Lucy watched as Natsu flew away to Phantom Lord's canon. She bit her lip and gave Marie a sideways glance. Should she follow the two? She shook her head and clenched her skirt. No, she would just get in the way. She stood up and took out her Taurus key. The least she could do was fight the phantoms attacking here.
But a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked behind her to see Mirajane giving her a hard gaze. "What is it Mira?" She asked as she put Taurus's keys away. Mira let go of Lucy and brought over a rather round man with soft eyes.
"This is Reedus. He's going to take you to a hiding spot. You're out in the open, and we need you as far away from Jose as possible." Lucy frowned and looked between the two. She stepped back and shook her head feverishly.
"No, I can't just sit down in some hiding spot while the others fight for me. It would be selfish!"
Mira sighed. "No one thinks that Lucy. This war was bound to come anyway. It's not your fault so please don't blame yourself." Lucy made a tight fist and looked at everyone fighting. They were fighting for her safety. Marie hugged at her leg and looked up at the blonde with a nod. Like she was encouraging her to ditch everyone. But Lucy couldn't do that.
"No way, I can't-" Lucy didn't get to finish her sentence as Mira touched her forehead lightly. Lucy fell against the other woman in a deep sleep.
"What did you do?!" Marie exclaimed, shaking Lucy. Tears came to the cat's eyes as she found Lucy wouldn't wake up.
"She'll be alright. I just put her to sleep," Mira turned her head to Reedus and handed Lucy over. "Please take her to the location I mapped out." Reedus bowed and drew a boar drawn carriage and put Lucy in it. He grabbed the rope attached to the board and looked at Mira with a small smile.
"Oui." He mumbled, riding off. Marie going off with them quickly. Mira looked up at Jose and frowned. She wanted to help, but what could she do? She was useless. She gazed at the ground when a thought came to her mind. Smiling, she ran back into the guild an slowly transformed her body.
White hair, transformed into blonde and became shorter. Though her clothing remained the same, she was the perfect copy of Lucy. She took a deep breath and began to walk out the guild again. Kana noticed this and yelled at her to stay back.
"What are you doing!? Get back here!" Kana said desperately. Mira ignored her and stood in front of every guild member, looking at Phantom Lord directly.
"I'm here Jose. So come and take me!" Mira held her arms out, announcing to the rather annoyed looked Jose. He narrowed his eyes before scoffing.
"I knew the real Lucy Heartfilia just left. I sent a special someone after her. But just assuming I was that ignorant, I'll crush you under my feet!" The man said suddenly. Using the arm attached to the guild and snatching Mira from the ground.
"Big sis!" Elfman screamed. Mira made a pained expression as the hand crushed her body. She opened an eye to see Jose laughing maniacally at her pain.
"Bastard."
...
Lucy woke up as a shadow covered the light shining on her face. She sat up, gazing striaght in the eyes of the art mage. She screamed, kicking him back into the other side of the building they were held up at. Once she realized what she did, she ran over to him and helped him up. He rubbed his head in pain.
"I-Im sorry. You startled me..." She mentioned softly. He gave her a small smile and held up his thumb. Signaling he was okay.
"Oui. I'm sorry we had to take you all the way out here. We just don't want to see you hurt anymore." He explained. Lucy nodded and sat down on a barrel, sadly staring at the ground. Reedus began to set an easel as set a canvas on it. She wondered for a moment what he was doing, but shook the thought away. He gazed at her every couple of seconds before going back to his canvas and sketching something down.
"I just wish I could help in some way, y'know? Not only did I manage to get kidnapped, but Natsu had to go out of his way to save me. And poor Marie," she looked down at the cat that flew into her lap, resting peacefully. "She was so worried about me and everything. I never even told her of my past, something I should of brought up years ago..." Folding her hands in front of Marie, she sniffled. She couldn't go crying again, that would give away their hiding spot! And she couldn't continue to act weak.
