A/N: They/them pronouns used again in a section of this chapter. Letting you know so it doesn't cause any confusion. :)
Chapter Twenty One
"No, Wendy! Don't!" Charle cried out, too late to stop the inevitable. Natsu was gone, his fiery fists swinging at the Guardian Spirit.
The two of them clashed, the full might of Natsu's flames enough the send the Ox back a few steps. Again and again, Natsu punched forth. Fed up of his incessant attacks, the Ox turned her hide to water; Natsu's flames fizzled with a hiss.
She underestimated the intensity of a dragon slayer's desire to protect. The flames poured out of Natsu, an inferno that set the Ox's skin boiling, the water steaming off her hide.
The Ox lowed, turning her skin to metal before Natsu's fist crashed into her for the tenth time. Natsu cried out as the bones in his fist shattered. A few seconds later, the Ox had the upper hand again. She thrust forward, headbutting Natsu into the wall.
A yell and Natsu was back, charging into the Ox's shoulder. He was breathing heavily, the poison making its presence felt. But he would not let that stop him. He would keep going.
"Natsu," Happy said worriedly, his Aera flickering in and out due to his depleted magic. He frowned, magic or no, he had to help Natsu. He stopped, realising someone had taken hold of his hand.
"Don't worry," Lucy whispered, her eyes creaking open, "I believe in Natsu."
Erza heard Lucy's words, even though she could not turn her head to see her. She bit her lip, ignoring the pain that screamed through her body. If Natsu was going to risk it all to get the Key for them, then they were not going to hold back either.
"Wendy. Gray. I need. Help." The words cracked, stumbling forward through gritted teeth. "Dis. Traction," Erza wheezed.
The two wizards nodded, despite Erza being unable to see them. Wendy lifted herself to her feet. "Sky Dragon Roar!"
Gray saw Erza's fingers flex as she struggled to raise her hand in the air. If she could do it, then so could he. He touched his good hand to his broken one. "Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!"
The Ox turned away from Natsu to deflect the attacks, leaving her open for a second. Erza's fingers stretched out as she called forth her weapons. Shouting down the pain, Erza materialised her final salvo in the air above the Ox.
Gray's eyes widened as he took in the attack. Wooden swords! Even with a hundred of them, there was no way they would do any damage!
Distracted by Gray and Wendy's attacks to the front, the Ox carelessly let a finger of flame flare up from her forehead. Incinerating the swords before they made contact.
"Thanks, Erza." Natsu dove towards the conflagration. He swirled into the fire, swallowing the flames around him. His belly poofed out and he exhaled, satisfied. "Now that I've eaten," he wiped his mouth, scales rising from his skin and creeping up his neck, "I'm feeling fired up!"
Erza collapsed, a smile tilting her lips. "Go get her, Natsu."
The flames burst forth, golden, burning and endlessly bright. He zipped over the Ox's skin, drawing flaming spirals across her body. He grabbed her broken tail, jerking it backwards. The Ox's muscles rippled with pain as the appendage broke free in Natsu's hand.
The Ox lowed, thrashing about and crashing into the lacrimae that lined the cavern. The crystals sparkled, turning to dust under the onslaught.
Natsu backflipped off the cavern floor, using the opportunity to attack the Ox's underbelly. "Fire Dragon Iron Fist! Wing Attack! Crushing Fang!" The sweat was dripping down his nose, but the Ox had turned her underbelly to steel and his attacks were not getting through. He wiped his face with his forearm. No. This was for Lucy. For Erza. For all his comrades. He would just have to win.
He let his aura flare out fully and spread his arms, fireballs appearing in each hand. "Ox Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
He brought his fists together, allowing the destructive magic to ring like a thunderclap across the Ox's metallic belly. With a crackle, the surface distorted, the metal breaking into fragments that began to rain down upon him. He peered up through the falling debris and spotted the Key, shining resolutely at the centre of the galaxy inside the Ox. A blink later, the Ox's skin had reformed. No. "No!"
Moments later, the Ox had stepped back, punting Natsu aside with her forelegs.
