A/N: getting closer to the end of this story...starting to get emotional
Wendy was starting to get worried; since they had gotten separated from Natsu they had heard little word from the salmon haired dragon slayer. She had no doubts about his strength, for in terms of that he was the strongest person she knew, but he wasn't the most tactical, that was more Erza's street.
Since Gajeel was a better tracker than she was he had taken the lead on searching for Natsu in the underground caves, both Lily and Levy walked beside him while she walked behind with Carla.
"Carla, I'm worried about Natsu-San…" She said quietly as they continued to walk.
She was glad that she had Carla beside her, whenever she doubted herself Carla was that push of self-confidence that she needed.
She was almost like an overbearing older sister in that sense, though at times she could be seen as a little harsh , that was just Carla.
"He'll be fine...he always is" Carla softly stated, a small smile ghosting her lips as she spoke. Wendy knew that Carla would never admit it, but she admired the older mage's sense of devotion to his guild mates and the love he had for his sister.
It was then that both Gajeel and Lily stopped, the iron dragon slayer had his eyes narrowed and was stood in fighting stance. Lily had taken the opportunity to switch to his combat mode, whilst Levy stood by their side with her hands at the ready.
Wendy stood still, taking the hint that perhaps they were no longer alone. Her senses still weren't as developed as Gajeel's since her magic was still progressing, however after those few tense moments she heard the sound of feet shuffling. They were about to be attacked.
Without a second thought or hesitation, Gajeel extended his now iron arm to attack the unsuspecting mage to their left. Levy had sprung into action too, her arms extended above her head as she shouted "Solid script: GUARD" and the words appeared around the mages and protected them from the oncoming blasts of magic.
She noticed that Lily had disappeared into the fray, the exceed battling it out with a cyan haired mage with an equally large sword and the sounds of metal against metal echoed throughout the dungeon.
It was then that Wendy heard a noise, another set of footsteps were attempting to attack her from behind. She already had a plan in mind, and since her and Carla were a team no words were spoken once the exceed activated her magic and lifted the sky sorceress into the air to evade the oncoming blow. Taking in a large intake of air for her attack, she readied herself for the battle.
"Sky dragon's roar!" she shouted as the whirlwind of air was released, however the young mage's eyes widened at the sight of her magenta haired opponent effortlessly evading her attack, a smirk crossing his features at the sight of her confusion.
The mages slowly clapped the smirk on his face the entire time caused Wendy to involuntary shiver.
"Very good, little one...but I must say that I am better" He added with a grin. He quickly raised his hands and released his own magenta coloured magic circle, a beam of dark purple light pouring out from it.
Carla dodged the oncoming attack, though the mage attacked once more, sending both the exceed and her partner plummeting to the ground below them.
"Carla!" Wendy exclaimed as she staggered upright and ran over to the exceed. Carla clutched her sides as she writhed on the ground, leaving Wendy confused as to what was happening. Her friend appeared to have suffered no injury from the fall, which only meant that her friends pain was being caused by something or someone else.
However before she could react another beam of light was heading towards her and the young mage braced her for the impact, determined not to leave her friend. It was then that Wendy opened her eyes, the words 'GUARD' had surrounded both her and Carla, a smiling Levy was seen waving at her before she too stood beside the young mage.
"Levy-San…" Wendy said with a smile, which caused the script mage to blush slightly before turning her attentions to mage in front of them. The 'GUARD' was still protecting Carla meaning that she wasn't going to come to any harm during the fight but it meant that Levy was exerting more magic energy to keep it up.
"He's an emotion manipulator…" Levy stated, the magenta haired mage grinned at her statement, though Levy paid him no attention and turned to face Carla, the exceed was motionless the earlier spell having knocked her unconscious due to its intensity.
"And he just put a 'pain' spell on Carla" Levy explained with narrowed eyes, which only caused Wendy to do the same.
The mage had hurt her partner and attempted to attack from behind like a coward, which was unforgivable. Wendy stood in fighting stance, a burst of magic energy coursing through her veins.
"Levy-San, with our combined magic we can defeat him" The young mage stated with such determination, that Levy's nodded, her gaze never leaving the magenta haired mage.
The three mages stood, each daring the other to make a move for it was the first person that strikes that fails. The sound of swords clashing against one another, Gajeels own iron hitting flesh and the mages sharp intake of breaths were the only sounds throughout the underground dungeon.
Then the ground started to shake and everything turned to chaos.
Tensions were high as Lucy and the other continued their search for the Dragneel's. Both Happy and Lavender seemed worried after having being separated from their partners for so long no longer being their usual jovial selves.
Erza took the lead, following the last transmission from Levy's communication lacrima which seemed to have lead them to a dead end. The mages stood confused as the only thing in the area were trees, which meant that something didn't quite add up.
