Hey guys. Sorry about the wait but I spent the last month in Australia on a filming project with a bunch of Tasmanian Devils so I didn't exactly get a lot of chances for writing. But I am back now and aim to continue with what will hopefully be a decent pace.
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 30:- Instincts
The speed with which the Dragon Slayers worked was staggering, charging pell-mell from one cavern to another and shattering anything that got in their way, up to and including an entire rock wall at one point rather than take the long way round to the entrance of the cavern. Bill and Fleur were almost hard pressed to keep up even while being carried by the Exceed. Though this might have partly been due to the fact that they were dropping Goblins whenever one showed up with a well-placed Stunner. They never saw the attack coming - after all they were too focused on the far more noticeable Dragon Slayers.
Of the six Dragons, two of them were Common Welsh Greens. And other than the Antipodean Opaleye that was the first to have her chains shattered there was also a Hebridean Black, a Portuguese Long-Snout and a white Ukrainian Ironbelly, which was the last to be visited and Gajeel instantly turned it loose with a swift double strike of his Iron Dragon Swords.
Stepping back, all three mages watched with wide smirks and folded arms as the Ironbelly spread its wings so rapidly that it shook rubble loose from the walls on either side of it with the shockwave of its wingbeat. It ploughed forwards like a runaway train, shooting straight past the humans and rounding a corner at such speed that it had to kick the wall and rebound off it just to avoid crashing straight into it.
"That's the last of them!" Bill said as Happy carried him after it, swinging around the curve to watch the Ironbelly join the race to the surface. Half a dozen Goblins ran forward, holding what appeared to be pikes and aiming the viciously hooked blades right for the Ironbelly's outstretched wings, but the Dragon threw itself right over the top of them, its tail swinging down and clouting them aside like they were nothing.
It almost collided with the second Welsh Green, which had been a little slower in its escape than the others as it had been here longest and was the most heavily scarred. The two Dragons twisted around each other in mid-air, snarling at each other momentarily as their wings thrummed like giant sails. But in the end they simply crashed down on different rock walls and ignored each other, scrambling their way up to the surface like oversized bats. Further up ahead, the Long-Snout was clambering up one of the cart tracks, which didn't seem able to support its weight as they bent and snapped beneath it, but it thundered on regardless of its mis-steps.
"Well, you did it. They're free!" Bill marvelled.
"Yes, but I zink you should get up zere and make sure you can keep zem from damaging ze city!" Fleur pointed out urgently. "Who can say what zey will do if zey breach ze surface!"
"I don't think we need to worry much," Wendy said. "Those dragons only have one thing on their minds now - getting as far away from here as physically possible as fast as they can."
"Given what we've seen I don't blame them," Charla sniffed. "The cruelty of humans really can know no limits."
"Well whatever the case, we've done our job. We should get out of here," Bill said.
"Yes… indeed you should," said a familiar voice that made Bill's blood freeze slightly. He whipped his head around to behold a broomstick that looked riderless at first glance, but on second glance was revealed to be ridden by a Disillusioned woman. One that Bill had been able to recognise from voice alone.
"Mum!" he cried. "What are… what are you doing here?"
"I could say the same of you, Bill! What were you thinking, helping them in this mad scheme to free the dragons? I might have expected that from Charlie but I thought you would have known better! They could have roasted you alive, any one of them!"
"Perhaps we should save the lectures for after we make our escape," Charlie himself suggested as he flew over, Lisanna and Juvia right behind him. "There are more Goblins on the way, and the Aurors are being held back at the surface by the others as we speak!"
"It's a long way back up and the tracks are broken," Molly agreed. "How are we planning to get everyone else back up there past the Goblins?"
"We'll blast our way out!" Natsu cried instantly. "We'll go through them no matter the number!"
"Our best option now is to fly. Hopefully we'll come under less Goblin fire as they'll be focusing on the dragons," Bill nodded, as Happy and Charla set him and Fleur down on the cavern floor.
"Salamander and I will take point!" Gajeel pounded his chest. "We'll make sure those dragons behave themselves and you guys can come up after us when they're no longer dangerous. White cat, you're my transportation now! Let's go!"
"Hey! You're not my partner. I'm carrying Wendy!" Charla snapped.
"You called her transportation!" Natsu staggered away from Gajeel in momentary horror. "You heartless bastard!"
"It's okay, Charla. You take Gajeel. I can carry Wendy," Lisanna offered as she landed beside the bluenette. "Gajeel might be a bit heavy for my hollow-boned bird forms to carry but Wendy's light enough."
"I almost feel sad about that," Wendy sighed, before nodding. "Take Gajeel-san, Charla. I'll be fine."
Charla hesitated but only for a moment. She then nodded and seized the back of Gajeel's shirt as Happy took hold of Natsu's, the two Exceed blasting upwards with a burst of their Aera, closing in on the Welsh Green that was bringing up the rear. Goblin spears flew in towards its flank but Gajeel cleaved them aside with a kick of his Iron Dragon's Club, while Natsu shot straight up past the Green and fired a Breath attack that swept across a ledge filled with Goblins that were preparing their arrows to aim at the Ironbelly, which threw itself forward like it was trying to claw its way to the gates of heaven.
"Zey are truly fearsome," Fleur marvelled as she watched.
"In the end, Juvia didn't have to do anything down here," the Water Mage in question folded her arms and pouted. "Which means Juvia could have stayed at the surface with Gray-sama like she wanted."
"Well, maybe next time," Charlie patted her shoulder as Bill mounted the broom behind his brother.
"Ready to go, Wendy?" Lisanna morphed fully into a bird and presented her back to the petit girl, ready for her to climb.
"Thanks, Lisanna," Wendy said. But, right as she was about to clamber aboard, she paused… frowned… and inhaled deeply, taking in a deep whiff of air from around the caverns. "Wait!" she gasped. "There's another one!"
"Huh?" Bill looked around sharply. "Another one? You mean another Dragon?"
"Yes. I can smell him," Wendy nodded fervently. "There aren't six Dragons down here… there are seven!" She twisted her head about, nostrils twitching as she tracked the scent. "This way!" she jabbed her finger off into the distance and dashed off in the same direction, re-enchanting herself so she all but flew off in the direction of the final Dragon. The others swung after her, but Bill's face was creased into a frown of confusion.
"This doesn't add up," he said. "I was told only last year that there were only six dragons in Gringotts… unless… they weren't lying… wait! Wendy, stop! Don't do it!"
But Wendy was already out of earshot, the little girl's eyes locking onto a thick lattice of iron bars up ahead that stretched across a gap in the rock from floor to ceiling, wall to wall in a gigantic iron-wrought cage. But the bars were wide, obviously designed to let small people like Goblins through without having to open up a large dragon-sized door. Wendy quickly ducked between the bars and pulled to a halt, finding herself facing a humungous Dragon - easily the biggest one she'd seen in this world so far. Somehow it seemed an even darker black than a Hebridean, and it was lying curled into a ball with its wings folded over its head and tail.
