towards why Sting was here.
"Squirt?" She was standing near Sting ready to start healing him, but stopped when I called her out. "Perhaps it would be better sorted to start healing Natsu first. If Sting is still under control then he will be more difficult to contain and if he has a crystal or stone in him then he will be near impossible to hold down. It may be safer to heal him when Freed gets here."
"You are right Gajeel. Heal Natsu first my dear girl." Master looked at me as if he was proud at me. I couldn't deny that it made me feel pride for being apart of this family. I watched as Wendy did what she could with the gashes and burns on Natsu, realistically, the burns probably wouldn't even hurt him. He did more damage with burns to himself than anything else. It would be weird to not see him with some sort of burn on him. It was the gashes that were troublesome.
"Freed's here." Mira walked into the infirmary with Freed right behind her. I wasn't going to mention that their hands were linked, but I saw Laxus smile a little at it as well. No one else seemed to take notice. "Just call me if you guys need anything, alright?" Mira didn't even wait for a response as she took her leave.
"Where would you guys like me to make my ruins? I can do it around the room itself, or I can do it around the beds?" He pulled his sword out waiting for a reply.
"Freed, please do both. I would like for you to do one around both beds. We are still not sure why Sting was here, but he went for Natsu. He may have done something to corrupt him. I would rather be safe than to put anyone in danger." Freed started to put the ruins around the beds.
"Why both? Wouldn't putting it on the beds be enough?" Laxus looked at his grandfather like he was insane.
"It's double protection. They are both very strong mages. If for some reason they get through the first we would surely know about it and be able to stop them before they could possibly get through the second." Bunny answered for the Master and he smiled up at her.
"Very smart Lucy. You truly are one of our most intelligent mages here. It is exactly, what she says. Personally, I think I am giving them far too much credit though. I highly doubt that they will be getting out of the first set. Even if Freed makes the rules simple for them, they will most likely not figure it out and we need answers.
After the ruins were in place Wendy started to heal Sting. "There is something blocking me from healing him." She seemed discouraged after her continuous failed attempts. I grabbed her when I saw Sting move. It was probably me being over protective, but I didn't want to see the squirt get herself hurt. Plus, if I didn't protect her Bunny would be upset. He started to groan and then growl. The growl was weak, but it was still threatening. As soon as his eyes opened we had our answer. He was still being controlled. His eyes were a light purple and unfocused. It was like he wasn't even looking at us, but through us.
"What is wrong with him?" Natsu caught me off guard. I wasn't even aware that he had woken up. He was starting at Sting completely distraught. He had emotions on his face that I've never seen on him before. It was a look of sympathy. I watched as he slowly got off of the bed to go over to the other man.
"Natsu, you can't go over there." I watched as Bunny entered the ruins and put her hands on his shoulders to keep him in his hidden prison. I felt the breath in my chest freeze. She had put herself in unnecessary danger and I was not happy about it. Apparently Laxus wasn't either because he also entered the small space or grabbed the girl away from Natsu ripping her away from his grasp. He was growling wildly at Natsu trying to challenge him over her. I didn't like this. Wendy walked away from me feeling every muscle in my body tense up. I was ready to rip off someone's head. Natsu stared at us completely baffled. I sighed letting at least some of the tension roll off of me. It didn't get to leave for long though.
My head whipped over to the other bed when Sting's growls began getting fiercer. He jumped out and slammed into the invisible ruins. Natsu did the same to try and intercept the light dragon slayer. They both slammed into their ruin wall and fell back into their beds.
"What the fuck!" Natsu yelled at us. He clearly couldn't understand why he was being contained. It was reassuring that the ruins worked though.
"I'm sorry Natsu, but we had to be precautious. Keep in mind we had no idea what had happened between you and Sting. We didn't want to take a chance for either of you getting out. Hopefully you can tell us what happened now that we know you are fine and he can't get out." Master smiled at the idiot reassuringly. As soon as he was told what was going on his toothy goofy grin reappeared on his face and sat back on the bed much more calmly.
"Honestly, I'm not too sure. Light bulb and Metal Face called me and told me that Sting was near me so I got up and went to leave my house. As soon as I opened my door he was there. He automatically attacked me, which I defended. Shit! Is Happy okay?" His eyes got wide as he looked around the room looking for his little buddy.
"He's okay, he was getting Juvia. Your house on the other hand isn't in good shape. You may be looking for a new place to live. He should be here eventually." He looked completely depressed now. I understood, if it were my house I'd be devastated.
"You can stay at my place Natsu. You can be there as long as you need it." Natsu looked at her in shock and then smiled lovingly at her. I growled at him killing that look immediately.
"Let's get back to the story, huah!" Bunny giggled at my hostility Laxus being respectful, let go of her. At least he understood my frustration.
"Right, well our magic collided and made an explosion. He went to run away and I chased after him. Once I caught up to him and he did it again. I don't remember anything after that."
It was worrying that Sting had given up trying to get out. He was just sitting there staring at nothing. It was slightly horrifying. "Sting?" Master called out to him and he did nothing. Three times the master called out to him. The third time Sting looked over. His eyes were dazed, but at least he was looking at him. "Sting do you know where you are?" He nodded his head slowly, but didn't say anything. "Are you being controlled?" He blinked, but didn't make any indication that he was going to answer the question. "Sting, are you being controlled?" He looked down dropping his head, but still didn't exactly answer the question. Perhaps he couldn't. "Do you have a crystal or a stone in you?" He looked at the master and tilted his head. His eyes closed and he sighed. We weren't going to get much out of him. Sting lay back on the bed and turned away from us to rest. We weren't going to get anything else from him. At least right now.
AN: Feel free to give me some ideas. Anything you guys want to see. I feel like I'm not doing the story any justice now, but it's mainly because I'm not sure where I want to go with it. Plus, I'm more of a reader than a writer. I started this because I didn't have something to currently read haha. :)