ACT 4
WE COMBINED CHAPTERS... SO-
WHO KNOWS?
59
Starship Troopers
"The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion"
― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
Zeref's eyes snapped open as the precious connection between him and Natsu snapped dissolved as if it had never been.
He'd felt Lucy pushing at it from the outside, and had initially laughed at her efforts, but the girl had more power than he'd realized and by the time he'd discovered he was in true danger of losing his only current link to Natsu it was too late. He hadn't been able to push enough power through to stop her.
He growled as he got to his feet, fury welling in him.
How dare she!
How dare that empty-headed blond come between him and his brother!
He'd planned to keep her alive, due to Natsu's attachment to her, but that was in the past.
Lucy Heartfilia was too dangerous to be allowed to live.
It would no doubt hurt Natsu, but it was for the best. Just like with Igneel. He would make sure Natsu understood. Tartaros had a tank waiting for just that purpose. But first, he would destroy that insignificant town and the woman who had so confused his brother.
It was her fault. All of it. And he was going to make her pay.
He stormed out of the throne room, "Mard Geer!" He snapped, the demon coming to attention briskly at his master's word, "Set a course for Magnolia. My wayward brother has proved he will not come to me. Therefore we must go to him."
He turned a hard look on the demon, "Level anyone or anything that gets in our way."
"Right away Master Zeref!" Mard Geer purred, uncertain what had made his creator so angry, but more than happy to follow his instructions.
Mard Geer approached Zeref, keeping himself out of the way in favor of keeping him happy, "May I ask what our target is?"
The black wizard did not answer at first. Instead he turned towards the window, watching as the ground rolled out of sight under their flying vessel. Grimiore Heart and Tartaros. Both remained under his command even though Fairy Tail had taken the Oracian Seis from him.
"I believe I just told you what our target was," Zeref's eyes flamed red.
Outside, heavy clouds began to form, a forewarning of their approach and the force of Zeref's anger.
"Magnolia. Fairy Tail," Zeref's eyes narrowed, "This time there will be no mercy. No plans. Just utter destruction. We will bring that guild and town to its knees. Only my brother and Lucy will be spared."
"The girl m'lord?" Mard Geer asked, his eyes wide.
Zeref nodded, his hands locking behind his back, "Yes. We will keep Miss Heartfilia alive just long enough to see Natsu at his rightful place. As my right hand, and the head of Tartaros."
"His intended spot all along?" Mard Geer nodded, "And then we kill her?"
Zeref nodded.
"Only after she's suffered, will she be permitted to die."
-::-
Lucy sneezed.
"Ew Lucy! That's gross!" Happy crowed from where he was flying overhead, a bandana tied over his fur and a broom in his tiny paws.
"Sorry Happy!" Lucy coughed, tucking her nose under her shirt as she waved around a pile of dust from getting into her eyes, "There's just so much dirt in here! When was the last time you cleaned Natsu?"
The dragon was hefting a pile of paintings over his head and he shrugged at Lucy, an oblivious smile on his face.
"Uh, never?" He answered, more question than statement.
Lucy sighed and shook her head, "Is there some kind of cosmic law that says men and boys have to be slobs?"
"Would you like me to punish him princess?"
Lucy yelped at Virgo's sudden appearance, "Virgo! What are you doing here?"
"I thought you might like some refreshment princess." The spirit replied without changing expression, and gestured to the large table groaning with food and drink she'd somehow brought with her.
"How did you even-?" Lucy started only to be interrupted by Natsu's excited shout as he flung the paintings to the side and dashed over to the table.
"Aw man, this looks great!" He drooled, and grabbed a large piece of steaming meat, "Thanks Virgo! You're the best!"
"Oi! Don't go hoggin' it Salamander!" Gajeel growled as he stomped up with the rest of the nest and snatched a piece of his own.
"Oh yeah... we have dragons." Lucy sighed, "I forgot."
Yukino giggled lightly and dropped a hand on Lucy's shoulder, "We should join them before it's all gone."
