Hey guys

I feel like predicting the future. In FT canon: future Lucy, world in danger, yadda yadda. In my fic: future Lucy, world in danger, yadda yadda.

...Okay so it's probably about ten percent similar but still

And I'm sorry for dying and stuff

Haaaa

I'm not even going to bother with excuses, yeah. Asdfhjkl.

Chapter Seventeen.

The black-haired woman — dubbed Cat — crouched in front of Lucy, human eyes narrowing into feline slits and tilting her head in a . . . well, a distinctly cat-like pose.

Lucy sifted through her keys, keeping both eyes on her enemy while simultaneously trying to decide which one of her spirits would be most helpful. She sensed the other mage readying herself almost imperceptibly and gripped a key tightly, preparing herself for a split-second summon.

Cat's eye twitched.

Here it comes —

And then the other mage sat down, blinked, and purred.

Lucy barely had time to recover from the sheer absurdity of it before claws and fangs came hurtling towards her. She threw herself aside, summoning before she even had time to think. Scorpio arrived in a flurry of sand, battle-ready and a pulsing, comforting presence in front of her.

"Hey-o, Lucy!" Scorpio shouted, unleashing a Sand Buster at the incoming Grimoire Heart mage.

Midair, Cat twisted in an acrobatic move that should have been physically impossible. As Lucy watched, she avoided the brunt of the attack and back-flipped away from Scorpio. Thin rivulets of blood trailed down her forearms where a few stray grains of sand had scratched her.

Cat fixed her slitted eyes on Lucy, brought her right arm up, and deliberately licked it. Slowly but surely, the blood started to clot and the skin knitted itself together.

Lucy involuntarily shuddered. Cat grinned, sharp and feral and wild, a far cry from the sly and calculating persona she'd taken before the fight. Lucy realized that right now, her enemy was more feline than human — Cat did not use her magic, her magic was part of herself.

Another Sand Buster forced the mage to duck. She glided neatly underneath the tunnel of sand, dodging Scorpio's stabbing tail with inhuman grace, before rolling aside and leaving claw marks on the spirit.

Lucy's whip sang across the air and smacked Cat. The sharp point of Scorpio's tail rebounded against the floor, just barely missing Cat. She ran up the length of his tail nimbly and twisted his outstretched arm backwards. With a strength that belied her lithe frame, she planted both feet on Scorpio's back and kicked him away, then launched herself at Lucy.

Lucy reflexively shut her eyes in response to the oncoming threat and kicked — belatedly remembering Erza's mantra to keep both eyes open, always keep both eyes open —

She knew even before her right foot met empty air that she'd missed. A weight collided with her body and they sprawled on the ground, Cat above Lucy. In a blink Cat was behind Lucy, forearm wrapped around the blonde's throat while the other hand, with all five claws extended, came down —

Lucy saw this all in slow-motion. Desperately, she brought her whip up, frantically gauged the distance in a split second, looped her whip around, pulled —

Yes! The whip encountered human flesh and the distinct sounds of gagging was heard as Cat's neck was wrapped in a makeshift noose. Swiftly, Lucy stretched the remaining length of her whip as taut as it would go, raising it above her face.

The claws came down, met the whip, and stopped. Lucy strained to keep it up while choking the other mage, though she knew that Cat, quite literally, had the upper hand.

Some distance away, Scorpio had regained his feet and started towards the pair of mages on the ground.

"Not," Cat managed to grunt against the whip tightening around her neck, "one. Move. Or princess gets it."

Scorpio hesitated for a heartbeat. The moment was enough for the claws to descend just another centimeter, but they were just another centimeter closer to slashing Lucy's neck open.

Lucy cried out, sweat beading her eyebrows and dripping into her eyes. Her arms trembled with the effort and Cat smiled savagely, knowing she only needed another minute at most —

And then Virgo exploded from the ground, sending Cat flying sky-high with an upper-kick. For a moment, the mage seemed to defy gravity, for she stayed up far too long and landed far too lightly on her feet instead of smashing her head open on the floor.

Virgo rushed at Cat, swinging her chains. She dodged them all and tackled Virgo, who quickly sank underground, grabbed Cat's ankles, and pulled her waist-deep into the ground. Virgo resurfaced immediately after, keeping a tight hold on the mage from behind. Lucy lashed out with her whip, pinning the feline mage's arms to her sides.

