The Salamander's Sister

Chapter 98: Fighting For Lucy!

3rd person's pov

While the groups were split up, hoping to get to Lucy and put a stop to what the church and Neo Oracion Seis were doing. At the same time this is going on, Mary Hughes and Guttman were clearly exhausted from their fight and were becoming doubtful of their allegiance to the Archbishop after discovering that he was only a tool. The two pass out from exhaustion, leaving everything up to Coco. "Come on," Coco looked back at the group she had been with, "Where are we going?" Natsu asked, "The Infinity Castle. I know where it is. So follow me." Coco leads the group consisting of Natsu, Gray, Erza, Elfman, Kosuke and Gajeel. Natsu looks up at the ceiling, his mind running elsewhere as his mind wandered off to Natsume. He had no clue as to where she had run off to and it made him worry, he just wanted her to be safe. He was still angry with Gray for letting Natsume run off, but he knew that she was a stubborn girl. He knew that she wouldn't just waste time running around a building and instead would do everything in her power to find her best friend and brother. The only thing that kept running through his mind was the wish that Lucy, Lucky and Natsume would be okay. "You just couldn't wait until I found you to run off... I know you care about Lucy, I care about her too.. A lot.. But you're my twin and I need to make sure they don't hurt you. Please, Natsume... Wherever you ran off to with Lucky, I hope the both of you are okay and that you will come back with Lucy and Lucky in one piece. I just need to know if you will be okay." Natsu thought to himself, "Natsume, you idiot... (Sighs). What am I going to do with you? You make me worry a lot. And I know you can handle yourself.. Just come back safely with Lucky and Lucy." Gray looked over at Natsu, who was still deep in thought before looking ahead of him. Erza could sense the tension between the two boys, but she also worried for Natsume and Lucy's sake. Meanwhile, Lahar and Doranbolt along with other Rune Knights are trying their best to protect as many people as they possibly can from the Infinity Clock's influence, by placing them into a barrier of Runes.

The Archbishop is finally freed from mind control thanks to Wendy, as she finishes her spell looking extremely tired from it. "Good job, Wendy. You did it. Now, you should rest." Laki smiled, "Yeah, I agree." Pantherlily nodded, as Wendy shook her head in agreement. "If we defeat all the Reborn Oración Seis members, the Infinity Clock will be deactivated," Happy started, "That would mean.." Wendy started, "In order to activate the clock in the first place, the six dark guild members had to engrave their seals on it, including Imitatia, when she disguised herself as Michelle." Happy explained, "Warren, did you get that?"

"Yeah."

"So all we gotta do is defeat them in the order they came. That's great." Kosuke smiled, looking over at Gajeel. Gajeel just nodded, not bothering to smile. He didn't like Kosuke too much, which stemmed from when they first met the young man and his best friend. Gajeel didn't like Kosuke so much because during their first encounter, he heavily flirted with Natsume and made her cry. He didn't like seeing Natsume cry, but not because he liked her like that or anything. It was more like he didn't want to see his close friend get hurt like that and it didn't make matters any better that he dragged his best friend into the whole ordeal. Speaking of Keiko, she was currently back at the guild hall with Canada trying to coordinate things and jobs back home while Kinana was recovering from her fall. "Do you think Natsume and Lucky heard that?" He asked, "They probably did... But knowing that pink haired hot head, she'll be even more fired up." Gajeel stated, crossing his arms. "She will.. I know all she's thinking about right now is finding Lucy. You guys don't get how much Lucy means to her..." Natsu said. Once again the group is stopped when they encounter Cobra, who stands in their way.

"I'll handle him. We have some unfinished business to resolve. The rest of you keep going." Erza said, looking up at Cobra.

"She's right about that unfinished business." Cobra smirked, looking down at the group. "Erza." Natsu tried to argue, "I can handle this Natsu. Just go on ahead with the others and find Natsume and Lucy. I have a feeling that Natsume might have already found Lucy." She said, keeping her eyes forward. Natsu let out a hesitant sigh, knowing that she was not about to back down from this fight. With him finally agreeing, the group made their way down the hall and elsewhere in the building. They were doing good until they ran into Angel, "Hmmm.. I don't see the other pink haired rascal with you. And here I thought you two were a thing. Where is she by the way?" Angel smirked, looking directly at Gray. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Gray snapped, "I only asked because I had so much fun watching her fight with all she had and she still couldn't get past my angel magic. Neither did you." Angel said, crossing her arms. Natsu furrowed his brown, not looking to happy with Angel.

"Yeah, well, you know what? This time I will put up a better fight than I did before. You guys got ahead. I've got this." Gray said, everyone agreed and kept moving. Finally, Gajeel decides to fight against Brain II and Klodoa alone, much to Natsu's frustration. "I wanted to fight him myself." Natsu argued, "Well, too bad, Flame head. I'm taking him on." Gajeel stated. With him still not willing to leave, Elfman carries an unwilling Natsu to move on and so the Fairy Tail Mages, along with Coco, continue their way towards the core of the Infinity Clock.

However, all of the fights going on do not go according to plan. Sugar appears and manages to slightly defeat Erza since he thought that the Reborn Oración Seis are still working for the Zentopia Church. But Cobra easily defeats him by his Sound Magic, allowing the two to continue their duel. In addition, Gajeel was able to fight on par with Brain II for a while, he is ultimately defeated and sent flying, as the latter mentions that he is in a hurry. Gildarts, who has just defeated Byro, after witnessing his level of strength, attempts to save Gajeel from falling but fails, which results in both of them falling from the Zentopia Church. Finally, by picking up Imitatia's smell, Natsu, along with Coco, Kosuke and Elfman, find Lucy and Natsume and Lucky.

"Natsume!" Natsu shouted. Natsume looked over her shoulder, her eyes lighting up when she saw her brother standing beside Elfman, Coco and Kosuke. "Natsu." She said lowly, the two connected eyes and smiled to one another, finally happy to see that the other was okay. Lucky smiles brightly as she quickly flies over to Natsu, tackling the young pink haired man into a hug. Natsume quickly rushed over to her brother, jumping onto his which he easily held the both of them steady. "Lucky, Natsume... Thank goodness. You two are alright. You had me worried when they told me you ran off." Natsu said, hugging his sister tightly. However their joyful reunion was cut short by Imitatia.

"I'm not letting anyone go near Lucy. She's mine." This statement pissed off Natsu and Natsume, both of them raising their guard as Imitatia pulls out her sword and prepares to fight them as Lucy watches.

"Well sorry, you poser. But I'm not going to let you take her from us. You hear me? I'm taking her back even if it kills me." Natsume snapped.