AN: Sorry that it's a couple of days late, I had to work some overtime and then decided I needed to sleep instead of write.
Hope everyone had a wonderful day with their families on Mother's Day.
Enjoy. =]
Rogue POV
"Lucy, are you alright?" I yelled as I leaned over the edge of the building, only to see Lucy sprawled out on the unstable ledge below. When she didn't give an immediate response to my worried shouts I began climbing down to where she was. Feeling how my slightest movement made the ground beneath me, groan in protest I hoped that the wall I was on would hold underneath my weight. Gingerly stepping onto the balcony where Lucy was I froze when I heard it creak at the additional weight. "Lucy?" I whispered. Bearing down all of my weight on the ledge, I crawled to where she was lying face down. Gently feeling her neck for a pulse I was relieved when I felt it, but it was faint, too faint.
Running my hands over her I felt no apparent injury, and was confused as to why her pulse was so weak. There was no scent of blood coming from her and I hadn't heard any bones break on impact. "Urgg, Rogue?" She asked opening her eyes, only to close them when the light invaded. Darkening the immediate area with my shadows I told her to open her eyes. "That's better." She smiled when she saw my face, bringing one palm to my cheek. "I'm so glad you're okay, I was so worried."
"I'm sorry I left without telling you, I needed to get my head screwed on straight. I fully intended on returning."
"That's okay, I'm just glad you're here now." She whispered before she began coughing.
"Are you okay? What hurts?"
Patting my cheek with her hand she gave a small laugh. "Calm down Rogue, I'm fine. I probably inhaled some of the dust during my fall." When she tried to get up she fell back down, collapsing back onto her back. "…must have used a little more magic getting to you than I had thought…Help me up, please." Pulling her up on unstable legs I dragged her into my chest and hugged her.
"How did you know that we needed you?"
"Oh Mavis! I completely forgot, we got a call from the guild earlier, saying that Minerva was badly injured and that they needed our help. I don't know who called, but we have to find them. Wendy is here so she can easily heal Minerva depending on the injuries. Have you found anybody?"
"I saw some people earlier, behind where I was, but a flash of lightening appeared and then they disappeared."
"That must have been Laxus. Master sent him here as soon as we got to the guild this morning, if you can find him amid all of this smoke he can help you look for Minerva, Orga, and Rufus if you haven't already found them." She said, stepping away from me to test out her balance, smiling at me when she was no longer wobbling. "See all better."
Giving a couple experimental sniffs I took in the overpowering scent of the fire and smoke, and tried to sort through it all to find Laxus scent. Normally it would only take a couple of seconds to find a someone I knew was nearby, but because of the circumstances it took me a minute until I was able to get a lock on him. Turning to where the training yard had been I saw that most of equipment had been destroyed and blasted away in the fight, leaving plenty of space for Lucy's friends to make, what I assumed was a make shift infirmary, due to the strong metallic scent of blood coming from there.
Climbing off of the ledge with Lucy's whip, we made our way over the rubble to the infirmary. If it hadn't been for the occasional burst of fire, or light coming from the other side of the building I would have assumed the fight had ended because surprisingly no one was attacking the infirmary, at least not yet. Not seeing the three amid the mess of cots, I approached one of the few conscious patients lying there under tattered blankets. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"They came so fast, faster than we could have ever imagined. One moment we were all in the guild like we always are watching Minerva pick on a recruit and the next she has a sword sticking out of her abdomen. The strange thing is that we never even saw who stuck the sword through her; she just fell to the ground bleeding all over the place. After that everything went to hell. While everyone was freaking out over Minerva, clustered around her something was thrown at the door and it blew to pieces, sending everyone flying with it. And that's when they swarmed the guild, indiscriminately killing those who couldn't protect themselves or run away." Pausing the mage, whose name escaped me, took several calming breaths before continuing. "If it hadn't been for Minerva who used whatever was left of her strength to transport most of us outside, I'm pretty sure everyone would have been dead, or closer to it than they are now."
"But where is she?"
"I…I don't know. I thought she would have gotten herself out along with all of us. Do you think they got to her?" He gasped, sitting up too fast causing a stitch or two to pop open and him to groan in pain.
Hearing the pain filled gasp of one of her patients Wendy came running, shooing me away and gently pushing the man to lie back down. "That's enough for now Rogue, he needs his rest."
"Sorry Wendy."
"Wendy I got a couple more for you." Laxus shouted, dropping the mages onto the nearest empty cot. Doing a quick once over she prioritized their injuries and began working. "Update."
"Sabertooth's doctor and I have stabilized everyone here but I can't do more until I replenish my strength. Sorry."
"You did good kid, don't apologize." Laxus said ruffling her hair. "Any sign of Natsu and Lucy?"
"No. I keep seeing columns of flames appear and disappear so I know Natsu is okay, and Virgo is over there digging to Lucy has to be alright too."
"Lucy's fine, she is right over there..." I said pointing to where I had last seen her. "Well she was there a minute ago, we came here together."