Charle watched the battle, her mouth in a thin line as she tried to see any future but the one that was unfolding before her. There were subtle differences from the vision she had seen, but there, right there, the Ox was about to ram Natsu in the back with her horns. Charle flinched as Natsu's flying body broke through several stalactites.
She blinked, forcing herself to concentrate. But it was of no use. The battle was raging in front of her and her magic was too depleted for her to avail herself of her precognition. What could she change in this future even if she could?
Futures are fickle things; a step with the right foot as influential as one with the left. A great many things had changed since that night in Tekka. Natsu had confessed his love to Lucy. Gray had been reunited with Ultear. Erza had chosen not to replace her eye. Each decision bringing with it a ripple into the liquid future.
The least of these changes was Wendy.
The Sky Dragon Slayer struggled to the head of the group and spread her hands. "Everyone," her voice rose in command, "lend me your strength!"
Charle could only watch as Wendy shut her eyes and began to chant. The waters around them began to glow green. No. The water was not glowing. Wendy was drawing a magic circle on the floor of the cavern, large enough for the Guardian Spirit. She coughed as her strength began to fail her, her legs almost buckling, but still she persevered.
From the corner of her eye, Charle saw Gray crawling over the Wendy. Erza too, stabbing her sword into the earth and using it to pull herself along. Even Lucy had wobbled to her feet, taking step after unsteady step forward.
Charle blinked as Happy stepped forth, placing his palm against Wendy's calf, contributing his meagre strength to hers.
Fine.
If they all could place their faith in Wendy, then so could she. She started towards the others; her foot raised mid-step when the vision slammed into her. The Guardian Ox, noticing Wendy, breaking the stalactite overhead, the stone crashing, crashing into their group.
Not on her watch.
Charle transformed into her human form and launched herself at the Guardian Spirit. Hissing and spitting, she flew up to the Ox's face, her hands a blur of motion as she tried to scratch out her eyes. Her magic would not last long. 'The rest is up to you, Wendy,' she thought grimly, as she threw herself into battle.
Wendy cracked an eye open at Charle's cry, her lip twitching with pride as she watched her friend. The pressure of the Ox's magic was bearing down on her; a wild force that struggled to be contained. She could hear her comrades gasping and panting as they poured every last drop of their magic into her. She would not let them down. Wendy sped up her incantation, her aura flaring as she reached the end. "Natsu-san!"
Natsu looked down at Wendy, immediately understanding what she was about to do. With a deep breath, he gathered the waning magic that remained in his body.
Wendy raised her hands in the air, her spell completed. "High Enchant: Deus Sepeleo!"
"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art! Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade!"
The magic circle flared out under the Ox and she faltered, stumbling for a single second. A single second. That is all their combined magic bought them. But it was enough.
Natsu's blazing fist ripped through the Ox's hide. Swiftly, before she could recover, he twisted around, ramming his head into her flank, a vision of Igneel filling his mind as he tore through her body to the other side.
The Key, as bright as a rainbow, shone at the centre of the Ox's torso. Natsu spluttered, his clothes falling off his body in shreds. He could see the Key. He just had to reach it. Just one step. Then another. Quickly, before the Ox recovered.
The Ox lowed angrily, heaving to her feet. Her eyes fell upon Wendy, recognising the source of the enchantment that had laid her open. She leered, pushing forward.
"No!" Charle was back, stabbing, kicking, clawing at the Ox's face. She did not have to win. She just had to survive. Distract the Ox long enough for Natsu to grab the Key. Long enough to protect Wendy from her wrath.
Natsu tried to push himself forward, focused on the Key, unheeding of anything around him. Just one burst of magic and it would be in his hands.
But he could not move.
He was spent. Empty. Watching with widening eyes as the flesh on the Ox's side began to repair itself.
Suddenly, he was lifted into the air. "Happy."
"What did you think, Natsu. We're in this together."
Natsu blinked. "Yeah," he grinned. "Yeah! Happy, Max Speed!"
"Aye Sir!"
Happy listed sideways, his Aera barely able to keep the two of them afloat. Max Speed, it was not. But it was enough. They flew to the centre of the Ox's body, stretching, reaching, their hands closing about the sixth Key.
