Chapter 6
Disclaimer's still located in chapter 1
As the years continued to pass and the dragon slayers reached sixteen, the two were out training with Gildarts.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
"CRASH BURST!"
"SNOW DRAGON'S MOUNTAIN FIST!"
Lisanna's fist flew at Gildarts before he raised his left hand behind him and cleanly blocked it, using the connection as leverage she flipped over the older mage, while over his head she switched into her polar bear takeover; increasing strength
"SNOW DRAGON'S AVALANCHE CLAW!"
The snow enhanced kick was blocked by Gildarts other hand with a loud thud, but the opening provided was quickly exploited by Natsu; he rushed to Gildarts' unguarded left side
"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"
The strike connected cleanly with Gildarts' kidney sending the man skidding about a foot to the right and slightly winding him, Lisanna flipped sideways landing next to Natsu and dropped out of her transformation to conserve magic, together they both rushed forward at Gildarts
"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"
"SNOW DRAGON'S MOUNTAIN FIST!"
They called as one; Natsu cocking back his right hand and Lisanna mirroring the action with her left. In retaliation Gildarts simply waved his hand at them, creating a burst of magic that sent the two flying
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
Natsu called as he landed, creating a fire screen that while didn't do any damage allowed Lisanna to turn into her 'arctic fox takeover' which increased her speed and allowed her to sprint into Gildarts' blind spot
The arctic fox takeover turned Lisanna's feet into those of a fox and her hands grew petite claws that looked built for digging, she also grew a big white and fluffy fox' tale and small fox ears, the transformation also changed her dress into a grey tank top and a pair of black running shorts.
When she was in position she and Natsu executed a pincer movement; she ran at Gildarts with her enhanced speed and Natsu used fire on his feet to propel himself at a similar speed, when she got in range, she again changed into her polar bear form and swung an arm at Gildarts currently undefended head, at the same time Natsu swung a flame enhanced kick at the kidney he had hit earlier
Gildarts caught both appendages and held them in place with an iron grip, knowing they were trapped the pair released their respective roars on the man, causing him I'm to let them go
They jumped back, panting and paused to catch their breath, as the steam from that last attack cleared they were astounded, if unsurprised to see Gildarts without a scratch on him.
"Well done you to, you actually got me to move from my original spot, that's an achievement on its own. Anyway I've got a mission in the morning, one that will probably take me a while so this will be goodbye for now, don't slack on your training you two and I'll see you when I get back.", Gildarts said
"Ok thanks Gildarts" Lisanna said
"Yea! See ya old man, next time, we'll definitely beat you!", Natsu yelled enthusiastically
"I look forward to it", Gildarts shouted over his shoulder as he walked over the hill back to town
"Hey Lis. I'm beat, got enough energy to give me a boost?", Natsu asked turning to his friend
"yea I think so", Lisanna said straightening her back, she then pointed her hands in Natsu's direction and her palms glowed with a soft white light, as she did this Natsu felt his energy both magical and physical returning rapidly to his body
"Man that never ceases being helpful. Thanks Lis", Natsu said, standing up and stretching his arms
"We should probably head back to the guild, I'm running out of money and if I am then you almost certainly are", Lisanna said beginning to walk off
As the two walked into the guild side by side in comfortable silence, Mira thought briefly on her sister's and the pink haired dragon slayer's relationship; they were closer than most, but weren't a couple, they were in a state Mira affectionately called not-quite-an-item: they spent all their free time together, they did all the things couples do minus actual physical contact (and even then, Mira had her suspicions) plus there was obvious mutual attraction, at least to everyone but those involved and as much as it irked her, Mira knew that any input at this point could potentially damage their relationship so she was resigned to let them sort it out
Much to her chagrin, Alzack and Bisca had also fallen into a similar state and so she had no one to play matchmaker for and it was making her cranky and irritable, well more than normal, that and the fact Laxus had returned a couple of months ago with nothing to go by but a strange lighting shaped scar over his right eye and a nuts increase in power, his attitude had also changed; he was acting like a pretentious prick to everybody, including her
Noticing her mood had taken a turn for the worse at the thought of Laxus, she went up to the request board to find something she could beat up, immediately she spotted one she liked the look of
Kill the Beast: a monster was terrorising a town a couple of stops down the train line and they needed a mage to clear it up. S class. This'll be easy, I got S class a year ago. Mira thought with a smirk. Plus is I take Elfman and Lisanna with me, Master can't complain. Besides Lisanna said she needed money. Her sister and Natsu had joined Elfman at the table they usually sat at so she made her way over to them
"Hey I got a job", she said as she sat down
"Ohh, is it good? Let me see!", Lisanna said enthusiastically, she really has been spending too much time around Natsu
"Here", she said handing her younger sister the flyer, Lisanna studied the piece of paper briefly before handing it to Elfman
"I'm in", she said as Elfman read the job.
