Chapter 37

Those Who Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, and my Ideas

.:+:.

"Alumina!" Natsu yelled, sprinting down dark corridor after dark corridor, the flames surrounding his fist the only light available. He sweatdropped, "Tch... Shit!" He hissed, looking worried now and slightly frantic...

Something slammed into him at such a speed he could feel his bones crack under the force, and he yelled out momentarily, smashing into an unseen wall in the darkness- his flames failing in an instant as the air was knocked from him.

"Fuck...!" He hissed, falling to his knees, before trying to force himself upward again, fire flickering from his body lowly. "What the hell... Hit me...?" He wheezed.

"Space." Was the simple reply, Natsu's head snapped up, immediately recognizing the voice as the man from earlier.

The ear-shattering booms that erupted the next moment weren't enough to drown out the sound of Natsu's yells of pain as he was bombarded with the attacks relentlessly, the air seeming to explode around him before he could react.

Each hit, Natsu could hear and feel another bone in his body cracking- could feel muscles snapping, skin tearing, feel blood dripping from countless wounds he was receiving...

"I told you, I control everything here."

.:+:.

Happy floated down the dark passage way all alone, eyes wide and shaking all over. "Why am I all alone...?" He asked with a shaking voice, "Natsu? Alumina?" He paused, looking into the darkness, his voice echoing off the walls around him.

"Anyone?"

"Ooh..." Happy stopped dead at the voice, fur standing on end in fear. ".. Looks like we've got a little kitty, all alone.. How sad..."

"W-what do you want?!" Happy demanded, trying to keep his voice as steady as inherently possible.

"To play, little kitty!" The voice answered with cold laughter, Happy shivered involuntarily. He didn't like the sound of that-

Pitch black rope appeared from thin air and wrapped around him tight, causing his wings to disappear and he hit the floor with a painful thud. A shadow appeared before him and manifested into the shape of a man- the details unable to be discerned, but definitely human in figure.

Happy tried to squirm backward away from the shape, but it swooped down upon him and lift him up, the black rope digging into his skin painfully. "L-let me go!" He snapped, finding his voice much more firm than anticipated.

"I don't think so, little kitty." The voice hissed as the figure inched closer to Happy's face, and amongst the black shadow that made up its being- appeared a large grin of white, pointed teeth. "I think there's a Dragon who'd do anything for you..."

.:+:.

"Looks like we were separated from everyone else..." Levy mumbled, glancing to the silent and wary Iron Dragon Slayer in the darkness beside her, outlined very faintly in the glow of her 'Light' Script Magic.

"Indeed... Perhaps this was the plan of our foe?" Lily murmured lowly, looking serious with his paws crossed over his chest.

"Who ever it is, they're tryin' to get us mixed up..." Gajeel grumbled lowly, making Levy sweatdrop slightly.

Lily's ear twitched a little, earning both Gajeel and Levy's attention. In a moment the Exceed changed into his Battle Form, looking serious.

"Do you hear that as well, Gajeel?" The cat asked and his Partner nodded a little, red eyes trained to the darkness. Levy drew a bit closer to Gajeel, eyes narrowed and sweatdropping.

"Hear what?" She asked lowly, not liking the expressions both of them were wearing.

"Stick close, Levy." Gajeel warned, and that was when her ears caught on to what was coming toward them, it sounded like thick, heavy paws slamming down on the stone floor. The noise was getting louder, a low rumbling that grew- Levy's eyes grew wide, trying to imagine how many creatures could be running at them. And what were they anyway?

The sound of a deep snarl erupted just before they were faced with their newest enemy- it looked like a herd of at least fifty large, dark canines, with shadows spiraling about their feet and deep glittering eyes of a dark purple hue.

They streamed forward at an unreal rate, jaws snapping out at Gajeel and Lily as the Iron Dragon Slayer planted himself in front of Levy immediately, his arm turning to a club as he smashed it into the first few creatures.

"Script Magic! Fire!" Levy shouted, creating a wall of the flame between their group and the creatures- a few were singed and let out howls of pain, but her spell only allowed Gajeel and Lily a few moments to cut down more before her fire was crushed as even more creatures swarmed from the darkness.

"Iron Dragon: Demon Logs!" Gajeel snapped, a series of sharp knives of steel swimming through the air to strike down more. Lily swiped down with his sword, sending an arc of force that carved a line through the pack, the line was filled in an instant and the creatures were only advancing.

