Awaken the Stars Song

Chapter 6

A/N: Don't own Fairy Tail nor make any money off of this story. It is an exercise in writing within a new genre just to see if I can do a decent job of grasping the genre requirements. 'Thoughts in italics'
 
CHAPTER 6
   
    To say Laxus was enraged was the greatest understatement anyone could make as he grabbed Fairy Tail’s celestial mage and protected her from Natsu’s volatile tempered hold. Having heard everything said, and understanding what was at stake, Laxus’ temper ignited into powerful, instinctive, beastly hatred toward these strangers who as much as claimed they were the reason for Lucy Heartfilia being in such bad shape. Everything wrong with Lucy might be happening because of these newcomers past actions, and it appeared that Lucy was paying the price.
    The comforter wrapped woman was going to stay in Laxus’ arms no matter what the impatient salmon haired moron demanded. Natsu’s inevitable recklessness and unstable temperament was a dangerous combination with their Celestial Mage being so fragile from illness. Everything about Natsu’s angry tirade was unfounded in Laxus’ opinion because it took so long for the moron to recognize that his partner was not breathing. Natsu’s lack of attention where his supposed best friend was concerned rendered Laxus near to the state of mouth frothing fury. The fact Natsu claimed Lucy was his best friend pissed Laxus off to the point he was debating the pros and cons of zapping the idiot into an unconscious state when multiple dark vines of power descended with the speed and noise of lightning bolts.
    The black bolts slammed into the woman Laxus was holding, and almost ripped her out of his grip. The attack came so fast that Laxus’ reflexes were much faster than his mind’s ability to register the emergency. Instinct had Laxus straining his muscles to the maximum he dared to prevent a spell from taking Lucy away from him.  His bigger size and extra weight came in handy because he was able to maintain his footing, yet Laxus knew it would not last. Had Natsu been holding Lucy when the bolts hit, both would have been airborne, and yanked into the expanding ebony hued hole above their heads. The back of Laxus mind raced to sort and catalogue everything happening to design a working counterattack while gripping the nubile body of his guild mate in a life and death struggle that Laxus feared losing.
    The frilly comforter landed on the ground, getting tangled around Laxus’ legs as the chains hauled them closer to the expanding void in the sky. Lucy’s comforter cost Laxus considerable distance before it was kicked free. Knowing he has stumbled so much only increased the simmer of unstoppable fury pounding through Laxus’ body over this uncalled for attack.
    Natsu attacked the black encased chains with his dragon’s roar. Gajeel’s hands passed through the powerful black bindings if they did not exist. The Iron Slayer’s furious profile helped Laxus maintain his rigid self control over his lightning. They could not touch the offending chains  physically or with magic which made this fight far more difficult to win.
    The Fairy pair smacked Natsu with some sort of spell that prevented him from unleashing another Dragon Roar. The petite pair, holding hands grumbled, “Save your power. You can’t attack corrupted Astral Chains with your kinds of magic. All you’ll do is interfere with us. Leave the void to us. We have the best chance of closing it.”
    The pair flew toward the opening, linked their free hands as they hovered above the chains that tugged at Laxus and his impromptu fast forming Dragon Slayer team. Overlapping power began to rise, spiraling upward as ethereal voices blended in song. Shockwaves of raw power began to shiver in the air with oppressive weight and yet whatever spell they were casting had yet to be unleashed. Laxus had to give them credit for being powerful at least. It seemed Fairies might have even invented Union Raid.
    Changing strategy, Gajeel slipped his arm between Laxus, and Lucy’s bodies, his arm wrapping behind her neck and over the collar bone to cross her upper body. He strengthened his hold by dropping his arm beneath her opposite arm. Gajeel’s opposite hand locked onto his forearm as he joined Laxus in keeping Lucy from getting snatched. Were it not an emergency, Laxus would have beat the hell out of the black haired man for touching Lucy like that. It was the safest way to keep from dislocating Lucy’s shoulder, but the burly man would have a hard time not breaking any of her bones if the draw from those invisibly cranked chains got much stronger.
    As if Gajeel had heard Laxus thoughts, he released his lower interlocked arm after the next extreme yank, and turned it into a steel rod. The Iron Dragon Slayer embedded the rod into the ground directly in front of them to fight against the intense drag. His hooked arm’s hand grabbed onto his metal changed, extended arm. With a slight hiss, Gajeel dug fast extending metal claws into his own bicep to retain his grip on their guild mate.
