AN: Welcome back to chapter five! I hope you enjoy it and be sure to leave a review when you finish! Huge thank you to everyone that left a review on chapter four, you guys are amazing!

Incandescent

Chapter Five

A clawed foot seizes her ankle and yanks her leg out from beneath her. Lucy hits the ground hard, a choked scream lodging in her throat as the back of her head cracks against the ground. A blinding whiteness surrounds her, and the world goes quiet, absolutely silent. Something heavy settles over her, a pressure on her chest pushing her into the dirt and slamming the breath from her lungs. Lucy wheezes, head fuzzy and thoughts thick as she shoves blindly at whatever is on top of her. For a moment, she feels like she's underwater, everything is muted and slow, distorted.

She pushes once more at the weight above her, gaining a low snarl in return. Something thick and wet drips onto her face, sticky liquid running down the side of her face and slipping down her neck. Lucy gags at the smell, something like decay filling the air. It's pungent, thick, and she can practically taste it on her tongue: blood and death and wet dog.

Bile rises in her throat, but Lucy swallows it back. Her vision comes back into focus and suddenly she's faced with a giant, black dog. It's face is more lupine than she expected, snout long and ears pointed. Thick, shaggy fur clouds her vision and sharp claws dig into her chest. It lowers its face close to hers, growl so low and threatening that Lucy freezes very briefly.

It doesn't attack, doesn't do anything, and that confuses Lucy. It's playing with them, she knows, but she can't figure out why. Hellhounds are volatile, they can be controlled by a master, yes, but only to some extent. It's why they don't summon them at SKAZKA anymore. Too many accidents. Too many deaths.

It could have killed them by now, if it wanted to, but it hasn't, and honestly that scares the shit out of her.

They need to get the damn book of the car.

It puts more weight on her chest and Lucy can feel her bones grind and threaten to snap, can feel an ache begin in her chest and can feel her lungs screaming for air that won't come. Where the fuck is Gajeel? Why isn't he helping her? Lucy shakes the thoughts away, biting down a terrible thought. He was between her and the dog, there's no telling what could have happened to him.

Her fingers twitch violently, arm straining towards her boot but coming up short. Her nails rake across her calf, drawing thin lines of blood as she claws for something—anything—that might be able to help her. A whine spills from between her lips, but it's weak, desperate. She manages to bend her leg, free arm batting at the creature's face in order to shove it back. The Hellhound doesn't move, and Lucy snarls as she slips her hand into her boot.

Go for the throat.

Laxus' voice booms through her head and Lucy doesn't hesitate as she swings. The Hellhound yelps, squealing in unexpected pain. Lucy almost feels bad, almost. She swallows any empathy she has back, then swings again with her knife. There's a sick squelching sound, something wet that makes her stomach roll, and when Lucy pulls back her hand comes away red and damp.

The pressure on her chest lessens, but only momentarily. The Hellhound doesn't back away, only edges closer in order to roar in her face. Golden eyes lock with hers, but they're empty, hollow. There's no humanity left there, it's all been sucked away by the other side.

It's not fair what happens to them, but that doesn't change the fact that Lucy's looking into the eyes of an enemy. An enemy sent by her own Uncle. She wonders if he knew it was her here, if he just didn't care. It wouldn't surprise her, he never has given a damn about her, about Laxus, about any of them. He didn't care when her parents were ripped to pieces, didn't care when Laxus was in the hospital for six months. She shouldn't expect him to care now.

What is it that Laxus always says? That she expects too much from people? Yeah, he's probably right about that.

She snapped out of her thoughts by a snarl and large teeth closing in on her. The Hellhound opens its maw, teeth sharp and yellowed as they near her face. Drool drips onto her skin and she flinches at the warm, wet feeling sliding along her cheeks. It smells like rotting flesh and something like sour milk, too sweet and sickly.

A bang rips through the air, so close that Lucy startles, her eyes jerking open wide. The dog yips, and then the weight is gone from her chest. Lucy gasps for breath, taking in greedy gulps of air as she rolls to the side, onto her stomach. She dry heaves, feeling sick and weak, and her fingers grasp blindly for the hand that appears in the corner of her vision.

