29: Getting Real

"Flameface, get the hell out of my way!"

"You're the shitface who ran into me, you get lost!"

"Are your senses broken?! I was going this way, you're the one who came barreling my way!"

"HUH?! I think your eyes-"

"Guys, stop! Oh godddd…"

"Internal squabble? You really are children."

"Shut up, asshole!"

Natsu summoned up a flaming fist, smaller than his usual albeit still a huge improvement from before. The fire dragon slayer pounded across the room and leapt up into the air-

Only to find himself suddenly encased in a block of ice as he came plummeting back to the ground. The huge chunk of solid coldness thunked heavily to the ground, and the figure inside found himself frozen in to leaping stance, his eyes staring at the badly demolished structure of the ceiling above. His flame extinguished, Natsu turned his evil eye to the only one in the room who could have done it. Grunting, he managed the force the glacier onto the side where he glared up at Gray from his recumbent position.

"The fuck you do that for?!"

Natsu roared as he exerted out his energy and in a sudden burst of bright flame, the ice around him shattered and sublimated into glimmering particles that faded into the grit in the air.

"Didn't you hear what Droy said, stupid? We can't push the guy too far! Are you trying to exhaust Lucy further?"

Natsu's expression shuttered for a moment, before his eyes opened again, revealing stormy dark eyes. From his clenched fists, it was clear that he was warring with himself.

"Am I just supposed to watch him as he continues sucking the life out of her then?!"

"Just don't speed it up, geez." Gray grumbled.

"Broken words a fallen reign makes."

"Shut up, old man.

"So? What are you going to do now? Your friend is right you know, even if you don't make me use my magic, the energy link transfer is still active."

Gray folded his arms in a contemplative manner, silent for a moment, before he turned to Droy.

"Droy, you said that Levy was there?"

"Yeah, I ran into her, Gajeel and Jet on the way here."

"We'll just have to wait then." The brunette noted.

"What?! Are you serious?!" Natsu sprang forward, stupefied.

"What else can we do?" Gray commented, his tone somewhat defeated. "None of us are the particularly brainy type, that's Lucy and Levy. One's out of commission, and the other is already working on it."

"But-!"

"Do you trust Levy, Natsu?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then trust her. Lucy is as important a friend to Levy as she is to all of us, including myself. I'm not making this decision lightly, but for now, just wait."

"…This is hell."

"Don't need to tell me twice."

Silence fell over the room for a heavy few minutes, and the dust in the air settled to the ground as the smoke from the destruction cleared somewhat. Now that the visibility had cleared up a little, Droy could clearly see for the first time since he had entered the great hall, the full extent of damage his fellow mages had caused.

The general structure of the space seemed to have been forcefully warped, the pillars and crossbeams destroyed and barely standing, and the floor appeared to have been bulldozed over. No matter how many times he witnessed it, the aftermath of an all-out fight involving his guild's most powerful and reckless mages always took his breath away.

He wondered how a mage as delicate as Lucy had even ended up in Team Natsu in the first place, though by this point, he could not think of a better team for the blonde to have ended up in. That thought made him smile, and he glanced up at the fire dragon slayer from where he sat in the corner of the room.

Natsu was pacing the space beside him, grunting with impatience and barely held in distaste at having been forced to wait. His pink hair ruffled in the drafts crossing through the new holes in the hall, and his expression was growing more martial with each second that passed.

"Well, gentlemen, since we're now at an impasse of sorts, why not we just take a seat, everybody."

"Don't think this is over, bastard. As soon as the link between you and Luce is broken, I'm going to rip you a new one. Gray, this guy is mine."

"I am looking forward to that and- what the?"

The glowing band of inscriptions on his arms suddenly glowed even brighter than before, as if it had been lit from within with the light of the sun itself. For a moment the guys feared that the transfer had somehow been powered up instead but from Hegem's expression, it became clear that this was not something that he had expected… or wanted.

"What did I say, Flamebrain? Levy will come through."

"Hmph."

