Sophia:
Sophia suddenly stopped, causing Natsu to bowl into her. They went tumbling through the brush and rolled into a clearing, loudly cursing at each other and attempting to untangle their limbs.
"What the hell was that!?" Natsu shrieked, rubbing his head and groaning as he sat up slowly, giving Sophia a side eye. She had scrambled to her feet quickly and was peering around the clearing, sniffing and listening intently.
"Uh, hello? Flame brain?" he asked again, trying to rouse her from her search. She made no move to reply, only continuing her search with more fervor. She walked up to a giant tree and she spun around, her eyes wide and excited.
"Natsu! Don't you smell that?"
He got up and trudged over to her, leaning over her to smell the tree.
"The old man!" he exclaimed as the smell reached him. Sophia nodded excitedly, before launching herself up the tree trunk. She came crashing back down to the forest floor with a glass sphere ramming into her chest. A woman appeared in the branches of the tree, a man slung over her shoulders.
"You're a woman?" Natsu asked incredulously, "If not, that's some seriously good face paint you got there."
"I AM A WOMAN!" she yelled exasperatedly. Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think a real woman would get so defensive…"
The woman rolled her eyes and leapt down from the tree, landing next to Sophia, who had just managed to get to her feet.
"Those things pack a hell of a punch!" she said, grinning. "Time to settle the score, old man!"
The woman closed her eyes and clenched her fists at her sides, the man's limp body sliding off of her shoulders and hitting the ground with a gentle thud. "I. Am. A. Woman."
Sophia crossed her arms and leaned back a bit.
"Nah, I don't buy it. It's impressive, but I never forget a smell."
Natsu started to eye the man on the ground, suddenly recognizing his smell. He stepped in front of Sophia protectively.
"Who is that?" he grunted, nodding at the man on the ground, interrupting the bickering between the two women. Sophia seemed to only then realize there was a fourth person, but her face immediately darkened as she spotted his mop of shaggy, midnight hair.
The woman grinned maliciously.
"This," she kicked the man, "is the Dark Lord Zeref."
The dragon slayers' eyes widened in horror just as Happy came zooming into the clearing.
"You two have to stop disappearing on me like that!"
Sophia glanced up at Happy and mumbled an apology before whirling around, realizing Plue was nowhere to be seen.
"Happy! Where's Plue?!"
"Huh? Oh! He went back to the Spirit World. Lucy seems to be using a lot of magic right now."
Sophia furrowed her eyebrows in worry. Who could Lucy be facing off against? She had just run into a woman who could incapacitate the Dark Lord Zeref...who knew what else these people could do.
"Speaking of Lucy…" Natsu mumbled as she came tumbling through the brush, screaming at the top of her lungs.
The woman in front of them pressed a hand to her temples and mumbled, "Children…"
"You're only like 4 years older than me!" Sophia retorted. The woman gave her a bored look. "That's far too few."
Lucy scrambled between the two, attempting to escape from a large man dressed as a sumo wrestler, who was brandishing a doll in front of him threateningly. She got to her feet quickly and sent an arrow flying towards the doll, Sagittarius appearing out of nowhere. The arrow found its mark and the doll went sailing into the trees.
"Kain Hikaru!" the woman said, smiling. "I have completed phase one of the mission. Hold these three off while I bring Lord Zeref to Master Hades."
"Hey now!" Natsu interjected. "There's an even number now! You can't just leave!"
Lucy stood next to the pink-haired man and elbowed him in the side, hard.
"I'm here too, asshole."
He glanced down at Lucy and said, mockingly, "Ah, nevermind then."
Sophia snorted, but began to run, screaming, as Lucy chased her around the clearing with her whip.
"Hey! Luce!" the redhead called as the two ran in circles, "What if, hear me out here, what if, as a part of our deal, if I go through with my end of the bargain, you have to ask out Loke!"
The blonde picked up her pace, her face pink and steaming. "YOU'RE SO LUCKY I'M NOT AN ASSHOLE! I WOULD RUIN YOU RIGHT NOW IF I WAS!"
Natsu raised an eyebrow, suspicious of what this deal could be. Before he could ask, he noticed the woman taking leave. Natsu began to follow her, but as he made a move, a flaming fist suddenly shot in front of him, barely missing him. Sophia stood next to him, a shell-shocked look on her face.
"Uhhh...I didn't do that."
"Shit! Sophia, it's the doll!"
Lucy pointed toward Kain Hikaru, who had recovered the creepy puppet. There was a single, cherry-red hair sticking out of the top of it. Natsu narrowly dodged as Sophia leapt forward, her foot speeding towards his chest. She spun around, managing to land a blow on Lucy that sent her flying into a tree.
