midnightstar | (no subject)

They would definitely have earned that. But that was all for later. RIght now they had big problems to solve. Luna's words however were giving Natsu a very very bad feeling. The timing was too perfect for the two events to not have some kind of connection.

"...yeah I was thinking the same thing....If so that means that damn pest wasn't really unique or special."

"No, but seeing as she's not... an issue anymore, maybe that's why everything seems to have reverted - Luna, did the city look like this before?" Lucy asked curiously.

Luna nodded, "It looks like the way it was again. I mean...before Guildmaster fought with ...Him." She doesn't even want to acknowledge.

Lucy leaned over a little, "So maybe that black misty stuff is connected to her dying. If she did something to the area here.." Ugh, she doesn't know. It's just too many coincidences.

"Heading down!" Luna chirped suddenly, giving them barely any warning before the dragon moved into a steep dive. Lucy automatically reached back and grabbed hold of Natsu's arm, tensing up with an strangled panicked squeal. WHY MUST HE MOVE LIKE THAT. It felt like her stomach was trying to evacuate through her mouth, and when Natsu landed, it wasn't the most gentle as he could have been. He glanced over his shoulder to glance at his passengers almost apologetically, before his gaze went forward again.

"This is it, but.." Luna frowned. "Can you feel that?"

That almost pulsing energy, that taint that was spreading through the air, even the ground. Not just metaphorically, literally too - there was an inky blackness slowly creeping outwards like vines across the ground, even waving through the air, from a central point in the clearing, not seeming to form any particular pattern that one can notice...from the ground at least. The ground has that same 'wrongness' around it that sets ones teeth and hair on edge. There are a few shining white lumps on the ground, that resemble rocks, but they aren't quite... shaped like rocks.

"That would make sense. In which case there might be more than one wandering around and with each one snuffed out the more things go back to normal?" Natsu proposed before Luna suddenly directed down to the ground.

He felt it though the moment they touched down and seeing the unsettling growths only made that ominous feeling in his stomach grow. His eyes scanned the area before coming to bear on the white lumps. His eyes squinted and he hopped off before drawing close to one of them.

"That could be, yeah." Lucy agreed, and inwardly groaned, "Oh that's all we need, more obnoxious pixies." She sighed. At least until she looked rather uncomfortable at the sight. "What IS this.." She has to put a hand against the dragon's side to get her land legs back, but the dragon barely took notice, in full guard dragon mode.

Luna shuddered, "This place just feels wrong. Cold. It wasn't like this yesterday." She glanced over at the group, "It wasn't even like this the last time Dad and I were here." She held out her hand, a blue flame alighting above it, illuminating the area in that same light that the blackness almost seemed to shy away from with a rattling hiss.

As Natsu drew closer to the white lumps, he'd be able to see their shapes much better. They're statues of animals -- no, wait. Actual animals. Actual animals, that appear petrified and frozen. One says appear but their eyes are still moving, glancing frantically about - their little hearts are still beating, their breathing slow and laborious. And further down the path there are larger shapes.

"I don't like this," Luna murmured.

"Don't step on the.. whatever this is," Lucy put in after a second. I'm not sure if it's alive, per se, but it doesn't feel right.

Natsu's eye's shrunk with the realization that the white lumps were in fact animals. To make it even worse they were still alive. And if the small ones were this then...

"They're alive. Turned to something like stone or I don't know but they're alive!" Natsu announced before his eyes moved over to the bigger forms.

"Those....I think those are actual people."

They were definitely actual people. In fact there were two who were definitely recognizable. Laki and Freed. Laki had her arm up as if trying to ward or perhaps cast a spell, while Freed was standing in the process of turning towards Laki to shout a warning.

Luna, Lucy and the dragon moved forward careful to avoid the vines, wary, and there's a sudden gasp from Luna. "Oh no..!"

"Levy.." Lucy covered her mouth with her hand.

On the one hand, she was unsurprised that Levy was the closest to the source of the trouble, she was one of the smartest in the guild. But she had obviously been unprepared for what happened next - they all had.

Notably, not much further off -- well not much further off by Natsu's senses, there's barking, a sound that was somewhere between angry and scared.

"We need to get them out of-!!" Natsu suddeny stopped when he picked up on the barking.

"There's something up ahead! A dog's barking at it!" Natsu told the others before he started running off in that direction jumping over the creeping tendrils with ease.

"N-Natsu? Wait a second--!" Lucy called after him. Ergh, follow, stay, follow or stay - don't you know you don't split the party in adventures, Natsu! It's like, Adventuring 101. But he'll hear her running after him after that short hesitation, trusting in the Other Natsu to watch his daughter's back.