"I wanna see", Natsu said, looking over Elfman's shoulder at the flyer
"Aww cool, you guys are going on an S class quest? I wanna come", Natsu exclaimed
"No! Absolutely not! It's a man's job to protect his family!", Elfman said angrily, his mannerisms had changed earlier in the year when his pet parakeet had disappeared, he had gotten it in his head that being a man was more important than anything and that he should look after his family, not that his sisters minded even if he was, at times, a bit overbearing. Due to this attitude change Elfman's relationship with Natsu was a strained one due to his closeness with Lisanna, he knew deep down that Natsu could be trusted and probably could do a better job of protecting Lisanna than him but still, it irked him.
"Ah, let him come Lil-bro, it will be nice to have some back up and besides if what Happy tells me is true… He's as much family to Lisanna as we are", Mira said with knowing smirk at the two dragon slayers, the two slayers in question both blushed a deep Crimson before turning to glare at Happy
Happy had, wisely, moved from the hovering position behind Natsu to high in the rafters of the guild hall, knowing full well the dangers his parents joint glares could do to a man's (cat's?) psyche, hell, he had seen dark guild members stop and give up when his parents glared at them at the same time. Must be a dragon slayer thing the small blue cat pondered.
The battle with the beast was not going well, when it had first attacked they had discovered that Natsu's fire and Lisanna's takeovers did little more than irritate the monster and to top it all off it was holding its own against Mira, to say the fight was not going well was an understatement but it wasn't hopeless, Natsu and Lisanna were basically unharmed and Mira could continue her battle into the early hours of the morning if she played her cards right
Elfman on the other hand failed to read the situation and after one particularly vicious punch that sent Mira careening away, before his younger sister and Natsu could attack the weakened beast to give Mira enough time to recuperate, he, felling less than useless in this fight decided to do something drastic; he ran up to the beast and began an absorption takeover
"No Elfman! Don't! It's too strong for you!", Natsu screamed at him, but it was too late, Elfman turned into the beast and he let out a blood curdling scream, one that spoke of untold pain. The screaming abruptly stopped and the beast looked down at them
"It didn't work". Lisanna stated with tears in her eyes
"if it had worked Elfman would have turned back into himself", the two dragon slayers could feel that Elfman's attempted takeover had replenished the monsters magic and energy, leaving it even stronger than before, now they were in trouble
"What the hell happened?!", Mira asked as she flew over
"Elfman tried a takeover on it", Natsu said dryly
"What! Why?!", the oldest Strauss sibling screeched
"We don't know but now it's back at full power and rearing to go", Natsu answered
"Shit! Lisanna I want you to stay back, let me and flame brain handle it", Mira commanded
"Yea… Ok.", Lisanna said, shocked and afraid for her brother
The fight continued as it had been, with Mira and Natsu taking turn wailing on the monster and Lisanna and Happy catching and supporting them, unfortunately it was obvious that the beast had them on the ropes and the two offensive mages were running out of steam, having been fighting for a good four hours, it was all the three mages (plus a cat) could do to dodge the beast's strikes
During the fifth hour Mira's magic suddenly gave out and an exhausted Happy only just caught her before the beast crushed her underfoot, the S class Mage did all she could to stay conscious but couldn't help passing out from exhaustion in the small blue cat's grip. Happy then took her into the town to get medical attention and rest
Now on his own Natsu was finding it increasingly difficult to avoid the beast which looked like it was barely tired the bastard must have got Elfman's stamina, he thought agitatedly, what Elfman lacked in power he made up for in resilience and sheer determination, which unfortunately was making this fight harder than need be
Natsu's tired musing was rudely interrupted by a punch flung at his body, as the boy was already in mid-air and without his winged companion it was all he could do to bring his arms up in a cross block, to prevent too much damage
The punch sent Natsu flying back at astounding speed before he collided with a tree, knocking the wind out of him and he sunk to the floor, conscious but breathless
"Natsu!", Lisanna exclaimed, afraid for his safety, he was only a few feet behind her and as she turned around she saw he was mostly fine and breathed a sigh of relief. The beast lazily made its way over to them and stood confused looking at Lisanna before roaring
"Elfman! It's me! Your sister, Lisanna!", Lisanna shouted in desperation with her arms outstretched, knowing that she couldn't hope to fight it even with her dragon slayer magic, trying to get her brother to recognise her and beat the beast
"Lisanna don't, it won't work", Natsu wheezed from his position behind her, she turned her head to him
"I have to try", she said sadly, Turing back to the beast she yelled
"Elfman! Listen to me! It's your sister! You can beat this! I know you can!"
