Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 23 - Follow My Lead

Natsu's POV

I jumped backwards out of the way to avoid being stepped on by the wyvern's claw. I tsked, 'how do I beat this thing?' I thought. "Natsu!" I heard Lucy call out and turned my attention to her. "Follow my lead!" she said and then ran headfirst towards the wyvern. She skidded across the floor underneath the wyvern and then kicked the column behind it with a flaming foot. A large crack crawled across the ceiling, adding to the other cracks.

I realised Lucy's plan as soon as I noticed how unstable the ceiling was. I roared as I charged up my magic into my fist and then threw a punch at the column behind me. "Getting frustrated?" Nightmare taunted. I growled at how cocky this guy was. He reminded me of how annoying Gildarts is whenever he visits.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" Lucy roared toward Nightmare but the wyvern shielded him from the blast. The wyvern retaliated by swinging its tail at her. The calculating smile never left her face as she leapt into the air and landed on top of the tail. The tail crashed into the column behind her. She ran up the tail and threw a flaming punch towards Nightmare. He moved his upper body to the side to dodge and then grabbed her arm before throwing her off, in front of the wyvern. She landed on her feet, but I didn't miss the small painful groan she made.

"Chaos Dragon Roar!" I chanted. My dark flames hit the wyvern's chest and pushed it into the last column surrounding it. The ceiling looked ready to cave but needed one more hit. "Is that all you've got?" Nightmare asked, bored with a mock yawn. "Not yet" Lucy said before igniting her feet and rocketing towards the ceiling. "Huh?" Nightmare exclaimed as he watched her fly past him. With her flaming fist, she punched the weakest point of the cracked ceiling.

As soon as she punched the ceiling, she fell backwards towards the ground. The ceiling crumbled after her. If she didn't get out of the way, she was going to be crushed under the debris. I took a step forward to try and save her until she called out "Happy!" Said exceed used his Max Speed to swoop in and pulled her out of the way. Nightmare screamed and lifted his arms to protect himself as the rubble crushed him and the wyvern. The book, Raserath, fell out of his hands and landed on the ground, outside the rubble. Sunlight lit up the room as it shone down through the hole.

Happy gently lower Lucy to the ground and then she walked over to pick up the book. "Looks like our job is done" she said with a smile while turning to face me and Happy but something didn't seem right. "Let's get this book to the Magic Council" she added and started walking towards the exit. I noticed she was walking a tad weird and a big purplish bruise stained her lower back. 'She must've hurt her back during the fight' I thought. I didn't realise I was staring at the wound until she looked over her shoulder at me. "Hey Natsu, thanks for your help back there" she said with a smile and then turned her head forward. I grunted in response. 'She'll live' I thought as I followed after her with Happy beside me.

When we walked outside, Erza and Gray ran up to Lucy as soon as they saw her. Everyone was gathered outside including Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale. Jura and Ichiya were back to their normal selves along with the others. "Are you alright Lucy?" Gray asked. 'I'm fine too, thanks for asking' I thought sarcastically while rolling my eyes. "I'm fine" she replied with a forced smile and then turned to Hibiki. "Here's Raserath" she said as she handed him the book. "Good job. We'll make sure to hand this over to the Magic Council" he said, taking the book.

"Now that the mission is over, you and me have something to settle Blondie" Sting said with a smirk while getting in Lucy's face. "I've been eager to punch your face in" she replied with a smirk of her own. I noticed the bruise was bothering her, but she didn't want everyone to notice. If she fights him in this state, she's going to hurt herself more.

Both of them jumped back and lit their fists up with their magic. I needed to stop this, Sting is only picking on her because she's close to me. "Fire Dragon-" Lucy chanted before I threw her over my shoulder. She extinguished her fists and hit my back repeatedly. "Put me down Natsu!" she exclaimed.

I ignored her and glared at Sting. "Leave her alone" I growled and then started walking in the direction of Magnolia. I glanced back at Sting as I walked and he had a sinister smirk on his face. 'I knew it. He's trying to get to me' I thought as I faced forward.

"Let me go Natsu! I can take him! Put me down!" Lucy complained while continuing to hit and kick me. Happy followed and flew beside us. "He looooves~ you" Happy teased and tried not to laugh. I stopped walking and without looking, I grabbed Happy's tail. "Huh? AAAAAAAH!" he screamed as I swung him by his tail and threw him behind me into the sky.

"What did I say about doing that to Happy?!" Lucy shouted angrily as she slapped the back of my head. I growled, "he said it again" I replied. "That doesn't mean you should throw your friends" she said but I ignored her and kept walking. She can be annoying sometimes.