Lavender shifted in her place in Lucy's arms, the small exceed had tired quickly though Lucy didn't mind carrying her as she had seen her friend do on occasion.
"Rissy-Chan was here...I can feel it" She quietly told the blonde.
Lucy gently gnawed at her bottom lip before turning to Erza, the requip mage looked as confused as the others though she seemed to hide it well with her arms folded over her armoured chest and lips pressed into a thin line.
"I'm sensing a large amount of magic power...though its faint it explains that more than one mage has been here" Erza explained before pocketing the lacrima.
Lucy glanced up at the redhead, and both Gray and Juvia shared a knowing look before turning back to the rest of the team.
"Juvia knows that Gajeel-kun was here, Juvia knows his magic" She stated before giving a firm nod.
Now she was even more confused; for if all the mages had been in the very spot, where had they gone.
"There must be a way to track them" Lucy muttered sadly, it seemed they had reached a dead end in their search.
"I think we just found it" Gray muttered before gesturing to the newcomers, the mages turning n unison as the twin dragon layers arrived with their exceeds in tow.
Lavender quickly freed herself from Lucy's hold to greet her exceed friends, both herself and Happy conversing. Lucy watched with a smile at how well they got on with each other, they really had put the magic games behind them.
"So my guess is that you heard of the situation?" Erza asked with a raised brow, Lucy noted her her gaze was more directed at Rogue than the Sabertooth guild master.
Rogue seemed to take no notice of Erza's stare before nodding, his dragon slayer partner doing the same.
"Lucy, informed us" Sting explained before offering the blonde a grin, she sheepishly smiled whilst moving to stand more behind Erza to avoid his focus.
"You can follow the scent trail?" Erza asked but it sounded more like a statement as she followed the sabretooth mages with her gaze. Lucy was somewhat impressed at how they stood their ground, for she was more used to the Fairy Tail wizards shrinking away whenever the requip mage attempted to give them any form of eye contact.
Sting gave the redhead a cocky smirk which only caused her eyes to narrow in disgust and confusion. His partner noticed this and took it as the opportunity to speak and stop the blonde from saying anything that would most likely get him killed by an S-classed mage.
"We can...but the trail seems to go underground" Rogue stated.
Lucy nodded in understanding as she fished out her keys, looking for one spirit in particular. A triumphant smile crossed her lips once her fingers ghosted over Virgo's key.
"Open, gate of the maiden: Virgo!" Lucy shouted, the tell all bright light appeared followed by the bell chime whenever she summoned any of her spirits, leaving the pink haired Virgo once it had vanished.
Virgo gently bowed her head at the mages before turning to face Lucy with the usual face that lacked all form of emotion.
"Princess, have you summoned me for punishment?" The spirit asked.
Lucy instantly sweat dropped before shaking her head, why did all her spirits have such loud personality traits...except Aries, hers were quiet, a little too quiet.
"Virgo, I need you to dig a hole..." Lucy started before turning to the dragon slayers "And you two, give Virgo directions" She said causing both men to nod.
Virgo instantly formed a hole, almost as if she were swimming underground while ting followed behind to direct her. The other mages followed behind, leaving Lucy walking with Rogue and the exceeds.
They walked silently since Lucy was aware of how the shadow dragon slayer was quite reserved, he was the exact opposite of Rissy; for the salmon haired woman was loud, it would be assumed that she would have preferred Stings own company than his quiet companion, since both Sting and Rissy were similar in that sense.
She watched quietly as Fro stuck to Rogue's side, it was sweet how the dragon slayer had a sweet side when it came to his partner, a sweet side that she had often heard Rissy talk about. Lucy almost doubted that the dark haired man was even capable of emotion, however it seemed that he only opened up to those he cared about and that only seemed to be three people: Fro, Sting and of course Rissy.
"We'll find Rissy, won't we?" the frog-like dressed exceed asked his partner. Lucy smiled as Rogue knelt down to pat Fro on the head, right between the two dark beady eyes of its suit.
"Of course" He answered quietly "I'll make sure of it" He added which caused his partner to smile.
Lucy watched as Fro grinned before running off to join the rest of its exceed friends, she took this as the opportunity to talk to the shadow dragon slayer.
"You really care about her, huh?" She asked, though she was aware that it was a statement, they both were.
He nodded, slipping back into his reserved mode though she didn't mind since the two didn't know each other that well.
"She cares a lot about you too...its sweet" She added which caused the tips of his ears to turn pink.
They continued walking in silence once more, Lucy was aware of the small object Rogue twirled beneath his fingers, a small teal object that appeared to be a communications lacrima. A small smile ghosted his lips as he looked at the object, Lucy assumed that it had some sort of sentimental value. Like a promise, it was a reminder of the person who must have given it to him and Lucy had an idea that it was the same person that they were looking for.
