Shadows Chapter 17: United Power, a fairy tail fanfic

Shadows
Chapter 17; United Power

A loud crash behind them startled them both, breaking their longing gaze. Natsu's body reacted instantly, whipping around for the source. Big brown eyes stared into the distance after his. Unfortunately, all she could see was moving, hazey blurs. The toll of the artifact and blood loss was pulling her senses slowly from her. Yet, Natsu's face filled with worry and seriousness and hope, was as sharp as a diamond. Lucy's eyes followed the soft curves of his gentle features, following down his neck and shoulders. Even the little black line on the back of Natsu's neck was as clear as black crystals. What? A black line? It looked like a small tattoo inked into his skin. The only thing was, Natsu didn't have any tattoo.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, making the dragon slayer jump. There was something inside of her growing at a enormous rates, making butterflies flutter in her cool stomach. It also made her feel sick in the back of her throat.

Instantly, Natsu whirled round to her, poised for an attack. When he saw Lucy's face, his expression softened to a cruious bafflement. "Natsu, turn around!" Lucy commanded.

"W- What? Why-" Natsu bickered in surprise and confusion.

"Just show me the back of your neck!" Lucy demanded sharply. Brown eyes burned with intense intregue and excitement as Natsu cautiously turned around. The dragon slayer losened his scarf, revealling the rest of the covered up mark.

It was a jet black circle with what looked like a smoothly curved fork through the middle. The three spokes sliced through the center of the circle, and the connotated handle of the fork reaching a little higher up his neck, almost touching his hair line. But Lucy wouldn't fall for such a measly trick. She put her clear short-sight to work. As she stared hard at the tattoo, the soft silver lines engraved in the back of the dragon slayers skin became visable. It was a magic circle. And in the middle was the shape of nothing else than a silver fox. But when did he-? From when Natsu fell into the trap! Silver had been the one to catch the dragon slayer, and by the fabric at the back of his neck. It would have been simple to place a circle there while everyone was distracted.

What was it? What did the circle do? "Natsu, did Silver say anything to you?" Lucy urged as Natsu turned back to face her. By his lack of expression, Lucy knew he was trying to catch up with her speed of thought, but was miserably stumbling behind. Sadly, there was no time to explain.

"Yeah, something about uniting strengths to save you." Natsu reported.

So that's what it was. She understood. She knew what the cirlce did. A small smile tweaked on her lips. Lucy closed her heavy eyes, releasing a deep sigh. Using whatever strength she had, she channeled them into her arms. "I sure hope Silver knows what he's doing." She sighed again. When her eyes opened, the focused wholey on the pink-haired dragon slayer.

"Luce, what's go-" Natsu began.

Before he could finish, Lucy's arms thrusted out to him, her hands grabbed a fist full of the dragon slayer's scarf and pulled. Natsu's body stumbled forward, his face falling near Lucy's face. He went to yell in surprise, but he was cut off before he could make a sound. A pair of soft, gentle lips pressed against his, as Lucy's fingers slipped around his neck.

Overwhelming emotions he hadn't even known were there burst up from inside of him. They rushed through his body like a giant wave with longing, warmth and something else. Something far more amazing, rising from somewhere in the depth of his heart. Natsu couldn't control his body anymore. His arms fell limply to his side, bubbling with a weird fuzzy feeling. His mind blanked. All he could hear, smell, feel, was Lucy.

Suddenly, a second force slammed into his body like a tsunami, bursting into him so strong, his soul was almost ripped free of his body. It was incredible. It was beautiful and exciting rushing in through his veins. It felt alive, special and warm. There was something so complete about it, it felt like it was the purest of any kind of magic.

A white blinding light burst from his body. The feeling slipped into every inch of his body, filling it with so much strength it was like he could crush the world. It was so much unimaginable power. He had never felt like it before. The energy was overflowing from him. It was like it was trying to fill up a bottle too small for its contents. It felt so magical...Magical? Natsu felt a strange sense of familiarity that reminded him weakly of Lucy.

It was Lucy's magic. Natsu felt it pouring in from her touch, crashing into the back of his neck and radiating through his body. So that's what Lucy's magic was like. Strong, beautiful, amazing. Natsu wouldn't have pictured it any other way. Natsu, wrapped in pure ecstacy, hear a soft voice whispering to him. One that sounded like Lucy's. Natsu listened intensly, focusing on her words, letting them slowly sink into his mind.

It all came to a stop when Lucy's limp arms slipped from his neck. Her lips still pushed against him, willing her magic into him. So much magic being lost was making her weak. Natsu took a step back, breaking the kiss, despite his desire to let it linger. Lucy made a weak moan of protest, her drowsey eyes beginning him to come back, but her voice unwilling to act for it. Natsu still felt the overwhelming strength of his body, staggering on his feet as he tried to control it. He only just managed to keep it inside of him with effort. It felt like he could burst any second, buzzing with so much excited energy.

