The Princess And The Dragon

Chapter 10: Where fire burns bright

It took mere hours to reach their destination. The fire region wasn't guarded, ruled or safe. It was free for the taking, for someone to cleanse it.
The desert like ground blew circles around them, making it difficult to see, but not impossible. The heat coming from the air cooked Lucy's skin, but of course Natsu was immune.
Natsu's P.O.V
"You alright,Lucy?" He stopped and looked back at her.
"I'll be fine, just a little hot." She fanned herself as she pushed forward.
The sun was still blazing, but the dust was clouding the light, leaving a faint glow upon the ground. The light shown a yellow distant fire, one different from Natsu's flames.
"This feels different." Natsu touched the ground, pondering his thoughts.
"I've been around your flames...even regular ones, these are..." He looked towards Lucy, who looked at a loss of words and explanations.
"Come on, we need to press on." He assured his love, with a fearless smile.
Forcing their way through the thick walls of the desert air, they eventually stumbled upon a terrain much different from the previous one.
Though still rough grounds, the air was clear.
The sun started to disappear completely as they stepped foot on the area.
"That's not right, it's too early for this." Lucy stared towards the descending light. The floor below grew brighter as they continued to scavenge the region.
"Where is the moon?" Natsu noticed the hint of fear in Lucy's voice.
Besides the earth, around them the air itself was pitch black.
"What is that?" Natsu turned around as he heard a faint cracking sound behind them.
The glowing intensified as slits in the ground broke apart and exposed gaps beyond measure.
"Hurry!" Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand as they ran away from the unstable platform under their feet.
"Natsu, look!" Lucy yelled as she pointed behind them.
Looking back, Natsu started to pull her harder and ran faster. Oozing from the opened pockets of earth, emerged diverse beings. Creatures of all kinds and sizes started to chase them. Four legged, two legged, fat, skinny, monsters raced to catch them as they ran ahead.
Lucy's P.O.V
"We have to fight!" Lucy encouraged as she began to grow tired of running at his pace.
"I can't-"
"What happened in the past won't happen again, we can do this." She slowed and pulled her whip out.
"Trust me, I trust you." She smiled as she readied herself.
"...You are right." Natsu hesitated but then smiled as well, calling forth his flames, jumping over the cracks.
"Let's do this Lucy!" He yelled as he charged forward.
Ducking and dodging the little creatures, Lucy grabbed as many as she could hold within her whip and squeezed. Tightening her grip, they squealed, but as she pulled more, they eventually turned to dust, like the air before.
Glancing towards Natsu, he fought just like before, breathing fire, throwing his fists around. Yet he did this more carefully, he was faster, even though he couldn't fly. Just like that night when her father attacked the first time. The first time Natsu truly released his rage. He was fighting like that, though without something fueling him, or perhaps something other than fear was fueling his power.
Natsu's P.O.V
His movements flashed by as he turned more and more bodies to dust.
The numbers slowed as they faced back to back, taking down countless monsters with ease.
"Fog?" Natsu questioned as everything became incoherent to their eyes.
"The cracks stopped..." Lucy declared as she stared down.
"Wait, I smell something." Natsu pushed Lucy behind him out of habit as the fog thickened.
"From over there?" She asked, touching his shoulder.
"It's moving towards us... But I can't see it in front- watch out!" He grabbed Lucy as jumped over the crack forming just beneath them.
The gap widened as yellow flames burst through, shooting upwards, revealing a monstrous beast.
"A leader?" Lucy panted as she was set down.
"Taking him down will probably end all of this." Natsu studied the beast before them. His body was 8x their size, fur covered his body as black as the darkness in the air. His eyes clouded, matching the grey fog still building. The claws upon his fingers were jaggedly sharp as well as his teeth; stained red with blood.
The beast's chest pumped in and out with anticipation as he eyed them.
Natsu was about to attack when Lucy caught his arm.
"Together." Lucy pleaded with her eyes, only releasing his arm when he nodded acceptingly.
Together they launched themselves towards the hairy fiend.