    Laxus grimaced over his emotional upheaval. ‘If not for my taking Blondie away when the idiot finally figured out she wasn’t breathing, she would be long gone and dead already.  Thank the Gods that I don’t trust Flame Brain’s explosive temper. My intervention insured she’s still with us. She’s so important that I can’t half ass devising counter attacks because she could get killed. Damn it! I gotta save Blondie.’
    Laxus saw they were still losing ground despite Gajeel, and Natsu holding onto Lucy alongside him. Natsu was only in charge of Lucy’s legs, but Laxus wondered how long their teamwork would last. Laxus knew this twisted battle of tug-o-war was not part of Natsu’s nature. Worst of all, Laxus was in pain from the ear-drum splitting, fury-induced screams that came from their guild mates. If he was hurting, Gajeel and Natsu were in similar pain.
    The astral chains exerted more force, and all three Slayers’ heels broke beneath the grass roots, ripping the plants out of the ground. The drag increased with each breath Laxus took as he kept his feet planted in front of himself, and leaned back at an angle. Some kind of sphere was coming out of Lucy’s chest, and Laxus had a very bad feeling about that small, iridescent white glow.
    ‘How important is the bubble of light slowly rising out of her chest because of the chains that I can’t touch? The chains seem to be tied to the sphere. Could Blondie die if that expanding light coming out of her gets swept up into the void? Will she survive but lose all of her magic if that light gets stolen? What if that’s the curse seal they were fighting about earlier? Will losing it save Blondie’s life, or not? Fuck, I wish I knew what that glow is so I could do something more for her!’
    Natsu started whining which distracted Laxus. “Why do I have to keep hanging onto Luce’s legs? I can’t fight if I’m getting drug around! If I let Luce go, my nose can track her down no matter where that black hole might take her. I can stop the mage doing this to Luce since he can’t be that far away!”
    “That black hole’s power is designed to kill Bunny Girl if she hits it, Salamander! Can’t you feel the destructive power pouring out of it?” Gajeel beat Laxus by ranting at their knuckle headed teammate.
    “But I want to stop whoever’s doing this to Luce. I can’t save Luce unless I hunt the bastard down and roast him!”
    Although Laxus was well aware that Natsu had never been very good at understanding anything outside of fire magic, it infuriated him to the point he began to entertain a genuine desire to murder the smaller Dragon Slayer. “Cutting these fucking chains is our first priority, Dumb Shit! Hunting the asshole down has to wait until this spell’s broken. Blondie’s life is on the line and that’s more important than your need to hit someone. Don’t you dare let go of her legs until our guild mates break the fucking chains that are reeling us in.”
    “The jerk should be near here. I’ll find and knock him out to get rid of the spell! So holding onto Luce is pointless. Gramps can help you keep her here while I find the bastard and burn him to a crisp.”
    “How can you be so fucking ignorant? Don’t you recognize that this attack is a very powerful, long range spell? The castors are probably working this spell in another town. It takes several S class mages working together to cast anything this complex. We have to break the spell from here or Blondie’s dead! Unless we get attacked directly, just hold onto her legs and shut the fuck up!” Laxus rasped from deep in his chest, the voice reserved for when he was so angry he could not yell.
    To prevent his lightning from escaping his control to zap Natsu unconscious when they most needed his strength, Laxus attuned to the recesses of his thoughts to grasp where his rage started.
    ‘Ash Brains has watered porridge for brain power outside of a fight so I expect to see Blondie limping into the Guild whenever Team Natsu does any job. Blondie probably does the thinking for Team Natsu when it’s only her and Salamander before they start actively fighting.  Erza knows decent strategy, so I’ve never worried about Team Natsu when she’s with them, but now . . . If this immature prick can’t figure out what his priorities need to be, I’m going to ask Gramps to move Blondie onto my team for her own safety for a while. If Blondie really is an extremely rare mage, Droopy eyes and Flame Thrower will get her killed with their stupid, reckless, competitive stunts. Sounds like Star Singers can use really ancient, lost magic. So that Blondie can harness her true power, we really need to get more information about where records and spells might be found. If Blondie learns to use more types of magic, then she might be able to protect herself until I arrive to take out her enemies.’
