Fairy Tail: You're Natsu of Fairy Tail (A NaLu Fan Fiction) by Cryptic_Eyes, All Rights Reserved, © 2018
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"We're here."
Lucy held her breath, letting her eyes roam upon Ilene's hideout.
They'd made it.
Ilene's hideout was a large fortress up against one of the mountains on the island, the hideout made of stone and slightly resembling a castle. There were three towers built within the structure, the tallest one in the middle. Around the fortress was an iron fence, some areas grown over with vines, but people Lucy recognized as Ilene's followers patrolled around it. There were some men on the towers also, their gaze stretching far.
It'd taken from the morning until now—the afternoon—to get across Victoria. But they'd done it.
"We need to come up with a plan first," Gray proposed, letting the leaves fall back into their regular position as he sat back. "It won't be easy getting in there."
"I can get up to the towers no problem," Wendy proposed, her expression determined. "They can see us right away, so if I dispatch them first, no one can run to Ilene and alert her of our arrival."
"Good idea, Wendy!" Happy exclaimed.
Erza nodded, agreeing. "Alright Wendy, I'll leave the towers to you. You'll be the first one to attack, understood? Come back here once you take care of them."
"But what if they see her in the sky?" Lily asked.
"They are going to be too focused on the distraction," Erza explained, smiling. "As Wendy is going after the people in the towers, Gray and I will go after the guards down at the gate. Gajeel, Lucy? That leaves you to go inside."
"Without you all?" Lucy asked, hesitant.
"We'll be fine," Erza reassured. "They aren't even mages."
"Yes, okay!"
Erza kept going. "Once we get through, Lucy and Gajeel are to storm ahead and go inside. Gajeel, I'm leaving it up to you to take care of Lucy and letting her go ahead if necessary."
"Roger that."
Lucy wanted to stay and fight, but this was her compromise with her friends after they found out she was sick—it was also for the best, considering using her magic made her health worse. And if she went ahead, then possibly she could get to Natsu faster.
"Once we are all done with our respective areas, we will also storm in and take down anyone who stands in our way," Erza finished, her eyes lighting up with the anticipation of battle. "Let's get started."
"Right!" everyone exclaimed in a fierce whisper.
⚔
Wendy and Carla had moved further around the fortress through the forest trees. When they got into position underneath the first tower, Carla grabbed ahold of Wendy's back, the white cat's wings sprouting to life. With a nod to one another in the silence, the exceed launched them into the air. Quickly the pair raced up the side of the stone tower, slowing down right before they reached the floor of the tower's balcony. Peeking over the ledge, they saw the feet of five of Ilene's followers. Carla let Wendy jump onto the premises, and with the blue-haired girl's determination to keep things quiet, Wendy lightly stepped around the side until the shadow of the first guard appeared.
Apologizing in advance, Wendy swung her fist forward, knocking the first guard to the ground and putting him out cold with just one swing. Carla guarded the door in her human form, making sure no one could escape as Wendy went after the remaining guards. When they finished with that tower, they went to the next, making sure to keep an eye on the ground.
"Looks like Wendy is okay," Gray murmured, turning to Erza. "It's our turn I guess."
The requip mage nodded. "Let's go."
They had moved themselves down to the foliage near the entrance of Ilene's hideout, while Gajeel and Lucy remained at the top of the hidden ravine where everyone had previously gathered.
"Erza and Gray are moving," Lucy murmured to Gajeel, her voice serious.
"Let's get ready then, Lucy," Panther Lily observed.
Erza and Gray took opposite sides. They were on the left side in the forest shadows, next to a dirt road that led up to the gate entrance. Gray crouched and prepared to lunge for the guards all along the right side of the front perimeter, while Erza readied herself to knock out all the men to the left side of the gate.
"Ready, Gray?"
"Absolutely."
Together they jumped from the foliage and out into the sunlight, moving so quickly at first Lucy didn't notice they had started their attack. Erza saw the ones with the same bow and arrows that depleted magic, and she took them out first. More cautious about them, Gray did the same, making sure the same mistake didn't happen twice. Erza couldn't tell the number of them, but there were many; they would only increase once Ilene figured out that they were there.
Meanwhile, Wendy landed back next to Lucy and Gajeel. "Are we ready?"
"Yeah!" Lucy exclaimed.
As three, the group were carried by their exceeds and past the gate Gray broke open with his ice magic.
