Chapter Twenty-Seven
Trapped Like Rats
"Run it by me again," Natsu said, barely staving off a yawn. He'd returned from the capital a few days ago, and nothing interesting had happened, nothing that might have given him the gut feeling that something bad was happening.
"It's kinda like a beauty contest, with an additional perspective of their magic added to the construct of 'beauty'. Mostly it's just something fun for the townspeople to come and watch." Gray told him. They'd been sat in the corner, away from prying eyes. Gray had understood pretty well why Natsu hadn't exactly wanted to be surrounded by too many of the townfolk, he'd become almost like an urban myth after the battle with Phantom Lord.
"Gray, you're going to love this," Laki waltzed over and slammed a magazine on the table. Natsu raised a brow at her, already having a suspicion of what it was.
"Jeez Natsu, you really leaned into the limelight with that one," Gray said, giving the Dragon Slayer a concerned side-eye. It was of course the exclusive with Sorcerer Magazine that Natsu and Mira had done.
Laki had already distributed several copies to the women participating in the contest, "Oh it gets better, ice boy, read the interview." She urged him, sitting down at the table.
"Hey, it's the Sala-!" One of the townsfolk had begun. Laki waved a hand and a pillar of timber shot up, closing their table off even more.
"I like you," Natsu told her with a small smile.
With each passing moment as Gray continued to read, Laki watched the fascinating transition where his face dropped into one of horror, and Natsu's one of glee.
He eventually stopped and just slowly turned his head to the Fire Dragon.
"Natsu… Do you know how many people are going to read that?" He asked, referencing the last question in the interview.
"Honestly? Not enough," he said with a dazzlingly bright smile.
The women of Fairy Tail were being announced one by one, each showing off their magic, most deferring to swimwear within seconds.
"I've changed my mind, I totally get why you do this." Natsu leaned forward, content with ignoring Gray's cries of outrage.
"Don't worry good people of Magnolia, the winner has arrived!" A new voice that Natsu didn't know suddenly announced itself.
"Something's wrong," Natsu said, getting to his feet.
"Yeah, I'll tell you what's wrong. That's Evergreen, she's one of Laxus' so-called 'Thunder God Tribe', they do a lot of dirty work. They haven't been around for a while though." Gray explained.
"No, Gray, someone is controlling that woman," he responded, now weaving through the crowd.
"But don't worry my ugly little runner-ups, you get a consolation prize for trying; Petrification!"
Natsu had bounded out of the crowd toward the stage, gracefully sailing through the air above the many people of Magnolia who had come to watch the contest.
With the sound of skin turning to stone, Lucy and Natsu had both been petrified, the latter touching down against the stage with a heavy clunk.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Master Makarov bellowed, his stature while still small, was overshadowed by a feeling of unseen power.
"Insurance, Gramps," Laxus' voice reached them. He entered the stage, backed by two more, the final retinue of the Thunder God Tribe.
There was a faint purple sheen to their eyes, something that Natsu had seen straight away, but the rest had been oblivious to.
"The fighting festival of Fairy Tail starts now, all these pretty girls, and that ugly one," Laxus said, waving at Natsu, "are now hostages. You break the rules, I break these statues."
"The game is simple, a battle royale between your precious children, the last one standing is the winner. You've got three hours to find us and beat us down, otherwise these hostages will be turned to sand. See you soon," Laxus winked at them before lightning filled their eyes and the Thunder God Tribe was gone.
Natsu's statue wobbled.
"I am going to personally find that punk and put him in a world of hurt!" Makarov swore, grumbling obscenities the entire way to the door of the guild. He'd smacked the air and been rejected by it, pushed back a few feet.
"What are you doing Gramps, this is no time to play games!" Gray yelled, pushing his way out the door, determined to find Laxus and take him down.
"There isn't much time and there's so few of us that can take on Laxus, especially with that idiot stuck as a statue!" Gray yelled, hoping that somehow Natsu had heard him from within his cement prison.
The statue cracked, fire blazed from within and then totally shattered, throwing Natsu forward. He sucked in a deep breath, deprived of air in the stone, the magic not working to its full effect like it should have, "That witch!" Natsu looked around with so much rage in his eyes that they'd turned to fire.
"I've never been petrified before, but I can tell you with absolute certainly that I hated it, but most of all," Natsu jumped down from the stage, knowing exactly where he'd felt this sensation before, "I really fucking hate time magic, do you hear me!?" He yelled at the air. He took a single step forward, falling into a dash that caused him to blur.
Just as he'd been about to pass the door, he had crashed into an invisible barrier, sending him reeling back on shaky feet until he slammed against the floor.
