Act 3
39
Watership Down
"He fought because he actually felt safer fighting than running."
― Richard Adams, Watership Down
Lucy watched with some exasperation as Natsu ground his forehead into the glass of a prize stand. His eyes were flaming with competitive spirit and Lucy thought she was going to have to forcibly drag him away from the poor teddy bears before he accidentally set the whole stall ablaze.
"Dirty, cheating- !" Natsu swore, lunging towards the game which had bested him five times already. Lucy just barely managed to catch him by the back of his shirt before he could dive in for a sixth round of punishment.
"Oh give it a rest already Natsu," Lucy sighed, managing to drag him back a single step. Natsu stubbornly pushed forward, his jaw tight and fingers reaching.
"No!" He said childishly, his cheeks puffing out and lips pulling down into a snarling frown, "I won't back down! It's a matter of pride!"
"It's a teddy bear!"
"That's what it wants you to think, but don't think I can't see its beady eyes taunting me," Natsu growled back.
The festival was now in full swing and the various guild members had all separated in the hopes of finding something exciting.
Natsu had seen the teddy bear and came up with the brilliant idea of winning one for Wendy as a way to commemorate their first job together. And as greedy as dragons were, he wasn't willing to let it go.
Of course he had to physically restrain himself from just smashing the case and grabbing the damn bear - with as much jewel as he had spent on this con man's game, he could have just bought the stupid thing.
Lucy led Natsu away, forcibly. That didn't stop him from glaring over his shoulder at the man with enough intensity to cause the seat of his pants to start smoking.
No matter how many times Lucy tried to cram manners and behavioral studies into his head, Natsu still got a rather profound sense of pleasure from the occasional prank.
"Put it out," Lucy said without even looking around at him, causing Natsu's jaw to drop.
"W-what?"
"I smell smoke," Lucy said simply.
Oh.
Guilty, Natsu cut off his magic so the man's pants wouldn't smolder any longer. He grumbled sourly under his breath, but relaxed as Lucy's hand made its way into his own, her slim fingers fitting between his. Natsu's mood lightened at once, as did the remaining wisps of smoke.
"So what do you want to do next?" Lucy asked him.
"I dunno. It's your turn to pick!" Natsu grinned broadly, not really caring as long as he got to spend it with Lucy.
Lucy hummed for a moment and then brightened, "Oh I know! What if we take a look at some of the arts and crafts on display?" She smiled, "Maybe we can find a souvenir for Wendy and then try out some of the rides?"
It had actually amazed her when she'd realized that the 'festival' was basically turning into something that reminded her a lot of the old county fairs. Food, arts, crafts, games, and contests were the order of the day along with rides. Magic powered roller coasters and other things.
She froze as she suddenly realized one great glaring problem with that plan, "Wait..."
"Yeah! That sounds great! C'mon Lucy!" Natsu crowed excitedly, already diverted from his contest with the teddy bear.
"No wait! We should revise this!" Lucy yelped, alarmed by his sudden enthusiasm, but it was too late to stop him as he tugged her along eagerly. At least he was heading for the arts and crafts section first. Thank god. Maybe while they were looking she'd get a second to mention why riding rides was such a bad idea for him.
Maybe he'd prefer a eating contest instead?
Yeah. That should divert him.
Lucy didn't expect him to suddenly come to a screeching halt, making her crash into him, "Hey! What's the idea?" She huffed. As much as she enjoyed his muscles they were hard as rock and not the most pleasant thing to crash into.
She was startled when he growled, lowly and menacingly, but not at her. In fact, he wasn't even looking at her. She peered around him to see what could be causing such a reaction and found herself staring at a trio of very nervous looking people.
"Um...hi?"
Natsu cracked his knuckles, his expression shadowing rapidly, "First Gajeel, now you two? And you have the guts to walk up to me in your human forms in broad daylight. I'll have to pummel that metal head for not doing a better job at keeping an eye on the border."
A challenging grin began to spread across his cheeks, his eyes glittering like black coals, "I'm going to enjoy this." He seemed to be looking right past the woman that was with them, seeing only the two men that were with her.
She asserted herself a moment later to slow Natsu, stepping in front of them and cutting off his line of sight from the two.
"Wait, please - just hear us out before you attack," The woman pleaded, her eyes flashing over to Lucy for a hesitant moment before rising back to Natsu's fierce glare.
"And why should I?" He bared his fangs, looking at the two dragons behind her. They swiftly moved up in unison to protect the human that was with them, "You two know better than to toe the boundary of my territory, much less step foot in it."
It was frustrating for Natsu to have this keep happening to him. He had been out of his dragon form far too long if not one but two dragons were bold enough to walk up to him in the middle of the day.
