Chapter 14: Capture
For a month, Lisanna came to the waterfall cave every so often to visit Natsu. Most of the time, they just hunted and talked, chatting about whatever happened to be on their minds at the time. Lisanna told Natsu about her friends in Fairy Tail, and he, in turn, told her about Wendy and Gajeel.
"Wendy's only just gotten her wings and breath attack, but she's pretty nice. Gajeel's a pain in the tail, though." Natsu rolled his eyes, "That scrap metal jerk annoys me to no end. He thinks he's better than me!"
Lisanna hummed with laughter, "I'm sure he'd say the same thing. Drakes are always so competitive. Always trying to prove they're better than all the others!"
Natsu snorted, "I'm definitely better than Gajeel. What about the drakes in your Thunder? Are they competitive too?"
"Well, Freed and Bixlow aren't bad." she said, "Probably because they look up to Laxus so much. Now he's competitive, but he doesn't fight much because most opponents aren't good enough for him. Or so he says. I think he's just lazy sometimes. But I won't say that, because my sister apparently moons over him."
Natsu tilted his head, "I thought only the leader could have a mate. Makarov is the leader, so-"
"Laxus is his grandson." Lisanna explained, "Makarov's son was excommunicated a while back, so Laxus is technically his heir. He could take a mate when Makarov steps down, and since Mira likes him anyway, no one says anything against it. Not that Laxus deserves her, not with his personality."
"You don't like him, huh?" the Flame Drake asked.
Lisanna scratched her claws on the floor of the cave and almost growled, "That Lightning Drake thinks that just because he's powerful, that he's the best dragon in the world. Huh! As if! He's arrogant, annoying, boastful, and selfish! I don't know what my sister sees in him!"
Natsu's tail twitched with amusement at her indignation, "Well, I can see why you don't like him, but was he always like that?"
Lisanna stared at him, "Well…I mean, when we were younger, he wasn't so bad, I guess. But just after I got my wings, he turned into a complete jerk."
"Well, that explains why your sister likes him." Natsu clenched his jaws as he stifled a yawn.
"What do you mean?" Lisanna asked.
Natsu grinned, "Your sister- Mira, right?- probably thinks that after a while, he'll go back to being the way he was before he turned into a complete jerk. Did she like him before he became selfish?"
She blinked, "Well…yes."
"Then there you have it." Natsu said dismissively and stretched, "Mira probably sees the Laxus from before, and not the lightning bastard you see now. You can hardly blame her, since he's her only shot at finding a mate."
Lisanna looked away, but muttered, "I suppose you're right…but I still don't like him."
"Oh, you don't have to like him." Natsu remarked, "I don't mind if you dislike him more than anything in the world. That might actually be better than liking him."
Now her mouth curled in a faint smile. She spoke casually, "You would like that, wouldn't you?"
Natsu smirked, "Yes, I would."
To which Lisanna laughed.
/\/\/\/\/\
Lisanna left for home again later that day, leaving Natsu to relax in the waterfall cave. Unfortunately for him, he didn't relax for very long.
After lying down for about five minutes, a growl woke him up, "Salamander! Get up!"
Natsu's head snapped up immediately in alarm, but he settled down when he saw a familiar figure looming over him. He yawned and muttered, "Gajeel. What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" Gajeel thundered, "What are you doing here?! This is where you've been all this time?! I've been looking for you for nearly a week!"
"Why?" Natsu asked.
Gajeel glared at him, "Wendy got caught by the Dragon Slavers."
"She what?!" he roared.
"Get the picture now?!" Gajeel bellowed.
Natsu got to his feet immediately, "Where are they?!"
"They're almost out of the territory." he growled, "I'd have taken them down myself, but this caravan has a dragon guarding it, and it's damn strong."
"Why would a dragon be guarding Dragon Slavers?" Natsu asked, disbelief in his voice.
Gajeel shrugged, "I think it might be one that was captured young and trained. They must be getting desperate since the three of us keep raiding their caravans. That dragon wasn't messing around."