"LUCY!" Natsu, Happy, and Sophia yelled in unison.
"There's no way you can beat me," Kain Hikaru muttered from across the clearing. Natsu narrowed his eyes at the man and began to run towards him. "We'll see about that!"
But he had gotten distracted. He realized too late that Kain Hikaru was not who he should have been focusing on as Sophia's foot smashed into his back, knocking the air out of his lungs. Natsu gasped, trying to recover from the attack, but he was too slow. Her fist slammed into his jaw, sending blood shooting from his mouth. She landed another blow on his stomach and he bowled over in pain. He managed to dodge the kick aimed for his face, ducking down and rolling between her legs. She spun around, but he was gone, running towards Kain Hikaru. He was within a foot when a massive tree came tumbling down, hitting his legs and pinning him to the ground with a sickening crunch.
"NATSU!" Sophia and Happy yelled. Sophia's hands were covered in dirt and she stood next to a gaping hole in the ground.
"SHHHIT!" Natsu screeched, his eyes widening as Sophia clumsily stalked over to Lucy, who was regaining consciousness. The dragon slayer's movements were jerky and uncoordinated, causing her to stumble, slowing her way to the spirit mage. Lucy sat up as she approached, groaning and scrambling backwards. Her back hit a tree and she gulped in fear as Sophia continued her march towards her. The redhead's face was contorted in pain and anger, a scowl plastered on her usually pretty features.
She knelt in front of Lucy and slowly reached out her hands. Lucy took a deep breath, a couple of tears spilling from her eyes. Her keys and her whip were on the other side of the clearing.
"SOPHIA! STOP!" Happy screeched, flying straight towards her. She jerked her head to look at him, the look on her face one of despair.
"Happy, no…" she whispered, her eyes widening in horror as she watched her fist catch light and connect with the exceed. He was launched into a tree and slid down the trunk, his eyes dazed and lost. The red-haired dragon slayer turned her attention back to the spirit mage, her hands once again shakily reaching out to close around her throat.
"Lucy, c'mon...fight back. Please…" she choked out as she picked up the blonde and began to squeeze. Her brown eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at Sophia, whose heart froze in her chest.
"LUCY YOU NEED TO RUN!" Natsu yelled in anguish, desperately trying to free himself.
She glanced over at him and smiled again. "No...I'm done running away. It's always more fun when we're together."
As she said 'together' Sophia's whole body suddenly caught fire. "LUCY!" she shrieked, sounding truly terrified. The noise was foreign and disgusting to Natsu, sending shivers down his spine and bile up his throat. Natsu blinked back tears.
"LUCY!" he called hoarsely, the stinging in his throat intensifying.
The blonde was suddenly thrown to the side, landing next to Natsu. He managed to scoot closer to her and cradled her head in his hands, inspecting her for damage. She seemed relatively unscathed for the ordeal he had just witnessed.
"Sophia?" he croaked. She was just a pillar of fire now. She began to march across the clearing, leaving a trail of ashes in her wake. She stalked up to Kain Hikaru, who was scrambling backwards as fast as he could, his eyes never leaving Sophia's.
"You made me hurt my best friends," the dragon slayer growled as she glowered down at the chubby man.
"I...I-"
"Who said you could talk!?" she yelled, her voice ringing through the clearing. "You're never gonna see the light of day again!"
"Sophia…" Natsu heard Happy whisper. Sophia held the man up, the fire creeping over his pale skin. She slammed him into a tree and snarled. The fire continued to spread, slowly. He screamed in agony as blisters appeared across his stomach and crept up towards his chest. Her grip never faltered, the fire only increasing in heat as the man cried.
"You should be able to handle what you dish out, bastard."
Her fire flared up with anger as she spat the insult out at him. She lifted him up again and rammed him into the tree, and then again...and again...and again. It felt like ages as the silence of the woods was filled with the loud cracking noises and Kain Hikaru's pitiful shrieks. She threw him to the ground at her feet and dove towards him, pinning him underneath her as she threw punch after fiery punch at his pale, round face. The faint thudding noises were punctuated by a loud crack as Kain's nose shattered and blood began to pour down his face. The curse mage spat blood into Sophia's face as she beat him, only enraging her more. She began to start her tirade with a renewed energy, but faltered when Happy's voice rang through the clearing, anger and concern evident in his tone.
"SOPHIA!" Happy said again, more forcefully this time. She slowed, her hand dropping from Kain Hikaru. He began to crawl away from the dragon slayer.