Gajeel would be just as furious as him, since as they were nestmates, it meant they shared territory. The iron dragon took a weekly visit up to the northern section to do his rounds and ensure everything was fine there.
Not that Natsu actually wanted Gajeel's frozen tundra he called a home, but he still very well understood the practice of keeping one's territory safe.
It was still their territory, and other dragons were not permitted. Natsu had every right to kill them. Although they could easily transform and take off, he sensed that much - they were just lucky they hadn't run into Gajeel.
"Hold on a second." Lucy spoke up moving up beside Natsu and dropping a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Let's at least hear them out." She met his eyes firmly, "If everyone knows the rules of your territory then it's a safe bet they know Gajeel is around too. And if they know that then they know they know that not even their dragon forms will help them if he catches sight of them." She glanced at the pair of dragons pointedly.
She turned her attention back to Natsu, "So, knowing that... they're either idiots or they were looking for you specifically despite the consequences. And since she," She gestured to Yukino, "Is asking us to hear them out I think something serious brought them here."
She smiled at him, "So if they're willing to risk it shouldn't we find out why they'd be willing to?"
Natsu wanted to growl that no he really did not give a fat damn about why they'd decided to invade his territory to see him. As far as he was concerned they were trespassers and that was where the story ended.
But Lucy's appeal and earnest smile had him sighing and growling mutinously as he backed down, "Fine." He grumbled, "But I'm roasting them if it's not a good reason."
Lucy nodded and turned her attention to the white haired woman and the two with her, "Okay."
Sting moved up to curl his arm around Yukino, "This was my idea." He explained, accepting full responsibility for it, "Rogue and I are dragon adopted humans." His lips twisted bitterly, "It's a story I'm sure you're familiar with by now. We were adopted by Weisslogia and Skiadrum, former nestmates of Igneel, but were eventually pushed from the nest before he adopted you."
He glanced at Natsu, "We tried to carve out a territory for ourselves when that happened, but neither Rogue nor I are drakes. We couldn't keep it. We've been wandering ever since."
He looked back at Lucy evenly, "That would've been fine except I met Yukino." He flashed her a loving smile, "And after a while we got married."
"I don't mind the wanderer's life." Yukino spoke up, "But one of these days we'll start a family, and we don't want our children to grow up in fear." She hesitated a little, "We'd heard rumors that End might have started a nest with Black Steel Gajeel, and were hoping that he might be open to adding more to it. Or, failing that, perhaps he would allow us to live peacefully in a small corner of his territory and help protect it."
Sting smiled sadly at his wife, "Rogue and I are powerful, and Yuki is a strong celestial wizard, but even together we're not strong enough to beat you in a challenge. If you say no we'll leave peacefully and never come back."
Natsu eyed the twin dragons. He could probably handle them both together as they were. Still, if they transformed it could be a tricky battle for him. He still couldn't control his dragon form anymore, but they didn't necessarily know that. Hell, Cobra had been a tough battle just by the nature of his magic and his stupid pointy ears...
They wanted to join his nest? Suspicion flared within him immediately and he let loose a warning growl, but it was quickly smothered by Lucy's hand on his arm.
Don't act rashly the touch told him, so Natsu swallowed back his angry growl and the thought of sharing territory with these strangers.
They were still a small nest. It was true. And other nests often filled up entire mountainsides. Natsu could see the benefit of letting two strong dragons in...
But his nest was small for a reason. Natsu liked it like that. Him, Gajeel, Wendy, Lucy and Levy.
Although if he included all of Fairy Tail in that number...
Perhaps it wasn't so small after all.
"Why should I trust you?" He asked, tilting his head at them and a challenging smile working over his face. Arms folded over his chest, "What do you have besides yourselves and the thin weight of your word, to offer me?"
Yukino stepped forward a little, her expression firm, "I believe you're the one known as Lucy?" She asked the blond, "The celestial wizard that everyone's been talking about?"
Lucy blinked a little, startled by the change of topic, and felt herself tense a little, "I am." She agreed warily, flashbacks to people trying to get their hands on her coming to the fore.
Yukino caught the subtle motion and smiled, "Don't worry. I'm not after you or anything like that. As Sting said, I'm also a celestial wizard, and though I'm know you've had some training I've been practicing for a long time now. I'd be happy to teach you."
Lucy stared at her, completely taken aback by the offer. Leo was a good teacher, but he could only be outside the gate for a relatively limited amount of time, so her lessons tended to be sporadic. If Yukino was offering it would mean she could have regular instruction instead of fumbling by on the odd lesson and what she cobbled together on her own.