Lucy nodded, thinking that despite the frequent clashes, and whining, this was actually a lot of fun with the whole nest involved. Natsu was still growling about how they shouldn't get any ideas or anything, but she could tell it was mostly for show.
The sight of Wendy's wide, hopeful, eyes alone had probably done more to make him cave than anything she could've done. Which was probably why he'd agreed to let them help clean the place up at all.
It helped that not even Gajeel had so much as looked covetously at a single gold coin of Natsu's. At least not for more than a few moments. It seemed that the prospect of a real nest-home was enough to keep even usual dragon greed in check.
Which amused her greatly.
They were all looking at places in the nest which would satisfy their needs, but none of it really made sense to Lucy. They could clean this place forever and never get anywhere.
At least Natsu had managed to consolidate some of the space in his hoard by melting down some of his gold coin into bars.
Then Lucy had helped him budget out what they would need to make the place habitable, insisting on fully functional and modern bathrooms. Which had not been a great struggle really. Even Natsu had to admit he had grown fond of running water and indoor plumbing.
So everyone laughed and shouted and pulled at one another's hair as they all ate and got back to work. Gajeel lifted Wendy up onto his shoulders so she could blow dust from the rafters.
Sting and Natsu burned away blockages, while Rogue slunk into hard to reach, shadowed spaces to dust.
When they were finally done for the day, they headed outside the hoard and looked up at the sky.
"Looks like it's going to storm," Yukino observed.
The dragons shifted restlessly, specifically Wendy who felt the wind's breeze and shook her head.
"It doesn't smell like rain," she murmured.
"That's cause it ain't rain." Gajeel growled, disbelief and a touch of actual fear in his voice, "That's somethin' way worse."
"What is it?" Wendy asked in confusion only to squeak with surprise when Gajeel picked her up.
"We gotta get to the guild as fast as possible!"
It was Lucy's turn to yelp in surprise as Natsu picked her up, scales already appearing on his skin, "Wait! What's going on? Gajeel what is that stuff?"
But it wasn't Gajeel who answered her. It was Natsu.
"Zeref." He growled lowly, angrily, "That's Zeref's cloud. And you can bet Tartaros is right in the middle of it."
He spread his wings and flew off as fast as he could go back to Magnolia and Fairy Tail. They were about to have a fight the likes of which hadn't been seen since the end of the Celestial War on their hands.
Fortunately, Fairy Tail hadn't been idle since Zeref's return. They'd always known they might have to face another attack like they had with the Oracion Seis, and had worked hard to prepare for it as best they could.
He landed lightly in front of the guild door and gently set Lucy down before slamming his way inside, "Trouble gramps!" He roared, no humor in his expression as he stalked forward, "Zeref and Tartaros are on their way."
He growled softly, "We spotted his cloud."
"Then it looks like our fight is just beginning," Makarov said gravely. He looked at the dragons who were still dressed in their cleaning clothes.
"We'll meet him head on then. Something tells me that Zeref is not in the mood for trickery," Makarov headed outside, the rest of the guild on his heels.
"Mira, call Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale. We might find ourselves in need of their help," He sighed and looked up, "It's now time for us to fight to protect our guild. We knew this was coming."
He glanced at his guild members, "We have enjoyed peace for a long time brats! Now it's time to fight to keep it!"
There was an answering roar of agreement and the guild members broke apart to scatter and man their defenses. This is something they had planned for a while. So now It was time to put it into action.
Wendy tugged at Lucy's sleeve while everyone scrambled to get to their positions and begin final preparations, "Lucy..." She said nervously, "I need to give you something."
Lucy blinked in surprise at Wendy and tilted her head slightly, wondering what it could be and why she would be so nervous, "What is it?"
Wendy reached under her shirt and pulled out a chain, and Lucy's eyes widened as she recognized the golden key dangling from the end of it, "Wendy..."
"It... It was Grandina's." Wendy said tremulously, "She told me I had to protect it, and I have, but we're about to fight and all those demons are after you. We don't know what they can do and Sagittarius is the best archer..."
