FAIRY TAIL: What If Natsu Never Rescued Lucy from Phantom Lord?
What If Natsu Never Rescued Lucy from Phantom Lord?
Lucy Heartfilia ran away from home to join Fairy Tail, chasing freedom and a place to belong. But when the dark guild Phantom Lord sets its sights on her—and on Fairy Tail itself—the boy who was supposed to come for her is already gone, training far beyond Magnolia.
In a world where Natsu never returns in time, Lucy must face the shadow of her past alone. With the guild she loves under siege and her own secrets dragged into the light, she'll
FAIRY TAIL: What If Natsu Never Rescued Lucy from Phantom Lord? - The Celestial Spirit Princess Breaks Free from Her Self-Imposed Bonds—I Am No One's Doll
The damp air seeped all the way into the depths of her lungs. The smell of mold and rusted iron. Cold radiating from the stone walls gnawed slowly at Lucy Heartfilia's back.
The underground prison of Gran Noir. Headquarters of the dark guild Phantom Lord. A cell on the third basement level of a fortress built from the tunnels of an abandoned mine.
Morning of the fifth day since her abduction.
(...It's already morning.)
Lucy looked up at the high, narrow light window. A faint white glow filtered through. Dawn had broken, it seemed.
The shackles on her wrists were gone. The celestial-spirit-sealing sigil on the floor had been shattered. She had broken both layers of the seal herself, yesterday, with her own hands.
(But it's not over yet.)
Lucy touched the pouch at her hip. The Spirit Keys were still there, safe. Nine keys gleaming gold. Her one and only power.
(Jose will come.)
Yesterday, that man had said it: "The real show starts now." What lay hidden behind that smile? Lucy still didn't know.
(My father's illness. The Spirit King's Ring. And that man's true aim.)
The more she thought, the more something churned deep in her chest.
That was when it happened.
Click. Click. Click.
Footsteps echoed from down the corridor. Steady, measured steps. Nothing like the rough tread of the guards.
Lucy tensed instantly. She straightened her spine and fixed her eyes on the cell entrance.
A figure appeared beyond the iron bars.
A white suit. Long reddish-purple hair. A gentlemanly smile playing at his lips.
"Good morning, young lady. Did you sleep well?"
Jose Porla. Master of the dark guild Phantom Lord. One of the Ten Wizard Saints. And the man who had locked Lucy in this place.
Lucy pressed her lips into a tight line.
"...I'm not obligated to accept a good morning from you."
Her voice trembled slightly. But she didn't look away.
Jose chuckled, a low rumble in his throat.
"My apologies. Force of habit, you see. I make it a point to show courtesy even to prisoners."
"Courtesy to a prisoner? Don't make me laugh. You call what you did to me courtesy?"
"Oh, how wounding. I merely followed your father's request and brought you here. Though I admit my methods were somewhat... forceful."
Jose stood before the iron bars. His slender fingers brushed lightly along them.
"And yet, I must say I was astonished. Breaking that double seal on your own. The blood of a Celestial Spirit Mage is truly no mere formality."
"You used my father as a hostage. How dare you say that."
Lucy's voice rang through the cell.
Jose's smile didn't waver.
"Hostage? Such an ugly word. I merely conveyed the facts. Your father, Jude Heartfilia, is ill and has little time left. That is an indisputable fact."
"...Ngh."
Lucy's chest tightened.
(Father, really...?)
As if seeing straight through her turmoil, Jose continued.
"And another fact. Your family is said to possess a secret treasure called the Spirit King's Ring. You know nothing of it. Am I wrong?"
"...The Spirit King's Ring?"
Lucy tilted her head. She'd never heard of it.
"Just as I thought—you know nothing. Your father has told you nothing at all. ...Well, that's hardly surprising. That ring is, in a sense, the Heartfilia family's curse."
"Curse...?"
"Kukuku... Intriguing, isn't it? Secrets you know nothing of still sleep within your house. What I want is that ring. And the entirety of the Heartfilia fortune. For that, your father's life means nothing to me."
Jose's voice rang cold.
Lucy clenched her fists. Her fingertips went white.
"...You're the worst. What do you think a life is worth?"
"A life? My, is there anything lighter in this world? The strong rule the weak. That is the law of this world. As a Celestial Spirit Mage, you should know that."
Jose slipped his fingertip through the gap in the iron bars, into the cell.
"Now then, young lady. Shall we begin the game?"