Natsu drops to his knees beside her, arm curling around her back and jerking her up against his chest. He pulls her to her feet, a hand pressed tight against her hip as he points his gun towards the Hellhound, who merely snarls back at him in return.

Lucy almost laughs as she sees the demons wounds closing, slow and steady, but much faster than they should be. They're outmatched. Natsu's gun is just a gun and Gajeel's bullets are meant for people, not monsters, and Lucy's knife isn't iron and that makes it useless.

They were careless tonight, she knows it and she knows Gajeel realizes it too. They both should have known better, especially after what happened on Gajeel's last job, but neither of them were thinking that Ivan would pull this bullshit tonight. He knows better than to antagonize Makarov like this. He should know better than this.

And now they've made a mess of things and Makarov's going to be pissed and Gajeel is probably going to be thrown out, all because she had to go and find Igneel's fucking son at a damn illegal fighting ring.

Lucy doesn't think things could possibly get worse from here.

She stumbles, but Natsu's grip on her is firm, steady. "I've got you," he promises, voice low. His lips brush against the shell of her ear as he speaks, and Lucy slips her own arm around his waist. "You're okay." He squeezes her hip, and she can hear his teeth grind together he's so close.

"Thanks," she breathes back, giving his waist an appreciative squeeze before ducking out from under his arm, shifting away from him so they aren't such an easy target. Lucy glances over her shoulder briefly, catching a glance of Gajeel picking himself off the ground from where he'd clearly been thrown. Lucy sighs in relief, noticing that, besides a few bumps and bruises, he seems relatively unharmed.

Good, that's one less thing that she has to worry about.

Natsu glances at her out of the corner of his eye, head tilted to one side and a positively wicked look in his eyes. She expected horror or unadulterated fear, not the cheeky amusement she sees there. He's brave, she things, very brave, but also a little bit cocky and stupid, and she means that in the nicest way possible.

"Mind telling me what the hell is going on?" he calls out to her, drawing the Hellhounds gaze towards him. It snarls, but Natsu either doesn't notice or doesn't care, his gaze still locked on Lucy.

His question surprises her into a laugh. The fighting has gotten very real all of a sudden, and now he wants to have a conversation? Granted, she and Gajeel probably set a terrible example, but they're both trained in what they do. She's been doing field work for nearly ten years now. She's allowed to bicker with Gajeel, if only a little. "Later," she tells the fighter, fingers squeezing around her knife slowly, flexing.

Natsu snorts, but doesn't sound upset when he speaks. "Promise?" he asks, a teasing lilt to his voice. It nearly drags a smile out of her, but she steels her expression, gaze flicking between the Hellhound and the car behind it. She needs to get over there now.

Lucy considers him for a moment, lips pressed into a tight line. She bites back her amusement. "No."

She surprises him into a laugh, and surprises herself when she feels satisfied at doing so. "Fair enough," he replies, green eyes flickering with something playful that feels entirely out of place in the middle of a very real, very serious fight. Moreover, she finds herself not caring. A bit ill timed and inappropriate, maybe, but there are certainly worse things that could be happening.

Frankly, they could both be dead. She might as well flirt with the hot guy while she has the chance to. It's not like she gets the option to do so on a regular basis. At Saint Katherine's everyone is wither taken, related to her, or might as well be related to her.

There's also the lesser known, forth "been there, done that" option, but she tries not to think about that too much.

"Think you can get me to that car?" Lucy asks him, nodding behind the Hellhound. Her head throbs with the movement, but she ignores the pain. There's no point dwelling on it right now. She'll just have to wait until they get back to the dorms and hopefully Mira will be willing to look her over.

Natsu snorts, as if she's insulted him. Maybe she has. "Fuck yeah I can," he tells her—and maybe it's a trick of the light, but for a moment she could swear he just winked at her. Her face flushes despite the fact they'd been flirting horribly earlier in the night, but she doesn't let her mind focus on the small action for too long.

"How modest," she replies, sarcasm oozing from her words. He chuckles, low and throaty, and Lucy bites back a smile.