The Ox was rampaging about the cavern even as her body began to fade. How dare these mages thwart her intentions? How dare they snatch away her Key? History would repeat itself; and like before, she would not be able to stop it. The grotto around her shook from her rage and it gave her an idea. She might not have been able to stop them, but she would make sure they were stopped. Ignoring the insistent call of the Heavens, she kicked out against the walls on every side. She would collapse the cavern; bury the wizards alive. She knew they had no magic left to escape. Their Quest would end here. A moo of pure triumph burst forth from her lips.
"Ox. Enough." The sweeping tones were only too familiar.
"Vega. You don't understand." The Ox kicked out at another wall, her ears flattening with satisfaction as the cavern began to quake.
The point of otherworldly light floated down through the portal that bridged the material world to the Heavens. "I understand too much. You're being careless. He will notice." The Ox froze, bathed in glowing green. "We have to go."
There was a clap of energy; its shockwaves rippling across the cavern. The wizards were pushed into the mud, unable to lift their heads. Unable to see the Ox Guardian burst into a million pinpricks of light, shimmering, floating, as she returned to the Heavens.
Hebiko bolted awake, sweat beading her palms. That burst of energy just now. Surely, it had not been? She shoved her feet into her slippers and threw on a robe. It was unlikely her Master had felt it; he was usually drugged and in bed by this hour. That was good. It gave her time to confirm things.
"Open up!" She rapped on the ornate wooden door.
Her sister poked a curious head out of her room. "What's wrong, Ko-chan? It's late."
Hebiko pushed past her sister. She sniffed with disapproval as she took in the childish furnishings, the stuffed toys and posters of cartoon characters on the walls. "Tomorrow, you will go to our aunt, the General in the Northwest." She paused, fixing her sister with a particular stare. "You will stay there until you receive further orders."
Her sister frowned. "B-but why Ko-chan? Have I done somethi-," she gasped as realisation dawned on her, "Is it that? Shouldn't we tell Father?"
Hebiko winced at the word. "Master has enough on his plate without little leverets running to him every time they have a wild idea."
"But you don't think-?"
"What I think," said Hebiko, smoothly cutting her sister off, "Is that it's high time you learnt your duties. You are the General's heir after all. Isn't that right, Usajou?"
It was her sister's turn to flinch at the shortening of her childhood nickname. Less a nickname now than her identity. She pulled her shoulders back and looked her sister in the eye. "Very well," she replied, dropping to her knees in respect, "Your wish is my command, Hebiko-sama."
Erza raised her head, spitting mud. They were too far underground, and the roof was caving in. She girded her loins. The rocks were falling towards them, heavy with the weight of death. There had to be something she could do. Something she could summon. Something, anything that would help protect her friends.
Damn it all. Her arms would not work, her shattered spine making anything but the bare minimum of movements impossible. There was nothing she could do. No way for her to protect her friends. Her last thought was of the sheer futility of it all.
A flash of light erupted before her, searing her vision. Voices. Footsteps. The sound of running. Being lifted gently onto a stretcher. Being carried out to fresh air.
Erza blinked at the stars stretching endlessly across the sky. With dim hope, she realised she was outside. She was safe. Her friends were safe. With that, she allowed the exhaustion and pain to finally bear down upon her and she drifted into a dreamless sleep.
It snowed for three days. Zitel peered out of the igloo, growing restless. It had been her idea to rescue the Southlanders. She had been asleep when Plue had begun to squirm in her arms, suddenly agitated. The Southlanders had been in danger. Plue had been clear about that. She had gathered the townsfolk, entreating the best guides to come out with her. She had gestured towards Plue, the Spirit regarded as a God in their town, to drive her point home.
She had been right.
Something had happened up here. The glacier was gone. The shelter they had built many moons ago, vanished without a trace.
They had taken the secret path down the mountain, known only to those Silestinese who had earned their stripes. Half a day searching the underground caverns for the Southlanders, for the reason for the glacier's disappearance, ignoring the tremors that were shaking the mountainside.
They had finally found them, lying battered and bruised, seconds from being crushed by the falling roof. The Ice Mages in her group had seen to that; propping columns around the grotto to reinforce the ceiling. The rest of the guides had helped carry the mages out to the hastily constructed medic igloo.
