Chapter ten
A star is caught
"We have the worst luck." Lucy stated, arms crossed as she stared at the giant bubble of water in the arena center, watching the people in it with an annoyed expression. "I can't believe it; this is just like the race from last year,"
"It's not that bad," Hisui responded, watching as the participants waited for the start signal. "At least Natsu and Jenny have the same handicap; their magic's aren't designed for use underwater,"
"Hardly anyone out there's magic is!" the blonde exclaimed, watching as the member of Cobalt Wave seemed to be the only one confidant in their current setting. "Shelia, Jenny, Risley, and Bacchus's teammate couldn't do anything effective last time, and let's not forget that Yukino can't use Pisces right now,"
"That might be why she looks so uncomfortable," the royal jade said. "And I don't think brute force is going to help Twilight Ogre very much here,"
"When does it ever?"
"I don't know, your guild has sometimes managed change the tide of battle with raw power alone," Hisui said. "I think your just sour about how this event ended for you last time around."
"They're starting," Lucy said, ignoring her companion, worried eyes pinned to the Dragon Slayer's back, his ponytail fanning out over his back and shoulders. He really had changed without her around...
Hisui wiggled her eyebrows. "See something you like?" she teased.
The blonde immediately blushed, averting her eyes. "N-no,"
The green haired woman smiled, rolling her eyes back to the arena. Was it just her, or did it seem like something exciting was about to happen?
"Natsu-san, I've been meaning to ask, but where is Lucy-san?" the silver haired Celestial mage asked, floating closer to the man, her curiosity outweighing her desire to join the fighting going on in the other side of the bubble.
The pink haired dragon slayer shifted his eyes in her direction, arms crossed as he dully turned back to watch the fight, the Twilight Ogre mage being tossed out of the water like a wet rag doll.
"She's off training," he responded, careful not to give very much away or show any of his battered feelings. "We might see her here later, but we'll likely meet up back in Magnolia,"
"You're kidding me!" a new voice stated in disbelief, and the two mages looked over to see the Azura Wave member floating in the water above their heads. "I was looking forward to meeting her in person!"
The fire mage scowled. "Who the hell are you?"
The man blinked in surprise, before putting out his hand in a friendly manner. "I'm sure that Chapati-san introduced me earlier, but I'll do it again; I'm Thomas Bittlemore, mage of Cobalt Wave,"
"And why do you want to meet Lucy?" the pink haired man growled, ignoring the glance Yukino was giving him, and the extended appendage.
The other mage looked bashful, retracting his hand to rub the back of his head. "I've been a fan of hers since I saw a picture of her in a Sorcerer Magazine years ago; I was hoping to impress her with my performance in the games this year,"
"That's sweet, but why?" Yukino asked, hoping he didn't say what she thought he was going to, if she was reading Natsu's body language right.
Thomas smiled broadly. "Of course, I was hoping she'd agree to be my girlfriend! I became a Celestial mage because of her after all! And, no offense, Natsu-san, but she could do better than you,"
There was a second's pause, and Yukino held her breath as the water around the Dragon Slayer started to boil.
Without warning, a jet of white-hot fire and cackling electricity burst from the pink haired man's mouth, hitting Thomas dead-center in the chest, shooting him through the multi-guild brawl and almost out of the sphere of water. The other contestants back away, wary of getting caught in another attack.
"Whoa! What happened here!? Natsu Dragneel launches a strong attack against Cobalt Wave's Thomas Bittlemore!" Chapati yelled into his mic. "And the dragon slayer seemed uninterested in fighting until this point! Exactly what did the new mage say to get such a strong reaction!?"
"Natsu-san, please calm down," Yukino pleaded, attempting to hold the mage back from doing something very stupid.
The fire Mage didn't listen, heating the water around him to the point where the silver haired woman had to let go or get burned. He closed in on his target, plowing through the dolphin spirit that had been summoned like it was nothing.
The remaining wizards floated out his way, leaving Natsu plenty of room to engage his foe.
"What's got him so annoyed?" The Mermaid Heel member asked, watching as the one-sided beat down ended with Thomas being tossed out of the bubble and onto the ground. Any longer, and it would have been the Minerva-Lucy incident all over again, and Natsu, no matter how pissed off, was not the kind of person to torture another.
Yukino shook her head in exasperation. "The new guy said something about trying to date Lucy-san,"
There was a hum of understanding as the commentators exclaimed about Natsu's power and questioned his reasons for attacking Bittlemore. It might not have been obvious to people who've never met him in person, but to those who had it was apparent that Natsu had a thing for Lucy, and anyone who got in the way of that was going to get it.
"All I can say is he had it coming for trying something like that," Jenny stated. "But I'm not going to let a protective Dragon take away from Blue Pegasus's chance to shine!"
