Chapter 13: I can hear you

Hello minna! ♥

*sigh* chapter 397... GAJEEL, YOU HAD ONE JOB!

Okay, enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing it, so I hope you get the same experince by reading it. ^^

Also, in the multimedia I put a some fighting soundtrack for the fighting scene! I'll write when you should press play! ^^

//тнeвιѕcυιтqυeen♥

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In the giant hall Zeref sad, staring angry into a crystal ball. His fists were clenched and his eyebrows were contracted. He pressed his pointing finger against the crystal ball, and it immediately showed Elimar's face.

"Elimar Zelpeda," Zeref yelled, his face contracted in anger. It was rare for him to use Elimar's last name, so Elimar listened carefully. "Why is it that Natsu Dragneel and... friends, are walking in the forest, heading in the direction as these mountains are?" His voice was loud and made the whole room echo.

"I-I guess..." Elimar started, but couldn't quite finish the sentence. "Can you... show me who's accompanying Natsu Dragneel... master?" Zeref nodded a little calmer and clicked around on the glowing crystal ball. A light from Elimar's crystal ball lit up which meant he had gotten the footage.

"I see," Elimar said, putting a hand to his chin. "I have researched all about the Fairy Tail guild, and I must have missed this. My deep apologies, master!"

Zeref smashed his fist down in the table. "I won't forgive you until you tell me what mistake you've made!" he yelled in anger.

"Y-You see," Elimar said, sending the footage of the group walking in the forest to Zeref. "The girl with blue hair..." Zeref stopped him.

"There is three girls with blue hair, Elimar." he growled. Elimar couldn't help, but smile a little over the coincidence.

"Oh, yeah, gomene," he said. "The girl with the orange dress, walking besides the Iron Dragon Slayer... I believe her name is Levy McGarden. She uses Solid Script as her magic. She can track people to. I believe we forgot to count that in our... mission... master."

Zeref cursed under his breath. What a beginner mistake! He then took a deep breath and regained his calm expression, and smiled friendly to Elimar.

"All forgiven, my trustworthy Elimar," he closed his eyes for a second. Rethinking his plan. Elimar, on the other hand, had widened his eyes in surprise over the sudden mood swing. "Well, I didn't think it would come to this, but if they want to interfere, we have to eliminate them."

This time, it wasn't a little surprise, Elimar widened his eyes over. It was in shock. He was told that it wasn't necessary to kill people on this mission. That he could go home again with clean hands.

"I know what you're thinking," Zeref said, his face emotionless. "You want to go home from here, not dirtying your hands. But you can't, Elimar. Even if you back out now, you hands has already been dirtied. The moment you agreed on helping me with this plan, you sinned. You can not take back sins, only make them worse."

Elimar's eyes shook. A... murder? Not him! He was not a murder. But... he owed Zeref. He owed him so deeply! After that day. The day his life was on the edge. The day that Zeref saved him from eternal darkness. The thing that this world would be facing soon. Just worse.

He sighed heavily. Even his sigh shook. "I-I will help you, Master Zeref." he said. He wanted to cry. He wanted to go home to his family, but... could he even go back to them now? After all he had done... would he be forgiven?

"That's what I thought," Zeref said, smiling a calming smile. "Now go get Haichi and Delora. They'll help you. The question is... do you three stand a chance against them?"

"Don't worry, Master Zeref," Elimar exclaimed, his voice more firm now. "With Delora's illusion magic we can make copies of ourselves. And with Haichi's Nature magic we can keep them busy for a while. We can..."

"What about you?" Zeref asked, calmly. Elimar gasped not knowing what to say. His magic? That wouldn't make much of a difference.

"I can fight physically." he said, determinedly, but Zeref just giggled. Elimar looked down, his hair covering his eyes. Yeah, he couldn't fight physically.

"Elimar," Zeref said. "Have a little faith in yourself. You can fight with the magic I have granted you. It was a gift. I don't want it back, keep it." 

Elimar gave Zeref a small smile. Now he had magic to murder people with. Exiting. _______________________________________________________________________________

The rescue team was walking apace. Natsu was in the lead, Happy flying over his head. He didn't want to talk to any of them, so the rest of the team just walked a few feet behind him. Levy walked besides Wendy and Gajeel, while the two exceeds were either in Wendy's embrace, or flying above their heads. Juvia, Loke, Erza and Gray were walking a little behind Natsu, looking worried at him. Yes, even gray was a little worried. He hadn't been eating properly nor sleeping. He just continued walking determined through the beech forest.

"You do realize that you have human needs, right Flame-brain?" Gray asked after awhile of walking in silence.

"Yeah, but so does Lucy," Natsu muttered, not looking back as he talked. "And I don't know what is happening to her right now." 

Gray facepalmed, accepting that Natsu only thought about Lucy at the moment. It made him smirk too, though. Those too surely had chemistry, but they were both to dense to realize.

Suddenly Gajeel stopped up. A few seconds after Natsu did the same.

"You smell it too, don't you, Salamander," Gajeel said, sniffing the air. "Yes I do, Wendy."