This one only had two chains, both of which stretched in from the rock walls at either side of the cage and disappeared beneath its wing, making Wendy suspect that they were attached to its neck and tail. And it appeared to be sleeping… which puzzled Wendy at first because surely the loud roars of the other dragons breaking free would have woken it up, but then she guessed that it had probably been drugged or something. Grimacing in anger, she hurried forwards and cried, "ARMS! DOUBLE BOOST! TENRYUU NO… YOKUGEKI!"
Splaying her arms out, she sent a gigantic blast of wind at max power shooting out towards the chains. Normal wind would never have been able to fracture metal in this way, but Wendy's wind was that of a Sky Dragon and the chain links broke into dozens of pieces. Wendy quickly hurried over to the dragon's side and placed her hands against it, pooling her magic into its body to counter the effects of the drugs.
"It's okay," she said. "You're free now!"
"WENDY!" Bill yelled urgently as the others finally caught up, pulling to a halt on the other side of the cage door. "STOP! DON'T WAKE THAT ONE UP!"
But it was too late. The Dragon lurched and as Wendy stepped back its reptilian head snapped up like a jack-in-the-box, fire seeping from between its teeth as it clambered to its feet and swung its body around, almost trampling Wendy where she stood. She jumped backwards, landing awkwardly on her backside and staring up at the Dragon as it loomed over her, glaring down at her. Yes, glaring. For this one still had its eyes intact… and now Wendy got a good look at it, this one was considerably less scarred than the others… and it wasn't guarding anything.
It hit Wendy in an instant. This Dragon must be a very recent acquisition, taken out of the wild by the Goblins maybe a couple of months or so ago. One that they had not yet managed to break into a half-tamed and pitiful creature like the others. One that had not yet gotten used to its imprisonment… and was royally pissed about it! And with a loud clinking it sloughed off the chains binding its tail, whipping it into sight and revealing it to be covered in row upon row of spear-like spikes.
"A Hungarian Horntail!" Charlie cried. "Why is it always a Horntail?"
"Wendy, get away!" Lisanna yelled a fraction of a second before the Horntail let rip, twin gouts of fire spitting from its blunt maw and merging together in a massive torrent of flame that washed through half the cage.
Wendy threw up her arms in a vain attempt to shield herself, but thankfully Molly Weasley was on the ball. On seeing a child in danger she reacted immediately, pointing her wand and screaming, "Accio Wendy!" Wendy was instantly yanked backwards through the air as if she'd been grabbed by a large hook, narrowly avoiding being toasted by the dragon's flames as she sailed through the bars and Molly caught her in her arms.
"Are you okay?" she asked quickly.
"Yes… I'm fine… thank you!" Wendy smiled gratefully, but the moment was instantly shattered as the Dragon thundered forwards like a freighter.
"SCATTER!" Charlie cried, and everyone leapt in different directions as the Horntail hammered into the bars with enough force to cause a small earthquake, its momentum tearing through the metal, bending some bars almost in half and ripping others out of their moorings so they clattered to the floor around it. It snapped its head around and spat another tongue of flame right at the broom that was carrying Molly, Fleur and Wendy.
Wendy hastily flung up a wall of wind that dispersed the attack somewhat but some of it still got through and only a mad roll to the side saved them, and it still set the bristles of the broom alight. Fleur was quick to put it out with a spurt of water from her wand, but the Horntail had already switched targets and locked onto Lisanna, diving forwards and slamming its huge foot down in the hopes of crushing her. Lisanna dove backwards, morphing her arms into bird wings to propel herself back, the claw lashing down inches from her face, and she quickly kicked off from the wall and shot between the dragon's legs to evade it. But again the Horntail had already swung around and sprang into the air in pursuit of Bill and Charlie, rapidly gaining on them and lashing out with its tail like the world's most deadly bullwhip.
If it hadn't been for Charlie's past skills as a Gryffindor Seeker, they might have been done for, but he managed to flip them upside-down and barrel-roll out of the way, but the backlash from the strike sent them veering out of control. Charlie fought for control as Bill clung on, stumbling to a crash landing and both falling over as the Horntail slammed to the ground and spun around with a speed that belied its massive frame. The brothers tried to jump back onto the broom but the Horntail's fire gushed in towards them like a weaponised inferno.
"WATER NEBULA!"
Just as the lives of the brothers were flashing before their eyes, Juvia swung in front of them, a liquidised rocket that swung her hands around and sent a massive, twisting helix of water to intercept the flame, the two attacks colliding head-on in a terrific burst of steam that enveloped both combatants, surprising the dragon enough for it to relinquish its attack. Juvia's powered through to clout it across the face, drenching its scales and washing out its eyes. It shook its head violently, snarled and thundered into the steam, using its sense of smell to find Juvia and chomp down on her.
Juvia dodged sideways, not willing to risk her water body being accidentally ingested, and summoned a Water Cane to smack the dragon across the face twice with it. Her attacks were powerful but the scales of the dragon were tough and it easily withstood it, wheeling around to follow her with tail lashing, as Charlie and Bill quickly got out of the way.
"Looks like Juvia's got it distracted," Bill said as they landed nearby, Molly's broom and Lisanna soaring in to land beside them. "For now."
"That was too close!" Molly cried, throwing her arms around her sons without even getting off her broom. "When we get back, you two aren't leaving the house for a month!"
"Ack…" Charlie cried as he pulled his neck free of his mother's arm and said, "Wendy, can't you do something? Use your Dragon Slayer magic on it."
"But that might hurt it," Wendy protested. "If I damaged his wings, how would we get him out of here?"
Fleur supplied the question on everyone's mind. "Well zen, what do we do?"
A Goblin screeched in terror as the mighty paws of a Sphinx descended upon him, the leering face of Sobekneferu hovering above him with a slightly zealous gleam in her eyes.
"You know," she purred. "I've always wondered what Goblin tasted like. Especially those fleshy noses of yours… definitely got some good meat on that. Care to let me partake?"
"No eating!" Pantherlily shouted at her even as he spun his ginormous blade around to sweep it through the rocks above the opening of a tunnel, rubble tumbling down to block off the swarm of Goblins trying to approach down it.
"Aah, you're no fun," the Sphinx grunted as she swung a paw and batted the goblin aside, slamming it headfirst into a wall and knocking it out. A loud screech from nearby alerted her that another of her kind had been stabbed in the flank with a pair of spears from a further two guards, but even as she twisted around to snarl in defiance and prepare to swing, three more Sphinxes came barrelling in to beat them aside with mighty sweeps of their claws. Thus far, Lily had cut the chains off nine of the ten Sphinxes and the whole group was now thundering their way through the caverns to the final one.