"Thank you Erza, Gray!" Lucy called, the trio flying inside quickly.
Erza smiled at them as she pressed her foot on top of an unconscious guard, afterwards turning to Gray. "Let's finish up here and join them."
"Sounds good to me," the ice mage replied, in the middle of holding onto a guard by his collar.
Gajeel shattered the wood door of the front entrance, Lucy and Wendy shielding their faces from the shower of debris.
When the dust settled, guards were waiting for them.
"There's more!" Lucy exclaimed, instinctively reaching for her keys.
"No, Miss Lucy!" Wendy denied, stopping next to the blonde in the air. "You can't use your magic!"
Lucy's hand clenched into a fist above her keys, shaking slightly.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
Gajeel dropped down to the ground, Lily also transforming into his battle form. "Blondie, you and Wendy keep going! I've got it here!"
"Thank you Gajeel!" Wendy exclaimed, her gaze moving to Lucy. "Let's keep going!"
"R-Right!"
The pair disappeared up the grand staircase, the exceeds still carrying them.
"Which way should we go?" Happy exclaimed as they flew up to the second floor.
"We should—" Lucy began, only to cry out in surprise as a bright light appeared suddenly.
The force of the blast was so strong that it knocked Wendy and Lucy out of Carla and Happy's grip, the four of them sent skidding across the carpeted floor. When Lucy raised her head from the floor to look ahead of them, she saw a small group of more of Ilene's followers tossing crystals up into the air.
They smirked. "You aren't going any further!"
"She has more followers than we thought..." Carla replied, rising as Wendy did also.
"Not more than we can handle!" Wendy exclaimed. "Lucy, keep going! Carla and I will fend them off!"
"But—" Lucy began, conflicted, as she did not want to leave her and Carla behind.
With a deep breath, Wendy let her sky dragon slayer magic overtake her. The girl's hair turned pink, and air surged around her strongly.
"Get going, Lucy!" Carla called, changing back into her human form again.
Lucy's expression hardened, and she nodded. "Okay. Thank you!"
She took off running for the stairs at the end of the corridor, wishing good luck to her friends as she ran, Happy following close behind.
⚔
The noises of battle had yet to be heard by Natsu, who was struggling to remain awake now. The shackles had done their job in draining his physical strength, and his body was slumped against the wall now.
Ilene was standing in front of him; a follower of hers walked up to her with a large gold box.
"The hell is that?" the pinkette asked, but his voice was weak.
The woman's face was eager. "This is going to start the process to make you my own weapon, my fire dragon."
Natsu watched with confusion as she removed a dark black crystal from the box, the stone hovering between her hands which were positioned at the crystal's opposite ends.
"Astrodite?" Natsu guessed, recognizing the shape but not the color.
"Very good, Natsu Dragneel. But it only houses something that is hard to contain after it is released. Only someone who knows how to control it can put it back inside the crystal."
The pinkette flinched, watching as Ilene's eyes focused on the Astrodite. A sudden breeze stirred in the air from around the crystal, and black wisps flowed out of the Astrodite like tendrils reaching for life.
"What the hell?!" he exclaimed, seeing the black light growing brighter.
Ilene looked up, anticipation in her elegant eyes. "Now Natsu, shall we begin?"
"You bastard..."
Ilene walked forward, letting the crystal hover from her grasp and head straight in front of Natsu's chest. Then, without a word, the black light from the crystal abruptly shot outward, completely encasing Natsu in a giant sphere of darkness. Ilene moved away from the sphere, careful not to get sucked in as it grew and grew until it took up the whole left corner of the room.
"Phantasm," she murmured, looking into the darkness and seeing her fire dragon looking around wildly.
Suddenly, Natsu felt the freezing cold essence of magic around him seep into his skin, an incredibly uncomfortable feeling settled over him as the magic raced over his body and completely submerged him within the blackness of Phantasm.
His vision went black right before he was knocked unconscious.
Outside, the sphere had been blowing large collections of wind around it and wisps of Natsu's fire had escaped from within. But as Natsu went under, the wind calmed and the fire disappeared, leaving only complete silence.
Ilene smiled.
There was a sudden noise of destruction that broke the triumphant silence.
"Now," Ilene began, turning away and toward the rest of the castle, "it's time to deal with the pests that got in."
⚔
Erza and Gray ran inside, seeing Gajeel handling a much bigger group of Ilene's pirates with Lily.
