Fairy Tail: The Hunted

[3] The Condition

~~ One Week Later ~~

     The guild has been getting impatient, they all felt empty without their beloved Dragon Slayers and everyone has been causing or joining in fights more, even Lucy was starting to get involved in fights! Porlyusca told Erza to tell Master that in order to identify the black substance and it's effects on the Dragon Slayers it would take a month at most but a week at least. Regardless of which, the guild wasn't being patient. Lucy was talking to Levy about Natsu and Gajeel when Erza suddenly challenged Mirajane to a fight, she began beating her senseless before Mirajane could even retaliate, but when Mirajane did it was devastating and everyone was soon backed up against the walls in order to let the two monsters solve this fight themselves. But since Erza and Mirajane were on the same level it would take a very, very long time for things to cool down (A/C: My money's on Mirajane!).

     Everything stopped suddenly when the two large oak doors swung open, a tall woman walked in with an almost expressionless face. Erza was panting but Mirajane immediately turned into her human form and ran over to Porlyusca, welcoming her warmly.

    "Where's Makarov?" Porlyusca asked the guild. On queue, the small master emerged from the crowd of onlookers and approached Porlyusca. He looked guilty because he was holding a Mirajane poster with an Erza styled T-shirt and the Fairy Tail hat with cans of soda on the sides with tubes running down to his mouth. He took off his hat immediately and put down the poster, chuckling to himself.

    "Yes? How are my children?" He said and waved at her.

    "I was able to find out what kind of poison it was but I'm afraid one week was too late to repair the damage." Makarov's face fell immediately at that remark.

    "Does that mean that Gajeel, Natsu, and Wendy are...-" Porlyusca shook her head.

    "They're alive but waiting outside, let me tell you everything before you go out to meet them," She said, eyeing some of the guild members that were slowly inching their way towards the doors. They stopped when her scarlet eyes were on them.

    "Okay. Children gather around! Porlyusca, please start," Makarov sat down at the only unscathed Table, Porlyusca took her seat while everyone else gathered around them. Porlyusca dug through her shirt pockets and took out three vials, one was the black liquid, one was what looked like blood, and the last was a thick brown liquid with red swirls in it, like tainted blood.

    "You see, Natsu was shot in the neck, Wendy was shot in the arm and Gajeel was shot in the shoulder. Each of these places were closest to the main bloodstream so that this black liquid could circulate throughout the body quicker. Meaning that whoever shot those darts at them made no accident," Porlyusca said, holding up the vile of the black substance. She set it down then gestured to the other two viles. "This blood vile was from Gajeel's arm that wasn't effected by this poison. This other vile is what happened when this poision infected the blood around it. If I take this black bile and put even the smallest drop of it in the fresh blood it gets effected and turns a tainted brown." She uncorked the one with Gajeel's blood and tilted the poison vile over it, a tiny droplet fell into the blood and it bubbled whilst turning to the sickly brown color. "I was able to discover that this black liquid was some sorts of potion that deactivates Dragon-implanted antibodies, so for whatever reason the sniper had, he's trying to do this to the Dragon Slayers. I don't know the remedy yet but I will show you to your friends now." Porlyusca recollected the viles and put them back in her shirt, then she began walking outside where everyone else in the guild anxiously followed.

     As they walked outside, the streets were clear and nobody was loitering around. Lucy was about to ask Porlyusca if she was sure that Natsu was here when she saw the woman walk around the back. Levy looked scared and her hands were flinching by her sides, she looked lost. Lucy cupped Levy's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, Levy gave her a thankful smile then began following everyone else in the guild after the healer.

     The back of the building has a small wood behind it with some thin trees. Porlyusca sighed and turned around to face everyone in the guild. "Whatever commentary you want to share about their conditions, keep it to yourself. They're really sensitive right now," Porlyusca warned, Lucy's mind began whirling. Porlyusca turned around and clapped her hands five times.

