A/N - I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I was not happy where it ended. I came back to it this morning while on lunch at work and added the missing bit that I wanted.
Hoping that I will be able to catch up in prompts this weekend. Been sleeping so much, I am not sure how I am actually still awake!
Depending on how this next chapter goes, there might be a total of 8 chapters, and the last prompt will be part of this series.
Dead Stars
By Genavere
Chapter Six - Can't Scream
Another building collapsed around him, burying the bodies of those who had tried to stop him. Not all of the explosions were from him, but he had taken the opportunity to consume all the flames the cultists had made with their bombs. While it normally would be frowned upon to leave an enemy buried or to let them die in their shallow graves, after he had found the first set of dungeons full of the bodies.
Men, women, children, all shared a similar smell under their rotten corpses that matched the abandoned town. None had experienced quiet deaths. All the aged corpses showed signs of torture or body mutilation, even the children.
Especially the children and the women.
It reminded him of a mission they had been on where young, married women without children were being kidnapped and their husbands sent ransoms for their safe return. He had not understood why they would target the women.
Lucy had explained to him that in that society, women held more value than their male counterparts due to their ability to carry children and birth life. While all lives were held sacred there, it would be the woman who held the highest standing. That meant the husbands not only felt the desperate need to pay to keep the person they loved safe, but also to not be shamed by the village.
Screams of the past haunted his every step through the deserted dungeons. Parents begged for their children to live. Spouses for their loved ones.
Burn…he wanted to burn it all. To send all those who had done this to innocent people to a fiery hell to which they would never return. But even that would be too quick a death for them. And the evidence of the crimes had to be preserved—minus a building or two collapsing in on itself.
Staring at the next building in his path of finding Lucy, he felt something strange in the air. Two bursts of power that were familiar to him, but should not be close to his position yet. He looked into the smoke filled sky, open for him to see with the building in shambles around him.
Two glints of silver sparked against the cloudy weather and circled around to drop their precious cargo off in the road. Surprised, he stared at the four new arrivals, but felt gratitude that they had arrived so fast. With them here, they should be able to find her faster and take out the cultists that kept getting in his way.
"Natsu!" Erza ran up the wreckage easily, metal clanging against the stone. Behind her, Wendy kept pace with Carla and Happy next to her.
"Erza, Wendy," he said in a mix of relief and doubt. "Happy, Carla…how did you get here so fast? Where's Gray and the others?"
"Gray stayed behind to help mobilize the royal guard and the council's members as they travel here. Happy and Carla offered to fly us both here to be of service faster." Erza looked around at the destruction. Twitching limbs stuck out of the rubble in some areas, but an underlining smell of death caught her attention. "Have you found her yet?"
"No," he grunted. "These cult people keep gettin' in my way. Each time I think I am close to her scent, I find another dead end dungeon."
Wendy frowned, looking up at him. "That doesn't make any sense. How could her scent be in those places without her?"
A muscle in his jaw ticked. Fists clenched and one disappeared into his pocket to drag out a piece of cloth with red stains on it. A waft of Lucy's blood filled both of their nostrils. She stepped back, eyes wide, hands covering her mouth.
"Poor Lucy!"
"We will get her back and safely." Erza stepped between them and looked at him closely. "What do you need us to do?"
He turned to the next building Lucy's scent had been coming from. This one stronger than the others. Whether that boded well or not bothered him more than he wanted to admit. "I need you to take care of these cultists as they show up. They are easy to fight, but like flies. They just keep comin' and wastin' my time."
"Understood."
"I want to go with Natsu," Wendy said. "Lucy could be in really bad condition if they have cloth with her blood in different buildings." Even a teenager, she had seen too many people hurt in her life that led her to know how dire medical attention could be. Waiting even a minute longer could be the difference of life or death.
Natsu nodded. Turning to Happy and Carla, he pursed his lips together. "You two should go to the building at the corner of town by the train platform. The people from the train are there, and they might do better with help."
Both Exceeds began protesting, Carla wanting to stay with Wendy, and Happy determined to find Lucy. Natsu turned from both of them. The muscles of his back tensed and traveled up to his shoulders and down his muscular arms. They did not have time to argue, Lucy needed them now.
"Happy. Carla." They turned and looked at Wendy, who knelt down before them. "If they were on the train, they could be really scared. When I am scared and I have one of you by me, I always feel safer."
They shared a look between each other and nodded. "Aye, sir."
"If that is what you feel is best, Wendy, we will go and wait for you there," Carla relented. They both grew their wings and headed to the location Natsu told them of. When they could no longer see them, Natsu took off, following the scent of his partner. He needed to find her. Nothing would be right without her.
"This way." He led them from the rubble to the next building. All the scents coming from there were stronger, fresher. A quick glance at Wendy told him that it affected her, too. One smell that he could pull from all the rest held a distinctive aroma that he had grown accustom to. One he would bury his nose into before sleep. "She's here."
Blown off the frame, with parts of the building with it, the door slammed against the floor. Light flooded into the darkened hall. Cell doors lined each side, both Erza and Wendy took to opening each one to check for any survivors while he continued after Lucy's scent. After a few doors, they kept to his side, faces pale and eyes taunt in righteous anger.
After the last few buildings, he could imagine what they found.
Fear gripped his heart and bile threatened to rise up again. No matter what, she had to be safe.
Cultists ran up a staircase from the end of the hall. A glow filtered passed him from behind and soon several swords flew out. They cut and mangled their targets in short work, keeping the path open as they made their way down the body littered stairs.
In the basement, groans and cries filled their ears. Not from the unmoving hooded figures, but from the cells and those inside them. Many of the doors to them were open and told them all they needed to know about where those cultist came from.
They pushed further in the dim light of the dungeon. Moans from the living dead followed. None wanted to voice their concerns of what condition they would find their teammate in.
At a cell close to the end of the hall, Natsu halted and looked between the cell door and the one at the very end. Her scent came from both.
"Erza," he stared at the door, the scent of blood from the other side overwhelming. "Check the door at the very end."
Without word or hesitation, she took off toward the end of the hall.
One less person to see the scene behind the door, he thought, burning the handle into a pool of metal that dripped down the wood. Without the handle or latch, it swung open ominously and the Dragon Slayer's keen eyes fell to the body on the ground.
A sensation beyond anger filled him. The urge to scream, to let out a roar of unadulterated pain and rage burned in the back of his throat.
Lucy.
What had they done to his Lucy!?
Teeth clenched together. Nails dug into skin and blood soaked his fingers.
He stepped into the cell, his body shook and memories of previous similar scenes haunted him. The urge to scream clawed at his chest, but never slipped passed his lips. He could not make a sound.
But the rage that boiled inside demanded released, and it would be done.
A/N - I know people might argue that Fairy Tail does not kill people, but this is a darker fic with darker themes and Natsu is pissed. A tumblr post I once saw said something along the lines of, "An unhinged Natsu is scary" or something close to that, and I tend to think when he gets like that, his hidden sides come out to play. And those are always fun to work with!
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think!