She cut off as Lucy's hands dropped gently on her shoulders, "Wendy, you don't have to do this." She smiled, "I know how much that treasure means to you, and I'm honored, but it's okay if you don't want to give up your mother's key."
Wendy sniffed a little, tears forming in her eyes, "But that's just it Lucy!" She exclaimed, "You, and Levy, and Yukino and everyone have been there for me since you found me! You took me in and gave me a nest! You're the nicest queen I've ever seen!"
She hugged the celestial mage tightly, "I can't stand the idea of something happening to you!" She pulled back and held out the key, "So please! Let me help you for a change!"
Lucy felt a lump rise in her throat and she nodded as she closed her hand around the key and hugged Wendy tight, "Thank you Wendy." She murmured, "I promise I'll take really good care of him."
Natsu dropped his hand onto Wendy's head and gave her a crooked grin, "Thanks Wendy. That's going to help out a lot." He grinned at Lucy.
"Think there's enough time to make a contract before our guests arrive?" He smirked up at them.
The sky was rapidly darkening, and he curled his fingers into fists. Maybe they wouldn't have as much time as they would have preferred, but that was alright.
"I think it'll have to wait," Lucy said tensely. The ground began to tremble and shake under their feet as the guild came close.
"We're up against Tartaros and Grimoire Heart, this is going to be a tough one," Gajeel growled.
"Scared?" Gray smirked at the iron dragon, who scowled in response.
"As if," He grinned fiercely.
"Alright!" Natsu roared as the cube appeared on the horizon, just within sight, "I'm all fired up now!"
So, it seemed, was the enemy.
A very familiar ship took off from the surface of Tartaros as it neared the outskirts of the town, and Lucy repressed a shiver at the memory of that ship and the people on it.
She and Yukino glanced at each other, and worlds of understanding passed between them. Never again. They were not going to allow that ship to terrorize them or anyone else ever again. They would see it blown sky high first.
"Looks like Zeref's sending out his cannon fodder." Jellal growled, "Get ready! Grimoire Heart consists of a few very strong members and large numbers of weak ones they use as cannon fodder!"
"Sounds like fun!" Natsu growled with a dark smirk.
It was true he hated full on war with a passion and had since the Celestial War, but he was itching for some payback for these jerks. Especially that asshole Rusty Rose for what he'd done to Lucy.
He'd never had the chance to settle things, and he really wanted to.
It seemed Grimoire Heart was just as eager as dozens of capsules dropped from the ship.
The battle had begun.
-::-
It was war, just as Gajeel remembered. The sting of metal in his mouth as he spat out rush after rush of shrapnel at the attacking forces.
Levy was a godsend, replenishing the dragon's magic with hastily scribbled out words, leaving several hunks of iron for Gajeel to sink his teeth into when he tired.
But it was dangerous, and there were threats on every side.
The entire guild of Fairy Tail struck back against their enemy. There was no time to be gentle or kind. Had Gajeel gotten his way, he would have transformed and begun attacking.
But there was no point yet into making himself a large target, much less risking stepping on his allies. They didn't have the advantage of being made out of metal.
A rush of air passed by Gajeel, and he whipped his head around as he caught sight of Natsu vaulting over a broken wall and slamming his fist into the face of someone who had just shot at him.
"Sloppy Gajeel!" Natsu cackled and ran off, ignoring at the way the other dragon rolled his eyes.
"Whatever," Gajeel grumbled, lifting his head and sniffing.
He had to get on board that ship. He had a feeling there was something inside which could eliminate their enemy.
"You up for a trip shrimp?" He called out to Levy. The woman glanced around at him, her hand reaching out into his and she nodded.
"Good! Lily!" Gajeel shouted, beckoning the Exceed over who was locked in battle of his own.
"Grab a hold of Levy! We're goin' hunting up above!" Gajeel shouted, his wings forming and snapping open on his back.
He shifted his weight and pressed into the air, Lily snagging a surprised Levy and flying after him, "All of their forces are on the ground! Their defense should be smaller up ahead!"