"Gajeel! Are you alright?" Erza called, seeing the pile of unconscious men behind Gajeel but plenty of them still in front of him.
Lily swung a sword he'd stolen from one of Ilene's followers, taking out a few at a time. "We're fine!"
Gajeel's arms turned into long swords of iron, and he smirked at the group surrounding him. "Iron Dragon's Lance!"
Loud cries of men rose into the air as Ilene's followers were thrown from the ground and into the air. Some collided with each other while others hit the wall and fell to the ground unconscious.
Erza changed from her Heart Kreuz armor into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, her eyes scanning the large entrance room for any more men who grasped bows and the Astrodite arrows. However, just as she finished seeing that there were none in the hands of the soldiers around her, a sudden explosion of heat erupted not far from the scarlet-haired mage. She jumped to the side, putting distance between her and the blast, realizing that they had made makeshift grenades from the Astrodite crystals as well.
They were creative with the crystals, Erza would give them that.
But it wasn't enough to subdue the group of Fairy Tail members. Wendy appeared at the top of the grand staircase, finishing off a group on her own as the others finished on the first floor.
"Is that all Ilene's real followers have to offer?" Gajeel prodded, amused.
"I expected more of a challenge," Gray smirked, dropping one of the unconscious men in his hands.
⚔
"Shh, Happy!"
The pair of them peeked around the corner, seeing one of Ilene's men running by to join the fray of the fight Lucy knew her friends were causing.
Lucy turned her attention back to Happy, who was at her feet. "We should take the middle corridor. That must lead up to the throne room, where she could be hiding Natsu."
The sudden noise of chatter made them stiffen, and it came from the direction they wanted to go.
Crap! Lucy exclaimed in her mind, looking at the doors around them and deciding on one of the wooden ones that looked like it would open up into a closet.
"Happy, in here!"
"A-Aye!"
Lucy shut the door right as the men rounded the corner, the group also taking off at sprints toward the stairs to the lower floors.
"That was close..." the blonde whispered, her hands still on the handle of the door.
"Uh, Lu-shee?"
The celestial mage turned around, curious at the change in Happy's voice. He was pointing to a staircase she hadn't noticed at first when they'd come in.
"Where do you think this goes?"
Lucy stepped forward, surprised. "I...don't know. But let's find out."
They quickly made their way up the steps, which bent to the right as they continued to climb.
What could be at the top?
Lucy's answer revealed itself only a minute later. There was another door, and with caution the blond opened it to see if it opened up into another hallway. However, it didn't.
Instead, it was a storage room filled with magical items.
Lucy opened the door fully, shock hitting her. "I-Is this...?"
It was a large room, with shelves lining all of the walls. Objects such as crystals, swords, clothing, statues, and other random things lined those shelves. However, there were things hanging on the walls between the windows too, such as staffs that reminded Lucy of the one Ilene had before and mirrors that made Lucy's reflection shimmer.
This was Ilene's collection room.
"Happy, don't touch anything."
"A-Aye..."
Lucy stopped in front of a bookcase, surprised at the thickness of some of the bound volumes. Some were on topics she had never heard before, such as geographical regions of islands she hadn't heard of, or types of magic she didn't know about.
However, her whole body froze when she read the spine of one particular book.
Celestial Key Creation History.
She quickly pulled it from the shelf despite her warning to Happy to not touch anything. Opening it up, she flipped through the pages, seeing some previews of metals she hadn't heard of and images of the Celestial Spirit King.
Lucy's eyes widened.
Was this the answer she was looking for in finding a way to bring Aquarius back?
⚔
"Natsu."
The dragon slayer opened his eyes.
He was laying against vibrant green grass, an open blue sky above him and a cool breeze blowing across his lying form. After a moment, he sat up, recognizing the voice.
"Igneel?" he questioned, his eyes widening at the form before him.
His father was laying in front of him, looking peaceful. "You dumb boy. You fell asleep again."
The dragon slayer stood, feeling something hazy over his thoughts but not remembering why it was like that. "You're...alive?"
As soon as he murmured the second word, the scene abruptly changed, the breeze becoming hot and thick with smoke. As a green leaf passed by his face at the same time, the scene became one of ruin and flames, just like back when he was fighting Tartaros.
And Igneel's dead body was lying there in the rubble.