"No fair!" Shelia protested. "Lamia Scale will win!"
"Keep dreaming!" The Cuatro Cerberus member shouted, charging back into the fight. "We didn't train our wild spirit to lose here!"
Yukino shook her head, a determined smile on her face as she put Natsu and Lucy's love life out of her head, Libra's key already in her hand and glowing as she joined the brawl. She had to make her guild look good, after all, especially with how she had lost during the last games.
She could socialize after the yearly event was over.
"The most surprising match had to be the Naval Battle," Hisui stated, walking with the blonde through the coliseum halls. "The others weren't as exciting as the one from two years ago, but hey, Fairy Tail is winning,"
"It would be hard to beat such a comeback," Lucy agreed, matching the royal heir step for step. "But you have to admit, Guildarts in Sharpshooting was interesting."
The princess snorted. "That's not what the people behind the targets thought,"
"Okay, so he could use some more control for an S-class mage," Lucy conceded, knowing first hand how dangerous and destructive Crash Magic could be from the times she had witnessed it first hand.
"You're telling me? Besides him and Natsu's battles, the rest of the games could have been interchangeable,"
"Be that as it may, I think this last event should make this year's game one for the books,"
Hisui smirked, pausing as the blonde passed through the threshold to a dimly lit room. "I hope so; I have more than enough of my father in me that I would love to see you leading the participants around by their noses."
The blonde smiled, giving her friend a quick hug in goodbye. "I'll do my best, how about that?"
The royal jade rolled her eyes, turning to walk away. "Whatever – I'll be rooting for you!"
"You should root for a team…!" she replied, calling out after her friend as she disappeared from view. Slowly, the blonde let the smile fall from her face, taking in a deep breath to calm herself.
Lucy could honestly say she felt sick to her stomach. The feeling had been growing stronger and stronger with each passing day, as she watched her guild with pride and anxiety while they once again climbed to the top of the scoreboard.
She had good reason to be feeling like that, too; today was the day. She would see her other friends again, up close and personal, unlike how she had been watching them from afar for the last week.
The blonde let out a deep breath, already in position for when the king announced the last event for the Daimatou Enbu. The knot in her stomach eased up, but didn't leave completely.
She should have been excited; should have been jumping for joy that she was finally, finally going be with her friends, be with Nats-
And there was the reason her insides squirmed at the idea of what was about to happen. She had no idea how this would go, had no idea how he would react. She had left for a year and a half, so for him not yell at her would be wishful thinking, but... Lucy didn't believe she would completely recover if the Dragon Slayer just completely shut her down.
He was her best friend, someone she should know like the back of her hand yet didn't. Not any more.
All because she had to leave. She hadn't even wanted to be gone for that long in the first place; when Makarov had first suggested she leave, Lucy had assumed it would be for two months, maximum, not this monstrously long expedition it had turned out to be.
She didn't even know if it was worth anything - Wendy, for all her skills in the art of healing, hadn't the faintest clue what to look for if the blonde was ill. She didn't know if Lucy was cured or not. Only Mavis could confirm it, but the blonde would only see her after she was caught. After the Games. After she saw Natsu again.
Lucy wondered if Igneel had felt this way when he had left - this crushing guilt, the heavy-heartedness that came from leaving the one you loved the most, hoping, praying, they would still accept you when you came back.
Her mind warred with her heart - she wanted to go back to him - so, so, so badly - and at the same time she dreaded ever doing so.
But she knew one thing, and that was she didn't want to be without him in her life. She had already started to reconcile with her friends in the form of Cana, Mira, Wendy, and Erza, so if things between her and Natsu went sour, she could fall back on them for support. And the others, like Levy and probably Happy, would definitely forgive her in time.
She was going to do this, if not for her sake, then the rest of her friends she had left behind as well.
She took in a deep breath, making last minute adjustments to her outfit before stepping forward on cue. As soon as she stepped onto the platform and the light glow of the active transportation spell overtook her, she knew there was no going back anymore. It was better do it like this, without giving herself time to second guess - that way, she couldn't regret her choices later.
"Sa! This is a new event to the Games this year!" Mato stated from the collusiem center, the viewing screens displaying the locations around town of the duos participating in this event.
Or that's what Natsu figured it looked like from the stadium, since he and Laxus were the ones chosen for this match. Like the other seven teams, they were standing in the cleared out market plaza of Crocus, waiting for the pumpkin to finish his ranting and the game to start.
The sooner they ended, the sooner he could look for Lucy again.
"Being taken from the last event, teams from the participating guilds will battle each other, gaining three points for every enemy they take down!" The pumpkin continued. "However! Along with the reduction of members participating in this event, there is something else we've added!"
There was a flash of smoke from the center of the plaza, and the Mages looked around them in confusion as the rich, heady smell of jasmine and lily wafted from the reaching coils of smoke dissipating around them.
