Chaos X
The journey back was as long as the journey coming. Though Natsu had taken a different route, hoping to gain new intel.
"Did'ya hear the rumours?" A drunken man slurred at a bar.
"What rumours?"
"Dragons. They're sayin' one's been spotted outside Borwatt." Natsu's ears twitched as he listened in on the conversation at the other end of the bar.
"All lies. Dragons ain't real." The bartender rolled his eyes.
"Nonsense. Anything's possible!" Another patron called.
"But do we really have time to worry about whether somethings real? Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord been goin' at it, last I heard."
"Phantom's got my money."
"Nah, those fairies can get vicious."
"Master Jose's in town, I heard."
"Really?"
"Some say he was seen in the old west watchtower with some girl. Wonder what's happening."
"Us locals know better than to get involved with Phantom…"
"I thought they were just using that tower for storage. If they're using it to hurt people, shouldn't we do something?"
"With what power? He's a wizard saint, John!"
"Ah…"
The dragon sighting piqued Natsu's interest, but if Phantom was up to something he was close enough to investigate, he might as well. Any dragon would be far gone from Borwatt by the time word spread anyway, and he could always head there afterwards.
Dropping some coins beside his empty glass, he headed outside. The small town was a short road away from Phantom Lord's headquarters, so naturally, all the common talk was of this ongoing strife with Fairy Tail.
"Did you hear about their master?"
"I wonder if there'll be a battle…"
"Will the Element Four join this?"
"Yeah, Master Jose got the Heartfilia girl. But no way he's gonna send her back!"
What was that?
"He's gonna milk that rich asshole dry. Can't wait to see the fancy new guildhall when we've got all that cash."
Huh.
Natsu watched a pair of unkempt mages walk towards the town entrance. He took note of the Phantom Lord guild marks on each one's face. Natsu followed them right outside and listened to them plot and scheme. Not an ounce of situational awareness for the eavesdropping dragon slayer who kept only a few paces behind, not even trying to conceal his presence.
"What about the Heartfilia girl? Is he gonna kill her?"
"Maybe when he has all her daddy's money. She's being held at the tower for now. I'm actually supposed to be on lookout…"
There it was. Natsu wasted no time in pouncing on the duo. He doused himself in flame, using the element of shock to knock out the small one and grab the talkative one by his neck.
"Why don't you take me to this tower?"
Natsu stood at the base of the old watchtower turned Phantom hold, the annoying lackey charred and barely breathing at his feet.
"Natsu!" Someone called. He'd recognise that pitchy voice anywhere. He sprinted forward without hesitation and jumped, catching the girl falling from the sky, the two toppling through a wall and into the dirt in a jumble of fear and annoyance.
"It's raining Lucy's!" Happy shouted as he flew down the tower towards the duo. Lucy lay stunned on top of the dragon slayer.
"Natsu! You... you..."
"Get off me." Natsu growled, voice muffled due to Lucy's chest blocking the lower half of his face.
"Sorry!" She sat up, face beet red and arms still bound behind her back. Natsu burned the rope quickly, granting Lucy's freedom. "How did you know where to find me?"
"I wanna know too!"
"Was in the area." Natsu ran a hand through his messy hair. "Heard some Phantom dude talking about a hostage, so I stole one of their members. Then I was here, and you were jumping out of a window- which was stupid, by the way." Lucy reddened.
"Sorry..." Then tears began to fall from her eyes.
"The hell are you crying about?"
"I'm so… the guild is destroyed… Master is suffering… they hurt Levy! Everyone's there hurting right now and it's my fault!" Natsu had no clue how to calm a crying person. Especially an over-emotional female. He grabbed her arm, attempting to pull her up.
"Here, get up." Lucy stood up and wiped at her face, Natsu waited impatiently as she composed herself. "You done?" Lucy rolled her eyes but nodded.
"I'm good. We should get going…"
"You should get going. Won't be long before this place is crawling with pests."
"What? You're not coming back to the guild?"
"No. Got things to do. Happy, bring her back."
"Aye, sir..."
"They could really use your help fighting Phantom."
"I'm not interested." Natsu left quickly before Lucy could object. If his guild wanted to pick fights, they needed to finish them. There was no chance Natsu would waste his time getting involved in petty guild wars, especially when more important opportunities arose.
Fairy Tail would just have to defend themselves.
On the outskirts of Magnolia, standing on a cliff in the high mountains that bordered the town was a man drowning in clothing. Face covered completely, tufts of dusky blue barely jutting out of the bandana wrapped around his head.
"Mystogan." A second figure approached the first on the cliff. They matched in outer appearance, donning similar worn-down cloaks and slightly slouched postures. The newcomer took in the slightly beat-up appearance of the other and the pile of black flags stacked up by his feet.
"Chaos. Thanks for the help."
"Yeah. You wiped out all of Phantom?" The question was ignored.
"Are you going back to Magnolia?" Mystogan asked.
"Borwatt. There's been dragon sightings in the mountains."
"You're not gonna stay and help the guild?"
"Why should I?"
"They kidnapped your comrade, did they not?"
"They did. I got her back."
