Fairy Tail: The Hunted

[11] Feral

    "Are we there ye~t?" Seilah whined dramatically. Natsu snorted something to her and she pouted. "I know I know! But I don't like waiting! It's booring! ... You see? You know how I feel too! Why aren't we going faster, though? I mean you have wings, right? Use them! Since when were you the type to be careful, Natsu-san? COME ON! HIYAH HIYAH! RUN RUN!"

     Natsu rolled his eyes and looked at Lucy beggingly, she shrugged and smirked down at him. He growled and turned back to face ahead, shaking his head roughly. Happy and Seilah clung to his fur for dear life while Lucy felt grateful to be on his shoulders instead of his head and neck. Seilah started cheering when Natsu stopped while Happy looked annoyed.

    "Lushee, how much longer until we get to Bunker Hill?" Happy said, turning to look over his shoulder at the blond.

    "It should be right around the corner, just a mile up and we're there," Lucy replied, examining a map. They had stopped by the guild on orders of the master to collect five maps and three backpacks full of supplies for three teams. "Oh yeah, and before I forget, we're supposed to have some company with us today. Natsu, have you heard that Cobra is coming with us? From Crime Sorciere?"

    Natsu nodded and narrowed his eyes, his mouth opened like it was mechanical, "Y.. yea.. yeah..." He said, speaking in the same version the actual dragons did, opening their mouths once.

     The entire group was dumbfounded while Seilah patted Natsu on the head joyfully. "Great job, Natsu-san! You said your first word! YAY!" Natsu smirked up at her with a fire in the back of his mouth as he laughed at her. He looked back over at Lucy and Happy to gaze into their shocked explressions.

    "Natsu, did you just talk?" Lucy asked. Natsu's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth again, "Yeah."

    "While you and Happy went in the guild me and Natsu were practicing words! Natsu just said his first one! YAY, I'M AN AWESOME TEACHER!" Seilah cheered, hugging Natsu's head while he chuckled and picked up the pace with his walk, he was running through the forest again within seconds.

    "That's amazing! How long do you think he has until he can say actual sentences?" Happy asked.

    "I hav no idea! Just like Coral always says; It all depends on how fast of a learner you are!" Seilah said with a large smile.

    "Food..." Natsu said, his voice was shuddering like speaking itself hurt his throat. Natsu's ears suddenly perked as his pupils dilated into thin diamonds, then suddenly he launched out on high speed, sprinting through the forest with an unfamiliar amount of recklessness and a feral growl.

    "Natsu! Slow down! What's wrong with you!?" Happy cried, Natsu glared at them over his shoulder, his eyes... they were unfamiliar and looked like cat eyes, as if all the humanity they held was suddenly drained. He snapped his head back forward and deliberately crashed himself into a tree. "SEILAH! WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!?"

    "I dunno! Please! Someone calm him down!" Seilah cried, she was at his head and got the blunt of his sudden attack, the broken tree fell sideways and it slit into her arm, a thin stream of blood already streaming out of a ugly gash. She cried out in pain.

     Lucy looked around for anything, but Natsu was moving too fast, he was knocking down trees brutally in an attempt to throw the humans off his back. She grabbed Seilah and held the girl tightly to her chest and abandoned ship, Natsu was still in his wild rampage when Lucy took out her whip and flung it at Natsu's feet. He growled as his limbs were tied up by the whip, he staggered then collapsed with a large thud. His wings flapped wildly as his tail was lashing around like a snake on fire, Natsu roared and began breathing fire at everything in his view. Happy was tangled up in his fur, he struggled around and suddenly came loose, he flew at the two humans with full speed, narrowly missing Natsu's jaws as they snapped around empty air where Happy was just a second ago.

     Lucy handed Seilah to Happy as she approached Natsu. He glared down at her and roared, she had no time to think about any other way to calm him down, she ran up to him and jumped at his neck. He lashed around, trying to fling her off as she took a rope out of the closest abandoned backpack and wrapped it around his snout. She held on for dear life as Natsu tried struggling his way out of his bind, Lucy felt tears blur her vision as he finally began calming down. His struggled turned into tremors as he set down his head and began breathing heavily, she tore the rope away from his mouth and got off him. He made no move as she removed her whip from his legs and backed away from him. Together with the other two, they watched as Natsu began shuddering again, his dialated pupils were enlarging into round, humane discs then back again and so forth, as if he was fighting some sorts of mental battle. He stopped shaking and blinked, his eyes looked just like how they used to before he... snapped.

    "Natsu? Can you hear me?" Lucy asked. Natsu blinked a few more times then glanced over their way with an unreadable expression, making a strange humming noise in his throat. Seilah stepped forward and made a different sound than he did, the two began communicating while Happy used the first aid kit from Lucy's backpack to help her arm. At the end of the conversation, Natsu looked ashamed while Seilah looked upset.

    "What did he say?" Happy asked.

    Seilah shook her head, looking upset, "He said his head started hurting before suddenly everything went blank, he said he didn't know what was going on, where he was, who we were, or what he was doing. He said all he knew was that he had to kill us and run."

     Nobody spoke for a few minutes, they just looked over at Natsu as he hung his head in shame and spite. He shook himself off and looked around him, the other two backpacks were somehow okay, they were on the floor with their contents somehow still packed inside, while the path itself was destroyed with dragon fire igniting every other tree. He tilted his head then stood up, he wobbled for a second before he lowered his head to head level with Lucy. He looked at her, then to Happy, then at Seilah, or more specifically her arm. He sighed and kneeled down, snorting something at the water dragon slayer. She nooded then turned to Happy and Lucy.

    "Natsu-san said that he'll rush this time on getting to Bunker Hill, he said we won't stop until we get there," She said then turned to Natsu and climbed on his back, this time sitting on his shoulders. Lucy and Happy followed behind her as Natsu stood up and made a "hold-on" gesture with his head. They clung on as he began sprinting through the forest again, this time being much more careful.

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(A/N): I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay tuned for more!