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Chapter 13

In the end, I had to walk away from it. I wasn't happy, I wanted to stay and fight it but Wendy and Carla had been sent falling and I had to find them. Gildarts told me it was a powerful wizard who knew when his enemies were too powerful for him. I'd like to think that was me just then.

Happy flew me into the passage we'd originally come from and before my feet touched the ground, I knew the demon was gone. It's one thing to have an enemy you can't defeat but another to have an enemy you can't defeat who can teleport when it likes.

"Wendy" I turned, gripping the edge and shouting down. "Wendy."

"Carla?" Happy stood next to me, shouting too.

"Come on Happy" I said, jumping to my feet. "We can't stand here shouting for them. If they can't hear us, they can't hear us and we'll just have to go and find them."

"Aye sir" Happy grabbed me and flew down to just next to the lava where a ridge of rock jutted out above the fiery, seething mass of orange. It's be so much easier if I could eat it but solid fire doesn't do well with me. "Natsu, what happens if they're..."

"They're not dead Happy" I interrupted sharply. "This is just a stupid mission we took on because we were bored. No one is dying because of this." I dropped onto the ledge and looked about. There didn't seem to be anyone in sight, but then again, it's easy to miss things when you're panicking.

"I don't see them Natsu" Happy twisted round, his paw above his eyes like a comical cartoon look out.

"Yeah well... we've not been here long enough to spot anyone yet have we?" I took a step forwards and peered across the lava pit. "We'll walk round. They could be over the other side and we won't be able to see them from here."

Happy nodded, and flew after me as I started to run. It was slightly downhill, making it easier to go faster and get round the other side quicker. At first glance, there wasn't anyone round the other side, and then, as we got further to the end, a tunnel emerged from the gloom. Just inside the entrance to it lay Carla, scratched and burnt in many different places, breathing heavily. Happy ran up to her and shook her awake.

"Wendy, where's Wendy?" Carla slowly came to and sat up fast. "Where is she?"

"We don't know. We're still looking for her" Happy said as she stood up.

"It was all my fault" Carla said, looking down ashamed. "I dropped her and now she's... we can't find her and she could be injured or out cold or... or... or..."

"Hey Carla snap out of it" I said. Probably not the best approach to the matter but there's no taking back words once they're said. "You know Wendy better than I do so you should know that she's not going to let a little thing like that demon there take her out. She's part of Fairy Tail, she's a fighter and Fairy Tail aren't let down by small things like that."

Carla stared at me with a look of shock and then went back to staring at the ground. "I suppose you're right but still, it's my fault that she was dropped."

"Yeah, and there was nothing anyone could've done about it. If I were hit, I would've dropped Natsu too." Happy said, raising a paw.

"Hey" I shouted and he shrugged.

Carla nodded and started walking down the passage. "I'm not sure where she landed but I think it was somewhere down here. I saw her roll a long distance after she'd accurately fallen through the opening of this passage."

"Then let's go find her" I said, punching the air. "In Fairy Tail, no one gets left behind."

Carla and Happy spread their wings and followed me. The smaller demon had seemed to vanish before us and that I could understand. It was smaller so would be more able to get into smaller spaces than the larger one which seemed like it was only able to fit into the main magma chamber, where the crust opened up beneath our feet. Also, it looked like it was too weak to lift its own body weight, so how did it teleport every last bit of it away? I shook my head. I never was very good at thinking up answers. Even Igneel said I wasn't!

"There" I was brought out of my thoughts by Happy who shouted. Wendy was face down, arms sprawled in front of her, clothes slightly smoking and even more cut up and burned than Carla had been.

"Wendy" Carla shouted and dropped next to her, shaking her worriedly. "Wendy, Wendy, come on Wendy get up."

"Wendy moaned and opened one eye as though it caused her a lot of pain. "Carla?" she slowly pushed herself up and relief flooded me. She was okay.

"Are you alright?"

Wendy nodded slowly and folded her legs beneath her. "What happened?"

"The demon happened" I growled.

She gasped as if she'd only just remembered. "Oh, we failed didn't we? And it was all because you had to come and look for me." She hung her head. "I'm sorry."

"What're you sorry for?" I asked. "You did brilliantly out there. It just caught you and Carla unprepared. Nothing is anyone's fault. We tried our hardest but it needs all of us to try and kill it."

"Not to mention we also need to take out that other one, the smaller one" Happy said. "I think we should get rid of that one first, it's smaller and that'd mean that we have a better idea on what it's weaknesses are, presuming they are both technically the same."

"Big words with possibly the brightest idea you've ever had" Carla said, walking back the way they'd come a couple of steps.

"Hey, we've lost Lucy and I don't need you to fill her place with being mean" Happy wailed, folding his ears against his head. "It's not fair, why do you have to pick on me? Lily doesn't pick on me so why do you?"

"Carla stop being mean" Wendy said, standing up shakily. "It was just an idea, a good one I think. We don't want to put too much on our plate before we know what we can eat."

"Urgh" I moaned, suddenly remembering the last thing we'd eaten due to Wendy's last comment. "I'm so hungry. I could eat that demon."

Happy sighed. "Me too"

"I have to say I agree" Wendy said glumly, clutching her stomach.

"Will you three stop being so immature" Carla snapped and pointed in front of her. "We've got bigger things on our plate right now, the volcano is due for a lava spillage again."

We all stared in horror at where she was pointing. The glowing, orange mass seethed and dribbled down the passage towards us.

"Holy crap" I cried and started running in the opposite direction, followed intently by the others. "Run!"