Natsu remembered then. That's right—Igneel had died a long time ago. All because Natsu hadn't been strong enough to fight for the both of them. He hadn't been strong enough to defeat Acnologia. Ie he had only been a little bit stronger...
Pain filled his chest, and he dropped to his knees with anguish and lowered his head.
"Lucy!!"
He jerked his head up, hearing Happy's voice. As soon as he did, the scene of Igneel was gone, Future Rogue in front of him instead and his form inside the castle within Crocus.
Horror filled him, and he jerked his head back, seeing the dead body of Future Lucy and the sobbing form of the present Lucy and Happy.
Lucy was dead.
⚔
Natsu's body pulsed, the thickness of the black fog within the sphere getting stronger.
Ilene chuckled. "It's going just as planned. He's beginning to be sucked completely in."
"Stop!"
The doors burst open, and in came Erza, Gray, Wendy, Gajeel, Carla, and Lily.
Ilene turned, her expression turning bored. "Not you all. I thought my fire dragon took care of you already?"
"Hate to break it to you," Gray called, anger on his face, "but you can't get rid of us so easily, and you're not gonna get away this time!"
"Look!" Wendy pointed, her eyes widening in shock.
The group turned toward the strange large black sphere in the corner of the room, which pulsed right then and sent a ring of magical energy through the air.
"I-Is that Phantasm?!" Carla questioned.
"Natsu is inside it!" Gray said, stepping forward in his urgency.
It was true. He was still chained to the wall, but his head was slumped, his eyes closed. His expression was slack, but at times his eyebrows would furrow slightly, showing that he was going through something within his unconsciousness.
"Let him out!" Wendy demanded, her expression still in disbelief at the chained Natsu inside.
"Wake up, Natsu!" Erza exclaimed.
Ilene only looked amused. "It's no use. He cannot hear you."
"Oi, Erza," Gajeel muttered, capturing the requip mage's attention. "Lucy isn't here yet."
"You're right..." she murmured back, glancing around the room once to indeed confirm it was just them and Ilene.
"She might have gotten lost..." Carla whispered.
"One of us should go look for her!" Wendy proposed, her expression worried.
"Oh, you aren't going anywhere. How about I watch the group of you dance?" Ilene pointed her staff forward, the weapon now glowing very noticeably as the amount of magic needed from the crystal was now much more.
"Be careful—!" Erza began, only to suddenly feel a very strange sensation settle over her.
Everyone's posture stiffened, their eyes reddening.
"Now, attack one another."
It was just as Natsu had experienced. Erza and Gray lunged for one another, a sword in her hands and Gray summoning his own sword—one made of ice—to fight back with. Their blades collided, and Gray's sword of ice shattered, forcing him to retreat backwards to gain some space between him and Erza. With a blank face, he slapped his hands together before pressing them to the floor, creating a path of ice that led straight to the scarlet-haired mage. Erza faltered, but quickly threw her blade at the ice made, giving her time to change into her Black Wing armor and escape from the ice around her.
Meanwhile, Wendy let one of her sky dragon attacks loose at Gajeel, who used an iron shield to block it before rushing at the small girl. Wendy ducked as Gajeel's iron arm flew over her head, and she filled her mouth with air before letting her magic escape her jaws. It slammed into Gajeel, making the iron dragon slayer fly backwards and hit the wall with a loud crack. As the dust surged and Wendy waited for any response, a whirlwind of iron dragon slayer magic broke through the debris clouds and forced Wendy to dive to the side. However, it was just a cover-up, Gajeel appearing through the whirlwind and letting his fist connect with Wendy's stomach. The girl was sent skidding along the ground, but she got up quickly, her expression furious.
Carla and Lily also went after one another, the both of them in their more human-like forms. As Carla ducked to avoid a punch from Lily.
All of the Fairy Tail members were under Ilene's control.
The woman smiled slightly, watching with a calm expression. "Yes, that's it. How nice this is turning out to be."
However, a sudden arrow flew past Ilene's vision, making her eyes widen.
A split second later the crystal within her staff shattered.
Wendy stopped her assault on Gajeel from afar, her eyes clearing and her mind sharpening at the same time the others' awareness returned.
"W-What just happened?" Gray asked, looking at his hands.
"Were we just...mind controlled?" Carla questioned, a hand on her forehead.
Erza and Gajeel had stopped as well, their expressions at first shocked as they inspected their own bodies.
"This is what happened with Natsu," Erza began, now understanding.
