I know it took too long, but I hope it's worth it! Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I'm looking forward to the ones for this chapter!

Disclaimer: FT belongs to Mashima-sensei.

Beneath The Southern Cross

Chapter VII - Rose Pollen

Natsu couldn't remember being more desperate in his entire life. Sure, he had suffered a lot when Igneel disappeared, but he was just a child, and he knew it wasn't his fault. He hadn't done anything wrong, nothing that could have drove his father away from him. However, now the situation was completely another. If he was holding an unconscious Lucy on his arms while Gray drove the SE-plug car like crazy towards the guild's building, it was his fault entirely. If Gray had problems with lack of magic later, it would be his fault also.

"Are you okay, Natsu-san?" Juvia felt she needed to ask, just to guarantee he wouldn't collapse in front of her.

"No, not really." He answered.

How could he be alright? Lucy was dy-… No, he couldn't let himself think that way. Wendy would heal her. Wendy was getting stronger each day, she would definitely be able to help Lucy.

"We're almost there!" Gray announced in a tired voice, more to himself than to his nakama.

Natsu was relieved to see Fairy Tail on the distance. Lucy would be alright. Yes, she definitely would.

Three Days Earlier

"Come on, Natsu, wake up!" Lucy shook him, trying to drag him out of the train.

"Leave him there, Lucy. He is just an useless flame brain, anyway." Gray said.

"Gray-sama, you are on your boxers again." Juvia let him know, handing him a small pile of his clothes.

The Fullbuster cursed quietly while putting all his clothes back.

Lucy laughed and held Natsu by the arm, trying to support all his weight. Once out of the vehicle, gladly, the Fire Dragon Slayer snapped out of his motion sickness trance, back to his normal healthy self.

"I'm never getting back on a train." He stated, with a determinate face. Lucy wondered if he had any notion of how many times he had already said that. "Where do we go now?"

"According to the flyer, our client lives out of town. We'll have to rent a car, or something." Lucy informed, while reading the yellow flyer one more time.

"No, I refuse." Natsu said.

"Your opinion doesn't count, flame brain. We are renting the car."

"If my opinion doesn't count, why does yours, popsicle?"

"Shut up, you two." Lucy ended the argument, making such a scary face, the boys thought she was actually Erza in a blond wig.

Satisfied with the silence of the boys, Lucy started to walk, looking around for a place where they could rent one of the SE-plugs cars. The place wasn't hard to spot, and the owner – a gentle old man – informed them their client had already paid for the rent.

"Really? That's unexpected." The Heartfilia said.

"Hrothgar-san is a very nice person, as you will find out. His house is that one, on the top of the hill, can you see?"

Lucy nodded and thanked the old man. Gray took the driver sit, with Juvia right next to him. Natsu began to moan way before the car actually began to move, and thankfully it took them only twenty five minutes to reach the nice-looking house.

Their client, Hrothgar, lived on a wooden chalet with nature surrounding it completely. It was a recluse place, though.

"I'm glad you have arrived." He said to the four mages as he opened the door.

Hrothgar was a man on his mid-forties, his hair and beard were half blond, half grey. He was tall and quite muscled. His eyes were of a sharp blue. Lucy couldn't help but think that was how Laxus would look like when he reached the man's age.

"We thank you for the car." Gray said in behalf of the four.

The man only nodded.

"It's was no trouble. When do you think you be able to go and retrieve my object?"

According to the job's request, Hrothgar reported that some independent mages had stolen a chest of his possessions, and refused to return it. The job, therefore, consisted on invading the mages hide-out and retrieve said chest.

"Right away." Natsu answered his question.

"Good."

The man provided them a nice meal and they headed for the place where the town's people believed the mages were hiding – the ruins of an old fort even more distant of the town's core as Hrothgar's chalet. It was easy to find the place, especially with the help of the car. The four took turns on the SE-plug in order to preserve their magic power.

They stopped within a safe distance and decided to camp. The sun was already going down and it would be pointless to enter the fort with no natural light to help them inside. Natsu insisted his fire could show the way, but Lucy wouldn't hear of it. A fight would be five times more difficult in a dark environment.

On the next morning, however, they woke up before the sun was out in the sky. As quietly as it was possible, they entered the ruins, with Natsu guiding them towards the humans' smells.

"Juvia doesn't have a good impression of this place." The Water mage said, while they slowly descended the main stairs.

"I agree with you, Juvia." Lucy said, shivering. It was too cold and too wet. However, that town was known for its abnormal dry weather. They only saw rain for two or three months in the entire year. How come, then, those stoned walls were so green with mould?

"Can't you absorb a bit of the humidity, Juvia?" Gray was the one to ask.

"Juvia naturally does that, Gray-sama."

Natsu sighed.

"I can burn down the walls if it's bothering you so much."

"Don't you dare, Natsu!" Lucy hissed.

They tried to keep it low for the rest of the way, however, the more they went down, stickier seemed the air.

"Some of the rogue mages must have an ability to manipulate humidity." Lucy said.

"If it's so, Juvia can handle it."

"Or I can burn the mage."

Lucy smiled. The simplicity with which Natsu faced life was just contagious.

