Chapter 15: Quarter Of An Hour And Ticking

Previously...

Erza scanned the crowd for anyone who was missing or who could have been left behind. She moved her eyes back and forth, but she couldn't find Ramza anywhere. Natsu and Happy were not visible as well.

"Hey!" Gray moved next to her. "You seen Ramza and Natsu?"

"No, I haven't." Erza shook her head. "Where could they be?"

Currently...

Ramza followed Natsu as they both trudged up the rocky mountain. Ramza looked around nervously, shifting his eyes from place to place.

"Uh, Natsu?" Ramza asked worriedly.

"Yeah?"

"You sure this is alright?"

"It's fine."

Natsu pulled along his prisoner, a random member of the Phantom Lord guild who he snatched up when he and Ramza ran out of the guild. Said prisoner was now squirming against Natsu's hold as he tried to escape his clutches.

"Let me go!" Demanded the prisoner.

"Alright pal." Natsu growled, "Where is she?"

"Yeah." Ramza looked at him. "Tell us where Lucy is."

"How should I know?" The captured member scowled, "I don't know who Lucy i-"

Flames erupted from Natsu's hand, covering the man in a blanket of hot orange. He screamed in agony as his clothes caught on fire.

"Woah man!" Ramza exclaimed, "Don't roast the guy!"

"Hmph." Natsu grunted, then glared at his prisoner. "Start talking!"

"I'm serious! I don't know nothing, man!" The captive said in between shouts of pain, "Please put out the fire!"

"I swear, if anyone of you Phantom Lord guys hurt another one of my friends, I'll burn you all into ashes!" Natsu snarled.

Natsu sent out another burst of flame, making the captive scream. "I told you! I don't know anything about this Lucy chick! If I did, I would have told you by now!"

"Funny you should mention that." Natsu loomed over him, "Because I thought that I should have burned you to a crisp by now!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

"Isn't this a little over the top?" Ramza sweatdropped.

"Argh!" The Phantom Lord member strained against Natsu's grip. "Our headquarters are just up ahead! If I had to guess, they probably got her locked up there!"

"You should have said that in the first place!" Natsu shouted.

He then punched him in the face, knocking him out. The captive was still surrounded by fire, so Ramza cast an Aqua spell to douse the flames with water.

"Man, that guy's really not smart." Natsu said.

"I could say the same about you!" Happy put in.

"What did you say?" Natsu raised a fist at Happy.

"There!" Ramza pointed ahead to a building that blended with the mountain. It was large, and seemed to be like a miniature castle.

"C'mon!" Natsu ran towards the building, Happy flying beside him. "Lucy must be there!"

Ramza sprinted to catch up to them. As they moved in closer, their eyes locked on to a human that fell from the topmost part of the building. A golden glimmer of hair instantaneously identified the falling person as their friend.

"That's her!" Ramza shouted, "She's falling!"

"Lucy!" Natsu began to run as fast as he could, then leaped off a large boulder. He spread out his arms, catching her as she fell. They then crashed on a wall, creating a cloud of dust where they landed.

"Woah, it's raining Lucys!" Happy said cheerfully.

"You guys okay?" Ramza walked towards them.

"Yeah, just jumped in time." Natsu answered.

"Thanks. I knew you guys would come and save me." Lucy said, voice cracking.

"You're tied up." Ramza took the tanto from inside his coat and cut her binds. Lucy rubbed her wrists, feeling her freedom.

"Well, that's good. We better head back to the guild!" Happy said.

"What? That's their headquarters!" Natsu protested, "Let's get 'em!"

"We can't!" Happy refused. "Erza told us to retreat!"

"That's 'cause she's a wimp! I'll face all those guys if I have to! Ramza here can help us too!" Natsu insisted.

"You saw what they did to the master!" Happy countered.

"Exactly! That's why I want to get revenge!"

"We aren't strong enough to fight them on our own!"

"What did you say?"

"I said we can't!"

"I heard you the first time!"

"But everybody's hurt!"

"Me and Ramza aren't!"

"Nab's got a broken arm!"

"So what? He's not here anyway!"

"Macao's beat up too!"

