Lucy noticed black spots dancing around the room, she staggered, but remained standing, even tired, she was sure that her effort had been worth it. Jellal was unconscious, his face pressed against the wooden floor, which had cracked with the impact, the gleaming blade of an axe was resting against his neck, and a huge white minotaur with black spots held the handle of the weapon. "What should we do with them, Princess?" The minotaur's normally relaxed voice was distorted with anger, which added to his strange accent made it almost impossible to understand. "Should I rip their heads off?" Before she could answer, Lucy was distracted by the sound of water turning into steam, a mermaid with blue hair and tail poured an unimaginable amount of water against the fire angel, and for the first time since she had signed the contract with the spirit, Aquarius' face was without its constant frown, being replaced by seriousness. The spirit's water clashed against the angel's flames, which didn't seem to be weakening. On the contrary, with each passing second, the flames got closer to Aquarius, Natsu smiled, and the flames disappeared.
A cloud of steam filled the room, but was soon absorbed by the mermaid's silver urn.
Natsu was unconscious, his body, as well as the bed, were completely dry, his wings spread across the floor, and the wounds began to bleed intensely.
Lucy approached the right wing, but before she could touch the feathers, Aquarius pulled her back, fear shining in her blue eyes, the mermaid was shaking.
"Where the hell did you find this, girl?" The rude tone was normal, but the spirit couldn't hide the slight tremor in his voice.
"We rescued him, he fell from the sky in front of me." Lucy broke away from the mermaid, but didn't try to approach the angel, she had never seen Aquarius scared before. "Do you know him?"
"Him specifically? No, but I know what he is, and the threat he poses." Aquarius floated toward the bed, and looked at the angel's face. "Don't get involved, Lucy, hand him over to Makarov, or the council, and forget he exists." The mermaid saw the refusal in her master's gaze, and knew her well enough to recognize that there was no hope of changing her mind. "Be careful, and under no circumstances touch the wings."
"Thank you, Aquarius." The spirit dissolved into golden light, her worried face the last thing to disappear. "Taurus, you can put the axe away, I don't know what happened, but Jellal is my friend." Reluctantly, the minotaur stood up, and strapped the handle of his axe to his back. "Please take them to the other room." She waved to her unconscious friends.
"As you wish, Princess." Taurus threw Jellal over his shoulder, as if he were a sack of potatoes, and did the same with Gray. As he walked through the door, he 'accidentally' hit the lord's head against the doorframe. "Sorry." Lucy just smiled, and waited for him to come back to pick up Erza, much more delicately. Lucy heard the sound of something being dragged across the floor, and turned in time to see the bone of Natsu's right wing scratch her floor, and disappear into the angel's back.
Lucy was sitting in one of the chairs in her dining room, Erza was lying on one of the sofas, while Gray occupied the other. After much insistence, she had allowed Taurus to tie Jellal up with anti-magic ropes. The Lord was lying on the floor, and the Taurus spirit was watching him attentively. Someone knocked on the door, Lucy ran to answer it, grabbing a towel she had set aside on the way. Porlyusica was old even by Mystic standards, but her face showed few wrinkles, and her pink hair didn't have a single gray strand. She was perhaps the best healer on the entire continent, but few were brave enough to seek her services. Fortunately, she had a soft spot for the members of Fairy Tail.
"Where are my patients?" She took the towel Lucy offered, and dried herself quickly.
"One of them is in the back room."
The healer went towards the room without another word. Lucy lightly caressed Plue's head as the spirit disappeared, and followed her.
Lucy entered the room, and found the healer mixing several different substances, her eyes glowing with a faint bluish light. The mixture changed color with each ingredient, going from transparent to dark green, then to orange, yellow, blue, until it became gold.
Without hesitation, she approached the bed, opened the angel's mouth, and poured the entire contents of the potion. Natsu writhed on the bed, but did not make a single noise, nor did he wake up.
"Anyone else?"
While Porlyusica finished taking care of Gray, Jellal woke up, and without caring about Taurus's threats, he remained silent, only making a strangled sound when Erza woke up, threw him over her shoulder in the same way as the Minotaur, and marched out the door.
"What trouble have you gotten yourself into, girl?" Porlyusica didn't take her attention away from the demon, and her voice remained indifferent. "With so many creatures in this world to encounter, did it have to be an angel? Especially this angel?"
"What did you want me to do? I'm a member of Fairy Tail, I couldn't just let him die in that hole."
"I always told Makarov that one day he would regret teaching you to be like that." The healer finished treating the demon and stood up. "As soon as that monster wakes up, take him straight to Makarov, he needs to know who is in his city."
"I will do that, thank you very much, Mrs. Porlyusica." The healer headed towards the door without saying anything else. "Taurus, it seems like the storm is getting worse, would you accompany her home?"
"As you wish, Princess."