It was there she stood now, three days later, in the snow outside the medic igloo; waiting for the first of the mages to wake. Two of them, especially, the young girl and the handsome pink-haired one, were extremely pale. The others, they were further from death but still in poor shape. She idly flicked the ash from her cigarette and turned her face skywards. Maybe the snow would let up soon.
"Zitel-sama! Zitel-sama!" The rookie rushed over, tripping over boots that were made for a bigger man.
"You're too noisy," she said, gesturing with her lit cigarette toward the medic tent. "What is it?"
"The glacier," he panted, "it's back!"
The dark-haired mage was standing on the shore, breathing heavily as he leaned on a crutch.
"You needn't have done that," Zitel said casually, crushing her cigarette under her boot.
"Your men wouldn't shut up about it."
Zitel hid a smile. They were not her men, but it pleased her that the Southlander thought so.
He turned to hobble back to the medic tent. "There. Your livelihood is restored. Now leave me and my friends be."
Zitel fell into step beside him. "Is that your way of saying 'thank you?'"
Gray grunted in response. "Think of it how you like."
He vanished back into the medic igloo, drawing the curtain closed behind him. Zitel cocked her head as she regarded her new acquaintance, the beads from her braids clacking together noisily. 'Curiouser and curiouser,' she thought, leaning against the igloo wall. She lit another cigarette and settled in to wait. This was going to be an interesting afternoon.
"Wendy, I'm sorry to ask this of you," Gray muttered, rubbing his shoulder. The Silestinese medics had done a good job with his legs and with the minor wounds on their bodies but Erza and Natsu were still unconscious.
Wendy smiled briefly. She would have liked some more rest, maybe even a few days' worth, but Gray was right. The longer she waited, the less likely it would be that Erza would make a full recovery. She set her hands on Erza's back and began to perform a healing spell.
Her eyes darted towards Lucy and Happy, sitting in silence next to Natsu's pallet. That she was less confident about. By all logic, the poison should have burned Natsu from the inside out; yet, there he lay, a shade paler than he should have been, but very much alive.
Erza woke as Wendy finished her spell. "Natsu?" she mumbled.
Wendy shook her head. "The poison didn't kill him, but he's still unconscious."
"It looks like consuming the Ox Guardian's fire helped suppress the poison." Charle hopped off her pallet and made her way over to them. "My magic is still too weak to use my clairvoyance properly, but I could see enough of the future to tell that he will wake as soon as you recast the suppression enchantment on him."
Five minutes later, Natsu was sitting up in bed.
And then lying down again as Lucy and Happy glomped him.
"I'm alright. Didn't I say I'd be alright?" Natsu said when they finally let him up for air.
Gray's lips twitched upwards. "Yeah. You did."
"What the hell was that Ox's problem?" Happy pouted. He was feeling a lot better now that he was nestled safely in Natsu's arms. Natsu's alive and breathing arms.
"She seemed a little surprised that we knew the Rules," Wendy added.
Lucy fidgeted, licking her suddenly dry lips. "I was nearly unconscious, so I can't be sure, but did you guys see…?"
"Vega," confirmed Erza.
"So what?" Gray threw up his hands, regretting the decision as his shoulder twinged, "Vega deliberately didn't give us a copy of the rules?"
"Why would she do that?" Lucy wondered.
"It seems a bit underhanded." Charle stroked her chin in thought. "Do you think she's working with the Snake?"
Erza shook her head. "The Snake Guardian offered us Deals. Why would he do that if he knew there was no way for us to know how they worked?"
Lucy buried her face in her hands, her voice shaking with frustration. "I'm sorry, everyone. This is all my fault. I'm the one who suggested we come here searching for Aquarius' key."
"Don't be silly Lucy. We would have had to face the Ox Guardian sooner or later."
"That's right, Lucy-san. And at least we got the Ox's Key."
Lucy looked up as Natsu ruffled her hair. "And we all made it out alive," he grinned.
Gray snorted. "Barely."
Erza shot a glare his way. It felt like an elbow to the ribs. "I am going to ask our rescuers if they can lead us out of the mountains." She reached for the crutches by her bedside and hoisted herself to her feet. It would be a while before she was back to a hundred percent, but at least she could move again.
