The Other Fullbuster

Chapter 4 The Volcano

Two years had passed since the incident in the woods.   Natsu and Lucy, who'd dated another six months after the previous incident, had split up. She'd stopped going with on their missions for a while, only rejoining their group a few months ago. Lucy had taken time off of dating and had, surprisingly, fallen for Lokey (or Leo) the lion spirit. He came with on missions now as well. Natsu had dated around a little. He'd found a few girls who's scents called to him but nothing that made him want to stay with them after a night or two. Gray and Erza were still together though they didn't show public displays of affection during missions or around others. And Happy was Happy. After Natsu had ended things with Lucy he'd given Happy an explanation - he owed his friend that much.

The six were on a mission. Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Lokey, Erza, and Gray. They hadn't all gone on a mission together for a long time but this was a big one. A volcano had been overactive recently, demolishing towns with its ash and lava and then doing it again only a week later. They were going to investigate. After traveling for a week they reached the raging volcano. Everything around was covered in thick ash. From here they were careful, moving slowly. It was by doing this that Lokey found a hidden door. The six went inside, finding themselves in a tunnel. Natsu lit the way with a fireball that was extinguished when they heard voices. The voices sounded tired, sad, and the sounds of chains dragging on the floor nearly drowned them out. After the voices passed they continued, finding themselves on a path that encircled the center of the volcano. Lava was below them and they made their way to another doorway quickly. Entering they found themselves in a room full of slaves.

Quickly and quietly Gray explained why they'd come and the slaves told them about the masked man in charge. He was a ruthless man who'd enslaved them after burning their towns, They were building a fortress right here inside the volcano. Apparently he had had ways of controlling a lava monster until a few weeks ago when the monster went crazy and tried to kill the man in charge, almost succeeding. Many of the slavers had been killed and since then he hadn't been able to destroy more towns. It was said though that he'd be back at it soon, although they didn't know how he'd do it. The monster had been attacking ruthlessly since then and many had died. Freeing them from their chains with Gray's ice and Erza's swords the prisoners ran for it as they made their way deeper into the volcanic mountain.

They'd been going for hours without seeing anything when they heard a swishing sound. "That's a whip." Lucy whispered into the silence. The swishing sound became a thwack as it hit something, but no one cried out. They turned to Lucy who looked pale. "Someone's definitely being hit." An inhuman roar rang out and the six retreated. Fumes of sulfur filled the air and a monster made of molten lava rose from the depths of the volcano, attacking something out of sight. Men yelling, a snarl of some sort, and feet pounding.

"Alright, let's kick some Lava monster's ass! Natsu said excitedly, but Erza pulled him down.

"Have you forgotten what the prisoners said? The monster isn't the problem." They heard it roar again and peeked around the corner to see people shooting magic and weapons at it. The monster attacked back, Killing some of them. A bomb attached to an arrow went off next to the beast and it retreated down into the lava below. The men who'd been attacked gathered their dead and went down yet another tunnel, the six following sneakily. Away from the sulfur heavy air Natsu's nose twitched, a slight bit of a smell lingering on the air here. Vanilla, caramel, and blood. At this scent he began changing, scales appearing on his face. It took all his self restraint not to go barreling ahead, but over the years he'd learned self control.

"Natsu, what is it?" Lucy asked worriedly.

"It's that scent. She's here."

Gray and Happy understood, the others looking at him in confusion but they just shook their heads.