A/N: I feel like a bad person saying this but... this chapter... it's so freaking yummy I could eat it raw! So is the other few chapters I have planned "Waaaaaahhh!" *throws her hands into the air and starts running around like a hyperactive kid who had too much sugar*

… ahem... Anyhow! Onwards! Alons-y!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 12: Wounded Dragon

Lucy yelped as she stumbled yet again across some of the loose rocks that was shattered all over the place. Fortunately Gray caught her shirt just in time preventing her from falling flat on her face.

"Thanks Gray"

"No problem. But you should try calming down a bit. You have to stay focused and watch where you're going"

She sighed "yeah I know. It's just hard being level headed"

"I know but given the circumstances we can't run around recklessly. Cave's like these can be treacherous and it doesn't help that it's so fucking dark down here, that it's hard seeing anything even with these torches"

"Yeah..."

They kept walking in silence while occasionally calling for Natsu, hoping he would respond to them. But unfortunately it didn't seem to have any effect other than their own voices echoing back to them. From time to time they would stop to make a mark with some chalk so it would be easier for them to find their direction back. Lucy did consider summoning her compass spirit Pyxis, but she didn't think it would do much good down here.

Lucy felt they had been going around in circles when she spotted light further ahead coming from an opening in the cave wall.

"Gray"

"Yeah" he nodded while clenching his fist prepared to make a counter attack, just in case a villain or something else hostile was in there. Lucy followed his actions and brought her own hand to her keys. Ready to summon a spirit if she needed to. When they reached the opening they took a second to listen to hear if there was anyone or anything in there. But after listening to the silence for a few seconds Gray quickly nodded towards Lucy before taking a quick peek into the opening.

"Damn..." his jaw fell in surprise as he walked into the room filled with light.

"What..?" Lucy questioned while following close behind him "... Gray what is it?" she turned her attention to her surroundings, freezing in her position with eyes widening in horror. The chains on the cave wall was covered in blood, so was the ground underneath them where a rather ominous amount was splattered.

"Oh no..." she whispered in a broken and fragile voice while taking a few steps towards the chains "... Natsu".

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably as a wave of melancholy rushed through her body. She was visibly shaking trying to settle her emotions and stay focused. But the closer she got to the blood the more it hurt inside of her, making it difficult to breathe.

"Lucy stop..." Gray tried appealing to her but she didn't listen and kept walking until she reached the chains

"... please Lucy, you're only making it worse for yourself. We should keep moving"

"I know..." she whispered, glaring at the blood on the ground. A lot of unpleasant images rushed through her head, as she reached a shaking hand towards the heavy chains and the handcuffs attached to them. She could see cracks on the cave wall where the chains was fastened, indicating that the person who had been in them had struggled against the confinement.

Lucy held her breath trying her best not to cry or let the pain inside of her overwhelm her rationality. It would be selfish of her because she knew her emotions were insignificant compared to finding Natsu.

"Come on" Gray said as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder "We don't know for sure if this is Natsu's blood but if it is..." he couldn't finish the sentence but Lucy nodded knowing what he was about to say.

"We had fun in here" a voice suddenly said, making them turn instantaneously on their feet.

"You!" Lucy growled as she reached for her keys "Where is he?" her voice was steady as a rock as she glared towards the green haired boy.

"Who are you?" Gray snarled as he brought his hands together ready to form an attack if he had too.

"Hey! Take it easy!" the boy who looked almost identical to Natsu said, while waving his hands frantically in front of him "I'm here to help you"

"Help us?!" Lucy roared "If you want to help us, then tell us where he is?!"

"My, my, you're pretty angry considering I was the one who told you he was in my cave. Ohhh well..." he tilted his head "... hmm... would you even believe me if I told you where he is?"

"Maybe, maybe not it depends on your answer. Now spill it or we will use force against you!" her eyes was shining with anger as she raised one of her keys, pointing it directly towards him.

"Fine" the copy snapped his finger and suddenly a round shadow spawned next to them. In an instant the shadow shot towards the fake Natsu, surrounding his body completely. A second later his body started trembling before transforming, taking the shape as a tiny black rabbit.

"Phew!" the rabbit exhaled, glaring with his red eyes towards Lucy and Gray "What?"

"What the fuck?! How is this supposed to help us?!" Gray roared making the rabbit bounce backwards and away from them.

"Oy! I'm doing this as a fucking favour to you" it said making Gray twitch uncomfortably "In this shape it's rather obvious that I can't do much harm to you isn't it? Now follow me... idiot" It grumbled as it hopped towards the entrance.

"Should we follow it?" Gray asked in a serious tone as he turned his head towards Lucy.

"Do we have any other options?"

"Yes... but it's probably better taking the chance and hope he leads us in the right direction isn't it? But if it tries anything funny be prepared to use full force on him"

"Mmm" Lucy agreed, holding her keys firmly in her hand.

They kept following the bunny for what felt like forever, when they reached something that looked like a cliff. The bunny stopped at the edge, glaring down in the darkness below.