The three dragon slayers snorted, trying to clear the overwhelming scent from sensitive noses. All sixteen wizards watched, as from the thick vapor a shadowy figure slowly emerged, not quite visible enough to be seen clearly.
"The princess herself has called in a favor from this person to make the last event! Ladies and gentlemen, she's the one who could maneuver her way around a guild of the top Mages in Fiore and not get caught!"
Orga and Rouge's eyes widened, and the Shadow Mage took a step towards the still hazy figure, his foot half over the edge of the roof.. "You mean, this is...!"
The disguised king cheered, hopping up and down in place. "Let's give a warm hand to the still-unknown 'Dancer'!"
The smoke finally cleared, revealing to the fire Mage the poised form a woman around his age, with an extremely long blonde braid extending from the back of the bandana she wore on her head and the mask she wore on her face. The only thing the participants could see of her features was were her eyes, though they were covered in shadow.
The rest of her body was not as conserved as her face, the woman only wearing a piece of dark blue fabric wrapped around her torso twice, then being tied up like a halter top, baggy pants reaching the top of her shins in the same color, and a bright orange belt of tassels around her waist, matching bracelets cuffing her wrists with one of the fabric strands pulled over the back of her hands, connecting to a ring on her middle finger.
And she was barefoot, something that the Fire Mage didn't see an advantage too. In fact, despite the wiry strength he could see just by the way this 'Dancer' held herself, Natsu had a hard time picturing her as someone who could handle taking on over a dozen others at once.
He didn't believe the account of her given on the first day of the games either; news was often greatly exaggerated, and it wasn't like the Lightning God Slayer was the fastest of his companions in the first place. But it did seem like said God Slayer was still pissed at being used as a springboard.
"You bitch!" The wild haired man yelled, barely being restrained by Rouge as he tried to jump out at the woman below before they even began the event. "I'll get you for using my head as a launching pad!"
The Dancer's only reply was a slight tilt of her head in the Saber's direction, which only served to agitate the man even more, tick marks cropping up along his face.
"It would seem that Orga of Sabertooth remembers this person! Now, I will explain how the Dancer ties into the last event. As well as getting points from taking out opposing competitors, the team who catches this elusive woman will receive a large ammount of points added to their score!"
Hibiki raised an eyebrow, looking at the screen they had in the plaza. "Just how many points are we going to get for catching a non-wizard woman?"
The Mages felt a shiver go down their spine, the pumpkin seemingly having a creepy smile spread across his face. "Firstly, she is a wizard - however, wither she feels the need to use her magic or not is completely up to her. Second, the team to catch her will automatically gain twenty points!"
The sixteen mage's eyebrows went up in shock, and it was Milliana who broke the stunned silence with a low whistle. "That's enough to put Twilight Ogre in first place, which is saying something because they're in last."
"Hey!" The two from said guild protested, but were completely ignored.
"I don't see what's so special about this lady!" A member of Cuatro Puppy stated, voicing the thoughts of his fellow Mages. "It's unfair that the team that gets her automatically wins like this!"
"We'll see how much you think like that after I start the match," Mato chuckled darkly, ominously imparting his opinion on the group. He knew exactly what was going to happen, after all, and the king couldn't be more happy with his daughter's plan. "Now I think we've waited long enough! Let the last match of this year's Daimatou Enbu begin!"
The first one to move was Orga, breaking free from Rouge's grip and jumping from the roof he'd been on to charge the blonde, his fist cackling with charged black energy. "You're mine!"
Only she wasn't. Even without taking his eyes off the woman, Natsu couldn't see the exact moment she moved out of the way, only watching as the man attacking her hit the pavement instead of flesh. But the green haired man didn't stop there, attempting to land several more blows, all of which the woman expertly dodged without having to change where she stood by more than a foot.
Finally, it seemed she'd had enough, darting out of the way of an electrified axe kick and jumping onto an overhanging sign post ten feet above ground.
Seconds later, she sprung from her perch as the Twilight Ogre Mages attempted to tackle her, flipping once before landing on the roof the two eager men had vacated.
"Obviously," Laxus drawled, crossing his muscular arms. "This isn't going to be as easy as you think if the royal family themselves asked for her to do this, idiots."
"I think we have a chance," Hibiki said, Eve behind him as the two moved closer to their blonde target. "There are sixteen of us, and only one of her. She'll tire eventually,"
The blonde Dancer, having listened to the Archive Mage speak, rolled her hooded eyes, the motion barely visible as she - for some unknown reason - stepped and twirled, small golden spots left from where her feet touched the slanted tiles, more and more becoming apparent until she stopped moving.
Natsu and the others watched as the dots connected to form what might have been two misshapen stick figures, a grey magic circle drawing itself several feet around her.