"He...he hurt you. And Natsu. And Lucy," she whispered. Natsu could hear the waver in her voice. She didn't turn around to meet the blue cat's gaze, only stared straight ahead at the demolished tree with her hands clenched into fists at her sides, opening and closing as she attempted to calm down.
"We know," Natsu tried to say reassuringly, but it came out shakier than he had intended, less confident, and he cursed himself under his breath, worried that she would think he was insincere. He cleared his throat.
"Could you help me?" he asked, trying to distract her. She turned around quickly, running over to him.
"Shit, Natsu, I'm s-" Natsu pressed his hand against her mouth. He took a moment to savor the way her lips felt pressed against his hands. Warm and rough. "Don't be sorry."
She nodded, his hand still clasped against her mouth. She licked him playfully, and he quickly ripped his hand away, screeching,
"GROSS!"
A hint of a smile played on her lips as she set the tree on top of him on fire and shoved it off of him. Natsu shuffled out from under as it turned to embers above him. Sophia turned to Lucy and embraced her roughly as Natsu attempted to escape the oak's clutches. Sophia shuddered a little bit as she pressed her head against Lucy's chest.
"It's fine, I'm fine," the blonde said reassuringly.
Natsu walked up and pressed his hand against the redhead's back.
"You beat one of their stupid ancient magics!"
Lucy released Sophia, and looked at Natsu with eyes half-lidded in annoyance.
"Natsu. You do realize that dragon slayer magic is a 'stupid ancient magic', don't you?"
She used air quotes as she said 'stupid ancient magic', mocking the pink haired boy. Sophia leaned backwards onto Natsu, laughing at him and looking up at him, but her eyes were swimming with shame and guilt.
If I'd been just a little quicker…" they seemed to say to him.
Natsu pressed his forehead against hers and smiled down at her.
"Don't worry about anything, Phia. We're all totally fine. You didn't hurt us anymore than you do when we're training. We can take a punch from you, easy."
"Sorry to break this up," Lucy said, sighing and crossing her arms in front of her chest, "But did we just let Zeref get away?"
"Ah, shit," the dragon slayers said in unison while Happy cackled.
Lucy:
Lucy, Happy, Sophia, and Natsu raced through the woods together, the two dragon slayers attempting to track Zeref's smell.
"Any luck?" Lucy called up to the pinkette leading the pack.
"No...nothing so far," he mumbled, obviously annoyed by the situation. Lucy felt goosebumps rise on her arms and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.
"Someone's here!" she whispered harshly into Sophia's ear. The redhead paused for a moment, sniffing the air.
"It's Gray I think…" she said, puzzled.
"HELLO? POPSICLE, YOU OUT THERE?!" the dragon slayer suddenly yelled into the woods. Lucy's heart leapt into her chest, worried Sophia was wrong. But seconds later, a mop of black hair appeared out of the trunks. Loke followed close behind. Lucy's eyes lit up.
"You guys haven't seen Cana, have you?" Lucy asked rather frantically.
"Huh? Nope. Haven't seen her. What happened?"
Lucy began to describe the situation before she faltered, realizing it would put Cana in a very bad light, and she couldn't very well explain the reasoning.
"I...I must have gotten knocked out somehow. When I woke up, I was alone and one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory was watching me."
Loke immediately rushed forward and swept Lucy off her feet.
"How cruel! A beautiful maiden all alone in the woods! With the likes of these two!" he said, gesturing at the dragon slayers.
"HEY!" Natsu and Sophia yelled in protest. Loke smiled and added, "Oh, of course I'm kidding! Sophia is as lovely as ever."
He winked, and caught Natsu's eye above the girl's head, causing his lips to twitch slightly in amusement as he smirked. Natsu glared back daggers.
"Loke!" Lucy scolded as he sat her down. "Be nice."
The Spirit King smiled down at her lovingly and nodded, chuckling a little.
"I'll try my hardest."
He turned to Natsu, a serious look in his eyes.
"Where are you guys heading?"
Natsu shrugged, letting most of the venom escape from his gaze, but not all of it.
"Just trying to find Zeref," he stated, nonchalantly. The new mages eyes widened in terror.
"We should all look for him then, flame brain!" Gray butted in. "Since you managed to lose him!"
Natsu scowled and pressed his head against the ice mage's.
Lucy stepped in between them and shoved them apart, annoyance clear on her face.
"Why don't we split into two groups and go looking for him? We'll cover more ground and-"
"Good idea, Luce! See you later!" Natsu called over his shoulder as he dragged Sophia into the forest after him, Happy flying alongside.
"HEY!" the blonde yelled, but got no response, and soon their footsteps faded.
"I guess its us then!" Loke said cheerily, wrapping an arm around the two mages and leading them down a path.