Shadows
Chapter 16: Possession of the Heart
"Natsu!" Lucy cried out.
Dirt pink hair rustled in the weak draft. Warm tanned skin beaten, bruised and blood dripped onto the crushed stone white scaled scarf twisted around his neck, fluttering gently. The dragon slayer's body crouched on his knees, a fist burned into the ground. His head hung low, shadowing his eyes.
"Still alive, I see-" Jaedou's mouth pulled into a smirk.
"Lucy aint yours!" Natsu growled, all the muscles in his body rippling under the skin.
"Oh? Ya' want her all for ya'self?" Jaedou teased, turning slowly on his heels. His tone was light and calm, but his expression was anything but. It was dark, scary and a whole lot angry.
"You don't get it!" Natsu roared. "Lucy aint yours, and she aint mine either." Slowly, Natsu's body began to lift itself, dispite the struggle. He wayed and stumbled, but managed to regain his balance. His head slowly tilted upwards.
Black, burning eyes peirced through his layer of shadow with frghteningly epic intensity. "LUCY IS LUCY! SHE DOESN'T BELONGS TO ANYONE!" Natsu roared, his face turning to Jaedou's with whole determination.
"Natsu..." Lucy whimpered faintly, a small tear of relief trickling down her cheek.
"Sorry luce," Natsu turned to her, his eyes steady on her face with a definite, serious gaze. "I can't let this guy get away with makin' you cry." Onyx eyes shifted back to Jaedou with pure determination and a steel resolution.
"I understand." Lucy nodded, a small smile on her lips.
"How annoyin'." Jaedou muttered. Malicious energy began to rise up like fire from his body, whipping and hissing like snakes towards the dragon slayer. "Die."
Jaedou dashed forwards, his arm already moving to swing. "GRAVITY:.." He yelled swinging his arm towards the unprepared dragon slayer. "REPEL!"
The arm crashed into stone, just grazing the dragon slayer's surprised face. A crated laid in his attacks wake. Rock exploded from the ground, flying in every direction like bullets.
Jaedou wasn't holding back, his body was already coming at the dragon slayer again, hard and fast. Natsu managed to dodge, just slipping past each attack.
Lucy watched with petrifying tension. Just by the way he move, Lucy could tell Natsu was struggling. That last attack was certainly bound to cause a lot of damage at least. Lucy was simply relieved that he wasn't killed. She could tell Jaedou had made the attack to had done so. Even during the fight, Jaedou's every attack was lethal. One hit and Natsu would be killed.
Natsu leapt backwards, avoiding Jaedou's deadily attack. The dragon slayer managed to put a little more space between them. However, that didn't stop Jaedou. "GRAVITY: REVERSE!" He yelled, slamming a palm against the floor. Stray rocks began to rise in the air, floating up like in space. "GRAVITY:" There was a short second where Jaedou's eyes narrowed calculatingly on the area behind the dragon slayer. "REPEL!" Fists crashed against the stones, sending them flying like bullets. One whistled past his ear at the speed of sound. A small red line cut the tip of his air at the sharp cut of the wind.
Natsu moved on his aching feet, managing to sense out the way and gliding past the stone bullets. "Missed me." Natsu smirked.
As soon as he saw the smug smile on Jaedou's lips, his expression dropped.
"Actually, it was a bull's eye." Jaedou smiled, his eyes narrowing on the space behind him.
Dread weighed on his ribs like he was crushed under a one thouand ton buildings, as he slowly turned to look behind him.
A small, knuckle-sized stone was implanted into a small metal security pad on the far wall. Above it, he read the letters carefully. Each one was like a dagger to the gut as it slowly dawned on him. 'Start.'
The sharp screech of grinding metal periced through the air. Stones in the walls began to shift, pushing back and disapearing into a black abyss in the wall. Thin, reflective sheets popped up out of nowhere, fitting into their places. A large, circular stone carved into the ceiling rumbled as its concrete seal cracked and crumbled to the floor. It broke free of it's hold, crashing into the ground, sending a wave of stone in its rupture. Dust and grit blasted up against Natsu's face, using his arm to guard against it. As it calmed and settle, Natsu was able to make out the cool, peircing beam of light cutting through the open gourge the great boulder left. It beamed down at an angle to a reflective stone near the roof. The light travelled, bouncing off different surface around the wall until it bee lined through the center of the room, directly... at Lucy.
All his breath was suddenly knocked out of him. All his strength was sapped out of his legs, dragging him to his knees. Onyx eyes stared in disbelief, in horror, in shock at the sight of the girl, of Lucy...with a golden spear sticking out of her chest.
