Wendy had thought walking up the mountains through the snow - a necessary step to reaching the cave Magnus was supposedly hiding in - would be the worst part of their journey. As it turned out, the caves were also rather terrible. They had a map, drawn out by Levy, marked with the cavern where they suspected Magnus had gone. Wendy had assumed that this would make the journey easier, but so far, that had proved untrue. Erza had pointed out a treacherous, twisted route that would take them far away from any of the main passages, and hopefully preserve the element of surprise. The cave network they ended up following was unguarded, certainly, but it was also cold, damp, and claustrophobic.
Unlike Natsu, Gray, Erza, and apparently even Laxus, Wendy was not used to intense travel, camping, or climbing mountains. She had spent most of her life before Fairy Tail in Cait Shelter, which had amenities such as buildings and roads. And even after joining the Strongest Team, she had had Carla on long journeys. As soon as Wendy looked tired, Carla usually used her Aera magic without Wendy even having to ask. If Carla had been here, Wendy never would have been expected to hike all the way up a mountain, keeping up with people who never seemed to run out of energy.
Except for Gray, of course. Usually, he had reserves as boundless as the rest of them, but now he was lagging behind even Wendy. She could tell that he was embarrassed, except when he got too exhausted to be embarrassed, but he wasn't complaining. She sort of wished he would. Over the past five years she'd spent in Fairy Tail, she had gotten used to Gray complaining about anything under the sun, and often about the sun itself. By now, it mostly faded into background noise. If anything, she found it reassuring, and she missed it.
Wendy turned around, glancing back towards Gray. Natsu had dropped back beside him, and the flames he held in his hands for light cast flickering shadows across Gray's face. Gray's jaw was set, but that didn't stop Wendy from seeing how his legs were trembling.
She turned back towards the front before she could make herself feel worse. Yes, she and Jellal had brought Gray back to life, but they'd clearly left the job unfinished. Gray was exhausted enough to be actively slowing their progress, a shadow of his former self. Wendy didn't know what she could be doing to help him more, but she wished that she could at least try.
But she was still recovering from the massive magical expenditure of the resurrection itself, and now they were advancing towards Magnus. Wendy had to conserve as much magical power as she could - she knew she was going to be needed later. As much as she wanted to make Gray more comfortable, that wasn't their priority. She hated that, but it was becoming increasingly clear to her that making the smart choice, the winning choice, often felt like making the wrong choice.
They'd been walking for…Wendy wanted to say it had been about twenty-five straight hours, but Erza would probably tell her it was more like seven, when Erza finally announced it was time to make camp. Even though they were technically in a tunnel, it was the same size and shape of tunnel that they'd been in for the past several hours, so it felt a little strange to just plant themselves without trying to find a little extra shelter or anything. But clearly no one knew they were there - if Magnus had been aware of their presence, they definitely already would have been attacked. And anyways, as soon as Erza told them it was time to rest, Gray threw himself down on the ground with a soft moan. There was no way they were moving after that.
Natsu was down beside Gray in an instant, a hand on his shoulder. "Aww, Snowflake, let's get some water into ya…yeah, we can rest now, aww, you look so tired…."
Wendy had heard Natsu talk like that to Gray in only the most dire of circumstances, and it was a little strange to hear it now, when Gray was ostensibly just tired. But he didn't seem to mind, and he allowed Natsu to force some water into him while Laxus and Erza checked out the perimeter of their little campsite.
"If Freed was here, he could put up some Jutsu Shiki and we'd be good to go all night. No one would even be able to see us if he didn't want it..."
Erza didn't respond. Wendy thought this was fair, given the state of Jellal.
Once Erza and Laxus had satisfied themselves that they were safe enough, they both came back to the main group.
"Everything looks good," Erza said. "But to be on the safe side, we should still probably set a watch. We'll probably need to set a watch every night until we reach Magnus. We can shift around the order each night, but tonight I will take first watch, then Natsu, then Laxus, then Wendy."
No one mentioned the fact that Erza had left Gray out of the list. But when Wendy glanced over at him, she could tell that he'd noticed. He was looking slightly down, face bright and flushed. Wendy thought it was the least pale that she had seen him since the resurrection, possibly since he'd gotten the sword in the first place.
Natsu made a fire - thankfully he could run it for a while off his own magical energy, instead of fuel, because they didn't have any. Wendy hadn't realized how cold she'd gotten until the fire finally made her feel warm again. Once that was going, Erza produced a few packs of hot dogs from her pocket dimension.