"Don't be so sure," Gajeel growled back to the feline, "We still have Tartaros to contend with."
-::-
Lucy spared a worried glance after Levy as she and Gajeel flew off towards that hated ship, but her vision was almost immediately obstructed by the sight of a goat man landing in front of her.
She couldn't read his expression very well, especially with the weird triangle sunglasses he had on, but she could certainly see the glare behind them. And feel it. It was as if whoever this guy was, who felt oddly familiar, had a special hatred for her for some reason.
"Well... one of the celestial mages." The man goat said, baaing slightly, "Tell me, have you ever heard of taboo?"
Lucy blinked, not sure what he was even talking about, when Leo suddenly appeared in front of her, "Wait what? Leo?"
"Lucy," Leo said tensely as he crouched for battle, "I need you to leave this one to me."
"What? Why?" Lucy protested, completely confused. It wasn't often Leo showed up unannounced like this now that they were contracted, and his sudden appearance startled her.
"Please Lucy!" Leo exclaimed, "Just go! I came on my own so I wouldn't drain your magic. I have this, and there are a lot of other enemies."
"I can't just let you fight on your own!" Lucy replied, getting her whip ready, only to pause when Leo shot a fierce look over his shoulder.
"Lucy there isn't time! Please! Just trust me on this!"
Lucy blinked and nodded. Whatever this was, it was obviously deeply personal to Leo, and she trusted him with her life.
"Enough of this!" The goat-man baaed, and launched some kind of attack that Leo blocked. Lucy didn't like it, but she took the moment to run as Leo had asked her to. Whatever was going on she hoped he was okay, and that he was willing to talk later.
Because she definitely wanted some answers.
There was no use squabbling over the details though, and Lucy turned and sprinted off. She ran in the direction she thought she last had seen Natsu disappear, and nearly got nailed by Natsu himself as a crystal ball dragged his body through the air and his limbs went windmilling around. He slammed into the wall of the guild, the bricks shaking and crumbling down around him.
"Natsu!" Lucy shouted in alarm, but the demon-dragon sat up, bits of broken brick and dust flying from his hair. He whipped around and gave the floating crystal ball which had just tenderized his face a deeply offended glare.
"Why you little-" Natsu snarled and jumped to his feet, slamming his fist into his palm, "I'm going to break that damn thing into a thousand irreparable pieces."
He snarled and slammed his fist into it, making true to his word as it burst under his strike like a grape.
But much to Lucy's surprise, the pieces froze in mid-fall before repairing themselves all at once until the crystal ball floated before Natsu once more, whole and new.
And it slammed straight into his gut again.
Wheezing, Natsu managed to catch the ball in his hands before it tries to fully crush his lungs, his eyes flashing with hot anger, "Ultear!"
He managed to twist himself to the side and scramble back up to his feet as he dodged the ball coming after him with deadly accuracy. And over the roaring of battle, Lucy thought she heard feminine laughter.
Her thought was brought to fruition when a woman she had seen only twice before rose from the roof of the guild. She was beautiful, with painted red lips and dark hair that fell in straight, silken locks around her pretty face.
By her side was a girl with pink curls of hair and headphones, and on the other was a man with glasses and a pompadour. A shiver ran down Lucy's spine at the sight of him.
That one. Rusty Rose. She remembered him all too vividly.
"Three of the Seven kin, right here and all for me?" Natsu purred at them, "Must be my lucky day!"
"Two!" Lucy stepped up, bringing Natsu's attention to her for the first time. He blinked at her uncomprehendingly.
"You have Two of the Seven Kin. Rusty Rose is mine," Lucy clarified fiercely, her eyes focusing on the gray haired man.
Natsu gave her a long look, opening his mouth to complain, but seemed to think better of it after a moment.
"Fine, suit yourself. I guess Ultear and Meredy will be enough of a workout for me," Natsu turned his attention on the two woman.