Still... she was wary.
She'd heard warning after warning about celestial wizards abusing their spirits. She didn't want to learn from someone like that.
"I have just one question for you." She replied, startling Yukino a little, "What are your spirits to you?"
Yukino blushed a bit, "Ah well, you might think this is silly, but I care greatly for my spirits. Some were there for me when no one else was." She glanced at Sting affectionately, "The others mean just as much because they were gifts from my two dear dragons."
Lucy smiled at that, pleased by the answer, "I don't think that's silly at all." She replied, "Most of my spirits were also given to me by friends, or sought me out on their own. So I understand exactly what you mean."
She glanced at Natsu, "What do you think?"
His eyes narrowed, not looking all too happy about the direction things were turning. It was a pretty dirty trick to use Lucy as a reason to let them in...
But damn if it wasn't a good one.
"Temporary stay," Natsu finally growled after a few distrustful seconds.
"You got that?" He said loudly, jabbing his finger in their direction, "Temporary! You two gotta prove you're not up to no good before we let you stick around! And it's gotta go through all three dragons of us first!"
Lucy smiled at Natsu's stringent rules, but it was so much better now than it had in the past. Before he wouldn't have cared. Under any circumstance he would have turned them away no matter their reasons, their offers, or pleas.
And Lucy thought Natsu more than likely would have taken Yukino's keys from her by force if he wanted it bad enough.
But it was progress. Definite progress, and by the shocked look on Sting and Rogue's face, it was clear they were stunned by that as well.
"Really?" Sting gaped at him, his cheeks flushing and a light seeming to shine from him, "Yeah! We got it!"
Lucy relaxed a little at that and stepped forward to hold out her hand to Yukino, "Now that the drama's over..." She grinned, "Hi. I'm Lucy. It's nice to meet you."
Yukino giggled a little and grasped her hand, "I'm Yukino. The pleasure is mine. Thank you so much for speaking up on our behalf."
Lucy shook her head, "Don't worry about it." She grinned eagerly, "So can I ask which spirits you have? I keep pestering Leo and Grandpa Crux for information, but there's only so much they can tell me."
Yukino opened her mouth to respond when they were interrupted by a ball of blue hair rushing up to them as fast as she could move, and looking extremely upset.
"Natsu!" Wendy cried fearfully, "Dragons have crossed into your territory!"
Natsu blinked and then rubbed her head soothingly, "Relax Wendy." He smiled reassuringly, "It was just those two." He jerked his thumb at Sting and Rogue, "They want to join the nest so I'm letting them stay temporarily to see if they're worth it."
Wendy glanced over at the other two dragons, who both managed to come out of their shock at the presence of the hatchling enough to wave at her, but she shook her head frantically.
"No!" She exclaimed, "It's not them! I saw them flying in! There are at least five of them, maybe more! I saw them in the distance over the fields! The one leading was this great big metal dragoness!"
Natsu and Lucy both froze at that, "Wendy..." She asked slowly, "Were they coming from the badlands?"
Wendy hesitated uncertainly, "I'm not positive, but I think so. The metal dragoness has weird bumps on her hide though."
Lucy's heart stopped at the description, "No... Motherglare?" She looked at Natsu worriedly. They'd barely survived an encounter with Motherglare before. And only because Gajeel had helped them out.
"Who's Motherglare?" Sting asked in confusion.
"She's the dragon that's in charge of Natsu's old nest now," Lucy explained, "And we've got a bad history with her."
"She's dead is what she is!" Natsu roared furiously, fire dripping from his mouth as his rage mounted, "I'm going to melt her stupid scales off and pour them down her throat!"
"We have to protect the people here before you can!" Lucy countered sharply and looked at Wendy, "Go find Gajeel and the rest of the guild and let them know what's happened. Tell them we need Gajeel on the battlefield right away, and have the others evacuate the area and join us."
She met Natsu's fiery gaze when he whipped around to stare at her, "We need all the help we can get if you're going to take them down Natsu." She said tensely, "Even if we can't kill them we can help distract them long enough for you to do the job!"
Natsu grit his teeth, not at all happy over the idea of Lucy and the rest of Fairy Tail getting involved in a dragon fight. That was bound to just create casualties if they weren't careful.
He contemplated another way to get around this, but he couldn't come up with another reason. Eyes flashing over to Sting and Rogue, he gave them a narrow eyed glare. Natsu's natural suspicions thought it was shady how Motherglare had appeared right after they were introduced to these new dragons.
But he didn't have the luxury of suspicion now.