"Take as many as you want," she said, passing them to Natsu. "I have an almost unlimited supply! I packed many hot dogs. And cake!"
Even the grim circumstances of their current situation couldn't stop a sparkle from coming into Erza's eye at the mention of cake. Wendy watched her, relieved that her friend hadn't seemed to have lost hope just yet.
She wished she could say the same of Gray. The ice wizard sat alone, a little bit back from the fire, staring at nothing as Natsu tried to decide how many hot dogs he could eat. Wendy knew that Gray was going through something difficult, something that none of the rest of them could understand. She assumed that even now, Gray would rather be living than dead, but the fact remained that he hadn't been given a choice in the matter. Wendy and Jellal had decided for him, yanked him away from…wherever he'd been before and brought him back, very possibly just to die again. It wasn't fair to expect him to be acting normal, or even grateful, but every time she saw the faraway look in Gray's eyes she couldn't help but wonder if she'd done the wrong thing.
Even if she had, Wendy knew that she didn't have anyone she could talk to. Certainly not Gray, who would just feel guilty and ungrateful. He was carrying enough, and Wendy wouldn't add to that. She'd seen the depth of Natsu's grief, and bringing this up to him would be insensitive, bordering on cruel. And not Erza, whose husband had put himself in grave danger with the same actions Wendy was now questioning.
Jellal would have understood, and might have even shared her concerns. But Jellal was in a coma, and by the time he woke up (if he woke up), all this would probably be over.
More than anything, Wendy wished she had Chelia. Chelia was the sweetest person Wendy had ever met, but that didn't stop her from being surprisingly pragmatic. Wendy had come to her with problems time and again, and Chelia helped her with a seeming effortlessness that Wendy felt half jealous of and half blessed by.
Wendy tried to remind herself that everything she was doing now was to save Chelia, and to be with her again, but it didn't really help. Her sense of longing swelled, combining with the overwhelming weight of the task ahead. Wendy looked down, struggling to cope with the almost nauseating stress. She just wanted to see her girlfriend again.
If she was having trouble dealing with the situation, she could only imagine how Natsu must feel. She looked over towards Gray, unconsciously hoping that the ice wizard was looking a little more like himself.
"Come on, Gray," Natsu was saying. He had a hot dog grasped in his fist, and was waving it vaguely in Gray's face.
"I don' wan' it, Natsu. I already told ya. Hot dogs are gross."
"Awww, come on Gray. We've been walking all day. You have to eat something. You need calories and stuff! Would you rather eat Erza's cake?"
"Bleah," Gray said, crossing his arms like a petulant child. "No."
"I'm only offering to share my cake with people who express the proper gratitude for it!" Erza said loudly.
"Erza…." Natsu trailed off. "Well, you're not really supposed to be eating cake anyways. Hot dogs have nutrients and stuff in 'em. Come on, at least take like a bite or two, and I'll eat the rest.."
Natsu waved the hot dog a little closer to Gray. It kind of looked like a disgusting version of a magic wand. Gray shoved it away.
"Stop wavin' that thing at me! I'll barf in your face, Natsu, I swear I will…."
Natsu lowered the hot dog, looking crestfallen. "Well…I guess not eating is better than barfing in my face…."
Natsu looked so silly that Wendy actually smiled a little, even though watching Natsu with Gray didn't really do anything to soothe her own loneliness, and her worry for Gray still sat heavy in her chest.
Natsu's surrender seemed to soften Gray a little. "Fine, fine, lemme take it," he said sadly. As soon as Natsu handed the hot dog over, Gray froze it solid.
"Gray! That's gross! You can't eat a frozen hot dog. Ew, I don't even wanna think about the texture-"
"I mean, it's better than nothin', right? It's kinda like a popsicle. Like a savory…popsicle."
"Stop talking about savory popsicles, or I'm gonna barf in your face-"
"Hey! At least I'm eating! If I had been here all by myself, I probably wouldn't be eating anything!"
Natsu screwed up his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Gray, and he let out a small giggle despite himself. Beaming, Natsu put an arm around Gray and pulled him close.
"You're gonna melt my hot dog popsicle," Gray muttered, but he let himself fold into Natsu's side a little, and Wendy thought she saw him relax.
Before they noticed her watching, Wendy looked away, fighting a smile of her own. Just for a second, she let herself believe that they would make it out of this, all of them. Wendy had grown up a lot in the past week, but she wasn't old enough to lose hope. Not yet, anyway.
