Natsu's POV
I don't have time for these guys. I tsked as I picked up Lucy's unconscious body into my arms. Lucy needs medical attention and I don't have time to deal with them. "Happy, Celestia, let's go" I said and without hesitation, they flew to my back and lifted us off the ground. "We're not done yet Chaos" Zard smirked. I ignored him and kept flying in the direction of the guild.
After flying a few metres, a small sharp stone cut my left cheek from behind. I looked behind us and saw Zard following us on a cloud with Kumi holding onto him from behind. I growled at the annoying pests on our tail. We need to lose them before we head to the guild. If they continue to throw attacks at us, Lucy could be put in more danger. I looked down at Lucy's face, she was losing colour in her face from the blood loss. 'Hang on Lucy' I thought before gripping her closer to my body and diving down into the forest.
Once inside, I weaved side to side in between trees. Zard and Kumi followed us through the forest and threw multiple stone and sound attacks at us. One of the Sound Slicer attacks managed to slice my left upper arm. 'Lucky shot' I thought with a growl although I'm glad the attacks did hit me instead of Lucy, Happy and Celestia.
I knew I wouldn't be able to lose them if I just keep playing defence, so I decided to send an attack back. With a quick spin, I straightened my body vertically and let out a Chaos Dragon Roar. Happy and Celestia focused on flying us backwards. Zard and Kumi's cloud swiftly moved to the side and backwards to avoid my attack. I spun around to the front and continue flying away.
They continued to chase us through the forest and I was getting frustrated at their persistence. An idea came to mind and I was sure they were dumb enough to fall for it. I took a sharp turn upwards towards the sky, As I thought, they tried to predict my movements and zoomed towards the sky as well. Before I broke through the blanket of tree leaves, I abruptly stopped while Zard and Kumi shot above the forest. Without a moment of hesitation, we sped towards and past where they once were before hiding behind a tree a few metres away. We watched as Zard and Kumi flew back down and tried to search for us. "Where did they go?" Zard asked as he turned his head left and right. "Maybe they kept going that way" Kumi replied as she pointed in the way we were heading earlier. 'We're not that stupid' I thought. Why would we be so predictable and head in the same direction as we were before? Zard nodded and quickly flew the way Kumi pointed.
Once they were out of view, we flew out of our hiding spot. "This way, hurry" I said while pointing to the left. It may be a slightly longer route to the guild, but we can avoid bumping into those idiots again. We flew as fast as we could to the guild.
When we reached the guild, Happy and Celestia dropped me to my feet before crash landing on the ground exhausted and panting. "Thanks" I quietly said to them for carrying us the entire way before running into the guild hall with Lucy. Some guild members ran to us to see what was wrong. Ignoring them and their questions, my eyes quickly scanned the room for Wendy. I found her at the end of the guild talking to Carla. I pushed through the small crowd and ran over to her. "Come" I ordered as I passed her, gaining her attention. She and her cat noticed Lucy and quickly followed me to the infirmary.
As soon as I entered the infirmary, I laid Lucy down gently onto the nearest bed. My hand moved to stroke the top of her head. The paleness in her skin and the sound of struggle in her breath were worrying me. Wendy quickly rushed to Lucy's side and immediately used her magic to heal her. Within a couple of minutes, the colour began to come back to her face and her breathing began to steady.
My worry began to decrease but not disappear. There was still the issue of Zard, Kumi, Nightmare and that mystery man. Lucy doesn't know about them yet, so I decided to keep it a secret from her and do my own investigation. She's gone through enough today and I don't want to stress her out right now. With Lucy being safe in Wendy's care, I walked out of the infirmary and into the main hall. I looked around the room until I spotted Happy and Celestia sitting on the bar counter resting and drinking water from the long flight here. They were also telling Old Man, Erza, Gray, Levy, Gajeel, Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna about what happened before we arrived. I needed to lock this down before they tell Lucy.
I walked over to their conversation. "After we lost them, we flew here" Happy finished off his story. "Don't tell Lucy" I interrupted and they turned to notice my presence. "Why not?" Erza asked. "Stress" I replied briefly. "Protecting your mate. We understand" the old man said and I nodded.
"Alright we promise to keep this between us, under one condition" Erza said. What type of annoying condition will they make me do to keep this from Lucy. "What?" I asked, with a small growl from the back of my throat. Erza smirked, "we're helping you track them down" she replied. I was right it is an annoying condition...BUT if this is the only way for Lucy to not find out then I have no choice. "Deal" I replied and the group of them smiled. They better not make me regret letting them help.