Little Sister (A Fairy Tail Nalu Fanfic)

Burning Together (5)

        It was only a matter of seconds before the entire guild went up in flames. They licked the stone beams supporting the roof and curled around the empty tables, sending up waves of scorching hot air that singed Lucy's hair. The fox girl whimpered, and clung to her arm. The small, fearful noise snapped Lucy out of her shock. She twisted frantically in the narrow space between the table and the back of the booth-style bench, scanning wildly for a breach in the wall of fire. The flames buffeted Lucy relentlessly with scalding hot air. She whipped her head around searching, searching for escape. The back of the booth was burning, the dry veneered wood catching easily and sending up smoke. Not a lot, but enough to fill her nose and mouth with soot. Lucy coughed violently, and tore a swath of fabric from her sleeve, using the blue and white cloth to cover her face. She did the same for the little girl, moving her own hands to hold it in place. Lucy scrabbled for her keys and found Aquarius, she grabbed the two wooden tankards and plunged the key into the first one, summoning her magic.

        "I open... the gate... of... the water... bearer!" Lucy cried, muffled through her improvised face mask, and punctuated with coughs. "Aquarius!" Nothing happened. Grabbing the other tankard, Lucy thrust in the key.

        "Aquarius!" Nothing. Lucy stared at the cool golden key in dismay, either Aquarius was on a date- or she just didn't like being summoned from a half empty cup of juice. Lucy suspected the latter.

        The little girl whimpered and Lucy pulled her closer. The sound of rending metal, and the distinctive sound of wood splitting from the extreme heat, caused her to glance upwards in apprehension. One of the burning rafters had split away from the others and hung perpendicular to the ceiling. the loose end had completely been consumed by the fire, and reduced to embers faster than should have been possible. The nails holding the other end to the ceiling squealed as they were slowly pulled from their foundations by the weight of the beam. The beam sagged again, dangerously close, showering Lucy and the girl with hot, burning embers. Lucy shrieked as they landed on her skin, and the little girl squealed where she wasn't protected by Lucy.

        "Lucy!" Lucy jerked her head up at the distinctive voice calling her name and twisted to look for it. She opened her mouth to call back to Natsu, but instead, inhaled a lung full of smoke. She coughed, desperately trying to call out to him. She couldn't get enough air. She coughed, the painful chest wracking shudders, only drawing in more smoke as Lucy struggled to breathe. White stars speckled her vision and she felt herself grow light headed.

        "LUCY!" Lucy rested her head on the table, exhaustedly, unable to move.

        Natsu lunged through the wall of fire. His clothes were on fire and small burns peppered his bare arms, a tuft of his pink-colored hair was on fire, he batted at it irately as he barreled through the flaming debris towards the prone form of Lucy resting alongside the table. Natsu reached through the least fiery of the fallen beams and grabbed Lucy's arm, pulling her through. The wood shifted, blocking him from grabbing the girl.

        "Natsu!" Natsu turned to look at the source of the voice, a little blue cat with white wings.

        "Happy!" Natsu cried, "Grab the girl!"

        "Aye sir!" Happy cried, diving straight down into the fiery abyss.

        There was no sign of Happy as the seconds ticked by... 20... 21... 22... Suddenly, Happy burst from the midst of the flames in a shower of sparks. The still form of the hooded fox girl dangling from his singed paws.

        Happy yelped, the tip of his blue and white tail had caught on fire from an errant spark, and flamed vividly. 

        "Happy! Go! Get her out of here!" Natsu yelled to the blue Exceed.

        "But, you and Lucy..." 

        "Go!" Natsu followed his final order with a lick of flame aimed at the cat.

        "Aye sir." Happy responded reluctantly before turning tail and arrowing for the exit.

        Natsu cradled Lucy gently in his muscular, burn flecked arms and turned for the exit to follow Happy. A loud creak resonated throughout the building, then a second, Natsu glanced up just in time to see half a dozen large chunks of burning timber hurtle down through space towards him and the delicate figure of Lucy held tenderly in his arms.

         With debris surrounding him on all sides, and nowhere to run, Natsu stared up into the utter doom hurtling towards them.

        

        Aoi here! Sorry about the slow updates, I'd write more but this chapter has gotten a little long. Like always I love and appreciate comments! And, I'd like to give a shout out to my good friend Otaku129 who is thinking about/has discontinued her story- a lovely Fairy Tail fanfiction- Please give some positive support and lets all hope she stays writing! Bye bye!