Natsu's New Rival

Chapter 6

"Ice make shield!"

A thick shield of ice formed in front of Leo. Relief flooded over me. The sharp claws of the Wyvern smashed against the ice but did not break it. The dragon-like creature kept scratching, clawing and banging into the ice, trying with all its might to break it.

"Lucy are you alright?" Erza yelled as she ran towards me. I could hear her armor clanking with each step she took. Her hair flowing out behind her in a crimson wave.

"Yes I'm fine. It's them who need help," I said with urgency. Erza understood my words and she turned to face the Wyvern. Leo was on one knee, panting and out of breath. I needed to send him back to let him regain his strength. Erza spread her arms out at each side, her head tilted back.

"Requip!" Her long slender body started to glow and her previous armor disappeared. I watched in awe as a new one started to form around her. Brilliant red armor appeared to match the color of her scarlet hair. Long dark wings hung from her back as pigtails framed her face. A huge red sword appeared in the woman's hand and I found myself shivering at the sight. This form looked like something a devil would wear. Beautiful yet dangerous, Erza charged forward and started to attack the beast.

Her moves were precise and powerful, yet she was light on her feet even with such a large sword. Leo had returned to his world leaving Natsu, Erza and Gray to fight this creature. The Wyvern sucked in another large breath and this time aimed a large tunnel of fire towards Gray. While dodging, Gray sent his diamond-like lances towards it. The Wyvern dodged the first two, but the third pierced its wing and it cried out in pain. Natsu sent another wave of his own fire towards the creature and Erza sliced her sword across its chest. Blood started pouring from its wound.

Howling in pain, the creature backed up as if knowing that it was losing. The team advanced on it and Natsu blocked its escape. They were not going to let it leave. The group attacked, one after another. Each in sync with the other. I couldn't believe how strong they were. Their actual abilities far exceeded what their reputations even say. I had never seen anything so beautiful yet fearsome in my life.

They each paused, preparing themselves for what would be their final attack. The finishing blow. Gray with his hands at the ready, Erza gripping her sword and Natsu's cheeks expanded as he pulled in the air. The three unleashed their attack at the same time causing the Wyvern to fly back, landing several feet away. The smell of burning flesh stung my nose as I waited for the smoke to clear. The smell was strong, making me gag as the smoke disappeared, revealing the defeated Wyvern.

A smile spread over my lips as I felt excitement forming from our victory. We did it! The townspeople slowly started to come out of their homes and thanked us, each of them happy that it was finally over as well.

"Great work guys, now we must go to the mayor and collect the reward money," Erza stated after she changed back to her usual armor. I still felt as if I should have done more, but I had found myself mesmerized as I watched them that I left it all to them. I walked forward and stood next to Natsu. I could still see the blood trails on his arm. I grabbed it to get a better look, catching him off guard.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked with his brows furrowed. Gray and Erza watched from behind me as Gray knew what I was planning to do. After reaching into my bag, I found my bandages and cleaning supplies. I forced Natsu into a sitting position and I started to work on cleaning his wounds. He cringed once the alcohol touched his wound but didn't pull away. Shortly after, I started to wrap his strong tan arm.

Natsu watched as I worked, my hands moved quickly and expertly until I finally finished. I put the rest of my supplies away then took one last look at Natsu as he smiled at me. It wasn't a normal smile. It stretched from ear to ear, showing off his perfectly white teeth and exceedingly long canines. I found myself staring, not able to take my eyes away from it. His smile is just so...what's the word? Could I really use beautiful for something like this? Can such a word be used to describe this man?

The word seemed fitting yet at the same time, it didn't seem good enough. Never once in my life have I ever felt at such a loss for words. I started to wonder if I had misjudged him. His eyes seemed so full of life, they were captivating.

"Thanks Luigi!" Luigi? Clenching my fist, my eye twitched in annoyance as I swung and made contact with his left cheek. Falling backwards, he smacked his head against the cobblestone road effectively knocking him out.

"It's Lucy!" I shouted then I stormed off leaving a laughing Gray behind. Erza followed behind me as she dragged Natsu's lifeless form. How could this man remember my name just fine the other day but completely forget it just now? Is there something wrong with him? Never has one man infuriated me so easily.