"That's alright, as long as Virgo-san is over there we know that Lucy is fine."
"How much longer until everyone else gets here Laxus?" I asked thinking that although we had been doing fine, we were all eventually going to get tired and wouldn't be able to keep up with the fights.
"It shouldn't be much longer, just spoke to Gramps said they were on their way."
"Ha by the time your guild gets here there won't be any of us left. You saved us, just to have to serve us on a platter to those mages. There is no way you four can put a dent in their numbers. There has to be at least a couple of hundred of them, with more coming." One of the mages Laxus had just brought here said from his slouched position on the cot. "Even with our Twin Dragon Slayers it's an impossible task. I mean look at how easily they killed Minerva." Once he was done the mages within hearing distance chimed in and agreed, saying we should get out of here while we could and leave those that were too injured.
Before I could interject Laxus spoke up. "Listen here. You asked us here to help you, and that's what we're doing. The kid here has spent hours healing you so you damn well better appreciate it. If you want to go, then leave, but we won't being going with you." He said before turning away from them and dragging Wendy away.
"Would they really do that? Leave all of their comrades behind?" Wendy looked at both of us horrified at the thought.
"If they choose to do that, fine but don't focus on what those single minded idiots do. The important thing is what you and those you care for do." Carla said. Nodding her head, Wendy picked up Carla and held her close.
"Minerva can't be dead..." I mumbled looking over the wreckage of what used to be home to the number one guild in Fiore. "Laxus have you found anybody by the name of Minerva, Orga or Rufus?"
"Haven't heard those names. The maid is almost finished digging though so they might be in there." He shrugged before heading to where Virgo was, after telling Wendy to ignore those mages, and to not stop anybody from leaving if they wanted to.
Standing by we watched and waited for Virgo to finish constructing her tunnel. It had taken her so long because she had to be careful to not disturb too much of the already unstable building, we didn't want it all to collapse before we even had a chance to look inside. With one last sweep through she deemed it safe to go in, but warned us to be careful not to move any of the stones inside the tunnel, otherwise it may cave in. Laxus and I followed the tunnel until it led us to a large pocket that housed the bar and half of the main hall.
"Minerva! Orga! Rufus! Is anyone here?" I shouted.
Coughing was my answer before a scratchy voice appeared along with a familiar feathered hat. "Over here!" Climbing over a mountain of rocks, glass and whatever else that broke during the attack I made my way to the bar. Hearing a splash as I stepped up to the bar I looked down to see a puddle of blood.
"Is anyone else injured besides Minerva?" I asked as they stood up from their position behind the bar.
"It's just us, and no Minerva is the only one." Orga said.
"I remembered from a few of my medical books to try and staunch the bleeding, but it didn't help. If she continues to lose blood at this rate she will die."
"Lax-"
"I got her." Laxus said as he climbed over the bar to get to her, gently picking her up and ignoring the blood as is poured over his clothes. In an instant he was gone in a flash of lightning.
"Who was that Rogue?" Orga asked.
"Laxus, he's a Lightning Dragon Slayer, second generation. He is from Fairy Tail." When they looked confused I clarified. "The guild you called for help, Lucy's guild."
"We know that Fairy Tail is Lucy's guild but we never called them for help, I would have remembered it." Rufus said.
"Well it must have been someone who was here because this is the only place with a communications lacrima." When they continued to shake their heads in confusion I cursed. Why else would they call Fairy Tail? To get Lucy damn it, why didn't I think of this earlier. If they couldn't get her at her guild, of course they would try to get her away from it.
Hearing and feeling an explosion from above I shouted, "we have to get out of here. Now!" The sudden sense of urgency to get to Lucy overriding my fear of being crushed alive. When they didn't move quick enough I hauled them over the bar none too gently and took off, avoiding the chunks of rocks as they came raining down. Letting the two of them through the tunnel first I prayed that it would hold until we had reached the top as another explosion rocked the ground above us, shifting the rocks within. "What's the hold up?" I asked when we stopped.
"Orga's stuck, push."
Pushing against his backside I redoubled my efforts when I heard the portion of the tunnel we had just passed through cave in. "Come one, come on." I grunted. "Sorry 'bout this Orga." I said before taking a breath and releasing a minor 'Shadow Dragon's Roar' at his backside, propelling him up and out of the tunnel. Scrambling the rest of the way out of tunnel moments before it all caved in I fell on my back breathing heavily.
Lucy POV
Breaking away from Rogue when I heard someone call out for help, I back tracked a little to find a figure hunched down on the ground holding onto his ankle. "Are you alright?" I asked as I approached the man slowly. When his whimpering continued, I ignored my instincts that were screaming in alarm and closed the distance between us. Kneeling down in front of him I reached out my hand to touch his shoulder when he suddenly sat up straight and grabbed onto me; the unexpected momentum of him sitting up and grabbing onto me caused me to fall forward onto him.
