Unknown Darkness | Natza

Chapter 20 (part two): The Final Battle On Galuna Island

Natsu ran down the corridor of the large temple heading into the one specific area that held the captive demon. The person he had previously been chasing had disappeared from his sight.

A crystal ball of some sort came hurtling toward the dragon slayer; in a flash the pinkette ducked and stared up at the old man who now had the ball present in his hands, a smirk on his face, below the mask. Natsu watched the man closely which caused the latter's smirk to widen.
"You sure are one hell of a pest to get off my tail. However, you can't stop the moon drip ceremony, it has already been done," he said, a loud, dark laugh erupting from his throat.

Natsu pursed his lips together, eyes squinted. He then looked down at the floor, his bangs covering his eyes. The man watched in curiosity as the dragon slayer stayed silent.

Out of nowhere, the pinkette was behind the masked man, his hand lit with a purple glow. The old man slowly turned his head toward the direction of the dragon slayer, before being plummeted to the ground; out cold.

Natsu grunted in annoyance. 'What a pest'

"Natsu!". When the pinkette heard his name, he turned to the entrance of the cave where he found the raven standing there panting, looking rough.

Natsu's eyes lit up with a ghost of a smile present on his tanned face. "Let me guess. You beat him?"

Gray smirked victoriously. "You bet I did! Now, what has happened since you left?"

Natsu sighed and looked at the unconscious man. "Nothing really. Just been chasing him around," he gestured to the, dead looking, being on the ground.

Gray chuckled and turned his attention to the demon. He notice that the monster was almost free. His eyes widened and he ran to the demon with a look of horror on his face.

"Are Erza and Lucy at the top of the temple? Cause if they are, they aren't doing a very good job stopping the chant!" Gray asked coldly, his fists clenched. Natsu stared with an unreadable expression. He didn't know what to do, he wasn't the best at comforting people and he didn't want to make things worse.

All of a sudden, the demon shook and the chant stopped, however, the demon's ice had dissolved and all that was left was a frozen in place corpse. Gray and Natsu looked at the demon with confused look on their faces. 'What has happened?'

If they stopped the ceremony, the demon wouldn't be unfrozen. All of a sudden, they heard a faint, beta voice from behind them.

"You can't stop me... you never had a chance," the voice said.

The two mages looked to the source of the voice. Crawling toward them was Lyon, looking fairly beat. Gray growled, "What are you doing here? Don't you ever give up? This is a despicable plan! You won't achieve anything from defeating this monster," Gray pointed to the demon. "That ice was master Ur! And you just killed her! How does that make you feel?!"

Lyon's eyes widened. "That's not true, I did tons of research on the iced shell spell! She died long ago, that ice will never had been her!" He screamed; however it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself other than the other two mages.

Gray scoffed in irritation. "You are a crazy nut job. You don't understand a single thing she did for us! She died protecting us!"

"And who's fault is it that she died?! Huh?!" Lyon shouted, tears threatening his eyes. "Because if you.... She died, she didn't protect us... SHE PROTECTED YOU! SHE DIDN'T DO SHIT TO HELP ME!" He screamed in despair, his voice cracking at the end.

"I know what I have done, however I'll never let that get me down. She gave me a purpose to live. And find people to love and protect. I joined a guild so I could gain back the memories I lost. I will never forget what she did for me," Gray stated calmly, his eyes giving Lyon a gentle squint.