Fairy Tail: The Hunted

[19] Motivation!

(A/N: I should probably be updating my other books instead of consistently updating this one, but the thing is that when you get hooked on writing your own story you ignore sh!t around you and keep writing until there's nothing left to write or if you're all out of ideas. But eh, I like how this story's going and jazz.  So yeah, enjoy the update! ^^

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     Lucy clutched Wendy's feathers, burying her face into the soft material of her back. Wendy had allowed the humans to ride on her back, but Seilah was almost in a ragdoll like state in Wendy's talons. Mest had told master what happened through the lacrima, Master gravely replied, saying that their team was to fly to the cabin they last met at. Mest said that Team Natsu wanted to break the news of their loss instead of Master, he was hesitant but agreed in understanding. Laxus listened to tunes on his headphones, acting his he had no care in the world but his grave features gave away his grief. Mest was sleeping on Wendy's back, Seilah was just as paralyzed as ever.

      Lucy felt tears glide off her cheeks from the wind, she couldn't help but replay those short moments over and over in her mind: Natsu's expression of horror; Natsu's screaming and thrashing; The mark appearing over Natsu's forehead; Natsu's absent expression; His bellow of obedience as he thrust himself at Fairy Tail, going in for Wendy. Natsu was gone, within minutes he was no longer Natsu, a mindless puppet stood in his place. How could they be too late to save him? How dare she  be too slow to rescue him? Natsu went against time, space, and demons to save them from danger; they had ONE JOB to do and they failed him! She felt bad for all those times she took his presence for granted, and now that he's gone she finally realized how much Natsu meant to her. The others might not believe it, but Lucy knew there had to be a spell out there to break the curse on him, she just had to find out how.

    "We're almost there," Wendy said, her voice mellow from grief.

    "Ok..." Everyone replied bleakly.

     Wendy looked over at them in turn, blinking slowly in understanding, her eyes lingered on Lucy longer than the others. She sighed and turned ahead again.

    "Natsu-san wouldn't want us to be sulking," Wendy said, her voice piping up a bit. Lucy just now noticed how quickly Wendy was able to speak full length sentences. "He would want us to stand tall and face forward, right? He would want us to go on without him... he would-"

    "Shut your screeching hole, Wendy-san," Everyone looked over the side of Wendy's flank down at Seilah. She was still staring at her rabbit plushy. She didn't look sad or empty anymore, she looked annoyed and enraged. "Natsu-san doesn't exist anymore! The only thing that does is a mindslave that looks like him! HE'S GONE! HE'S GONE HE'S GONE HE'S GONE HE'S GONE!"

    "Seilah! You have to have a bit more faith in u-" Mest started but Seilah just glared back up at him with her striking cobalt eyes, tears spilling down her red cheeks.

    "THERE'S NO WAY TO SAVE HIM!" Seilah screeched. "NATSU-SAN ISN'T COMING BACK! And neither is mommy..."

    "How could you be so sure though?"

    "... Sometimes you just know, ya know? Sometimes you know that you can't do anything to stop what'z happening... Natsu knew that too, and that's why he..." She dipped her head in silence. Nobody moved for a long moment.

    "Hold on, we're going down..." Wendy said sadly, almost nobody heard her. She tilted her wings slowly, diving down. Everyone looked ahead and saw the cabin sitting there, all the members of Fairy Tail, the few members of Sabertooth, and the exceeds were standing there with the three other dragons with them. Wendy plopped Seilah on the grass gently then dropped to the ground besides her, beat tired. The wizards crowded around them with welcoming voices and smiles that didn't match the mood. But then, in the midst of the welcome, one wizard spoke;

    "Where's Natsu?"

     Nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody seemed to breathe, all eyes were on Team Natsu. Mest bowed his head quietly, Laxus looked pale and he narrowed his eyes at the ground, his hands clenching to tight fists, his knuckled tightening so much that they turned white, Seilah stared at her rabbit blankly, Lucy stepped forward.

    "Natsu's gone."

    "What do you mean gone?!" A voice- she recognized as Max- exclaimed. The entire campus soon began with murmurs of fear and confusion, theories and guesses. Master's giant head suddenly appeared in the middle of the crowd, everyone gasped and leapt away from him, the entire place quiet, they got the message without Master needing to say, and looked at Lucy for her to continue on.

    "The man who told us of the 'antidote', Fox, he used conductor magic and he... He used Seilah's mother- Queen Coral- like a sock puppet, controlling her and making Natsu fight her. Natsu... Natsu lost, he's now in the possession of Fox, as a puppet."

     The entire clearing erupted in chaos. First a panic attack, then screams, and then fights. It was obvious why, Natsu was the strongest of all the Slayers in their guild, and now that their enemy had not only a Queen, but their Natsu in tow, they would have almost no chance at beating him! Even the dragons were flinching fearfully.

    "ENOUGH EVERYONE!" Master bellowed. "CALM DOWN THE LOT OF YOU! NOW LISTEN UP-"

    "I think we've had enough of your shenanigans, Macarov, step down," All eyes turned to a lone figure walking towards them, dressed in a black hood, everyone gasped and even got into fighting stances. "Ya see, Porlyusca had a message for me to give to ye; 'This is what you get for following ominous notes ya old food', yeah, she actually told me to say food. And the second one-" The figure pulled back his hood.

    "She wanted me to help ye out!" A tall, lean, and muscular man appeared from under the hood. He had brown eyes with the cockiest smirk any of them had ever seen. He wore no shirt but instead wore long grey trousers with sandals, and a long black braid of hair all the way down to his back. On his bare chest was a yellow guild insignia of a snake with it's jaw unhinged, in the formation of an S. "The name's Jakoon Lexon! I'm a Desert Dragon Slayer, nice to meet ya fairy nerds! Oh and I could neva forget you tiger pussies! Gakakakaka!"

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     Fox stood there, down in the sand dunes with a crooked smile under his mask. He snapped his wand's fingers and the dragons whom were persuing the Sky Dragonet flew back towards him and landed in a shower of dust. He looked up at his two pets, laughing even though only he could hear it. What magnificent beasts they are!  Fox thought adoringly, laughing. Such power! Such beauty! Such grace! Such bloodlust~... The dragons, one of the world's strongest magical creatures, I wield them! I possess their power! I could rule the world if I will to!  He wiped the smirk off his face and examined his pets thoroughly, calculating their uses and disabilities.

    Ahahah. Queen Coral of the Sea Dragon, she is quite the marvel indeed, her strength suggests that she could even stand toe-to-toe with Acnologia with her soul in tact at full power. How she wasted it over the years with a child is despicable. I will make good use of her as a personal trump card. And as for this brawny looking fellow, he seemingly isn't even half as strong as Coral but seeing how he stood his ground was amazing , and how the comrades of the Sky Dragonet and the dragon herself reacted when he manipulated Natsu Dragneel's mind was absolutely blissful! He would make a perfect offensive gatherer.

     Two dragons themselves isn't enough to please Fox though, he only strives for the top power. After all, he made six manipulation chis for his cursed conductor staff, and he only has two dragons down. Four more to go until he would be deemed unstoppable! Fox tipped his head back howling in laugher while the dragons before him stared on blankly, empty, obediently. Their minds free of independent thoughts, their only strive is to obey and carry out orders given by the man with the mask. Fox stopped laughing and the wand he wield flinched, Natsu stepped forward and dipped his head, allowing Fox to climb on. Another flick of the wand and the dragons were off in the sky, flying towards Scarlet God.