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Chapter 16: Besiege the Tower
(Que Fairy Tail OP)
"Sho," said Erza in a shaky voice, "is that you?"
"So you do remember us." said Sho.
Lucy's shoulders tensed up as she put up her guard. "Erza, who the hell is this?"
"Sister, I'm hurt." said Sho, "You never bothered to tell your friends about us."
Lucy knew when danger was right in front of her. She readied herself off her stool in a fighting stance. Once Lucy ignited her fists in demon fire, she suddenly found herself entangled in some strange rope. It was so strong, it overwhelmed even her slayer strength and canceled out her magic.
'I'll add anti-magic to the things I hate.' thought Lucy, still struggling against the rope.
"Oh, Erzy how could you not say anything about us?" said the high-pitched voice of a young girl. Lucy barely managed to turn her face to see a girl probably 14 sitting on the counter. She was demi-human with cat ears and a tail, "We were your best friends after all."
A gunshot was heard and the lights went out suddenly. All the people that were panicking were suddenly gone, but their voices could be heard much softer yet closer. Lucy looked down in shock as she saw the floor littered with cards that held the people inside.
"Sho," exclaimed Erza, "you can use magic?"
"Erza, who are these people?!" Lucy demanded more than asked.
"They were friends of mine." replied Erza in a shaky tone that didn't fit her.
"Yes, we were very close." said Sho with a dark look in his eyes, "Until she decided to betray us."
Next, flashes of light appeared at Sho's side till they morphed into a man made of blocks wearing a purple coat and fedora.
"Cut the girl some slack." said the man in a thick accent, "Life on the outside has made you look good, huh doll."
"W-Wally?" gasped Erza, "You practice magic as well?"
"Why are you so surprised?" said a deep, echoing voice, followed by a tall man that appeared behind Erza from a veil of shadows, "It's not that hard once you get the hang of it."
"Okay, seriously Erza," yelled Lucy, "who the fuck are these people?"
"Blondie's got a loudmouth." noted Wally.
"We grew up together." answered Erza softly, "In a life before I joined Fairy Tail."
Erza glanced back to her 'friends'. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"What does it look like?" said Wally, "We are here to take you back."
"I beg of you." cried Erza, "Please release Lucy."
'No, don't beg.' Lucy cried internally, 'That's not like you.'
Wally's arm glowed in light and formed into a gun. "Listen, dolly, don't make this get ugly." A laser pointed to Lucy's forehead, making her wince but didn't simmer the fire in her eyes. As Erza begged Wally to release her, the blonde noticed the gun disappear and put two and two together.
"Erza, look out!" warned Lucy.
Erza was too distraught to fully process what Lucy said and took a concussive shot to the back with that arm gun floating in midair. The big guy carried Erza almost bridal style in his arms.
"Where do you think you're taking Erza?!" snarled Lucy, "Just by tying me up doesn't mean you've won. When Natsu and Gray get to you, they are gonna make you pay."
"Sorry to say, gal," said Wally, "but they are taking the eternal sleep. Oh by the way Millianna..."
In Wally's hands appeared Happy sound asleep. The cat girl's eyes lit up in joy and she snuggled Happy like a true cat.
Something snapped in Lucy. She lost most of her humane sense to a primal rage of the demon within her. The fire in her eyes turned to the same hellish infernos. As her body trembled, her magic started to spark a bit and her strength allowed her to rise against the magic rope. Golden fires danced around her feet.
"Th-That's impossible!" gasped the cat girl as the group took apprehensive steps back.
'Her emotions are strong enough to resist Millianna's magic!?' thought the big guy.
"What did you do?!" growled Lucy in a more demonic voice, her eyes turning pink, "What - did - you - do to my Natsu!?"
The ropes were being overpowered by her rage alone, creating an inferno around her. Millianna increased the power of her ropes around Lucy, but her magic power proved an ant compared to Lucy. Wally aimed a gun at the 'demon' with the intent to kill.
"We are going to have to put her down." said Wally.
"I don't think so." Following the voice were giant fists that crashed into them. They turned into the attacker's direction to see Cynthia, her eyes lit up like white lanterns in the power of Giant Magic. She grew to a size that Lucy saw when they first met Makarov with her muscles more tone from the transformation.
"IF YOU THINK YOU CAN HURT MY FRIENDS," bellowed Cynthia like a true giant, "THEN YOU HAVE ME TO ANSWER TO!"
Without a word, she called out - Loke!?
'Loke is a Celestial Spirit?!' thought Lucy, 'No wonder he smelled different.'
"Hello beau- AHH!" Loke screamed seeing a giant Cynthia over him.