"... foolish boy..." the rabbit muttered while shaking it's head "... we're almost there" it bounced further ahead making them follow a rather steep road. When the road seemed to become more even the bunny stopped for a second, turning around to face them "I'm sorry..." it said in a faint voice before sprinting away from them.

"Wait! Stop!" Lucy yelled as she followed the rabbit until they reached a dead, where the black creature bounced across a rather huge rock on the ground, diving into the shadow of the cave wall and vanishing.

"Damn it!" She roared, staring with murderous intentions at the spot the bunny had vanished.

"Well thanks for fucking shit!" Gray cursed while clenching his fist in anger.

"Wait..." Lucy held her torch in front of her as she looked more closely at the large rock "Blood... it's fresh..." she turned around on her heels noticing more blood on the ground. Taking a few steps she followed the blood until she saw a silhouette of something further away in the distance. It didn't take many seconds for her to recognize what it was making her eyes widen in shock.

"Natsu..." she yelled, sprinting towards the dragon slayer. His back was turned against them but she immediately knew it was him.

So much blood, she thought frantically while looking at the blood covering a large part of his body. But... where is his shirt? Wait, that doesn't matter! Shaking her head at the irrational thought she knelt down beside Natsu, grabbing his shoulder.

"Natsu?" she started shaking him gently "Natsu?".

Natsu was so confused, laying in a foetal position with closed eyes wanting nothing more than to escape from his current situation. Both his body and mind was shattered making it hard to focus on a single thought. It was all so blurry and confusing, like his head was a mixture of watery substances, flowing freely and everywhere with no direction or purpose.

All of his body besides his left arm felt numb and cold. His arm was... well uncomfortable and weird. It almost felt as if his left arm had vanished underneath him, like it was a part of him that didn't exist any more. He tried moving it slightly but it was no use. The bones was too broken and shattered to move even an inch.

Not that it mattered... If only... he wanted to believe it was all a dream or an illusion. But then again did it truly matter if it was reality or not?

Natsu didn't notice that tears was streaming down his face, nor did he recognise the small sobs he was making, indicating he was silently crying. Well it was hard focusing on something so insignificant because it was rather hard just continuing to breathe in an even rhythm. The dragon slayer was oblivious to the fact that the fall had caused him to break a few ribs, which had punctuated one of his lunges, thereby making it hard to breathe.

He was heaving for air and could feel how blood entered his punctuated lunge, making him cough violently trying to prevent himself from drowning in his own blood. Normally it would probably hurt like hell, but he didn't feel it as he kept coughing until the blood from his lunge was spattered on the ground. Once the blood irritating his lunge was gone, it became slightly easier to breathe.

Why? Natsu thought as he felt sleep trying to overwhelm him, making him doze off for what he felt like a few seconds, but in reality could have been hours or even days. He couldn't know for sure...

What was that? He wondered as he heard some weird noises approaching. It almost sounded like someone was calling? But it couldn't be... no... there wasn't anyone there besides him and the creature thingy. Maybe it was himself being delusional and sadistic, creating voices to keep him comfortable?

Mehh, it's all too blurry, he thought as he tried hugging himself with his right arm,

crawling deeper into his foetal position.

Shut up... he thought as the voices seemed to intensify in strength trying to snatch him away from the bubble inside of his head... want to be alone... no... not alone...

Natsu could feel something warm being placed on his shoulder, that started shaking him gently. Why... he bit his lips trying to isolate himself further from his surroundings. … Go away! Why couldn't he have some peace and be left alone? Wait... he didn't want to be alone... What are the voices trying to say?

His mind was cracking and stirring making a million thoughts spawn as his experiences from the past seemed to overwhelm him, making him even more confused. Well to be fair the poison didn't help the confusion raging inside of him. No, it made it even more turbulent adding some sinister feelings and unpleasant thoughts.

Something started shaking him again but he ignored it until he felt something wet suddenly

hitting his face. What was that? It smelled salty?

Slowly Natsu turned his face staring up at what he presumed would be thin air, but to his surprise Lucy was there with a hand gently placed on his shoulder.

He was so stunned that he just stared at her in confusion.

Why? Why was she crying? Why was she smiling so gently at him while holding onto his shoulder like she cared about him? Why?

Natsu wanted desperately to see his friends but this was just beyond cruel. His heart was aching painfully as if some unknown force was squeezing it, trying to kill him from the inside.

Yes of course he wanted so badly to believe that this was reality. He missed them but why would Lucy be there? Shouldn't she be back at the guild? Or was she dead already? No, what was that again? She wasn't dead... or was she? Why was it so confusing!

His body started trembling as small tears started spawning in the corner of his eyes. Well maybe he was dead? Was this the afterlife or an illusion?

Natsu suddenly noticed something moving in the background behind Lucy and everything seemed to freeze for a second. What was that? His eyes widened as he stared at another person standing behind Lucy. It looked like... Gray? No it couldn't be... could it? Gray was saying something he couldn't hear or make out while smirking towards him. No... Natsu narrowed his eyes as he watched Gray casually place a hand on Lucy's shoulder. It couldn't be... No... not again... never the fuck again...