Luna was tempted to run after Lucy as well, but she stayed put, trying to examping the condition her friends were in. She did call out a, "Mo-- Lucy! Come back!" when the other headstrong girl dashed off though.

The barking dog isn't all that far, thankfully, and it might look VERY familiar when Natsu catches up. No, it'll definitely look familiar since the dog was in the company of two children just a few hours ago. Neither of the children are about, but more importantly, the thing the dog is barking at?

A large knotted mass of those inky black 'vines', like a bramble bush, rustling as if it were laughing. A few tendrils occasionally reach forward as if to grab the dog, sometimes yanking a paw or a tail, keeping the poor creature on an aggressive defense as he barked and bit at the vines when they got near.

The moment Natsu got closes enough to recognize the scent, Natsu's hands were already ignited with lightning and fire. Since that damn pixie had been made immune to fire that meant he couldn't just use his core magic. At least that was his preumption. However the moment he burst onto the scene the closest bush like creature was immediately assaulted by a blast of the two elemental magics as Natsu threw his fist forward.

It seemed the fairy they initially encountered was the only one immune to fire - but the bushlike thing was still pretty hardy. Even more weird, it seemed to .. Scream.. when the flames and lightning. Just this unholy godless shriek that seemed echoed around the area. The black wispy tendrils ignited from the flames, crackling from the lightning, and it immediately started to withdraw, more and more of the dark shadow covering the ground pulling back.

The dog, now that Natsu could see him, was definitely Herb, and when the black shadowy mass started to back off, he ran forward a little bit to bark angrily at the thing, fur all ruffled up.

"Herb! Come back!" Natsu snapped sternly before throwing another couple of magical blasts at the shrub to force it back even further than before if not outright destroy it. Now that they'd found one part of their new family, Natsu was not going to let anything happen to the dear dog.

Herb lets out a small whine, growling as the creature withdraws further, shuddering and still making those slower pitched screeches. When he's called back though, Herb wheels around and bolts back over towards Natsu, his tail wagging fit to come clean off his hindquarters, whimpering happily with his ears going down in a 'OH MY GOD THANK GOD FAMILIAR PERSON LET ME LICK YOUR FACE' fashion.

But let's not celebrate too much yet.

There's something important to note:

Lucy's scent is gone.

Lucy's scent is gone and there's an angry angry dragon roaring up a storm, setting the area on fire.

Natsu immediately bent down to catch herb in his arms only to suddenly tense up when he realized something very wrong had happened. His eyes widened and he turned around then the other way before feeling his blood run cold. He quickly started running back the way he came, chanting in his head over and over again Lucy's name, rushing closer to the place where the dragon him had dropped them off.

SO MANY PUPPY KISSES.

Until Natsu turns and starts running in the opposite direction, and Herb, not wanting to lose sight of family, is hot on his heels, letting out anxious little puppy barks now and then.

Back where Luna and the other Natsu are, everything, EVERYTHING is on fire. Thankfully it doesn't really seem to affect the statues, but Luna looks rather distressed between trying to figure out how to break the spell on the petrified/frozen people, and trying to figure out what got Natsu to lose his shit so badly.

On the one hand, that darkness was back and getting thicker, creeping up even faster over the trees and extending outwards. Wherever there was fire, however, it would not touch so there was a nice swath of flame in a circle around the area to keep it at bay.

Luna glanced over her shoulder when Natsu rushed in, glanced past him to the dog, then past the dog - then back to Natsu, "... where's Lucy?"

"What do you mean? I left her with you!" Natsu exclaimed his face losing a lot of its color. Natsu looked around fiercely for signs of Lucy. Immediately he started pushing all of his senses to the absolute limit, to the point that he could feel his body start to protest with how hard he was pushing his innate magical power. A dangerous process but one he started without a single moment of hesitation as both lightning and fire erupted around him in a dome of energy that radiated outwards, burning and zapping the darkness with impunity.

Herb wasn't sure about the source of agitation, though he gave the dragon a wide birth - Natsu-dragon's flames were burning white hot, his head swiveling back and forth and scanning the area. THe dragon lunged forward suddenly, heading down the same path Lucy had taken earlier - and at the same time, as you extend every single one of your senses, you can pick up Lucy's sent following in the same direction, back the way you came. Only oddly before you would come to that clearing you found Herb, the scent just _stops_. And goes... left. But towards the left there's a thich cavern wall covered, absoltuely COVERED by vegetation, bramble and - actually you can smell Justine and Nev too, much more faintly.

The instant he caught even the faintest scent, Natsu's magic retracted back inside of him only not to the point of being dispelled. Instead it was being contained for a maximum burst as he barked his command to Herb.