"Yes, I do," Wendy said, standing in a fight position. "It's... familiar." Gajeel looked confused at Wendy. It didn't smell familiar to him.

All of the non-dragon slayers looked confused at each other. "Can you please explain what's going on?" Loke asked, standing in a fight position.

"There is people here, somewhere," Natsu answered, walking a little closer to the group. "Actually... three people! One of them we know."

Juvia and Gray took position too, while Loke just adjusted his glasses and smirked. He was ready for this!

Levy hid behind Gajeel. Not that she was that scared, but if all of the three people were as strong as Elimar was, then she didn't stand a chance.

"Shrimp," Gajeel mumbled, not looking down at her. "I know you can fight. I've seen that. Show me again, please."

Levy looked stunned at Gajeel for a moment, until she decided to let go and take position. Gajeel let out a small "Geehee".

"Finally we get to kick some ass," Gajeel exclaimed, grinning. Natsu struck his knuckles together and smirked. The others smiled too. It was a while since he had smiled.

Out of nowhere, a shining light appeared in front of them. It was golden, and the original Team Natsu immediately recognized the light. Elimar.

The light began to stretch a little bit, and as had the height of an average person, three persons stepped out of it. The one in the lead was Elimar. The two in the back was Haichi and Delora, whom the team had never met.

"Long time, no see, Fairy Tail," Elimar said, striking out friendly arms. "This is Delora and Haici. They will accompany me today. Well-" He was cut off by an angry Dragon Slayer.

"Enough of the small talk," Natsu growled, lighting his hands on fire. "Where is Lucy? Where are her memories?"

Elimar let out a chuckle. "Like I am going to tell you that."

As Natsu was about to jump at Elimar, a firm hand was put on his shoulder. "Eh?"

"Natsu," Erza said from behind him. "Take Happy, Lily, Gajeel, Levy and Loke with you, and go after Lucy. Wendy, Gray and I will keep them busy."

"Why do you always get to fight?" Natsu mumbled, sulking, but he immediately gestured to Gajeel, Levy and Loke to follow him. They did as they were told, and left Gray, Wendy and Erza behind.

“I don't think so," Elimar said, lifting both of his hands over his head. Golden light appeared from them, and his body slowly began to turn into mist.

((A/N just start the music now))

"Stop!" Erza yelled at him, but as she was about to run up to him, but a vine stopped her by winding around her foot. "What the...?" Haichi had used her Nature magic. More vines began wind around Erza's legs and as she looked up Elimar was long gone, following the others.

"Ice Make;" Gray yelled from behind Erza. "Saucer!" A spinning ice disk appeared from Gray's hands, and cut through the vines around Erza's legs.

As Erza was free, she stepped back and stood beside Gray, Juvia and Wendy. "You are outnumbered. You can just as well give up!" she exclaimed, smirking slightly.

Haichi and Delora exchanged motivated looks. "Are we? I didn't even notice," Delora exclaimed, grinning. She lifted both of her hands in the air. "Illusion lucra; Haichi Bressen and Delora Emberdane. Forty!" About forty copies of each Delora and Haichi, surrounded the group.

"S-So many..." Wendy gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. "Do... they all use the same magic?" The Haichi's heard that question.

"Knuckle Plant!" They all yelled in unison. Hundreds of vines with clenched fists appeared from the ground, and stormed in the teams direction.

"Water Slicer!" Juvia yelled, and sent a hoard of sharp water slices off. Only a few seconds later Gray did the same, just with Ice Lances.

Erza changed into her Morning Star Armor and pulled her two swords. With all of her might she started attacking the vines. Green juice from the cut off vines, sprayed everywhere. After two minutes of cutting vines she thought she had succeeded. How wrong she was. From behind she was hit by a dozen of the fists and let out a yelp as she was pushed forward and fell on her chest. Before she could get up again, she was hit again, while laying on the ground. She let out a cry.

Wendy wasn't fighting the fists. She was standing where there were the most Delora's. They all smiled evilly to her, and she felt scared. Which one was the real one? Both of her fists were clenched and ready to attack.

Carla was flying a little over Wendy's head, trying to avoid the fists. Suddenly she was hit by a fist in the back, and was cast aside. With a quietly yelp, she hit the ground, her sight blurry.

"Carla!" Wendy yelled, running after her friend, but she was stopped. 

"Power of Illusion," ten of the Delora's exclaimed. "Deaths voices!" Pink mist surrounded Wendy, and she did her best to hold breath, but after a while she had to do something. The pink mist made her tear up. 

"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy yelled, air shooting out of her mouth, hitting both the mist and the Delora's. The mist disappeared, but she had already inhaled some of it when she attacked. It can't be that bad now can it? she thought and kept on fighting the copies. She looked back on her friend who was on her feet again. It hadn't been that bad of a hit.

Back to back, Juvia and Gray fought. Ice Lances, Water slices and other H2O based magic was thrown out in the air, but it was never enough. Either their feet were bounded together by vines or they held their breath from the pink mist. 