He was faintly aware of the shouts and angered yells from behind him, and the intense battling. But he wasn't too focused. His dark eyes was more interested in the artifact.

The artifact's white-glowing characters faded like a dying flame. It rummbled slightly, coming to a stop. The spear peircing Lucy's chest, folded in it's fish hood needles and pulled out through her back, making her gasp in pain.

Natsu acted instantly moving to reach her. His body was by her side in a flash. He just thought to be beside her and he appeared right there. He had moved so fast even his eyes and mind couldn't process it. Natsu didn't care, he moved his hands with steady speed, unstrapping her body and lifting her from the golden artifact. Her weak body fell limply into his arms.

Natsu urged his body to slow down, trying to move at a snail's pace, but that was still the speed of a normal person's run. Carefully, the dragon slayer crouched down to his knees, slowly laying her down against the back of an upturned slab of concrete. Her shirt was still stained with ruby red ink. The bleeding had stopped, and the dragon slayer brushed a hand down to side of her cheek, stroking away a stray blonde strand behind her ear. "I got it, Luce." Natsu promised, giving her a warm gentle smile.

As Natsu rose from his knees, his body slowly turned in the opposite direction. Sandaled feet carried him slowly across the room. Silver, Gray and Erza panted with deep heavy breaths, clearly exhausted. They had been pushed to their limits fighting Jaedou, who looked only faintly tired. Jaedou's expression looked absolutely furious, staring at the dragon slayer, closing the distance between them, the artifact and Lucy's distant body. "YOU!" Jaedou hissed. "What have you done?!"

Silver let out a small chuckle behind him, catching Jaedou's attention. "Didn't have much confidence in you, Junior. But, I figured Lucy would catch on."

"Of course it was you, you and your little dirty tricks Silver!" Jaedou snapped, barking at the weak Silver haired man. Jaedou's body flickered away in a second, rushing straight towards the unsuspecting Silver. There wasn't enough time for him to block the attack as it was sent shooting through the air like a knife.

"SILVER!" Gray and Erza shouted in surprise. There still wasn't enough time for any of them to get there. That attack would finish of the man for good. Jaedou's fist broke the air, crashing straight for Silver's face.

Suddenly, Jaeodu's body was blown backwards, rolling across the ground. "What the-" Silver groaned, looking up. His eyes set on the air in front of him. The air rippled like a water's surface, distorting the shapes of the distance ahead of him. It had a faint white glow. The white air sheilded ahead of him. Where Jaedou's fist had collied, a faint white magical circle was fading from the air. At the same time, the sheild rippled and began to disperse.

Jaedou growled in fustration, picking himself up to his feet.

"I can't have you hurting my friends." A low, harsh voice growled a few feet behind the fallen criminal. Jaedou spun on his heels, turning to the source of the voice. Natsu stood quite a distance away from him. Pink hair fell over his face, shadowing his dark eyes. Between them, the big black void of a crator opened up at the edges of their feet, seperating them by a wide distance.

"Dragon Slayer." Jaedou hissed, his eyes narrowing with irate anger on the boy. "That was you. Hmph. Ya' seem to have taken somethin' that don't belong to ya'." His sarcastic, sharp voice form before rose back into his voice, as his face looked down on the dragon slayer.

"Hah." Natsu chuckled with a rebellious smile, slowly lifting his head. As the shadow over his eyes drew back, a crystal white light glowed through. Jaedou hissed with fustration, as Gray and Erza let out startled gasps. "It wasn't yours to begin with." Natsu offered a grin, looking at the man with pure white rebellious eyes.

"HOW DARE YO-" Jaedou roared, but Natsu cut in instantly.

"I made a promise to Lucy." Natsu spoke with a calm, patient tone. Jaedou's angered face relaxed as he let out a small, sharp laugh.

"A promise?" Jaedou mocked. "And what promise would that be?"

"I will..." Natsu recited, thinking back to Lucy's soft voice echoing in her mind. "protect my friends, and defeat you."

"Oh you will, will you?" Jaedou's mocking tone dropped back into a cold, dark growl. "I'll have to kill you first dragon slayer... and then I'll kill her." Jaedou crouched down like lightening, about to break into a leap.

A heavy, sharp blow caught his chest as a fist slammed into him. Natsu was already there. The dragon slayer had moved at light speed without even a sound. Jaedou choked, coughing up a mouthful of blood. As time caught up to his body, the man was sent at sound-breaking speed into the far wall, bursting through several feet of concrete into the following room.

"Natsu!" Erza gasped in shock. Beautiful, white lines snaked down over his body, wrapping him in ivory tattoos.

"Aha, hey guys." Natsu smiled, offering his care-free grin.

"What the happened to you, Natsu?" Erza marched over, as Gray stood staring at his smile in profound shock. Obviously suprised at how he could be smiling after something like that had happened.

"Aha, well-" Natsu, chuckled.

"Stop laughing!" Gray snapped, coming back to life. He marched straight towards the dragon slayer, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him violently. "What the hell happened? All of a sudden we see this bright light, and then that guy goes bezerk and you got these white tattoos and move so fast we can't keep track of you!"

