The Golden Exceed

Chapter 19 - The Gate

Natsu leaned against a tree with Lucy in his arms while waiting for Happy to come back with Erza and Gray. In the corner of his eye, he saw something move near the cave. He was about to investigate it when Erza and Gray came running up to them with Happy. "Sadly, you won't be murdered today" Gray said as he put his hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Sadly?!" Natsu exclaimed as he shook Gray's hand off his shoulder. Lucy flew out of Natsu's arms before their fight could escalate and flew towards the cave.

"I wonder why no one has found this cave before" she said as she peered down the dark cave. Stairs flowed down the cave into the darkness. "Happy told us that you felt the magic energy coming from the cave. Maybe only you could find this place?" Erza said.

Lucy turned her back to the cave to reply to Erza when a shadow vine shot out of the cave and wrapped around Lucy's waist. She screamed as the shadow vine pulled her quickly into the cave. The cave entrance collapsed as they heard "haha Thanks Fairy Tail for leading me here." "LUCY!" Natsu, Gray, Erza and Happy shouted as they ran up to the closed cave.

Natsu immediately tried to dig the rocks out of the entrance. He repeatedly shouted "Lucy!" as he dug. "There must be another way in" Erza said, "we don't have time for that!" Gray shouted. "Look Natsu made a hole!" Happy said as he saw an opening. "It's only big enough for you Happy. You go ahead and try to stop Shiro. We will follow as soon as we get through these rocks" Erza said. "Aye!" Happy saluted before flying into the hole and descending the cave.

Inside the cave, Shiro was walking through a tunnel, lit up by flame torches, holding a tied up Lucy in his arms. "Let go of me!" she shouted as she struggled in his arm. "Stop shouting or I will have to shut you up myself" Shiro said, getting a little annoyed by her shouting. Lucy went quiet and stopped struggling knowing there was nothing she could do except wait for her friends to rescue her.

They walked in silence for a while till Lucy spoke up, "what are you looking for anyway?" she asked as she looked up at him. "From what I read, it should be a gate" he answered, not looking at her. 'Sounds like the Eclipse Gate that was destroyed' Lucy thought.

Soon Shiro and Lucy saw the end of the tunnel drawing near and entered a giant cavern. On the far wall of the cavern sat a large gate similar to the Eclipse Gate. In the middle of the gate was a round lacrima big enough for an exceed to fit inside and a small key hole. "What's the lacrima for?" Lucy questioned as they got closer to the gate.

Shiro untied Lucy and picked her up in his hands. He smirked, "this" he simply said as he pushed her inside the lacrima. "Let me out!" Lucy exclaimed as she hit the edge of the lacrima, trying to get out. "Time to get the key" Shiro said as he turned into a shadow and disappeared from Lucy's sight.

Lucy had floated in the lacrima for a minute when Happy flew into the cavern. "Happy!" Lucy said, getting Happy's attention. "LUCY!" Happy said panicking as he saw Lucy trapped in a lacrima. "What happened to Shiro?" Happy asked as he tried to find a way to get her out. "He disappeared to find the key. I want you to take the key and fly back to the guild" Lucy explained.

Suddenly Shiro appeared behind Happy and grabbed him. "No!" Lucy exclaimed as Shiro takes the key out of Happy's backpack. "So you had the key" Shiro said as he threw Happy away from the gate only the be tied up in shadow vines that came up from the ground.

"Happy!" Lucy exclaimed worried for her friend. "The time has come" Shiro said ignoring her as he moved the key towards the keyhole. When the key was about an inch away he heard a voice shout "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" He whipped his head around only to get punched in the face away from the gate. He looked up at the person who punched him and saw the one and only Natsu Dragneel.

Lucy sighed in relief that her friends had come. She saw dirt marks all over their skin and clothes. Gray ripped the shadow vines that were holding Happy off of him. Shiro jumped up from the ground and held his hand up. "SHADOW VINES!" he chanted as heaps of shadow vines shot at Natsu, Happy, Gray and Erza. They quickly dodged the oncoming shadow vines, Erza and Gray ran at Shiro while Natsu and Happy ran to Lucy. As much as Natsu loved to fight he had to help Lucy.

"Are you ok Lucy?" Natsu asked, "how can she be ok if she's stuck in a lacrima Natsu?!" Happy argued. "You know what I mean!" Natsu argued back. "I'm fine Natsu" Lucy answered, understanding what he meant. Natsu tried to punch the lacrima with all his might but it didn't leave a crack or a dent. Next he tried to kick the lacrima, he moved back for a run up and jump kicked the lacrima. Once again there wasn't a single crack or dent, "how are we going to get Lucy out?! I can't handle going through this again" Happy said worriedly, tears threatening to run down his furry cheeks.

Lucy remembered when the Oración Seis placed her in a lacrima to activate the clock. Natsu kept trying to punch and kick the lacrima she was in but still couldn't make a crack or dent. Suddenly she had a thought, "Natsu open the gate" she said. "I can't! What if something happens to you?!" Natsu shouted, "I'll be fine Natsu, trust me" Lucy replied calmly with a smile. Lucy wasn't actually sure if she would be fine or not but it's the only way out of the lacrima.

Natsu heard a thump behind him and saw Erza in her Preditory Armour dropped a tied up Shiro with a shirtless Gray behind her. "What is inside the gate?" Erza asked in her threatening voice. Shiro flinched at her voice "light magic that could rival Zeref's dark magic" he answered. "What were you going to do with that power?" Gray asked.

"I was going to defeat Zeref and become the most powerful wizard in Fiore" Shiro explained. "How do we get Lucy out of that lacrima?" Natsu asked angrily. "You can't your only option is to open the gate" Shiro said with a smirk. Natsu would've punched the guy if Gray wasn't hold him back. "Open the gate" Lucy said with determination.