Natsu stalked past him towards the exit, "Then let's move. I dare any dragon to try and take one of my comrades!"
The two drakes flew out of the cave and soared towards the direction where Wendy was being taken.
Gajeel snorted after a few minutes, "So, how's your little romantic getaway going?"
Natsu growled, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Don't you?" Gajeel grunted, "So, that pretty little dragonelle I saw leave a little bit ago had no idea you were sleeping in the same cave? Salamander, you're a terrible liar."
Natsu flashed him a glare, "So what?"
"You've chosen a terrible time to get hooked on a dragonelle, you stupid idiot." Gajeel snarled, "Especially one of the enemy. What makes you think she isn't telling her little friends in Fairy Tail all about you, huh?"
"Lisanna wouldn't do that." Natsu argued.
"Really?" Gajeel muttered, "And you've known this dragonelle for what, just over a month? Jeez, Salamander, I thought you were a bit smarter than that! You just went for the first set of angelic wings you saw, didn't you? No sense of caution at all."
"You don't know anything about her!" Natsu shot back, "She doesn't exactly like how the Thunder works, you know."
Gajeel raised a scaly eyebrow, "Oh, so she's your spy instead?"
"Just drop it, okay?! If you've got enough breath to complain, then fly faster!" Natsu hissed and forced himself to ignore the Iron Drake. He sped up and flew ahead.
Gajeel muttered under his breath, "Punk ass flame!" He then accelerated and flew after the Salamander.
/
Lisanna was surprised when she met up with her friends halfway home.
Erza was at the head, with Gray and the Thunder God Tribe close behind her. Lisanna slowed down to a stop and hovered in midair, staring with confusion, "Erza, what are you doing here?"
The Blade Dragonelle growled, "Levy was kidnapped outside of the city by a strange group of people. We think they're Dragon Slavers."
Lisanna gasped, "What?! But they've never come this deep into the territory! What happened?!"
"Levy took Lucy and Dragion to a river a few miles away from Magnolia." Freed answered, "They didn't come home after dark, so we went to see what happened in the morning. It looked like they were ambushed, and it's possible they had a dragon helping them with the capture."
"Then Lucy and Dragion are missing too?" Lisanna whispered. A dragon helped them? It couldn't be Natsu, he's been at the cave for too long…one of his comrades then? They could't be helping the Dragon Slavers, could they?!
"Yes." Erza confirmed, "The mayor's worried out of his mind. If we don't track them down and bring them back, he might ask the King of Fiore to go to war. This has gone on for too long already, but the Dragon Slavers are crossing the line at this point."
Lisanna swallowed hard, "Let me help you. Where did they go?"
"We've been tracking their scent trail." Bixlow grunted, "They're heading towards the border, and fast. I think they know we're on their tail."
Evergreen interrupted them, "Let's hurry. We don't have time to spare. If they get to the border, they can disappear into the mountains like smoke."
So the dragons flew on as fast as they could, soaring for the fading sun as if to stop if from setting.
/\/\/\/\/\
Natsu and Gajeel found the caravan later the next day.
They crouched over a cliffside and peered over cautiously to investigate the enemy. A large group of armed men marched around a pair of cages on carts, each with a dragonelle in them. One was Wendy, the other was a similarly small, darker blue dragonelle. With the second caged dragonelle, two humans were tied up and sitting in a corner. All of the captives looked frightened.
At the head, was a large, silver-blue dragonelle, but its body rippled and shimmered like water. If she wasn't part of the enemy, her appearance might've been beautiful.
Gajeel hissed, "Those bastards…I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they realize there are two angry drakes between them and the border."
"Oh, I don't think they'll have very long to think about it." Natsu growled, "Alright, here's the plan…"
/\/\/\/\/\
The caravan started going through a narrow canyon, which was its last hurdle to clear before they reached the border of Fiore. The Dragon Slavers were at ease now with home in sight.
It was much too early to celebrate.
