Look! A wild update appears!
This update is a bit longer than the few previous, so I hope you guys enjoy!
Without further ado, Fueling the Fire, chapter the 13th: Determination
The rescuers had completely disregarded all thoughts of stealth as soon as they had heard the piercing shriek that definitely belonged to the blonde celestial mage.
Erza's clashing swords sang loudly, daring anyone and everyone to charge at her, and the shattering ice as Gray through himself into the fray with reckless abandon clattered to the floor in thousands of shards. Gajeel left Levy with the capable Lily as he charged forward, knocking men bodily against the wall, and Levy did her best to scrawl some attack words with just her fingertip, although it packed only half of her usual punch. Juvia's water may have been more suited to stealth, but the way she busted all the pipes with a screeching whine in order to wash more than half of their enemies down the hallway ruined that effect. The glass window at the end of the hall shattered and several men fell through it, shouting as the ground rushed up to meet them. Cana's cards were flying everywhere, sometimes with an element attack there, or a falling anvil here, or even summoning a brief golem to block an attack. The little blue-haired dragonslayer of the party had cast an Arms Vernier on every member, and then Wendy had proceeded to roar to the group's rear, blasting a few Demon Card mages back down the stairs. Mest's teleportation helped him to avoid attacks and sneak behind people, confusing them and making it easier for one of the others to strike the final blow.
After hearing Lucy's scream, there wasn't a single one of them that cared about sneaking around anymore, and because of this, taking out the last enemies in their way became a task of only seconds. The last man fell dreaming at Mest's feet and the others were already sprinting past him down the hall. Lily continued to stay at the wounded Levy's side, helping her at Gajeel's request as the dragonslayer himself let the charge, Erza and Gray hot on his heels.
With every step, they were all simultaneously wishing for and dreading another scream: wishing for one so that they knew she was still alive, still breathing, and dreading one because it meant that she was in agony.
Whatever the case, the same thought ran through all of their heads like a mantra:
Whoever this asshole hurting Lucy is, he has to pay.
It was then that Wendy cried, "Through that door at the end of the hall, straight ahead!" and Cana immediately tossed a card. On impact, it exploded and blasted the heavy wooden door clear off its hinges. This didn't slow any of them—in fact, it spurred them to move even quicker than before.
As soon as they burst into the room, past the smoke and dust of the door, they spotted Lucy. She was down on one knee, clutching a bleeding wound on her shoulder, dripping blood from a few other minor scratches, and looking noticeably singed. Erza bristled in anger and immediately charged at the mage standing over the blonde with Gray right after.
"We need to take him with us!" were the first words that Lucy spoke to her rescuers, forcing herself laboriously to her feet. Erza, Gray, Gajeel, and Mest, already all cornering the leader of Demon Card, paused briefly at her words as the remaining Fairy Tail members rushed to Lucy's side. Juvia and Cana each took one of the celestial mage's arms and helped her to stand. Lucy's voice had such a hard tone that her friends knew it was important to listen to her.
And then she dropped the biggest bombshell.
"His fire magic is blue."
Silence descended as Levy limped into the doorway with Lily's help, and her eyebrows rose in surprise. Even she hadn't dared hope that they would pinpoint the culprit himself.
"Blue?" Erza reiterated, and even though Lucy could only see the redhead's back, she could hear the menacing tone. "Then he is the one who framed Natsu…"
It was a simple statement, but the venom in her voice made even the confident fire mage cringe.
"Yes," was the equally simple answer that she received from the blonde. Juvia pulled Lucy's arm around her shoulder in order to support her, handing the celestial mage a familiar ring of golden keys that she had taken from an enemy, and Lucy continued, "and as long as I have these injuries, it will be easy enough to prove through comparison. I also intend to force a magic demonstration, because it's a traditional part of testimony in trials for magical crimes."
The enemy snickered then, almost as if he'd forgotten the furious Titania next to him.
"You don't have anything on me. You, however, have attacked my guild for the second time—"
Erza's gauntleted fist struck him solidly in the gut just seconds before Gray's uppercut caught him in the chin and Gajeel's iron arm swept his feet out from under him. The leader of Demon Card crashed to the floor of his office on his backside, wheezing. Mest was soon looming over him.
"With the injuries that you and your guild," his disgusted tone emphasized his distaste for Demon Card, "have inflicted on Levy and Lucy and the testimony of a council member on Fairy Tail's behalf, you don't stand a chance."
Grunting, but with a smug half smile, the boss retorted, "There's not a single council member that would stand up for Fairy Tail, especially since old man Yajima left! None of them are ever on your side because you lot cause too much trouble!"
A loud laugh cut through the air, and Lucy looked to the brunette card mage. With a grin, she spoke flippantly, "Let him think what he wants. He'll find out differently soon enough, won't he?"
"Tie him up," Erza ordered, still glaring at the man as the others simply stopped humoring his foolish notion that he couldn't be charged. "We'll take him back with us."