"Yeah, 'cause he's an old man!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

Natsu and Happy swiveled their heads to Lucy, whose broken tone of voice seemed to bring them out of their argument. Ramza's eyebrows furrowed in worry as he noticed that she isn't looking as cheerful as she usually did.

"All of this... Everything... It's all my fault..." Lucy sobbed.

"But I don't want to leave! I want to stay with you guys!" Lucy faced them, her tears flowing down like waterfalls of sorrow. "Because I love being in Fairy Tail!"

"You're crying!" Natsu said, concerned.

"What's wrong?" Ramza asked.

"You can tell us..." Happy said softly.

Lucy just hugged herself tightly and sobbed, letting her tears stain the ground.

"You don't have to leave, you're one of us!" Natsu said.

"Let's just go back to the guild." Ramza put in.

"Yeah, okay." Natsu rubbed the back of his head, agreeing.

Ramza then bent down, offering Lucy his hand. "C'mon. Time to get up."

"Remember, Ramza. Girls are delicate." Happy advised.

"I know that." He then glanced at Natsu. "Then, you can stay on his back. Is that okay, man?"

"Sure." He then carried Lucy on to his back without a word of protest.

She too, fell silent, not counting her quiet sniffles. No one said a word on their way back to Fairy Tail, the atmosphere too heavy to talk about anything.

When they arrived, Lucy immediately broke down and told them everything. From her being the daughter of the esteemed Heartfillia family, to the Phantom Lord guild hunting her down for her father. She looked downcast as she spoke in a depressed tone, as if resigned to her fate.

"It's just... All my fault..." Lucy said, downhearted.

"Being targeted by dangerous people is just one of the downsides of being rich." Elfman said nonchalantly, "Least you're protected by a real man, like me!"

Gray scowled at him. "Hey, would you give it a rest?"

Happy looked up at the crestfallen Lucy. "I gotta say, I was shocked when I heard the news. Why'd you hide the truth from us, Lucy?"

"I wasn't trying to hide anything!" Lucy said, desperate. "I mean, there's no way to bring up that I'm a runaway in casual conversation, can you? I've been gone for a year and my father hasn't cared. Now all of a sudden, he wants me to come home? He's done all those terrible things just to get me to go back!"

She closed her eyes, stopping her tears from falling again. "I hate his guts!"

Lucy looked aside. "Still, if I hadn't run away in the first place, none of this would have ever happened!"

Elfman snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. You're dad's the one to blame."

"Dude!" Ramza glared at him.

Elfman flinched. "I mean, it's Phantom's fault!"

"Now, I'm the one who brought trouble to the guild and it's because of my own selfish choices." Lucy said in a broken tone, "I'm so very sorry... I'm just gonna go back home and hopefully this'll be all over with..."

Natsu crossed his arms. "I dunno about that."

"I can't see you playing the part of the pretty princess sitting around in your mansion." Natsu continued, "Laughing with us in this filthy guild hall, going on adventures even if you freak out all the time, that's who you really are. You said you wanted to stay with us, right? Why would you ever go back to the place you ran away from?"

"C'mon, who're you trying to kid? You're Lucy of Fairy Tail." Natsu grinned. "No more runnin', 'cause you belong here with us."

All of the memories that Lucy made with her friends flashed before her, and her eyes welled water that rolled down her cheeks.

"Don't cry, it's just not like you." Gray rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, we'd like to see you as the cheerful person you are." Ramza added.

"True men are weak to womanly tears!" Elfman wailed, crying as well.

"S-sorry..." Lucy sobbed.

Ramza looked at his friend and sent a small smile at her, trying to make her feel better somehow. He then only noticed the groans from around the guild basement; many members of Fairy Tail were bandaged and patched up, wounded from their assault on Phantom Lord. The ones who weren't too hurt, however, were tending to different tasks.

Macao spread a map on a table and planned positions for the next attack. Wakaba put explosive lacrimas in a bag, grumbling about how he would use them against Phantom. Cana consulted her cards for the position of a man called Mystogan, but she just threw them aside when she couldn't get anything. Mirajane was talking to a blonde haired man through an orb, who Ramza realized was Laxus. He said a few words that Ramza couldn't hear, but Laxus had a smug face on and laughed.