And then she moved, walking out of the center of the circle as her image splitting into two solid bodies, each pausing a second to look at the other, before continuing the cycle four more times until eight Dancers, one for each team, were standing along the edge of the roof, looking around loftily at the participants.
"Well shit," Orga stated, an uneasy expression on his face. "You were saying, Lates?"
"And the dancer has decided to use her magic!" Chapati stated. "It looks like she's taking this fight seriously!"
"A good idea," Yajima asked, having taken a seat in the commentator stand, replacing Doranbolt. "Since she doesn't have to fight sixteen-to-one odds anymore. But what type of magic is that?"
"We might have a problem..." The Blue Pegasus member stated, archives blazing as he tried to get read on the magic that was just performed for them. Without taking his eyes from the screen in front of him, he addressed the other teams. "While I don't usually like sharing information with enemy teams, I would appreciate it if you guys could keep her busy,"
Milliana raised an skeptic eyebrow. "And why should we? If I were to take out say half of us, it would match the points given by catching her,"
Lyon shook his head, Jura thoughtfully playing with his beard behind him. "Because it's not likely that a single team will take out half the others. And I doubt that the Dancer will let us simply ignore her,"
"While you asses debate it, we'll be taking the twenty points!" One of the two from Ogre shouted, attempting to gang up on the woman furthest to the left of the roof. "It won't matter how many there are if we just take them all out!"
"And the Mages from Twilight Ogre continue their aggressive strike! Will it pay off or will the allying teams have a better chance!?"
They converged on their target, magic circles drawn and active as they fired blasts of energy that the blonde sidestepped and danced around like she had done earlier to Orga, effortlessly twisting out of the way as the men almost landed on her, the other blonde next to her pushing one of the two off balance and back to the streets.
The blonde on the far left, the one that had been originally attacked, followed him down, the seven other blondes leaving their one sister behind to deal with the Ogre Mages, dispersing themselves to met with the other teams.
"Now the real battle begins, ladies and gentlemen!"
A Dancer took a leap, managing to haul herself onto another roof and launch a kick at Milliana and her teammate in a single motion, the cat Mage and farm girl immediately having a hard time deflecting and parrying the fluid movements of the blonde, who easily dodged Beth's Carrot missiles and Milliana's binding magic.
Gritting her teeth, the cat girl briefly averted her gaze to see how the other teams were fairing.
The two morons from Twilight Ogre had been knocked unconscious, with the same about to be said of the two guys from Cuatro Cerberus, who, despite having done a lot better in the games this year, were totally unprepared to face something like this.
Besides those four, the other teams didn't seem to be having as much trouble landing blows as the Mermaid duo was, though the Cobalt Wave team was loosing ground fast as their water magic was deflected right back at them, because - surprise - besides the whole untouchable fighting and splitting herself into eight thing, the blonde was a competent water Mage!
The brunette grunted, her punch having barely done any damage to the dancer, but leaving her with several openings, which were immediately exploited.
Milliana growled, her frustration lending her agility as on instinct she lashed out at her opponent's face, hands ready to claw the stupid mask off her face. As soon as her fingertips made contact with the orange veil, moving it barely a centimeter downwards, the blonde she had been fighting poofed into smoke.
"What!?" The brunette screamed in surprise, her partner also wearing a thunderstruck look. "You're telling me that if you so much as move her mask that the copy will disappear? That's too simple for how she fights!"
"Mermaid Heel's Milliana is the first to take down one of the copies! Even in defeat, this Dancer doesn't want us to know she is! Let's see if the other wizards will capitalize on this!"
"Look out!" Beth shouted, tackling her guild mate to the ground as the blonde that had been dealing with Cuatro Ceberus took the position of her fallen sister. "Damn it, this should have been the event all by itself!"
"Whatever! Why do these clones have such a stupid weakness!?" Milliana asked, rolling out of the way as the Dancer clone drop kicked where she had just been lying, the coin anklets she wore rattling with the force used.
"Say whatever you will," Rouge shouted, back to back with his guild mate as the Dancer that had taken out the Ogre team stepped and whirled around the two, perfectly in sync with her counterpart that they had originally been fighting. "But I'd rather be done with these copies already!"
"Even with her weakness revealed, it doesn't seem like she's going to go down without a fight." Yajima stated.
"Blondie has some good moves..." Flare agreed with her fellow guest announcer. "But when smarty over there figures her out, it won't last,"
"Oi, Lates!" Lyon shouted at the archive Mage he was guarding, attempting to hold off the Dancer that had defeated the Cobalt Wave team by himself, Eve and Jura taking on the ones for Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus already. "Have you finished researching her magic?"
"Almost!" Hibiki shouted back, ducking as rubble from Jura's earth magic flew over his head. "As soon as I can identify the magic she uses, we'll be able to know what other spells she can cast!"
