A/N: Hey guys! I am so sorry it's taken me so long to upload! T.T I've been super busy, and super distracted, and super uninspired. x( I apologize to everyone who's been waiting for this chapter! Please forgive me! Anyways, since so many of you are apparently wondering when the heck Jellal and Erza will come back, I suppose I will tell you that they will be back in the next chapter. :P No more complaining! Well, fine, complaints are allowed, as long as they're friendly. -.-

Oh, and also, if you're interested in seeing some drawings I've made of the Death Strike members, you can go to my profile and scroll down to the bottom to find the link to my deviantart account that I've placed there. :)

Thanks to FoxOnPie, GingerificFabulousTime, fairyofthelake, Lightmoon54, Shonnyterra and severedserenity for reviewing on Chapter 11! :D And thanks to Syckess for following! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and please look forward to the next! :D


Chapter Twelve – The Spirit King

Lucy

In a move that even I was impressed with, I lashed my whip out and wrapped it around the sea serpent's thick neck. I used that to guide my flying momentum towards Kaarme, who was still crouched on its head as his eyes narrowed at me. The leviathan reared back and flared its head fins as it sprayed a powerful jet of water at me. Crying out, I barely managed to swerve in the air and avoid the deadly blast. Following my new momentum, I swung y body around in an arc and came at them from behind. In the split second before I collided with him, the Summoner whipped around, a snarl on his face. I barreled into him, and we rolled a few feet on the creature's massive head.

I raised myself to my hands and knees, spying Kaarme getting to his feet a few feet away. His lip was dripping scarlet drops of blood as his furious gaze bored into mine. The leviathan made to toss its head in an attempt to dislodge me, but its master hissed at it and it stilled. I had him in check. If I went, he went, too, and he knew it. I couldn't resist a most un-Lucy-like smirk as I got to my feet. We circled each other, sizing each other up for any sign of weakness. My Fleuve d'étoile unwound from the serpent's neck, and I held it at the ready.

"It would appear that I have underestimated you," he sneered. "But no matter, it won't happen again. I have a good idea of your strength now, and I see great potential in you. However, as you are now, you will still be crushed by my power."

He lunged at me and kicked my wrist before I had a chance to react. I cried out in pain as my whip was sent flying from my grasp. I spared it a brief, horrified glance as it plummeted towards the dark, churning water far below. I didn't have time to truly mourn it, though, as he continued his barrage with a wheel kick to my jaw. As his booted heel connected, sparks of pain flashed across my eyes, and a ringing echoed in my ears. I turned to face him again as I spat blood from my mouth. My breathing sawed raggedly through my crimson-stained lips as I tried to regroup for an attack. My jaw felt like it was splitting in half—it was probably broken, or at the very least majorly bruised—and judging from the way I couldn't move my swollen right wrist, it wasn't in any better condition.

"You are out of your league, Fairy Tail mage. You can feel it, can't you? Your death is imminent."

My left hand darted to my key pouch and grasped Aquarius's key between two fingers and Taurus's key between two others. Having four gates open at once would rapidly deplete my energy, so I was hoping that this would work the first time.

"Gate of the Giant Bull, I open thee! Taurus!"

"Mooooo! I will defeat anyone who seeks to harm my Nice Body!" The perverted zodiac spirit turned his heart-eyed face to the summoner in sudden anger. Kaarme crossed his arms over his chest, an unimpressed expression on his face.

"You summon a perverted cow to defeat me?" he deadpanned, quirking an eyebrow at me in disbelief. "I'm disappointed."

"Taurus, get him!"

"My Nice Body says to defeat you, so I shall!" Snorting through his nostrils, he charged the man with his axe raised.

Using the attack as a distraction, I turned away and took a deep breath. Extending Aquarius's key over the ocean far below, I summoned the last of my energy. "Gate of the Water-bearer, I open thee! Aquarius!"

This was a skill I had recently learned, but it sucked up my magic at a faster rate. As the thick jet of water spiraled up towards me, I collapsed to my knees. Just when I thought I couldn't hold on any longer, the water reached my key and wrapped around it, almost like a caress. A flash of golden light heralded the arrival of the stubborn water spirit. The water was encasing her blue mermaid tail as she hovered above us.

"Now that's the way to summon me, girl," Aquarius said with a wink. She turned a vicious grin on Kaarme, who was regarding her with cold, calculating eyes. Taurus attempted to land a blow on the man with his axe, but Kaarme nimbly dodged and aimed a powerful kick at Taurus's…manhood.