"Alright fine! You say your parents knew my old man, well it's time to put that to the test," Natsu growled and cracked his knuckles. He jumped up onto the balls of his feet, "You won't get a better opportunity than now to prove it."
Natsu knew he could fight Motherglare, but in the past there was an instinctual fear he had for the dragoness. But strangely enough now, it was replaced by the purest of rage. He didn't know why, but he felt almost as if all the pain from his past had slowly been worked away. Like he could see her in his human form and not be crippled by the memories of her pushing him out of his family.
Perhaps it was because he had a new nest.
His eyes skittered over to Lucy before pulling up.
"What's it gonna be, fight now or bow out later?" He growled at them.
Sting and Rogue exchanged a look and nodded.
"We'll fight," Rogue answered.
Sting moved to Yukino, "Why don't you-"
She shook her head with a firm set of her jaw, refusing to listen to the rest of his words, which would undoubtedly be to tell her to go run and hide.
"I'll fight with Lucy," Yukino vowed and reached for her keys, "I'm not leaving."
Sting knew better than to argue with her when she used that tone so he nodded and quickly kissed her, "Be careful anyway." He rumbled and pulled back to join his twin and Natsu.
Further away they heard a bellow of outrage and a few moments later metal wings glinted in the sunlight as their owner flapped over the crowd to come join them with a girl tucked under each arm.
"Put me down Gajeel!" Levy huffed, squirming a bit in his grasp, "We've got work to do!"
Gajeel carefully set Levy and Wendy down, not caring what his scaled state looked like to the onlookers, "The hell is goin' on Salamander?" He growled.
"We're going to war." Natsu growled darkly, "Mother Glare wants a rematch and we're going to give it to her. And all her nestmates dumb enough to invade."
Gajeel snorted at that and glanced at the other pair of dragons, "I'm assumin' there's a reason Salamander's left you two alive, but I ain't got time to hear it now."
"We'll explain everything later." Rogue growled, "For now, let's deal with the problem at hand!"
He glanced at Sting and in moments patches of scales were forming as their wings unfurled from their backs while Pantherlily flew over to Natsu, "I'm not a dragon, but I can help you fly." The Exceed growled and slid his paws into place to carry Natsu into the fray.
"Thanks Lily!" Natsu looked over his shoulder at the Exceed holding him. The rumbling in the distance told him the dragons were getting closer, and even now his sharp eyes could pick out the snarling faces of the dragons approaching them rapidly.
Natsu slid his hand in Lucy's, his eyes meeting hers. He swallowed tightly and felt every ounce of her burning stare pouring into him. A smile worked over his face as she silently told him be careful.
"See ya soon Luce?" He asked.
You too he quietly urged.
"Yeah," She breathed in response, and Natsu released her hand. Nodding up at Lily, he and the rest of the dragons swiftly departed.
If it wasn't one thing, it was another.
He made a mental note to keep an eye on their two new allies. Hope that what they said was true kept him from doing anything against them, but that was all.
When had he gotten so soft, to fight alongside complete strangers and trust they wouldn't betray him? Natsu smothered a snort and an eye roll as he realized if he said such a thing in front of Lucy, she would probably chide him for being so rude. Sometimes it was okay to trust people.
Well, he didn't have a choice here.
He just hoped Lucy stayed safe.
Lucy watched anxiously as Natsu and the other dragons flew off. Her partner was screaming profanities at the top of his lungs, but she was still nervous. This wasn't an ordinary fight he was getting into. This was an all out war. If Motherglare won she would not stop until she'd hunted them all down, and destroyed them. And she didn't even want to think about what would happen to the rest of the people living in Natsu's territory.
However bad things had been when Natsu was at his worst, she had a suspicion Motherglare and her nest would be far worse.
"Don't worry Lucy!" Wendy exclaimed with cheerful confidence and a smile, "Natsu and Gajeel are drakes. They're much stronger than regular dragons. Even dragons like Motherglare."
"But there are more than four invading..." Lucy protested and jumped a little when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked over and found Levy watching her with the same worry, but firm determination overshadowing it.
"That's why we're here Lu." She said firmly, "We'll make sure that those guys know why Natsu never tangled with all of us at once!"
Lucy took a breath and nodded, a frown of determination crossing her own face, "Right. Let's go then."
Levy nodded, "We should meet up with Erza and Jellal. They're the ones coordinating the evacuation."
Lucy nodded and glanced at Yukino. The white haired woman didn't say anything, but she nodded back and fell into step alongside them as they raced to find the rest of Fairy Tail.
Dragons had the ability to change shape at will, but Natsu didn't seem to have control over it anymore. So Lucy was understandably worried when he was flying into battle with nothing more than his fists and Lily serving as a pair of makeshift wings.
