Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 22

Gajeel was ready to absolutely trash the Fairy Tail guild hall. It was nearly midnight, so no one would be there. He was currently sitting in the darkness, unseen. He would have seemed like a ninja, had he not been chewing so loudly.

He tossed the iron bar wrapper (Iago's Incredible Iron! Never let your iron dragon go hungry again!) on the ground and stood up. He wiped his hand on his pants and his mouth on his sleeve. Turning his arm into iron, he jumped at his opponent, an inanimate building.

Lucy had been sleeping when she heard something breaking. Is Natsu back or something?, she wondered. But she knew it wasn't. Since that day, with the fire fiasco, she always felt a small fluttering sensation just behind her right lung whenever he was close by. She felt no such sensation now.

She stood up and reached for something, anything. Not for the first time since Natsu had left, she wished that he had taken her to get a weapon. Then she immediately felt guilty for wishing that. Happy could be in danger, and Natsu needed Happy.

And anyway, it's not like he was obliged to take her weapon-shopping in the first place. He was one of the strongest members, she was lucky that he had even trained her.

But he said he would...

The sounds of the crashes grew closer. She immediately grabbed a book. Immediately thinking that Levy would have to find her was back to the page she was reading, Lucy decided to keep it back. Before she could grab anything else, the ceiling fell down on her.

It hurt. Everything hurt. But Lucy knew not to make a sound. It had been ingrained in her since when she was young. Never, ever show signs of distress. Not even when pieces of glass were embedded in your forearm.

She lowered her breathing on instinct, and stayed as silent as possible. She could hear someone walking and laughing. She stayed quiet until she thought he was gone. Her breathing calmed-

"Well, well, well. What have we here? What's a sweet lady like you- Oh shit! It's the target!" This last bit seemed to be directed towards someone else. Lucy tried to see who it was by craning her neck imperceptibly. Then she felt a sharp pain at the back of her head, and her vision went black.

When she woke up, Lucy could hear two people whispering angrily.

"... could have seriously hurt... five million jewels... irresponsible..."

"... you said... midnight... guild was supposed to be empty... how could I know..."

Lucy's head was still in pain. She closed her eyes tightly. After getting herself back in control, she inched her way forward on her elbows, slowly.

"Non, non, non, mademoiselle! Pardon, but you must not move. S'il vous plait! Stay here!"

Being a writer, Lucy knew enough French to understand that she was being told to stay there. It helped that he said the important parts in English.

She obviously dragged herself up and settled into a stance. A guy with black hair swung an iron pole at her. Stepping inside his guard, she grabbed his upper arm and punched him in the face.

She heard a growl, and felt something slam into her head with tremendous force. She flew across the room. Dazed, she touched her fingers to her head. They came away red stained. Before fainting, she giggled and deliriously mumbled, "Hey, Natsu! Look, it's blood. Want some?"

Unbeknownst to her, this sentence gave Gajeel a panic attack. Quite a few members of the guild discovered that Gajeel had asthma and took medication (Iago's Incredible Inhalers! Never let your iron dragon go breathless again!).

Meanwhile, on Galuna island, Natsu stood up and immediately took off in a run. He was about to jump out of the cave when his newly found brother materialized in front of him.

"What's wrong?"

Natsu frantically gestured with his arms, finding no words, before jumping out. Within second, there was a hand on his shoulder. He was being dragged onto the ground.

"What. Happened?"

Some part of Natsu registered that Zeref was strong enough to stop him physically, but that was unimportant.

"It's Lucy! She's in danger!"

Zeref frowned, thinking.

"Apart from Igneel, did Sanguinia train you, by any chance?"

Natsu nodded.

"Well, that's just great!" said Zeref sarcastically.

"Okay, Natsu, pay attention. Those who drink blood have this teensy thing called soulmates. Soulmates-"

"I already know all that! Now let GO!" Wrenching his shoulder away from Zeref's grip, he ran as fast as he could-

And came to a stop in front of a cliff.

"HAPPY!", he yelled, and his trusty exceed zoomed towards him with a smile.

"AYE SIIIIIIIR!"

Erza had woken up at the commotion. Gray hadn't fallen asleep at all due to Mavis snoring. They both got up and waited for Zeref to come back. Mavis didn't even stir.

After a minute, Zeref walked back in.

"Some guildmate of yours is in danger."

"Who is it?" asked Erza.

"Someone called Lucy. Natsu has already gone. One of you should go, and the other can stay here."

"I'll stay", said Erza. "Gray should go."

Gray dusted off his clothes. "Sure, I'll go. You guys catch up later, 'kay?"

Saying that, Gray ran out of the cliff.

Gray didn't know Lucy that well. What he did know was about Natsu's obsession with her. He had briefly (very, very briefly) liked her, after all, she was pretty. But she wasn't really his type.

That did not mean he had no protective instincts for her. She was a member of Fairy Tail, after all.

Creating a sheet of ice on the water, he ran across the sea towards the guild.

The Emperor Lyon was sipping on his frozen cherry Kool-Aid (which was basically a popsicle) when he saw ice spreading across the water. Creating a dragon, he jumped on it and went after Gray. Because it could only be Gray.

Coming to a stop in front of his old friend, Lyon jumped off the dragon stylishly.

"What are you doing here, murderer?" he asked, trying to get in Gray's head. He did not expect Gray's answer.

"We're gonna resurrect Ur."

Wait for it. One, two, three-

"WHAT?!"

-four, five-

"HOW?!"

-six, seven, eight, nine, ten! (Let me count, guys!)

Gray shrugged. "We just need a body. Ur's soul is still inside."

Lyon took a step back apprehensively. "Uh, Gray, right now... Uh, were you going somewhere to... obtain the body?"

A brilliant idea entered Gray's head. He grinned.

"Why, I can see one right here! You know, I think that it's best if I use you. I mean, you and Ur both have the same magic, so it should work well. Don't you think so too?"

Lyon started taking rapid steps back. "Isn't there any other way?" he begged.

Gray pretended to think. "Well, I suppose there is. You continue whatever you're doing to melt the ice- yes, I know it's you, and don't ask me where I'm going. Capisce?"

Lyon nodded swiftly, before turning and running the other way. Gray conjured a small rock, which Lyon tripped over. He smirked before resuming his journey.

Scaring Lyon had been fun.