Chapter Ten: Angel
"Master!" I said in delight as I saw the tiny old man standing there in his white and gold cloak.
"Gramps!" said Natsu and Gray.
"Tiny, little old man… Who are you?" asked Infra.
"Makarov," said Aston, "One of the Ten Wizard Saints. Why is he here?"
"He's the Master of our guild," said Natsu proudly, "Gramps, what are you doing here?"
"Well, what kind of father would I be if I couldn't even protect my own children?" said the Master, turning around, looking at me, "And you; you have a lot of explaining to do."
"H-Hai…" I said.
"But for now, run," said the Master, running ahead, grinning as we had to sprint to catch up, "The old gramps still has it!"
"How can you be grinning at a time like this?" I asked in disbelief.
Just as we came barrelling out of the guild, the window above our heads smashed and glass pieces rained down.
"Lucy, watch out!" said Gray, knocking me out of the way as a huge glass piece that would have pierced my head fell down where I'd been a second ago.
"Ow, ow, ow…" I said, rubbing my head and opening my eyes to thank Gray. I flinched at how close he was. Since he had knocked me out of the way, he had pinned me down, his body over mine but I never expected him to be this close. His face was literally ten centimetres away from mine. So close, our lips could almost touch. I remembered the adrenaline I felt when I'd kissed him before and almost just pulled his face down to mine so I could experience that feeling again.
But he probably hates you right now, said some random voice in my head, besides, you are the one who rejected him and left him in the raining street. Like he would want to kiss someone who rejected him like that. He probably just rescued you because of a reflex action or maybe because he might still like you as a friend because there's no way he still loves you.
I practically had to force the words 'thank you' out of my mouth instead of saying something stupid like 'you're driving me insane! I love you! I'm sorry for ditching you in the street but I did love you, long before that!" I imagined what my face had to look like since I couldn't blurt out those words. Probably stressed, pained or both.
"It's OK," said Gray, getting up, although he sounded strained. It was probably because by moving suddenly, his wound started to hurt, I convinced myself instead of letting my imagination making up lots of other ridiculous fantasies.
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Gray's POV
I nearly lost my self-control in front of Lucy again. I forced myself to get up and said, "It's OK." It sounded so strained, even Natsu could tell I was dying to blurt out at her, 'I still love you, OK? You might hate me right now for springing the 'I love you' part on you but I still love you.'
I remembered the words that shadow had spoken to me, you might be doubtful now but soon, you'll find out the truth. Don't do something you will regret…
What did that even mean? There were thousands of things I regretted doing in my life, starting with going out to stupidly find Deliora and letting IU die for my mistake and acting like a jerk towards Erza when she had such a rough past when we were young. And what truth? The truth was right in front of my eyes; that Lucy hated me. It made perfect sense. Why she was avoiding me and why she always looked so stressed and pained in front of me like she wanted to break the news that she never loved me without hurting my feelings. Naturally Lucy to try to find the best solution where everyone's feelings remain unhurt.
But I love you and only you, Lucy. I guess you just don't feel the same.
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Lucy's POV
I just had to turn away then. Every look of pain on his face… Was it because of me? I couldn't stand the thought of him hating me when I loved him so much. I turned and saw Retina fallen onto all fours, tears falling from her eyes. I walked over, "What's wrong?"
"Araluen…" said Retina, tears falling, "Araluen is…"
I looked over at a piece of Araluen's grey clothing on the ground and a fallen, dead doll. I remembered Bickslow's ability was to possess dolls and they would fight for him. I looked up at the window, "Is that the room…?" Then, realising it was, I looked down at Retina having a complete breakdown.
"Well, just because his doll's fallen doesn't mean he's dead," I said consolingly. I made lots of Bickslow's dolls fall, yet he was still alive.
"I can't sense his magic power anymore," said Aston in a dead voice, "He's gone."
"Araluen…" cried Retina, sobbing loudly although she probably didn't care who saw.
"Reiki will come soon," said Aston, though his voice sounded forced out, "We have to go."
Retina gave a stiff nod but couldn't make herself move, I guessed.
Aston, having some tears himself, knelt down and picked up Retina bridal style. He walked towards the forest, back to the direction of town.
"No," said Infra, taking a hold of his arm, "If we run towards the town, that'll put them in danger too. And besides, what about Erza and Mira and Ladin and Nero?"
Aston paused and turned back around, "So we should beat Reiki first?"
"Yes," said Infra, "Only I don't know how and we should probably wait for them to come first before we go running off on them."
Just then, ironically, four people ran out of the guild which I saw to be Erza, Mira, Nero and Ladin.
"Good, you're all safe," said the Master, smiling happily, "However, we must think of a way to beat this Reiki person. I've heard about him and that Lost Magic of his. I don't think my Fairy Law alone can stop it."
"Yeah," said Natsu, "No ordinary magic will beat it."
"I have a plan," I piped up. I had to change my plans again and again because of new things that popped up randomly but I believed that my current plan would work.
Everyone stared at me. Usually, I wasn't the one coming up with battle tactics but I smiled at them as if to say just trust me and they seemed to let me say my plan.
"The idea's something I had to change a lot of times," I said, "But, finally I came up with it."
"And that is?" said Happy impatiently.
"Unison Raid," I said.
"Unison…" said Erza.
"Raid?" said Ladin.
"No ordinary magic can work against Reiki," I said, "Demo, I have a theory and I'm pretty sure Unison Raid with all of us will work."
"All of us?" said the Master, "Lucy, Unison Raid is indeed a rare, strong magic and everyone here does have good bonds with someone else but it has only been done with two people. There's no predicting what will happen if all of us do it at the same time and so much magic power is released."