"Where's Happy!" Lucy suddenly asked, turning towards Wendy. The young dragonslayer had been watching over the little exceed for the past couple of days for them, and she was concerned he was getting caught up in the battle. Jobs were one thing for a kitten, all out war was another.
"Happy and Carla are by the guild! Freed set up a protective barrier for them and the other kids right before we left," Wendy explained, her eyes wide.
"And why didn't you go into the barrier?" Lucy asked Wendy, who chewed her bottom lip. She mumbled something under her breath, but Lucy got the idea.
She wanted to protect her guild, to fight and become strong alongside her nest.
Even though she was still too young to transform, Wendy had the unique abilities of a sky dragon. And Lucy understood that Wendy would want to use those magical skills to assist her brothers.
"You're such a good girl Wendy," Lucy smiled, taking the girl's hand in her own and giving it a tight squeeze. Wendy's cheeks went red with pleasure over the praise, but she gave a determined nod in response to Lucy.
The women all ran to join the rest of the guild, all save Yukino who hesitated when she caught sight of a strange cloaked figure stalking behind them. Frowning, her memory tickled. Had she seen that man before?
Perhaps earlier, weaving in and out the festival crowds?
She wasn't sure. She hadn't really paid close attention to her surroundings earlier. She'd thought this was a simple country fair. Further into Natsu's territory than they'd wanted to go, but it had been the best option for anonymously resupplying before moving on. And then there had been her discovery.
However, now it was beginning to bother her.
She wasn't sure what it was, maybe Sting's caution was rubbing off on her more than she'd realized, but there was something distinctly off about their shadow.
He didn't move the way the other fair-goers were. Even when panicked. He moved like a predator. And that made her extremely nervous. Especially as he was closing in.
Her frown deepened as her instincts went off. Whatever this man was intending she didn't like it.
She turned, preparing to run to Lucy's side and warn her, but before she could get so much as a half a step the man, who had still been some distance back, was suddenly at her side.
"Disgusting." The man growled, looking down his nose at her even as he punched her firmly in the stomach knocking the wind out of her, "No human whore should bear the scent of dragon."
"You're lucky I don't have time to kill you the way you deserve." He spat, revealing a row of sharp teeth Yukino immediately recognized. Her eyes widened in horror as she suddenly realized who and what the man had to be.
However, when he let her go all she could do was drop to the ground coughing and wheezing as she tried to catch her breath.
She was helpless to do anything but watch as Lucy turned to look at her in concern while the man advanced, appearing to be part of the crowd around them.
"Yukino?" Lucy called, moving towards her, "Are you okay?"
"R-r..." She wheezed before another cough interrupted her attempt, and just like that it was too late.
All of a sudden the man shaped dragon burst into a flurry of motion as he grabbed hold of Lucy and scales and wings erupted from him.
Lucy let out a shout of alarm, trying to drive back on her heel to put some distance between her and her mystery attacker. However, the man ripped Lucy into the air like a rag doll, causing her to scream in terror as her feet left the ground too suddenly for her to put up a defense.
"Lucy!" Levy shouted. Her hand lifted, finger tracing words through the air to try and retrieve her friend. Once that dragon fully transformed, there would be no saving her.
But she hesitated on the word to use, because anything she could think of ran the risk of hurting Lucy too.
Then, out of nowhere, a golden shimmer that caught her attention, and Levy almost reeled back in shock when she caught sight of a celestial spirit forming. The magic was so rare, Levy had believed Lucy to be the only practitioner left after Angel.
Yukino was struggling back to her feet, an arm wrapped around bruised lungs and ribs, but her attention was upwards onto the dragon, "Can you catch her?"
"We need something to catch Lucy and push that guy away!" Yukino stood by the spirit she summoned, a woman with two scales dangling by her hands.
Wendy balled her hands into tiny fists and growled up at the dragon taking the queen of their nest away. "Leave the dragon to me!"
Levy was hesitant about that, but she began to write words through the air to catch her friend.
"Libra!" Yukino commanded, "Get Lucy out of that creep's hands!"
This was sure to only be a temporary solution, and they would be hard pressed to outrun a dragon. Especially one targeting Lucy for whatever reason...
But until they got to the rest of Fairy Tail, this was their only solution.
"Roger," The spirit intoned waving her hands and applying crushing pressure to Lucy's weight.
Lucy let out a shriek as she suddenly became too heavy for the dragon to hold onto in his partial form, and she went plummeting to the ground. Another pulse of magic washed over her, and her weight shifted to light as a feather at the last moment when she landed on a cloud formed by Levy's magic.