"Where the hell do they keep coming from?!" Gajeel snapped,

Levy sent off another attack of fire, pausing only to see a creature clamp down onto Lily's tail- he yelped a little and ripped it away from the creatures teeth, looking furious.

"Levy!"

Her eyes left Lily immediately, Gajeel's shout was drowned out by the deafening snarl just to the left of her. Her head snapped around to see one of the creatures coming toward her at a speed that seemed unreal, she tried to move but was either too slow, or completely too late.

The creatures claws sunk into her arm as she was pushed to the floor, before it bit down on her shoulder hard. She screamed, the pain clouding her senses of everything around her.

"Levy!" Lily and Gajeel yelled, trying to make their way to help her but Lily was swarmed on all sides and Gajeel was dealing with a creature clamping down on his arm and another his leg, he let out his own grunt of pain, both of them were unable to move.

"BACK OFF!"

The dark was lit up with grey and golden light suddenly, the creature on top of Levy was thrown away and hit the wall so hard its neck snapped.

The other creatures that had begun to surround the small Script-Mage came to a halt, growling lowly, before they too were blown away by a series of small projectiles looking like tiny stars that exploded upon contact with the creatures.

Levy looked up at the figure that had appeared before her, his fists clenched and shaking out of pure undeniable anger. The figure's face was contorted with rage, a deep grey- almost black aura spreading out around them in the midst of his anger.

Her eyes went wide a moment upon noticing who it was, and finding it very unnerving such a person could look so angry... Then her eyes shut tight as she grasped her shoulder in pain, hissing.

Gajeel and Lily paused a moment, they too were shocked by the new arrival, but then they sighed slightly, happy Levy had been helped by someone when they were unable.

It was Uza, whom had apparently passed through his Gate on his own once he sensed that Levy had needed help- even if the others didn't realize it, he was temporarily contracted to Levy for as long as she needed his help, simply because she had called him forth earlier.

The sight that awaited him made a fire flare up inside of him, one he hadn't felt in a very long time. To see anyone hurt- especially someone as seemingly small and innocent as Levy- pissed him off to no end.

Uza glanced over his shoulder down at the bluenette when he heard her hiss in pain, and the sight of her blood welling and streaming from the rather deep wounds that had been inflicted only angered him more- and suddenly he felt that side of him rise up- the side of himself he had never wanted to give into again.

"You bastards hurt the wrong person," he hissed, letting out a very animalistic growl. "What made you think you could do that? Don't you know anything?" He growled, the creatures stayed away for now, seeming able to sense a sudden danger from the small Bear Spirit. "I'm the Guardian Spirit- the Gate Keeper, anyone who hurts who I have been assigned to protect is dead."

Suddenly it seemed as if the temperature around Uza dropped, and the feeling of Magic rising from him grew exponentially, until jagged black markings began to cover his skin, his canines grew sharper and his eyes harder.

He set the creatures with a stare that signified the anger the Spirit held, and gave way to the amount of Danger he presented in that one moment.

"Who the hell do you mangy dogs think you are?"

.:+:.

Loke and Ursa found themselves sprinting through the corridors as fast as they could manage, Ursa had said the scent of Alumina was getting steadily stronger now and they felt the need to hurry even more. Because mixed in with Alumina's scent, Ursa also picked up on a lot of blood- much more than earlier from the smell of it.

The air was getting colder as they continued on, and still the only light available was the soft glow of Leo's ring. Their footsteps echoed down the corridors for a long ways, and at a noise level so loud in the otherwise silent atmosphere, their ears rung with it.

For however fast they were going, they were still on the lookout for any sort of trap. They had no doubt that it wouldn't be as easy as following Alumina's scent, they were more than likely to come across some sort of trap on the way, and at the very least if they didn't- they were bound to fight the person who had taken their KeyHolder in the first place.

Loke narrowed his eyes at the thought, deep inside himself he wanted nothing more than to meet that man. He had been the one to kill Lucy, he was sure of it even though their really wasn't any proof. And even more so, he was angry because he had now taken Alumina, and almost assuredly harmed her- if the blood hadn't already said as much.

His eyes snapped sideways upon noticing Ursa miss a beat in her running. It was very faint, but it was almost as if she had almost tripped, or even faltered for whatever reason. And then he noticed the worried look on her face, and he guessed it wasn't just about Alumina.

"What's wrong?" He panted, she didn't look to him.

