Lucy and the Definitive... Cat?

New Beginnings, Old Pains

Natsu ran through the town, keeping his gaze on the back of Loke's head and ignoring the people around him. He felt horrible for leaving Meredy alone in the restaurant, but he wanted to keep her safe. Which was stupid and he knew it, she could handle her own battles.

He could hear the shouts and clang of metal against metal before he saw the scene before him. Figures dressed in black, throwing around various magics, waving weapons in the air, and a large black bird hovering above. In the mix of moving bodies, he saw a pale man with large black wings holding an axe in each hand. Natsu figured that might be Corvus.

If it wasn't for how Loke and Virgo could come out of their gates without Luce summoning them, he would have found this odd. Could also have something to do with the fact that he's a different key? Natsu had no idea and he pursed his lips wishing he'd taken some time to understand Luce's magic a bit better. Least if anything it would make him a better team member than just thinking of his own strength.

Loke jumped high in the air, "Regulus Punch!" he shouted, driving his illuminated fist against one of the dark mages.

Natsu summoned his fire and joined in the fray, kicking one of the mages in the head to stop them from hitting Loke. It was a series of kicks, punches, a random headbutt and some dodging of magic attacks. He was trying to watch for collateral damage, destroying a graveyard would not be a wise thing.

"Behind you!" The pale man said before he threw an axe straight at Natsu. Natsu dropped to the ground as the axe moved through the air before it hit its mark. He rolled to his back and kicked up watching the mage collapse to the ground in a boneless heap with the axe lodged into his chest.

Natsu didn't approve of killing people, and he looked over to glare at the winged man tackling one of the mages who was writing various Runes on the crypt.

"Muninn! Cloud Strike!" one of the mages croaked out and Natsu saw the large black bird out stretch his wings and descend into the chaos.

Natsu ran around one of the mages, throwing a punch to the back of her head as he moved by, knocking her out. He leapt in the air and plowed into the fast-moving bird, knocking it away from its target, Loke. As they hit the ground the bird vanished in a plume of black smoke and Natsu slid on the manicured grass, straight into a grey marble headstone.

The headstone shattered and Natsu felt the impact from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. His teeth rattled and for a second he saw stars. The dragonslayer blinked and shook his head, trying to get back to his feet to stop the rest of the mages. It was starting to feel as if for every one mage they took down, two more showed up.

The raven reformed in the sky, its loud caw giving Natsu a sense of dread. He had to find the source of the spirit and scanned around the graveyard. In the distance and high up in a willow tree he saw a black cloaked mage. "Loke, going to get the summoner!"

"Hurry Natsu!" the spirit replied as he defended himself from a strike. Natsu could see that Loke wasn't going to last much longer, the spirit was pale, sweating and his suit was torn up.

Natsu put his chin down and ran for the tree, he gathered his power in his hands. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" he yelled as he brought his hands together in a thunderous clap, sending a massive fireball at the top of the tree.

It collided and the black figure screamed as the tree lit on fire and it fell from it's perch. Natsu kept moving and grabbed the mage before it could hit the ground. The hood pulled back and he saw a young boy's soot covered face. He shook and quickly patted down the boy to stop him from being cooked alive.

"What the fuck?" he whispered and hated it when people exploited child mages for their own gain. Another shout in the air and Natsu looked over his bare shoulder to see Loke vanish in a shower of sparkles. Corvus was down on his knees, barely holding one of his axes up in defense. Natsu could deal with the kid later and left the unconscious mage under the tree to go help Corvus.