Before he could lunge into combat against them though, a new hand reached out and yanked hard on his scarf, nearly strangling the dragon mid-jump.
"HERK!"
The chilly gaze of Gray met him, Juvia by his side.
"These two are ours," Gray's eyes were locked on Ultear, "This is a personal fight."
"And Juvia will take on Meredy," Juvia insisted, her eyes locked on the pink haired girl beside Ultear. She extended her arms, water swirling to life from her limbs.
"You're sidelining me?" Natsu growled incredulously. He whined at the thought, but his eyes flashed up to the ship.
"Yeah ya pyro. Go fight Zeref or something. Mavis only knows we have more than enough enemies to fight, so go occupy your time or something," Gray said shortly.
Gray's eyes locked on Ultear, "Lamia Scale will be here soon. Lyon will be more than happy to see you, sister."
Natsu's eyes widened at the discovery that Ultear was Gray's sister. No wonder he said it was personal! As reluctant as he was to just give up a fight he already had called dibs on… he knew better than to stick around. Not when he had his own battles to fight.
He snorted while Ultear stared down her nose at her brother, "You better not lose Dairy Queen. You're already embarrassing enough."
He waited just long enough to flash Gray a cheeky smirk when he turned to shoot a glare at him and ran off. Lucy, Gray, and Juvia would be fine.
Gray snorted derisively at Natsu's back, "Yeah whatever loser." He muttered, and turned his glare back onto Ultear, who seemed thoroughly amused by the byplay.
"How adorable." She purred, looking down her nose at him, "My pitiful little brother has made a friend with the demon dragon!"
Gray's eyes narrowed, "You're not going to get away with this Ultear!" He snarled, "I'm not going to let you disgrace our parent's memories anymore!"
Ultear's eyes widened and a crazed look entered them as she flung her orb at him, "You of all people do not get to speak of them!" She screamed.
Gray growled as he dodged the impact and launched his own attack at her. This was not going to be easy. Not by a long shot. And it made him glad that Lyon was on his way. He was sure he could beat her alone, but it would probably completely drain him doing so. And that was not good considering Tartaros was waiting in the wings.
"Hey watch it Gray!" Lucy yelped indignantly as she had to dodge one of his stray lances, "Friendly fire!"
Gray cringed, "Sorry Lucy!" He called, immediately re-formulating his plans, but Lucy paid no attention. Her focus was squarely on the foppish looking jerk in front of her.
"I've been waiting to meet you one on one Rusty Rose!" She growled furiously as she pulled out a key, "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"
She was tempted to throw everything at him. To make him pay thoroughly for what he'd done to her. But caution told her not to spend all of her energy at once if she could help it. She was going to need every scrap of it if she was going to survive the battle to come.
-::-
The battle on the ground was chaos. The guild was split up and thinned out no matter how hard they tried to stay in something resembling a formation. But as it turned out, Fairy Tail was meant to thrive in chaos.
So when their reinforcements arrived in the form of Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Mermaid Heel, the first wave of Grimoire Heart's attack had already been beaten back.
With the exception of the Seven Kin.
During her fight with Rusty Rose, Lucy managed to catch a glimpse of the sky darkening further in a single patch as Jellal unleashed a heavenly body spell against a man who rooted himself in the earth, and wondered momentarily how bad his fight had to be to unleash that spell.
And she was astonished when a soft glow appeared at her hip, and a quick glance revealed a new key suddenly sitting warmly at her side. She could practically taste Leo's sense of tired satisfaction radiating from his key, and realized that it had to have had something to do with his battle with the goat man. Which meant he must've won, and with his victory, a new key gleamed from her belt.
She was forced to dismiss both thought and observation a moment later though as she had to dodge another of her opponent's attacks. She growled slightly in frustration as she climbed back to her feet again. The Seven Kin were a considerably harder to defeat than she'd realized, and it wasn't long before Lucy found herself wishing for some help against him.
Fortunately, that help quickly appeared in the form of Elfman and Evergreen. The two had been knocked back already, but Lucy had to admit Evergreen and Elfman worked surprisingly well together. It was a combination she never would have imagined.