With a pained cry, the spirit stumbled to his knees, clasping his injured parts as he moaned in agony. "Lucy-san…I'm sorry!"

Weakly, I nodded and watched as he returned to the Spirit World.

"Pitiful." Kaarme examined his black-painted nails with boredom, and I felt a mixture of hatred and despair.

"Let's see how you like this!" Just before she raised her arms to send a blast of water at Kaarme, she tossed something to me. It rolled to my knees, and I stared down at the familiar brown tube in disbelief. "Thought you might need this."

The handle of my Fleuve d'étoiles glistened with water droplets as I ran my shaky fingers over its smooth surface. I lifted my eyes to thank my surprisingly thoughtful spirit, but saw that she'd already launched an attack on Kaarme. I smiled to myself, not exactly hopeful, but less distraught than I'd been a moment before.

My gaze wandered to the battle on the cliff. Natsu and the black dragon were battling in the air, tails thrashing angrily as each tried to overpower the other. Black and red flames danced across the sky as the two dragons fought. Down on the cliff, the others were standing in weary tension, alert for an opportunity to help. My spirits looked over at me in fear, searching for a way over to assist with my battle. I saw that it was useless, though, and did a forced gate closure to conserve more of my strength. Loki started to angrily shout something to me, but was cut off when I sent him back to the Spirit World. I half expected him to traverse the barrier between the two worlds on his own and reappear at my side, but I remained alone as I knelt on the serpent's head, watching as the battles unfolded. I didn't know whether to be relieved that he's stayed out of this fight, or depressed that he hadn't come to help me.

I sagged in exhaustion, wondering if I could keep this up. Yukino was lying on the cliff, her face taught and expressionless as she pressed her hands into the gaping wound on her stomach. Pisces and Libra were gathered around her, trying to help slow the flow of blood seeping into the rocky ground around her. But they were starting to flicker as Yukino's hold on them grew weaker. I was impressed that she'd managed to keep them here as long as she had. But slowly, after a few more minutes, they faded completely from this world as they returned to their own. Yukino was left completely alone, more vulnerable than ever.

My fear for Yukino fueled my determination. I will succeed. I will not give up! Because my friends need me!

Nodding my conviction, I pulled myself laboriously to my feet, only to stagger and nearly lose my footing as the leviathan bucked beneath me. Its long neck thrashed to the right, tearing through the pillar of water that was holding Aquarius up. The spirit shrieked her rage as she began to fall. Straight towards the leviathan's opening maw. As its head tipped back in preparation to catch her, I started to fall backwards off the creature's scaly head. I screamed, flailing my arms and legs to try to catch a grip before falling any further. To my immense relief, my hands found the pinkish fins on the side of the thing's head. I gripped them for all I was worth, dangling precariously over the dark, dangerous waters.

"Aquarius, forced gate closure!" I gasped out, my lungs and arms burning. Aquarius disappeared in a flash of light just as the leviathan snapped its jaws shut where she'd been just a moment before. My right wrist was screaming in pain, and I knew that this was going to require some serious magic to fix it after all the stress I was about to put on it.

With a roar of fury, the colossal sea spirit lashed its head around toward the cliff, and then dived toward the water. My eyes widened in terror as I snapped my head around, looking for the other mage. He was nowhere to be seen. I'm screwed, I thought, sucking in a deep breath just before I was plunged into the water.

My first thought was of how cold it was. The dark water swirled around my head, blinding me with its black embrace and paralyzing me with its icy fingers. My lungs contracted painfully, the bitter cold tearing my breath from my lungs and stealing the last of my strength. I could see nothing in the dark, tumultuous waters. I could feel nothing but mind-numbing cold.

Is this how it feels to die?

Just when I thought I was really about to die, the serpent broke the surface again, shooting out of the water with such force that I slid down its neck a few feet before I was able to catch ahold of the fin again. My breath was coming in short, ragged gasps and my head was spinning from lack of oxygen. My trembling arms were about to give out, but there was nothing I could do. The wind that before had been nothing more than a background nuisance was now tearing into me and sucking what little body heat I retained.

But I knew I couldn't give up yet. Not until Kaarme was dead, or I was dead.

The leviathan leveled out, and I was once again lying on my stomach on its head. My muscles were frozen in their clenched position, though, so I was unable to wrench myself away from the fin I clung to so desperately. It was just as well, though, because in the next instant, the serpent had whipped its head around again and launched itself forward. This time, though, I saw that its target was the cliff. The cliff upon which Yukino lay injured, incapable of moving out of the way.