The connection was abruptly halted when Mirajane smashed the orb with her fist.

"How could someone in Fairy Tail be so heartless and cruel?" She turned, revealing that she was crying. "I can't just sit here and watch! I have to join the others and fight!"

Cana intervened. "Wait, Mira! Don't be ridiculous!"

Mira's tears did not stop falling. "I feel totally useless being stuck here in the guild hall! I wanna help!"

Cana held her back. "I understand, but you'll only get in the way as you are now, even if you were once an S-class wizard."

Mirajane just looked at her with tears in her eyes, but suddenly, the guild shook.

Ramza was startled. "An earthquake?"

"What's going on?" Gray demanded.

Alzack rushed into the basement. "Outside!"

Everyone who was able to do so ran out of the guild basement to see something huge coming their way from the ocean. Ramza had to do a double take: it was the Phantom Lord headquarters, with spider-like legs jutting out of its side, giving it the ability to traverse the sea toward them like a gigantic robot.

"What- What is that?" Natsu asked, eyes widening.

"It's the freaking Phantom Lord headquarters!" Ramza shouted.

The said headquarters made the ground rumble again as it took a large step forward.

"I never anticipated this..." Erza stared at the walking guild hall in shock, "I can't believe they would go to such extremes to attack us!"

The Phantom Lord headquarters stopped, and lowered themselves down into the sea until they floated like an island. The front of it rolled down like a curtain, revealing a large cylinder. The cylinder then extended to about five times its original length, and was poised towards the Fairy Tail guild. Dark matter then materialized like a dark ball on its end, making revving noises as the ball grew.

Ramza realized what was happening. "That's a cannon! And it's going to fire!"

Erza turned frantically to all of her guild mates. "Get out of here! Run!"

She then dashed forward, her entire body glowing. When the light faded, she was wearing an extremely plated piece of armor. Deep blue and silver colored it, making her look like a juggernaut of a knight. Layers of metal stacked against each other, it was a highly defensive requip armor in Erza's arsenal. She also wielded a half of a gigantic shield in each of her arms, adding to her armor.

"What are you doing?" Gray shouted.

"Protecting the guild!" Erza shouted back.

"That's her adamantine armor!" Happy said.

"Is she going to try to block the shot?" Bisca asked, shocked.

"But there's no way her armor is going to hold a blast that strong!" Alzack exclaimed.

"You're just risking your life! This is ridiculous!" Wakaba strained.

"Stay back!" Erza screamed.

"Erza!" Natsu reached for her, but Gray pulled him back.

"We're not gonna be able to stop her! We just need to have faith in her!" Gray yelled into his ear.

"No..." Ramza faltered.

Lucy just looked at what was unfolding in fear.

A loud blast erupted from the cannon, firing a beam of transparent but intense energy at the Fairy Tail guild. At this, Erza linked together her two halves, creating a tough and large metal shield in front of her. A cyan magic circle appeared in front of the shield, coating everything nearby in a soft, blue glow. It expanded to nearly four times in size as it connected with the shot from the Phantom Lord cannon.

When it hit, a large and magical protective shield surrounded the Fairy Tail guild and its members, originating from Erza's shield. The ground shook as Erza withstood the attack, making every other guild member brace themselves for the worst. For a moment she seemed to hold the attack just fine, but the sound of Erza's defense cracking said otherwise. Her shield grew a large gash in it, and her armor started to break. Just as the cannon fire ended, Erza was sent flying by the force of the shot, and her armor and shield shattered.

As the glow of her magic circle faded, she fell down to a stop on the ground.

"I can't believe it." Macao looked at Erza. "She actually managed to stop it."

"Once again, Erza's the manliest one in the guild." Elfman grunted.

Cana pointed. "Yeah, but look."

"Erza!" Ramza ran towards Erza, who was breathing heavily on the ground.

"You okay?" Natsu followed him, "Say something!"

Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted them. It came from the Phantom Lord headquarters.

"Makarov has fallen." The voice boomed, "And now Erza can no longer stand. Any chance of victory has slipped through your fingers. Surrender Lucy Heartfillia immediately. You have no choice."

"That's not gonna happen!" Alzack shouted.

