Fallen Celestial (Fairy Tail fanfic)

Fallen Celestial Part 19

Natsu sneered in victory as he emerged from the cloud of smoke and launched himself at the Celestias woman. Gray had barely managed to get an ice dome to protect the two of them from the entirety of the night sky trying to kill them and even with it they still didn't come out unharmed. Gray was practically down for the count and with the one sided beating that Natsu had suffered from strange fire chick even he was starting to feel sore. They had to finish this fight as quickly as possible.

Luckily, the Celestias chick didn't seem to have expected them to be still standing and while Natsu still couldn't make out most of her face he could see her mouth open in shock as she took a step back trying to avoid him, but she was far too late to get out of Natsu's attack.

Got you now! He cheered internally as his fist connected, burning away the girls hood and sending her skidding backwards. Natsu was about to follow through with a kick but before he could even take a step forward he noticed something that caused his body to go numb in shock and his mind .

The woman's blonde hair whipped around her head making it look like there was a glowing halo around her head. Her brown eyes, filled with anger and annoyance, glared at him in retribution for his blow. A thin trail of blood dripped down her chin, clear evidence that what Natsu was seeing was not in fact a hallucination as his mind tried to make him believe.

Taking an involuntary step back, everything in Natsu's world seemed to drain of color in that moment with the exception of the blonde woman who had haunted his nightmares for the last nine months. His breath came in short gasps as he tried desperately to make sense of what he was seeing.

It was Lucy...Lucy Heartfilia was standing right before him.

"L-Lucy?!" Natsu managed to choke out as he took another step back, the sound of the crowd and his surroundings being drowned out by the rapid breathing of his heart.

Celestias, or whoever the hell she was, merely stared back at him, her face a mask of anger and something else that Natsu couldn't identify in his confusion and her blood still trailing down her lip.

It can't be...IT CAN'T BE! Luce's gone...she can't be standing there! Natsu tried to convince himself as his hearing started to return even though the entire arena had become deafly quiet, only an occasional murmur from the crowd breaking the silence.

In the next second Natsu could hear the rest of Fairy Tail realize who exactly was standing in the arena. He could hear someone, Levy from the sound of it, screaming from the stands and the sounds of the others crying out in shock. He could hear Gray making choking noises from behind Natsu clearly struggling to make words come out of his mouth but only managed to produce a stuttering sound.

All the while the woman who looked like Lucy simply stared at Natsu, not even bothering to wipe away the blood that trailed down her lips. She simply stared, something that unsettled Natsu more than if she had been screaming bloody murder at him.

"LLLLUUUUSSSSHHHHIIIII!" Natsu could hear Happy scream out from somewhere behind him, drawing the woman's eyes away from him for a split second before she muttered something so quietly that even Natsu's enhanced hearing couldn't pick up on it and a second latter a strange magical bubble appeared around her form.

Natsu didn't even have time to question why she deployed a barrier when a flash of blue speed past him, straight for the Lucy look-alike. However Happy wasn't able to hug her like he clearly intended to do, the woman's barrier causing him to bounce off and land on the ground with a plop.

Natsu quickly moved to pick Happy up, who was staring up at the woman with a look of hurt and confusion on his face. "...Lucy?" he questioned tentatively his tiny paws reaching out in hopes of being held by her. However the woman didn't even glance at the blue Exceed, her gaze having once again returned to glare at Natsu.