"It should be fine," I said, "We are all really experienced with our magic and have complete control over it. Nothing bad should happen. But, Master, I want you to hold back enough magic power to use Fairy Law if anything bad should happen or if Demon Crosses has even more reinforcements or something."
The Master seemed reluctant but finally, considering we all would be completely exhausted from Unison Raid and if it didn't work, we would be done for, he nodded, "All right."
"But… what kind of attack will come out?" questioned Erza, "If all our powers are combined, it will be crazy."
"I want a dragon!" shouted Natsu excitedly. At least someone was really getting into the idea. He turned to Infra, "Ne, ne, you manipulate fire, right? Can you make the attack in the shape of a dragon with your fire, please?"
"Our attacks in the form of a dragon?" said Infra, cocking her head. She looked at Natsu's excited face and shrugged, "I guess it'll be all right…"
"HOORAY!" cheered Natsu, practically knocking Infra to the ground with his hug, "Thank you!"
"O-Oi…" said Infra, trying to get back up.
"So…" said Ladin, holding a stick and drawing a rough sketch of a dragon, "We'll have a fire dragon thanks to Natsu and Infra with feather wings thanks to the cat and swords and ice spears and magic eyes and the demon's attacks… And I am getting confused…"
Suddenly, a figure leapt out of the smashed window and landed in front of us. Reiki grinned a cruel smile and his clothes, I noticed, were smeared with blood. I tried not to think about whose. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Retina and Aston flinch. Retina was back on her feet although she looked unsteady.
"It seems I expected too highly of my son," said Reiki, "I expected him to be as strong as me at least. Worthless," he shook his head, "I'm disappointed in him. He's weak because he trusts people and has friends who hold him back. Maybe if he'd just never had you two," he pointed at Aston and Retina, "he would have lived a longer life. Now you two are responsible for his death."
"Don't listen to him," I said to Aston and Retina, "He wants you to feel guilty."
"Anyway, I suppose I should get this over and done with. A Dragon Slayer, Titania, even one of the Ten Wizard Saints, Makarov. I've really hit the jackpot! My guild will be unstoppable! Although, I've still got to get those two other Dragon Slayers…" Reiki looked up before running into the forest.
"You coward!" yelled Natsu, running towards the trees.
"Natsu, no!" shouted Erza, tackling him to the ground, "Are you crazy? If you follow him into that forest, you'll be lost for sure and then you'll die."
Natsu flinched but stopped moving and allowed Erza to help him up.
"This is the perfect opportunity," said Mira, "Reiki thinks we won't be able to beat him at that great a distance since he's in the forest. We'll activate our Unison Raid and hit him in the forest."
"But how? We can't even see him so how do we hit him?" asked Nero, peering into the dense trees.
"We have to get to higher ground," said Gray, nodding at the volcano.
"Won't you burn to a crisp up there?" I asked.
"It'll be one time," shrugged Gray, "I can take it."
Everyone had their own way of getting to the top of the volcano. Happy flew Natsu up, Erza, Mira, Retina, Aston and Fallen Dark all jumped from rock to rock, quickly going up. Until only me and Gray were left.
I was stumped. I didn't have great hiking abilities or flight ability like everyone else.
Gray noticed me thinking, "Need a lift?"
"Huh?" I said, turning to him and saw his magic circle appear. At first I saw nothing but then, small curved ice shapes appeared from just under Gray's shoulders. As more appeared, they became larger as they spanned out. The end result was Gray standing there with two huge curved shapes over his shoulders detailed with tiny ice feathers at the bottom and larger ones on the top.
"WINGS?" I cried out in surprise, "You can FLY?"
"Actually I just thought of it now," said Gray, "So is that a yes?"
Since I had basically no other choice, I nodded, "Y-Yeah…"
Gray came over and picked me up bridal style. I nearly had a heart attack right there. He said, before he took off, "By the way, I've never done this before so you probably want to find something to grab onto if I happen to fall. You see, my type of ice magic is for inanimate objects like cages and swords. This is my first time attempting some magic like Lyon's which actually have stuff that can move on their own."
"I never knew there were two types," I said, "AND WHY TELL ME THAT? NOW I'M CERTAIN WE'LL FALL!"
"It's useful advice," said Gray, as his wings flapped once, lifting him up into the air. He was already halfway up to the top in two wing beats. I watched in awe. It was just like being with an angel… Except colder.
I snapped back to attention just as Gray said, "Besides, have some faith. I would never let you fall."
As I stumbled around my mind for something to say back, we were already at the top of the volcano where the others were waiting.
"Oh?" said Erza as she looked at Gray's wings, "Not your usual style, Gray."
"Yeah, well…" said Gray as he landed and put me down before his wings disappeared, "It was pretty useful. I learned the basics when Lyon made the wing that time during the Oracion Seis mission. I'll have to thank him next time I see him. Anyway, do you see him?"
I peered through the forest but all I could see were trees and more trees.
"There," said Retina with her abnormal eyesight, pointing to a dark figure darting quickly between trees which, if she hadn't pointed it out, I would have missed completely.
"Your eyesight really is like the hawk," smiled Mira approvingly at Retina before fixing her eyes on Reiki and speaking to us without looking away, "Ready, mina?"
"Yeah," all of us said except the Master who hung back and watched silently, somehow coping in the heat even in his cloak while the rest of us except the fire mages like Natsu and Infra were sweating buckets.
I unhooked Aquarius' key as my strongest Spirit in my opinion and held it at the ready while everyone else assumed their fighting positions.
Hopefully, nothing bad will happen… I thought as everyone's magic circles started appearing.