She made a small noise of surprise as she lifted the curtain to let herself out. A line of footsteps led away from their igloo, disappearing into the snow.
Zitel was nearly asleep. These wizards had been waffling on about healing and supernal lines for absolute ages. She yawned and scrolled through the songs on her portable lacrima player, only one ear on the conversation. The little girl was a healer, it seemed, and the other mages were waking up. Good. That meant they could leave this place. What had started out as an exciting adventure had fast turned into a chore.
She stretched lazily, picking a song by a local band. A few bars in, her eyes flew wide open. She hurriedly wrenched the lacrima bud from her ear. Had the wizards just said-? She scrabbled to her feet, tamping down on the urge to squeal. 'This is it,' she thought as she walked briskly away, 'I'm finally getting out of Silestina!'
They sat by the window; the letter clenched in their hand. They had read it over several times already. Who the wizards were, their personalities, their camaraderie, their strengths, their many weaknesses. But no matter how many times they read it, the words, the final assessment, it stayed the same.
With a sigh, they rose from their armchair and trotted over to their desk, stashing the letter in the top drawer. Their own desires, their own misgivings, none of it mattered. Nothing mattered except the ripple of magical energy that had crossed the continent a few days ago.
If they were lucky, the signal had gone undetected by other interested parties. If. If. If. They pursed their lips and blew out a deep breath, making their lips flutter noisily. It would be foolish to rely on ifs. Things were already in motion. It was time now for them to catch up.
"Erza," Gray whispered. He caught her eye and tilted his head, indicating that they should speak privately.
It had been two days since he had restored the glacier, but his body still ached. He really had overdone it. Still, the last thing he had wanted for Lucy to overhear, back then, was the Silestinese guides harping on about their missing livelihood. Her mind would have been taken up with enough guilt.
A short call to Lyon over his portable communications lacrima and he had the spell. Straight from Ur's books. Which Lyon still refused to share with him. He snorted as he realised that with Ultear back, his claim on those books was even more tenuous than it had been. Oh well. He had never expected to have them anyway.
Speaking of sharing, his eyes flicked over to the eighth member of their party. The Silestinese girl, Zitel, had insisted on accompanying them on their journey. "I'll be joining you as far as Kaolia. Don't read into it," she had said.
Not that he was complaining too much. Zitel and her fellow guides had led them out of the mountains in a mere day and a half, taking turns to help the more injured members of their team. Gray snorted as he remembered how particularly keen Zitel had been to help Natsu. Lucy had been frothing. The two girls sat now, on either side of Natsu, glaring at each other over his sleep-ruffled head.
Well, not so much sleep-ruffled as extremely nauseated. The motion-sickness lacrima had been among the casualties when his bag had split open during the avalanche.
He slipped out of their carriage, opened the door at the end and stepped over into the next; continuing on in that fashion until he came upon Erza seven carriages away. "We far enough away now?" he asked sarcastically.
Erza looked back at the way he had come, her forehead wrinkled. "You are right. It's still risky."
"I'm kidding, Erza."
"Oh. Right." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. "What did you want to talk about?"
Gray shook his head. That was Erza's normal pose. There was no reason for him to suddenly think of the set of her shoulders as defensive. "This girl, Zitel…"
"Has been eavesdropping on us these past two days," she finished for him. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. He wanted to talk business. She was good at business. "I noticed."
He walked past her to the window, heaving it open with his uninjured arm. "What do you think?"
Erza leaned out beside him, her hair flipping away from her face in the wind. "I think she is bored. Not dangerous."
The Giltenese countryside was a smear of sunset as the train thundered past. Gray clutched the windowsill, suddenly queasy. The trains here were much, much faster than the ones in Fiore.
"I have a plan," Erza continued.
Gray nodded. Of course, she did.
Erza turned to face him, using one hand to capture her hair before it became too wildly tangled. "Anything else?"
Her eyepatch was coming loose, slipping free in the pounding wind. Gray reached out and tucked it behind her ear more firmly, his hand stuttering as he remembered the two of them in a similar position days ago.
He coughed to clear the sudden tightness in his throat. "I spoke to Lyon, back when I was regenerating the glacier."