Had Lily been alone he would have succumbed to countless Goblin traps at this point but the Sphinxes seemed to have some kind of sixth sense that allowed them to detect where they were, steering Lily around them as they hurried from one captive to the next. Lily reasoned it must be some sort of internal magic they possessed. No wonder they made such good guardians - if the Goblins had treated these ladies properly then they might have led a decent life down here.
"This way," Sobekneferu burst down another tunnel, Lily landing behind her and dispelling his wings to charge in behind her, followed by the rest of the Sphinxes like a feline freight train. Sobekneferu powered through four more Goblins and there, ahead, they saw the final Sphinx. Evidently the Goblins had managed to send word of the revolt ahead, because this particular one had been muzzled and had chains cruelly attached to all four paws and neck, over a dozen Goblins working as a team in an attempt to drag her away.
"Oh, no you don't!" Lily cried and leapt into the air, his sword growing to almost one hundred feet in length and slashing down without its wielder having to move forward. The blade cleaved through the chains holding the Sphinx on its left side, including the neck chain and the Sphinx instantly took matters into her own hands, smacking two Goblins flying with her paw while Sobekneferu and two others fell on the rest of the group like a ton of bricks. Lily burst his way forward and grabbed the muzzle of the final Sphinx, tearing the metal device away with a burst of muscle power and crushing it to a pulp in the middle of his fist.
Sobekneferu looked around and nodded with satisfaction. "Yes," she said. "We're all here now. Let's break our way out of here."
"Hold up," Lily turned to face her sternly. "What do you intend to do when you get out of here? There's an entire city of Muggles above."
"And?" another of the Sphinxes raised her brow. "Just another barrier to get through."
"Woe betide any of them that tries to get in our way," another agreed.
"No! I'm sorry but I cannot let you rampage across this city. That is out of the question," Lily responded severely. "Besides, the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic is in this city. You go out there and it'll be only a matter of time before you're recaptured."
"Then what does the big, strong tomcat suggest?" Sobekneferu cocked her head, purring and lifting her paw, curling the toes as if she were a fully human woman flirtatiously imitating a cat. "We have to get back to Egypt somehow."
Lily grunted and ignored the action, wracking his brain for a solution… but before he could organise his thoughts a deafening roar washed over the group. All the Sphinxes instantly dropped to the ground and covered their ears with their paws, while Lily popped back into his smaller form and momentarily did the same, his phobia of thunder kicking in at the terrific noise. But a moment later he turned about, ears flat against his skull, just in time to see the head of the Antipodean Opaleye shoot up over the nearest ledge. The Sphinxes backed away as one as the dragon scrabbled its way past, clambering its way up the wall like an almost literal bat out of hell.
"My gods," Lily breathed, riveted at the sight of the dragon crashing its way past, and as it went one of its claws tore away a huge chunk of the wall. The dragon stumbled slightly but latched on again and continued its ascent, but the torn section of rock sailed through the air directly towards the Sphinxes, bathing them in its shadow. Lily grabbed his sword and prepared to grow into a larger form again, but he was promptly beaten to the punch by a pillar of iron that lanced out of nowhere to obliterate the rock into shards.
"Looks like you've been keeping yourself busy!" Gajeel grinned as he swept to a landing, Charla peeking over his shoulder and panting slightly - not used to carrying such a heavy man.
"As have you," Lily observed, holding his blade up in front of Sobekneferu, who had tensed at the sight of the newcomer, spine coiling like a serpent in preparation to spring. "It seems the goblins had more prisoners down here than we thought."
"Both dragons and cats…" Charla noted. "There's… an odd symmetry there, isn't there? Anyway, Lily. You can take Gajeel from here. I'm going back to check on Wendy."
"No, wait!" Lily raised a paw just before Charla could dive out of sight. "Someone needs to head outside and tell one of the others to prep that Portkey cage. We'll need it to get these Sphinxes to safety."
"Cage?" one of the Sphinxes hissed.
"You wish to put us behind bars the moment we are freed of our chains?" another agreed.
"It's the only means we have to transport you. Don't worry, we shall release you later! Charla, tell someone to prep it to go to this… Egypt… place… Hurry!"
Charla bit her lip, obviously loathing to be apart from Wendy for longer than necessary, but she nodded and swept her way back up towards the entrance, falling in alongside Happy as the blue cat carried Natsu past. Lily hoisted himself into the air and took Charla's place behind Gajeel, looking over his shoulder at the pack of Sphinxes.
"Come on! Follow me to your freedom!" he shouted, and as he hefted Gajeel upwards, the Sphinxes broke into a run behind him.
"Never took you for a ladies' man," Gajeel glanced back at his partner with a smirk.
"You're one to talk. Seems you have a thing for smart girls."
"SHADDUP!"
The fighting in Diagon Alley was heating up. Several of the Aurors had run down the street to the nearby broomstick shop and had taken to the air with intent to fly over the wall, prompting Evergreen to do the same in her attempts to fend them off. She was unable to turn them to stone, as that would cause them to drop from their broom and risk killing them via shattering on the rooftops or the street, so she was doing her best to fend them off with her Fairy Magic alone.
"…GREMLIN!" she shouted, fling her arms out as wide as her wings, a thick fog of Fairy dust churning up from mid-air around her to form a thick, sparkling blanket over the top of Gray's ice wall. The first of the incoming Aurors pitched to the side and attempted to fly through the dust cloud, but Evergreen snapped her fingers and detonated several dozen particles in front of him before he could, the blast repulsing him backwards and sending him spiralling downwards fighting for control of his broom. The remaining members weaved from side to side, looking for a gap, but Evergreen had managed to cover the entire width of Diagon Alley and extended the cloud right to the doors of the bank.
A phalanx of Stunners was sent in towards the airborne mage, but she nimbly dodged aside like a mosquito in a hurricane, her fingers stretching as she maintained the cloud. Down beneath her, Gray had similarly risen a wall of ice around himself so he could continue to stand on the top and reinforce the barrier, battling against the constant bludgeoning hexes and fire spells that were pitched against it to reinforce its sturdiness. And all the while the Order kept up the retaliatory pace, firing any spell they could think of through the minute gaps in a bid to slow the Aurors down.
But Scrimgeour was not to be so easily denied. He had quickly come to realise that standard Auror tactics were not going to work against these Fairy Tail mages! Their magic was nothing like those of the Aurors, leaving them facing something they had had no training to counter.
So they had to think outside the box themselves. Which was why he rallied his men, gathering ten Aurors in a line at the back and, when the time was right, screaming out, "DUCK!" Instantly the rest of the force dropped to their knees, allowing himself and the other ten Aurors to fire a spell simultaneously that whooshed forward to impact the ice wall… which instantly transformed from frozen water into bricks!