Unfortunately, their luck could only stretch so far, and Lucy was soon left facing the man who could bring his imagination literally to life alone once again. This time, however, she was not going to back down. Somewhere between watching Elfman and Evergreen fight for her, and seeing how hard the others were fighting, something in her had snapped.
"You disgraced my mom's memory," Lucy snapped, her temper flaring. It was oddly reminiscent of Natsu's own anger, and she thought perhaps some of his fire had rubbed off on her.
That was fine.
No, in fact it was perfect.
Her anger gave her strength and she used it to focus her mind on what she wanted to do. She'd never done this outside of training, but she could not think of a better time than now to do it. Rusty Rose was going to pay, and she was going to make sure he paid hard.
She pulled out her final key, "Open!" She growled, "Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
She waited a moment for the bull to arrive, never taking her eyes off her target, as he went through his usual ogling, "Taurus!" She snapped, catching his attention, and flared her magic around her, "Taurus Form!"
She could sense Taurus' surprise that she was going to try activating his stardress now, but the moment passed quickly and he eagerly lent her the strength and power she was asking for. Their opponent had clearly made his mistress very angry, and that was more than enough reason to give her everything he had.
Lucy flashed him a smile as the dress settled over her form, and she pulled her whip taut, "Alright Rusty Rose! You are going down!"
The sleazy looking dark mage huffed derisively, "Please! As if such pathetic magic could harm one of the Seven Kin!"
He never got the chance to continue as an irate Lucy lashed her whip down between them, causing the ground to rupture, and sending him flying unexpectedly.
"You were saying?" Lucy replied quietly, almost calmly if it weren't for the fire burning in her eyes.
Rusty Rose paled a little, but quickly leapt back to his feet with a scowl and pressed his hands to his temples, "We'll see how well your pretty new clothes can last against my Arc of Embodiment."
"Kick his ass Lucy!" Evergreen called from where she and Elfman were still recovering from his Tower of Dingir.
Lucy nodded once as she and Taurus spun into combat in perfect sync.
Never was Lucy more grateful for the lessons she had with her spirits, Jellal and Natsu. She remembered Jellal's wise words about keeping her footing, Leo's advice on channeling her magic, and Natsu's hands-on approach of teaching.
He always said doing the actions was more effective than learning any theory and had always lunged right into the steps with her. Of course it resulted in bruised pride more often than not, but having Natsu wrestle with her in the past made it so fighting a powderpuff like Rusty Rose was much easier.
For all of his power, he was no dragon.
And Lucy used that to her advantage. She opened a gate under her feet, dropping down on top of him and wrapping him with her whip. Before he could retaliate with his magic, she used the momentum from her gate to cannon him into the ground, using the full strength of her stardress.
The earth cracked satisfyingly under her throw, and Rusty Rose found himself buried in the dirt from the waist down. His body twitched and went limp.
Lucy panted out a breath, staring at the rear of the man who had sullied the memory of her mother.
And she thought he was very small.
Lucy wondered for the moment, if taking revenge like this against Rusty Rose was comparable to how Natsu felt all those years ago when he burned the magic council or took methodical revenge on those who had abused him over the years.
She looked at her spirit and smiled. No. It was different still, despite the malicious pride she felt in kicking Rusty's ass.
Even without her mom by her side, Lucy wasn't alone.
"Thank you Taurus," Lucy gave him a happy look and released the star dress, staggering a little.
Elfman hefted up Rusty Rose, plucking him out of the dirt like he would a weed, "You go catch up with the others Lucy. I'm going to drop this jerk off with Freed so he can start making a cell to contain these losers."
Lucy nodded, "Thanks Elfman." She replied and glanced around the battlefield for any sign of Natsu. She knew there was no way he wasn't fighting one of the Kin. The question was which one.
She staggered a bit as the ground suddenly shook and a column of flame erupted from the earth.
"When in doubt follow the flaming destruction." She muttered to herself in mingled amusement and exasperation and took off in that direction.
