Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 16 - Gray vs Erza

Natsu poked his head into the infirmary. There was one nurse in the corner checking on some data, but there were two others in the room: Lucy and Wendy. Wendy was holding Lucy's hand in her own while pouring in some subtle Healing magic.

The nurse glowered at Natsu, but as he approached Lucy, she made nothing of it. There weren't any others to tend to. Wendy hadn't done her opponent too dirty, so they were able to get back on their own two feet in no time.

"Na—Bora?" Wendy said. "I thought you had to stay behind with all the others to wait for your match."

He waved her off. Lucy smiled at him. They had a lacrima screen up to watch the fighting, too.

"Nah," he said. "I've got time to get back before anyone notices I'm gone. The others are still in the room waiting for the next match to start."

"What a fight," Lucy said, pointing at the screen. Erza and Gray appeared from thin air on opposite sides of the arena while the MC floated down to introduce their fake names.

"I know," Natsu said, and with a huff, sat at the edge of Lucy's bed. "It's not fair. I wanted to fight Erza or Gray first. And they get to fight each other!"

"I'm sure you'll have fun with your fight," Wendy said.

"I've never even heard of the guy," Natsu said. "Erza told me to be careful, but she's said that about everyone in the Empire and we haven't faced a single touch person yet."

"Speak for yourself," Lucy said. "And you meant Kaitlin, right?"

"Oh, I meant to ask," Natsu said, ignoring that last bit. He leaned toward Lucy. "What the heck happened, anyway?"

Lucy shook her head as if searching her memories. "I hardly know. One moment I was about to cast my spell and the next I was on my butt."

"She moved so much faster than you," Wendy said. "I wonder if she has time-based magic."

"I don't think so," Natsu said and tapped his nose. "If someone moves through time, we'll lose their scent for however long they're gone. But I was able to smell her the entire time."

Lucy shrugged. "And it was a single hit, too. How embarrassing!"

"Cheer up, Lucy," Natsu said and patted her shoulder. "Now you have a benchmark for how much stronger you need to get!"

Lucy sighed. "Maybe if I had my..." She lowered her voice, "real keys."

Natsu glanced at the screen one more time. The MC was leaving the stage. The fight was about to commence.

"What double sucks is that I still have to wait until tomorrow to fight Axel even after I win today," Natsu said and laid back over Lucy's covered legs. He glanced at her again. "You don't look like you got one shot, Lucy...Ashley!"

"I think it was over and done with so fast my body was able to bounce right back," Lucy said. "Carla's been a big help, too."

"I'll stay with you guys until it's about time for me to go, then I can send one of the others to check on you," Natsu said. "It'll be fun to watch these two fight."

"It's like our little team is all together," Wendy said. "Minus the Exceeds."

A pang of jealousy struck Natsu. Ah, man, even Happy got to be more involved with the fight, he was practically right in the action. Hopefully, Erza just got on with it and knocked Gray out right away.

The whistle blew. Wendy and Lucy clenched a bit as Erza and Gray rushed toward one another.

***

From the outside, the Blue Pegasus guild hall could not have looked in any worse condition. The doors were blown open, the walls were eradicated, and there wasn't even a roof. Makarov grimaced at the sight and wondered if the Empire systemically took out each one of the prominent Fiore guild halls in a big surge attack to wipe out any hope that guild wizards could stand tall against the Empire.