Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail—The Master and the Dragon
Chapter 5
Lord Nato's dagger seemed to be moving in slow motion to the Fairy Tail mages. The sheer shock on all of their faces said it all. They were about to witness the end of their beloved friend, Natsu, who still lay on the ground trying to shake off the effects of the kick delivered by Gray. He was completely oblivious to everything around him. There was nothing any of them could do. It was impossible to react quick enough to save Natsu.
"NATSU!" Lucy shrieked.
Suddenly, a streak of shadow darted out and wrapped itself around Nato's arm, halting the descent of the dagger a mere inches from Natsu's heart. Lord Nato stared at his arm in shock. At first, he thought one of his subordinates was defying him and preventing him from carrying out his will upon this boy. However, the anger was replaced with confusion at what exactly was attached to his forearm. "What is this? Who dares interfere?"
The Fairy Tail mages let out a massive sigh of relief. They thought for sure Natsu was a goner, but then again, he always found a way out of difficult situations. They then became just as confused as Nato; what was that thing on Nato's arm? They followed the shadow with their eyes until they saw the source and their eyes widened in amazement.
There, standing on the roof of a building, was Nikolias. He stood facing Nato and Natsu, the streak of shadow grasped firmly in his cocked right hand so as to prevent Nato's arm from continuing its motion. His lips were curled back to reveal fangs and a low growl could be heard escaping his mouth.
While still holding the shadow taught, Nikolias turned to look at his companions, allowing them to see that his eyes had gone dragon-like. "Remind me to talk to you and Natsu about timing, Gray," he said in a rough voice. It was clear from his tone and facial expression that he was annoyed.
"Sorry about that," Gray apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Nikolias, you saved Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks.
Nikolias looked back over to where Natsu was. "Not yet I haven't," he grumbled.
The whole time the group was talking, Nato had been commanding the citizens to get out of the way and barking orders to his men to 'kill the pink haired one and then his friends'. The men were preparing to put Natsu down.
"Niky! Do something quickly!" Gracie shouted, worry clear in her voice.
Nikolias grunted. "Fuck, this wasn't supposed to be this difficult!" Using his free hand, Nikolias gathered shadows into his palm and quickly condensed it into an orb. Unlike the orb he showed Natsu, this one was large, at least twice the size of the first one. "SHADOW DRAGON PULSE!"
Nikolias fired the black orb directly at Nato, who was watching Natsu with fury written all over his face. He never saw the attack coming. It collided with him, sending him into the building directly behind him. Upon impact with Nato, the orb discharged, sending out a visible black wave of concussive power that knocked away all of the guards and flinging debris everywhere, creating a dusty smokescreen.
Nikolias created an opening and wasted no time. He released the shadow in his right hand and leapt forward at an incredible speed. He landed next to Natsu, scooped him up into his arms and leapt backwards towards the group. Upon landing, he gently handed Natsu over to Lucy.
"Natsu!" Lucy called out to the barely conscious boy in her arms. "Natsu, wake up! Are you alright?"
Natsu began to stir. "Wh…Wha? Where am I?"
"You're alright now, Natsu," Lucy soothed while petting his head. "Just relax now."
Suddenly, Natsu's eyes snapped open and he glared at Gray. "Alright snow balls, that was a lucky shot! Let's see you try that again!"
"Natsu, enough!" Erza scolded. "Now is not the time. You and Gray have made things bad enough already. Don't make it worse."
Natsu blinked. "What'd we do?"
"You collided with Nikolias and Gracie's mark," Erza explained.
"I did? Huh, I don't remember that."
Lucy looked at him through teary eyes. "You were seconds away from death! That guy was going to stab you while you were coming to. If not for Nikolias, you'd be dead right now."
Natsu looked at her apologetically. He never liked making her cry. "Sorry Luce." He turned to Nikolias, who was simply staring at the dust cloud. "Sorry Nikolias for having to be saved."
Nikolias wasn't listening, so Gracie stepped in. "It's alright, Natsu. I'm just glad that you're safe and that Niky intervened when he did. A second later and we'd have to add another name to Nato's list of crimes."
"Gracie, have Natsu and Gray made things more difficult?" Erza asked.
Gracie laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head. "Well…maybe a little."
"My apologies. That was never our intent when we went looking for you," Erza said bowing. She then proceeded to slam her fists on Natsu and Gray's skulls. Both boys cursed and rubbed their wounds.
Gracie smiled. "It's fine. Things are more difficult, but nowhere near impossible. We tend to like to stay in the shadows as long as possible and wait for the opportune moment. Niky was probably waiting for the civilians to clear out as much as possible before engaging any way. All this means is that we have to step up our plans a little bit."