"Its Uza..." She mumbled lowly and Leo himself faltered slightly, he knew Ursa and her brother shared a connection between them, if anything happened to Uza she would know, and his mind immediately flashing to the worst possible thing he could imagine- that Uza had been harmed or his Key destroyed.

"What happened?" He demanded, not quite ok with the idea that the Little Bear would be lost so soon after having found out Uza was still alive after such a very long time.

"Not what you think." Ursa replied immediately, apparently able to guess his thoughts. "Now isn't the time I would have chosen to explain all of this to you, but I don't have a choice." Her ears pressed back against her head, still not bothering to look his way. Loke blinked in slight confusion, not quite able to piece together what it was Ursa needed to explain..?

"Back then, when Uza disappeared from the Spirit World and his Key was damaged." Ursa started, "He and his KeyHolder had been fighting a very powerful Mage at the time, and Uza was hit with an extremely large amount of Dark Magic... that prevented him from returning to the Spirit World, and forced him to remain in the space between Our World and this one for the longest time. I knew he wasn't gone, I could feel it... and yet he was different." Her eyes fell, "The Dark Magic corrupted him, and for a very long time he was uncontrollable... he was... he was a side of my brother I had never seen before, a part of him I didn't believe he could ever become."

"What exactly do you.. mean by that..?" Leo asked slowly, and suddenly Ursa looked at him, her gaze serious and yet barely hiding the fear and sadness she felt- not just for Alumina but for what he could only place as her feelings toward this new 'side' of her little brother.

"Whatever you remember about my brother, how strong he is, his personality, all of it. The only thing I can say to explain it to you is this;" She said and he blinked.

"Don't piss Uza off, if you manage to make him really mad- that side of him might emerge. And if it does, you are most certainly done for."

.:+:.

Natsu struggled to try and push himself up from the floor, his body protested greatly at the action but he did his best to ignore the pain from his broken body. For the longest time he had been thrown around like a ragdoll, unable to stop the hits coming at him, powerless to protect himself against it... now he was on the edge of unconsciousness, barely keeping himself awake.

He fell back to the floor, unable to push himself back up this time around. "F...fuck..." He hissed through gritted teeth, vision swimming and ears ringing from the incessant boom of the explosions hitting him on all sides.

"Oh? Have you tired out so quickly, Salamander?"

Natsu gritted his teeth at the voice, it alone igniting anger inside of him like no other. He hated this, he hated how pathetic he was and he hated that the person controlling all of this didn't have the guts to face him head on- instead whoever it was hid away and let his tricks do all the work!

"I don't think I can let you quit so easily, that's just no fun. So, how about a little incentive, hmm?"

A shrill scream of utter pain echoed off around the walls at a huge tenor, the sound hurting his ears and striking all the way down to his soul. Natsu's head snapped up from the floor immediately, eyes growing wide as a bead of sweat dripped down his face, body rigid and veins running cold. For he recognized the scream immediately, he knew who it was and it struck home to realize it- to even think that this monster had gotten hold of someone so small and easily hurt as-

"HAPPY!" Natsu yelled, fists clenching as he forced himself to his knees, fire crackling all around him out of sudden desperation, anger and fear. The room lightened exceptionally, and he saw the bloody, torn and beaten blue form of his Partner dangling from a rope attached to the ceiling a little way in front, a chasm of blue substance that looked like lightning spilling its contents below the motionless form of Happy.

His eyes went wide upon seeing what had been done to his best bud, to see the furball covered in blood, his fur singed, skin cut, and twitching slightly as he breathed frantically in the most utter signs of pain, unable to make any noise as of the moment.

"Now listen here, Salamander! Its seems I've caught a kitty, and what are you gonna do?"

The electrified blue from the chasm below Happy suddenly sprung up and struck the Exceed relentlessly, earning a series of blood-curdling screams from the tom cat's throat.

"STOP IT!"

"Then get up!" The voice snapped back impatiently, "Show me what you Fairy Tailer's are willing to do to save one of your own!" The voice broke off in malicious laughter, "Better hurry, doesn't look like that little kitty can take much more."

Happy screamed more as the blue erupted again and struck him relentlessly, before stopping a moment.

"Full Power in Five.."

Natsu sprang to his feet immediately, now fully unaware of the pain it caused to do so, his mind only on saving Happy and making his pain stop...

"Four..."

He raced across the floor, only to be beaten back by a few more explosions, these only made him get up and run faster.

"Three..."

