Dragon's Curse

Chapter Eighteen

Lucy sighed, looking out of the airship seeing they had landed in a grassy area with trees everywhere.
"We'll stop here for tonight," Jayvee stretched out his arms, already on his way to leave the airship.

"Lucy," Phobeus grabbed her arm before she could leave.
"What is it?" she asked, turning to him as he let go of her.
"The dragon slayers, should we just leave them in here?" he asked, Lucy gave him a troubled look before letting out another sigh.
"I will let them outside," she said, walking towards the back room. Phobeus stood by the airship ladder that led to an open hatch ontop of the airship that led to the outside.
Lucy hesitated, standing at the door to the backroom that held Gajeel, Wendy, Natsu, and Happy, each bound in anti-magic to keep them from using their magic to escape as they were stuff together in a small room.
She slowly opened the door, walking in and closing the door behind her. She looked around the small room, only seeing Gajeel, Wendy, Natsu, and Happy.
"Lucy," Wendy spoke the blonde's name in a small voice, her eyes filled with a small hope.
Lucy walked towards her, stepping behind her and kneeling down to her bound wrists. She wanted to grimace as her red wrists, but she kept a straight expression as the silver band  expanded once Lucy put her hand to it, easily coming off of Wendy's wrists, but only one wrist was free as she put the band back on one of Wendy's wrists like an unwanted bracelet, keeping her from doing her magic. 
Lucy got up, doing the same to Gajeel and then Happy. 
"Lushie," Happy spoke her name as she was finished with him, "What are you gonna do with us?"
Lucy stayed silent, walking over to Natsu to do the same to him, "We stopped for the night, you may leave the ship for fresh air," she spoke as she stood up after unbinding Natsu and turning his bindings into a bracelet. She walked over to the door, opening the door to let them out.
Wendy hesitently walked out first, Gajeel behind her glaring at Lucy as he did. Lucy turned her head to Natsu who just sat in the room, not moving. Happy stayed by him, a scared look in his eyes.
"I said you may leave," she spoke.
"I heard you," Natsu stated, "But we're still gonna be you're prisoners."
"Are you going to leave?" she asked, Natsu glanced at her a hurt look set in his eyes. Lucy looked away quickly, feeling pain in her chest, "If you're not going to leave-"
She stopped herself from speaking, seeing him walk past her, Happy behind him. Happy stopped at her feet, craning his head to look up at her. 
Lucy looked away from him, shutting the door to the room.
"Lushie," Happy spoke her name again, Natsu stopped walking, hearing Happy speak. He turned back to see his buddy. Lucy just walked by the small exceed, Natsu stared at her, watching her walk past him.
Lucy stopped walking, seeing Phobeus had waited for her. She shook her head, stopping herself from saying anything, turning to the ladder to climb up and out of the landed airship to the outside. 
She stood atop the airship, looking out to what looked to be a vast forest area, the airsip was landed in a clearing next to a large tree and a small river that flowed at the back of the airship. Wendy and Gajeel were both next to the river, Wendy had her feet in the river, her shoes beside her. Gajeel only stood beside her, arms crossed as he looked around. 
Natsu and Happy both came out after Lucy. Lucy only crossed her arms, looking out to the evening sky, seeing it was still quite bright out. 