"Huh?" Gray blinked in sudden shock as if found himself standing on something he had definitely not himself made. But before he could react, half a dozen more Bludgeoning Hexes stormed in towards the wall and hammered through it, blasting brick back into the street behind them. Tonks dove to one side to avoid being struck by rubble that exploded in towards her. Moody was not quite so fast and was was sent spinning, crashing to the ground in a heap - his clawed wooden leg creating grooves in the cobbles of the street.
And another Bludgeoning Hex struck the wall right in front of Gray, hammering him backwards with a roar as he was flung right off the top. "AAAHH!" he cried as he was sent head over heels, battered by bits of debris to crashland on his back.
"Gray! Are you alright!?" Arthur cried as Kingsley hurried to Moody and pulled him back to his feet.
"Yeah…" Gray grunted as he pushed himself back up, a little scraped and bruised but none the worse for wear. "They caught me off guard is all," he glared at the Aurors charging forwards to try and get through the gaps they'd made in the wall. "ICE MAKE: FLOOR!" he bellowed, slamming his hands into the ground and sending a wave of ice across it to half-way down the Alley, sending several dozen Aurors slamming onto their backs as they lost their balance on the slippery surface.
"They're starting to get used to fighting us," Evergreen muttered, and as if to prove her point the airborne Aurors swished their wands and a high-powered wind gushed from the wooden tips. She herself was only pushed back slightly but the dust around her was caught as if in a gale and whipped away, her explosive cloud dispersing around her like dandelion seeds in a breeze. She applied more pressure to her magic, unleashing more in an attempt to fill the gap, but the strong winds whipped that away just as quickly as the riding Aurors closed in.
But even as she wracked her brains for a solution… there was a loud thud behind her. For a moment the whole street seemed to shake, particularly the bank… and the moment after that was filled with dead silence. Aurors, Order members and Fairy Tail mages alike stopped, frozen as if Gray had turned them all to ice, heads swivelling slowly round on their necks to start at the bank.
A second after that, a sudden swarm of goblins poured out of the ruined gates, panic stretched across many of their faces.
And a second after that… something massive punched through the roof of the bank like a cannonball from hell, a gigantic fountain of stone and glass shooting into the sky like ash from an erupting volcano. Gray instantly created a barrier of ice that shielded his companions from being showered with it, but through the transparent shield he could see the enormous shape emerging from the fractured ceiling. A great white wing unfurled like some kind of pop-up marquee, another appearing alongside it moments later. The heavily scarred head rose up, swerving from side to side as if brandishing its horns to the world and the support columns of the building buckling beneath its colossal feet.
Gray had only ever seen one dragon. And to be honest, this one was not as impressive as the Black one. But it still took his breath away.
Then the Aurors panicked, as did the citizens of Diagon Alley who had been daring to watch the battle through their windows. Several of them broke and ran. Others were frozen in fear, hyperventilating. And even the Order members were rooted to the spot as if they'd been hammered into the ground, waiting with breath bated and bodies tense for the dragon to make its move.
But the Opaleye had no interest in them whatsoever. With a burst of its wings it hefted itself into the air, ignoring a couple of random hexes some of the braver Aurors managed to hit it in the stomach with. Higher and higher it rose, its flight unbalanced and wobbly which demonstrated how weak and out of practice it really was. But it swept high into the sky and turned away, flying southeast as fast as it could. Its only motivation was to escape the hell it had been trapped in for so long.
"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAA!" a scream of joy dragged everyone's attention back to the bank where Natsu stood on the edge of the wreckage, punching the air with both fists. "BE FREE, DRAGON! FLY AND BE FREE!"
"They're mad…" Tonks shook her head in disbelief. "They're actually mad."
"Please, please don't lump me in with him," Gray muttered.
"We've got more incoming," Charla said as she swept in to land beside them. "And it seems we're adding a bunch of Sphinxes to our rescue attempt! Someone needs to get the cage from Tenrou Island quick! To take them back home!"
"What about the dragons?" Kingsley asked.
"They can fly their way to safety. Hurry! It won't be long before they arrive!" Charla said, and half a second later a second cobble shattering roar rent the air as one of the Welsh Greens hurtled out into the open air. One of the Goblins threw a lance at and successfully managed to pierce through the weakened armour around its neck. The dragon screeched with an almost devilish shriek of pain and lashed its head around, fire exploding from out of its jaws in the direction of the foolhardy Goblin, a wall of fire gushing out down the alley like a tidal bore sweeping down a river, seeking to engulf all the combatants in its path.
"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Natsu roared, blasting himself forwards with a spurt of fire from his feet and intercepting the fiery blast, momentarily vanishing amongst the flames before he sucked it down his throat, his stomach bulging momentarily as it was filled with the raging flames. Moments later and Gajeel thundered out of the hole, Lily at his back, one arm morphed into iron which he hammered into the Green's chin, cutting off its fiery attack.
"FLY DAMN IT!" he bellowed. "GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!"
The Green didn't need to be told twice and shot into the air, scrabbling for altitude as if the Devil was chasing it.
"Whoa…" Arthur breathed, as this was the first time he'd seen Dragon Slayers in action. He definitely couldn't fault his son for admiring these guys.
"Don't just stand there!" Charla waved her arms. "We need to move!"
"We can head for Tenroujima," Lupin cried, helping to support Moody despite his stubborn attempts to stand on his own feet. "But we need to get out of the Anti-Apparition wards."
"I can handle that!" Gray slammed his hands together. "ICE MAKE: TUNNEL!"
A thick half-cylinder of ice formed down the street, ending in a solid wall so the Aurors couldn't get in the other end. Lupin and Moody quickly ducked into the open end, hurrying down it until they could get far enough away from the bank to Apparate out. Scrimgeour growled as he hefted his wand, preparing to try blowing a section of the tunnel in, only for an extremely well placed Stunner to hit him in the chest and send him crumpling to the floor.
"Oooh, I just Stunned my boss," Tonks sucked on her teeth. "Okay… he can never find out about that, alright?"
And a split second after Lupin and Moody disappeared with a loud cracking sound, an even louder cracking sound rent the air as one of the Hebridean Blacks burst through the wall of the bank and prepared to fly off itself.
Down below, Juvia was swirling in watery streams around the Horntail's head, the enormous creature snapping at her with jaws closing like steel traps as it whirled around in circles in pursuit of her like a gigantic moth round a lightbulb, tearing the walls and the floors to shreds as it did. Juvia flipped out of the way just in time to avoid being chomped on and surged towards the wall, rebounding off it and whirling in like a typhoon towards the dragon's stomach. The Horntail whirled around and cleaved straight through her with its tail, slicing her watery form in two, but she remerged with herself and came again with a shout of "WATER JIGSAW!"