His body screamed for him to stop moving, but he pressed on, Happy's head turned slightly so he could crack a swollen eye open and look toward Natsu, his gaze filled with such unbearable agony that Natsu felt it too.

"Two..."

He came to the edge of the chasm, jumping out across it toward the bundle of bloody blue fur, the element underneath him licking out at his feet. He stretched an arm forth toward his Partner, and their gazes met fully in that single moment.

Suddenly Natsu thought back to all the time he had spent, distant from Happy and treating him as a stranger once Lucy died. How many times he heard the furball crying to himself and how many times he had turned away, deaf to his best friends sadness whilst caught up in his own. He couldn't express how sorry he was for all of that, all he wanted to do was apologize. To tell Happy how sorry he was, for all of it...

But as their gazes met, they shared silent words with one another and Natsu could tell that Happy knew, and the tears spilled from both their eyes- as Natsu's hand got closer to reaching the Exceed-

"ONE!"

.:+:.

The room exploded in a series of burning hot strikes that erupted among the creatures streaming out toward the small team of Fairy Tail wizards and the Spirit. Some were completely destroyed, others were knocked away and some just fell, holes burned through their dark bodies.

Streams of dark gold lit up the air in a flurry of strikes that seemed to come from a swipe of Uza's hands as he dashed among the enemies at a rate that couldn't be possible, dark aura still engulfing the Bear Spirit and his eyes glittering with the utmost rage. Those creatures who fell under the strikes made by Uza's now unnaturally long and dark colored nails were down instantly as their dark blood hit the floor and they were still.

And even at the same time, there was the apparition of a huge, colossal dark-furred bear sprinting among the herd, grasping the creatures in its powerful jaws and plowing through them at an unreal rate, letting out a bellowing roar that shook the corridor and drowned out the yelps of pain and terror of the creatures. And then suddenly there was a very bright flash of light, and it was over.

All of this happened in a moment though. Perhaps only ten or fifteen seconds, before Uza was right back where he was in front of Levy- as if he had never moved. Around them, the creatures still standing suddenly fell to the floor, dead.

Levy, Gajeel and Lily remained where they had been when Uza first showed up, rooted to the spot and completely shocked. Their eyes swept through the dark corridor, now littered with the countless bodies of those very creatures that had been overtaking them a moment before, the current of the herd had been stopped and no more came, everything was still.

To them, such power and startling destruction had never been witnessed by them before, and especially never expected in anyone like Uza... The dark markings that had covered his skin faded completely with the feeling of his power, his teeth shortened and his nails did too, the Spirit letting out a low sigh- in the same instant that every creature suddenly fell away into dark ash, before disappearing altogether as if carried by some non-existent wind.

Standing amongst the shadows was the figure of a small, white dog with dark purple eyes that looked out upon them with fear- though the only one of them who noticed its small and silent presence was Uza- though he remained quiet.

They remained in silence for a moment, unable to comprehend what had just happened, or even how any of that was possible...

And then suddenly Levy fell back, but not before letting out a small gasp of pain, and she hit the floor and remained motionless, falling into unconsciousness, her blood staining the stone under their feet.

"Levy!" Lily and Gajeel jumped forward immediately, both of them bearing wounds of their own as their blood littered the floor in the course of their movement. Uza whipped around, eyes narrowed and sweatdroping, looking down upon the bluenette with worry, he quickly crouched down beside her as Gajeel and Lily did the same.

"Levy!" Gajeel hissed, shaking the Script-Mage gently in an attempt to get any sort of response.

"Shit!"

.:+:.

"I don't know what's pushed him over the edge." Ursa admitted as they continued to run, "But whoever he's fighting, they're as good as dead." Loke sweatdropped at the words. Ursa seemed to notice his discomfort quickly though, "You don't need to worry, Leo." She murmured lowly, "I believe Uza's gained control of that side of him... he'll be fine." She paused. "I'd only worry about ourselves," She added with a flick of her head. "We need to be ready."

Loke nodded solemnly, his eyes facing ahead. He trusted in what Ursa said, because he honestly believed she would not lie to him. Perhaps that was wishful thinking, since she had effectively lied to him about Uza being alive at all... but right now, he just knew what she told him was the truth- and he also knew her warning held reason.

He needed to be alert, they needed to find Alumina, and in his heart he felt they were getting close.

His last lingering thought was on what had happened to the others. If they were alright or not, where they were, if they were fighting, if they were even alive... he hoped so.

.:+:.

Another one for today! Please enjoy~