Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 17

Lucy wrestled with her keys with what limited movement she could do.

"Cancer! Loke! Virgo! P-please!" She cried out, trying to summon one of her faithful spirits. Her calls remained unanswered, though, and she whimpered as the rope forced her body to bend at an awkward angle. The rope must be some sort of magic canceller. Suddenly, she felt something prick her, and she yelped.

"I'm sorry! I was trying to use a knife to cut my way out of here," the man in the card stated, looking quite sheepish while holding a pocket knife. She grinned with delight, this was her chance!

"Sir, please try and cut through this rope! I'm a wizard, I'm here with my guild; we can help all of you!" She rolled over on top of card and with that, the man began to saw away at the rope surrounding her wrists. People called out, yelling at her, but Lucy had closed her eyes and focused on remaining calm as the man worked. The rope pulled tighter and tighter, and Lucy felt it rubbing her skin raw.

Then, she was freed. The rope tore, bursting into a cloud of magical energy. Lucy hesitantly sat up, rubbing her wrists. There was only one thing on her mind: finding Natsu.

"Open gate of the maiden! Virgo!" Summoning her loyal and efficient spirit to help the people, Lucy slipped out of her heels and dashed through the casino looking for her pink-haired friend.

She stopped abruptly in her tracks when she saw a familiar face with black, spiky hair.

"Gray!" She rushed forward, holding him in her arms. Her lips quivered, hands trembling as she felt how cold he is. How could he be defeated?

"Lucy, chill out," his voice called to her, the body in her arms cracked before fully collapsing into a pile of ice. To her left, a woman emerged--a member of Phantom?! Gray laid beneath her, smothered by her water body.

"Someone attacked us, Juvia created a fake, but the dude got away," he grumbled, slipping out of his wet dress shirt, "Juvia's on our side so don't worry about her, where's Natsu and Erza?" He asked, water dripping down his face.

"I-I don't know where Natsu is and Erza... w-well, she -- "

A rush of heat flooded the room. An explosion of dark flames rose, a single figure across the hall shrouded in them.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" Lucy asked worriedly as they all ran towards him.

"That bastard..." He growled, exhaling smoke through his mouth.

"What the hell happened to you?" Gray sputtered. Natsu sighed, muttering to himself as he ran a hand through his hair.

"He shot me in my mouth," he grumbled, stepping closer to Lucy, "pretty sure that they ran off with Happy too." Lucy looked to the floor, heavily contemplating their options.

"They got Erza too, I don't know what their motive is, apparently they're old friends of hers," Lucy informed them, Natsu's head snapped towards her. He snatched her hands, staring hard at the raw red skin there.

"It's fine Natsu, the main focus is getting Erza and Happy back," Lucy stated, her voice firm.

"I'm going to kill them," Natsu promised, tightening his hold on Lucy's hands before he took off without another word.

"D-does he even know where he's going?" Juvia asked hesitantly, waving away the smoke that Natsu left behind in his wake.

"Dragon slayer nose, he can track them by scent -- c'mon let's go!"

-----

"Ah, screw this! Where are we?" Gray shouted, looking around aimlessly, "get it together Natsu! We need you to follow their scent!" Lucy shushed Gray while she rubbed Natsu's back. He dangled over the side of the dinky little boat they found.

"I just can't believe they managed to take both of them!" Gray was extremely frustrated, much like the rest of them, and Lucy couldn't find the words to say. She couldn't calm him or quell his emotions, so she remained silent. Maybe he partially blamed Erza's capture on her, if only I had been stronger -- no, remain vigilant. Her destructive thinking would lead to her downfall.

"She wasn't beaten, you don't know the first thing about Erza," broken away from her thoughts by Gray's sneer, Lucy watched as Juvia shrank away from him as he glared at her.

"Gray, sit and chill the hell out," Lucy said sternly, looking off into the distance while the ice mage huffed, plopping down next to Natsu, "w-wait! There's a tower over there, look!"

Settling the boat somewhere safe and out of sight on the shore, the group of wizards stuck closely to the rocks, coming upon a staircase leading into the tall building. Lucy rested a gentle hand on Natsu's arm, she understood that he was angry but she couldn't risk them being discovered.

"There are tons of guards," Gray observed, peeking over the large rocks.

"Natsu, they have Erza and Happy which means if we do something stupid, we'll put them in danger," Lucy murmured softly, she leaned her head against his shoulder. He growled lowly, clenching his fists tightly, before a splash of water caught their attention.

"Juvia has found another way into the tower through the water," the rain-woman said, floating in the open sea, "I can create air bubbles to enclose your head with oxygen, so you can breathe underwater, I suggest we get going now." She advised, pushing herself onto the shore.

The boys started to strip down. Natsu threw his jacket while wriggling his way out of his brown boots. Lucy blushed, fiddling with her dress before ultimately giving in. She slipped out of her dress and pulled her hair down. Unbeknownst to her, Natsu's eyes swept across her body freely, appreciating her. He stalked towards her, holding up his jacket to cover her as she adjusted her undergarments.

Lucy looked up at him questioningly as she pulled her blonde hair into a high ponytail.

"Ice bastard," he grumbled, staring away from her. A blush crept up to his cheeks, and Lucy giggled at his embarrassment.

After the journey underwater, the group of four managed to make it into the basement. Lucy wrung out Natsu's jacket that was tucked into his waistband.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Shouts erupted and Lucy looked up to the scaffolding to see soldiers and guards with weapons ready.

"So much for being discreet," Lucy sighed with a tired smile. Natsu took the jacket out of her hands and draped it over her shoulders, glaring up at the guards.

"We've come this far, so we'll just have to fight them," Gray gritted his teeth.

Suddenly, Natsu leapt forward, flames encasing his fist as he roared. Uppercutting one of the soldiers, he blasted his way onto the scaffolding.

A man swung his sword at Lucy, she backflipped out of the way, holding one of her golden keys.

"Open gate of the crab! Cancer!" Her spirit appeared in a blink of an eye, slashing away at the soldier. They all fought, taking down soldier after soldier before they were the only ones left standing. Near the left of the scaffolding frame, a door opened and a ladder emerged.

"Some kind of door opened up, they're telling us to come up?" Gray questioned, staring at the entrance suspiciously. After much debate, they reluctantly climbed up. Virgo materialized, providing them all with clean clothing while they scoped out the enemy's headquarters. After all, who would just let them in like that?

"This door is remotely controlled by magic, they are certainly aware that we're here," Juvia stated, standing before the ladder.

Just what was their plan?

To be continued...