"I see. I promise you Lucy, things will get better once this war ends. And I'll do everything in my power to protect you." He bowed slightly, before going back to his work. She smiled at him briefly before sighing sadly. She wondered how long they were going to keep her there. Then a smell hit her nose like a truck. It was the same scent on Levy when she was beaten. Metal.
She sat up and set Marie down in a hiding place while she slept. She hoped the man coming wouldn't be so cruel to attack her sleeping cat. Reedus stopped his painting and looked at Lucy in confusion. She put a finger to her lips, signaling for him to keep quiet. A body then slammed through the roof and landed in front of her.
"I knew you could sense me." He smirked. She stood back as he got closer and glared at him. Reedus stood in front of her in an instant, releasing boars from the picture he drew on his stomach. The metal smelling man was surprised at first, but quickly defeated them. He punched Reedus in the face, knocking him out.
"Reedus!" Lucy called. She growled at the long haired man and threw a punch his face, colliding with his nose. Gajeel jumped back and rubbed his nose with a laugh. "I can smell her all over you. Her blood. It was you, you're Gajeel aren't you?" Lucy said in a low voice. He cackled.
"The one and only, blondie. And you mean that blue haired girl huh? I did a real number on her and her weakling friends..." Riling her up, she sucked in the air around her. Cheeks puffing up, she aimed the at Gajeel.
"Celestial dragon roar!" His eyes widened for a split second before he smirked, looking unfazed by the attack. She gasped when she noticed his body covered in iron from head to toe. "Dammit!" She was going to project another attack his way, when he suddenly disappeared. Then he was behind her, swinging his fist towards her face. She ducked in time and jumped away from him.
"You're looking a bit tired, blondie. Why don't you take a nap!" He said as he sucked up and blew his own roar her way. With no time to dodge, she took the full brunt of the attack and fell to the ground. She couldn't have been beated that easily, could she? The other times she may of been caught off guard, but she knew he was coming. Why is she so weak?
She grudgingly sat up and breathed heavily as he walked his way over to her. If Lucy could only breaky that iron armor! Then maybe she would have a chance! But before she could stand up, he was already hovering over her. He hit her over the head with his hand, making the blonde go unconscious.
He grabbed her by the waist and held her to his hip. He sighed and jumped up to the roof, only to see an attack his way. He dodged and looked at the attacker. It was a guy with orange hair and glasses. He held out his hand, while magic swirled around his rings. Gajeel narrowed his eyes, ring magic. He hadn't seen that before.
He dropped Lucy ungratefully and gave the other man a sadistic smile. "Who do we have here? Coming to save your little friend?" Loke, the man with ting magic, looked at the unconscious Lucy and clenched his fist.
"Yes. Lucy may be new to the guild but she is still family. A real family will do everything for each other." He blasted another attack Gajeel's way, though it was hardly something to gawk at. Gajeel raised a brow at this. Its like he couldn't even feel the mage's magic. It came from the ring, not from inside of him. Maybe he did have powers stored in him? But it felt as if it was being sealed away.
"I can sense something wrong with you. You're not a normal mage, are you?" Gajeel snickered, seeing Loke's nervous expression.
"Nows not the time for small talk. Gajeel, fight back!" Loke screamed. Gajeel grinned and bicked up Lucy once more, even shaking her around to fuel Loke's fire.
"Nah, I don't waste my time on weaklings like you." Gajeel jumped away, running back to where Phantom Lord was held. Loke frowned and looked at the ground in guilt
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you Lucy..."
Lucy gasped when she felt something kick her in the stomach. Coughing up bits of blood, she rolled on the ground and hit the wall. Opening an eye, red eyes stared back. He chuckled when she tried to scoot back, wiping her mouth. "Seems your awake." He hummed. The ones around him looked a bit nervous at how he was treating her but hadn't said anything yet.
"Asshole. Kicking someone down who can't even fight. Pathetic." She spat, glaring into his eyes. His smirk disappeared, replaced with pure anger. He punched her across the face and held her up by her hair.