    Realization set in. Laxus felt a growing urge to unleash his lightning magic on Natsu because, like it or not, Laxus was struggling to deny how attached he was to Lucy, and Natsu’s attitude felt like a vile betrayal of the woman’s trust.  Images slamming through his mind were focused upon Lucy’s gorgeous smile, and echoes of her tingle inducing, musical laughter. Had it been anyone else Laxus was trying to save, Natsu’s ideals would have been reasonable to a point. From the corner of his vision, Laxus glimpsed a flash of ginger and saw Loke grabbing the chains which none of them could touch.
    “What the fuck are these bindings? Blondie’s in major trouble. Doesn’t anyone in the guild know a way to break these damned things before they kill her?” Laxus roared, looking at the Celestial Spirit who did not answer as he dug in his heels while yanking back on the largest chain in the group to help them.
    ‘Why can’t anyone but Celestial Spirits grab these damned chains if Zeref’s underlings or Zeref himself cast this spell to kill Blondie so they can free that demon? Can Loke even break the damned things? Blondie doesn’t have enough time to waste on playing this twisted game of tug-o-war. The only thing we can do to turn the tables is get rid of the chains coming out of Blondie’s chest as far as I can tell.’
    Laxus glanced over the impromptu battlefield as the tugging eased slightly thanks to Loke’s actions. They needed to get the chains dealt with first. Accomplish that and Laxus could set anything else planned as a counter attack into motion. The two dragons were hurling magical breath attacks of diverse types at the sky void. Both were having zero effect toward changing the battle’s tides. Fairy Tail mages were attacking the black sphere above their heads with everything they could muster with the same disheartening result.
    Without warning, multiple Celestial Spirits winked into the clearing and grabbed onto the untouchable chains. Their power was forcing the chains to change color before Laxus’ eyes, yet nothing more comforting was happening. Loke must have called them to try and save their master for which Laxus felt grudging gratitude. A couple explosions unleashed by the pair of Fairies flying above them did little more than make standing far harder for Laxus and his team. If not for Lucy’s pink haired maid, all of them would have been airborne and drug into the death gate.
    Gajeel maintained his hold on Lucy without complaint, although he glanced back to shoot Laxus an unfathomable look before facing forward again. Ignoring the look, Laxus wracked his intellect to deal with everything happening to his favorite female mage, without getting her physically hurt.
    “What the fuck’s that coming out of Luce’s chest??” Natsu demanded out of the blue in a quavering voice.
    “Metalicana told us earlier that chains would appear if Bunny Girl was about to die. They gotta be what he was talking about, Dumb Shit. Just focus on keeping your hold on her body and let her Spirits handle the damned spell already. They’re better suited to the job since we can’t physically grab the damned things!”
    “I want to fight whoever’s attacking Luce, Metal Freak! I’m not doing anything to save her by pulling on her legs like this!”
    “Shut the fuck up and don’t you dare even think about letting go of Blondie’s legs, Flame Thrower! If you let go we lose her body and then we’ve got no chance at all of saving her!” Laxus yelled at the impatient punk.
    Makarov’s voice filtered through all the shouted spells surrounding them. “What happens when Lucy’s silver colored soul comes out of that protective sphere, Dragons?”
      A glance at the Celestial Mage still caged within his arms by her waist widened Laxus eyes. Comprehension of what was being drawn from her body slammed into his brain. The knowledge provoked Laxus’ lightning magic into writhing and boiling inside his blood because he was helpless to stop it from happening. He directed his power across his back to protect his favorite girl from additional pain. Fairy Tail’s most beloved, biggest hearted member was having her soul ripped from her body, and the strongest mags in the guild were powerless to stop it. In his mind, Laxus swore that he would kick the shit out of the offenders who cursed Lucy’s bloodline long before her birth once the woman was safe.
    One of the ancients spoke with an odd accent to the spirits who were changing the chains colors and in a couple cases, gaining actual slack to relieve the strain on Lucy’s body and soul.  “The poor woman’s dead already. Her soul core’s breaking as it’s being ripped from her body! All we can do at this point is sever the chains and attach them to the spares.”
    “Fuck you, Nadhasti! You keep your fucking Fairy controlled paws off of Lucy! She’s not dead, and we will save her!” Loke screamed at the petite ancient.