In fact, she was so light, she almost blew away when Wendy opened her mouth and let loose a powerful roar. Clearly she had watched Natsu in action a few too many times as she blew the roof of a building clear off in her haste to nail Lucy's would-be attacker.
Luckily, Wendy's aim was exceptional despite the roof and it nailed the escaping dragon squarely in the back.
Of course, coming from Wendy that meant it did little more than blast away a few scales and piss him off. But that wasn't the only effect.
Not far away Natsu and Gajeel were busy intercepting Motherglare and her forces, and didn't see their sister's roar. Sting, however, did.
He caught a glimpse of the blast out of the corner of his eye, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the half-transformed dragon behind them twisting around in midair to deal with the source. A source that could only be the hatchling they'd met earlier.
"Brother!" He called, catching Rogue's attention.
It only took the dark dragon a moment to assess the situation, "Go! I'll stay here!"
Sting nodded as he wheeled around and headed for the other dragon as fast as he could move. He caught back up just as the other dragon was winding up for a returning shot and swiped his foreclaw into him.
There was a very satisfying yelp of surprise as the enemy dragon was knocked out of the air and to the ground where Sting obligingly slammed his foot down on him.
"Going somewhere?" He rumbled.
"Half-breed!" The dragon beneath him snarled in disgust and his form began to billow out and swell, "I'm going to cut your claws from your body for even touching me!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah, dragon superiority, blah blah, insert witty quip here," Sting bent his body, shielding the women from the blows of the thrashing, transforming dragon.
A steely blue eye swept over to them, and where a disoriented Lucy was pushing herself to her feet. Growls tore through him as he saw how Yukino's arms were clutched around her chest, his nose brushing down to lightly nudge her.
"You okay?" He asked her softly.
"I'm fine," Yukino gasped, grateful beyond belief for Sting's interference. Against a dragon, there wasn't much just a few of them could do. Wendy, young as she was, had probably inflicted more damage to him than Libra.
"But they were after Lucy for some reason," She gasped, "I'm not sure why!"
Sting nodded, his attention returning back to the dragon who would be his opponent.
"Then lets find out shall we?" Sting growled and surged towards the other dragon, "Head back to the others! I'll keep this one busy!"
"Thanks Sting!" Lucy called gratefully as her equilibrium returned and tugged on Yukino's hand to get her moving.
Yukino started a little, but quickly got moving. They'd almost lost Lucy because she'd lagged, and she was determined not to let that happen again. She tried not to glance over her shoulder as the sound of enraged dragons roaring and snarling at each other erupted. She couldn't help it though when Sting's familiar roar burst out behind them.
Fortunately, her husband was proving that he did have a brain between his ears as he efficiently herded the other dragon away from the populace and towards Rogue's waiting claws. That was a relief. By themselves they were powerful dragons, but together the brothers were nearly unstoppable.
She smiled a bit before turning her attention back to the job at hand.
"How far away are your guildmates?" She asked a little breathlessly, the ache in her abdomen starting to make itself known more pointedly.
"Not far now." Levy replied as they rounded a corner, "We're here!"
Yukino heaved a sigh of relief as they were quickly surrounded by the Fairy Tail members. Some were demanding to know what had happened and who the white dragon was. Some were asking if they were all right. It was a confusing roar of words that made little sense to her after so long living on the road and in the country with just Sting and Rogue.
It was honestly a little overwhelming, and didn't help her pain any.
A light touch made her look down and she blinked as she saw Wendy staring at her in concern, "You're hurt." The little dragon said, "Let me heal it for you."
"Oh no!" She protested, "You shouldn't waste your magic..." But it was too late as the girl's hands glowed and pressed against her belly taking away the pain.
"You helped save Lucy." Wendy replied solemnly, "She's not your queen, but you fought for her anyway." She smiled, "Only nest does that. And I help my nest."
Yukino smiled at Wendy fondly, pressing her palm around the back of the girl's head and hugging her gently.
"Thank you for helping Yukino," Lucy moved in closer, "That jerk would have definitely carried me off if you hadn't had Libra help like you did."
Yukino accepted the gratitude even if she didn't find it necessary.
It didn't take a lot for Yukino to figure out why Lucy was the subject of the dragon's targets. She looked up at the sky where she could see the dragons clawing at one another in the sky. Even End's smaller form was marked by jets of flame and wild acrobatics.
This was his old nest attacking. And if they had met the other dragons before, like Yukino suspected they had, it didn't take a genius to figure out the partnership between End and Lucy.
If they wanted to hurt him, the best way to do it would be to hurt her.