Nikolias, never taking his eyes off of the dust cloud, spoke up. "So what's the plan now, Gracie?"
Gracie looked at the site of destruction. "Well my plan was to go Air-Ground when he was in a less populated area. However, seeing as how things have changed and we still have property and a population to think about, we have to treat this like the last one."
Nikolias sighed. "No signs of a dragon, huh?"
She nodded. "No signs of a dragon."
Nikolias sighed again. "One day I'll be able to cut loose, but I do understand the situation. The civilians and their homes and shops are the only reason why that Pulse was set to stun and not kill. So we're going with Ground-Ground?"
"That's our best option, yes."
Nikolias gave a nod and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, let's take 'em down then!" He clenched his fists and from his forearms appeared the black blades. He unclenched his fists and crouched down, prepared to pounce whenever he needed to.
Gracie nodded back. "That's the spirit!" She clapped her hands together and a golden glow enveloped her. She closed her eyes and held her arms out to the sides. "Come forth, katanas!" With a flash of brilliant light, two shapes began forming in Gracie's hands. After a couple seconds, they solidified and took the form of two long and simple blades. Gracie grabbed hold of the hilts and began twirling the blades in her hand.
The dust had finally dissipated and revealed Nato's bodyguards standing protectively around him. They had all drawn swords to prevent anyone from getting close and were prepared for a fight. The head of the bodyguards walked forward and took up point. He raised his sword and pointed it at Nikolias and Gracie. "Attack men! We must protect Lord Nato at all costs!" With a mighty war cry, the bodyguards charged.
Gracie smirked at their action. "You take the right side and I'll take the left. Meet in the middle. Let's do this, Niky!"
That was all the go-ahead Nikolias needed. In the blink of an eye, he was running head long into the mass of twenty-plus bodyguards with Gracie breaking off to fight her half.
Erza was dumbstruck. "Did Gracie use magic? I thought she wasn't a mage?"
Lucy was more concerned about the odds. "Can they win this fight? I mean, if Nikolias isn't using his dragon powers, that puts them at an even greater disadvantage."
Natsu crossed his arms. "I wanna fight, too," he pouted.
The four wizards were wary about their companions' chances in this fight. However, as soon as the fight began, they could only watch with amazement.
Gracie looked elegant with the swords in hand. Her motions were smooth, simple, and graceful, seemingly parrying and striking a lethal blow in one fluid swing. Bodyguard after bodyguard fell at her feet. They watched as Gracie never broke stride, seemingly dancing with her opponents. It was clear that there was masked power behind her movements. On top of that, her attacks were clean. Each time she landed a strike, the man would die instantly, but there was no blood that spurted wildly from the wounds. She made quick work of all of them, defeating her final opponent with a swift high kick to the sternum that knocked the man to the ground and finished him off with a quick plunge of a sword through the heart. She removed her blade from his flesh and swung it three times, shaking off any blood that stuck to the steel.
At the same time as Gracie, Nikolias was fighting his group. Unlike Gracie, Nikolias' moves were animalistic and even more powerful, swift, and deadly. Nikolias dodged attack after attack from all directions, looking for every possible opening to strike. Nikolias found that these men weren't as skilled with swords as he would have thought (of course, sparring with Gracie can lead to unrealistic expectations). With each swing, every man left themselves wide open to a lethal counter attack. Nikolias was running through these men without breaking a sweat, dodging a swing and dealing a deep cut of his own to a crucial artery or the neck. Some men, who were clearly the least skilled of the group, left themselves so vulnerable that Nikolias had no trouble swinging his arm and decapitating them with one swift motion. Soon, Nikolias was left with only the head bodyguard. Alas, even he was a disappointment. He charged blindly and Nikolias could only sigh as he took a small leap backwards to dodge and, as soon as his feet touched pavement, he dashed forward, cutting through the man's midsection completely with his blade. He turned and watched the overconfident man's upper half tumble forward, leaving the rest of his body and allowing blood to freely shoot into the air and pool on the ground.
Gracie shot Nikolias a smile over the carnage that lay before them. "That was easy!" she chirped.
Nikolias smiled back, sharp fangs glistening. "Heh, too easy. Kinda wanted a challenge. I severely overestimated these guys. They had no style or form whatsoever."
Gracie nodded. "I found that, too, but you shouldn't complain about this stuff being easy, Niky. Besides, now we can go for the big cheese." She glared at Nato who stood there, terrified.
Nikolias turned to face Nato, a loud growl escaping his curled lips. "I've been dying to hear those words."
Gracie nodded and then shot Nikolias a wry, sideways smile. "You do realize it's my turn this time, right?"