"LET'S GET RID OF THESE ASSHOLES AND SAVE ERZA!" bellowed Cynthia.
"Hmph." said Loke with a smirk and straightening his tie. He charged forward and his fist glowed in light, "Regulas Impact."
A beam of light shot down at the group, followed by a giant fist smashing down. As the dust settled, the group had dodged in unison but couldn't keep up for long. Their situation worsened when Lucy broke through the rope and let out a roar of fire from her mouth.
"We can't win." ordered Simon, and a blue magic circle appeared above them, "Let us retreat."
In a flash of light, the group disappeared before they could be squashed by Cynthia's foot. She calmed down and shrank to normal size. Loke went back to the spirit world. Cynthia put on her teasing face, but before she could say a word Lucy bolted toward Natsu's scent.
Lucy found the pi- salmon-haired teenager down in a rubble from that gambling machine. Smoke was coming from his mouth and he wasn't even twitching. The blonde ran faster and slide her knees against the ground to hold up Natsu. His pupils were drawn back.
"N-Natsu." Lucy spoke in a whimper and hugged Natsu closer to her body, "A-A-Answer me, you dumby. Please, s-say something. I don't..."
Lucy's eyes felt puffy and blurry. There were tears swelling on her eyes that were beginning to lose their fire, and she could barely breathe without sniffling.
"I don't want you to go." Lucy sobbed softly, "Please, please, please... please don't leave me, Natsu. I... I need you."
A soft, familiar groan jolted Lucy out of her sobbing. Suddenly, her face was met with a breath of red fire as Natsu awoke with a roar. He was coughing as his mouth still smoked and causing some irritating pain.
"Who shoots someone in the mouth?" Natsu squealed.
Natsu froze when he realized his fire breath hit point-blank at Lucy of all people. Of course being a fire-style slayer, Lucy was completely unharmed, but it left a shocked look on Lucy's face. The Dragon Slayer felt his life was going to come to an end with a beatdown.
"L-Lucy, I'm sorr-"
He was cut off when Lucy tightened them closer in a hug and rested her head on his shoulder. Natsu was speechless feeling tears dripping onto his shoulder. She had no words to express her sorrow to Natsu without him, and only had the beat of her heart and the heat of her body.
"Please, don't ever go away." Lucy mumbled in a sob, "I beg of you, I don't want to lose you, Natsu."
Instinctively, Natsu put a hand behind her head and replied, "You're weird, Lucy. No way I'm going anywhere."
The tears stopped flowing upon those words and a smile stretched her pink face. Her eyes reverted back to a light brown, and she relished Natsu's above average body heat.
'I love this fool so much.' thought Lucy.
"Uh... we should leave you alone." Cynthia's voice broke Lucy out of her trance. She glanced back at Cynthia and Gray accompanied by a pale woman with blue hair. Lucy caught a familiar scent off of Juvia that for some reason reminded her of Galuna Island at some point.
"Hey guys." greeted Natsu, "Who's the bluenette? She smells weird."
The woman introduced herself. "My name is Juvia Lockser. I was once a member of Phantom Lord as one of the Element Four, but now I wish to join Fairy Tail so I can join with my beloved Gray." As she said that, Juvia indicated a gold necklace with the Fairy Tail logo on it.
Cynthia gasped and pointed a finger at Juvia. "I knew I saw you from somewhere. You're the one who kidnapped me."
Juvia tensed up in apprehension and bowed her head before Cynthia. "Forgive me, Cynthia. I did not mean any personal harm toward you, and I realize how rotten my guild was."
"Nah, no biggie." said Cynthia with a toothy grin.
The rest sweat dropped at Cynthia's almost Natsu-like carefree response to that. Natsu shook his hand as his mouth's pain was numbing away.
"What the heck happened?" asked Natsu.
"Those fuckers took Erza and Happy." answered Lucy with a guttural growl.
"What!?" screamed Natsu, "First, that blockhead shoots me in the mouth, and then he takes Happy. I'm going pound him into shredded pieces once I find my little body."
Natsu sprinted away with his only guide being his sense of smell with Lucy close behind and the others keeping pace. To the slayers' horror, the scent went off to the middle of the ocean... and there was a boat conveniently placed at the shore. Before they made a try to swim after Erza, two giant hands from a peti - normal-sized wizard girl caught them from going off.
"All we need are your noses, you two." said Cynthia with a smug look and carrying them to the boat.
Lucy thought her fear was making her hallucinate, but she saw Juvia somehow go paler at the sight of the boat. And then again, there was that distinct scent off of her, the same that she got off that Lyon guy who called himself a God Slayer. But her thoughts were drowned by the wave of pain that washed over her as they boarded the boat and started over the water.