It was a conclusion Sting had come to as well the more he listened to the vile things the dragon he and Rogue were fighting vomited up. Honestly, the things coming out of this dragon's mouth made him very glad that his father and Skiadrum had gotten out early.
It hadn't been easy, but he was grateful all the same.
He glanced at his brother, and they shared a moment of perfect agreement as they nodded to each other before stepping up together as one.
"White drive." He intoned as Rogue growled out a matching, "Shadow drive."
Light and dark flared around them as they moved to meld their magics together with the ease of long practice.
Normally they would've held off on this until later in the battle, but this pathetic lizard was keeping them from helping End and Black Steel in his rabid need to go after their queen.
That was not going to happen on their watch.
"Holy Shadow Dragon's Flash Fang!" They roared in unison, unleashing the extremely destructive force of their opposed but matching elements.
The resulting explosion actually had the other dragon's pausing in their respective fights for a moment as they watched the display. Natsu gaped a little as three figures dropped from it. One, limp and bleeding all over as it crashed to the ground with a hard thump. The other two light and dark heads recognizable as Sting and Rogue. It seemed the force of the explosion had reverted all three back into smaller forms.
"Gajeel!" He shouted urgently, but the metal dragon was already winging an intercept, and chuckled as he caught them.
"You brats sure you ain't drakes?" The iron dragon rumbled with a smirk as Sting and Rogue caught their breath. That display had been damned impressive, and he suddenly didn't mind the idea of them possibly joining their little nest nearly as much as before.
"Very sure." Sting chuckled as he climbed to his feet with the ease only a dragon would possess, "Thanks for the catch." He glanced at his brother and smirked, "You ready for round two?"
Rogue flashed a pointed grin in response and scales covered his body as wings erupted from his back, "Indeed."
Sting laughed as he called on his own wings and leapt back into the air. He glanced at the others and began expanding to his full size, effectively blocking the path of another dragon that had been trying to move around to get behind Natsu.
"Going somewhere?" He rumbled with a smirk, showing all of his many pointed teeth, "White Dragon Roar!"
Natsu shouted out his thanks and charged Motherglare with a roar. There was a deafening slam as the bodies of dragons impacted one another and tumbled into the meadow lands.
Fairy Tail was waiting there to unleash their particular brand of hell on the dragons that had dared to interrupt their vacation, and the moment the opportunity presented itself they didn't hesitate to spring into action.
Meanwhile, Natsu jettisoned himself and Lily forward, while Gajeel swung his heavily spiked tail into one of the smaller dragons. It would be a tight battle, but with Sting and Rogue on their side they stood a good chance, and Natsu couldn't help feeling a surge of pride at how strong his nest was.
More importantly, as he floated in front of Motherglare he felt the remnants of his years of isolation fall away. He was no longer haunted by his nestles existence. Because the fact of the matter was, he was no longer nestless. He had a family again. And suddenly being pushed from his old one didn't bother him. Why would it when his new one was so much superior?
He grinned wickedly as he remembered the way Lucy had talked about them building a superior nest. And the name she'd given them, but they hadn't really started using. Maybe now was a good time to start.
"Gajeel!" He called out to the iron dragon, swooping through the air, "I think it's about time we break in the new names Lucy gave us!"
"Gihi!" The dragon cackled, "I was thinkin' the same thing Salamander!"
"No time better than the present!" Natsu cackled after him, fire erupting from his feet as he slammed a fist against Motherglare's neck, watching with satisfaction as she shriekd in outrage and jerked bodily.
"You filthy little half-breed!" She snarled at him.
"Dragonslayer!" Natsu corrected her, a victorious smile breaking over his face, "Get it right you ugly slug!"
Lucy watched breathlessly as the dragonslayers earned their names. It was truly awe inspiring watching the titans clash even if her heart skipped in terror every time she caught a glimpse of Natsu's tiny form flitting around thanks to Pantherlily's help.
"Look alive Lucy!" Erza commanded, "We've got more incoming!"
Lucy pulled her eyes away from the sight in time to see more of those little metallic pods descend from Motherglare and scowled. As if they weren't already having a difficult time.
"Got it!" She called back and pulled out a key, "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"
"You called princess?" Virgo asked with a slight bow.
"You bet I did!" Lucy replied and pointed to the incoming robots or whatever they were, "It's punishment time Virgo! Take them out!"
"Right away princess!" Virgo replied, a faint gleam of sadistic pleasure glinting in her eyes for a moment as she headed for the first of them.
"Let me help!" Yukino cried and slashed her own key, calling for Libra again, "Libra!" She commanded, gesturing to where Virgo was drilling holes and tearing constructs apart.
