Dragon's Rage: A Fairy Tail One-shot!

     Lucy was still lying in her bed within the walls of her medical room when she heard it. It echoed through her bones and touched her nerves themselves.  Despite her bruises and bandages, she sat up. The whole room shook, with things falling off the table next to her. It sounded like a large demon suddenly let loose and let out its cry of 'GRAAAAAAA!' It scared her. It didn't even sound human.

     But the silence afterward was worse.  She sat deep within it for a moment, gathering her wits together before she stood up on her shaky legs.  She headed toward the Arena, where the sound seemed to emit from.  She walked while leaning on a wall for balance. She was forced to go excruciatingly slow, for her weak and feeble legs protested with every step.

     She entered the long tunnel that emptied into the arena, with the brightness of sunlight blocking her view. She started to run out of wall, and uncontrollably leaned away. She stumbled away, and fell hard on her knees. "Ouch…" she muttered to herself as she rubbed her sore legs.  Why couldn't she hear anything when she was this close to the arena? She should still be able to hear cheering or booing of a deafening volume by now. She cast her gaze upward… into complete chaos.

     The arena was in shambles. Anybody in the first few rows of the audience seems to be unconscious. Anybody beyond that seemed to have fled. Pieces of the wall were littered around the grounds, with most pieces on fire. Sand slowly grew more and more pocketed with glass as it neared the center, where a large piece of debris sat blazing. It looked as though someone had set off a bomb. Lucy was aghast. "Wh- what happened?" A cough a bit ahead of her caught her attention.

     She recognized him. Sabertooth, she remembered him from. He had given Nastu a hard time during the whole series of the games. She crawled as best she could toward him on her damaged legs.  The sand around her was hot, but she pulled herself next to him. "Sting?" He stared straight ahead, seemly in shock. Sure, Lucy didn't have much love for any of the Sabertooth members; it was their fault she was as wounded as she was anyway, but Fairy Tail was known for quickly forgiving their enemies.
  
     She shook him. "Sting! What happened?!?" He quickly stole a glance at her. "You're the girl that Minerva beat? Why-" She him another, lighter shake to interrupt him. "What, happened?"  He grew shaky again. "Dragneel. He- I've only heard of it… I can't believe he…" The light haired Dragon Slayer trailed off.  Lucy's blood froze. "Nastu? He's around here somewhere?" Sting didn't say anything for a moment. He hadn't taken his eyes off a certain point the whole time.  Lucy followed his gaze to the larger piece of debris in the middle.
     
     Only, it wasn't the debris on fire.

     Nastu was.

     "What…. Is he…" Lucy herself trailed off. She'd never seen her dear friend look that terrifying.  She'd heard how he would sometimes get scale marks under his eyes in a serious fight, but now they echoed all over him. His eyes formed a solid white glare. His teeth had always been pointed some, but never this horrible. They grew so large that he couldn't even keep them within his lips. His nails had grown to resemble claws, and he crouched on all fours, as though he was mimicking an animal. That- was not the most noticeable, or the scariest,  feature he now possessed.

     Great wings with a matching tail flowed from him- made completely out of fire.  This tail swished around behind him , the pointed tip trailing the ground. Everywhere it moved, fire seemed to leave a trail behind it, tracing its most recent movemens. These flamed wings stayed folded by his side, flames trickling upward from the sharpest points of them.  He let his head drop close to the ground, and made a horrible snuffling sound. Apparently, he didn't like a piece of rubble, because he flung his clawed hand at it, sending it flying and crunching into a wall.

     "'Dragon's Rage'. I've only heard of it…" Sting murmured to himself. Lucy tore her sight from Nastu to look at him. "'Dragon's Rage?' What- what's that?" Sting was slow in his response. "Dragon's rage is like… Dragon Force gone wild. He releases too much Dragon Slayer magic at once, and it runs wild. It starts to consume magic at its own rate.  He couldn't stop it if he tried…. He's probably not even aware of what's going on…. and it won't end unless…." He trailed off for good.  "Unless?" Lucy prompted.

     "Dragon's Rage doesn't stop until all his magic power is gone… Once it's gone… the Dragon Slayer dies."