Her body span and whirled with dozens of watery blades, high powered jets crashing straight into the dragon's back. But the impact barely made the winged lizard stumble, its tough scales holding up under the blow with only minor damage before it whipped around and fired a blast of flame into Juvia at point blank rage. She was repulsed backwards, landing skidding on her feet and violently steaming as she reformed into her body, panting for breath as the Horntail bore down on her again.
The others watched from nearby, crouching around a corner and watching wide-eyed as Juvia took on the Horntail alone. Wendy whimpered. This dragon was a tough customer. Though clearly not nearly as strong as Grandine or Acnologia, it could definitely take a beating. Juvia was a powerful mage and yet it was still shrugging off her attacks with little effort.
The little Sky Dragon Slayer was sure her attacks would do more damage due to the nature of her magic, but she didn't want to do it. And yet it seemed like if she didn't, Juvia might eventually tire. And if she ran out of magic, even her water body wouldn't help her against this opponent.
"What do we do?" she whispered. "What do we do?"
"We can't just stand here. We have to help her," Charlie replied.
"But how? We're no match for that," Bill pointed out.
"We don't have to be. We just need to drive it outside. And I think the best way to do that will be to blind it."
"What?" Wendy gasped in alarm. "You want to do what the Goblins did to the others to this one?"
"No, of course not. I mean a Conjunctivitis Curse," Charlie hefted his wand. "It'll render it hard for the dragon to see for a while and it may decide to try and escape. But we'd need to hit it in the eye and with the way its thrashing around I don't know how we could!"
"I know," Fleur said. "I 'ave dealt wiz a dragon before myself. Leave it to me!" And the Veela abruptly dashing out of hiding and ran towards the fight before she could be stopped, her silvery hair flying out behind her as she shouted, "Water Woman! Bring it zis way! Quick!"
Juvia didn't need to be told twice, jetting her way between the dragon's legs just as its jaws closed down behind her. It twisted around in pursuit of her and barrelled in towards them. Fleur glanced over her shoulder at the others and cried, "ZTUN IT! QUICK!"
Charlie and Bill immediately jumped out of hiding as if physically compelled, Fleur having accidentally put in a little of her Veela power into the words that spurred the two boys to obey in a bid to impress her. Molly followed less quickly but the three of them raised their wands and fired a triple Stunning Spell between them that lanced in and struck the dragon in the chest. A dragon's resistance to magic meant that this was not nearly enough to incapacitate it, but it did make it momentarily dizzy and it pulled to a halt, shaking its head in a bid to clear it. And Fleur immediately took advantage of its momentary lull in movement to begin waving her wade, twisting it in complicated circles and waving her free hand in equally complex circuits, humming as she worked and her wand glowing a luminescent green as she worked her magic.
The dragon stared at her, its eyes seeming to glaze over slightly as it watched the young woman move. It began to sway airily from side to side, its head lolling from left to right as if it was on the verge of falling asleep. A little fire spurted from its nostrils as it snorted sleepily, but Juvia was able to put it out quickly with a spurt of steam.
"You're… putting it into a trance?" she glanced at the woman she didn't know beside her.
"Yes," Fleur nodded without breaking her concentration. This was exactly what she had done to the Common Welsh Green she had faced last year during the Triwizard Tournament, putting it into a sleepy state so she could collect the Golden Egg it was guarding. She was quite relieved to learn that it worked on Hungarian Horntails too.
"Juvia wishes she could put Gray-sama into a trance…" the Water Mage whispered. "Wait… could you put him into a trance… are you a love rival?!" she bristled.
"Juvia-san! Please let her concentrate!" Wendy cried.
"Charlie. Bill. 'It it now!" Fleur shouted as the dragon swayed as if it had somehow managed to get drunk. The two Weasley brothers nodded and levelled their wands, taking careful aim and blasting twin orange beams from their wooden weapons that lanced across the cavern and cannoned straight into each of the dragon's eye sockets.
"HHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
The dragon snapped out of the trance with the force of a bullet snapping out of a gun, rearing up on its hind legs so fast that it smacked its head forcefully against the rocky ceiling, sending chunks of stone flying around it as it overbalanced and crashed down onto its back with such force that it knocked over all the humans. But the dragon was up on its feet instantly, spinning around and flailing in a blind panic as it tried to peer through the swelling and the yellow discharge that its eyes began to exude. Fire streamed from between its teeth, and Juvia was forced to envelop Fleur in her watery form and whisk her aside to avoid her getting charbroiled.
But Charlie's hunch was correct. The furious dragon was now panicked and instantly it turned on its heel, relying on its sense of smell to scent out the nearest fresh air. Scrambling out of the tunnel and into the open cavern it bellowed as it unfurled its wings, powering itself upwards with far more precision and ease than the other dragons, thundering towards the surface with great, thrumming wingbeats but still careening into the walls every now and then as it struggled to see where it was going.
"Nice call, Charlie!" Bill pounded his brother on the back.
"Yeah but I hate casting that spell on a dragon," Charlie grunted.
"All in a good cause, Charlie-san," Juvia said as she reformed, gripping the soaking Fleur beneath her arms to help her keep her balance. "Let's follow it up to the surface. Juvia wants to make sure Gray-sama is okay."
"Come on, Fleur!" Bill agreed as he grabbed his broom, Fleur mounting it behind him as soon as she'd cast a quick drying spell over herself.
"I've got you, Wendy!" Lisanna said, morphing into a large green bird and gripping Wendy around her biceps to hoist her upwards. She powered her way up after Bill and Fleur, with Charlie and Molly riding another broom behind them and a liquidised Juvia bringing up the rear. The Horntail loomed ahead of them in the light, rapidly climbing up through the caverns and breaking its way through the criss-crossing tracks as it past, almost not noticing they were even there and forcing its pursuers to dodge bits of falling rails as they ascended behind it.
"We've done it," Wendy breathed, a wide smile on her face. "I… I think we've really done it."
And naturally that's where things went wrong.
Because that was when near one hundred Goblins spilled out onto a ledge just above the Horntail. They had managed to rally together while the Dragon Slayers were otherwise occupied and they were armed to the teeth with lances, spears and worst of all… harpoons. Lisanna was the first to spot them as they lined the lip of the ledge, her avian eyes widening as she breathed… "Oh no…"
Yelling and screaming in their harsh tongue, the Goblins hurled their harpoons with deadly precision as soon as the Dragon reached their level. And their weapons were magically designed to be able to pierce almost anything, for they punctured straight through the Horntail's scales where even Juvia's water attacks had not. A high pitched screech of pain ripped from the black dragon's mouth as the hooked barbs punched deep into it, the goblins anchoring the long cables attached to the harpoons quickly into the walls and jerking the Horntail's ascension to a halt. It stumbled in the air, powering its wings in a bid to regain its balance but it was brought crashing forwards into the wall, latching quickly onto the rock to keep it from falling back into the blackness. And other Goblins quickly threw their long spears and lances, punching holes in the Horntail's scales like needles in a pincushion.