The pinkette's reply conveyed dissatisfaction but his expression was growing into a smirk. He stopped pacing and instead planted his feet firmly apart. He slammed one first into the other, the sharp sounds of his knuckles cracking resounding clearly throughout the hall.

"Get ready to have your ass kicke- gwaugh!"

His guildmates watched, stunned, as Natsu suddenly found himself flying back into the wall almost 20 feet away. The pinkette blinked as the single thin vine snaked through the air, retracting back into the palm of the older man.

"Wow." Hegem stared at his own hand in disbelief. "What did your friend do? That surge was amazing."

"What the frack?! What did the midget power him up for?!" Natsu yelled as he sprang back onto his feet, only to curse and leap sideways when a second vine pierced through the gaps in the stone floor, narrowly missing stabbing through his arm. "The guy's gotten crazy fast!"

"Uhm…" Gray was barely reining in laughter as he watched Natsu jump from side to side, cartwheeling out of the trajectories of the relentless attacks.

"Fuck you, Iceface!" Natsu yelled back. "Godamnit Levy!"

"I thought you said you were going to handle him yourself, Mr. Hothead?"

"I am! Fire Dragon's roar!"

A stream of lava-hued flames rocketed from within his mouth, incinerating the cage of vines dancing around him. Natsu crashed through the burnt structure, sending it crumbling into ashes at his feet as he dashed for Hegem. His sharp senses picked up a whistling sound from behind and he sidestepped in the nick of time to avoid the arrows of branches that came flying past his ear, barely nicking the tips of his hair.

"DROY!"

"Y-Yeah!"

"Get over to Levy and tell her to stop messing around or I'm going to personally kick her butt!"

"Gotcha!"

The plant mage hurried from the room with a speed that belied his size, whipping past the Ice mage who was still watching the fight unfold with almost sadistic glee.

"You need help, Flameface?"

"Fuck you!"

Gray snickered. "If you say so."

"That did what?! Damn, I must have misinterpreted something!" Levy groaned as she blew the loose lock of blue hair from over her face.

"That's rare." Erza noted, from where she stood guard just in case the enemy Queen decided to try anything funny again.

The redheaded mage had decided not to put her at the working end of her swords again when the woman had literally thrown herself in between the Requip mage and the sorely defeated Sphere mage. From how Araya had fiercely stood her ground between the blade and Vasuta, who had lain beaten on the ground, Erza was not able to find it in herself to land the final blow. Despite the burning need for vengeance against each and every one of the mages who had hurt her comrades, the Queen's act had surprised, and impressed, her.

Next to the Queen lay Vasuta, a dark quivering mass that huddled close to Lora, who had shown up minutes. The frizzle-haired mage was also not in a state to take on Erza, let alone Erza and Gajeel, who was sorely itching for a fight. Lora, albeit hesitantly, had admitted that unlike Vasuta, she was unable to perform possession. That was a magic only a few of the Sphere mages were capable of, though it came a high price.

While extremely rare, there would be time in her home village that a deformed child would be produced. A freak of nature to their people, the child would possess no material form of its own, and was considered to be a half-born, for it had only half the body a child normally had – the part that was the shadow. Most half-borns were killed upon birth, or died eventually, but Vasuta had been fortunate, for she had been produced a few days just before the landslide had killed off the village. Only two had managed to survive the horrific incident, two sisters, one barely old enough to walk, and the other still swaddled in baby-cloth. Somehow, the young child had managed to take her sibling, making the arduous journey all the way to the nearest town by herself.

The rest was history and Lora remained fiercely protective of her sister.

Erza watched the trio warily as she made her way over to Lucy. The blonde was recumbent on the floor, her position only made somewhat comfortable by Levy's tiny backpack underneath her head. She was conscious, but clearly exhausted, as a fresh sheen of sweat beaded on her brow.

"You ok, Lucy?"

"Mmhmm. Just really… tired…"

"Don't go to sleep. In your condition-"

"I won't. Natsu and all you guys are fighting for me. I am not going to give in."

The steadfastness in her voice gave Erza strength, but only a little, and the redhead stroked Lucy's head.

"That's my girl... Levy, how long?"