    “Have you lost your mind? Her soul seat’s fracturing under the strain. I don’t give a damn about whether or not you can handle the truth right now. We’ve got to keep the Abyss Lord from getting loose, and she’s no longer able to feed the Blood Seals. Zayden and Skuhldra and I can shore up and feed the Seals long enough to attach them to new Star Singers. If we cut the chains now, we can stabilize the prison dimension in time!”
     Terror settled into Laxus heart as he listened to the new argument about how to deal with the chains. Stabilizing the prison and getting the chains off of Lucy’s soul sounded great to him, but the thought that Lucy was already dead filled him with an indescribable agony.  What were Loke and the others going to do? The biggest spirit grabbed onto the chain Loke was fighting to gain slack in Laxus noticed while concentrating on the verbal sparring of the two groups. Fear was numbing Laxus because the ancients were saying that Lucy’s soul was fracturing and she was already dead.
    “Leave Lucy Heartfilia alone. Loke’s right about our old friend. Princess Lucy isn’t dead yet, and we will find a way to save her life. We Celestial Spirits owe our old friend a debt far greater than you can imagine. Risking the prison leaking some of the Abyss Lord’s power to save our beloved and most powerful ally is a worthwhile risk we will take!”
    The rising panic began to subside with the giant’s words. If anyone knew whether or not Lucy was dead, it would be the spirits who obeyed her summons Laxus reasoned. The strain was starting to ease as the chain colors shifted more, and the slack increased. Lucy’s soul was not completely horizontal, but had begun to sag a slight bit.
    “You fools don’t have the right to risk this world’s fate to fawn over a mostly dead female!” The Faires blended voices hit a painful pitch as they shrieked.
    The Fairy pair began chanting in their native tongue. Without knowing what was said, Laxus tensed even more. He considered the possibility of shifting his and Lucy’s bodies into lightning to try and escape whatever they were planning, but had no idea as to whether or not it would end in Lucy’s death if he tried to evade whatever was coming.
    The long mustached giant spoke. “Loke, I can manage both chains. I’m entrusting Lucy’s survival to you. Stop them before they can force their desires upon us all.”
    “They won’t touch a hair of our princess’s head, Majesty.” Loke answered as he released his chain and ducked under the much larger spirit’s arm.
    “Hey, is there a way to break the chains that are stuck to Blondie’s chest because something’s getting yanked out of her body?” Laxus demanded of the Celestial Spirits closest to his position in hopes of spurring them into action.
    “If we break these chains, Princess will die. Her Soul Core is being pulled out of her body but we are shifting the power in the chains and shoring up her life force and magic in time. Princess will be saved. None of us know where another mortal descendant of His Majesty is right now, so we cannot take any of the chains off of her yet. Breaking these chains also means another will get attacked by multiple chains’ recoiling to find a much needed power source to keep the prison closed.” The flat voice of the maid outfit wearing Spirit answered.
    “Virgo’s correct. We don’t dare act rashly, but we can save Lucy by forcing the black power of the Abyss Lord back where it belongs and close his gate. Our power is helping to stabilize Lucy’s Soul Core although we have reason to fear it may be irreversibly damaged by this kind of strain. We’ll do everything we can for our old friend.” The giant mustache wearing spirit took the time to explain.
    The remaining spirits’ powerful pulls on the chains helped to keep Laxus, and Gajeel’s feet on the ground, yet Laxus wondered how much longer Lucy could withstand the agony of being pulled out of her physical body this way. The way he and Gajeel were forced into yanking back on her body had done plenty of damage Laxus was sure. It was going to require Wendy’s top skills to heal Lucy’s body, but could the youngest Dragon Slayer do anything for a soul? The gold power encasing Lucy kept her knocked out so she was not screaming, but that made little difference to Laxus. The normally smiling woman was being ripped apart as far as Laxus was concerned. Someone wanted Lucy Heartfilia dead in the most inhuman and vicious way imaginable. The only mercy Laxus saw in the situation was that Lucy was not screaming directly into his eardrums. Then again, Laxus would have let her scream in his ears until they bled if it increased her chances to survive this cruel attack.
    Another blast of power slammed into them all from the right side. Laxus could barely keep his feet on the ground even with extra backup and it made him angrier than ever. Despite how hard Laxus was clinging to Lucy, his arms continued sliding down her body. Only then did he realize Natsu was missing. Laxus feared breaking Lucy’s hip bones if he tightened his arms any more.