As they entered the canyon, there was a rumbling sound, then an avalanche of boulders came crashing down in the middle of their path. The men shouted in alarm and backed up, while their dragon escort stared around in confusion, but the roar overhead caught everyone's attention.
Natsu bellowed his fury to the world and let loose a massive river of fire from his jaws. The flames swept down towards the Dragon Slavers, but it wasn't as easy as it seemed.
The dragonelle snarled and spat a huge stream of water from her mouth. The water collided with the fire and sizzled loudly, creating steam. For a moment, neither could see anything.
"Gee-hee!"
The men spun around as Gajeel landed at the rear of the group with a cackle, then proceeded to viciously attack the people surrounding the caged dragonelles. He roared with anger, "Return our comrade, you damned humans!"
The Water Dragonelle prepared to spring at him, but Natsu shot through the cloud of steam and snapped his jaws shut on her neck. She screeched in pain, scrabbling to get loose, but Natsu didn't let go until the men started throwing spears and shooting arrows.
He released the dragonelle, but to his shock, some of the weapons hit her instead of him. Even though she whimpered in pain, the men didn't seem to care and kept shooting at the Flame Drake.
Dark anger boiled within him. They will pay for what they've done to this poor dragon.
Natsu spat a fireball and incinerated the nearest group of men, but before he could decimate any more, the dragonelle hissed and leaped onto him, slashing and biting angrily. He snarled and lashed back at her, but the dragonelle held fast and didn't let him go.
Gajeel wasn't having much better luck than Natsu was. The men were all armored, so even though he hit most of them, it wasn't enough to kill them like it normally would. Even if the men were winded by his attacks, most of them got up after being knocked down. That said, the ground was already running red with the blood of fallen soldiers. But there was dragon's blood too.
One of the men stuck Gajeel with a spear in his arm, making the Iron Drake snarl before he crushed the man into a stain, "Damn, there's a lot of these insects!"
Natsu used his greater size and strength to ram his body against the canyon wall, stunning the dragonelle clinging onto him. He took the chance to give a mighty heave, then flung the Water Dragonelle from his back. She landed easily and skidded to a stop with a hiss.
He glared at her angrily, "Give up! You can't beat me."
The dragonelle ignored him and sprung again, but Natsu reared up and batted her aside with powerful claws. She crashed into a boulder and scrabbled to keep standing, then fell over clumsily.
Natsu put the dragonelle aside for the time being to lunge at the front group of men, spitting a fireball, then slashing at them furiously. He roared with menace in his voice, "Let the dragonelles go, and we'll let the rest of you live!"
One of the humans, who he assumed was either the leader or just a complete fool, shouted a retort, "You think we're afraid of you?! We fight dragons for a living! You're just another drake for us to put in a cage and send to the front lines!"
"That was the wrong answer." Natsu growled, then reared up on his hind legs. As he spat another fireball, he flapped his huge wings furiously and generated wind as powerful as a small typhoon. The flames spread rapidly and hit the men with a huge wave of fire.
Natsu got back on all fours and hissed over the crackling flames and dying screams, "We're not like any dragons you've met before, I promise you that."
The men were scrabbling to put out the fires on them, but it was doing nothing fast. Natsu watched them with eyes that held no sympathy and uttered with contempt, "Burn."
Just a few seconds later, however, a wave of water engulfed the men and put out the flames with a hiss of steam. Then the water collected to a single point and solidified to become the Water Dragonelle who had been winded just a moment earlier.
Natsu grinned with bared fangs, "Interesting. Just like Atlas Flame. Your body's made entirely of water, huh?"
The dragonelle's only response was to hiss at him angrily.
He narrowed his eyes and stood to his full height so he looked down on her, "Why are you protecting them? They're kidnapping your own kind, and hurting you. Why do you put up with it?"
She said nothing at first and kept glaring at him, so Natsu snapped, "Tell me why."
"Juvia…don't like..beating…" she hissed.