"Wanna say that again, blondie?" She smiled at his words, despite his tone and her situation. Her eyebrows knit while she watched the others reactions. One of them stepped forward.
"Gajeel knock it off or Jose will get mad. If she's too damaged, we won't get the reward."
"I don't care about Jose's words or the damn reward. I'm getting bored, but blondie here is pretty damn entertaining. Ain't that right?" He turned to her, yanking on her hair. She squeaked out in pain, but refused to scream. He scoffed and threw her down. "You're not fun when you're not begging for your life. Maybe we maybe spice things up?" He formed a couple of knives from his skin and aimed one at her unmoving body. He shot one, the spear digging through her sprawled out hair.
It had barely missed her. Lucy tried to stand, but a knife to her sleeve pushed her back down. She felt so weak, but a kick to the stomach and a pull of her hair shouldn't make her feel so useless. Had he hurt her more while she was unconscious? That would certainly explain it.
She grunted in pain suddenly. One of the knives hit her leg. Blood trickled down rapidly while she held pressure to it weakly. "Bullseye!" Gajeel cackled. Lucy bit her lip while the others yelled at Gajeel to stop. She could still smell him in there. He was close.
"Please Natsu," She whispered. "Please save me. Just one more time..."
...
Natsu landed smoothly inside the canon. He knocked on it and sighed. It was way too sturdy to just destroy. He would have to do it from the inside. Happy followed him into the guildhall, containing the giant lacrima sphere that was getting ready to shoot another blast of power at Fairy Tail.
He smirked, turning to Happy. "That's definitely the thing we need to destroy. Come on Happy, let's do this!"
"Aye sir!" Happy picked him up and begun to fly him towards the giant lacrima. Natsu lit his hand on fire and smirked wildly when we was inched from destroying the lacrima. Only to punch himself hard in the face and fling Happy and himself away. "Natsu...why'd you do that?" Happy mumbled and he was being crushed by the pink haired man.
"I don't know." He engulfed his hand again, and once again, his fist made contact with his own cheek. The boy yelled out and dissipated the fire. He growled as he finally noticed the scent around the room. There was someone with them. He clenched his fist. He knew something was up!
"I guess I should come out now huh?" A man snickered, stepping out from behind the lacrima. His hair was half black and half white, while he had black stripe run over his nose. He held his hair up in a pony tail and gave the fire mage a smirk. "I am Totomaru, part of the element four. I can manipulate any form of fire, may it be a torch on the wall or someone else's magic."
"No fair!" Natsu called. "That's cheating! Fight fair and square, ya jerk!" Totomaru sweat dropped and looked at Natsu oddly. Natsu ignored this and lit his hand on fire to punch the man. But it obviously had no affect. He dug his own hand in his gut and flew back, hitting the ground with force.
"Did you not listen to a word I said? I can control any fire magic." The fire manipulator repeated, glaring at Natsu in annoyance.
"Damn, I thought it would of worked that time," Natsu mumbled, eventually smirking. "Guess I'll just have to keep trying." Natsu threw up his leg, colliding into Totomaru's face. This time he made sure not to use any fire. The man stood back up and laughed when Natsu sucked up air, as if he was going to blow a fire attack. But Natsu only spit in his face.
Wiping the saliva off his cheek, his eye twitched. "You know," He murmured. "You're really starting to get on my nerves." Natsu cackled at the other man's words and punched him in the face. Totomaru punched back, the fight becoming more like a boxing match than a magical duel. That's when an idea came to Natsu's mind. He jumped back and looked up at the lacrima.
This is when Totomaru brought out his sword, but using his fire magic, Natsu knocked it out of his hand and had it hit the lacrima, cracking it. Though the other mage hadn't noticed. Though every time Natsu tried to use his fire to break the lacrima more, Totomaru always found a way to have it slam back into him. It was really starting to piss off the dragon slayer.