It didn't take long before we were back on the train with our pockets full of jewels. Natsu sat next to me and groaned. His sickly green face did make me feel sorry for him, but I was still pretty upset over the mistake he made with my name. If this man's personality matched his looks then he would be the perfect guy.

"So Lucy, care to explain what happened with Loke?" Erza asked me. I looked over at her wondering what she was talking about.

"Loke?" I asked her.

"The orange haired man that was fighting with you two once we arrived," Gray cut in. Oh that's who they are talking about.

"You mean Leo. But how do you know him?" I asked. How could they possibly know a celestial spirit?

"Leo? Well he's known to us as Loke. He is a member of the guild," Erza explained. Now this surprised me. "But what was he doing there? And what happened to him?"

"Leo or Loke, is a celestial spirit. Me being a celestial spirit mage made a contract with him. I ran into him several towns over and now that I think about it, I should have realized something was funny when I came across him and not his key but there he was hitting on me. That is until he saw my keys, freaked out and ran off. At the time I hadn't caught his name but I ran into him once again and eventually found out who he really was. It took some convincing and the word of my other spirits for him to finally forge a contract with me. So that's why you saw him, because I had summoned him."

They looked at me for a moment, taking in what I had just explained. I had heard from the other spirits of what happened to him and Aries in the past and I was happy that they were no longer in such a situation but I wonder if I took Leo away from his family when I made a contract with him. The keys on my side vibrated slightly, as if Leo was answering my thoughts. It was reassuring to know that they were always there for me when I needed them.

"Ah, I see. I guess that would make sense then. We had known that Loke always acted strangely around celestial spirit mages but we never understood why. Now all the pieces come together. Maybe when we get back to the guild you can summon him once again so that everyone can know that he is fine and not worry." I nodded, understanding that people would start to worry if one of their friends never showed up. The compartment fell into silence not long after that.

A growling sound came from beside me and I turned in horror at the sick dragon slayer. That was not a good sound. The train turned, causing Natsu to sway with the movement forcing his head to plop down onto my lap. With wide eyes and a red face, I tried my best to prop him back up where he was but he kept falling down. Another rumble from his stomach and I started to panic.

No! This can't be happening. I was silently praying that this man does not puke his last meal on me. Alas, my prayers went unanswered as the last remnants of his meal ended up on my brand new boots. Looking down, I could clearly see that Natsu didn't chew his food enough as there were several large chunks of the foul smelling, half digested food sitting there. I didn't need to see that though to know that this man had horrible table manners and just scarfed down anything that was put in front of him, most of the time he didn't even bother with chewing.

"Natsu!" I shrieked. Running off, I found the bathroom on this train and quickly started to wipe down my black leather boots. Holding my nose, I let the hot water run over them washing away the disgusting contents of his stomach. I found myself wondering why it had to be me that this sort of thing happened to.

After I decided they were finally sterile enough, I put them back on and walked out. Passing through the halls and heading towards my team, a conversation caught my attention along the way.

"Did you hear that the Heartfilia princess is in the town up ahead?" A man asked. He wore a sneer on his face and a look of greed in his eyes. Upon hearing this, I found seat several feet away and began to eavesdrop.

"Yeah, there is a large reward over her head. Man would I love to be the lucky bastard that claims that." The other man with the same look as the first laughed out showing off his disgusting yellow teeth.

"Yeah same here. But I hear that he hired some mages from that Phantom guild to go after her. If there is anyone who can catch her it's them." So they managed to figure out where I was. But how much do they know? Do they already realize that I was in a guild? Once it seemed that their conversation steered to another topic, I decided to walk back to my friends. Entering the compartment, I noticed that Natsu was finally asleep and this time, Erza was sitting next to him.

Thankfully I don't have to worry about that happening again. Gray was staring out the window, oblivious to the world around him as I took my seat next to him. I could see from the corner of my eye that Erza was watching me. But why? I felt intimidated by her gaze before she finally turned away.

Now I just had to figure out what I was going to do about the people searching for me. I can't drag the guild into this. A bad feeling rose in the pit of my stomach as I thought over what I had heard. Anger quickly replaced the feeling when I remembered who was behind all of this. Would he really stop at nothing to bring me back? I was not going to make things easy for him. I will fight for the freedom that I now have, and the place that I can now call home. I won't give in, and I am determined to see this through to the end.