Firefall || Fairy Tail

23 : i n s i d e . m t . t a g i m o u i c a

Laxus had set the pace from the moment he started moving again. His strides were long and quick, causing the others to have to focus on not losing the Lightning Dragon Slayer. It was barely twenty minutes later that they finally reached the other end of the cave they had been traveling through since that morning.

It opened up into the inside of the mountain. A saturation of gray met their eyes as they all stared at the ruins that rested at the center of the compacted volcanic ash. The structure held qualities that were reminiscent of Kardia Cathedral, but it was many times larger. From their slightly elevated location, it was clear that about half the building still seemed to be in fairly safe condition, a few open-air courtyards scattered throughout. Looking closer at the layout, it appeared to be more of a low-level castle with a small surrounding pavilion.

Natsu growled lowly, "This stupid smell is getting in the way."

"What do you mean?" Lucy gazed over at him.

"I can smell Kia and Amber, but I can't tell exactly where they are."

"Salamander's right," Gajeel glared down below. "I can only tell that they're somewhere in that building."

"Well if that's the case," Erza stepped to the front of the group between Laxus and Natsu, "we will just have to search through it. Remember to stay on guard."

Everyone gave a singular nod, before they raced forward.

||~x~||

"I never expected them to have this many members," Titania grumbled to no one in particular as she peeked over the outer wall. There were easily a hundred mages wandering between the different doors and going about patrols around the building. From their magical energy, none of them seemed as though they would present the group with much trouble, but they would cost them time.

"Why are we just sitting here?!" Natsu hissed in a whisper. Several of them were honestly amazed that the pyro hadn't gone plowing straight into the crowd, demanding for his sister and friend to be returned. "We can take them."

"That may be the case, but-" a hand landed on Erza's shoulder, causing her to pause. She turned to see that Cana had moved up beside her, taking in the enemy's forces.

"My group can handle this." The brunette would have squeezed her shoulder if it weren't for the armor there, "We can just stick to the original plan and split up as we need to."

The redhead looked into her eyes, seeing that Cana understood that there was something that she hadn't shared with the others. The look she had shared with Laxus back in the cave hadn't gone unnoticed by the Card mage.

"Cana and I can handle them," Juvia stepped up as well. "The rest of you should get moving."

"Are you two serious?" Gray asked.

Lucy nodded, "Yeah. That's still a lot of people, no matter how weak they are."

"We can stay too."

Lily was nodding his head from his place on the Script mage's shoulder, a look of determination on her face. "Gajeel, Lily, and I will be here to support them. That should help give them some cover, while letting the other two teams start searching."

The black Exceed continued to nod, "Just leave a mark so that we know which ways you guys may have checked once we wrap up here."

"Don't waste your time." Gajeel crossed his arms, "I'll just smell them out."

Though increasing the number causing the distraction from two to five greatly improved the odds, it didn't make the others feel any better, but it wasn't like they had a better option at the moment.