Big brown orbs opened wide in shock. Her small mouth hung open in a silent scream. Red, thick liquid trickled down over her skin at a constant, threatening rate.
"LUCY!" Natsu screamed, his voice bawling out his lips like a cannon ball. "LUCY!"
"N...Natsu...?" Lucy muttered softly. Uncontrollable, small tears ran down her frozen cheeks, her face cold of any emotion other than shock.
"See, dragon slayer," Jaedou said, calmly, walking the paces to Natsu's stiff body. "This is how it always ends. Lucy is mine." His voice was cold, but calm as he raised his fist with final grace.
Rock surfed out in a wave, rippling through the air as Jeadou's body was propelled forwards. A peircing ring echoed off the walls of the room. A cloud of dust rose up, cloaking the air. "So, it weren't just one fairy playin' possum." Jaedou scoffed, landing back on his feet.
"Ice make: Sheild!" A familiar voice shouted.
Natsu's eyes jumped forward. A tall, half-naked figure stood in front of him. His hands were out at arms length, his feet evenly apart. Not to mention, the massive ice shield rising up ahead. "GRAY!" Natsu exclaimed in surprise.
Cracks skated up the ice wall, shattering in into small flakes of watered glass.
A metal black blade hung at Jaedou's thick, unguarded neck. Its handler held it with steady precious, red-scarlet hair floating in the breeze. "ERZA!"
"What the hell are you standing around for flame head?" Gray growled, his face still firmly on the enemy ahead of him.
"Quickly, go. We'll handle the situation here!" Erza added, her voice direct and easy. Or so it seemed. Natsu could sense her anxiety, her anger and fustration. Not to mention Gray's.
"But- this guy is really stro-" Natsu found his voice.
"We know that!" Gray snapped, impaciently. "There are poeple more important than that!"
People? "Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed, dragging himself to his feet. He hesistated, staring back over his shoulder. Jaedou stood casually, his eyes staring at Natsu and not them.
"NATSU! GO!" Erza belted.
He didn't want to leave them behind like that. However, he knew what he had to do. Lucy had to be his top priority. Natsu nodded, breaking off into a weak sprint to the antique.
"Don't underestimate me." Jaedou growled. Like that, Jaedou was gone, his after image flickering into thin air.
"Dammit!" Era cursed, black eyes jumping everywhere. There, in the air. Jaedou's body rocketed, flying directly towards the dragon slayer. "NATSU LOOK OUT!"
He didn't need to. Another figure raced with incredible speed. It appeared next to the dragon slayer in the instant Jaedou's fist crashed against their palm, halting the attack. Long silver hair burst backwards with the force of the blow, flicking right in front of Natsu's face.
"SILVER!" Gay exclaimed from across the room.
"Don't go killing me off just yet, junior." Silver grumbled. His hazel eyes turned to Jaedou, burning with black rage. "I ain't gonna let you past,...comrade."
Jaedou let out a disgruntled sigh, breaking his fist out of Silver's palm.
Erza, Gray and Silver rounded up on Jaedou, summoning all their will to fight Jaedou, while the dragon slayer got Lucy. Natsu wasn't going to let them down.
"Junior." Silver called out, over his shoulder. "I've taken down the mirrors, but that won't stop the machine. If you unite your strength with hers, you can save her."
The dragon slayer nodded, taking off into a sprint straight towards Lucy.
"Right," Silver grumbled, cracking his knuckles. "Where were we?"
"Cute." Jaedou growled irritably.
Rocks, crators and falling shrapnel covered his path. Flecks of reflective metal crumbled to the floor underneath the shattered mirrors. Silver had demolished the mirrors to dust that littered Natsu's path. Quick nimble feet wove, twisted and jumped, travelling as fast as they could. Dark eyes locked onto his target, blasting everything out of his way. Blond hair fell over her shadowed face, hanging limply from her shoulders. A constant stream of red poured over her body, pooling into a puddle beaneath her feet. Gold rings lit with beautiful white characters in a language he didn't know, shifted and turned, glittering under the peircing light.
"LUCY!"
Natsu roared, closing in on her. A great cannon burning into a black abyss opened up in front of him. That wasn't going to stop him.
Fire coated Natsu's feet in blazing flames. Rock spat up from the ground as his feet exploded upwards. The dragon slayer sailed through the air, clearing the enormous gap with ease.
Feet hit the ground running, pushing his body even closer to the artifact, to Lucy.
"LUCE!" Natsu cried, his body leaping towards her. Lucy's weak head barely managed to lift itself up. Dull brown eyes peaked from behind the vail of blonde hair.
