Eighteen - Natsu Dragneel

Natsu was getting tired of running. He was only halfway to Phantom Lord's base and there was no telling what could be happening to Lucy. His refusal to let anything bad happen to her spurred him to move faster. He turned a corner and smacked right into something painful. It was a car.

"Oww," he groaned as the driver's door opened.

A large, muscular, dark skinned man stepped out and approached Natsu. Two young kids jumped out of the car as well. A little girl with white hair and a boy about the same age with blue hair. Natsu smiled as he recognized the boy. He was a Fairy Tail kid that went to Fairy Hills Middle School.

"Happy!"

"Natsu!" Happy exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Natsu said. "Hey, can you give me a ride? It's an emergency."

"I'm sure we can, right?" the girl said, turning to the man who was helping Natsu to his feet.

"Sure," the man said. "You're Natsu Dragneel, right? My name is Pantherlily."

Natsu would have commented on the weird name if he hadn't been in such a hurry. He hopped into the car and told Pantherlily where to drive. The car was fast, but Natsu couldn't help but wish they could go even faster. As soon as Metallicana's was in sight, he jumped out of the still moving car. He headed straight for the stairs leading down, under the bar.

He broke the door off of its hinges when he burst into the room. There were a few people inside, looking shocked, but he zeroed in on his target. Gajeel Redfox was standing in the center of the room. Natsu had seen him before, even had a scuffle once, but this time was different. He noticed Lucy pinned to the wall and saw that Gajeel had been throwing knives at the wall around her like darts.

"Natsu!" Lucy gasped, relieved tears in her eyes.

Happy had rushed inside after Natsu, who had told the whole story in the car. Natsu let the kid free Lucy while he focused on Gajeel. The fight was arguably the most intense fight Natsu had been in yet. They were pretty evenly matched for strength and skill. The problem was, Gajeel had the distinct advantage of a large, iron pipe that he pulled from one of his belt loops.

"Oh, shit," Natsu grumbled, dodging the first swing. "This is going to suck."

It was amazing that Natsu was able to fight back at all. He sustained several injuries, which only served to make his attacks weaker as the fight went on. He needed a step up, something he knew how to handle. He reached into his pocket, still without a real plan, but it was empty. He searched his other pockets, but found nothing.

"Lose something, punk?" Gajeel asked, spinning the pipe around with a grin.

"Natsu, how can I help?" Lucy called out. Natsu glanced over to see that Happy had helped her down. She was injured, but seemed mostly alright.

"Fire!" he told her.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" she exclaimed.

Natsu didn't have the chance to respond. He was busy being thrown against the wall. He vaguely wondered how many bones he had broken already. Mostly, however he just thought about how much it pissed him off that he wasn't winning. He wasn't sure how much longer he could go on fighting.

He collapsed to the ground as Gajeel stood over him. As he raised the pipe to strike again, something slid across the floor. The shiny object skidded to a stop next to Natsu. It took a moment for him to realize what it was. When he did, he quickly snatched it up.

"My lighter," he breathed. "Good job, Luce."

He flicked it open and, without further ado, lit the edge of Gajeel's long shirt. It immediately went up in flames, quickly enveloping Gajeel, who roared in pain. The other Phantom members scrambled for the exit as Gajeel rolled on the floor. The carpet caught fire and Natsu decided that it was time to leave. However, he was unable to lift himself off of the ground.

"Natsu, come on!" Lucy shouted as flames began taking over the room.

"Happy, get her out!" Natsu called back. "Hurry!"

"You moron!" Lucy scolded. "I won't leave you here to die!"

"Go!" he insisted. He lifted his head enough to see Happy dragging her out the door. She was struggling, but then a large figure stepped in and picked her up. "Thanks, Pantherlily," Natsu murmured, starting to lose consciousness.

-.-.-

The next thing he knew, he was on some sort of bed with tubes in his arms. He looked around and realized he was in a hospital room. How had that happened? He was pretty out of it and wondered what kind of medicine he was on. He continued looking around until he realized he wasn't the only patient in the room.

"Gajeel," he said. The Phantom Lord member's eyes were open, but he didn't acknowledge Natsu's greeting. "The silent treatment?" Natsu asked. "You don't need to be a baby just because I beat you."

"Tch," was the only response he got.

Natsu waited a moment before trying again at conversation.

"So, how did we get here?"

"What about my ignoring you makes you think I want to talk?" Gajeel grumbled.

"Oh, good," Natsu said. "I was afraid I had burned your vocal chords."

"You pyromaniac bastard," Gajeel accused.

Natsu shrugged, and immediately regretted the action as it sent a sharp pain through his entire body.

"I have a question," he said, wincing as he settled back into a comfortable position. "Why the hell would you join a gang like Phantom Lord?"

"That's none of your business!"

"You must make your parents proud," Natsu said sarcastically.

"Shut the hell up!" Gajeel shouted. "I don't give a damn! My parents are gone anyway!"

"Oh yeah?" Natsu asked. "Is that why you joined a gang? That's stupid."

"Shut the hell up!" Gajeel said again. "I don't want to hear that crap from the likes of you!"

"When I lost my parents, I went to Fairy Tail," Natsu said. "A much better decision, really. I must be a lot smarter than you."

"Why you- Augh!" Gajeel had tried to get up, but fell back down, obviously in pain.

"You probably shouldn't move a whole lot," Natsu suggested. "It looks like you've got some pretty severe burns."

"That's your fault, you bastard!"

"You shouldn't have kidnapped Lucy," Natsu said, matter-of-factly. "Don't mess with Fairy Tail."

"We didn't kidnap her to mess with Fairy Tail. That was just a bonus," Gajeel spat. "We were hired to bring her back to her father."

"What?" Natsu asked. "Don't lie to me. Why would you beat her up and throw knives at her if you needed to get her back home."

Gajeel shrugged and cried out in pain. After he recovered from that, he answered. "I don't really give a damn what her father wants," he growled. "I just thought it was fun. So was destroying your house."

"You son of a bitch," Natsu said, glaring. "You're all kinds of messed up in the head, aren't you? I bet you're lying. I bet you're really a big teddy bear."

"What the hell did you just call me?" Gajeel demanded.

"Let me know if you ever get over your need to act tough," Natsu said.

Gajeel just spluttered indignantly as Natsu rolled over and went back to sleep.