     Lucy couldn't believe her ears. "Nastu is… going to die?" She asked horrified. Sting may have answered her question, but it wouldn't have mattered ether way- she wasn't listening. She painfully pushed herself to her feet as her friend turned away from them, sniffing around again. She stumbled a bit as she fully stood, but stayed steady on her feet. 'At such times, emotions become strength! 'Gemini had told her once.  She was counting on that. "I can't let that happen!" she told no one as she took a step forward.  "What are you doing? He'll kill you!" Sting called after her. Step by step, her speed increased as she neared him.

     She was close enough to see that fire melted off his tail into the air when she cried out, "Nastu!!!" He turned his head with a horrible growl so deep and ragged, it sounded like a beast of nightmares than anything even close to a human noise. It was eerily similar to the one that woke her up.  She was shocked to see that his eyes weren't white. His eye lid was colored to look like an eye. His real eye was closed.  He half turned toward her before he lunged forward with his clawed hand. It connected with her gut.

     She fell like a deadweight.

    Her dear friend instantly seemed to lose interest in her once she fell. He stayed half turned to her, but he rolled his head away, a never ending growl now sounding out that seemed to strike deep within the ground itself.

     Lucy rolled from her face-down position to her side, from which she was able to push herself to a sitting position. She clutched her gut, and although it stung, His force that he struck her with was obviously greatly lessened than the amount he used against the rubble piece. The scratches, although wide, didn't feel deep.  She shook. The Nastu she knew wouldn't do this. He cared for everyone in the guild! She had to snap him out of this.

     She looked up once his terrible growling stopped. He rose to his toes, his legs spread as thought he wasn't used to standing upright. He held his arms in front of him, with his hands twisted inward like-

     -like a dragon standing on its two back legs.

     Something was coming, and Lucy knew she wasn't going to like it. She couldn't move. She shook uncontrollably. 'I have to do something! Nastu…. He's going to die if I don't!' she thought to herself. She forced herself upward as Nastu threw his head back. His fiery wings and tail disappeared. Just as Lucy took a step toward him, he let loose another deafening, demonic scream. She uttered a shriek that was quickly over powered by his own. He created a firestorm, with the eye of it surrounding them both. His shirt nearly burned completely off, although thankfully, Lucy thought, his pants did not. Lucy clutched her hand close to her heart, bit her lip, and ran forward.

     She hooked her arms around his neck, which seemed to quickly cut off his cry. The firestorm still swirled, and it raised the tempature of the air they both sucked in.  Lucy dug her head in his shoulder. She could both feel and hear his raspy breath as he sucked in air. She realized something.  She had assumed that this fire hadn't been harming him, but his skin was burning to the touch, and was obviously have just as hard of a time dealing with the air's heat as she was.  She couldn't believe that this Nastu she knew what actually hurting himself with his own fire. She took a breath and looked up.

     She nearly jumped out her skin. His colored eye lid stared straight into hers. Although she knew it wasn't really an eye, she could still feel as though it barred into her. "Nastu, please!" She begged. "This isn't you! Snap out of it!"  The colored gaze seemed a little less intense. He relaxed a bit in his standing position. She slowly saw his lashes lift a bit. Through his over-size teeth, his deep, ragged voice scrapped out a, "L… Lu-cy?" his Eye opened a bit more, until she could see the base of his iris. His legs gave out, and she awkwardly wrapped his arms around him to brace his fall.

     Now the places had switched. His head rested on her shoulder, his eyelid color returning to normal, and his teeth shrunk to a size that seemed to fit in his mouth.  He huffed in air quickly as he slumped against her.  The firestorm seemed to lessen. "Lucy?" He asked his gaze dazed, half closed, and dull. But, it was HIS gaze.  

     He suddenly looked downward. "What… how did…. You…" He managed to say, weakly trying to lift his hand to her stomach cuts that he gave her. He seemed to realize that his hand fit the marks perfectly. "I…"  The firestorm continued to weaken around them.  "It's not your fault, Nastu," She told him gently.  "I didn't get it from you," She lied.  A drop of something wet struck her face. She looked up. The storm had weakened enough of the top to be open to the sky, which now leaked rain from a bleak sky.  He looked slowly around. "I…. gotta….. stop…" He tried as he pushed off her and tried to stand.  "Nastu," Lucy protested, but he managed to stand.