"Almost… got it…"

The blunette was scribbling in a fresh row of inscriptions in the air, her eyes getting wider and more excited as she wrote. "I think this is it… just a few more…"

Erza turned to Jet. "Go tell Natsu and Gray to get ready."

"Right on."

Gray Fullbuster leaned back into the pillar behind him and crossed his arms. The fight appeared to be putting the dragon slayer at a disadvantage but he had seen all too many times Natsu stand victorious in fights way worse and a whole lot more dangerous than this. He was not in the least bit worried. Though...

The Ice Mage barely flexed a muscle as he exerted out a sudden burst of cold air all around him. The vines that had been sneaking around the pillar towards him immediately shattered into ice crystals. Slanting a look at the older man, Gray watched Hegem's expression tighten.

"I'm respecting Natsu's wishes by leaving you to him. I suggest you give him the respect he deserves."

"So you'd rather put your friend's life at risk then? What good is pride if the guy's dead?"

"Dead?" Gray barked out a sharp laugh. "What are you talking about? Look carefully, old man."

His words were replied to by a furious gasp, as the tree mage looked around him. Despite the rapid speed with which he had been propagating his attack vines, all of them were now blackened ashes on the ground. Natsu was hurtling straight for him, his flaming fist poised to punch, and the mage hurriedly crossed his arms. A wave of thick vines burst through the ground to barricade him but they did not hold fast.

As Natsu's furious punch burned its way through the wall of plants, they disintegrated rapidly, crumbling before him and leaving the older mage completely exposed. Hegem almost fell back to avoid the sudden rush of heat before him, the air around him crackling with the flames that rippled from Natsu's skin. He did not fall however, for Natsu gripped his clothing firmly, bringing the older man lower down towards his own face.

"Got you."

"What can you do?" Hegem laughed, though his voice was tinged with the slightest showing of fear. "Your precious friend is still linked to me, if you do anything to hurt me, you're likely to kill her too."

"Don't underestimate Levy, Hegem. She's one of our own."

The older man glanced down, his eyes widening in horror as he finally noticed that above them floated a series of runes. They were being written before his eyes, and every second saw a new one appearing at the end of the trail, the strokes of each character written with amazing speed but at the same time, with careful precision.

"What the hell is this?"

Natsu smirked and flames burst from his fist again, enveloping his entire arm in a fiercely glowing heat.

"Levy finally got it right."

The runes, now having been completed, closed over Hegem's arm, the invisible string upon which they were lined up tightening like a hangman's noose. They wrapped themselves, rows upon rows of ancient scripts, like a snake coiling around the mage's skin, before sinking into his arm and disappeared.

The very instant after the band of inscriptions signifying the link between Hegem and the Celestial Mage disappeared, Natsu Dragneel's fist connected with the mage's face. Behind him, Jet dashed into the room, waving his arms wildly.

"Guys! Guys! Levy got the-"

"Chill, Jet." Gray chuckled as he gestured towards Natsu with a single outstretched thumb. "He knows."

Hegem's entire body appeared almost as if it had been subsumed into the ground, the weight of the fire dragon's slayer single blow heavy. There seemed to be a note of finality to the attack, but the tree mage was made of sturdier things than that. He had survived for too long, cheated death too many times to be taken out like this. His eyes flew open, fury burning within their orbs and the mage flicked his hand upwards.

Immediately a copse of trees crashed through the ground, demolishing it further as it sank into itself. Natsu jumped back as he watched the enemy be lifted off the ground from where he sat at the crown of the small forest. From where he knelt atop his throne, he glowered down at the pinkette. He was inwardly thankful that the other mage, the dark-haired one, seemed content letting his friend go wild. This mage was even more stubborn that he could have imagined, pulling forth intense flames despite the fact that his magic origins had been restrained.

Was this what a Fairy Tail mage was like?

Hegem glared at his own arm, where the energy link band no longer glowed. Where it had been there was now a blackish mark, as if the band had literally been scorched off his skin. in front of him, Natsu was grinning.

"Now the real fight begins. Come on, I don't have any time to waste on you."

Job hunting is a real pain the ass.

Sammie.