I screamed as I was rushed towards the cliff, desperately tugging on the fin to try to stop it before we collided. My weak efforts were useless, though, and I could do nothing my close my eyes and turn my head away as the massive beast crashed into the wall with a terrible rumble of breaking rocks.

A falling chunk of rock struck my head, and I felt myself reeling from the blow as I fell through the air. My vision went black, and I lost awareness of the world around me. Until the shock of my body hitting the icy water forced me back into wakefulness.

I desperately clawed my way back to the surface of the water, determined to stay afloat. Several meters away, I saw a familiar silver head bobbing in the frothy waves. With blood and salt water dripping down my face, I started swimming towards Yukino, desperate to reach her before she drowned. I heard her panicked gasps and cries as she bobbed beneath the surface and then resurfaced a moment later.

"Yukino!" I yelled, coughing and wheezing as I fought my way through the turbulent waves. My injured wrist trailed limply through the water as I pushed my arms through the waves, cutting a path to the other girl. After a final exhausting push, I was within arms' reach of her. I saw her wild eyes dart to mine as she opened her mouth to cry out in fear, but then she was sucked under the dark surface again.

I quickly sucked in a breath of salty air before diving under to search for Yukino. My hands waved around frantically in front of me, in the approximate area she'd disappeared in. Just when I was about to struggle back to the surface for a breath, my left hand connected with something soft but firm. Quickly, I wrapped my arms around her body and tugged her up to the surface. We broke the waves with a gasp, expelling water from our abused lungs. Yukino clung to me in fear, her silver hair plastered to her pale face. Her eyelids flickered a few times, her eyes shrouded by a cloud of pain. I remembered her abdominal wound, and my worry increased.

"Yukino, hang in there! I'll find a way to get us out of here." She nodded mutely, half delirious from pain and cold. She was shaking so badly it was hard to keep a hold on her.

I grit my teeth as I transferred her weight to my right arm, using my left hand to reach for my key pouch. My fingers found Aquarius's key, and I weakly pulled it out, praying that I had enough energy left for one last summoning.

"Gate of the Water-bearer, I open thee! Aquarius!" I thrust the key point-down into the water, feeling the last of my magic seep out of me into the golden key. My breath was trapped in my lungs while I waited to see if Aquarius would come. One second passed, and then another. But finally, just when I was about to give up hope, I saw the familiar fissure of light open up and Aquarius appeared before us.

"Aquarius," I gasped, using every last ounce of my strength to keep Yukino and myself afloat. "Please…help us. Get us out of the water."

Aquarius nodded gruffly, floating back a few feet to aim her pot at us. The next moment, we were being carried upward by a fountain of water until we were on the same level as the cliff. I didn't release my breath until we were both deposited safely on the cliff amidst the loose rubble from the collapse of about five meters of rock that was previously on the edge.

I felt the exact moment Aquarius returned to the Spirit World, for it was the same moment that I ran out of magic completely. But I sighed in relief, knowing that at least we were no longer in the water. Even though we were both shaking so hard we looked like we were having seizures. Then Yukino passed out, one hand clutching her stomach wound as her features slackened.

I slowly, gingerly sat up. My wrist was swollen to almost twice its normal size, my jaw was bruising badly, and I had a gash across my forehead that was still oozing blood. When I looked up, I saw the two dragons battling a little way in the distance. They were rolling and wrestling through the air, each trying to kill the other. The black dragon sank its fangs into Natsu's shoulder, and I heard him bellow in pain as his red scales were dyed even redder. He retaliated with a vicious swipe to the eyes, and the black dragon shrieked in agony as it reeled backwards and thrashed its head around, trying to get rid of the pain in its eyes. Taking advantage of the other dragon's momentary distraction, Natsu surged forward and blasted it with a massive jet of flames. Lightning flickered erratically around the edges.

I couldn't keep watching to see the outcome, though. Yukino needed help, now. I saw that the blood was still seeping through her shirt, though the flow had slowed. Gingerly, I peeled away the ragged, bloodied fabric, a pained breath hissing through my teeth as I saw the wounds. It looked as though the dragon had gutted her with its powerful claws, gouging deep parallel lines across her stomach. I couldn't see much of the wounds themselves, though, as her abdomen was a mess of blood and other unidentifiable chunks of flesh. My stomach rolled, and I had to close my eyes for a moment and take deep breaths to keep from hurling. But with each breath, I inhaled the scent of death. A tear leaked down my face as I opened my eyes and looked down at Yukino's prone form again. I reached out and pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. Her skin was cold and clammy, though I told myself it was just from the water. We would both pull through this. We had to.