Anger started boiling inside of Natsu's body making energy rush through his system as adrenaline pumped through his veins rummaging like a thunderstorm.

Roaring in fury Natsu removed Lucy's hand on his shoulder rather violently before grabbing her neck with his right hand.

"Not the fuck again... never!" he narrowed his eyes while getting into a standing position, still holding Lucy's neck firmly in his hand.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" Gray yelled as he grabbed Natsu's arm trying to prevent the dragon slayer from strangling Lucy.

"As I said..." Natsu growled in a sinister voice as he removed his hand from Lucy and in a quick movement hit Gray so hard in the stomach it made him fly for a few seconds before colliding with the cave wall, knocking the air out of his lunges "... I will NOT allow this to happen again".

"What the fuck... are you talking about?" the ice mage questioned as he tried getting into a standing position, but for some reason he couldn't move.

"Shhh..." something whispered behind Gray making him shiver involuntarily as he felt something cold being placed above his mouth "... let's watch the story unfold"

Gray tried to struggle but it was futile. The only thing he could do was watch as Natsu turned his attention back to Lucy, walking back to her with heavy steps.

"You..." Natsu's voice was dripping with so much anger and hatred that it made Lucy shiver as she tried calming him down with words. But he didn't listen, nor did he care what the thing had to say.

Well fortunately for him it was all so blurry that he couldn't understand a single thing the girl was trying to tell him.

"I hate you!" he growled before grabbing Lucy's neck again smashing her into the wall. It wasn't as hard as the hit he had delivered to Gray but it was enough to make the girl scream in pain and terror.

"Why? Why do you keep doing this? Do you really think I would be tricked so easily again? Are you that stupid that you would think you could make me fall for the same illusion?" he kept grabbing Lucy's neck but his hold on her seemed to lessen in strength making it possible for the girl to breathe. Not that Natsu noticed this he was so confused about everything, that he didn't pay attention to his hand.

"Did you really think I would... ever want to see that again..." his voice cracked in pain as tears started streaming down his face "... I will never... I never want to see her die again. I would rather die than go through that fucking torture again!"

Natsu was staring at his feet for a few seconds while taking a few deep breaths, trying to calm his emotions that was making his body tremble with anger and sorrow.

"Her blood was everywhere... but you know that... killing her so violently right in the fucking front of me, making her blood spatter on everything including me... I... the torture was horrible... I admit it... you doing that to me... hurt more than... I... I just... both of them died by my hands... so much blood..." he turned his face towards Lucy who was crying and trembling. The sight startled him and made him even more perplexed.

Why was she crying? Why didn't the shadow do something? Kill him? Kill her? This was so weird and morbid that he couldn't voice his own feelings.

"I can't..." Natsu said barely above a whisper before releasing Lucy making her fall to the ground where she sat struggling to breathe.

"I... can't do it..." he continued feeling his knees suddenly give up underneath him, making him fall to the ground. He grimaced in pain as he watched Lucy reaching her hand towards him saying something. She was smiling warmly and it made him somehow second guess his actions. Why would she do that? Where was the killing, the torture, the manipulation? Why?

The tension in his mind seemed to escalate making him roar in agony trying to ease his mind. But it didn't help, no on the contrary, he could feel how blood started once more irritating his lung making it difficult to breathe.

No, he thought as a fit of coughs washed over him making him bend his body forwards using his right hand to keep his balance. He kept being in that position struggling to remove the blood in his lung, while trying to get a sufficient amount of oxygen to enter his body.

Natsu didn't hear Lucy screaming his name. Heck, he almost didn't register when he stopped coughing and could breathe again. He did however recall his muscles suddenly becoming like jelly, making him lay down on the ground, where he turned his head slowly towards Lucy staring at her with pain reflecting in his eyes.

This is cruel... but please... let it be her... he whispered her name before everything around him suddenly vanished covering his mind in black.

A/N: Bow tjikka wau wau! And there you have it!

Question time!

H: "So! You might wonder if the monster/villain suddenly became a good person"

Natsu: "Hell no! The creature just sympathised with me because I made the wrong choice"

H: "The choice you made in chapter 9, where you killed Gray and Lucy in an illusion?"

Natsu: "Ah-yup! I made a choice back then and the creature felt pity because..."

H: "Shh... spoilers"

Natsu: "Ohh.. but yeah basically the creature isn't good. Not in the normal sense anyway. It's more of a grey area, because it does whatever it wants not thinking about moral and stuff. So the reason it helps Lucy and Gray is because it doesn't want a broken toy.. and that would be me... laying around any more, since it can't use me... uhm... well for entertainment I guess"

H: "Okay, so the creature isn't good-good. Roger that! You guys out there I hope you have a good time, wherever you are! And because you're all so awesome and amazing, I hereby allow you to take whatever chocolate, candy or other treat you might have and munch it! You deserve it"

Natsu: "... sure give the readers treats. Hmpff... I somehow feel like neglected..."

H: "What did you say?"

Natsu: "Nothing! Until next time y'all! Bye-bye!"