Hello Everyone!
Well after a fun weekend at Setsucon, I'm back. I was able to finish this chapter for you all and I hope you guys enjoy it. This chapter came easily to me though I apologize ahead of time if there are some grammer errors. I didn't exactly have time to review it myself but I might just do that later. Thank you guys for your support and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
~wolvesfinalden
Fairy Tail: By Your Side
Chapter 14: Where They Needed to Be
The group made it to the lacrama that was surrounded by a crowd of people. They decided to split up. Wendy and Carla made their way around the left side. Duke and Happy took the right and Natsu and Lucy took the middle. Lucy was behind Natsu trying to find any sign of their friends but so far no luck. What was drawing her attention at the moment was the huge lacrama in the middle. She'd never seen one that big before. It caught Natsu's attention to but only for a brief moment, he wanted to keep his mind on track, however something kept bringing his attention back to the lacrama though he didn't know what.
Lucy tried to listen to the crowd around them but had no luck of finding anything out about it. Though she did hear them say that the lacrama was going to be used to bring their magic back somehow, Lucy however could care less about that at the moment.
"I wonder if the others found anything yet." Lucy wondered out loud.
"I'm sure if Duke and Happy found anything you'd know right away. We've only been at it for a couple minutes now and Duke seemed sure that the guild was around here somewhere." Natsu said while he sniffed the air.
"Yeah I guess you're right." Lucy sighed.
As they went further, she felt a pulse of magic enter her body, making her completely stop. When she allowed the magic to take over, the familiar feeling of Duke's magic took place. Through Duke's eyes she could see the lacrama in plain sight but couldn't understand why he would show her this. After all he had to know that she could see the lacrama from where she was too.
'Duke, I can see the lacrama from here but I don't know what you want me to look for.' She whispered.
Lucy could here Duke growled softly which meant for her to look harder. She did as her wolf wanted and when she saw what he did, she let out a loud gasp and the connection between her and Duke was broken.
"Luce what's wrong?" Natsu asked her.
The blonde couldn't respond so she shakily pointed to the lacrama up ahead. Natsu looked to where she was pointing but couldn't see what she meant. He turned to her again with a confused look.
"The guild…" she whispered softly.
Natsu looked again and when he did he saw exactly what she meant. There he could read the sign of the guild inside and their insignia as well. The dragon slayer growled as he saw it and was pushing forward in the crowd. Lucy noticed and ran after him to try and stop him, though she didn't have to go very far when the dragon slayer stopped on his own.
Lucy peered around and saw that Duke was in his way with his fur fluffed up and growling. He shook his head telling Natsu not to go any further. The blonde could tell that he didn't want to stop even if Duke was in the way, so she ran up behind him and hugged him from behind.
"Natsu please don't. We'll get them out of there but you can't make a scene now. We'll have to find another way to break them out." Lucy whispered to him.
Natsu still tried to break free of Lucy's grasp but then stopped when he could hear the pleading in her voice. He looked back at her and smiled.
"Alright Luce."
Duke then pulled on Natsu's clothing, dragging them away from the crowd for now. When they got out of the crowd Natsu noticed that Happy was no longer with Duke.
"Hey Duke where'd Happy go?" he asked him.
The wolf looked in the other direction, Lucy and Natsu turned with him and saw Happy with Carla and Wendy. They waved at them so the three met up with them and made their way through a nearby alley.
"Did you guys find them?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah Duke found that the guild was inside the lacrama. From what I heard they're going to use the lacrama to restore magic to their world but it won't last forever." Lucy said.
"How do we get them out?" Wendy asked.
"I'm not sure. We can't just break it, if we do it could shatter into millions of pieces killing the others in the process." Lucy said.
"Then we'll just have to force this king to set them free." Natsu said with an aggressive tone.
"That might be the best course of action in this case. I don't know why but I'm getting a vision of a map now and it leads straight into the castle. It's an underground entrance so no one should be around to see us." Carla said.
Duke looked at her with his eyes narrowed. He didn't trust her no matter how much he wanted to. There was something off about her ever since he met up with them in Edolas. Something just didn't feel right and it made Duke uncomfortable.
"Well then lead the way Carla." Natsu said with a grin.
"Aye!" Happy added.
The wolf growled low enough that not everyone could hear him. He knew that the cats and Natsu probably heard him but not the girls. Natsu looked down at Duke and gave him a curious look, so Duke just shook his head and kept moving.
The group made it to an underground entrance and everyone started to go through. Duke sniffed the air and froze. He lunged forward and grabbed Lucy's skirt, trying to tug her back. Lucy stopped and looked at Duke.
"Duke come on, it'll be okay." Lucy said trying to calm him down.