"Ow," he groaned, sounding like the air had been forced from his lungs. "Much ow. Laki," he called out to her. She silently came over and crouched next to him. Makarov and Gray stared in amazement, dumbfounded that Natsu had been unable to pass.
"Walk through that door for me," Natsu told the wood mage. She did as she was told, stopping next to Gray on the other side of the guildhall before returning to the downed Dragon Slayer.
"Thought so, can you set fire to something, please?" He asked, ignoring Makarov's cries against it. Laki, too curious to see what Natsu was up to, also ignored the master and summoned a small length of wood. She disappeared for a moment, heading behind the bar to where the kitchens were, quickly returning with the new ablaze length of wood.
Needing no prompt, Natsu sucked at the air, drawing the fire in and consuming it all. He rose from the ground, feeling somewhat refreshed.
"Gross," he wiped his mouth, seeing the questioning looks from Makarov and Gray, "Dragon Slayers consume their element for strength but we can't consume our own magic, when have you seen a fire around here that wasn't my doing?" He asked.
He carefully put a hand up against the air in between the doors. It shimmered as a dark purple script appeared before them.
"Fried!" Makarov growled, glaring at the words.
"Can't you just nullify it like you did for Mira?" Gray asked.
Natsu crossed his arms, shaking his head, "Nullify targets the magic reserves of an individual, it does nothing against a spell, not one like this at least, and I have to be able to see the mage before I can hit them with that." He explained, glaring at the words.
'Anyone over eighty years old, or stone statues, are forbidden from crossing this barrier.'
"Well, that's us out, young man," Natsu said sarcastically, earning a scathing glare from Makarov.
"You better start using that destructive power of yours to break down this barrier," Makarov told him, his glare one of true fury.
"It's up to you now, my lover," Natsu told Gray who glared daggers at him but left for the town nonetheless.
"Hah, idiot," Natsu chuckled, "You're going too?" Natsu asked as Laki strode past.
"I'm a member of Fairy Tail, someone's got to do something to support the town." She answered like it was the most obvious thing.
"Here," he held his hand out to her, magic flowing between them. She held a faint orange glow for a few seconds before it faded. "My magic and yours aren't all that compatible, but if you find yourself being forced to fight one of Laxus' buddies, give 'em hell," Natsu told her with a reassuring thumbs-up before she too left the building.
"I'm impressed," Laxus' voice called out. They sound around to see a flickering image. "Evergreen said that someone of your calibre might be able to break out of it in a few hours, but a few minutes?" Laxus shook his head, "nevertheless, I prepared for this. If somehow you do manage to get free from the guildhall, I've got all three hundred lacrima of the Thunder Palace trained solely on you. How do you fancy your chances of that?" Laxus grinned maliciously.
"I like my chances more than yours. I don't know who's behind that face, but when I find you, and I will, I will take great pleasure in beating you out of this Lightning meat suit." Natsu snarled.
"As expected of the great, mighty Salamance." Laxus' expression had twisted beyond deranged.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me, Ajax!? You're the human version of cancer." Natsu glared.
"Times ticking Salamander, I'd hurry if you want to take part, but don't forget about that present I've made for you," Laxus smirked before disappearing.
"So," Natsu said at last, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen upon them, "you made the guild fireproof, huh?" He asked, looking at the beams in the ceiling.
"Destroy the barrier, not another guildhall, boy!" Makarov told him.
'Elfman V. Evergreen. Winner: Evergreen.'
"You have someone here called Elfman?" Natsu asked, another lazy grin flitting across his mouth.
"That would be Elfman Strauss. The brother of the pretty statue over there." Makarov explained, "The same brother that this very morning wanted to fight you due to a certain recent issue of Sorcerer Magazine." Makarov grinned.
"Oh?" Natsu asked thoughtfully, looking at where Mira had stood between the others, "Oh!" It dawned on him, "But did you read my interview? You should have seen Gray's reaction!" Natsu fell into a fit of laughter.
"Natsu!" Makarov smacked the Dragon Slayer on the back of the head, "Get out there and end this before more of our people get hurt!"
"Ow!", 'Ow!', Natsu and E.N.D. cried out in sync.
"Fine! I know you put holy magic in that," Natsu rubbed his head, walking over to the statues, stopping short when he saw Gajeel rummaging through the bar, eating most of the tableware.
"Hrmhp?" He asked with a mouthful.
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Natsu answered, looking back at Makarov with a shrug. "I have a feeling that the enchantment was for Dragon Slayers, so you're not missing much," Natsu added, climbing on the stage and walking back and forth, looking from statue to statue.
"Hrmhp," Gajeel nodded, going back to eating.
"Natsu," Makarov exasperated, "what are you doing?"
"Deciding which one gets my vote." The Dragon King replied.