"You mean besides these copies?" Laxus shouted, dispatching the one that had gone after the Fairy Tail duo, the lightning cloaking his fist burning through the Dancer clone's face mask, dispelling her in a flash of smoke. "Personally, I'd like to see what else she can do!"
"It would seem that Fairy Tail's Laxus is looking for an even more challenging fight, making quick work of the doppelgänger sent his way! Is the Dancer going to give up her position to give him what he wants?"
The blonde fighting Lyon paused, turning her head to calculatingly eye the Slayer before she grabbed the Ice Make Mage by the loose fabric of his shirt, and throw him over her shoulder and off the roof. She spared a moment to give the blond Fairy Tail Mage a 'bring it on' motion with her hand, then followed after the silver haired man to the ground below.
Bingo. That one was the original, since the other blondes around the plaza had yet to do anything that might show personality. They had also refrained from doing any magic, which this Dancer was potentially promising.
"And she does! The real one was fighting Lamia Scale's Lyon, and is now taking on both him and Laxus! Things are going to get hot in a moment, folks!" Chapati yelled, and the audience responded by screaming along with him.
"Is blondie going to be okay taking on two S-class Mages by herself?" Flare asked, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
"From what I've seen," Yajima stated, watching the screens with an experienced eye. "By how she's fighting, she should be about ranked the same as those two, but as for the wisdom of taking them at the same time..."
Laxus grinned, turning his head to look at his guild mate who had yet to do anything but watch. "You should do something, you know, Natsu,"
The pink haired man snorted, but headed off to assist the struggling Mermaid Heel wizards with their opponent. At the rate they were fighting, if the fire Mage was serious about leaving the capital before nightfall, then it was better he started pulling his weight, despite a strange feeling in his gut that told him not to fight the Dancer.
"Just make sure that she doesn't kick your ass, Laxus," Natsu stated before the duo was fully out of hearing range of each other.
"I'll say the same to you," he replied, crouching down and then springing across the plaza to met his foe.
"And Natsu Dragneel joins the fight, heading over to help the Mermaid Heel girls and keep their alligengce intact!"
"Pinky finally joins the fight..." Flare stated. "It took him long enough,"
"I agree," Yajima said. "He's usually gung-ho about joining a fight, but he doesn't seem to as into it lately. I wonder why."
From what he could see, she was cocky, already engaging Lyon in a fight yet challenging him to join in. That, or she was confidant she could take both of them on at the same time, which, if that was the case, Laxus was better off be safe than sorry.
Sucking in a deep breath, he gathered magic in his lungs before letting the roar loose when the advanced had her back turned.
She dodged, jumping out of the way of the blast of electricity but catching the tail end of an icy bird as the Lamia Scale member shot several of them at her. The blonde seemed to grit her teeth, ducking, weaving, and deflecting against the sudden barrage of electric fists the Lightning Dragon Slayer launched at her, as well as the frozen animals Lyon charged her way.
But she never attacked, only parrying blows to clear the way for a step, then retreating, the places she stepped randomly glowing while she continued her waltz around his blows and Lyon's ice.
"Incoming!" Rouge shouted a second before he joined the melee, shadows streaming from his outstretched leg as his kick barely missed the blonde woman by the tip of her braid.
"Sabertooth's Rouge makes a dramatic entry into the brawl! The Dancer might not be able to hold out now!"
"True," Yajima said. "But the same could be said for her opponents as well,"
"Nice of you to join us!" Lyon shouted, panting as his magic supply started to dip below what was normal. "Is Orga still dealing with one of the clones?"
The Shadow Dragon Slayer shook his head in a no. "He managed to take it out, and then the one I was fighting got him while his guard was down,"
"But let me guess," Laxus smirked as he kicked at the Dancer, only for her to use his leg as a hold, her feet lashing out and catching him in the jaw before she jumped off, dodging a chunk of hastily crafted ice as it was hurled at her. The blond rubbed his jaw. "You got the clone after that?"
"Yes," the black haired man replied, catching the foot at his stomach before the Dancer could move it, lungs already filling up with a roar that he released a second later.
The blonde leaned back, the stream of whirling black energy soaring right over her head and instead hitting an unsuspecting Jura as he made his way to try and help them, having defeated the two copies that had been after Hibiki. Now only two of the blonde women and eight participants left.
"And Jura is out! Three points are awarded to Saber, but will their alliance break with this!?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say blondie planned that out."
"Great going!" Lyon yelled, rushing over to his fallen teammate, glaring at the Saber as the blonde broke free of his grip.
"Sorry!" Rouge yelled, his focus split between matching the blonde dancer's up-ticked speed with his temporary ally and talking. "There was no way for me to know he was going to be there!"
