Ember ↠ Natsu Dragneel

Chapter Twelve

The group of Fairies stared in horror at the scene in front of them. Gray with an ice sword dripping their comrade's blood, and Natsu yelling Camryn's name over and over again, her unmoving body in his arms.

Lucy had a hand over her mouth, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. No words could leave her throat-- she was in complete shock. She should have known what was going on once Gray was acting weird, but she was too late.

"But. . . how?" Erza's voice broke their silence. Her eyes trembled at the bloody mess their mission had become. "I was so sure. . ."

"Camryn-san!" Wendy cried out as her legs finally willed to move. She ran towards her friend who was in critical condition but was stopped instantly as Gray blocked the way. He swung his sword, trying to slice a new wound for his master, but Carla had latched onto Wendy and pulled her back just in time.

"Wendy! What are you thinking?! You can't just run in without a plan!" The white cat rambled angrily as she brought Wendy back to the other girls.

The sky dragon slayer couldn't take her eyes off the blood that covered Natsu's hands and the body it belonged to, "I know, but she needs my help! I need to give her emergency treatment!" She finally tore her gaze away from the scene and towards Carla, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "She'll die!"

Lucy let out a gasp at Wendy's words, her being more shaken than before, "We can't let that happen!"

Erza clenched her fists, anger rising to its fullest form. She whirled around and glared daggers at Karmin, murderous intent in her eyes. "You tricked us."

And she'd bite the edge of a smile when she got a funny idea in her head, a vain attempt to keep her creeping grin at bay. The intention behind her perking lips wasn't something that could easily be ensured, "Of course, I did! Did you think I would give away any secret to my downfall so easily? I purposely made it so the people I overtook before would wake up from some kind of "shocking" experience. I wanted you to think you could break my magic in some way."

"I have to take credit for this."

"I think you have been to blame."

"You monster!" Erza snarled as she equipped a sword of her own. She dashed for Karmin, but at a snap of her fingers, Gray was there in an instant, blocking Erza's sword with his own. Normally her sword would have broken his ice, but it must have been the poor enhancement that same it strong enough to withhold it back. "Damnit," She cursed under her breath as she fell back.

"Oh and get this," Karmin clasped her hands together with a wide grin," I was also responsible for you finding me so 'quickly'." She air-quoted the last word.

"No way . . . " Wendy breathed.

"Oh yes!" Karmin continued. "Do you think you were smart enough to find me on your own? I let you find me. Why do you think only one person out of all the others was able to remember exactly what happened? It's because I willed it ." She let out another howl of laughter, "You all thought you were so smart! I also let you find out that my magic only worked on one person, so you would bring a whole group. That way when all your strongest was here, I could take over one of your minds and kill you off one by one."

"If that's the case, then why not do it at the guild where everyone is at?" Erza asked. "You could have killed everyone in one shot."

For just a moment, Karmin seemed to falter at her words-- like there was a reason she didn't do it at the guild. It was small, but Erza saw the twitch in her eye that gave it away. However, the dark-haired woman was able to recover quickly, "Because I wanted to bring the party to me. Have a ball of my own and a show to never forget!"