Erza didn't like it, but even she had to admit that at twenty-five, she was getting too old to be sleeping on a rocky cave floor. She bore her discomfort in silence, as befitted her, but that didn't change the fact that she had woken up sore. It was impressive that Jellal had managed it for all those years with Crime Sorciere.
She didn't want to think about Jellal. Erza glared down the dim tunnel in front of her, beginning to calculate how much longer they might have left in the caves, when Wendy tapped her on the shoulder.
"Erza?"
"What is it, Wendy?" Erza responded, letting the vague arithmetic slip away without too much regret. She wasn't really that good at math, and she'd mostly been using it as a distraction anyway.
"Natsu wants to know if we're almost there," Wendy said apologetically.
Erza sighed in annoyance, turning back towards the rest of her team. The caves were narrow enough that they'd been forced to spread out. Erza was in the front, followed by Wendy, with Gray and Natsu towards the middle and Laxus serving as a rearguard.
Erza had intended to lecture Natsu about the virtues of patience, but she held her tongue. Gray had dropped back significantly, and Natsu was hovering around his elbow with a pinched, worried expression that looked all wrong on his face. The ice wizard looked better than he had yesterday, without having to trek through the snow, but it was clear that the hard travel was still taking its toll on him.
Erza waited until Natsu and Gray had caught up with her, at least enough that she didn't have to shout.
"I don't know how much longer. Probably at least another day of travel, though. Well…probably more than that." Natsu's face fell at that, and Erza felt an irrational surge of guilt. "But…we can take a brief rest when we reach a good stopping point. It looks as though the passage widens a little up there."
Natsu made a small, confused sound in the back of his throat, and all of a sudden he was pushing past Erza. Erza spun around, sure that something was wrong with Gray, but he was just standing there swaying, looking just as confused as Erza felt.
"Natsu, what…?"
"Smell something weird," Natsu said, all in a rush. "Gonna check it out. Stay with Gray."
A flicker of annoyance crossed Gray's face, but he didn't say anything. Erza checked on Laxus and Wendy, and they both looked confused and a little scared - probably, they smelled the same thing that Natsu did.
Natsu turned the corner, out of sight. Erza's heart was thudding so hard it hurt, but nothing happened.
And then nothing continued to happen. Natsu didn't come back. It felt like it had been a few seconds too long, and Erza opened her mouth to cry out.
And then, Erza heard a roar. Not Natsu, definitely not Natsu. It sounded like several creatures roaring at once, and whatever they were, they were big.
Erza thought back to the regenerating panther that had guarded Oblatio. Why, oh why hadn't it occurred to her that that might not be the only magical creature haunting these tunnels? The Hakobe Mountains were mostly unexplored, and there was ancient, wild magic down here. And no one really understood the limits of Magnus's magic, he could have brought creatures himself, conjured them, even….
"Natsu!" Erza screamed. "Can you hear me?"
No response, except from Gray, who was screaming. "Let me through! Let go of me, you asshole!"
Erza saw that Laxus had Gray in something that resembled a very gentle headlock, and Gray was thrashing as he tried to free himself to get to Natsu.
"Keep him there," Erza said firmly. Natsu was in danger. She wasn't letting Gray put himself in danger too.
Erza ran up to the place where the tunnel widened. It turned to the side, and she followed the shaft until it emptied into a huge chamber, with ceilings higher than Erza had seen in days.
Erza froze. In the center of the chamber was a creature Erza had read about in books, but never seen. Even so, her mind supplied the name - Hydra.
The monster in front of her looked sort of like a huge lizard, about the size of an elephant. It was poison green, with eight heads sprouting from its thick chest. They seemed to be moving more or less independently, coiling around one another like a nest of snakes. Two of them moved protectively around something that looked like a large statue.
There was no sign of Natsu. Erza had run into the cave expecting the worse, mentally preparing herself to see Natsu's blood sprayed across the walls, his broken body clutched in the monster's talons. Instead, he'd simply disappeared.
Erza stepped forward into the cave, summoning her swords as she did. The blades appeared around her with an almost inaudible metallic shk, but apparently the Hydra had good hearing. All eight heads turned towards her, moving as one.
Erza froze. She willed her body to move, incredulous at the idea that she might balk under pressure, but her limbs felt heavy and stiff. Then, as the heads moved closer, she caught one clear glimpse of the statue as they abandoned it.
A stony version of Natsu stood in front of her, fists raised. There were even perfectly carved flames licking up between his fingers.
Except, of course, they weren't carved. They were frozen in stone as Natsu had begun to attack, just like Erza would be if she didn't react quickly enough.