Lyon scowled, shifting his frustrated gaze to the archive Mage. He swore to god if the next thing he heard wasn't what he wanted to hear, he was throwing whatever alliance he had to the other Mages out the proverbial window. And it would help that none of them had ever agreed to anything. "Hibiki! Are you done yet!?"
"Yes!" The archive Mage shouted, and all the Mages who heard him gave a slight cheer as at least one thing went right. "And you should get out of there!"
"Blue Pegasus's Hibiki has finished his analysis of the Dancer's magic! But it would seem he's discovered something to be wary of!" Chapati Lola stated, leaning over the desk as he paid the screen his undevided attention.
"Maybe she's casting something dangerous?" Flare suggested, she too trying to see what was wrong.
"But then we'd hear her say something, or see traces of the magic," Yajima replied.
"Then what do you call the glowy dots?"
"What-do-you-mean-by-that?" Laxus ground out, blocking the repetition of kicks the blonde Dancer launched at him, using her hands rotate herself like a top. For such a delicate looking woman, she sure had one hell of a kick.
"Those marks on the ground mean she's casting a spell!" The archive Mage said, watching as the screen he was staring at blinked rapidly in warning. "And she's almost done marking down this one!"
The Dancer gave Laxus one final kick, flipping away from the man, the spot she landed on glowing as the other, scattered dots connected to each other, a brownish red magic circle encompassing the bizarre net of lines.
"I told you..." Flare said smuggly.
"I've never seen a type of magic like this before," The owner of Eight Islands stated, fuzzy eye brows raised. "The closest I can think of was the magic preformed by Fairy Tail's Mystogan last year, at the end of his fight against Jura."
"But that still required him speaking an enchantment." Lola argued. "So what's going on here?"
Rouge and Laxus immediately back tracked, the Shadow Dragon Slayer stoping to help Lyon move Jura out of the circle's range, and several feet further back as the the enchantment began, a furious light spilling from the ground before explosions of fire shot forth, rocketing around the plaza and destroying anything they came in contact with.
"A devastating display of both power and forethought on part of the Dancer!"
"What the hell is this, Hibiki!?" Milliana shouted from behind Natsu, the fire Mage eating the jets of flame that came too close to them and the unconscious Beth. "Tell us what her damn magic is already!"
"Celestial Magic!" The Blue Pegasus Mage called out, one eye closed against the extreme heat of the fire as he watched the blonde woman dance through them, unharmed. "She's using an ancient form of Celestial Magic! Basically, she can trace out the constellations and summon their power!"
"But she never spoke an enchantment!" Lyon protested, recalling the few fights of Celestial Mages he had seen, mostly the ones from the last games. "I'm pretty sure that that's required for all forms of stellar magic!"
"Not if she's summoned the magic enough times!" Natsu shouted. Despite the pain the next words out of his mouth would bring him, he continued his explanation. "Luce told me once that the more familiar you are with a spirit, the easier it is to summon - I'd guess the same thing is applied here, only with constellations,"
"That makes sense..." Yajima said thoughtfully. But this magic sounded like...it clicked. "This is..."
Flare tilted her head in confusion."So blondie can use the same magic as the other blondie?"
"No, not in the slightest," Yajima stated, disbelief obvious in his voice as he observed the blonde woman, taking in her cultural attire and fluid movements. There was hardly a doubt. "This magic is very different from the Celestial magics we have today, and so old that it can't be classified as just a 'Lost magic'."
"Then what is it?" The redhead asked.
"A Forgotten one, a magic that hasn't been in practice since the founding of Fiore. A Lost Magic can be searched for and used by anyone - what she's doing cannot." the old chef stated, refusing to say another word on the subject even as the other hosts prodded him with other questions.
"When the hell did you get smart!?" Milliana yelled at Natsu, absolutely nothing making sense at this point. First opposing Mages working together with no set terms of agreement in a game where they would be better off taking each other out, and now the pink haired man had a brain? What was next, the blonde woman turning day to night?
"That doesn't matter!" Hibiki yelled, making his way over to the other two Mages on a roof, Eve defending against stray bolts of fire after them. "What does matter is that she has dozens of spells like this at her finger tips!"
"Great," Laxus said sarcastically, rolling out of the way as fire exploded behind him. "Any ones we should be worried about in particular?"
"Any of the Zodiac ones," the Blue Pegasus man stated. "She's already used two of the twelve - the copy one was Gemini, and this one is Sagittarious."
"That doesn't explain the fire!" Rouge yelled, hands running through his hair as the fires singed his bangs.
"The sign of Sagittarious is fire - the spirit is the archer!" Milliana screamed, dodging one of the last bits of flying fire as the spell in the plaza finally died down. "Anyone who's read their horoscope knows this! Hibiki, please tell me that these spells eat huge amounts of magic and she can't use anymore."