     He inhaled, and started eating the flames that still swirled around them. He was acting slowly, but he was getting the job done. He gulped down the last bit, with the rain striking down with a vengeance. He smiled, and tipped over. Lucy managed to somewhat catch him, and laid him down gently on the now cool sand. She smiled as a peaceful look came over his face. A sound reached her ears from above them, slowly growing louder.  She looked up to recognize a blue winged shape tumble down from the sky calling, "Naaaaasssstuuuu!" Happy landed face-first in the sand. Lucy let loose a chuckle.  "Happy?" Nastu said, lifting his head.  Happy had adorable tears in the corners of his eyes. "Aye, Sir…!" Happy said, crawling and stuffing himself into the palm of Nastu's hand.

     Lucy relaxed. 'I saved him… Nastu won't die now!' she told herself as she leaned over and rested her forehead on his.  She listened to his breathing level out to a smooth and slow rhythm. Happy grabbed his hand in a hug and cuddled with it as Nastu stroked him with his thumb.

     She nearly fell asleep, until Happy woke her with a horrified, "Nastu!" She snapped her eyes open and leaned up. The smiled had faded from his face, and his breathing was so shallow she almost missed it. She stuck her finger on his neck, and it matched his breathing: weak and horribly slow. "Nastu! " She yelled at him. Happy cried and climbed to his shoulder. "Naaaastuuu!" He cried. Lucy slipped her hand under his head and his back, and lifted him to her lap. His head slumped limply to the side. Lucy panicked. 'What do I do? What do I do?!? If only-'she thought of something. "Happy," she ordered, "Go see if you can find Wendy around here somewhere!" Happy wiped his eyes, "A-aye!" He sped off. Lucy turned back to her dear friend dying in her lap. "Nastu!" She spoke sternly to him, "You can't go! I didn't wake you out of yourself just so you could die!" She tilted his head upward again, where the rain struck his face.  "Wake up!" When she received no response, she took his hand and placed it on her gut, hoping that he could the blood welling through her shirt. "I lied; you DID do this, and if you really want to repay me, then wake up!" She held it there for a bit, the ending of her sentence choking with tears. She waited for a response that wouldn't come. She watched his breath slow to a stop. "Nastu please!!!" she cried to him, bringing his head close to hers, once again holding them forehead-to-forehead.  "Please…" She cried, tangling her fingers in his rosy wet hair. Happy landing next to her, informing her that he couldn't find Wendy. "Nastu!" Happy choked and hugged his arm again.

    'How clichéd,' she thought bitterly. 'Someone dying in the rain' she sobbed along with Happy in the rain for their friend. She started whispering things to him. Things like, "Who's going to have a rivalry with Gray now that you're gone? Who's going to run around with him running away from Erza? Who's going to show up randomly in my apartment? Who's going to find new members in harbor cities? Who-"Her voice caught. "Who am I going give my heart to?"

     They stayed like that for a length of time that seems so short yet so long. It was the start of a life without their best and weirdest friend. It was a lifetime without their dearest partner. It was a lifetime without Nastu Dragneel, and Lucy didn't think she could stand it.

     She held him like that, him lying across her lap cradling his head with Happy squeezing his arm. Lucy cried harder than she ever remembered crying.  

     And then Happy cried out his name with a different tone of voice. Lucy looked at his face.  She couldn't figure out what was different. She laid him down on the sand.
That was when she noticed his chest moving up and down with air. She couldn't believe it. She checked by holding her wrist to his nose and mouth, and nearly squealed when she felt air movement. She checked his pulse. Steady and raising. She laughed. "Nastu!" His face twisted in pain.  "nnrg" he groaned, squeezing his eyes tight. Then, they relaxed and crack open. "Lucy?" he asked with a dry voice. She laughed and hugged him tight. "You stupid idiot! " She told him happily. "You made it!" With a spur of the moment, she leaned down and planted him a kiss. She leaned off, and laughed to see his beat red face twisted with embarrassment.  She became aware of people re-entering, with Wendy one of them, and rushing forward.  She hugged him, and just before the little dark haired girl reached earshot, he lean next to her ear and whispered smugly, "I heard everything, you know!" She hugged him tighter.

     "I'd hate to repeat myself."