Fairy Tail Rewind (Completed)

Chapter 3 Part II -- Dragon! Gorilla! Horse!

The ice cave was as huge as Magnolia Town's football field. Reading cards scattered on the floor, showing words like APPLE, BOY, CAT, et cetera. Cramped at the far left, were nineteen tombstones. Dried leaves littered around them. A full-length mirror was being stacked up by fat twigs, right above the messy graveyard. The Vulcan hummed a small tune amid combing its hair. After making sure that its teeth looked greasy and grotesque enough, it strode towards Lucy. 

Lucy's vision turned pitch black as the Vulcan towered over her. Natsu... She silently called for his name. Fear had rendered her mute. Though she'd encountered death before, the prospect of dying again, in a monster's hands, still intimidated her. She believed that the Vulcan was about to tear her limbs apart when a boisterous voice blasted from the cave's entrance. There, from where the light shot in, stood Natsu's shadow, lanky but strong.

"Hey, ape!" Natsu ran in with all the macho poises an athlete could show-off, but-- he ended slipping over the icy floor, head-down.

Lucy shaded her eyes with trembling hands, "How lame!" Timidly, she skittered to his side.

"EEHUHUHAHA!" The Vulcan bounced on the floor, deriding its lousy opponent.

Natsu jerked upright. "Hey, ape! Where's Makao?"

Bitter jealousy pooled in Lucy's torso. So, Natsu actually came to rescue Makao, not her.

The Vulcan tilted its head as if digesting Natsu's words.

Natsu continued, "You can understand me, right? Makao! A human man!"

The Vulcan scratched its chin and repeated, "A man?"

"Exactly! Where did you hide him?"

The Vulcan grinned in a derisive way, showing off a row of yellow teeth. "Come here!"

Natsu, who always acted without thinking twice, followed it, naively believing that the Vulcan was going to show him the way. As Natsu peeked over the lip of the cave, the sly monster kicked him out. Natsu's scream waned off as he fell deeper down the cliff. 

"Stupid human!" The Vulcan banged its chest in euphoric. "I don't need men! I like women!"

"Natsu! He didn't die, did he?" Lucy cried out. "Damn perverted ape! You tricked him!" Anger burned like searing coals in her ears. She looked around to search for any weapons but she could find none. Her words, however, did more damage to the situation than her action. 

"My bride! You hurt my feelings!" Provoked, the Vulcan charged towards Lucy. 

Lucy's courage skittered away, replaced by the habitual fear. She crouched down, covering her head with her hands. "Somebody! Help me!" 

She cried in a voice that would shame a vocalist, and out of the blue, a light shone from the inside of her pocket. She groped around and realized that the light actually came from the golden key which she'd found earlier. Golden key... Golden Key! Could this be the one that the book mentioned about? Darn it, she hadn't learned how to summon a Stellar Spirit yet. 

Desperate, she muttered, "Whatever you are, please help me out. I'm so going to die!"

The aurora of light expanded, forming an outline of a horse. To be exact, he was a man from the waist up. His features sharp and handsome, his chest tanned and muscular. Growing down from his scalp till his shoulders was his jet-black mane. A cowboy hat adorned his head. From the waist down, he had a body of a white horse. He swung his bushy tail excitedly as he saw Lucy. A shimmer shone from his quiver, when a crossbow appeared in his grasp. 

"Yeehaw, my Fair Lady! How may I be at your service?" 

"I... Could you defeat that ape for me, uhm, Mr. Mohawk?"