"Herb stay RIGHT here. The dragon me and Luna will keep you safe!" With that Natsu disappeared once again in a flash of fire and LIghtning materializing at the point where the scent seemed to divert into what he presumed had to be a cave of some sorts. But with the brambles and vegetation in the way he had no way of seeing what's inside.

However the scents he could pick up were enough for him to restrain his magic from hurting those people specifically. Everything else however was an obstacle and would soon face a full power fire lightning dragon roar as it blasted into the cave, TEARING through everything in its path and then exploding out the wall at the furthest back.

"Wha-- Hey wait a minute -!" Apparently she doesn't get a say in this! ... That's her mom too kind of. Except she and her dad have a little more to worry about with the shadowy vines getting more aggressive, some even trying to climb their way up the statues - one covers up a statue of a deer, and starts to tighten until the stone begins to crack and blood starts to seep out. "Oh god.. Dad keep that stuff away from the others..!" She would LIKE to run after Natsu but this is taking priority.

Herb started to follow after Natsu but the 'stay' superceded that. The roar was more than enough to tear into the thick rockface of the cave, ripping open an opening and utterly disintegrating the vegetation that was unfortunate enough to be close to the opening he made. Inside it was cold, though Natsu probably couldn't even feel since the opening was still burning and crackling, practically reducing the stone to a liquid mess. There are a few bats that scatter at the rude intrusion, and though the tunnels seemed to go down a long ways, the voices were still clear as day thanks to those senses.

"..ere... so cold.."

"...ed.. can't we sleep..?

"u sleep and you die. Stay awake."

"I want to go home."

Using those voices Natsu charged down the tunnel, breathing another blast of fire and lightning every now and again scorching the stone tunnel clean of any of the growth in the way. "Get the hell out of my way!" Natsu snapped eventually before another attack was launched from his mouth.

"We can't go home, Nev... not anymore. Now be quiet or that thing will come back."

"But he took her..."

"She said we'd be safe here, now Shh! Hide!"

Scampering footsteps as you draw nearer to the sound of the voices. The fire and lightning did a wonderful job at clearing the way when the shadow and even ice started creeping in. Growls follow, as the tunnel soon opens into a cavern in which there were several creatures patrolling the area, a mix of ice and shadow, clearly searching for something.

There was a thick thick armor around their bodies, some of which was already on fire - some of which had arrows sticking out of the bodies.

Oh good. Things that might actually try to fight back. Not that it will avail them any as the first creature to enter his vision gets immediately pounced on and has its head instantly obliterated by a demolition fist.

"Luuuucy! Nev!? JUSTINE!?" he roars, his voice booming through the entire cave.

"Natsu?"

"Natsu!?"

Both children pop up from where they had wedged themselves into a hiding spot - but they don't come out fully yet. Not till allt he beasties are dealt with, and there were still four left. .... ... not that they're going to last long as angry as he was. But yes, those mooks were more than eager to try to be an obstruction for Natsu - two of them snarl and lunge towards Natsu, while the remaining two turn towards where the children are hiding.

And even more faintly, there's a presence, a muffled voice that's ... not heard so much as felt.

..at..su..

The rush him and yet the instant they come within reach he grabs them both by the heads and outright detonates them with fire and lightning before launching them as makeshift firelightning balls at the remaining two.

But that's when he hears the faintest voice. So stifled. Immediately his blood runs cold.

"LUUUCYYYY!"

I'm... so tired...

There's a pair of shrieks from Nev and Justine, about to shrink back into hiding - then they definitely do so when that explosion of fire and lightning engulfs the creatures. Natsu you're being really scary right now. Awesome, but scary! The entire time that quiet voice continues, struggling the entire time, to continue speaking - to stay awake - to hold onto that sense that the person she wanted to see most was so close, so close she could see him if she just held on just a little longer. But she was so -tired-.

want to sleep...

The death screams from the creatures --w ell the first two don't even GET death screams considering they are -detonated-, shards of ice scattering everyone in bits - the things had little to no mass, but each time one is destroyed, the shadowy mist quickly retreats down a side path, leaving the constructs empty soulless husks once they've outlived their usefulness.

want to see you...

Nev and Justine peek out warily, though Nev is the one that emerges first, rushing out towards Natsu who proves time and time again that he is his idol and hero. Scary? No, not even a little. Justine on the other hand, is a TINY bit reluctant to come out of hiding, surprisingly.

"Stay close and keep up! Justine we're leaving!" Natsu barked sharply before starting off in the direction of the voice barely restraining himself from dahing off ahead and leaving the two kids behind.