Nikolias' face fell. "Fuck, really? I get a small fry and you get him? Goddamn it!"
Gracie giggled. "A deal's a deal, Niky."
"I get the fuckin' Lacro weakling and you get a crime boss," Nikolias grumbled.
Gracie wagged her finger. "We shook on it. No take backs. Nato is my kill."
Nikolias sighed in defeat. "Fine. Like I fuckin' care. Go for it."
Gracie giggled again. "You are so bad at hiding your frustration. You ready?"
Nikolias shot her a look. "For what? This is yours remember?"
Gracie smiled. "Yes it is. You were listening! Anyway, I don't want to find out what this guy can do because for all we know, it could be destructive. I want it to be quick and easy. The best way to do that is if he can't fight back."
A grin crept on Nikolias' face. "Since you don't want to see dragon moves, I can only assume you mean the Shadow Wave?"
Gracie winked at him. "Let 'er rip!" She then turned to her still stunned companions and whispered, "You may wanna cover your ears."
All of them did as instructed right before Nikolias took a deep breath and opened his mouth, releasing an ear-splitting shriek. Even through their covered ears, they could feel their minds clouding. Their vision started to blur and darken and they began wobbling where they stood.
Nato, who was unaware of what was coming, didn't cover his ears and paid dearly for it. As soon as the shriek was picked up by his ears, his brain immediately shut down, paralyzing him completely. He stood there, motionless, a look of pain and fear in his eyes.
Seeing that Nato was immobilized, Gracie shot forward, katanas at the ready. With a few swift and deep cuts to his ankles, shoulders, and spine, Gracie completely severed major tendons and the spinal cord. Nato fell to the ground in a heap, his body no longer able to support his weight. Gracie made a motion with her hand for Nikolias to stop, which he did instantly.
The wizards' and Happy's ears were still ringing as they tried to regain their balance and vision.
"Wh…What the…hell was…that?" Gray managed to ask.
"That sound…disoriented us…," Erza explained.
"My…My ears are bleeding," Lucy whined.
Natsu was unable to speak. The pain he felt was far more intense due to his heightened senses and he was hunched over, clutching his head. Seeing this, Lucy held him close and tried to soothe his pain.
Nikolias walked over to where Gracie was standing by Nato's panting body. "Nicely done, Gracie. He's not going anywhere," Nikolias complimented.
Gracie smiled. "Why thank you, Niky. I tried my best!" She looked back down at Nato, a frown plaguing her pretty face.
Nato looked up in fear. His senses were returning to him, but he could barely speak. "Pl…Plea…Please…wha...what do…yo…you…w…want? Money? P…Power? I c…can give it t…to you. Just p…please sp…spare me."
Nikolias threw his head back in laughter. "Amazing! Even a guy like this begs! Humans never cease to amaze." He glared back down at Nato. "Sorry pal, no take backs. Gracie?"
Gracie nodded. "Lord Darius Nato. Age 42 and unmarried. You are responsible for multiple acts of murder, kidnapping, assault, rape, disturbing the peace, and supplying dangerous services to others in order to harm innocent people. On top of that, you're a greedy asshole, but that can't be considered a reason to kill you, since the world is filled with greedy assholes. But don't worry, we still have plenty of legitimate reasons."
Nikolias crouched down so that he was close to Nato's face. "Bastards like you make me sick. You think because you have the money and power that you can just fuck with people's lives and get away with it? Sorry, but I can't stand back and watch that. You've made too many people suffer in your day. But congratulations on living 'til 42. That's big considering how long I've wanted to kill you."
Nato's face was filled with fear. Suddenly, the pain receptors in his body started to work again and the immense pain from Gracie's cuts hit him all at once, causing him to scream in agonizing pain.
Nikolias closed his eyes and smiled. "Ah, just what I was waiting for. Okay Gracie, shut this sorry excuse for a living creature up for good."
Without any sign of acknowledgement, Gracie plunged one of her katanas into Nato's throat, causing him to spit out large amounts of blood as he continued to scream. His body twitched as Gracie pulled out the katana and ceased all movement completely as she drove the blade through his black heart.
Nikolias stood up and sighed. "Another mission accomplished. I have to say, even though it wasn't my kill, I feel amazingly better."
Gracie wiped off her blade on a clean portion of a bodyguard's clothes. "Yeah, I feel great! It's the best when you get to take down a major bad guy."
Nikolias gave her a deadpanned look. "You're mocking me and it's not appreciated."
Gracie stuck out her tongue at him.
"Um, excuse me?"
Nikolias and Gracie turned to see an old man standing before them.
"Yes sir, how can we help you?" Gracie asked pleasantly.