"Kill... us," groaned Lucy and Natsu, "please."
The two fire-style slayers have been like that since they set out in the night. Juvia looked to be in some sort of similar strain as well. Occasionally, she would flinch as though having the most terrible migraine. Gray's presence served to soothe that pain, allowing Juvia to mask their approach from enemies via Cynthia's suggestion.
"Ugh." growled Gray, lacking an undershirt, "Are we going the right way?"
Cynthia took initiative and checked on their "hounds". Natsu's stomach was spinning like a hurricane and forced him to lean over the side of the boat with his cheeks puffed with bile. Lucy was in so much pain one could notice the muscles contorting just below the skin and tears of pain were in her eyes.
"Hey Lucy." said Cynthia, "Are we going the right way?"
With sheer willpower, Lucy lifted her right hand and pointed her index finger a little bit to the right from the boat's heading. Juvia manipulated the ocean water and changed course.
"Thanks, bestie." said Cynthia with a cheery smile, "Keep up the good work."
Lucy then folded her index finger then raised her middle finger separately, flipping Cynthia off even if she was too much in pain to show her annoyance.
Cynthia giggled. "Love you too."
Suddenly, a chilly feel in the air so powerful it relieved Natsu and Lucy of their vehicle ailment. That feeling Lucy and even Cynthia knew all too well was death, and it was so heavy in the air a normal human would be on their knees gasping for breath. On the surface of the ocean were the carcasses of schools of fish and wreckage of ships. In the air, they bore witness to the awful sight of a flock of birds suddenly peeling over and falling to their death.
In the distance they saw a massive tower ascending to the air as though piercing into the heavens themselves. It felt evil, like the clouds darkened just going near it.
"Okay." squeaked Cynthia, "Now I'm creeped out. Maybe we shou-"
A familiar hand rested on Cynthia's shoulders. The brunette looked back to see Lucy with a serious look in her eyes at the tower.
"No going back from this." said Lucy then glanced to her best friend and whispered in her ear, "You should be feeling natural here in the presence of all this death. After all, it's been a while since I've seen that side of you yet in the Fairy Tail guild."
That's why Cynthia squeaked to hold down a rising smirk. Some side of her locked by magical seals was clawing out to spread a smile ear-to-ear. With all this death in the air, she could feel the true Cynthia Slyvannia Vermillion coming out to play.
'Another time.' thought Cynthia, 'Soon, very soon.'
Once on shore, Lucy, Natsu, and even Juvia (ironically) leaped onto solid ground with joy. Gray quickly silenced them down seeing the place littered with guards. Juvia found an underground waterway that led under the tower. Lucy was half-glad to be rid of that dress that slowed down her movements, but was embarrassed to being in nothing but underwear with Natsu. Cynthia, somehow, kept an emergency swimsuit for the occasion, Juvia could just turn into water, and Gray was Gray with his stripping habit.
To their surprise, Cynthia made it in less than a minute when it took the others ten. Finally, she let loose a deadly smirk that could put the creeps even in battle-hardened veterans. With all this death in the air, Cynthia needed to let loose her magic.
'I think I have a name for it now.' thought Cynthia, 'Way of Destruction.'
(Time-Skip)
In nine minutes, the others arrived only to find a net of catwalks above them destroyed in rubble. Guards lay motionless on the ground, and smoke billowed out of some craters. The only one seemingly unaffected was Cynthia who had the creepiest, yet innocent smile on her face.
"Yo." Cynthia called.
"What did you do?" said Lucy, acting agitated.
Cynthia played along and pouted. "Okay, but you can't be mad at me."
"What did you do?" said Lucy with a more stern voice.
"Just to clarify," said Cynthia, "I was minding my own business."
"Bullshit." exclaimed Lucy.
"I wasss." whined Cynthia. "Here's how it went. I just got here, trying to dry myself off..."
(Flashback)
"Intruder!" called a guard. As soon as that one yelled, every weapon was pointed at Cynthia. They all surrounded her like a swarm, yet Cynthia's smirk became more sharp. Oh, she knew exactly how she was going to play this out.
'This is going to be hilarious.' thought Cynthia.
"Get on your knees, pipsqueak." threatened a guard.
And they just had to call her short. That anger was fuel for that irresistible urge to destroy everything. She turned that anger into that smile of hers and replied, "I'm not your mother last night!"
(Present)
"...and they took exception to that." said Cynthia, "But you know how the story goes."
Lucy glanced at a guard who's legs were burned stumps. "What happened to him?"