As gently as I could with shaking hands, I tore a strip off my own tank top and wrapped it around Yukino's stomach. The pale pink fabric immediately soaked up the blood, staining it a gruesome shade of crimson. My lungs contracted as I fought to keep the tears down. It would do none of us any good to fall into hysterics now.

My head shot up to where Natsu was battling in the air. If he managed to defeat this dragon right now, he might be able to take Yukino and carry her away to go find Wendy or Chelia! They would be able to heal Yukino! I just had to find a way to free up Natsu so he could take her.

I staggered to my feet, my mind focused solely on finding a way to quickly defeat the black dragon. And so, I didn't notice until it was too late that Kaarme had suck up behind me somehow, appearing out of nowhere. I gasped in pain as he kneed me in the back and then trapped my throat in the crook of his arm before I could fall forward.

"You thought you had escaped me, did you?" His voice was eerily calm as he choked the life out of me. Fuzzy black spots spread across my vision as I desperately tried to kick him or claw at him, anything to get him to relinquish his hold on me. "Well, I'm afraid there's no chance of that now. I had originally thought that you would make a nice prisoner, but now I see that you're too much trouble; I'm going to have to eliminate you now. But don't worry; I'll make sure that it's less painful than being a living sacrifice would've been. After all, that's the fate that awaits your friends."

I could hear the satisfaction dripping from his poisonous words. But my struggles were growing weaker, so there was nothing I could do. I hadn't even realized that he'd been walking me slowly forward until my toes curled around the edge of the cliff, meeting only thin air. Dimly, I saw the serpentine shape of his pet coiling down below. So he didn't mean to choke me to death then. He was going to feed me to his spirit snake. I closed my eyes, not wanting the last thing I saw to be the razor-sharp rows of teeth before they snapped around my body.

But suddenly, I heard a dull thwunk and Kaarme's hold on me slackened. He cried out in pain and staggered away from me. I sank to my knees, gasping for breath as I tried to massage my bruised neck. I looked around, trying to spy the cause of my timely rescue. My heart leapt into my throat as I saw Sagittarius standing proudly about fifty yards away. His bow string was still quivering from the shot he'd fired. The arrow had lodged itself square in the center of Kaarme's back.

My eyes widened as I saw that Sagittarius wasn't alone. Virgo was kneeling beside Yukino, cradling her head in her lap with a grim expression on her pretty face. Cancer was standing beside them, his scissors gleaming in the fading light of day. But beyond them, I saw a whole contingent of other spirits, some of whom I didn't even recognize. They were all standing tall, determined looks on their faces. My breath caught in my throat as I gazed at all of them in disbelief. How were they all here? Why were they all here?

Kaarme's enraged scream snapped my attention back to the mage, who was clutching his head as he staggered over to the edge of the crumbling cliff. Confused, I scooted away from the edge in case he was going insane and intended to shove me off the cliff. However, I realized that the cause of his distress was something in the water. And so I crawled slowly back towards the edge to peer warily down into the ocean.

My jaw dropped. The giant sea serpent was writhing in the water, seemingly in pain. But it was something else that really caught my eye. Looming above the waves was a massive man with a giant mustache in the shape of two crosses. The Spirit King.

The waves whipped furiously across the surface of the ocean, but were mysteriously smooth as glass beneath the king. The water around the serpent began to roil and froth, boiling the creature alive. Just what is going on here?!

"Why?!" Kaarme screamed, glaring feverishly at the Spirit King. "You can't come to this world! Why are you here?"

The massive man turned his stormy eyes to the mage standing on the edge of the cliff. "You have broken the rules, young mage." His deep voice was ominously flat as he regarded the mage as one might an insect tacked to a board. "You have summoned the Banished Ones, and then used them to attempt to kill their brother spirits. This I cannot allow."

I gaped at the giant spirit. So he was…killing the spirits that Kaarme had summoned? Just because the mage had been malicious enough to summon them to use them to destroy us?

"Wait!"

The Spirit King turned his fearsome eyes on me, but I wasn't afraid. We'd had too many interactions for me to fear him now, though there was definitely more than a pinch of anxiety. "What is it, Lucy Heartfilia?"

I glanced over at all the assembled spirits. They were regarding me with curious expressions, though some still retained the anger over Kaarme's doings. "Why must you kill the spirits?" Loki, standing over amidst the other spirits, looked at me like I had grown a second head. Or maybe a fifth. "I mean, can't you just send them back to wherever they were banished to? After all, it was Kaarme who summoned them."