Fire going out of control, he decided to try one more time before just telling Happy to break the thing. Totomaru noticed the change in Natsu's fire magic and raised an eyebrow. His control over the fire was weakening all of sudden. Natsu was enraged and using his emotions to keep track of his own magic. Natsu sucked in another breath. "Fire dragon roar!" He screamed, the fire no longer in Totomaru's position. The man tried blocking the blow, waiting for it to hit him.
But it never did, it went around him and gone out of his peripheral vision. "Ha! The one time you could control your own fire, you miss!" The multicolored haired mage cackled. Natsu, the smirk still evident on his face, looked at the member of element four.
"But I didn't miss." Confused by his statement, Totomaru looked up, only to gasp when he witnessed the fire slamming right into his own sword, shattering the lacrima in pieces. Still shocked, this allowed Natsu to punch him right across the face, leaving him unconscious and laying with all the other rubble surrounding them. Natsu wiped his nose with a smile and turned to Happy. That's when the guild hall began to move. He doubled over in pain and held his stomach, feeling incredibly nauseous.
"Jeez, pathetic." A voice announced. Natsu growled at said voice and turned to the culprit.
"Yeah, not manly at all!"
"What are to losers doing here?" The pink haired boy asked as he looked at Gray and Elfman. They were beat up as well, Elfman definitely worse for wear. Gray didn't look all that bad, but there was a slight disturbance in his eyes. Gray rolled his eyes.
"We came here to stop the rest of element four since they're the ones that can stop the giant magic circle being created by this guild. But it seemed you beat us to it. Now all that's left is that Aria guy." Damn, what has he missed?
"Yeah, and I had to save Mira!" Elfman cried. Once the moving stopped, Natsu stood up and sighed, when a scent came to his nose. It was Lucy's scent. But he could smell her blood too, like she was hurt. His eyes narrowed. The other two gave human weird look but he ignored it.
"Come on Happy, we have to go. Now!" Happy stiffened and grabbed Natsu, flying to wherever Natsu wanted him to go. Once Natsu was sure they were in the right place, he had Happy set him down so he could sneak over the corned where he smelled Lucy. She was there, bloodied leg while she held her hand there in her weakened state. Gajeel walked around her boredly and crossed his arms. It was obvious her dying wasn't exciting enough for him.
"I smell you, Salamander. You can come out now." Natsu stepped out and glared daggers at him. He glanced at Lucy, noticing the smile resting on her face. She was thankful he came her after all. For a moment there, she wasn't sure if he even knew.
"You came..." She muttered, inky for Gajeel to kick her back.
"Shut up, fly!" Lucy groaned and attempted to stand once again, but he stomped on her back to hold her down to the ground.
"Let your foot off her or I'll rip it off..." Natsu said darkly, a dangerous aura surrounding him and he slowly stocked across the floor to the taller man. Gajeel smirked and dug his heel in between her shoulder blade. Natsu's expression intensified as his eyes grew darker with anger. His whole body was engulfed with the flames tackled Gajeel to the ground.
The man pushed Natsu off and stood back up, only to be kicked down by the fire wielder. He coated his skin in iron, showing he was getting serious. He grabbed Natsu by the scarf and threw him across the room, breaking through the wall. Natsu stood as if it hadn't affected him and attacked Gsjeel again, punching his face. Only to real back and hold his hand.
Dammit, it hurt. He was sure he just broke a knuckle. "Fire dragon wing attack!" He said suddenly, Gajeel couldn't dodge and took the brunt of the attack, smirking when his body had not a scratch on it. Which was why he was confused when Natsu smiled hopefully. Feeling some th inf chip from his shoudler and cheek, he gasped when pieces of his iron fell off.
"You cracked my armor Salamander, I'm impressed. Not one has done that before. But it doesn't matter, because you're a hell of a lot more beat than I am." Natsu realized this and internally cursed. While he was covered in bruises scratches, the only thing that happened to Gajeel was his iron cracking. They began to fight again, Natsu starting to get sloppy with his moves. Lucy opened an eye and noticed this.