"It most defiantly wouldn't be good if she was able to continue on like this," Yajima agreed. "No one would win,"
"That depends," the pretty boy said, eyeing the condition the Dancer was in, and around the plaza and surrounding roofs to see if she had cast anything else without their noticing. "I'd say no, she couldn't, since she seems to be tiring, but if it was night, then yes,"
"And that's particularlly important why?" Eve asked his companion, his breathing shallow and hair a mess from constantly casting magic.
"Because these spells would be stronger, and easier for her to cast,"
"Then let's hurry and take her out," Natsu growled, just noticing that this event had dragged on for much longer than he had originally planned. He could just jump off the roof, rip off her mask and be done with it. "This is starting to get annoying,"
"Don't," Hibiki warned, watching as the blonde woman was engulfed in a soft glow, a star traced into the ground under her. "She's casting something,"
"What the...!" The cat girl shouted in alarm, the spot she had been standing on erupting into a gold star like the one down in the market plaza.
The seven remaining Mages watched as three other pentagonal stars lit up around the areas where the Dancer had engaged them in battle.
"Now what?" Rouge grumbled, staring with suspicion as the glowing shapes detatched themselves from where they were drawn, rising to float high up above their heads.
The glow around the dancer brightened even as the other Mages could see the evident strain in her body language as she stood, arms raised to the sky, palms flat like she was holding a massive weight.
The five glowing stars moved, spinning counter clockwise as they drew closer together, meting together over their caster's head. Then, slowly they seperated, connected by glowing lines as an expanding pentagon was drawn over the blue sky, replacing it within the limits of the golden boarder for a deep, deep blue stained with the green tint of the Milky Way, and speckled with pieces of light.
"This is unbelievable! Never in my years have I seen something like this ever happen at a Grand Magic Games!" Chapati shouted in amazement, him and the entire audience spellbound by the sight above their heads. "The Dancer has done the impossible! She has brought Night to the entire capital of Crocus!"
"It's so pretty..." The former Raven Tail member said, head tilted as far back as she could make it without losing her balance, eyes fixed on the thousands of twinkly lights above her.
"I jinxed it!" Milliana cried, her hands grabbing fistfuls of hair as she watched the star and pentagon spread, like a portal opening the way from day to night, the midday light dimming as the sun was blotted out, replaced by the bright moon.
The dancer didn't waste a second despite her obviously exhausted state, hopping and twisting as she rushed through the steps of Gemini before her opponents could react. When she finished, she spun on her heels and bolted, image splitting into six, all going in different directions.
"How does she not have magic exhaustion from casting such a spell?" Yajima asked, his eyes wide with surprise. "She should at least be on one knee!"
"Blondie has a lot of magic," Flare replied.
Hibiki swore, turning to chase after the blonde that scattered in his and Eve's direction. "Split up! The one who manages to get her is the one who wins - I'd rather not have to deal with this anymore."
"You and the rest of us, Hibiki!" Natsu yelled over his shoulder, not looking back as he followed his dancer, her blonde braid flickering under the pale light as they both vanished into the shadows of the city.
Natsu panted, the past thirty minutes of hard, non-stop running and fighting starting to wear on him. Staring at the person on the roof across from him, the Dragon Slayer at least knew he wasn't the only one almost ready to bit the bullet.
Grudgingly, the Salamander had to admit he was impressed with how a woman who looked like she belonged anywhere but in a fight had managed to match him blow for blow, and almost always get a head of him, making the chase drag on until now when it should have been over with ages ago. When he should have been back to looking for Lucy.
Natsu spat, a glob of flaming spit splattering onto the tiles. He should have taken this seriously from the start. Now he was angry at himself for not.
But it wasn't like his opponent was a slouch either - the last time he had seen someone fend off against odds like that alone was Erza's turn in Pandemonium at the last GMG. Judging by the condition of the several other Mages before they had all split up, Natsu wouldn't be surprised to learn if he was one of the last competitors standing.
If he was the last one left, it would mean that the event either wasn't set to end until someone managed to catch the blonde, or there was a tie for first place that had to broken with the twenty points she was worth.
And it was just Natsu's luck he knew that this was the original blonde, since none of the copies could cast magic (from what he had observed), yet he'd seen the woman in front of him throw plenty of different spells at him. Oddly enough, she could use minor spells of most elements, yet she hadn't once thrown a fire spell at him directly, even though fire was the first destructive art wizards tried to learn for combat.
"Oi, do you think you could we could end this, or do you still plan on running?" The pink haired man snapped, the blonde wizard having just taken a single step back and Natsu swore if had to chase her any more that there would be hell to pay, the nagging feeling in his gut about the woman be damned.
The blonde recoiled, but Natsu couldn't tell if it was from the glare he directed at her or by what he'd said. Whatever it was, it snapped her out of the internal deliberations she had been in and back to their confrontation.