The king of the spirits regarded me with an expressionless face that was somehow more intimidating than the angry one he'd been wearing just a moment before. "You would have me spare the ones responsible for trying to kill your friends? For trying to kill you?" His voice held no anger or condemnation, merely a touch of genuine curiosity.

I sucked in a deep breath and then nodded. "It's only in their nature."

After several tense beats of silence—even the two dragons had ceased their fighting—the king spoke again. "You are correct, Miss Heartfilia. As expected of one who understands the spirits so well." He snorted. "Very well. I shall send them back to the abyss, and deal with this mage who dared to summon them from their prison." I sagged in relief. "However, there is one last thing I must impart to you before I return to the spirit world."

My eyes widened in surprise. I watched as the two leviathans suddenly vanished in a flash of light. If it weren't for all the damage they'd caused, I would've believed that it had all been my imagination. Somberly, I turned to check Yukino's condition. Virgo had somehow managed to change her clothes, and I recognized them as Spirit clothing. The pink-haired spirit nodded to me before taking Yukino back to the spirit world with her, presumably for medical treatment. One by one, the other spirits started to return to their world, lighting up the cliff with their flashes of light as they transitioned between worlds. Kaarme was too stunned to do more than just stand there mutely, his fists clenched at his sides as he glared murderously at the king.

The Spirit King drifted closer to me, until he stood right before the cliff edge, less than an arm's length away from me. His giant hand came up, clenched in a fist as he extended it to me. Turning it over, he unfolded his fingers to reveal a small, glistening diamond key. A delicate silver chain was looped through the head of the key, pooled around it in his palm. I looked from the key to the king's face, my brows knitting in confusion.

"This key has not been used in millennia. But now it is for you to wield. Use it wisely, only in times of absolute need. For it is my most precious key."

I reached a quivering hand up to take the key from his palm. No sooner had I taken it in my fingers than he withdrew and seized Kaarme around the waist. The mage began to struggle, shouting angrily. However, his struggles were useless, and I watched in exhausted detachment as he was taken—screaming—into the Spirit World with the King of the Spirits.

The sinking sun cast an orange glow over the ocean, dying it a fiery shade of red. Too weary to stand, I remained kneeling on the rocky ground. A slight breeze drifted up from the waves below, and I thought dazedly that it was almost as though nothing had happened. The scenery was so beautiful and peaceful, it was hard to reconcile this image with the one of the giant serpent baring its bloodied fangs at me.

Lucy. I looked up, my eyes finding Natsu spiraling gently down to land on the cliff behind me. My eyes quickly roved over his muscular dragon body for any injuries. Aside from a few claw marks in his arms and the teeth marks in his shoulder, he looked fine. My eyes closed briefly in relief.

"Natsu. Are you okay?"

He snorted, puffs of smoke curling up from his nostrils. I'm fine. But you don't look too good. We need to find Wendy and have her heal you. Then, his voice changed tone. Oh. They still think I'm dead.

I looked down in guilt. If I hadn't been so weak, Natsu wouldn't have needed to come save me. The others wouldn't be worrying even now. "Don't worry," I said, forcing my voice to be strong and cheerful. "We'll go find them now, and I'm sure the look on their faces will be worth it." I could feel him smiling in my mind, his dark eyes warming as he looked down at me.

You're right. Here, climb on. He lowered himself to the ground, waiting for me to crawl to my feet and stagger over to him. Once I was settled on his back between his shoulder blades, he pushed off of the cliff, causing a few more chunks of rock to fall away. We flew over the cliff, and I saw the lights of the city up ahead. Snuggling down against his warm back, I laid my cheek against his hard scales. The wind whipping past us left me shivering, still wet from the plunge in the ocean. But where my body pressed against Natsu's back, the cold couldn't touch me.

Slowly, I brought my hand up in front of my face, gazing sideways at it as I slowly peeled my fingers away from the glistening key. It was smaller than any of my other keys, but its diamond surface reflected the light in a thousand different directions, giving it the illusion of glowing. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Bringing it a little closer to my face, I studied it closely, curious about its identity. Whose key was this? It must be powerful, judging from the king's words. I could feel the power radiating from it, even in my magicless state.

Suddenly, my gaze snagged on a little symbol carved into the main shaft of the key. There, right beneath the circular head of the key, was the etched symbol of a crown. A crown with two crosses intersecting behind it.

The king had given me his own key.


A/N: Thank you to everyone who reads this story! It seriously makes my day when I wake up to find new emails telling me that I have new reviews! :D So if you have *cough cough a heart cough* extra time on your hands, please leave a review! ;D And if you're still following along with this story but haven't Followed it, I invite you to do so! Thank you for the continued support, everyone! :D