"Gray-sama..." Juvia gasped as she breathed again. "We should... do the unison raid." Gray turned to her with an impressed face.

"Why didn't I think of that?" he said in amuse. He took Juvia's hand, which made her blush madly. "Ready?"

Juvia nodded and squeezed Gray's hand. "Magic Power Fusion!" they yelled in unison. "Unison Raid!" An abundance of ice and water, danced in the air and fell with a hard pressure. The small, sharp pieces of ice hit the copies, and as they were hit their bodies disappeared into a cloud of sparkling glitter.

Gray and Juvia nodded, satisfied with the outcome. But there were still a few copies back, and among those copies, the real Haichi and Delora stood. 

Erza was back on her feet again. It had been a hard hit, and the fists had hit a weak spot on Erza's spine. It had even hurt through the armor!

Just as there weren't that many copies back, the rest of the Delora's lifted their hands. "Illusion lucra; Haichi Bressen and Delora Emberdane. Forty!"  A new hoard of copies surrounded them, and the whole team gasped, both in exhausting and shock.

"N-Not again," Wendy exclaimed, weakly. She was leaning against a tree, half resting. "I feel... so..." But she stopped as she heard a familiar voice. It was faint and weak, and came from nowhere. Roubaul? Wendy thought, searching for the voice. Where is he? Isn't he dead? ((A/N Roubaul is the old man that Wendy used to think was the master of her old "guild"))

"Wendy," Carla asked, worried. "What are you looking after? We're in the middle of a fight!"

"I heard Roubaul's voice," Wendy exclaimed, standing up, weakly. "I heard him! I'm sure of that! You should have heard him too!" The voice sounded again, this time a little stronger. "Roubaul, where are you?"

"Wendy you shouldn't stand up yet," Carla cried, trying to get Wendy to sit down. "We don't even know what the Pink Mist, did yet. It could..." But then it hit Carla. Deaths voices. Dead people's voices! It was an illusion to get Wendy of guard!

"Wendy, listen," Carla said, flying up in front of Wendy's face. "It's an illusion, they are trying to distract you!"

"No, I head his voice loud and-" five Vine Knuckles came from the side, and hit Wendy's rib cage and back. Wendy was cast aside with cry, and landed on back, half unconscious.

It's no use. Wendy thought. She could hear Carla's worried, high-pitch voice, but she couldn't see her friend. T-They are too strong. _______________________________________________________________________________

"Can any of you smell Lu-chan's scent?" Levy asked, walking a little behind Gajeel. They were close to the mountains, nearly out of the forest.

"No," Natsu grunted, crossing his arms. "I can't even smell the different tree's right now! It's like... something is blocking it." Levy looked up at Gajeel, who was nodding in agreement.

Pantherlily and Happy was flying over the tall treetops, looking for a possible hideout. From where they were walking they could see the mountain. They were really close, and it would only take half an hour to climb it, with two exceeds and three people. 

"Oi, Loke," Natsu said, worried, looking at the weak spirit, walking besides him. "You look really pale. I really think that you should go back. You can always come back out again."

Loke smiled and adjusted his glasses. "Thanks for the concern, Natsu, but it doesn't work that way," He sighed. "If I go back now, it'll only take a few seconds, from the spirit world, before you made it to the building. I can't regain my strength on a few seconds."

Natsu put his hands to his chin. "What about... hmm..." Natsu mumbled. "What about I promise you that I'll save Lucy for you. I'm sure Lucy wanted you to go back too."

The last sentence made Loke's eyes widened. "Y-Yeah your right," Loke muttered, looking down. "I should go back... Take good care of Lucy's keys for me, will ya?"

"Of course," Natsu said, giving Loke a thumbs up and smirked. "Get better, okay?" And as Loke disappeared, noise came from above them.

"Natsuu~" Happy cried as the two exceeds appeared from the sky. "Natsu, we can see a gray building on the mountain! I think Lucy's in there!" Natsu sent Happy a wide smile.

"Good work you two," Levy said, sweetly. "How do we get up there? We don't have any climbing e-" Levy let out a high-pitched whine as Gajeel picked her up, bridal-style.

"Lily," Gajeel said, turning to his partner. "Can you turn into your Battle Mode form, and carry me and Shrimp to the top of the mountain?"

"My name is Levy!" Levy exclaimed, pouting. Lily and Gajeel chose to ignore her.

"Yes, I will," Lily said. He turned his gaze to Natsu and Happy. "Happy, you'll carry Natsu to the top, alright?"

"Aye, siiir~" Happy sang, lifting up Natsu.

"Let's go!" Lily exclaimed, turning into his Battle Mode form. He then took Gajeel, who was carrying Levy, and began flying.

What they didn't know was that they were watched. From the shadow of a tree, a familiar figure stood, listening.

"Be careful, I can hear every word you said," the figure said, knowing that they couldn't hear him. "Let's see who make it to the top first, Natsu Dragneel." Then the figure disappeared once again. _______________________________________________________________________________

Will they make it in time to save Lucy?

Stay tuned for the next chapter: It's time