She crouched, springing across the narrow ally wy between them, a foot pulled back in preparation for a kick. The fire Mage ducked out of the way, catching the blonde by her other ankle and bringing her to the ground again.
She caught herself, jerking her leg free as she cartwheeled away from his reach. Natsu sprinted after her, hands and feet streaming fire as he engaged in a martial arts battle with the blonde, her moving out of the way of his hits and him blocking hers.
"You're still running, miss coward!" The pink haired man accused falsely, attempting to see if he could bait the silent woman into taking one of his punishing hits.
She didn't seem to appreciate his efforts. She landed a clean front kick on his jaw, a prominent tick mark on her bandana covered head as the fire Mage stumbled back. Natsu grit his teeth, knowing that that would be a black and purple mess by tomorrow.
Sucking in a deep breath, he filled his lungs with magic before letting a jet of fire out in a powerful roar in retaliation. The dancer dodged, sidestepping along the edge of the roof as the flames died down and Natsu broke his cover, his fist charged and at the ready.
Surprised, the blonde barely managed to throw her arms up in an X over her face, her teeth grinding together at the heat from Natsu's fire. Her whole style revolved around her ability to not get directly hit by heavy blows. Though her actual defensive skills weren't that bad, Natsu was known world-wide for his power.
The fire Mage smirked. "Gotcha!"
"Nugh..." The blonde groaned, straining to push him back. She took one step back to gather her strength, only for her foot to miss the ledge and her stance to finally be compromised by the momentum of the Dragon Slayer's punch. "Ah!"
"Oi!" Natsu shouted, instinctively grasping the woman's arm as she fell over the side of the building. He heard an 'oof' as she slammed against the wall, temporarily disappearing from view as she went under the roof's outcropping before coming back in sight, her free hand cradeling her head.
The Slayer attempted to raise her back up to his level to continue their fight, except he overestimated the strength left in the building under his feet. The outcrop failed from too many of his attackes from earlier, dropping the two Mages down three stories towards the cobblestone street below.
"Shit!" Natsu swore, his instincts once again directing his actions and before he knew what he was doing, he had the blonde woman pressed against his chest, positioned over him as he cushioned the blow for her.
The pink haired man swore up a storm in his head as he felt the air rush out of his lungs, the impact jarring him and the blonde, but probably only giving him a bruised rib. Thinking quickly, Natsu took advantage of the fact that he had managed to trap the dancer, even if he had for some reason been trying to help her.
He twisted, using his heavier body weight to hold his quarry down before she came out of the shock of falling three stories and started fighting him, her arms pinned by one of his hands above her head, and his knee on her stomach keeping her from landing any kicks.
"Now let's see who's under that mask," Natsu said, his free hand reaching up to tear the gosmar fabric away from the blonde's face. In a single motion, he removed it, and the dancer opened her brown eyes to see his reaction.
"L...Lu..." He tried for words, his eyes eyes as wide as saucers as he took in the face that had haunted his thoughts and dreams without rest for the last year and a half. Heart shaped face (though it had slimed down a bit since he'd last seen her), full lips, small nose, wide, rich cholocate eyes that filled with tears as they took in his face with the same hunger in wich he had devoured her features.
It was her. She was here, in his arms, and it wasn't a dream, or a spell, or someone else. He had finally found her again.
A drop of water splashed onto Lucy's face, but Natsu didn't register that he was crying, since the woman before him also had water running from her eyes. He raised his hand up to cup her chin, thumb wiping away her tears as he brought his forehead down to rest on hers, eyes never leaving hers.
"Lucy..." He croaked, the overwhelming relief of feeling her near him, of being with her again making him have trouble breath. It was only through his sheer joy for those same reasons that he managed to force words out of his mouth. His face split into his signature grin as what had just happened started sinking in.
"Found you..." He whispered.
The blonde sniffed, before a smile of her own over took her face, the tears falling from her eyes thicker than before. "I'm home, Natsu."
Those three words did him in. He took a deep breath, her natural, sweet scent only detectable under the scented smoke from earlier at point blank, before he tilted his head and did something he had waited far too long to do.
He kissed her.
And there is the reason you all will want to kill me. But hey, they've been reunited! And you got to see the results of Lucy's training (which I hope is realistic). And Natsu kissed her. The next chapter is already in the works, so please be patient. There are a bunch of little rough patches I'm going to have to go back and smooth over. But only the best for my readers ;)
Speaking of which, thank you to Oldtime Scribe, who continues to give great constructive criticism, and to Etcetera-Gal, who reviewed every single chapter last night. And also everyone single one of you awesome people who leave your opinions for me to take into consideration. (And to let me know how much you like my story).
Don't worry - I'm not saying goodbye. Just wanted to let you all know how appreciated you are. I read every review and notice every follow and favorite.