    Fury over his favorite Fairy Tail mage’s painful predicament set in. Everything said before this fight began had explained to Laxus why Lucy was consistently targeted by every major Dark Guild over a year and a half, or possibly longer. All the members of Fairy Tail had failed Lucy Heartfilia one time too many. Although it made him shudder, Laxus included himself in the list of failures due to his once blind arrogance. The ones Laxus was maddest at remained Team Natsu. They were the ones who should have been the most concerned for Lucy’s welfare from the first abduction. Their concern should have grown with each attack that followed the first kidnaping committed. Instead, all of them continued to put their teammate in direct lines of danger with their combined insistence that Lucy was as strong as each of them.
    In truth, Lucy was probably much stronger than all of them combined if what Laxus had deciphered was correct. However, the connection to the prison meant Lucy could only tap a fraction of her actual power at any given time. Drained of the bulk of her magic, Lucy Heartfilia called upon and fed power to multiple spirits at the same time without complaint. The reality of how much power had to be involved was staggering, and had probably added to the speed of Lucy’s Magical Vitality Deprivation illness. The reality of how crippled the blond mage had been all along meant that Lucy should never have to drain her remaining magic in battle because so much was riding upon the woman’s health.
    Loke’s voice cut through all the ruckus as the Lion Spirit shouted,  “This group is here to help. They’re going to try and save our Princess, Majesty!”
    The Celestial Spirit King whipped his head in the direction of the screamed announcement. Before Laxus could get an inkling of what was coming, a fur wearing cave woman with a massive club like weapon was dropping onto the chains, arms outstretched as bizarre sounds flowed from her lips. A second later, the heavy musk of an unwashed body struck Laxus’ nose and made it twitch.  Brilliant light almost as iridescent as Lucy’s soul exploded from the woman’s body as a subtle music tickled Laxus’ ears.
    The Spirit King gasped. “How can the Sacred Saint even be here, Loke?”
    Seems a few of the warriors we believed dead when we called upon the Phoenix actually survived the direct attack of the Abyss Lord thousands of years ago. Winhermeare, RoMordian, Meluzinia, and even She Wolf with her multiple Soul Bonds are still alive. Vraylinish has already ordered the Bane Elites to be freed from their time suspension spheres and brought through the gate Nadhasti was coerced into opening. Seems Vraylinish made extra preparations to counter Skuhldra’s bad habits if she overwhelmed Zayden’s light. The order of opening was changed around so Nadhasti could only open Vraylinish’s sphere first.” 
    The flat and emotionless voice of Virgo caught Laxus’ attention. “Vraylinish was always very cunning in her dealings with the Royal Sheemastra Fairies. Her caution is paying off even if they are only Cliff Clan Fairies.”
    The drag upon Lucy’s soul collapsed as tingling yet oppressive power drove Laxus, Gajeel, and almost all the Celestial Spirits to their knees. Spots flashed before Laxus eyes as he tried to get air into pressure compressed lungs.
    As the pressure began to subside, Laxus forced his head up to see the cave woman had been joined by another one. The new woman was taller and had reddish leathery looking skin with twig and straw matted hair of an indeterminate color. The musk of unwashed bodies and poorly tanned hides increased considerably to offend Laxus sensitive nose. However it was what he saw that most upset Laxus about these new comers.
    Stars within their constellations gleamed and whirled around the two women as if they were the center of the universe. Around several of the flowing stars within each constellation that whirled in and out of Laxus sight,  planets revolved in a stately dance of many colors and sizes. Each pass overhead of the constellations with all their planets and stars conjoined as they flashed overhead making Laxus dizzy with a mild touch of motion sickness.
    Power from the rapidly expanding image hit the ground with the force of finger joint sized hail stones. The black hole was gone, but the replacement power was a force that made it difficult to regain his feet. Luckily, Laxus had been able to roll to the side as they went down, so Lucy was draped across his chest. Concerned the power would do additional harm, Laxus twisted to the side and sat up with Lucy held against his chest as he shielded her from the energy.
    “I’d forgotten just how powerful Galaxy Storm really is when it’s manifested. Shit but that hurts!” One of Lucy’s male spirits complained as his long segmented tail twitched.
    “I’ve not used Galaxy Storm in several millennia so that isn’t all that surprising, Scorpio.”