He raises his gun and takes two steps to the right. The Hellhound follows his movement, eyes trained on Natsu and the glint of his gun in the moonlight. It snarls, twisting around to stare at him, and Lucy takes the distraction, leaping forward once more.

She makes it farther this time, slamming into the side of the car when her legs are ripped out from under neither her. She rolls onto her back, kicking blindly, satisfaction burning in her gut when she hears a pained yelp. Her leg hurts, stings badly and she can feel something wet sliding down her leg. Lucy thinks it might be blood, but she doesn't dare stop to check as she gropes for the door handle.

Lucy yanks hard, but it doesn't budge. Panic wells in her throat. She pulls again, but it sticks. Jammed, she thinks, but when she glances up, she sees the car is fine, not even a dent from where she hit it.

Realization hits her, and suddenly she feels stupid.

Gajeel locked the damn door. And she doesn't have the god damn keys.

Lucy whirls around, ready to start screaming at her friend for locking her fucking car, but the words stick in her throat when she sees something awful. The Hellhound has Natsu backed into a corner, there's no where for him to run. He catches her eye and smiles, but it's tense, and she can only watch as the Hellhound bats him aside like he's nothing. Natsu's body slams against the brick wall of the warehouse, a sick crack splitting the air before Natsu hits the ground, limp.

He doesn't get back up and guilt and absolute horror twists at Lucy's gut.

She can only stand there in shock as the Hellhound rounds on her. A shiver runs down her spine as she stares at those pale, yellow eyes. It snarls again, lips curving back over wicked fangs. There's blood on its teeth and she feels sick, absolutely sick.

That's not what makes her pause, however. No, it's what's coming out of the woods that makes Lucy's heart sink straight to her stomach.

A second pair of gold eyes peer back at her from the trees, a low, rumbling sound coming from a moving shadow. She doesn't need to watch longer to now what it is. Hellhounds have been known to travel in packs. The first must have been distracting them, waiting for the others to show up. There's two now, possibly more hiding out in the darkness, and Lucy can barely think.

She needs her book, now, but she can't open the door without her keys. She could try breaking the glass, but knows she isn't strong enough to do so, she would only break her fingers if she tried. It would be pointless.

She needs to go back to Gajeel. Needs her keys. Needs her book.

Lucy is running again before she knows it, sprinting towards Gajeel. Both hounds follow her, one springing from the trees and the other abandoning Natsu's still body. For a moment, Lucy thinks he might be dead, but she banishes the thought from her mind, not wanting to entertain the horrible idea. She doesn't know how she'll be able to live with herself if she's just killed him.

He had nothing to do with this world and she had to go and drag him into it. She should have just left things alone. If Igneel had wanted Natsu found, he would have contacted Makarov, wouldn't he? Granted, she found Gajeel on accident as well, but he at least knew something about Saint Katherine's. She didn't pull him into this mess blind.

"Gajeel!" she screams, gaining her friends attention as she bolts towards him. The Hellhound follows and she barrels into Gajeel's chest, knocking him to the ground as the hound lunges. It flies over their heads and Gajeel grunts beneath her, arms winding around her back to hold her steady. She bats his hands away. They don't have time for this. "Gajeel," she repeats, frantic, "we have a problem."

He looks at her like she's stupid, and Lucy bares her teeth at him, unamused. "No fucking shit," he mumbles back, wheezing when Lucy purposely elbows him in the gut as she scrambles to her feet. He glares up at her, but lets her yank him back to his feet and jerk him around like a doll. He hates being man-handled, but Lucy doesn't give a shit at the moment.

"A bigger problem!" she snaps, grabbing him by the chin and forcing him to look at the second hound. Natsu still isn't moving, but she thinks that might be for the best. The hounds will leave him be, so long as she have something else to play with.

Gajeel swears loudly, a sharp "fuck" cutting through the air. Lucy ignores him, reaching into his pockets and digging for her keys. Gajeel murmurs something, shifting awkwardly, but Lucy ignores him, not giving a damn if she's making him uncomfortable.