Duke shook his head and continued to pull her out of the entrance. Natsu saw this and then forced Duke to let go of Lucy which angered the wolf. He bared his fangs and snarled at Natsu. The fire mage growled back but Duke wasn't backing down, not yet.
"If the mutt doesn't want to come then just leave him." Carla said impatiently.
"Carla don't be rude. Maybe something is wrong, he doesn't usually act like this doesn't he Lucy?" Wendy asked.
"No, only when he thinks something is up ahead." Lucy said.
The blonde looked at Natsu, maybe he could sense what Duke did. Natsu then shook his head and sighed.
"My senses are really dull at the moment. I can't pick up anything though Duke still can magic or not." Natsu said.
"What should we do?" Lucy asked.
"Well if we don't go now who knows when we can." Carla said.
Lucy looked back at Duke, she trusted Duke more than anyone. If he didn't think it was safe then it very well might not be.
"Maybe we should try something else. I trust Duke he wouldn't do this without reason." Lucy said.
Natsu pondered and then looked to Lucy.
"We'll have to go now, if we wait any longer then it might be too late." Natsu said.
Duke looked at him and shook his head.
"Then let's go." Carla said walking ahead.
Duke looked at Lucy he buried his head into her hands.
"You'll protect me Duke, it'll be okay. If it gets bad we'll leave. I trust our bond don't you?"
Duke nodded and let Lucy walk ahead. He followed close behind and finally the group got to a three way intersection. Duke let Carla lead the way but he didn't like it he just hoped he was wrong.
"Stop right there!" someone yelled up ahead.
The group stopped and Lucy's eyes widened when she saw a group of soldiers blocking their way. Duke growled and jumped in front of the group. He presented himself the guards took a step back all of them but one looked terrified.
"How did he get out!" one called.
"What do we do?" one asked.
Natsu stood beside Duke ready to fight his way through. They took a step forward and Duke got angry, they weren't going to touch them, not if the wolf had anything to do with it. They took out their weapons and Duke lunged at them.
"Duke no!" Lucy yelled.
Duke ignored her calls and took out one guard after another. He felt power surge up inside of him as he fought. The fear of Lucy being taken away, along with others was enough for him to go on. When he got to the last few he jumped on the one that ran at him. Duke stood on top of him baring his fangs but then one of the guards took him by surprise and knocked Duke out cold with his stunner.
"Duke!" Lucy called.
"Hands up!" they said.
Natsu was about to charge when a guard ran past him and took Lucy down to the ground. The dragon slayer saw this and became enraged.
"Lucy!" he yelled.
He tried to attack the guard but without his magic he was left defensless. They were all caught. Natsu looked at Lucy who was on the ground, now unconscious and that was the last thing he saw before everything went black.
In the dark parts of the palace laid out a complex of cells. The one held a wolf with white fur. The wolf heard guards pass by his cage and could sense the fear coming off of them. No one would dare touch him. Not after what he had done to so many of them before.
"We got a few new more prisoners in. The two are what they call dragon slayers, they'll be a great addition, the king wants to drain their powers so the kingdom will have even more magical power to go on." One spoke.
"What about the blonde haired girl?" the other asked.
"I think they mentioned about executing her. There's no need for her, the other wolf was thrown in not too far from her. He was very powerful, almost as powerful as this one. You should have seen the guards that came back. One was almost dead and the others looked like he simply spared them."
The wolf finally cracked open his eyes revealing his dark red, crimson eyes. They had mentioned a blonde haired girl, but that couldn't possibly be his master could it? She wouldn't dare get herself caught. The wolf then got up and sniffed the air, he froze when her familiar scent entered his nose. No they had her, it had to be.
He growled at the guards. He allowed himself to be thrown into here and didn't attempt to leave in fear that they would try and track down the guild. If that happened then she would be taken away and surely killed. Though now if they have her there was no point in staying. She needed him.
The wolf then banged on his cage causing the guards to run down the hall in fear. Once they had left the wolf went to work on his lock. He unsheathed his claw on his right paw and placed in inside the lock. He moved around in it enough and finally heard the click. He took his claw out and sheathed it once again, then gently opened the door. He sniffed around for a moment and caught, not the scent of her, but her companion. He froze at that moment.
If he's here then she has to be here, there was no doubt about that now. He raced down the hall following his scent. If he could find him then he could easily tell him where they are keeping her. He reached another hall and turned left. He peered around the corner to see a few guards and the man with raven like hair and a tattoo above his eyes.
"Oh you mean that blonde bimbo?" he asked. "There's no use for her. So she's going to be executed."
The wolf heard banging on the jail cell and immediately his scent entered his nose. Though what threw him off was the scent of ashes radiating from him. He wasn't normally around fire was he? The wolf pushed the thought away and decided to worry about it later.