    Loke’s familiar voice caught Laxus’ attention. “Why the fuck does my gut say that we’re dealing in people who often overdo everything? The Sacred Saint said she was to use Star Storm, not Galaxy Storm.”
    “You had to dig deep into the mixed up memories to recall the language didn’t you, Loke?” The goat headed Spirit asked.
    “Do you really have to ask such a stupid question, Capricorn? Of course I had to dig into the broken remains of all the souls that form me so I’d understand what was going on when Nadhasti opened the fucking gate. Hope Natsu’s okay because he got nailed with some spell that Bane Warriors cast before exiting.” The Lion did not look well as Laxus twisted to see Loke better. The man had his head in his hands as he sat on the ground.
    The shorter of the cave pair was speaking in guttural tones interspersed with sibilant hisses. The pair had divided up the chains which were now locked within their arms, and shimmering with the glitter of white gold. Laxus saw the ball he recognized as being how the maimed dragon spoke float in front of the pair. The shorter of the pair spoke again. The red skinned female had a chain in each hand, while the smaller cave woman held the thickest through thinnest of the remaining chains. The dragon’s telepathic voice responded in an unknown language. A much larger energy ball slid higher above everyone struggling to get back on their feet.
    The next words the strange cave woman said morphed into understandable words. “Nadhasti, healers awakened yet?”
    “I’m working as fast as I can since Winhermeare knocked Skuhldra out. Although, I can’t complain about being back in charge of my own mind, it does cut my power a fair amount until I readjust.”
    “Winhermeare can help you since we got the chains stabilized. If possible bring out Braydon’s Soul Bonded group first. They are the best at life soul magic. The young woman is stuck with a large number of chains, so she’s probably a Fey. I can’t imagine any pure humans with the kind of astral strength required to handle five full, plus a spliced, hermetic seal chain. Power drain would knock many Soul Bonded pairs of pure Fairies on their asses.”
    “Perhaps she has as many Soul Bonds as our She Wolf?” The ruddy skinned woman spoke while handing over her two chains.
    The Spirit King answered. “Soul Bonding has been lost for several thousand years. It died out when the Fey became more human than immortal and lost the capability to shape their souls. Lucy Heartfilia is a very strong human who has enough love within herself to overcome the expected drain. Her capacity for love actively makes her energy painful for the Abyss Lord which forces him away from the seals that her life feeds, Saint Vraylinish.”
    The shorter woman shrugged. “Do you actually recognize me, or are you as confused as Reagaltiel, Kainon?”
    “Seems that I must give you sorrowful tidings, Vraylinish. Reagaltiel’s last day of life is the only easily accessed memories for our Celestial Spirit Leo. Although Leo looks somewhat like Reagaltiel, he is many half destroyed souls that the Phoenix stuck together into a new spirit.  It took many centuries for Leo to become a true individual with his own personality and sense of self after the chains were established. The Phoenix chose Reagaltiel’s face because he was the most powerful Star Singer for the Leo Temple, and best understood how to chain the Abyss Lord. Reagaltiel was hit with the full brunt of the Phoenix’s true power and was overwhelmed by the unlimited power before the rest of us finished ascending to help with shared shielding.”
    “By the thrice blasted world tree! Why did the man have to do something so reckless and break his promise to survive and return?”
     Loke’s choked off snort had Laxus looking over at the orange haired man. The man’s face was pasty pale and he was sweating. Shaking his head several times, Loke closed his eyes. In a soft voice, Loke answered, “One of the few clear images of the last Abyss Lord fight involves a complete arm with chunks of the shoulder blade intact falling several paces in front of one of my stronger soul shard’s positions. The arm was recognized as their loved one’s. The insane amount of damage was very bad. The still flailing amputation included a very elaborate tattoo of a Fairy that had twisted and broken wings. The image remains quite haunting because that shard had such a strong and strange reaction to the sight. The mate was gone so nothing was left to lose was the main emotion and thought involved with that piece of the nightmare I’ve had since I became aware of existing, Sacred Saint. I’m aware of who several of you are due to digging into many different race memories that have survived, but I’m only Leo, the Lion, not the actual person you once knew.”
    “Blood of the damned! Reagaltiel saw my ripped off arm that took several moons for the healers to recreate?”
    Loke nodded at her questioning tone.