Scorpio unleashed a concentrated stream of sand towards the incapacitated mage —

Only she wasn't incapacitated any longer. Lucy thought she might still be dazed from her near-death experience, for she saw Cat contort her body into positions that looked highly uncomfortable and — there was no other word for it, liquefied out of Virgo's hold and the whip —

Lucy gaped as a spear of sand struck Virgo full in the face.

Scorpio paled. "Damn! Sorry —"

The Maiden tumbled backwards. Virgo didn't even have time to apologize to Lucy or ask for punishment before disappearing back into the celestial realm.

Cat bared her fangs in unrestrained glee.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Lucy swung her whip repeatedly while Scorpio blasted sand at the Grimoire Heart mage. Each time, Cat danced out of the way. Timing it perfectly, she waited until Lucy's whip struck the floor and Scorpio blasted his stinger before leaping at the celestial spirit mage.

Scorpio made a swipe for her and missed; clawed hands grabbed at the keys on Lucy's belt. Lucy fought to keep a grip on them. When Cat swung behind her for better purchase, the next bit of Erza's mantra, which the redhead had methodically drilled into Lucy's head, penetrated her mind through the haze of the battle.

When you've got superior weight, use it.

Lucy dropped backwards, elbows pointed down, and landed on top of Cat. Her shoulder met the hard ground and jarred painfully, but she felt with satisfaction that her elbow had been introduced to the other mage's jaw.

Lucy rolled out of the way as Scorpio followed up with a blast of sand that, for the first time, clipped Cat and sent her tumbling down.

Hissing, she skittered away, the very image of the proverbial cat licking its wounds. Already her bruises were starting to close up, and Lucy realized that they needed a good solid hit to knock her out.

Stalemate, Lucy thought. She had no misguided confidence in the way the fight was going. Alone against Cat, without Scorpio or Virgo, Lucy should have gone down some time ago. It was only the presence of her spirits that evened out the battle.

A fireball briefly lit up the cave. Sparks fluttered towards Lucy and Cat, along with a multitude of flaming rocks and various burny bits that rained down on them. The two briefly disengaged from battle and were preoccupied with avoiding the hail of fire.

"Natsu!" Erza's voice managed to convey irritation while engaged in deadly combat against Bluenote Stinger, a hundred meters away. "Stop that!"

"But I won!" Natsu whined, although thankfully no more flaming rocks came.

A tidal wave of water swept across the area, putting out the fires. Lucy never thought she'd be grateful for Rustyrose's magic, but she had to admit imagination was pretty useful.

One danger averted, a drenched Lucy returned to the fight just in time to see Cat hissing and shaking water off herself hastily. Scorpio saw this as an opening and shot a torrent of sand while attacking with good old-fashioned punches.

Cat, Lucy noted, was slower to react now, pausing every once in a while to blink water out of her eyes and dodging Scorpio by narrow margins.

"The water," Lucy gasped with sudden clarity.

Of course, she should have known — her opponent was a cat, through and through . . .

Sparing a glance at Scorpio and Cat, she saw that Scorpio was keeping her at bay — unable to do much else, but it was a vast improvement from before, when they were simply unable to keep up with Cat's speed.

Lucy scanned the ground. There — an indentation on the ground — slight, but enough to hold a considerable amount of water.

Lucy lunged towards it, stuck a key inside just as Cat regained her previous agility and kicked Scorpio some distance away —

And then Aquarius exploded from the water like a vengeful goddess in a wrath of righteous fury.

"You idiot! What did you just summon me from? A hole in the ground?"

"I didn't have a choice!" Lucy shouted.

"Do you have any idea how degrading it is —"

Cat was still, eyes wide and focused on Aquarius.

"Fish?" The word escaped from her mouth like a reverent prayer.

Aquarius stopped breathing. With deceptive calmness, she turned to Cat.

"What. Did. You. Call me?" Each word was soft, but carried the same weight as a bell tolling in a funeral.

Lucy winced.

"Fish?" Aquarius repeated, raising her urn slowly.

For the first time, Cat looked truly afraid.

"You little bitch!"

Water sloshed dangerously inside the urn.

"Fish? I am a MERMAID!" Aquarius shrieked.

And then a miniature ocean slammed into Cat.

"That'll teach you," Aquarius growled, re-absorbing the water back into her urn to reveal a half-drowned Cat.

Scorpio made himself known again. "Babe . . . never knew you could be that violent . . ."

Aquarius turned white comically, noticing her boyfriend for the first time. "Y-you saw?"

"I like it!" He flashed a thumbs-up.

Aquarius blushed and giggled. "Oh, you!"

The two spirits promptly disappeared.

Lucy let out a shaky breath, then collapsed in relief.