Natsu was taken aback. Not by her reason for helping, but the fact that the dragonelle's words were ragged and barely comprehendible, as though she rarely spoke. It was though her intelligence, will, and voice had been stolen from her and replaced with a more simple creature's.
Was he really talking to a dragon?
At the back of the group, Gajeel snarled as a group of men threw a net around his arm and tried to drag him down, but he yanked back with all his might and sent them flying away. He got down on all fours and roared at the other men, unleashing a breath attack of razor sharp iron blades.
A good number of them dropped instantly, but most survived because of their armor. There were still a significant amount of men and weapons between him and the two caged dragonelles. Gajeel tch'd, "Damn, these bastards don't die as easily as most humans."
Juvia lunged at Natsu with a screech. He reared his head back like a snake, preparing to finish her off. Natsu grimly decided it was probably better for the poor dragonelle to die rather than continue to be mistreated and forced to work for such terrible people.
I'll do it quickly and painlessly, he decided. Forgive me.
As Juvia got close, however, a blast of blue light got between them and created a spike of ice.
Natsu recoiled in alarm and whipped his head up.
Six dragons dove down at the caravan, headed by a dragonelle whose body seemed to consist of bladed feathers. Behind her was a dark colored drake with spines of ice running down his back and two other black drakes that had green spots and blue stripes respectively. At the rear was a dark green dragonelle with light brown feathers and…Lisanna!
The Salamander froze. These dragons are from Fairy Tail!
The new drakes locked onto him and Gajeel immediately. Ignoring the Dragon Slavers, the dark colored drake with ice spines dove down with a roar and crashed into him in a flurry of snapping teeth and slashing claws. The other two drakes lunged for Gajeel, making the Iron Drake roar in anger and retaliate.
"So, you're the bastard that's been raiding our territory for seven years!" the Ice Drake hissed.
Natsu snarled back, "And you're the idiot that got in the way of my battle! You're gonna pay for that!"
The drake snapped at him, but Natsu recoiled away, then reared up and slammed his front feet down on his enemy, crushing him to the ground. But the other drake simply curved his neck and sank his sharp fangs into Natsu's leg, then ripped back.
The pain was instantaneous and excruciating as Natsu felt the wound freeze shut with burning cold, but his only response was to hiss in pain and snap back.
Gajeel had the the black drake with blue stripes down under one foot, trying to keep him pinned while he wrestled with the other. The dark green dragonelle was attacking the humans from above with furious screeches, while Lisanna held back, eyes wide in bewilderment until-
"ENOUGH!"
Every living thing froze as the Blade Dragonelle roared. The sound was intimidating, and so was the dragonelle's furious glare, "Cease fighting, now! Freed, Bixlow, and Gray! Let those two drakes up this instant! Evergreen, pull away from the humans!"
The other dragons silently obeyed, for not even the Dragon Slavers were attacking now. Natsu let Gray go, but his wounded leg wouldn't take much weight. The Flame Drake gritted his teeth. Shit, that hurts…stupid frostbite.
The Blade Dragonelle glanced from him to Gajeel as the Iron Drake released Freed and Bixlow. She shook her head, "No more fighting. Enough blood has already been spilled here. There will be no more if I have anything to say about it."
Gajeel glared at her and hissed, "Really? Well if these bastards don't let our comrade go, we'll kill them, you, and any other fool who dares to get in our way."
The dragonelle eyed him coldly, "You are in enough trouble already. Your comrade is wounded, and you are outnumbered. Be smart and surrender now. And as for you…"
She glared down at the Dragon Slavers and spoke with lethal softness, "You will release the dragonelles and humans you have taken captive. That, or we can slay every last one of you, and then take them back."
One of the men stepped forward, the one Natsu had recognized earlier as the leader. He stared up at the Blade Dragonelle with narrowed eyes, "If I release them, then I'll have you know that this won't be the last time we come here. This isn't over."
"So be it." the dragonelle said, "Then I'll have you know that any Dragon Slaver that crosses this border into Fiore and Fairy Tail territory will be dealt with by lethal force. You have crossed the line by kidnapping one of our own and two of our human friends."