This was the kind of thing they had done to capture the dragon in the first place. Their weapons were laden with magic that sapped at the dragon's strength, slowly weakening it until it would succumb and become unable to stop itself from being chained.
"STOP IT! STOP THAT NOW!" Wendy screamed as Lisanna hurried upwards, releasing the younger girl with a flex of her legs to send her flying towards the Goblins. They turned to see just as she swung her hands out and yelled, "TENRYUU NO… YOKUGEKI!" and span her body around to launch huge blasts of wings from arms to send many of them flying, into the stonework behind them. Many more turned towards her, ready to charge, but Wendy's distraction had been just what the Horntail needed, flexing its wings and kicking off from the wall to tear the chains out by their roots.
But it didn't head up to the surface again. Instead it crashed down on the ledge in front of Wendy, crushing several Goblins underfoot and blasting fire from its jaws to engulf many others. Wendy froze in momentary horror at seeing some of the Goblins killed - no matter how horrible these creatures were she hadn't wanted them to die! But the Horntail's spiked tail swept in at her from the side, forcing Lisanna to dive in and seize her, yanking her over the top of the swipe just in time, a deep gouge appearing in the bottom of Wendy's sandal. Millimetres higher and it would have slashed her foot.
The dragon whirled around the ledge, stomping and slashing and cooking up a storm, its beating wings fanning the fire and turning the ledge into a furnace as it stormed around after the Goblins, its boiling anger at those who had harmed it compelling it towards retaliation. But more Goblins were running in from the side, holding the same kind of shield that had managed to deflect even Natsu's breath attack, forming a wall of steel before them that the dragon's fire washed harmlessly over while more Goblins launched more harpoons over the top of the barrier, sinking into the dragon's shoulders and dragging pained screeches from out of it.
"We need to stop them!" Wendy cried, heart in her mouth. "Before they kill each other!"
"But what can we do? We can't put it in a trance again unless we draw its attention back to us and that's not a good idea while we're airborne!" Charlie shouted back.
Lisanna clenched her beak shut, feeling utterly useless at that moment. None of her animal forms would do a thing against a dragon, not even the Doscadon she had so recently acquired. Even though this black dragon was nothing like Acnologia, she felt just as helpless now as she had when…
Wait a second…
This dragon was nothing like Acnologia. The only thing it shared with him was basic anatomy. That's right… Wendy herself had said it! The dragons of their world were highly intelligent, extraordinarily powerful and unique beings. But in this world they were just animals!
Just animals…
Was it possible?
Could she perhaps do a Take-Over on this Horntail?
There was no way she could pull one on an Earthland dragon. Her magic was not adapted to it. As far as she knew, nobody's magic was. After all most people had thought the entire dragon race extinct for the past four-hundred years and even if they hadn't, she'd never heard of a Take-Over type designed to work on them. Nobody had ever developed it. Possibly nobody had ever had the chance to even try.
But this dragon… it was an animal. A magical animal yes, but an animal nevertheless. So… it might work!
There was only one way to find out for sure. Lisanna banked sharply over to one of the brooms and deposited a surprised Wendy right behind Molly. Then, without another word, Lisanna folded her wings and streaked straight in towards the flailing Horntail like an arrow fired from a bow.
"Lisanna-san!" Wendy shouted.
"What are you doing?" Bill agreed, but Lisanna was already in close, aiming herself for the the back of the flailing windmill that that the dragon was making for itself. She dodged around a powerful wingbeat and morphed back into her human self just in time to land on the Horntail's shoulder, grabbing one of its back spikes and one of the Goblin's harpoons to keep herself in position, holding on for dear life as the dragon whisked her around in circle, not even noticing that she was there in its mad bid to crush more Goblins.
"Here goes…" she whispered, focusing her magic, drawing on the same power she'd used on the Doscadon mere days ago, trying to emulate the energy flow and mindset that she'd used back then.
"Sorry, big guy!" she shouted as her body glowed with bright light. "TAKE… OOOOVEEERRR!"
The dragon momentarily froze, rearing up onto its hind legs and roaring as it too was engulfed in the light, forcing everyone to shield their eyes from the intense glare in the darkness of the cavern, almost as if a supernova had gone off in the middle of a black hole!
"What's she doing!?" Fleur shouted.
"Don't tell me she's…" Juvia breathed.
"Is it… is it possible…?" Wendy gasped in astonishment, trying to peer through the glare and see for herself. She too had never considered it… someone actually doing a Take-Over on a dragon. It sounded absurd. And yet… it was working! She could feel Lisanna's magic working as her body dematerialised and entered that of the dragon, their souls merging together as one within the Horntail's body.
Then the light snapped out… leaving the Horntail standing there for a moment, its inflamed eyes unfocused and dazed. There was dead silence around the cavern, except for the faint roars and crashes coming from the other dragons above.
"Lisanna-san?" Wendy called. "Is… is that you?"
Before the dragon even made any acknowledgement that it had heard Wendy, another Goblin harpoon flew through the air and struck the dragon right in the chest. Instantly the dragon's eyes snapped back into focus and it bellowed in pain and… rage! It fell back onto all fours and barrelled forwards, slamming one clawed leg down to smash a Goblin into the rock and a spurt of flame gushing from its mouth to wash over several others. The maelstrom of flailing limbs began again as if nothing had happened in between, the Horntail smashing and stomping its way around almost even harder than before, splintering the rock of the very ledge it was standing on.
"What's going on?" Bill shouted. "What's Lisanna doing?"
"Where did she go?" Fleur cried, not sure what was happening, but her question went ignored.
"Didn't it work?" Charlie looked to Wendy and Juvia desperately. "Didn't Lisanna take it over?"
"Oh no…" Wendy's eyes widened in horror. "She's lost control! Just like Elfman-san did with the Beast!"
"What? What do you mean?" Charlie pressed.
"Lisanna-san has done a full body Take-Over! It worked! But she can't control the dragon! She's become lost in its instincts - they're too strong so they're overwhelming her. She probably doesn't even remember she's Lisanna at the moment. She's just become part of the dragon!"
"The same thing happened to her older brother when he tried to do it on a powerful monster," Juvia agreed. "This dragon is stronger than anything Lisanna's tried to control before, and its the first magical animal she's ever done it on. She wasn't ready!"
"Then what do we do now?" Charlie hollered, eyes wide as he struggled to find a solution.
"NNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Before any of them could respond a massive fireball suddenly streaked in from the side and hammered straight into the Lisanna-dragon's side, breaking the harpoons loose from her scales and sending her hurtling sideways to roll right off the ledge. Her wings flailed and she scrabbled against the rock to keep herself from plummeting and she just managed to catch herself in time, pulling herself back upwards once more. The fireball landed in the middle of the ledge and revealed itself to be a certain Dragon Slayer.
"Natsu-san!" Wendy gasped.
"The other dragons have all taken to the sky!" Natsu shouted as Happy whooshed in behind him. "Didn't realise we had an extra one. Good thing I doubled back to check, right?" he said as the Lisanna-dragon scrambled up over the side of the ledge, glaring at him and her mouth glowing as she readied her next breath attack. "Looks like this one's been a little trouble though. I'll send it packing."
"NATSU-SAN WAIT!" Wendy screamed. "THAT'S…" But it was was too late, the Lisanna-dragon had already opened fire, expelling a massive fiery blast towards Natsu, who charged forwards and ran straight into it without a second thought. The fire reversed direction behind him and was sucked into his mouth - he was eating the attack even as he charged through it. And as he ran he coated his knee with his own fiery and sprang up to hammer it into the dragon's chin. The dragon's jaw snapped shut, cutting off its fire with a strangled yelp as its head lurched upwards as if jumping out a jack-in-the-box, while Natsu flipped himself over and smashed his fist into the rock below him.
"KARYUU NO TEKKEN!" he shouted, pulverising the rock to smithereens with his flaming punch and sending both himself and the dragon falling into space as they their place to stand fractured to pieces. Happy zoomed in and snatched Natsu before he could fall too far while the dragon flared its wings and beat them hard to regain its equilibrium. Once it found it, it powered upwards, its thoughts on revenge banished under the painful punches of the Dragon Slayer and its instincts to flee renewed as it hurtled towards the surface.
Natsu grinned. He'd been pulling his punches slightly but it seemed Dragon Slayer attacks had a bonus effect on the dragons of this world just like his own.
"Mission's almost been accomplished, right?" he said.
"Aye sir!" Happy cheered. "That was awesome, Natsu!"
"Who… what are…" Fleur's jaw had dropped, unable to believe what she'd witnessed and neither were the other three members of her world - they'd all known what Natsu could do but to actually see it. It was astounding.
But Wendy, who was used to it, was more lucid. "Natsu-san, no! We have to stop that dragon!"
"Huh? Why?" Natsu frowned.
"That's Lisanna-san!" Juvia pointed up at the fleeing dragon. "She did a Take-Over on it but lost control! And now she's getting away!"
"WHAT?" Happy screamed
"…Eh?" Natsu blinked several times. "EH!? THAT'S LISANNA!? THAT'S… THAT'S… THAT'S SO COOL! AAAHHH WHY COULDN'T I DO THAT? I WANNA BE A DRAGON!"
"NATSU!" Happy chided him as he streaked upwards. "That's not the important part! You just attacked Lisanna and now she's running away from us! We need to get her back!"
"Oh… OH!" Natsu yelped as the full extent of the situation reached him. "YOU'RE RIGHT! LISANNA! LISANNA, WAIT! I… I DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT YOU IN THE FACE! I SWEAR! I… THOUGHT YOU WERE GRAY!" he roared as Happy streaked up in pursuit of the Horntail their friend had become, the rest of the group following close behind.
The Ukrainian Ironbelly was just hoving its way out of sight when Sobekneferu finally emerged from the bank, leading the group of sphinxes like the alpha lioness on a hunt. Goblins scattered before them as they snarled their way into the street of Diagon Alley, their paws impacting lightly against the stone. So into the charge were they that they would probably have hurtled the full length of the alley if it hadn't been for Gray's ice wall, which he had rebuilt further down to hold the barrier between his group and the remaining Aurors while keeping them out of the wards of the bank.
Tonks, Kingsley and Arthur had all immediately turned their wands on the Sphinxes as they had emerged, the words of their next intended spell hovering on the back of their voice boxes just in case they needed them. The Sphinxes hissed in response, coiling to spring, Lily quickly grew to full size and got between the two sides.
"Hold your fire," he said. "We're all on the same side here."
"I doubt that," Sobekbeferu sniffed. "I don't much like humans any more than goblins. After all, they let them keep us down there without doing anything to rescue us until you lot arrived."
"We didn't exactly have the option you know," Tonks replied quickly.
"Yes, and whatever happens we cannot let it be known that the Order participated in this raid on Gringotts bank," Kingsley agreed. "When we become public knowledge, as we inevitably will when the Dark Lord is revealed to really be back, we need to be a symbol of protection against him… not the kind of people who aid people from other universes in attacking banks."
"And when people find out we've been in league with Fairy Tail for a while?" Arthur asked worriedly. "What will happen then?"
"By then I hope very much that Fairy Tail have managed to build themselves a better image in the eyes of the public," Kingsley said dryly. "Because at the rate they're going… they never will. There will be a backlash for what's happened here today, mark my words."
At that moment there was a flash as the large cage appeared from out of thin air, filling the gap between them and Gray's ice wall. Lupin and Moody were clinging to it, the latter refusing to fall over despite his bruises and slightly damaged faux leg, pushing himself to an upright position and clunking his way forward.
"This the lot who we're transporting this time?" he growled. "Honestly, at this rate the Order's going to build a greater name for rescuing animals and magical creatures than rescuing humans. We're going to be like that… that Muggle organisation that I've heard about that goes round saving wildlife at all costs…"
"Which one? There are a few," Lupin chuckled.
"You expect us to get in there?" Sobekneferu growled, glowering at the open door suspiciously. "How do we know that it will not simply return us to the Goblin caverns."
"I will get in with you if necessary," Lily said. "You can trust these people. They are our allies. Now let's go quickly before the Aurors and Goblins regroup now that the dragons have gone."
An enormous thundercrack of a roar broke the comparative stillness around them, so loud that it must have woken half of London. Everyone practically threw themselves to the ground as another section of wall exploded out of the bank, the massive form of the Hungarian Horntail sweeping out of it, crushing the stonework beneath it and cavernous mouth stretched wide as it bellowed to the sky. That got the Sphinxes moving pretty quickly. They bolted straight into the cage, helter-skelter, tumbling and clambering over one another in a sudden panic as the huge lizard charged out towards them with wings spread. Lupin slammed the door behind them and waved his hand quickly.
"Come on! Let's get them home!" he said.
"I'll see you later!" Lily called through the bars to the Sphinxes as Lupin vanished with the cage into nothingness. At the same time, the Horntail powered its wings and rose up into the sky, the blowback from its wingbeat knocking everyone off their feet. And as it rose higher, Natsu and Happy surged out of the bank behind it, launching themselves in after the fleeing reptile.