Natsu jumped down from the airship, catching Happy as the small exceed jumped after him. He walked over to Wendy and Gajeel, joining them by the riverside. 
"Maybe I should've went to get them," Phobeus stated, closing the hatch to the airship before standing up.
"I'm fine, uneasy, but I'm fine," Lucy assured.
"You sure?" Phobeus raised a brow at her.
Lucy slipped off her jacket, laying it on the airship, "Jayvee was able to fix the jumpsuit thankfully," she turned her head to look semi down her back, ignoring Phobeus' question.
"The jumpsuit may be fine, but-" Phobeus walked behind her poking the middle of her back. Lucy took in a sharp breath, "You're back still hurts after that wing spell of yours being active for so long."
Lucy turned around, "I'll be fine, it'll heal eventually. But it'll take less time to heal if you don't poke it," she glared at him.
"Eventually?" Phobeus crossed his arms, "And what if 'he' attacked us now?"
Lucy stood up straight, "We'd fight, there's nothing more we can do."
"We'd lose."
"I know, you, Jayvee, and I aren't enough to defeat 'him'. He's one man, but we can't fight him without the strength of the relics we collect. He almost killed me the first encounter I had with him," Lucy shook her head, "Let's not speak of him now, we'll defeat him once we get the Eye of Serpents."
"Maybe we shouldn't get the Eye of Serpent," Phobeus spoke making her raise her brow with a questioning look towards him, "I know you can defeat him if you had the Eye of Serpents, but that would also assure you're death-"
"And I've accepted that!" Lucy raised her voice slightly, speaking over him, "You should as well."
She let out a small sigh, jumping down from the airship, leaving Phobeus. 

"What do you think they were fighting about?" Gajeel asked, looking over at Natsu.
"I couldn't hear much of their conversation," Natsu sighed, "It was something about a guy they're trying to beat."
"Someone Lucy's trying to beat, she wants to beat him badly enough she'd make us forget her, leave for years, then comeback to kidnap us," Wendy spoke, keeping her feet in the water. 
"Maybe Lushie didn't have a choice," Happy said, still having hope for Lucy.
"She had the choice to tell us and let us help her," Gajeel stated, Happy hung his head. Wendy reached, putting her hand ontop of Happy's furry head, comforting him.
"What are we suppose to do now? We can;t use our magic because of these damn bands on our wrist," Natsu held up his hand, showing the silver band. 
"What can we do?" Gajeel asked, "We can fight, but they have magic and relics they can use against us."
"You guys must've fought those other two, what was their magic like?" Natsu asked.
"The one that was talking to Lucy uses explosions, I wasn't able to fight much since he bombarded me with his magic explosions so suddenly he knocked me out," Wendy answered.

"The other guy... I don't know what he does. I only remember seeing him walk past me and then I blacked out," Gajeel shook his head, "But what about Bunny Girl? You fought her, didn't you?"
"She's strong, but she I wasn't able to really fight her either. She took Happy before I could try and fight her, then she trapped us in yellow bubbles. She even started to fly, what ever magic she has now I don't like it," Natsu stated.
"She started flying?" Gajeel questioned.
"She had dragon wings and they were gold," Happy said.
"She can't use much of her magic it seems, I heard the guy she was talking to earlier scold her for using her magic," Natsu added. 
Wendy got up, her eyes falling onto a certain blonde who was just up the river. She stood next to the river, gazing across it with a soft look in her eyes. She kneeled down, lowering a canteen into the water, holding it under for a small while before standing up and screwing the cap onto it and walking away from the river. 
Wendy kept her gaze on her as she walked to the airship, catching the other guys attention as she threw the canteen up to him and walking away again. Wendy stepped forward, away from the the guys that were focused on their discussion.
"Wendy?" Happy looked over at her, his voice silent as Natsu and Gajeel spoke to one another. Wendy continued to walk, towards Lucy who stood back at the riverside, her gaze back to across the river. She walked slowly, taking caution with each step. Her feet silent as they pressed against the grass.
"Halt," Lucy's cold voice made Wendy freeze. She looked up to see Lucy's eyes on her, not realizing she was just a couple feet away from the blonde mage, "Careful where you step with barefeet, you could've cut your foot on the rocks by your feet."
Wendy looked down seeing a sharp rock just infront of her with a few over sharp rocks beside it, hiden within the green grass.
"Th-Thank you," she stuttered. Lucy turned around, begin to walk up stream, having nothing more to say to the sky dragon slayer, "Wait! Where are you going?"
Lucy stopped, turning her head around to see Wendy, "Just to look around the area," Lucy answered.
"May I come with?" Wendy asked.
Lucy gave her a troubled look, turning her head away, "If that's what you want, I won't stop you," she began walking again.
Wendy smiled lightly, stepping over the sharp rocks and walking right behind Lucy, following her closely.