"Phantom Lord will retaliate." Mystogan looked towards the city in the distance. "They're probably already here, ready to kill the others."
"They can handle it." Natsu dropped his own few Phantom Lord flags into the mix by Mystogan's feet before turning heel and walking away.
"It's okay to help out sometimes, Natsu." A silent middle finger was the only response. The mysterious mage sighed and picked up the piles of flags, continuing on his way.
Crocus, the capital of Fiore. It was a large and busy city, but the only way to Borwatt from Magnolia. Natsu never liked places with a lot of people, and this place had the most. Even more agitating was the local conversation, which just like the last town, was all about a feud between guilds.
"Hey, did you hear about Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail?"
"Yeah, they're at war, right? I'm kinda rootin' for Fairy Tail, there was no reason for Phantom to butcher their guild hall like that."
Natsu listened in on the conversation with frustration. Can I never catch a break? His guild was actually fighting Phantom Lord? Fucking idiots. Did they even have the manpower to go against them? Natsu kept listening from his distance.
"Fairy Tail's master is out of commission too. There's no way Phantom loses this, especially while the Element Four are with them and Fairy Tail can't even contact its S-Class wizards."
Natsu deflated. The dragon sighting would have to wait for now. His guild was weak. The people were right, the fairies wouldn't stand a chance against Phantom's elite at full power. There was nothing else to do, he was gonna help his guild fight.
When Natsu arrived in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall, he was impressed to say the least. The magic was that of the Iron Dragon slayer, giant metal poles protruded from various angles around the building. They really did a number on the place. Natsu heard a bunch of shouts and looked up to see a second giant building appear in the lake behind Fairy Tail.
I guess that's my cue.
He ran through the collapsed building, jumping over fallen chunks of stone and ducking under protruding wooden beams to reach the back of the hall. He arrived just in time to see Phantom's walking guild hall charging up a cannon blast.
Erza Scarlet requipped into her Adamantine Armor, conjuring two shields and preparing to take the Jupiter Cannon's blast. She tuned out the cries of her guildmates as the cannon fired. Shutting her eyes tightly and bracing for impact, she awaited the force of the blast. It never came.
"Chaos Dragon's Deflection!" An opaque navy-blue shield much larger than Erza's conjured from a black and blue magic circle, a cloaked man standing directly behind it. With a heavy grunt, he pushed against the force of the cannon, stopping any harm from coming to the silent stunned fairies behind him.
"Chaos!"
Said man slumped to his knees as the blast seceded. Erza stared at the dragon slayer in front of her in shock. He tried to pull himself to his feet but failed, clutching at his abdomen as he lost his balance and tumbled back to the floor. She did not expect what he said next.
"Are you fucking stupid?" He demanded whirling his head around to glare at the armoured maiden. "Were you trying to kill yourself?"
"Hey, don't talk to Erza like that!"
"Where have you been all this time then, huh Chaos?"
"Go back to where you came from! We can handle Phantom without you!" The outrage thrown towards the dragon slayer didn't do much but bounce off his ears, yet he wasn't going to let a hypocritical bunch of drunks bash him.
"Keep talking. Fight Jose yourselves. See how fast you die." The comment was enough to quiet most of the guild. Despite their dislike of the dragon slayer, they knew he was right. They would just have to eat their qualms for now.
"Chaos..." Erza could barely speak. She still hadn't processed the boy who once took away her confidence had just saved her life.
"Looks like the second dragon has entered the battlefield!" Phantom's master shouted over the loudspeakers in his walking guild. "Is the fearsome Chaos Dragon any match for our Black Steel Gajeel?"
"Shut the hell up!" Natsu roared at the walking guildhall, the people around him slapping hands over ears.
"You're out of the game, young dragon. Take a seat for now. All we request is Lucy Heartfilia. You give her to us, we spare your little city."
"Lucy?" Natsu murmured. He could hear her crying inside the guildhall. He thought back to finding her at the watchtower. He didn't look too deep into it then. Rumours of the conflict had been circling all day, and he just assumed Lucy had somehow been caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. But clearly it was deeper than that. "Why the hell do they want her so bad?"
The members of Fairy Tail were clearly refusing to sell out their comrade, yelling curses at Jose and his guild for even inciting the thought. Despite not being a member long, Lucy had become a beloved part of the guild. Nothing Phantom could say would make the fairies give her up.
"In fifteen minutes, Jupiter will fire again." The speaker announced. The mages began to panic. Natsu rolled over with a groan. Fifteen minutes would not be enough to recover from the blast he had just taken.
"I will take the next one." Erza said, bringing back up her shield.
"You can't!"
"We need you, Erza!"
The scarlet mage didn't budge. That is until Mirajane appeared beside her.
"Erza… Chaos is barely conscious after that…. If you take the next hit, they'll just fire it again. Who will protect us the third time?"
"Where's the old fucker when you need him?" Natsu sat up and looked around, realizing Makarov was nowhere to be found.
"At Porlyusica's. His magic was stolen by one of the Element Four. He's in grave condition." Mira explained. Natsu stayed quiet. He would've come earlier if he knew all this was happening. Mirajane transformed into Lucy as her guild members watched in alarm. "Don't worry, I'll take care of this."