     The first person to come into view was Wendy, then Gajeel, surprisingly Sting and Rogue were there too, and finally, there was Natsu. They all looked strange. Wendy's hair was a light blue in color, she had white feathers scattered all over her face and limbs; Gajeel didn't look too different, but his skin was darker and his left shoulder (the one that was shot) had turned into some kind of iron arm like how it looks in his dragon force, his eyes were strange, like how he looked like in his Iron Shadow Dragon mode; Sting's hair was longer than anyone has ever seen, his chest had some sorts of white fur and his arms were furry with savage looking claws; Rogue had almost completely red eyes with his skin darker and his hair flying like it was a shadow attached to his head and neck; And then there was Natsu. His skin wasn't tan anymore, it was a strange color of rose-red with a luster as if his skin was nothing but scales. His arms were scaly and had gruesome looking claws on each finger, his neck actually had scales, especially where the dart hit him last time. His eyes were a light olive color and his pupils were nothing but slits. The entire guild started back in surprise with loud gasps and whispers.

     "Shut up, all of you!" Porlyusca shouted as a hurt Wendy hugged Natsu and buried her face in his chest. He looked down at her sympathetically and began stroking the little girl's hair to calm her down, his expression was that of understanding. "You're upsetting them!"

    "What happened to them...?" Lucy said quietly, almost enough to not be heard by Porlyusca but loud enough for the Dragon Slayers to hear, they looked at their bodies shamefully and looked away from their friends.

    "The antibodies our dragons implanted in us was supposed to stop our natural dragonifacation, and because someone used that black thing on us the antibodies were deactivated... I think you know where I'm going with this," Sting said almost casually, but his face said otherwise.

    "You're... turning into dragons!?" The entire guild gasped. Wendy started sobbing as she clutched onto Natsu. Natsu glared at everyone while Gajeel himself tried calming her down.

    "Now now, Wendy,  wipe away those tears," Natsu said calmly, his voice had a strange hissing sound to it. He got on one knee so he was face-level to Wendy. "Porlyusca said that she would find a way to fix us! So keep your head up high!" Wendy sniffled then nodded, murmuring apologies.

    "Well isn't this exciting?" Rogue cheered sarcastically. "All five of us were shot by those friggen darts and now we're turning into scaly reptiles! Isn't luck totally on our side, Sting?" Sting rolled his eyes at his companion. But Natsu clarly didn't get the sarcasm.

    "Why are you cheery like this, Rogue? Do you really want to become a lizard that badly!?" Natsu exploded red tick marks of anger appearing over his head, getting in Rogue's face.

    "It's called sarcasm, you idiot! Of course I don't wanna become a dragon!" Rogue shot back. Natsu lit his fist on fire and punched Rogue across the face with it.

    "I'M NO IDIOT!" Natsu yelled. Just second after his attack he fell over, gripping at his neck and wheezing, that black liquid flew from his lips as he coughed and wheezed. The skin on his neck turned into nothing but pure dragon scales that branched down to his collarbone and shoulders, he wheezed heavily as Fairy Tail backed away from the scene slowly.

    "Natsu Dragneel! I told you that using your Fire Dragon Slayer Magic would only speed up the process! Listen to me for once, child!" Porlyusca shouted. Wendy helped Natsu up as he glared at Porlyusca and hissed. Natsu caught Lucy's scared glance and immediately looked away in shame with a long, mournful sigh. Because he was shot closest to the blood stream he's turning into a dragon faster than the others, Lucy realized fearfully.

    "Now then, I will be holding onto these five for a while and try to make a remedy of sorts for this. Feel free to visit my cabin at any time, they'll be outside at all times. Just try not to interrupt my work. Come on you five, it's time to go," Porlyusca said, then looked at the Dragon Slayers and nodded. Wendy and Gajeel helped support Natsu while Sting and Rogue followed behind them quietly. Natsu looked over his shoulder at his guild one last time before all six of them disappeared into the shadows.