She took a breath and shakingly reached for the one key she had on her. Sagittarius, the horse man. The celestial key that she had gotten from Galuna Island. "Open..." She rasped. "Gate of the archer, Sagittarius!" A man dressed in a horse costume popped out, soluting to no one.
"Howdy ho! I am here to offer any services you may wish my lady!" Lucy got up on her knees.
"Can you help me? I need you to produce fire." Lucy wheezed. The spirit looked at her in confusion and explained to her that he could not produce any fire. She looked down at the ground in sadness. She couldn't help him after all.
"Look at you Salamader, you're going to croak any minute now!" Gajeel laughed.
"I refuse to lose to someone like you! I'll get revenge for hurting my friends!" Natsu countered, punching so hard nearly all the iron on his face fell to the ground. Gajeel finally had tons of bruises and scratches as well. But it wasn't compared to the ones Natsu had. He didn't think he could even stand.
He slammed onto the ground once more when Gajeel used his iron club right to Natsu's nose. Lucy yelled out his name but he couldn't hear anything but his own rapid heartbeat. The pain in his scalp was unbearable. Gajeel stumbled up to the fire dragon slayer and smiled wickedly. Natsu couldn't even push him away when Gajeel slammed a foot on his arm.
"I guess we know who's the top dragon slayer now." All Natsu needed was fire. That's all he needed. Gajeel could munch on the building around him, but Natsu had zero ways to power up. That's when Sagittarius piped up.
"I think I see what you mean miss Lucy, I thought you were asking me to produce fire with my own magic, which is something I cannot do. But I can make fire when there is a outside source helping me!" Three arrows suddenly shot from his bow and hit an electrical box. The box sparked, catching on fire. Natsu smiled at Gajeel, sucking up the flames and wiping his lips.
"Thanks Lucy, I owe ya one." Fire swirled around Natsu as he slammed a foot into the unprepared iron dragon slayer in his gut. Gajeel flew back, the rest of his iron armor chipping away. He was fully exposed, and before he could even take a bite of the building, he was being punched in the face more times than he could count. He couldn't defend himself at all, Natsu's faming fist beating him to it. Gajeel was out of magic, everyone knew this
"Natsu! Now!" Lucy hallered.
"Right!" He rasped, making his flames hotter. He held Gajeel's pained face close to his for a moment. "This is for everything you've done." He punched him so hard across the face, he flew off their platform and landed into what used to be Phantom Lord's guild hall. Natsu smiled tiredly, only to fall along with Gajeel.
Lucy followed them, allowing Sagittarius to disappear. She landed beside Natsu, who had a bright smile on his face. "What are you all happy about. Last time I checked, you didn't actually win this fight. It was more of a tie." Lucy snickered weakly. Her leg had stopped its bleeding and now just crusted over her cut. She was going to hate messing with that.
"It's a beautiful day, don't you think?" He stated. There was a long pause, before he yelled out. "Hey!" It was directed at Gajeel. He didn't answer. "Come on, don't be a sore loser."
"What!" He snapped. Though his threatening voice was no more.
"What happened to your dragon?"
"Dunno. He's gone."
"When?"
"July 7th, x777" Lucy gasped at the information and looked at Natsu. It was the same exact day both of their dragons disappeared as well. Lucy put a hand to her stomach. It was all starting to get strange now. There must of been something going on that day. Maybe they were forced to leave them. "What about you blondie?" Gajeel muttered.
"The name's Lucy! But yeah, it was the same for me as well. Except he was a celestial dragon and returned to his place in the stars." There was a silence, before she heard a deep snort. She pursed her lips.
"What a cheesy line."
"Shut up, Gajeel!" She yelled. As she was going to continue to rant on him, a bright light enveloped the area. Gajeel blinked away from the yellow lighting and shielded his eyes with his forearm. He scoffed and looked to Natsu.