The man snorted in contempt, but jerked his head at the soldiers. They silently freed the two caged dragonelles and cut their bounds, then did the same with the human captives.
While the two humans climbed onto the blue dragonelle from Fairy Tail and joined the other dragons flying overhead, where Lisanna called them, "Levy, are you guys okay?"
Levy nodded, "Yeah. Lucy's got a small cut on her arm, but that's it. Dragion isn't hurt and I'm fine as well."
Evergreen nodded, "Well, that's good."
Wendy flew over to Natsu with a whimper, "I'm sorry…I got caught before I even realized what was happening."
"It's fine." he muttered, "The important thing is that you're safe."
She sniffed his injury and frowned with worry, "That's deep…here, let me heal it-"
"You can tend to your wound when we get to the Thunder Hall." the Blade Dragonelle interrupted, "Our healer will see to it."
Natsu glared up at her, "And just what makes you think we're going with you?"
Her eyes flashed dangerously, "You will come with us, or I'll make it so that you don't have a choice.
Natsu held her angry stare for a few moments, then looked away.
The dragonelle nodded in satisfaction. She then turned to Juvia, who was looking around at all the other dragons with uncertainty.
"Greetings." the Blade Dragonelle said as she dipped her head, "My name is Erza. And who are you?"
The Water Dragonelle's tail twitched, "Name…Juvia."
Erza's eyes narrowed. Like Natsu, she realized how badly this dragonelle had been mistreated. Her voice became surprisingly gently, "Juvia, come with us. You can live with other dragons in safety and peace."
Juvia seemed to recognize that she was being friendly and hope flashed in her eyes, but the leader of the men shouted angrily, "She'll do no such thing. Juvia is one of our dragons. She's been trained to help capture targets and defeat enemies."
Erza stared at the man with contempt, "I do not care. It is her choice whether she wants to stay or not." She looked back at the Water Dragonelle, "Well, Juvia? Will you come with us?"
Juvia hesitated a moment longer, then slowly flew up to meet her. The man below yelled after her, "Jose will hear about this, Juvia! You know what happens to traitors!"
The Water Dragonelle froze and almost turned back, but then Gray got between her and the man with a hiss of anger, "You don't get to decide how dragons spend their lives! We aren't your pets or your playthings, so piss off!"
The man glowered at the Ice Drake, but held his tongue. Juvia, meanwhile, took shelter behind Gray, as if to hide herself from her former human masters.
Erza nodded, "Then you humans can go back across the border. We're heading back to the Thunder."
She flicked her tail, then the rest of the Fairy Tail dragons circled around Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy as they slowly got into the air. Erza gave Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy a warning look, "Try to escape and we'll rip you out of the sky. Is that clear?"
Natsu growled, "If you're trying to scare us, that's not a good way to do it. Harm either of my comrades, and the only one getting ripped out of the sky will be you."
Erza's eyes flashed with a strange light, something that might've been respect. She nodded and led the dragons away from the border towards the center of the territory.
Lisanna flew up to the side and glanced at Natsu, "How bad is that leg injury?"
Natsu was about to shoot her a look like she was crazy, but then realized that Lisanna was trying to make it seem as though she'd never met him and was only wondering if he would hold them back. He shrugged, "It's fine."
Gray sneered, "Tough guy, eh? If I had another second, I'd have frozen your leg until it shattered."
"Then please, try again and see how well it ends for you." Natsu snarled, "I'll turn you into a pile of ashes before you can blink those droopy eyes of yours."
The Ice Drake snorted with contempt and ignored him, flying ahead to Erza's side with Juvia tagging along behind him.
Wendy flashed Natsu a nervous look, "Wh-what's going to happen to us?"
"If they imprison us, I'd rather take execution." Gajeel hissed.
Natsu shot him a warning look because Wendy already looked scared, then sighed, "I don't know Wendy. We'll find out soon enough, though."