Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 38

The guild hall crumbled to the ground, the explosion resounding in the air. Faintly, Lucy could hear the commotion below from the citizens of Magnolia, and she bit her lip harshly. Initially, she'd been dumbfounded by Cana's abrupt use of her card magic, but she understood. If she hadn't used her magic to save everyone, they'd be piled under that rubble as well. The air itself felt like it was vibrating, but Lucy couldn't focus on that.

She had to focus on the battle and finding Natsu.

She dodged another one of Tartaros' henchman's attack, countering it with one of her own; swinging her whip around. Virgo fought alongside her, covering her back while using brute force and her drilling to immobilize their foes. It seemed like with Fairy Tail, fighting was all Lucy knew. It was a dance she had become far too familiar with.

Still, the battle made her lose track of time and the attacks gradually began to slow her down, despite her motivation to find Natsu and protect the Thunder Legion at the same time.

One of the henchmen had even managed to nick her, ripping a large hole in her shirt, annoying her even more.

Sweat beaded profusely at her temple as she pushed back against the rough assault of Tartaros. Panting heavily, Lucy looked around blearily. They hadn't made much progress, and all this fighting was wasting both magic and energy.

"Curses! My energy is draining quickly," Lily gritted his teeth and Lucy had to agree.

Then, a rumbling emerged from beneath their feet, rocking her unsteadily. She prepared for some sort of impact, but was surprised to see Erza burst through the surface of the cube, someone impaled on her spear. The redhead soared in the sky, throwing her foe to the ground, causing a crash to sound out. Lucy's lips stretched into a tired smile. Leave it to Erza to make a grand entrance with perfect timing.

"Quick, let's go! Natsu, Mira and Lisanna are still in there somewhere!" Gray called out, running for the hole in the ground. Many others were quick to follow his lead, and Lucy tore her eyes away from Erza, rolling her shoulders as she took a deep breath. A hand brushed her own and she turned to see Wendy, the young girl smiling at her reassuringly.

Lucy gave her a curt nod, before breaking into a sprint, following behind Gray in the others as she, too, fell into the darkness.

-----

Wendy had long flown away, carried by Carla, to somehow stop Face from activating and effectively removing all magic from Fiore.

Lucy trudged the halls of the Tartaros base, Happy walking alongside her. They had split off to look for Natsu and Mira, a feat that was becoming increasingly disheartening with every step she took. Every step, a new thought of Natsu being injured, laying somewhere immobilized filled her mind; thoughts trying to break her down slowly. She couldn't deny that it was working. Her heart felt like it was throbbing in her chest painfully, a light grimace on her face.

Surely this pain was just something she was making up in her head.

Right?

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind to focus on the task at hand. She was of no use if she lost herself to the prison of her own mind.

"Lucy, watch out!"

Happy's shrill voice snapped her out of her daze, the sound of cracking filling her ears on the left side. Something broke through, swiping at her aggressively. Lucy barely had time to move out of the way as she recognized the same demon she'd met in the control room. A menacing, animated grin was on his face as his hand reached out towards her.

Her heart rate picked up dangerously, mouth opening as she gasped in shock.

Flinching back, she was equally stunned to find herself pushed back by a warm hand, a blast countering the gremlin with ease. A familiar jacket flapped in the wind, something she thought he had long retired. Pink hair flowed in the gust of wind erupting through the hallway, his face blank yet eyes hard and distantly, Lucy could swear she heard Happy cheering somewhere in the background.

"Are you okay?" He murmured to her, eyes still trained carefully on the demon who he had knocked down the hallway.

Lucy couldn't help herself, flinging her on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She crashed into him with urgency, needing to feel him to know he was actually there. She felt him freeze slightly, unsure of what to do. He caught on quickly though, lazily wrapping his arm around her waist, fingers caressing the bare skin exposed from her ripped shirt that threatened to reveal the entirety of her cleavage. At the reminder, Lucy blushed, feeling like a deer in headlights.

She pulled back, mouth opening slightly to speak, come up with some sort of explanation for her boobs spilling out on to him, and she felt even more embarrassed with each passing second. Not quite how she expected their reunion to go.

She squeaked when Natsu pressed her tighter against him, his other arm stretching out towards the demon once more. Lucy felt the air around them heat up, and she was amazed to see fire form, trickling from each of Natsu's fingers, spiralling before collecting in his palm. A low growl rumbled from Natsu's chest, fingers flexing as the flames surged forward, racing towards the demon. The flames twisted and expanded rapidly, swallowing the demon whole.

She stared hard at the line of his sharp jaw, as his eyebrows knitted together in complete concentration. A sense of complete and utter salvation washed over her.

In that moment, Lucy felt like everything would be okay.

Now that Natsu was there with her.

To be continued...