The fight begun as soon as they reached the end of what seemed an endless stair. There were three rogue mages hiding below, guarding the big chest with true adoration, since it was filled with gold and jewels. Juvia was quick to find the responsible for the humidity, since he had a green appearance himself. He seemed young, but was thin in a sick level, with a transparent skin, green hair, green eyes and green spots here and there.

"Mould, take good care of the pretty girl." One of the other mages said.

Juvia almost laughed. His name was "mould"? What a lack of imagination.

Natsu immediately jumped to the guy who seemed like the boss, sensing that he was the strongest of the three. Lucy and Gray were left, then, with the only woman on the team. She had a long black hair and her eyes were of a disturbingly tone of purple. On her neck vines were tattooed, ending on a red rose tattooed on her left cheek. Lucy couldn't help but notice how beautiful the woman was, however, she had a bad feeling about the stranger. Maybe Natsu took it wrong. Maybe she was the strongest of the three.

She first attacked Gray. Bringing the tattoos on her neck to life, they left her neck and gained several thorns. He tried to freeze the vine, but it came towards him quicker than he could use his ice magic. Having him distracted, the woman rushed towards Lucy, with a naughty smile pasted on her face.

"Now, we don't you using your magic around, do we?" her voice was incredibly melodic, and Lucy had the impression she could get whatever she wanted just by asking with that tone.

Lucy immediately reached for her keys.

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Loki!"

However, as soon as the golden portal that would bring Loki to the Earthland opened, the woman glued her lips to Lucy's, blowing air to her lungs. The light of the portal immediately disappeared.

"Lucy!" Gray shouted as she fell unconscious into the ground.

The woman licked her lips.

"She was tasty."

Gray's eyes narrowed in fury, and he attacked with all he had. By this time, Juvia had already defeated the guy named Mould, and came to aid her love.

The two Fairy Tail's mages fought with all their strengths, until the woman was also unconscious, covered in her own blood. She could still breathe, but she wouldn't bother than again.

"Why didn't she try the same she did with Lucy with us?" Gray mused, his eyebrows close together.

"Maybe she could do this once in one day." Juvia tried to reason, even though she knew her thought couldn't really explain anything.

Shrugging, Gray let the thought go and rushed towards Lucy. Her body was colder than his.

"Natsu!" he called.

The Fire mage gave one last punch on his enemy and ran towards his three nakama.

"What happened to her?" he asked, concerned.

But when he touched her, his face went white.

"She is too cold."

"That woman did something to her." Gray said with anger.

To the sound of his words, said woman begun to laugh. At the beginning was just a chuckle, but the sound grew in volume bit by bit.

Natsu, however, was too angry to have that.

"What have you done to her?" he demanded to know, his eyes red with fury.

"The pollen of my rose is now inside of her. It will suck away all her vitality until she is left with nothing."

"Take it out." Natsu said in a low menacing tone.

"That's the beauty of it, sweetheart. There is nothing I can do. Once it's placed inside, it can never come out."

"I don't believe you." He said, raising her by her collar with one hand burning with his Dragon fire.

"You should. I don't lie, you know. Lying is just futile."

He just threw her in the ground once again and growled in frustration.

"Come on." Gray approached him, with Lucy in his arms. "Take the damned chest and let's go.

Natsu did how Gray told him to, and climbed the stairs jumping three steps at a time.

"Will you be able to heal her, Wendy?" Gray asked, since Natsu was too nervous to even say anything.

The little girl, seeming awfully tired looked at the Fullbuster, with tears glittering on her eyes.

"I don't know, Gray-san. For what you told me, we must remove the pollen from her system, but I just can't! It seems to be glued on her organs!"

"Wendy…" Natsu whispered, getting closer to her. The look on his face broke her heart. Natsu Dragneel was crying. "Please, save her."

"I'm doing my best, Natsu-san!" she said, filled with motivation.

However, hours have passed and Wendy's magic power was fading.

"There is nothing more I can do." She said, crying. "I tried everything, but-"

"It's not your fault, Wendy." Gray assured her.

It didn't help to stop her tears, though.

"I found a way!" Levy suddenly came, holding an enormous book on her hands and Gajeel following her closely.

"Really?" Natsu almost jumped on the bluenette.

"Yes!"

"And what is it?"

"A Dragon's mark."

All happiness faded away from Natsu's face.

"But, Levy…"

"Yes, Natsu, but it's the only way. The power of a Dragon will cleanse her insides, eliminating the pollen from her organs."

Seeing Natsu hesitate, Gray got even more pissed.

"Just do it already, flame brain!" he shouted.

"But if I do…"

"You'll be forever linked as mates." Gajeel was the one to complete.

"She'll never forgive me. She loves Sting." It was hard for Natsu to admit, but the truth couldn't be denied.

"Then, someone call Sting-san!" Juvia said.

"We don't have time, Ju-chan." Levy said. "Natsu, you'll have to do it now. Or Lu-chan will die."

He couldn't hesitate, could he? He would deal with her rage after. She would deal with Sting's rage after. However, he just couldn't let her die. Approaching the bed where she rested, Natsu removed the hair on her neck and, slowly, brought her mouth to her skin.

Concentrating his power, he bit her.