The old man extended his hand. "I want to personally thank both of you for what you have done here today. You have freed this town from an awful plague and we could not be more grateful. This town can finally prosper again and the citizens can sleep peacefully at night knowing that that roach won't ever return."
Gracie gave him a bright smile and shook his hand. "It was our pleasure, sir. It's what we do after all. We aim to help the innocent."
The man nodded and broke the handshake. "Well you certainly have. Again my thanks and take care of yourselves." With that he bowed as low as he could, turned around and walked away. Nikolias smiled at the man's retreating figure.
"What are you smiling about?" Gracie asked, noticing her partner's sincere grin.
He turned to look at her. "Every now and then I'm reminded that there are still good humans out there and whenever I find them I can't help but smile."
Gracie gripped Nikolias' hand tightly. "See? Being human isn't all bad."
"I never said it was bad."
"Ok, well, do you think that you can start accepting humans more easily?"
Nikolias squeezed her hand back. "I think I'm getting there."
Over with the Fairy Tail mages, Natsu had finally returned to his senses and saw the old man thanking Nikolias and Gracie. After hearing the conversation, Natsu nodded. "See, I was right!"
"About what?" Lucy asked.
He kept looking at Nikolias and Gracie with a big grin. "They help protect people and that makes them awesome."
Lucy smiled as well. "Yeah, I guess they are pretty awesome."
The rest of the mission went off without a hitch. No one even attempted to disrupt the political function the next day, which made Nikolias laugh and say "I totally called that one". Natsu was extremely disappointed that he didn't get to fight at all on this mission and he was kicking himself for picking it. However, Gracie was quick to remind him that his fight with Gray counted as a fight which made Erza laugh.
Upon completion of the mission, the town paid twice as much as originally offered. Having heard what Nikolias and Gracie had done to Lord Nato, the town and its leaders wanted to make sure the two fighters knew how much their actions meant to the town. Nikolias and Gracie attempted to turn it down, saying that they didn't even clean up after themselves, but it was insisted. The mayor even said the townspeople didn't mind cleaning up the gore, which made Gracie laugh nervously. Lucy squealed with delight at the extra pay. Not only was their no damage to pay for, but she was actually getting paid double what she was expecting. She grinned greedily, imagining what she could do with the money left over after rent.
The group headed out of Freesia Town and back to Magnolia the next morning. The entire way back, Natsu pestered Nikolias about learning a new move, but Nikolias refused, saying it was punishment for turning what should have been a simple job into a total clusterfuck. Natsu pouted, but quickly redirected his attention to hearing about how Nikolias saved him. He was amazed at the power Nikolias used and wished he got to see it for himself.
Lucy, Gracie, and Erza had a nice talk about their shopping spree before all of the excitement. Lucy asked what Gracie planned on doing with the sword she had bought, to which she responded by saying that "it would be disposed of properly". Gracie then went on to pester Lucy about Natsu, making sure not to actually say his name since Natsu's dragon-like hearing would pick up on it. Lucy found herself blushing for most of the return journey, trying to vehemently deny all of Gracie's claims. Gracie giggled, knowing that she was right, but decided to leave it alone after multiple hours of harassment.
Erza decided to look into Gracie's use of magic. "Gracie, I thought that you said you weren't a mage?"
Gracie looked at her. "That's right, I'm not."
"But didn't you use magic to summon your katanas?"
"I did. It's a kind of requip magic."
"So then you are a mage?"
"I never considered myself a mage. The only magic I use is to arm myself. Everything else is hard work and skill, so I see myself as a swordsman and a Dragon Master who happens to be able to use a small bit of magic."
Erza felt unsatisfied with this answer, but nodded to show understanding.
With the edge of Magnolia in their sights in the late afternoon light, the group let out a sigh after their long journey and couldn't wait to be back in the guild. Even Nikolias found himself smiling at the thought of being back in the guild.
Gracie, of course, picked up on this smile as well and when the rest of the group kept walking, she poked him in the ribs to get him to stop. "You're smiling, Niky."
He stopped and looked at her. "So what? Am I not allowed to smile?"
"You're allowed, but why are you smiling?"
"I have to have a reason? I can't just smile?"
"You're excited to go back to Fairy Tail, aren't you?"
He looked away. "It's not a bad place. And seeing as we just took out that Nato bastard, we could use a little break."
"Oh yay, we can stay!" Gracie clapped her hands together excitedly before a thought popped into her head and a mischievous smile took over her face. "Is that the only reason you want to stay?"
Nikolias looked at her, suddenly feeling very uneasy. "What are you getting at?"
"This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain white haired mage, would it?" she teased.
Nikolias just huffed in response and kept walking.
Gracie giggled and followed.