"Like any guild would give up one of our own to a monster like you!" Bisca added.

"Ya hear that? Lucy's staying put!" Macao yelled.

The entirety of Fairy Tail shouted in agreement.

"I won't ask again!" The voice snarled.

In the midst of the crowd, Lucy shook. She whimpered as she looked around at all of her guild mates, not one of them willing to let her go.

"Maybe I should go with them," Lucy whispered to herself, almost crying, "Give myself up."

"We would never betray her like that! You'd have to kill us first!" Erza screamed. She stood shakily, still wounded from her defense of the guild. Nonetheless, her words carried a weight that moved Lucy to tears, despite her trying to hold the tears back.

"Don't ask again, 'cause we're not gonna give you any other answer!" Natsu glared at the Phantom Lord headquarters with such hate that veins popped from his forehead. "We're taking every one of you jerks down!"

"I see you all want a second helping of Jupiter!" The voice shouted, "You have fifteen minutes to ponder the folly of your actions!"

"That's not a lot of time..." Ramza said.

"What do we do?" Cana asked, worry in her voice.

"They're gonna fire at us again?" Loke said, disbelievingly.

Suddenly, Erza slumped down to the ground and closed her eyes.

"Oh no!" Gray glanced back at her, "She's out, and she's the only reason we're all standing after that first shot! "

Not long after, hordes of shadowed cloaks that had blood red eyes came out of the windows of the Phantom Lord headquarters. They looked like black specters, and hovered above the Fairy Tail members, creating ghostly shadows on them.

"You're in quite a quandary, aren't you, Fairy Tail?" The voice drawled. "There are only two ways this situation can play out. Either my troops will tear you apart, or you'll be blown away by Jupiter!"

"You serious?" Macao's jaw dropped. "If he does so, he'll fire at his own men!"

"Ah, I'm sure he's bluffing." Wakaba laughed.

"No, I don't think so. He'll actually do it." Cana put in. "Those phantom soldiers are created by Jose's shade magic. They aren't human, so they won't matter to him if they're destroyed."

Cana scowled. "And we got that Jupiter cannon to deal with."

Natsu raised his fists. "I'm going to smash that thing to pieces! I only have fifteen minutes to wreck it, right?"

Cana nodded.

"Alright." Natsu then began running towards the Phantom Lord headquarters. "C'mon, Happy!"

The blue cat flew next to him and picked him up, granting Natsu flight. "Aye, sir!"

"Ramza! Elfman!" Gray ran and followed Natsu's lead. "We're gonna storm the place too!"

"Got it!" Ramza summoned his bow into his hand as he ran to catch up.

"Oh yeah!" Elfman didn't lag behind.

"And we'll stay here to protect the guild hall!" Cana flicked her hands and held cards in each of them. "Are the rest of you with me?"

The guild shouted in agreement.

"Lucy, come with me." Mirajane then pulled the blonde aside.

"What're they doing?" Ramza looked back at them.

"I'm sure they have a plan." Gray said, "Now come on!"

The phantom soldiers now dived at them, claws out. Ramza summoned an arrow and took one down. Gray shot some of them down with frozen lances. Elfman ducked and weaved, since just a touch of them would drain your life force.

"Let's split up!" Gray advised, "You go with Natsu. I'll stick with Elfman."

"Right."

Ramza then cast a magic circle beneath his feet. He swiped his hand, and the magic circle blasted him off to the Phantom Lord headquarters with a particularly strong blast of wind.

"Ahhh!" Ramza flew high into the air, until he noticed small spouts of flame coming from the cannon tip. That's where Natsu is!

As he fell down, he cast his wind shield to soften the impact. He then bounced on the cannon as he landed, nearly throwing him off. He requipped his bow to his sword, and latched on to the side. He held on to dear life, until Natsu ran over to him and gave him a hand. He pulled him up, and Ramza breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks man." Ramza said, "Now, how do we blow up this cannon?"

...................................

So I just wanted to say that we've reached a thousand views total on Fanfiction.net! That's really big, compared to Wattpad's 80 views and AO3's 40 views. Btw, I've posted the story on those sites, with the same name.

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See you in the next chapter!