"What's that?" Gajeel asked. Natsu shrugged, he had no idea but it seemed like it was their Master's doing. So it was a good thing! And Natsu was definitely glad Makarov was okay and well. Well enough to even fight along with them again.
"Fairy law. I remember Mira explaining it to me." Lucy mumbled, slowly standing. Natsu stood along with her, and caught her when she stumbled on her injured leg. "I think it might get infected." Lucy groaned, touching it briefly.
"Do you want me to carry you?" Nstsu asked softly.
"I feel like I'm getting deja vu," Lucy giggled. She shook her head finally, and pat Natsu's shoulder. "No I should be fine. But when we get home I ready need to patch you up. You look worse than I do." They left Gajeel sitting by himself, unable to move. He grunted, watching the two walk away. Lucy and Natsu made it back to the guild, just in time for multiple royal guards come in and question them all.
Deeming it as obviously Phantom's fault, they left Fairy Tail off with a slap on the wrist, but completely disbanded Phantom Lord. Master Jose was no where to be found. Lucy sat along with the other injured guildmates as they started to patch up the guild. It had been a week since the incident. "I'm so sorry you guys..." She mumbled as others winced in pain as they worked.
"For the last time Lucy," Gray said as he rolled his eyes. "No one blames you for what happens. You've been apologizing all week. It isn't like you. Don't you even remember what the Master said to you the moment the fighting ended." Of course she remembered. She'd never forget it. She still tears up at her words. He told her that none of it was her fault, that it was a bad circumstance she was dragged in and that everyone still loves her.
That was the shortened version anyway. "Keep working!" Erza yelled as she pushed Lucy out of the area. "You took a lot of damage to not only your body but to your mental health. Lucy, you need to rest." Lucy squeaked as Erza pushed on her more.
"But Natsu was hurt way more than I-" A ferocious glare shut Lucy up, and she bolted out of there with Marie following, having first discussed something with Happy.
"I think we should check on her." Natsu said, a couple hours later from all their working. Gray set down beams of wood and nodded.
"Yeah, I want to see if she really is resting. Knowing her, she could be secretly helping us right now because she still feels guilty." Gray scoffed. Erza put a hand to her chin as she thought.
"I suppose you're right, let's go." she sighed. They walked to Lucy and Natsu's cottage and stepped. Thought Lucy's scent was presence, it was just a vague smell. So it was obvious both her and Marie weren't here. Natsu crossed his arms and searched throughout their house to try to find the blonde.
"Maybe she's in the bathroom." Gray muttered. He then chuckled when a thought coming to his mind. He walked to the bathroom and opened the door, only to see Natsu in the bathtub instead.
"She's not in the bathroom!" Natsu yelled, swiping away the steam emitting from the hot water he sat in.
"You were quick to check there!" He called in surprised. Everyone had met back in the they were done searching in the small house. Erza looked slightly worried as she crossed her arms. Natsu bit his lip, where could she be?
"She's not here at all. I wonder where she went." Erza hummed. They then came across some letters sitting in a drawer. Happy dumped them out on the floor. "H-Hey! We shouldn't go through her belongings."
"Hey look at these!" Natsu yelled, ignoring the requip mage. He grabbed a letter and opened it, skimming across the paper. "Dear mom, I can't believe I just joined the fairy tail guild." He grabbed another one. "Dear mama, I just met Erza! She's so pretty and nice, when she's not keeping Natsu and Gray in line." Erza stiffened and blushed at the compliment. He furrowed his brows. There were so many of them.
"These are all to her mom!" Happy announced.
"Why weren't they sent?" Gray asked. Erza frowned when she picked up a paper she noticed on her desk. She held it up for everyone to see. Forgetting the conversation before, they gasped when they all saw what Erza presented to them.
"I think she's going home." Natsu immediately booked it out the door, following her very faint scent. She couldn't do this. She wasn't allowed to.
She can't leave him!