Rissy held tightly to her brother as the ground continued to shake, it was weird how whenever her brother was around she felt safe however the feeling was different when she was with Rogue. She loved them both yet one love was different, more exciting, spontaneous and romantic all at the same time and it saddened her that she would never experience such feelings again.
She momentarily glanced up, noticing that the earth directly above them was about to cave in she quickly pressed her head back against her brother's chest. It was as the earth and the stones came tumbling towards the siblings that Rissy felt the tears slowly fall. And it was then that she felt a familiar magic surround them both, a shadow and glancing up the rocks, the earth continued to fall. Only the siblings were unharmed.
Once the dust had settled, both Natsu and Rissy turned to find the shadow dragon slayer kneeling beside them and no longer in his shadow form. He looked a little battered from protecting them from the impact, but other than that she was glad he was there. Without a second thought she embraced him, flinging her arms around his neck as she silently sobbed and she was aware of his own arms tightening their own hold around her slender waist as if never wanting to let her go.
Her brother seemed slightly confused at the situation, however after seeing the smile on his sister's face and the way her orbs lightened at the sight of the dark haired man, he smiled. For he was glad that she found someone to make her smile, for he knew that he wouldn't always be around to do that job. He caught the scarlet eyed man's eye, his smile fading once he remembered whose sister he was embracing, however Natsu gave him a nod of acceptance which caused the dragon slayer to nod in response.
She reluctantly released him from her embrace, vaguely aware how Rogue had slowly released her and let his own fingers linger a moment longer.
"You came" She breathily sighed as she increased her grip on his arms, almost afraid that he was going to disappear. A wide grin made its way across her face, one that showed off all her teeth and one she knew the dragon layer loved.
"You're late" She added with a small chuckle before pressing her forehead against his and allowing her to stare into the garnet depths of his eyes.
He smiled at her before cupping her cheeks, the action both shocked and surprised her though she didn't seem to mind and relaxed against his touch.
"Of course" he stated, meeting her onyx gaze with his own scarlet ones and she smiled once more.
She was aware of his gaze drinking all of her in and feel her cheek heating up as he ran calloused hands down her arms, drawing delicate circles once they reached her wrists. However his gaze stopped once it came to the open wound, where the stitches had opened and released the lacrima that had controlled her.
"It doesn't hurt...well not that much" She whispered as she lowered her own gaze.
"We need to get you to a hospital, you've lost a lot of blood already" Her brother stated with a hint of anger in his voice.
She nodded but she was aware of how dizzy she felt and the pain in her side, though she bit her lip and clenched her teeth trying to ignore it.
"Whatever we do, we do it quickly" she stated before quickly standing, she instantly regretted the decision to do say as she staggered backward, causing Rogue to catch her.
Her eyes slowly fluttered and peeling herself away from Rogue's hold she smiled to reassure him.
"I'm fine...just a little dizzy" She added before shaking her head.
Her brother frowned before placing a hand on her shoulder; she turned only to meet his determined gaze.
"You're not fine" He stated before turning to Rogue "And you're getting her out of here" He added before walking away from the pair.
Rissy stared at her brother before walking after him with a frown, though she was aware of Rogue coming up behind her if she fell again.
"Natsu...where are you going?!" She exclaimed as she attempted to catch up to him.
Natsu stopped and turned to face her "I almost failed to protect you and I'm not going to again" He stated, a low rumbling growl was released from him causing her to take a step back.
She shook her head before taking another step towards him, her lips forming a sad smile. She knew she wasn't the strongest of mages or even the smartest but there was one thing she did know and that was that her brother had tried his hardest to save her. He even took on an S-classed dark mage for her and that's saying something.
"You didn't fail, Natsu…" Rissy whispered "You said that us Dragneels stick together, please don't leave me" She pleaded, her eyes wide and sad as she spoke.
Natsu embraced his sister wrapping his arms around her waist, the embrace was short yet somewhat comforting and it was over too quickly before he gently pushed her into Rogue's arms. He turned to the shadow dragon slayer with that same look of determination on his face and that was when Rissy knew that whatever he was planning he wasn't going back on. Not for her, not for anyone.
"Look after her" He stated before walking away.
Rissy watched sadly as her brother left, she turned and pressed her face into Rogue's chest and thus allowed him to comfort her by placing one arm around her waist and the other to stroke her mess of wild salmon locks.
The touch was comforting so she tightened her hold on the dark haired man as if trying to make sure that he stayed, so he too wouldn't leave.
She just wanted it all to end, to get back to some sort of normality.
So what did you think of that?
The Dragneel siblings survived the near death experience thanks to the help of everyone's favourite shadow dragon slayer. Though the real question is where has Elijah run off to?
Stay tuned for the next chapter where the real battle begins, the Fairies reunite and Rissy comes to a realisation.
JustAnotherFairy :)