With a monumental effort, Erza wrenched her left eye closed. Immediately, the petrifying feeling slowed, then stopped, then began to recede. Her artificial right eye, immune to magical effects, was protecting her.
"Erza?! Natsu?! ANSWER ME!"
Erza heard a grunt from Laxus, then a scuffle of stumbling footsteps as Gray's voice drew nearer. She lunged backwards, into the tunnel, requipping into her Giant Armor as she moved.
"STAY BACK," she shouted, feeling a small impact as Gray bounced off her with a groan. "It can turn you to stone. It got Natsu. My artificial eye allows me to see, so I'll take this one alone! DO NOT FOLLOW ME! Wendy, we will need your spells once this is over, so stay safe."
Gray started to get up off the ground. Moving as quickly as she could in her cumbersome armor, Erza whirled around and pushed him backwards, thankfully into Laxus's waiting arms.
"Hold him back," she snapped. "I've got this one."
She didn't wait to see if Laxus would be as gentle with Gray this time. Erza was confident that Wendy would be able to remove the petrification from Natsu, but if the Natsu statue got broken, she wasn't so sure that Wendy would be able to put it back together again. She didn't have any time to waste.
The Hydra was big, which was obviously terrifying on many levels, but also something of a good thing. It couldn't fit into the tunnel. It was also clearly serving as more of a guardian than a hunter, so it didn't seem too interested in chasing them into the tunnels either. Right now, it mostly seemed to want to protect the Natsu statue.
Erza threw herself into the room, hurrying along the wall just in case it did go for the tunnel. She was still keeping her left eye closed tight. Behind her, she heard the sliding of scale-on-scale. It must be uncoiling. Erza ran faster, hoping to get it as far from Natsu as she could.
Finally, she heard the sound of a heavy body shifting. It had seen her. It was coming.
Erza whirled around. Not fast enough, not far enough. It still seemed reluctant to abandon Natsu. Its necks stretched towards her, jaws snapping. But she wasn't enough of a threat to it yet.
"Come and get me!" Erza yelled, brandishing her sword. She doubted the thing spoke English, but her meaning was clear. And it seemed to work. One of the heads roared. Two others growled. All three started snaking towards her, and the creature took a few lumbering steps in her direction.
The heads were fast, but the body wasn't. And either way, Erza was faster. She requipped into her black wing armor and lunged towards the ceiling, curling around behind it as she went. The Hydra couldn't spin fast enough. The place where the heads connected to the body was wide open.
Erza picked a head at random, and brought her sword down on the neck with all the strength she could muster. The neck was maybe as thick around as her waist, and for a second she was sure she wouldn't be strong enough, even dropping from a height. But the head separated from the body with a wet, dragging sound. The neck thumped heavily to the ground. Blackish blood turned the rock slick.
Erza sprung back into the air before any of the other heads could go for her. She was breathing hard, but she hadn't been hurt. She only had to do this seven more times, and each time would be easier. Then Natsu would be safe.
It took Erza a second to realize something was wrong. But then, she realized there was a strange, squelching sound happening below her. When she looked down, she saw that there were two small, half-formed Hydra heads emerging from the stump she had made with her sword. And they were growing before her eyes.
Erza catapulted herself back towards the tunnel, flipping over and tucking her wings to fly as fast as she possibly could. She'd read about something like this in the book of mythical creatures, long ago. The book hadn't seemed to know of a way to stop the Hydra heads from renewing, but Erza's team had something the author clearly didn't know about.
"Gray," Erza called, skidding to a stop inside the tunnel.
The ice wizard looked up sullenly, glaring at Laxus as he did. Laxus shrugged, without releasing the back of Gray's shirt.
"It's regenerating," Erza said quickly. "I think Oblatio is the only thing that can defeat it-"
"Wounds that never heal," Gray said, and pulled the sword out. The sheath of ice he'd made around it melted, and he shook Laxus's hand from his back.
"You still won't be able to open your eyes," Erza told him sharply, moving to intercede.
"Way ahead of you." Gray lifted one hand to his face and ice flowed from his fingertips, sealing his eyes shut with an oddly beautiful pattern of frost. "I got this."
Erza stepped in front of him, mildly surprised when he sensed her presence and stopped moving. "I can see. I can't fight, but I can direct you where to hit. Laxus, I'll need you too. If you can provide a distraction, direct its attention away from Gray and Natsu, we won't have to worry about…shattering Natsu."
Laxus nodded, tearing off a piece of his shirt and making his own blindfold. "Loud noises, bright lights. Yeah, I'm your guy."