Erza nodded at him to go on.
"He told me he had looked up the 100 Years Quest in Lamia Scale's record books… out of sheer curiosity." He paused, his gaze meeting Erza's. "There was no record of it."
"I see."
"He called around to Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel, a dozen or so other guilds."
"And?"
"They have no record of it either. In fact, most of them didn't know what the hell he was talking about."
Erza nodded. "Right. Is that all?"
"What do you mean, 'is that all?'" he asked incredulously. "Isn't that suspicious?"
Erza gave him a considering look. "There are many things that do not add up. This is just another piece of the puzzle." She pushed the window closed and turned to walk away.
"So you aren't going to look for answers?"
Erza turned and gave him a smile, the kind that made his knees quiver. "I am going to find answers."
Two hours later, the train stopped at Kaolia and Zitel disembarked. Lucy grabbed her luggage and walked her to the door personally. The girl had way too much interest in Natsu.
"Maybe we'll meet again," Lucy said half-heartedly, handing Zitel her suitcase.
Zitel's brown hand closed over Lucy's as she grabbed her bag. "I very much doubt that," she replied, giving her a fake smile.
She disappeared into the crowd, her braided bob vanishing into a sea of heads. Lucy watched her go with a frown, there had been something about that girl, a kind of familiarity Lucy could not quite put her finger on.
"Oh well, she's gone now. Isn't that right, Plue?" she said, crouching down to look her Celestial Spirit in the eyes.
Half an hour after Kaolia, the train rumbled into the busy way-station of Trona. "Quick! Follow me!" Erza instructed, grabbing her luggage with one arm and throwing Natsu over her shoulder with the other. Only the slight tightening of her lips gave away the fact that she had ever been injured. Charle carried Wendy out, leaving Lucy, Gray and Happy to deal with the rest of the luggage.
"Uwah! We stopped moving!" Natsu crowed, as Erza sprinted to the overbridge that connected the platforms. His relief was short-lived. Erza bounded down the steps to the adjacent platform and threw him onboard another train.
"Hurry!" she yelled back at her comrades. She helped the last of them onto the train just as it began to pull away. With a mighty leap, she caught hold of the bars around the door and swung in, sliding inside just before the doors sealed shut.
"Take it easy, your spine was broken only days ago," Gray muttered.
"What did we change trains for, Erza?" Natsu mumbled, his motion-sickness already setting in.
"I wanted to make sure we were not being followed."
"That's well and good," Charle said, crossing her arms haughtily, "but where are we going?"
A fervid gleam came into Erza's eye. "It may seem a strange idea, given what tomorrow is, but I thought you would enjoy the change in weather." She sat with a thump, sticking her tongue out of her mouth and flashing a thumbs-up at the group. "We are going to the beach!"
A/N 2: Is it even an anime if there is no beach episode and is it even a fanfiction of an anime if there is no beach chapter? Anyway, the final portion of this chapter happens on December 23rd. Yes, I have a calendar for the fic. Did I mention everything is planned?
A/N 3: With this chapter, the story has officially crossed a 100,000 words! Meaning it's a full-length novel. Aaaaah. My brain is about to combust. I have a vague idea of how many more words it will need, but as you can tell from the set up in this chapter, it's not going to end any time soon. It is also now so long that if I came across it in a search I would not read it T_T
A/N 4: Zitel to me looks like Desna from the Legend of Korra, except with braids. I've tried to be clear about the character's physical appearance in the story, but idk if it came across. Please do let me know if it came across poorly, or worse, weird.
A/N 5 (last one, I promise): Based on a review I got for the last chapter, I thought it would be worthwhile to remind you all (since the relevant chapter did come out in January and that was like 11 years ago) that Gray gave up his Devil Slaying Magic in Chapter 15, in the fight against Jiemma. This was because there was a whole bit in the manga where Invel says using DS magic drives the user insane, which wasn't resolved properly in the manga. But also, imo, DS magic is a destructive magic and Gray is not a destroyer. He is a creator.
Thanks to the folx who faved/followed and reviewed! Please do the same this time if you feel so inclined. I love hearing from you! Until next chapter! :)
