sin & sorcery

3. may death find you alive

Earthland Gray and Natsu help Edolas Fairy Tail figure out how to get into Undertown, and get in touch with the rest of the Resistance.

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you'll find your way
and may death find you alive
.

Rain pounded down on the ground, picking up the dirt and splashing it in rivulets up Natsu's boots. He was huddled behind the guild building with Edo-Lucy, who was currently half-underneath a hovertruck that had been pulled under a makeshift awning.

"Pass me the pink wrench." She slid out from underneath the truck, face streaked with mud, and reached her hand out to Natsu. He glanced at the toolkit next to him and passed her what looked like a socket wrench with a pink stripe down the handle. "Thanks."

"What do the colors mean?" he asked curiously, crouching down to try and see under the vehicle. There was a spark and a brief flash of magic, and Lucy cursed under her breath. "You okay?"

"Fine, spirit's just not cooperating with me today," she grumbled. "C'mon, you little... got it!" Another flood of magic, this time gentler, and something clicked into place.

"Your tools are magic?" Natsu asked as she handed the wrench back to him. He slid it back into the box and helped her to her feet, then shook the rain from his hair. He was soaked.

"It's tech magic," Lucy replied, wringing out her ponytail. She hopped up into the driver's seat of the hovertruck and turned it on, nodding in satisfaction as it hummed to life. "The tools house... they're like spirits. The can each talk to different kinds of machines, help them work again." She pressed her palm against the control panel and the truck powered down. "What kind of magic do I use in your world?"

Lucy was much friendlier today than she had been yesterday. She seemed to have gotten over her initial reluctance to interact with Natsu and Gray, so when she'd invited Natsu to come help her fix the truck this morning, he'd accepted readily. It had been odd at first, but Natsu felt like he was starting to get used to it.

"You use celestial magic," he replied, grabbing the box and following her as she hopped out of the truck and around to the back door of the building. They made their way in through the narrow entrance, then down the hallway to the storage area next to the common room. "It's still spirits, just not for tech."

"Hm." Lucy took the toolbox from Natsu and set it along the wall. Grabbing two towels from the rack, she tossed one to Natsu, then used the other to dry her hair. "Is it very different here?"

"Yes," Natsu replied immediately. "Not- I don't mean it's better or worse," he added hurriedly, even though here was absolutely worse, "but it's... you're a stranger. No offense. And my Lucy is my best friend."

Natsu rubbed the fabric of the towel between his fingers, the fear of never getting back and seeing his friends again flooding through him like a wave. He missed home.

"It's weird for everyone," Lucy replied gently. She sighed, pulling her now mostly-dry hair back into a ponytail. "I'm sorry we're all so hard on you. It's hard to see... well, you two look like them before the mission."

"What happened?" Natsu asked hesitantly. Lucy sighed, leaning against the wall.

"It was a rescue op to Acropolis that went bad," Lucy said eventually. "Natsu got hit with a blast from an experimental form of the Purging Stone, and it started just... eating away at his skin and bone. They had to amputate his arm to save him. Gray stayed behind to give everyone time to get away, and the next day Faust had him executed." Natsu's stomach dropped. "They put out a holo, it was..." she sighed. "Erza left after that, said she was going back to Undertown to get people together to take down Faust. Before we could go after her, Faust put up the Wall, and now we're stuck here."