"B-But who shot that arrow?" Wendy questioned, and everyone's gaze turned to the balcony above their heads where the arrow had come from, Ilene doing the same.
Lucy was there in her Sagittarius Star Dress, her arm still pulled back in the position of when she released the arrow.
"I won't let you control my friends anymore!" she yelled defiantly, her expression filled with defiance.
"Lucy! Happy!" Carla exclaimed in surprise.
Happy grinned, appearing at Lucy's shoulder. "Aye! We got here just in time!"
Ilene's expression of pleasure had dropped, instead becoming impassive as she turned to Lucy. "Miss Heartfilia. A clever idea, using an Astrodite arrow to destroy my staff."
Lucy's expression was fierce. "I found it in your lovely trophy room."
That's when Ilene's eyes widened.
The blonde continued, smirking. "You were right, Ilene. It was quite the collection you had."
"Had?" Wendy questioned.
Happy pumped his fists in the air, looking pleased with himself. "Lucy and I destroyed them all!"
Ilene's expression filled with shock, but it quickly turned into fury. "How dare you!"
With incredible speed, Ilene lunged into the air as she charged straight for Lucy, her fury making itself known.
"Miss Lucy, look out!" Wendy warned.
Erza rushed for Ilene at the same time, luckily the closest to Lucy from where she'd been fighting Gray earlier. Just as Ilene unsheathed her swords and swung them down in a wide arc, Erza locked her blade with Ilene's, stopping the collector in her tracks.
"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed in relief, behind the scarlet-haired mage.
The requip mage shoved the woman away, who dropped back down to the floor. "Lucy, you need to go to Natsu. Get him out of there."
Lucy's eyes turned to Natsu. "Okay. But Erza...she has boots with Astrodite crystals in them that increase her speed. If you can get a hand on those boots and break the crystals, her speed will be gone!"
Now that Erza noticed it, she saw the belt around each leg that had a circular crystal attached to it, and it shined as Ilene took a step back.
"I see," Erza replied, nodding. "Leave it to me. I'll distract her."
"Okay! Be careful!"
Happy took ahold of Lucy, and she dove straight for the fire dragon slayer.
"Oh no you don't!" Ilene protested, about to race after her.
But Erza blocked her path, changing into her Flight Armor. "If you have speed, looks like I'll have to increase mine."
Ilene scowled.
The requip mage held her sword forward, staring down the blade and pointing it straight toward Ilene. "You'll have to take me down first."
Lucy dropped down next to the sphere, the wind slight stronger around it and thus forcing her hair to rise up from around her shoulders. Focusing, she looked inside, seeing Natsu hadn't moved though black tendrils were beginning to sink into his skin and turn it a strange dull gray.
Panic filled her. "Natsu! Natsu, wake up!"
She went to press her hands against the sphere of Phantasm, but a sudden electric shock hit her hands, causing her to cry out in surprise and pull away.
"T-There's a barrier on it..." Happy muttered, shocked.
"How are we going to get in?" Lucy wondered, urgency on her face.
She had no choice. As the others kept Ilene busy, she took a couple of steps back, still in her Sagittarius Star Dress. However, a bright light appeared in the ground at the base of her feet, and celestial symbols raced up Lucy's legs and arms until they got to her face.
Lucy opened her eyes—they'd changed into a bright yellow.
"Constellation: Three," she murmured, raising her bow.
"Lucy..." Happy murmured, worry for her showing on his face.
"I'm fine, Happy. Stand back; maybe I can break it open."
As Lucy raised her bow and pointed it towards Phantasm, she pulled back an arrow that materialized out of yellow light, while all along her bow more arrows appeared made out of that very light.
"Star Shot!"
Her arrows surged forward violently, spreading and hitting all over the surface of the sphere. A large blast of wind and dirt exploded around Phantasm from the impact, forcing Lucy and Happy to shield their eyes for a moment.
But when it cleared, nothing had changed.
"W-What?" Lucy stuttered in dismay.
"It didn't work..." Happy exclaimed in disbelief.
Ilene laughed, the sound a ways away as she still faced against Lucy's comrades. "Don't you understand? Phantasm absorbs magic. If you strike it with that very thing, it only absorbs it! Magical attacks are useless!"
"No way..." Wendy murmured.
Lucy clenched her teeth, turning her gaze back to the trapped dragon slayer. Natsu...