"If I knew you had felt this way about me Chere maybe I wouldn't have tried to kill you earlier." Lifting my face from atop the hard chest I looked straight the familiar blue eyes of Julien. My attempts to get up and off of him were useless as he encircled me in his arms, trapping my own arms against my side, and squeezed. "You have something of mine." He whispered in my ear before licking the side of my face.
Not liking his wandering hands as he looked for my keys I turned my quickly, catching him off guard, and bit into the first thing I came in contact with. Biting with all my might I ignored his struggles to get me off of him as I clung to his face with me teeth. Feeling the crunch of cartilage and a gush of warm, bitter blood enter my mouth I released him with a cry of disgust, and shoved myself away from him, not stopping until I was twenty feet away from him. Getting off of the ground and on to my feet I spit out the blood that had pooled in my mouth and wiped the rest of it out of my mouth with the bottom of my shirt.
As I rid myself of his taste, Julien remained on the ground, crying out for real this time, as he clutched his face and what was left of his nose. Still clutching his nose with one hand he slowly came to his feet and faced me. "You bitch." He mumbled, the sound of his voice muffled behind his hand.
"What was that? I didn't quite here you."
Growling at me he released his nose and wiped the blood off of his hands on his pants. "Give me back my key, bitch." He snarled his face completely covered with blood, some of it was smeared on his face from when he was covering it, but most of it was from my bite marks that were still bleeding heavily.
"Oh well since you asked so nicely how could I not give it to you?" I asked sarcastically.
"You can either hand it over, along with the rest of your keys or we can do this the hard way, which ends with you, all of your friends, and the people of this guild dead. One way or the other I will be the one walking away from this with all of your keys." When blood dripped into his mouth he swallowed it and wiped his face with his sleeve. "On second thought, you can either die alone, or everyone can die with you."
"You won't be laying a hand on anyone, or my keys." I said backing away from him.
As he advanced on me the ground beneath us began to shaking. "Guilds really should do a background check on new members, it's so easy to omit something in those silly interviews."Hearing an explosion behind me followed by the cries from the infirmary I pulled out my whip and tired to hit him with it to distract him from causing anymore earthquakes, but was deterred with every flick of my wrist. When I thought that my whip would reach him a rock would fly up into the air to intercept the hit meant for him. "Are you sure you don't want to sacrifice yourself for those people? They don't have much time left, look." Julien smirked, jerking his head to where everyone was behind me.
Positioning myself so I could keep an eye on Julien and look at the infirmary in my peripherals I glanced at them fully when I saw the ground beneath them was rising, while the rocks at the edges started crumbling away slowly, getting closer to the cots. Seeing pink, black and blonde heads of hair leaning near the edge hurling over the side I knew that everyone was up there and that if Julien were to drop them everyone would be severely hurt, or worse. "Last chance Chere. Should I drop them?" He asked as he released his hold on the ground below them letting everyone drop a couple of feet, eliciting everyone to scream in fear. "Or are you going to hand over your keys?"
If I give him my keys they would be in even more danger when Polaris awakens, but if I don't he will let them plummet to their deaths. "Lushiii" I heard Happy call from above as he dove off the floating ground to come to me. When he was within throwing distance I unhooked my keys from my belt and tossed them to him.
"Stay off the ground Happy and take them to Master." I shouted to the confused Happy who kept looking to the keys in his hands to me. "Go!"
"Aye sir!" He saluted before max speeding it out of there.
Cursing, Julien released his hold on the infirmary and focused on sending rocks flying after Happy. When Happy could no longer be seen Julien glared at me. "Now you'll watch as your friends fall to their death, but don't worry you will follow soon after."
Hearing and watching them fall was excruciating, but I needed to wait for the right moment before I put my plan into action. A few seconds later when they were twenty feet above the ground I whispered the spell under my breath so Julien couldn't hear me and interrupt.
Those who watch over us through the night
Align and magnify thy brilliant light
Come forth and form solid light
Surround!
Divine Safeguard!
As I had planned the blue shield surrounded them a second before they hit the ground.
Not experienced with the spell, I wasn't ready for the backlash of the shield slamming into the ground and was brought to my knees, breathless. It felt as if I were being crushed by a the piece of ground itself. With each gasp for breath I took a pain, unlike anything I had felt before, shot through my body, causing me to spasm; everything hurt from my toes to my head. I felt as if every bone in my body would break from the pressure that the spell was applying on my body. I knelt there for what seemed like the longest time, disorientated and in pain, trying not to move for fear of the spasms returning. So focused on staying conscious and working through the mind numbing pain I didn't notice Julien's menacing aura hovering above me, with a dagger in hand. Before I could think about defending myself from his descending arm a snarling blur hit his side, right as my body shut down forcing me to the ground.
An: There it is. Please let me know what you thought. =]
**Once again please ignore the horrible wording of the spell. :P**
xxxMitsuki-Chanxxx: I'm really going to try to post more than one chapter a week because I feel like this fic will take forever to finish otherwise. Lol. Fingers crossed that it actually happens!
Amanda: Hoped you liked it!
Fairy Tail Fanatic 4EVER: Thanks! :3