Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 53 - A New Friend

Lucy's POV

I'm fired up now. How dare they try to sell a cute exceed who looks like a female version of Happy. I ignite my fists on fire as I stalked towards Kumi's women. They all came at me at once. I nimbly dodged each punch and kick but not without returning fire, literally. These women were stronger than other dark guilds I've fought but not stronger than me, especially when I'm angry.

"Fire Dragon" I chanted as I breathed in. "Roar!" I finished as I blew a roar of flames. The women caught in my attack screamed. "Solid Script: Hole" "Light Chain" two of the women chanted. A hole opened underneath me which I quickly jumped out of the way. While in mid-air, a light chain wrapped around my arm. "I got her" the owner of the chains said. I hissed in pain as it slightly burnt my arm. Light magic burns different from Fire magic. I heard Natsu growl angrily and then saw him looking over at me to see if I was alright while in the middle of his own fight. "I'm fine Natsu! Focus on your fight!" I quickly shouted to him before he got punched in the face by Kumi. 'Now is not the time to be worried about me Natsu' I thought.

Since I was being held in place by the light chain on my arm, the other women took advantage of the situation and attacked all at once. Did they not learn the first time? Instead of burning the light chain straight away, I grabbed the light chain with both hands and held on tight despite the pain. With all my strength, I swung the light chain and the woman attached to the other end around in a circle around me. Either the light chain or the woman would hit the other women.

After three rotations, I stopped swinging the dizzy woman around and then burned the light chain off me. "Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" I chanted and blew all the women away from me. Most of the women became unconscious from my attack while the others picked themselves back up. Thirty down, ten to go for me. I noticed Happy fighting ten of the women on his own. He either used their magic against them by flying between them, making them crossfire, or stuff nearby mushrooms down their throats. There's a reason he's Natsu's exceed partner.

"Jutsu Shiki" a woman chanted while drawing an invisible line with two fingers from left to right. Magic rune walls appeared around me, trapping me in a large rune box. Luckily for me, I knew how to get out of simple rune traps like this one. I quickly rewrote the enchantment and the rune box surrounding me broke apart. "Thanks Levy" I muttered to myself. The woman who wrote the enchantment stared at me in surprise. I wasn't sure if she was surprised that I knew rune magic or about how fast I got out of her trap. While she was stunned, I quickly charged at her and knocked her unconscious with a single flaming punch to the face. She was definitely going to feel that in the morning.

"Fireball" another woman chanted from behind me. I turned around and saw a big fireball heading straight towards me. I smirked before I slurped it all up. "Thanks for the meal" I taunt. The women stared at me in surprise and shock. "Now I've got a fire in my belly" I said before breathing in. "Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!" I chanted one of my Dragon Slayer Secret Arts as I swung my flaming arms around my body. Fire torrents spun in a spiral around me and sent the women flying. I looked around ready to fight the next person but found that all the women were knocked unconscious.

With all fifty women down, I rushed over to the caged exceed with Happy. "Don't worry. We're going to get you out of here. Stand back" I told her. She stepped back as far as she could to the back of the cage and then I burnt the steel bars away, creating a giant hole. "I'm Lucy, this is Happy and the guy over there is Natsu. What's your name?" I asked as I helped her out of the cage. "Celestia" she answered. "Nice to meet you, Celestia. Are you hurt anywhere? Can you walk or fly?" I asked while my eyes scanned her body for any visible injuries. "I'm fine but there are still a lot of humans and animals inside" Celestia said while pointing at the Dark Sirens hideout.

"Don't worry, my friends are already inside rescuing them" I replied and she sighed in relief. Suddenly she gasped and flew at me. "Watch out!" she exclaimed as she pushed me down onto the ground, narrowly saving me from a magic bullet. I immediately turned my upper body and threw a fireball at the woman who tried to shoot me. "Are you alright Lucy?" Happy asked worriedly. "I'm ok Happy" I replied and then turned to look at Celestia who was still on my chest. "Thanks for saving me Celestia" I said with a smile. "No problem. It's only fair since you saved me" she replied, smiling back, before climbing off me.

I heard a deep hum coming from behind me and I craned my neck backwards to see Natsu standing behind me. I glanced behind him and saw Kumi on the ground unconscious. Looks like he won his battle which was no surprise to me. I believed he would defeat her. "I'm alright Natsu" I told him since I could tell his hum was to ask me if I was hurt at all. His eyes shifted to look at my arm and he growled slightly. I looked down at my arm and saw a slight spiral burn around my arm from where the light chain wrapped around my arm. "It's only a small burn. Wendy can heal this no problem and besides, it doesn't hurt" I told him honestly. He hesitantly nodded once.

"Lucy" I heard someone call my name as I stood up. I turned towards the voice and saw Gray walking towards us. "Is everyone safe?" I asked. "Yeah, we took down the rest of the Dark Sirens and freed the humans and animals they captured" he replied. "Hear that Celestia? Everyone is freed. You can go home" I said as I looked down our gold exceed friend. She didn't move and looked down sadly. I crouched down so I was on her level. "What's wrong, Celestia?" I asked with concern as I hugged my legs. "I don't have a home to return to" she replied, quietly but I heard her clearly. I felt sorry for her and understood the feeling. As I travelled around Fiore, I envied people who had a home where they had people who welcomed them back. I finally found a home where I could return to when I joined Fairy Tail, thanks to Natsu and Happy.

A brilliant idea popped into my head. "How about you come live with me and join Fairy Tail?" I offered. She looked up at me with tears brimming her eyes. "Really?" she asked. I smiled at her and nodded. "Really, we would love to have you" I replied and then before I knew it, I was tackled onto the ground. "Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Celestia said happily as she hugged me tightly. I stroked the back of her head and smiled. "Let's go home" I told her and she looked up at me with a smile. "Yeah" she replied happily with a firm nod.