"Yes." The spirit agreed and leapt after her counterpart. Moments later scores of the things were flattened from where she'd raised the gravity.
"Thanks!" Lucy called over gratefully only to look up when the ground shook from the force of an explosion, and her eyes widened in shock as Motherglare fell from the sky in a roaring inferno.
She couldn't help but stare as Natsu landed in the flames, standing astride Motherglare as if she were some kind of trophy. His fists were curled at his sides and he breathed out heavily.
Lucy watched feathery wings open in the air around him. She knew they were caused by Lily, but from her angle she could not see his small body latched on Natsu's back.
But with his shirt in tatters, his scarf whipping around his neck, and fire engulfing his winged body, for the first time since she met him - she thought he looked a lot like the demon he claimed was part of his heritage.
It never came up before, but in that moment she could truly see it.
In her world, the old scriptures said devils were fallen angels, handsome and alluring to mortals.
Lucy could see why.
Though Natsu was a far cry from being evil these days despite his snarling at times. A fact she was extremely grateful for.
With Motherglare felled, the remaining dragons all began to think twice about their fights. One by one, they all began to back down, circling away and swiftly retreating.
Natsu threw his head back and let out a bellowing roar of victory, throwing his fists into the air. It was loud enough Lucy could feel it vibrate in her ribs.
"They did it," Lucy breathed, looking around herself happily.
Natsu's roar was quickly joined by the other dragons. Even Wendy, working overtime to heal injuries, paused to let out an answering triumphant roar of her own as the humans in the crowd cheered.
Lucy smiled broadly and began rushing towards Natsu, Yukino half a step behind her as she made for Sting, and laughed when he leapt down off Mother Glare's back to greet her.
"You did it!" She crowed and nearly tackled him in a hug. The moment his arms wrapped warmly around her she felt the knot of tension and worry in her finally unravel. He was alive and at least relatively unharmed.
That was more than good enough for her.
She squeezed him tightly, silently telling him how worried she'd been and how happy she was now. It was a squeeze he returned and when they pulled apart he was grinning proudly.
She couldn't blame him either. He'd beaten one of his childhood demons and defended their home.
"You two ain't bad in a fight." Gajeel rumbled to the twins while Natsu and Lucy clung to each other, having shifted down with them when Sting went to greet Yukino, "For not bein' drakes anyway."
"Gajeel!" Levy scolded as she and the rest of the guild joined them, "Would it kill you to be a little polite?"
"Maybe." The iron dragon smirked, enjoying the look on her face when he did.
"Hey! What's that even supposed to mean, huh?" Sting grouched. He yelped as he was dragged backwards by his ear, Rogue the guilty party.
"He means to say thanks," The dark dragon translated for his protesting brother.
He shifted nervously under Gajeel's steady stare, hoping the iron dragon was in as good a mood as he looked. His arm was slung over the shoulder of the petite looking human, but he looked absolutely at peace considering he had bitten a massive chunk out of one of the retreating dragons.
They all had their fair share of injuries, but Rogue was immensely impressed by the resilience shown by both of the Fairy Tail dragons.
"So, uh... does that mean we passed?" Rogue asked hesitantly.
Natsu shrugged dismissively, "Sure. Why not. You didn't mess up bad enough to kill us, so I guess I should be grateful."
Lucy rolled her eyes a little, "That's Natsu speak for you're welcome to stay." She smiled at them, "You should consider asking to join Fairy Tail too! We get a lot of interesting work, and I'm sure you'd be welcome."
"Indeed." Erza agreed, giving the trio a friendly smile, "We would certainly enjoy having two more dragonslayers and another celestial wizard in our ranks."
The three stared at their new nestmates and future guildmates in shock for a moment before Sting erupted into a celebratory roar that spilled over to him happily spinning Yukino around while Rogue smiled in satisfaction. They didn't quite understand what a 'dragonslayer' was, but they could figure it out by context.
"Now... let us enjoy the remainder of the festival shall we?" Erza suggested.
And they did. Despite having to clean up the battlefield it was a good vacation.
But they lost their reward money.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! :D I'll be sending out your responses in a little bit! No sneak peak this time, but I hope you guys enjoy a RIDICULOUSLY LONG CHAPTER. (I mean seriously this thing is ginormous.)
Also, I want to give a special thanks to AJDrakes for giving us BEAUTIFUL ART FROM CHAPTER 37! She illustrated THE scene! THAT ONE. YOU GUYS KNOW THE ONE.
It's rated N for naughty, so avert your eyes! But here is the link! Just replace the X's with periods! mslead(X)tumblr(X)com/post/134435186842/ajdrakes-i-finished-coloring-it-this-is-a