"Natsu's body is now full of Lucy's magic." Silver interupted, moving over so casually it was like he wasn't even even hurt. Although his body was beaten, cut and bruises, as a sign of what actually happened.

"Lucy's magic?" Gray repeated, with confusion written all over his face. Silver gave him a gentle, soft expression.

"This," Silver pulled free the dragon slayer out of Gray's hands, holding him by the collar so his feet couldn't touch the floor. The silver fox twisted him in his grip, showing the back of his neck to the reequip and ice mage. A glowing silver circle stamped the back of his neck. The lines of the tattoos curling around his body all seemed to be pin pointed from there, reaching over his body like vines. "It took Lucy's magic and gave it to Natsu."

"I've never heard of anything like it!" Erza exclaimed examining it. Silver opened his mouth to speak again, but a sudden explosion of rocks cut him off.

Jaedou burst through a whole in the wall. His face was on fire with blind rage. His hands clenched so tightly into fists by his sides, his palms bled where his nails dug in.

Natsu's face became serious again, his eyes falling onto the man. "We'll have to leave the explination for later, for now, catch this." Natsu called over his shoulder, facing towards Jaedou. A small blue gem locked in entwined silver traveled through the air. Issac effortlessly snatched it out of the air.

As soon as he touched the silver chain, he felt a heavy pulse radiate down his arm. Pale grey eyes narrowed on the little locket, noticing the faint buzz coursing over his fingertips.

"What's that?" Gray husseled over, his eyes running over the small necklace in Silver's big paw.

"Something of Lucy's, I presume." Silver muttered, rubbing the chain between his fingers. After a second of thought, he turned back to the dragon slayer, slowly crouching lower to the ground. "What's your order, Junior?" He called, his eyes sharpening onto the dragon slayer's rigid, silver coated back, shown through the fractions of bare skin.

"This place is going to collapse. Get Lucy, and Happy out. And then yourselves." Natsu called back over his shoulder, onyx eyes dead ahead. Jaedou a couple meters ahead of him was lowering into his own battle stance with a ravenous lust for blood written across his face.

"And you?" Gray growled, feeling a horrible sense of dread at the pit of his stomach. Natsu was an idiot after all.

"You're not worried are you, twinkle toes?" Natsu's voice called back with mocking intent. Gray couldn't help but respond, instantly irritated.

"Like hell I am, matchstick." Gray replied reflectively.

"Then it's fine." Natsu's voice softened to an almost gentle tone; rare for such a noisey person. There was almost a sadness filling the air between them. Gray, deep down inside, wished Natsu wouldn't do anything stupid. But the overall fact was, that Natsu was an idiot. Gray just hoped he wouldn't act like one. Not right then.

"Then we're going." Erza commanded, turning and walking away. Gray and Silver both turned to see the red head walk away. At the same time, a burst of air rushed behind them, pushing them forward a step to gain balance. As both boys turned back, they saw an empty space, and another hole cracked into the wall. He was gone.

"Shall we?" Silver sighed, turning back to the two. He lifted up his hand, letting the gem of the necklace swing from his grasp.

"What do you mean?" Erza inquired, examining the necklace supiciously. Silver let out a groan, pitching the necklace at Gray who caught it easily. Gray almost dropped it in surprise. A strange pulse beat inside the necklace like a heart, sending waves of vibrations into his body.

"What is it Gray?" Erza moved forward, catching the shocked ice mage by the gaze.

"The necklace, it's like it's...it's...err." Gray struggled for words, staring dubiously at the necklace. Silver found himself groaning and sighing constantly with the company he was in. Army boots marched over to Gray, catching his fist in his. "HEY!" Gray yeld in surprise. "WHAT ARE YO-"

White line poured through their fingers as white lines began to whirl and slither across their arms and skin. Issac whipped out an arm, catching and dragging Erza's gauntlet to fit ontop of theirs. Erza, unlike Gray, was too dumbfounded to struggle when Silver caught her. The ice mage's dark eyes blankly stared at the white lines trasing across his skin. They crawled highed and higher up his arm, spilling over his neck and down his body.

A few moments later, there wasn't even an inch of his body covered in the viens of ashen light on his skin. There was a weightless, living feeling to the light coarsing through his body inside and out. It was inexplicably beautiful. "This...It's Lucy's magic isn't it?" Erza notioned, examining her own tattoos with slight marval.

"Yes, but, as junior said, there's no time to explain, this building will come down any moment." As soon as Silver said it, a large tremour shook the ground. Stone in the cieling and walls shifted loose and began to fall and collapse from the ceiling. Huge chunks of rocks were falling and crashing into the stone, crushing the ground beneath it. "And junior's fighting that guy aswell. He'll be alright so let's do as he asked, and get Lucy and your cat out before we're all crushed."

There was no time for anymore words, they all burst with impossible speed, darting in and out of falling boulders.