"Pussed out like a bitch." answered Cynthia, "Tried to anyway. In all sense, I wasn't gonna let him die like that. I just cast some Illusion magic and he instead shot his legs off instead of his brains."
While Lucy was unfazed, the others stood so pale they were ice cold even by Gray's standards.
"What did you do to them?" Natsu managed to ask.
"Call me short and find out." Cynthia replied with a dark look in her eyes.
Above them, a door opened and extended a ramp for their leisure. Something was off about that. Shouldn't they block any pathways instead of leading them the way.
"Looks like someone is playing a game of sorts." noted Cynthia.
Natsu was the first to sprint off, kicking dust in his wake. Sighing, Lucy chased after him, with Juvia and Gray following shortly and Cynthia in the back. Their running brought them to a dining hall already prepared with food. Of course, Natsu gave into his appetite. Lucy's own stomach growled watching him eat and the smell of the food heavily wafting into her nostrils. Soon, the two fire-breathers were devouring all the food present to get them at one-hundred percent.
"This doesn't make sense." said Gray, "Why would someone give us a path to follow and food to keep up our strength?"
"Like I said," Cynthia reminded, "whoever's in charge knows what they are doing. This is nothing but a game to them. If so, I am not playing in my underwear."
Cynthia summoned Virgo and asked for a change of clothes. In a flash, Cynthia was dressed in a red and white corset with her shoulders padded in dark leather. A skirt flowed around her legs like a veil of red silk, and her feet now adorned black shoes. Despite its appearance, Cynthia's movements were allowed complete freedom.
Lucy wore a simple tank top with skin-tight pants that reached below her knees, and she was given back her green cloak. Virgo didn't bother giving Natsu, Juvia, Gray new clothes. Currently, Gray was getting his clothes dried by Natsu's flames.
Lucy smiled. "I haven't seen you in that for a long time. You must be in a good mood."
"Oh yeah." said Cynthia, "It really is useful hiding the stains."
"What from hell are you two?!" exclaimed Gray.
Three guards entered the diner hall. Cynthia's left hand crackled with destruction magic, but in the blink of an eye they were brought down by none other than Erza. At first, she had that serious look on her face until it turned into shock seeing her friends.
'And all that trouble getting here,' thought Lucy, sighing outwardly, 'Erza just busts herself out. Fucking fantastic.'
"Wha-What are you doing here?!" cried Erza, "Who is that lady?"
"This is Juvia-"
"Go home." said Erza.
Nearly everyone except Lucy and Natsu froze on the spot. Ignoring Erza completely without fear, Natsu dashed through the tower to find Happy.
"Idiot." grumbled Gray.
"C'mon," said Cynthia until she was interrupted with a blade to her neck.
"You will do no such thing." said Erza, "I promise I'll bring them both back. You four have to leave."
"This isn't you Erza." said Gray.
"We're your friends, Erza." said Cynthia, "There's no way fucking way we can just leave you, especially since you have some sort of past here."
Erza faced her friends, biting her lip in fury. "I said lea-"
Before she could mutter another word, Lucy dashed in the blink of an eye and slapped the redhead. Erza was too stunned to stop Lucy taking her by the collar and ramming her into a wall.
"Lucy what are you doing?!" cried Gray, but Cynthia stopped him in his path.
"What," growled Lucy in a low, but rising tone, "the - fuck - is - WRONG WITH YOU!?"
"Lucy..." Erza muttered.
"Don't give me that bullshit." Lucy yelled, "I know that look in your eyes. You are not throwing yourself away like that. Damn whatever past you had. Damn whatever sick dilemma you are in. Damn this tower and everything about it. If you think you can just do it alone, you are even dumber than Natsu." Lucy took a pause to collect her thoughts. "Ever since I've joined Fairy Tail, I been so happy. More happy than I've ever been for a long time. Because I have friends that I can laugh with. So there's no way in hell I'm just going to lose any of them, especially you Erza. Where is the great Titannia that defended her comrades against a Jupiter cannon? Where is she? Because that's the Erza, my friend. Not this."
Erza was almost at the point of tears, but she steadied herself and a new look came back in her eyes. Lucy smiled seeing the Erza she knew that walked into the guild with a giant horn. They gripped each other's arms in silent agreement. Cynthia was crying in a mix of emotions of a sight that should be on a canvas.
'Those two are so awesome.' thought Cynthia.
"Let's go before Natsu brings the tower on top of us." said Lucy. Erza nodded in agreement, and that past of hers didn't seem so cold to the burning inferno that stood before her. After all this, then she'll tell them. But the present comes first.
Whew, done.
Up next Chapter 17.
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