"Natsu," Makarov's voice was dangerously terse.
"Relax young blood, I'm going to jailbreak Titania. I felt something strange when I was in Crocus the other day, it was coming from the summoning magic I gave her, but I couldn't figure out what it was, until now." He explained, turning to give the redhead statue his full attention.
"How are you going to free her exactly, she won't be harmed will she?" Makarov's sorry was evident.
"I broke out of my statue by making my body temperature rise so high that the stone became brittle, I'm going to do the same thing to her. I can, albeit for a very limited time, give someone the senses of a Dragon. Between the summoning brand and that clever little magical receptacle that someone disguised as a false eye, my magic can get through this stone, and she can circulate it as her own." Natsu explained, placing a hand on the side of her face, the magic flooding through the stone and into Erza's body.
A few tense moments passed and the only sounds to be heard were the clanks of Gajeel eating the spoons.
And then, schnict! A single stone chip flew away. Before it hit the floor, the entirety of the statue covering had exploded outward, leaving Erza in its place.
"Fire Dragon-" Erza said, drawing a large lungful of air in.
"What?" Natsu stepped back, did he give her too much power like he'd done to Lucy?
'-Roar!' Erza bellowed a lungful of fire that funnelled around before dying out against the beams above the guildhall doors.
Makarov watched as they turned black from char before slowly returning to the brown tint of the wood. "Worth every penny." He smiled.
"Damn, she's a natural," Natsu muttered, watching in amazement at the Dragon Slayer attack that she shouldn't have been able to pull off. The attack was spent, the magic he'd given her was used up in that one move.
"Natsu," Erza said sweetly, placing a hand over his own that was still gently cupping the side of her face.
It all changed in an instant when the wrathful fury of Titania came crashing down on him like a tonne of bricks, "What are you playing at!? How dare you do such a depraved photoshoot while representing Fairy Tail! Do you know the kind of damage you could have caused with that interview!?" She rambled on, smacking him around while he flailed in an attempt to defend himself.
"I'm starting to second guess my choice in freeing you from being a statue," he told her quickly, glaring once he was safely out of arms reach.
"Master, it's Evergreen, she's-" Erza stopped short, seeing the line of of contestants all still firmly situated in stone.
"Why haven't you freed them yet?" She asked, her gaze cold and ironically stony.
"Because," Natsu huffed, "None of them share the bond that we do, what we have will always be special and inimitable," he told her in the softest voice he could muster.
"Oh Natsu," she cooed, "then why were you doing a cover shoot with that she-devil!?" She went back to beating him.
"I'm beginning to think that I was lied to about the nature of your relationship with Mirajane," Natsu grumbled unhappily as he once again moved out of her range of attack.
"And to answer your question, I could only give you my magic because of the brand I gave you, I can't do the same for any of them, a brand won't go through the stone of someone already petrified, so, technically I wasn't wrong when I said its because of a special bond." He grinned, triumphant in his feeling of vindication.
"Not that I haven't enjoyed being physically assaulted by you, but I need you to get out there and kick the shit out of Laxus, or at least the woman with this dick magic because there's a barrier around the guildhall keeping old fogies and Dragon Slayers at bay," Natsu told her, clicking his tongue and winking at her.
"Right, I'll try to find Evergreen first and see if I can get them released," Erza agreed as she stormed out of the guildhall, heading in a seemingly random direction.
"See, totally unharmed. Amped up with a bit of my magic but, oh, wait…" Natsu stopped speaking as he joined the master by the door again.
'Gray V. Bickslow. Winner: Bickslow.'
"How dare you," Natsu said plainly, addressing the fight results.
"Disgraceful result, I'm dumping him," he shook his head in distaste.
"What's the plan here Salamander? I'm all amped up with nowhere to go." Gajeel asked, joining them by the door.
"Just how fireproof would you say the guild is? I can probably burn a very minute hole through the barrier but wherever I try to do that isn't going to fare well for the building." Natsu reasoned.
Makarov thought it over, deciding that he had to do what must be done, and even with Erza out there, the greatest chance at stopping Laxus from his mad power trip was to get Natsu in the fight.
"Do what you must, but remember, he won't have been lying about the Thunder Palace, three hundred lacrima will roast your body to a crisp," Makarov warned.
"Oh, don't worry about that, I've got a lightning rod." He said, turning to look at Gajeel who had decided that at that moment, he'd have rather been anywhere else.
A/N: I must admit, I'm having fun writing the dynamic between Natsu and Gray, and I'm currently in the process of deciding exactly how I want Natsu and Gajeel to be. I am going to try to take a break for a few days while I figure out a few plot points and details, as well as exactly how I want the first proper 'non-cannon' arc to go down.