"N...Natsu?" Lucy grumbled faintly.
"Don't worry, Luce; I'll get you out of this." Natsu promised, his eyes frantically searching for a way to help her. He quickly unstrapped her arms, letting them fall weakly to her side. As he reached for the straps around her chest, legs and waist, he stopped; If he untied them, all her weight would fall onto the spear. It was useless, there was no way to get her off the golden spear without causing more damage. Small needles grew out of the sides digging deeper into Lucy's body. "Dammit!" Natsu hissed.
"Natsu," Lucy whispered. Big brown eyes loked at him with so much hope and innoncence it tore his heart apart.
"HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?" Natsu shouted in fustration.
"You can't stop it...not until...all my magic...is drained." Lucy breathed weakly.
Sharp teeth bit down in fustration. Despairing jet eyes watched the river of red spill over stomach.
"Lucy, I'm so sorry." Natsu cried, falling weakly to his knees. "I'm so useless. I don't know how to help you!" A fist crashed hard to the ground. Pink hair cast a shadow over his dark face.
"Natsu," Lucy breathed weakly. It hurt her so bad watching Natsu like that. He looked so defenseless, so fragile, so vulnerable. It was a side she hadn't seen, but a weakness she was always knew was within him. Natsu as he was then, was painful to see. Her heart hurt so bad, despite all the feeling in her body had long grown numb. Even the blood pouring out her chest looked animated and fake.
It had been like this before. Most of her childhood was spent with a spear through her chest, sapping the energy out of her. Except, there was something different about it this time. More and more energy was pulled out of her then it had before.
Maybe it was becuase her magic had matured and grown since then. She had definately grown from being with Fairy Tail.
Lucy's eyes gazed down on his soft pink hair rustling in the draft. The boy at her feet was the same boy she'd met that first day. But, he was also different from before. Lucy wasn't the only one to have grown.
"Natsu, it's okay," Lucy whispered, catching the slayer's attention.
"No. It's not okay Lucy!" Natsu growled back, turning up his face, brimming with fustration and. "I don't...I can't...I won't let you leave me!"
Natsu's fist crashed into the gold metal hanging besides Lucy's face. A resounding ring of metal echoed through the room. Lucy stared at him in surprise as she watched the small tears roll down his cheeks. Strength drained out of his arm, as it folded limply, pressing against the antique's gold surface. Natsu's body teetered forward, leaning on his folded arm. He came so close to hers, dropping his head softly onto her shoulder. Natsu took in a deep, shaking breath, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Lucy's eyes watched his face, her heart surprisingly steady and calm. Slowly, the dragon slayer's dark eyes flickered open.
Her breath almost sweapt out of her as she felt the burst of emotion hidden in his gaze. It was so soft, weak and open. It was like she was looking straight into his heart, seeing the conflicting emotions of sorrow, anger and fear. "Lucy, I've already lost enough people close to me," Natsu whispered. Sound of battle behind them faded out, capturing their moment between them as if there was nothing else in the world but them.
"And, I'm not ready to lose you, I never will be. We're nakama right?" More slow tears trickled down is cheek, dripping onto her skin. Despite the numbing in her body, Lucy felt the heavy weight of the emotions locked in each tear that ran over her body. "I'll get you out of here, Luce. I promise."
All her feelings of calm acceptance of her fate rushed away from her. The burning urge to live exploded across her body, coursing through her every vein. Hot burning tears poured from her eyes, racing down her face.
"Okay," Lucy choaked, fighting back the tears.
A small smile twitched the dragon slayer's lips as relief flooded over his face. His head dropped weakly onto her neck, taking a long deep breath. "Thank you,"
The urge to touch his face, to wipe away the tears down his face surfaced within her. It was a selfish wish but, she wanted to cast aside the tears that showed his weakness, and see the strong, fearless face that was Natsu's. That weak side, he will only show to her. It would be there little secret.
Suddenly, Lucy was shocked to find her own arm, lifting up. It was still numb, but it was moving as she wished. That desire summoned the strongest miracle it could. Her pale, cold fingers rested against the burning heat of the dragon slayer's face. His warmth peirced her numb shell, radiating through her fingers and across her body, making her feel safe and relieved. A shaky thumb grazed over his damp cheeks, brushing away the last falling tears. Dark onyx eyes locked with Lucy's, transfering so much emotion in just one gaze.
Next Monday; Chapter 17; United Magic
Natsu struggles to find a way to save Lucy, meanwhile Lucy discovers something a hidden message from Silver. What's the message and what does it mean?
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-A-ccentric