"And Wendy-"
"Stay back," Wendy finished. "Go!"
Erza turned immediately, lunging back into the tunnel. She considered lifting Gray up with her Black Wing armor, but discarded the idea as too risky for Natsu. If she couldn't get a picture of the whole battlefield, it was too likely that he would end up broken. Besides, she didn't think she could successfully carry Gray while avoiding nine Hydra heads for very long. The most use she could provide would be a view of the entire fight.
The Hydra was there in front of her when she exited the tunnel, closer than it had been before. About half of its heads were clustered near to the entrance, with the rest weaving slowly around Natsu.
Erza lunged into a roll, veering off to the side to make room for Laxus and Gray. One of the heads darted for her, purplish tongue lolling over its jaws.
"Gray! Ahead and to your right! Waist height!"
Gray struck forward, surprisingly graceful. He missed by mere inches.
"Dodge left!" Erza yelled. Gray side-stepped, and the head that had been going for him caught empty air.
Without needing to be told, Gray brought the sword down where he'd been standing an instant before. The Hydra didn't have time to retract its head, and the sword whistled down on its neck. It didn't quite sever the thing. But dark blood splattered the ground.
In the opposite corner of the cavern, a sudden brightness drew Erza's eye. The smell of ozone assaulted her. Laxus roared, and about half the heads swiveled towards him.
"Laxus, get ready to run!" Erza yelled. She looked back down at Gray, and saw a head snaking towards his open left.
"Gray, left!" she yelled. Gray slashed left, hitting the head dead center. This time, he severed the neck. The head thumped heavily to the ground.
"Good job, Gray! You got it! Don't trip on the-"
Gray immediately tripped over the fallen head. To his complete credit, he had the speed and grace not to actually fall, even as weak as he was. Laxus must have heard Erza's warning, because he chose that moment to conjure more lightning. He blasted a path in front of him. He hit a few of the heads, but they didn't seem to be susceptible to lightning, so he didn't do any real damage.
"Gray, forward and two paces to your left!" Erza yelled. Gray followed her instructions, finishing with a neat little spin. He landed another solid hit with Oblatio.
And then, Laxus screamed.
"Laxus!" Erza yelled. He was surrounded by three of the heads, and one of them seemed to have taken a chunk out of his arm. The wound had already turned a nasty grayish-green, and Laxus's face was screwed up with pain.
"I'm…I'm okay," Laxus managed. With clear effort, he lit up with electricity again.
"Gray, watch out! The heads are poisoned. Back off."
Gray did not back off. Instead, he followed the sound of Laxus's voice and the crackle of lightning. He spent a split second listening, and threw himself at one of the heads while it was distracted with Laxus. To Erza's surprise, he managed to cut it off. He then danced backwards, managing to avoid several heads that were snapping at him.
"Laxus, are you alright?" Erza asked, flying closer to him.
"Yeah," Laxus said through gritted teeth. "Don't distract me."
"But-"
"Focus on Gray," Laxus ground out, unleashing another massive burst of lightning. "I'll be fine."
Whether he would be fine or not, Erza knew he was right. In order to kill this thing, they needed Gray. He was their priority, and their way out of this fight.
Erza wheeled, turning above the Hydra. With almost half its heads gone, it seemed agitated, the remaining heads writhing and snapping randomly at the air. Below her, Gray had sunk into a defensive posture, raising the sword in front of himself. He was turning, slowly, and Erza could see from the expression on his face that he was listening hard.
One of the remaining heads hissed at the others, then struck towards Gray with dizzying speed. Erza's heart rose into her mouth, and she shouted.
"Behind you!"
Gray was already turning, even before Erza had started yelling. He dropped low, letting the head whistle through the air above him, then stabbed upwards. The snakelike neck shivered as the thing screamed, and Gray pulled the sword free as blood showered across his face and hair. He stood, pivoted, and brought the sword down on the injured neck, cutting it neatly in two.
Erza had known Gray was an excellent fighter. She had watched him fight for years, his skill and grace keeping him neck and neck with Natsu despite the Dragon Slayer's reserves of raw power. But now, watching him glide smoothly between the thrashing heads, almost as surefooted with the blindfold as without, she was astonished. Even as exhausted as he was, he moved with a certainty that was impressive. If Erza hadn't been so worried about Natsu, Laxus, and Gray, she would have enjoyed the show. As it was, she was starting to believe that killing the Hydra wouldn't prove quite as difficult as she had feared.