He raced down the hall giving out a bark and a snarl as he got closer. The guards screamed at first but not long after. He jumped into the air and locked his jaws into the guard's neck, bringing him down to floor easily, as the blood splattered the ground.
He moved off the guard and bared his fangs, letting them see the blood of their ally all over his fangs. He picked them off one right after the other, and let the one run away in fear. Once the area was clear he came to the door and used his claw to unlock the door for him.
Though once he was out, he immediately noticed that this was indeed not who he thought it was. The man before him looked practically identical to his comrade but what was different was the fact that there was no sign of complete fear in his eyes. The only thing he could see that was fear must have been for her about to be executed.
"Thanks Duke." He said.
Then he looked at the wolf and noticed that his eyes were not gold but the crimson red. The white canine looked behind him to see a smaller girl and was surprised that it smelled like the Wendy from the guild. Only she seemed to only be a child.
"That must be the Edolas Duke. I wonder if Edolas Lucy and Natsu freed him." She said.
"What do you mean?" the wolf finally spoke.
"Wow wait you can talk?" Natsu asked.
"Of course I can. Your language is rather easy for me to learn. Besides my master is the one that I was able to learn from."
"Wait you mean your Lucy? How is that? Our Duke can't speak, why can you?" Natsu said still not understanding.
"Maybe it's because of Edolas being different from us. After all, our other selves were all very different from us." Wendy said.
"Fool, any wolf can speak a human language. If your Duke can't speak then perhaps the bond hasn't grown yet. If it is strong and true then he should be able to speak the language easily. I was able to when Lucy and I found Fairy Tail."
"We'll have to tell Duke that. It'll make it a lot easier to communicate with him." Natsu said.
"Enough of this nonsense. We have a mission. I assume then it is not my Lucy that is captured but your own?"
"Yeah our Duke is caught somewhere too." Natsu said.
"No need to worry about him. If he's like me he'll know to use his claws to pick the lock. Now let's get moving before we are too late. Then you can take me to my master."
The group ran down the hall and while they did Natsu looked back at Duke again.
"Hey Duke, if you could get out this whole time. Why didn't you do it sooner? Your Lucy was devastated when they took you and she's been searching for you ever since."
"I feared that if I escaped that they would immediately try to locate the guild. Putting their lives at risk as well as Lucy's. As her wolf I can't allow that to happen, which is why I took her place."
Natsu nodded and the group continued down the hall trying to find any sign of their Lucy.
'Hold on Lucy. I'm coming.'
Duke awoken in a caged cell and looked around to find a way out. He noticed the lock hanging down and did as the Edolas Duke had done. He used his claws to pick the lock. When he was free he was back to searching for Lucy and the others once again. He caught a faint scent of Lucy but couldn't pin point exactly where it was coming from.
He raced down the halls until finally he collided with something about his size. When Duke opened his eyes he came face to face to what had to be his Edolas self. He looked up to find Natsu and Wendy with him, which was a huge relief for him.
"You must be their Duke. We are looking for your Lucy at the moment and there's no time to waste." Edolas Duke said as he took off down the hall.
Duke looked back at Natsu and Wendy for an explanation but didn't received any.
"I'll tell you later boy." Natsu said as he took off after his other self.
The golden eyed wolf then quickly followed after them hoping that Lucy was safe, wherever she was.
Happy and Carla both awoken on a big bed. Happy was the first up and had woken Carla up. Now the two were making their way down the hall. Carla didn't say a word so Happy decided to carry on the conversation.
"I'm sure we'll find them somewhere. They'll be okay." Happy said.
Then they were stopped by two other cats.
"Hello there heroes and welcome home. You did your job rather nicely I might add." The black tom said.
"Yes indeed, the queen will be very pleased with you." The lion like one said.
"What do you mean?" Happy asked.
"Don't you see? We were the ones that brought them here. It's because of us that they are in danger, that they might perish." Carla said in defeat.
"No that won't happen. Natsu is my friend. So is Duke and Lucy. Wendy is yours as well, none of this was your fault Carla." Happy said.
"Yes it is. We should have listened to that wolf. He knew what was going to happen but I continued on anyway because that was my mission." Carla said with tears in her eyes.
"No I won't believe it! This can't end like this!" Happy yelled. "We're going back to them. They need us and we need them and I don't want it to be any other way!"
Edolas Duke smiled as he heard something from far away.
'You believe you lead them to their deaths, when in reality, you lead them to the exact place they needed to be.' Edolas Duke thought as he raced down the hall with the group.
That's all for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this and thanks for reading. Don't forget to fav or follow the story if you haven't yet and as always leave a review letting me know if you liked it. Thanks guys until next time!
~wolvesfinalden