Unfortunately Lisanna's encouragements fell on deaf ears and the beast continued to ponder her, not because he recognised her but because her smell was odd, giving up on its wondering the beast roared again and raised its arm
For Natsu and Lisanna the world seemed to move in slow motion, the beast's arm swung down in clearly telegraphed attack and Lisanna tried to turn into her arctic fox takeover but it was too close for her to dodge, her transformation was only half done by the time the beast's arm was nearly to her.
Natsu had screamed something, probably her name but the slow motion muffled it and made it unintelligible, Lisanna closed her eyes with an expression of fear on her face, the power that attack had probably wouldn't kill her but it would certainly break more than a few of her bones
Suddenly she felt a pair of warm arms rap around her waist and with speed that should have been impossible jerked her from the attacks trajectory, Lisanna opened her eyes to see Natsu with fire rocketing from his feet suspended where she had just been
In that instant time flowed normally again and the beast's fist connected to Natsu, with a sickening crunch the pinkette was sent flying away, colliding with another tree about 100 meters away
"Natsu!", Lisanna screamed in anguish before running over to him using the enhanced speed of the fox takeover.
"Natsu, Natsu! Please be ok", Lisanna pleaded with tears in her eyes as she reached him and turned him over, the boy looked like hell, his hair was caked in blood from a gash on his forehead, his left arm was obviously broken and his right looked dislocated, he had a line of blood running from the side of his mouth down his cheek
Natsu coughed, spitting up a bit more blood before he wearily opened his eyes to look up at Lisanna, the only thing his pain wracked brain could think at that image, she looks like and angel
"Natsu! Can you hear me", Lisanna asked letting tears fall onto his face, Natsu smiled slightly but winced at the pain that even that small action brought him
"Yea I'm fine, I promise", he joked weakly
"oh thank god", Lisanna sobbed before raising her hands and began replenishing his energy and dulling his pain, her magic couldn't heal but it could alleviate pain and purify diseases, preventing infection
"I'm so tired Lis", he said closing his eyes
"Oh no you don't", she said cupping his face in her hands
"If you go to sleep now y-you might not wake up!", she said beginning to cry again
"You're worrying too much Lis, we've survived worse injuries than these ones, I'm not going anywhere", he said before his breath evened out as he slipped into unconsciousness. Then Natsu's body began glow a bright golden colour and specks of him began to float into the sky
"NATSU! WAKE UP!", Lisanna screamed, his body itself began to float and Lisanna mindless of his injuries tried to grab him and keep him with her, although, whatever was pulling him was too much for her and Lisanna quickly lost her grip, Natsu's body disappeared leaving only his blood soaked scarf in Lisanna's hands to show he was ever there in the first place
Lisanna looked shell shocked down at the scarf in her hands, unthinking and unfeeling, her brain failing to comprehend the fact that Natsu was gone, possibly forever. Her revere was broken by the beast roaring again, having located her scent and barrelling towards her
He's gone. Lisanna thought distraught he's gone and there's nothing I could do about it, the beast roared again, now only about fifteen meters from Lisanna's position, her sorrow turned to white hot rage and she turned to face the beast with an expression that would cause hell to freeze over
Her brain, still wracked with grief was useless in this situation and she simply acted on instinct, a blizzard began to blow around her kneeling form as she screeched, reaching a crescendo
"DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART: SONG IF THE HILLS, FROZEN TOMB!"
Lisanna screamed and the blizzard intensified, making it impossible to see, suddenly the swirling ice shards making up the blizzard froze in their place, floating suspended for almost two seconds before rocketing towards the monster that had taken Natsu, the razor sharp snowflakes, clung to the beast, draining its magic supplies and freezing it solid and slowly creating a cocoon of snow and ice that assaulted it's nerves and rendered it immobile
The beast fell over completely spent and in an incredible amount of pain, it's body it its frozen casing, splayed on its back slowly reverted back into the form of Elfman due to the loss of its magic power and the lack of control insufferable pain created
Lisanna passed out due to exhaustion from a combination of the unfamiliar technique and grief, with tears streaking down her face, tightly clutching Natsu's scarf to her chest.