"When we get there, someone needs to check the departure time for the next train to Era," Lucy stated firmly, in a tone that clearly brooked no argument. Levy knew her best friend well enough to know that there would be no stopping Lucy from doing everything she could to prove Natsu's innocence, and from the way that the blonde took her arm away from Juvia to stand on her own only proved that she was serious. "Once we know when the train leaves, we'll send someone to Warren's place. We'll need him to gather everyone to Fairy Tail with all of the evidence they've gathered."
Comprehension dawned in the faces of those who seemed confused at the statement.
"Natsu's trial is today. If there's not an early train, we won't make it to Era on time," Erza reminded.
Lucy very nearly glared at the armored woman, which would have been a poor decision on even the best of days. Today, however, the redhead was impressed and interpreted it as her blonde friend's determination to save her nakama from a false charge. She narrowed her own eyes accordingly, and Wendy couldn't suppress her shudder.
"Let's move," Gajeel growled, slinging the now bound mage over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. "If there's a train, it'll probably leave in just a few hours."
With a general consensus, the group headed for the door. They were on the quickest route back to Magnolia in no time and wouldn't be stopping any time soon.
When Makarov Dreyar woke from his short, fitful slumber to the insistent voice of a sleep-deprived Warren, he wasn't sure what to think. He groggily sat up and focused on the words as the telepathic mage repeated himself for a third time.
"Gray says that this is urgent. Everyone needs gather the evidence for Natsu's trial and meet up at Fairy Tail in fifteen minutes. Be prepared to board the train to Era that leaves in one hour."
Makarov put his legs over the side of his bed, wiping the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes. His muddled and worry-filled mind echoed with Warren's words…Gray had, after all, left earlier in the evening with Erza, Wendy, Charle, Juvia, and Cana. The group hadn't been seen since, and the old man had been unable to figure out why.
If one of his children said something was urgent, though…
The Third and Sixth master of Fairy Tail prepared to head to his guild to see what Gray had to say. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he would go regardless and in the meantime he would pray that it wasn't news of another missing mage. Makarov didn't know if his poor heart could take an more of that kind of pain. It made him feel like he'd failed—as a guild master, as a father-figure, as a grandfather-figure—and it made him feel more weary than he could recall ever feeling before.
Before he knew it, the tiny 80 year old man found himself already at the familiar wooden doors to the guild. There was an almost eerie silence about the place, even though the tension in the air was palpable.
With one deep breath, the tired old man opened the doors to hear what his children had to say.
"There you are, Gramps," the ice mage remarked, and the guild master's eyes sought him out. "You're the last one."
"I'm an old man, you know," Makarov quipped back. There were days he pretended he was younger than he really was, but it wasn't the time nor the place for that. He felt extremely worn down, as many his age often did, so he owned up to it.
"You're still well within the fifteen minutes, ya know," Gray casually leaned back against the bar, and Makarov finally took in what he was seeing. The familiar faces of his children all looked on, but the group that particularly incited his interest were those around the shirtless boy he'd bantered briefly with and he felt his spirit begin to soar.
Levy McGarden sat on the stool to Gray's left, between the ice mage and, unsurprisingly, the iron dragonslayer. She looked a bit worse for wear, but she was alive, and that was really all that mattered. On Gray's right, separating him from Juvia and Wendy, a very determined figure sat and had he not known better, he might have mistaken her for the only one of his children that was currently absent.
Lucy Heartfilia exuded the same self-assured confidence that Natsu had always possessed, and suddenly the old man had a feeling that everything would be fine.
"Welcome back, Levy, Lucy," he managed to find a voice somewhere inside—somehow. Then, aside to Gray, he asked, "How did you find them?"
He didn't really need an answer as soon as he saw the spark in Lucy's eyes as she and Gajeel shared a glance. A suspicion he had briefly entertained when Lucy had first presented her plan to construct a case in Natsu's defense resurfaced. He had felt like she had been holding something back, although he'd been entirely unsure about what it was. At the time, he had dismissed it because everyone knew about the kiss that the blonde had shared with Natsu before he was taken and he assumed it was related to that, but now…
Now, he thought he knew what she had been hiding.
"Bunny Girl's real plan," Gajeel's emphasis proved that Makarov's new theory was at least partially true, "was to get everyone lookin' for clues and shit to help the idiot's case. Then she was gonna go out alone and get captured a week before the trial, with me followin' her, so that we could find Levy. She was gonna do some real diggin' and find the real guy."
Makarov noted a shocked murmur that ran through those assembled—"What? Lucy did that?!"—but he wasn't nearly so incredulous. He knew just how strong and brave each of his children had the potential to be, as well as how reckless. Lucy had more potential for all three than many of the others, especially after she had fallen in with the three most destructive mages he had ever seen.
"The plan pretty much stayed the same, only we had to rush it when the council bastards moved the idiot's trial forward. We got 'em out tonight, when Bunny Girl went to confront this asshole," Gajeel kicked a bound man on the floor between the dragonslayer, Erza, and…Mest? The guild master hadn't even noticed the council member or the captive prior, but focused quickly on the gruff words of the dragonslayer, "and then she found out through personal experience that his magic is blue flame."
The tension in the air rose drastically, and it was even more frightening when the lovely Mirajane gave her brightest and most terrifying smile as she stepped towards the culprit.