"Lisanna! Oi!" Natsu cried as he pulled up alongside her. "Lisanna, listen to me! It's me, Natsu! Snap out of it!"
"Lisanna please!" Happy shouted too, tears pricking at his eyes in desperation as the dragon ignored them and climbed higher. "Come back, Lisanna. Wake up!"
"What should we do?" Natsu hissed to himself but before he could think of anything the Lisanna-dragon whirled around, irritated at the annoying fly soaring up with it. She spat a gout of fire down at him, which Natsu quickly countered with a roar of his own, the two attacks crashing into each other and cancelling each other out with a colossal explosion that sent Natsu and Happy shooting backwards… right into the path of Lisanna's flailing tail.
"GWAAHH!" Natsu cried as Happy rolled them desperately to one side, but not fast enough to avoid three of the spikes raking their way across his front and tearing through his clothing and skin alike, or to avoid an unspiked section of the tail pummelling into Natsu's midriff and knocking the breath out of him. The impact sent them both rocketing back towards the ground, Natsu clutching his stomach and heaving for breath as he felt his blood running over his arms.
"Lisanna…" he gasped despairingly, watching through half-closed eyes as the dragon turned away and winged its way northwards through the night sky at high speed.
Down below and the others had rejoined the group. Juvia tried to fling herself into Gray's arms, but he managed to catch her by her biceps and thus avoid a hug. Nevertheless he smiled at her and said, "Glad to see you're still in one piece. Not that I'm surprised."
"Juvia says the same, Gray-sama!"
Arthur, on the other hand, did receive a hug. In fact, he initiated it with his wife as she landed and dropped her Disillusionment charm, looking over her shoulder at Bill and Charlie in undisguised relief. "Thank goodness," he said. "Next time I am definitely going down there with you Molly, no matter how much you protest. Are you all okay?"
"There were tense moments but we're alright," Charlie said.
"And who is this?" Kingsley asked, pointing his wand warily at Fleur before Bill stepped in front of her quickly.
"This is Fleur Delacour, a recent co-worker of mine and the Triwizard Champion of Beauxbatons last year. She helped us out down there. In fact if she hadn't I think we would have been in trouble several times over. And I'd like to formally request that she be allowed to join the Order."
"Order? What Order?" Fleur asked, frowning in confusion. "What is all zis about Bill? I zink I am due an explanation."
Kingsley considered her for a moment before lowering his wand and nodding. "Very well, she may accompany us back to Headquarters, but she will need permission from Dumbledore first before she can enter. Take her to the Hog's Head and send word to Dumbledore. We will debrief you properly Miss Delacour when we can."
Bill nodded and grabbed Fleur's hand, twisting on the spot and Apparating them both away.
"Where's Lisanna?" Charla asked as she landed on Wendy's shoulder.
"Well…" Wendy hesitated, but at that moment Natsu crashed back into the floor, clutching his stomach and grimacing.
"Wendy, hurry!" Happy waved his arm. "Natsu's bleeding. Heal him quick!"
"R… Right!" Wendy rushed over and immediately held up her hands, Natsu removing his arms from the gashes across his front to allow the smaller Dragon Slayer access.
"Where is Lisanna then?" Evergreen prompted. "She… she didn't come out with you."
"Oh, she did," Charlie said. "She was that last dragon!"
"Wait… what?" Tonks gasped. "You mean… she…?"
"A Take-Over on a Dragon?" Gajeel went momentarily slack-jawed. "I didn't even think that could be done."
"It can here apparently," Natsu grunted, staring up at the sky… the noticeably empty night sky. "But she's not in control! And now… she's gone. That dragon is fast!"
"Well… then we must go after her!" Evergreen replied quickly. "We have to find her. We can't lose Lisanna again, especially not so soon after we got her back!"
A split second later and several Aurors suddenly Apparated into existence around them, now able to get past Gray's wall since he'd moved it further forwards. The Order members no longer Disillusioned threw up their arms to hide their faces quickly. Spells flew through the air and though instinct drove many to dive aside Tonks, Gray and Charlie were all hit with Stunning spells and dropped to the floor, Gray still conscious but reeling and unable to stand.
"No time!" Moody barked, seizing Tonks' body. "Back to headquarters quick!" And then he Disapparated with a crack! The Order members dashed about hurriedly, grabbing Fairy Tail members and taking off with them before the Aurors could set up new anti-apparation wards. Molly took Evergreen, Arthur seized Gray and Juvia, Charlie grabbed both Gajeel and Lily, and Kingsley, who was still thankfully Disillusioned, dodging past two spells and repelling one back on the caster as he hurried for Wendy and Natsu.
"But what about Lisanna?" Wendy cried, as Natsu's last gash fully closed.
"I'll get her!" Natsu surged to his feet, flinging a fiery arm out and sending several Aurors diving for cover. "I made her a promise. I told her that I would look after her while Mira and Elfman weren't here. And I need to keep that promise. Wendy, take Charla and go! I won't come back without her!"
"Natsu-san," Wendy breathed, admiration for the older Dragon Slayer welling up inside her, but nodding as Charla grabbed her and swept her the remaining distance to Kingsley, who grabbed them both and Disapparated instantly.
"Come on, Happy! Let's fly!" Natsu burst into the air with a blast of fire from his feet.
"AYE!" Happy agreed determinedly, sweeping in after him and grabbing him to shoot off into the sky, spells fired after them falling woefully short as they whooshed away from the ground. "Where to, Natsu?"
"I've still got her scent!" Natsu replied with a growl. "We head north and we don't stop until we've caught up with her."
Happy understood the meaning of that growl. "Natsu… this isn't your fault…"
"I'm the one who convinced the others to attack the bank," Natsu cut him off. "This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me. But I'm going to keep my promise. I'll bring her back to Mira and Elfman, no matter what!"
Streams of molten rock bubbled and frothed as they trickled through the ravine, bare ugly rock looming up on either side of the lava rivers and the air filled with a combination of smoke and steam and a constant smell of brimstone that never died away. A broiling, hot landscape that never changed, never wavered… and in which stood one single, solitary figure.
Deep red scales, the colour of rust, adorned his enormous body above his lighter, cream-coloured belly, the chest of which was adorned with a huge, X-shaped scar. A great, sweeping tail that coiled around a boulder behind him, each limb tipped with huge claws and his reptilian head plastered embellished with long horns that swept out the back and side, a spiked chin and a large curved horn on the tip of his nose. Not to mention the immense wings that jutted out from his shoulders, so broad that they were like the ceiling of a cathedral between them.
And a deep, growling voice that rolled across the landscape like a tide:-
"A human performing a Take-Over on a dragon…" Igneel mused thoughtfully. "How interesting. This… deserves further investigation."