"Are you fucking crazy?" he gripes, glaring at her when she jerks away from him, her keys clenched between her fingers. "You could have been killed!" he snaps, eyes furious.

She ignores him, shaking her head rapidly. "We need the damn book," she reminds him, voice sharp. Gajeel snarls at her, but Lucy doesn't care, preoccupied with planning a mad dash back to the car. Gajeel would have to distract them while she worked, but she knows he can do it. He's always been resourceful like that. She trusts him to watch her back. It won't take her long to find the right incantation; she has the page bookmarked for safety reasons.

With luck, the whole thing shouldn't take more than thirty seconds. Less if she runs fast.

Gajeel catches onto her plan without a word, a low groan pulling from his throat as he points his gun at the nearest Hellhound. "Seriously?" he spits, sending her a mean look that she brushes off. "Makarov will kill me if the dog eats you," he warns her. She thinks it might be a joke, but doesn't feel like asking.

Lucy flashes him the sweetest smile she can muster, more teeth than anything else. "Than don't let it eat me, Gajeel," she snarls back, batting her eyelashes at him. He rolls his eyes, but when he looks at her again he's completely serious.

"You better not fucking die, Bunny," he demands, glaring at her and then glaring at the hounds as they creep closer.

"No promises."

What happens next is a blur. Lucy runs and she can hear gunfire and squeals of pain. There's snarling and then screaming and she's not sure if it's from her or Gajeel or someone else. Her headlights flash as she unlocks the car and her arm stings as she rips the door open, nearly catching her chin with the sharp metal door.

More screaming, more bullets. She digs through the glove compartment, half-formed words spilling from her lips as she begs. A shrill sound, one she doesn't recognize. A red book, worn leather and blue ink. She rips it open, thumbing through the pages as she crawls back out of the car. Another scream, she knows it's Gajeel's.

The incantation spills from her lips and she turns around. Gajeel is down. Natsu is down. The Hellhounds are snapping and snarling and coming closer. She reads each word carefully, skull pounding. Her gaze swims in and out of focus and she can taste blood on her tongue. Yellow eyes burn against hers and suddenly shadows are swallowing them whole.

The hounds disappear without a sound and the next thing Lucy knows, she kneeling by Gajeel's side, rolling him onto his back and wiping blood from his face. His side is damp and sticky and she knows he's bleeding.

"Fuck, Gajeel," she murmurs, putting pressure on his side. He hisses at her, batting at her hands, but she ignores him. "Did it bite you?" she asks, glancing up at him, wide-eyed. He glares, but his expression softens when he meets her eyes, noticing the blind panic in them.

He swallows thickly, wetting his lips. "Just a scratch," he mumbles, successfully evading her hands and standing up, albeit wobbly. She catches him before he can stumble, pressing against his hip none too gently. He growls at her and Lucy's fingers come away red.

"Just a scratch," she mocks.

Gajeel sends her a dirty look, pulling away from her arms and stumbling towards where Natsu lies. "Don't be a bitch, Lucy," he snorts. She doesn't take it to heart, noticing the small, fond smile pulling at his lips. He stops when he reaches Natsu's side, sighing heavily. He watches as Lucy drops to her knees beside the unconscious male, fingers groping for a pulse. She relaxes when she finds one. "What are we going to do about loverboy?" Gajeel asks her, crossing his arms tightly.

Lucy bites at her lip, glancing around for something they can use. Her gaze lands on the car. She hesitates for a moment, knowing what she's about to say is technically illegal.

"Put him in the backseat."

AN: Not sure how I feel about this chapter tbh. I'm not really enjoying this fic as much as I thought I would? I don't know. I think after chapter 6 I might do a large time skip and just move ahead to the parts I actually want to write. Maybe. At least a week or two time skip, maybe a bit more. I just don't have the patience to draw certain things out. May discontinue this if I'm really not happy with it. Depends.

Anyway! I few a few new fics coming! A dragon tamer au, a soul eater au, and a friends with benefits au! Get for those!

EDIT: If this does get 50+ reviews by Wednesday, I will try to update by 7PM that night!