"So…you're the one who framed us? Who framed Natsu?" she asked, almost cheerfully, and the leader of Demon Card quailed at her words, face etched with the expression of abject horror. The old man likened it to the reactions of Mirajane's enemies back in the day, when she hadn't even tried to hide how scary she could be.
"There's no doubt about that," Lucy spoke up for the first time, and Makarov's eyes immediately went to her, "which is why he's going to come with us as part of the evidence. I intend to propose the use of a magic demonstration to prove Natsu's innocence."
The Master of Fairy Tail felt his eyes widen. He knew that Lucy would go to any lengths to save Natsu, but for her to even know some of the finer laws of magic trials was a bit surprising. Those laws were tedious for him to read, even on his best days, which is why he often disregarded damage notices from the council. They were always too wordy for his liking, anyway, and had bored him excessively.
Before Lucy had been captured, he realized, she must have been seriously studying the laws and trial procedures for magical crimes. He couldn't deny that he was increasingly impressed with this particular daughter's constant dedication to whatever task she put her heart into.
"The train to Erza leaves in 40 minutes," Levy now spoke up, breaking the brief silence that had fallen. "We've already reserved seats for everyone, including two compartments. Fried, Master Makarov, Mira, Mest, Lucy, and I will take one of these compartments with all of the evidence you have managed to gather. In the six hour ride to Era, we will sort through everything and organize it into the best case possible. The other compartment will be for Gajeel, Erza, and Gray to watch over our human evidence."
And even deeper quiet pervaded the room as the cold words came from the battered blue-haired mage. Her tone clearly indicated a strong disdain for the man that was responsible for all of the turmoil that Fairy Tail was currently facing, and proved that she would not be forgiving. The most surprising thing of all, perhaps, is that the sweet solid script mage wasn't even treating him like a person, which was extremely unlike her.
"What are we waiting for?" came Romeo's voice from near the front of the crowd. "Everyone should take their notes up to the bar for them to start sorting the evidence!"
"And we need to find a pair of magic cuffs," Laki pushed her glasses up her nose, stepping forward from the middle of the crowed as she stared coldly down at the fire mage on the floor. "We don't want him causing any trouble on the train, even if we're more than capable of handling it."
"I'll take the notes and evidence!" Mira called, and Makarov watched as she made her way behind the bar to pull out a few empty crates. "Fried, help me sort them as they come! Lucy, Levy, is there any particular way you want us to organize them to start with?"
"Relevance," both girls responded immediately, and with a shared glance, the blue-haired girl continued, "so start with any reports related specifically to Demon Card, and evidence from the fight itself, will be priority. From there, related reports to dark guild activities that include fire mages, specifically blue flames, and any charges of attacks against legitimate guilds."
The master strode forward then and declared, "Any documents about magical law enforcement, the council's former trials for magical crimes, procedures and protocol, or anything of the like should also be high priority. I assume you understand why, Lucy? Mest?"
Both of the addressed mages nodded, and with a dark look in her eyes, Lucy responded, "Moving a trial forward by more than three days without notice or without substantial evidence is a vital breach of protocol."
"It doesn't matter how frustrated the council can get with Fairy Tail," Mest said lowly, "that doesn't give them the right to expedite a trial of such a serious nature. There's something wrong with that, and I think Lahar has probably noticed it, too. That's why he let me take vacation on such short notice so that I could come here and help out."
Makarov nodded, examining the council mage closely. His roots were showing so clearly right now, despite the fact that he had erased his own memory long ago…but the old man would say nothing. It wasn't the time, nor the place, and he wasn't sure how to talk about it yet, anyway.
"Let's get to work," Cana called, motioning towards where Mira and Fried were already organized and ready to start sorting information. "We've only got thirty minutes before we need to be on the train, and I want all the information up here in ten!"
Elfman picked the tiny guild master easily off the floor before the crush of the crowd could jostle him. With a smile and some trademark mention of how manly it was, he walked to the bar with Master Makarov on his shoulder, where the short man hopped off and turned to watch the sudden bustle that took over the guild. It made his chest swell with pride to see just how determined all of his children were to save one of their own.
The trial was less than eight hours away, it was almost three in the morning, and he had never felt more alive.
Familiar characters, places, types of magic, etc., are the property of the lovable, trolling ass, Mashima Hiro!
(I call him an ass because of recent events in the manga).
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this update! Like I said at the top, it's longer than the last few, which I am very proud of. I have gone back to writing most of the chapter out by hand for the first time since the very beginning of this story, and I feel like it helped me a lot. The ideas just seemed to come more easily, and faster, and with edits on the fly as I typed it up, I feel like this may be one of the most successful chapters I've written in a very long time.
NOTE: As usual, I would like to point out that I'm still a college student, and this update only came about so quickly because I was suddenly struck with the idea and proceeded to ignore an assignment due in four days to write this chapter. Please don't beg for updates, because I am unable to answer those pleas in a timely fashion.
Thank you so much for reading! Stay tuned!
Special thanks to Wacko12 for correcting a mistake in this chapter! I knew there was something weird about what I'd written, but I hadn't figured it out until it was pointed out to me.