She honestly wasn't sure how much help she would be after her own fight, but she wasn't about to stay where she was without knowing. Fortunately, by the time she got there it was clear Natsu had everything well in hand. She found him sitting on top of a pile of debris, under which a snobby looking guy with a blue braid could be seen, and cackling loudly.
"So judging by the level of destruction, and how badly that guy is beat up... I'd say you had fun." She smirked at him, well aware by now of how he classed 'fun' in situations like this.
"Lucy!" Natsu gasped happily, and leapt lightly off his impromptu mountain to rush over and inspect her, "Wow! You look like you had some fun too!" He grinned broadly, "How's Rusty Rose?"
Lucy grinned fiercely, "Thrashed and being taken to Freed by Elfman for containment!" She reached up to kiss him lightly, "And I managed to unlock my stardress in the process."
Natsu's eyes widened, "Seriously?"
He knew that was a major achievement for her. In the past she'd had difficulty holding it for more than a few moments. To be able to call it up long enough to use it in battle was really impressive.
His grin broadened at her nod and spun her around happily, "That's great Luce! I knew you could do it!"
Blue Note took that moment to groan and try to make his way out of his debris pile, but was quickly disabused of that notion when Natsu flashed him a dark look over his shoulder and blasted another ground quaking column of fire at him.
He craned his head back as the man went flying, his expression bored as he watched him sail off.
"Dunno what that guy's problem was. He was obsessed with flying," Natsu turned his attention back to Lucy, a fangy grin on his face.
"Looks like you gave him his wish," Lucy watched in shock. It really astounded her the depth of Natsu's power sometimes. He seemed to be growing into it nicely. Or rather, he always had it, but since being sealed by Lucy, Natsu had been reduced back to training wheels. Reigniting his inner dragon seemed to have done wonders for him. Although it did leave Lucy a little worried about what that meant when they faced Zeref.
"Maybe," Natsu grinned and wrapped an arm around her, "I think it's time we make our way to the top, don't you? No need to waste our time with the small fry, right?"
Lucy nodded firmly although she wasn't sure what he classified as 'small fry' and held her keys to her hip, "Yeah. I saw Gajeel and Levy head up there earlier. I think they probably need help too. They went straight for Tartaros and it's been a while!"
Natsu's hands flattened around Lucy's waist and he met her eyes, "Going up then?"
She watched wings break free from his back, ruby scales flashing in the light of his fires as they appeared on tan skin. She wrapped her arms around his neck. As usual she was unafraid of him in whatever form he took.
His knees bent and he pushed up through the air, wings flapping through the air with Lucy guarded in his arms, "Alright! Let's go kick their ass!" He let out a laughing roar.
But Lucy could look at his eyes and tell Natsu was grimly serious. Just ahead was Zeref.
Zeref and the rest of Tartaros.
Of course, between them and Tartaros was Hades and his ship.
And here we are again. IT'S THE FIIIIIIIINAL COUNT DOOOOOOOOWN. *wiggles eyebrows* We're almost done guys. Please keep hanging in there and telling us what you like or don't like! We're counting on you all :'D *blows kisses*
He could hear the sound of straining and snapping metal and splintering wood and other less identifiable sounds, and narrowed his eyes, "Sounds like Gajeel's hogging all the fun for himself!" He fumed, "That jerk!"
Before Lucy could reply he began flapping towards the ship as fast as he could go, but no sooner had he gotten within range than something burst from inside. It was... a metal dragon tail?
Lucy's eyes bugged out, "Is he seriously transforming while inside that thing?!" She yelped.
It seemed he was.
The tail lashed, bashing chunks of the hull to bits in the process, while a gigantic metal leg kicked through the bottom and the whole thing rolled crazily as the metal drake inside smashed his way out.
"Uh oh," Natsu squeaked right before Gajeel's tail caught him on the side and he went spinning into one of his metal wings. Both he and Lucy screamed in terror and surprise as they went rolling down it and splatted right onto Gajeel's back.