    “Even I thought I was dead when Sertatsie and I got hit with the brunt of that attack. It shredded both of us bad enough to end our fighting for some time. Tragic that he died, and yet Reagaltiel was always a very strong willed man determined to save those who could not care for their selves. He did save this world, so I cannot truly fault his actions.”
    From the corner of his eye, Laxus saw several short people running over as the woman that the Spirits were calling Sacred Saint stared forlornly at the ground. Laxus could not help but feel sad for the woman who thought she had found her long lost love before the Spirits crushed her dreams. A shudder slid down Laxus spine as he cuddled Lucy’s unmoving, gold power encased shell. Was the same going to happen to Lucy? Would she lose her life, and become nothing but fragmented memories such as Loke had described?
    The three stopped in front of him, looking at the number of chains attached. Gesturing for him to loosen his hold, the trio of winged Fairies seemed like they wanted to take Lucy. Dragon Instinct rose to the fore and Laxus unleashed a chest deep, threatening rumble.
    “Are you like Flint? Is this your chosen then?” The tallest of the three asked in a bird like, exotic lilting twitter that the sphere above seemed to be translating into understandable words.
    Sertatsie’s orb shimmered and shifted in colors. “Dragon Masters are no more. This male is a new type of Dragon Slayer created by humans without the aide of us dragons.”
    A hum from the three greeted the news as Laxus narrowed his eyes and glared at the unwelcome sight of more trouble makers. If they were anything like the last pair, Laxus was not going to let them anywhere near Lucy. It was a shock when he heard Loke’s voice.
    “My core memories recall you three. Braydon, Embradia, and Kendren are your names if I’m not mixing up memories.”
    The male tilted his head toward the Spirit. “You are correct. We had little contact with Reagaltiel though so it is a surprise that we are recalled.”
    The Sacred Saint spoke quickly. “Leo is not Reagaltiel. It seems that my Bonded died, and this Celestial Spirit was created by the Phoenix from salvaged pieces of many who died when Tenru was reduced to an island.”
    “Not sure who’s memories happen to know these three, but they’re all safe, Lightning Rod. They were always trying to protect the other races from their crueller Fairy kinsmen. They always believed that true peace could only come when all races stopped thinking they were better than the others. I doubt they would ever think to harm Lucy, or anyone here.”
    Laxus released the breath he had not realized he had been holding. His arms relaxed enough to let Lucy slip into a prone position across his lap, head resting on his forearm. The trio set to work immediately. The male and two females were quick to break apart the time suspension magic.
    Lucy gasped for air and gagged when she could not breathe as her dangerous illness reasserted itself. Shudders wracked her frame, almost jerking herself out of Laxus hold. The trio worked fast to get the fracture line sporting soul back inside Lucy’s body. As the iridescent, silvery white glowing sphere descended back into Lucy’s chest, the woman began to breathe a little easier.
    “Vraylinish, we have a difficulty in healing this woman’s soul. To keep her soul from shattering, we must use Soul Bond so another can lend her their strength as her soul has no strength left. She will shatter if she must endure feeding the seals, or unlock the chains to move the non bloodline chains. Something else is embedded in her soul that we cannot tamper with until her soul is stronger.”
    The Sacred Saint responded, “Then we must find appropriate beings who are willing to share their strength with her.” Raising her head and taking a deep breath, Vraylinish bellowed, “Who here is willing to share their life force and strength with the young woman you were fighting to preserve earlier? Without the Soul Bond she has no chance of survival.”
    Almost before their leader was done speaking, Laxus grabbed the middle female who was focused on pouring a cool blue green energy into Lucy’s stomach. “What do I need to do to save Blondie?”
    Without warning, Natsu was screaming, “Where’s Luce? Is she okay?”
    The trio looked at Laxus as he ignored Natsu’s shrieks and bellows. The one male and the female on the opposite side of the middle female touched the opposite sides of his chest and Lucy’s at the same time. Heat as sharp as any bolt of lightning flowed into his body and coiled around what felt like his heart and spine. For a moment Laxus could not breathe and had a moment of true terror that they were going to kill him. The coiling, tingling power seemed to reverse, a minor tearing sensation that shifted into a feeling of being tugged toward Lucy followed. Dizziness washed through Laxus system as he felt as if he was reduced to a boneless state. His body went numb, head spinning so much that Laxus slipped into unconsciousness.
~~oo0oo~~