In that instant, a transparent thread shot from his fingertip.
Shhk.
A faint sound, slicing the air.
Lucy dodged on reflex.
(Puppet strings!)
Jose's magic. It let him control the bodies of anyone he touched. Yesterday, she'd nearly been caught by those threads and had almost lost control of her body.
"Oh? You dodged. Your movements are sharper than yesterday."
Still smiling, Jose released thread after thread.
Shhk. Shhk. Shhk.
Transparent threads flew at Lucy's body from every direction.
Lucy ran desperately around the cell. Kicking off the stone floor, off the walls, weaving between the threads to escape.
(Fast...! But I can see them better than yesterday!)
With the seal broken, the mana in her body was recovering. Her magic perception was sharper than before. She could faintly see the threads' trajectories.
(Those threads come from his fingertips.)
Lucy focused on Jose's fingertips. The threads extended in straight lines from his fingers.
(And he absolutely won't step inside the cell.)
Jose was manipulating the threads from outside the bars. He wouldn't enter.
(Why? If he came in, he could capture me so much more easily.)
Lucy looked at Jose's feet.
(...That distance. About five meters from the bars. Could it be—)
A hypothesis formed in Lucy's mind.
(The puppet strings have a range. Five meters. Beyond that, the threads can't reach.)
That was why Jose wouldn't enter the cell. He needed to stay within five meters, so he was firing threads from outside the bars.
(But that means he can't get close to me.)
Lucy pulled two keys from the pouch at her hip.
Gleaming gold, bearing the crest of Cancer. And the crest of Sagittarius.
"Cancer! Sagittarius! Please!"
Lucy raised both keys high.
[Gate of the Celestial Spirits — Twin Simultaneous Opening]
Normally, a Celestial Spirit Mage can summon only one spirit at a time. Summoning two at once was a feat even skilled mages found difficult.
But right now, Lucy had no other choice.
"Open, Gate of the Crab! Cancer!"
The first key blazed with brilliant light.
"Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
The second key followed.
Light flooded the cell.
"...You called, Lucy?"
What appeared was a gentlemanly spirit with crab claws. Cancer.
"Your command, my lady."
The other was a master archer with the lower body of a horse. Sagittarius.
The two spirits stood side by side before Lucy.
"...Twin summoning. How interesting."
Jose's smile deepened for just a moment.
"But can mere spirits stop my threads, I wonder?"
Jose flicked his fingertips.
Shhk. Shhk. Shhk.
Threads flew toward Cancer and Sagittarius.
"Cancer! His legs!"
"Understood."
Cancer scuttled swiftly along the floor, charging toward Jose's feet.
"Oh?"
Noticing Cancer closing in at his feet, Jose moved to release a thread.
Sagittarius seized that opening.
"My arrow never misses."
Sagittarius drew his bow to full tension and loosed an arrow.
Fwsh.
The arrow pierced precisely through the thread extending from Jose's fingertip.
Snap.
The thread was severed.
"...Ho."
Jose gazed with interest at the severed end of the thread.
"Sagittarius, another one!"
"Understood."
Sagittarius loosed a second arrow in rapid succession.
Fwsh.
This time it pierced the thread extending from Jose's right hand.
Snap.
Another thread was cut.
"I see. You've figured out the threads' range. Remarkable powers of observation."
Still smiling, Jose took a step back.
"But I can produce as many threads as I like. How long can those spirits last, I wonder?"
From the fingertips of both hands, Jose released countless threads.
Shhk. Shhk. Shhk. Shhk. Shhk.
The threads filled the cell, assailing Lucy and the spirits.
"Kya!"
Lucy felt one thread graze her cheek. A cold, chilling sensation.
"Lucy, stay back."
Cancer planted himself in front of Lucy, cutting through threads with his claws.
"Fear not, my lady. My arrows will sever every last thread."
Sagittarius loosed arrows in rapid succession, piercing thread after thread.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
The sound of snapping threads echoed through the cell.
"Kukuku... Fascinating. Truly fascinating. The bond between spirit and summoner, is it? But that ends here."
Jose snapped his fingers.
In that instant, the cell wall blew apart with a thunderous roar.
BOOOOM!!
Shards of stone rained down around Lucy.
"W-what!?"
Lucy threw up her arms to shield her face.
"Destroying a cell wall is child's play. I see no reason to fight in a cramped cell."
Jose moved through the shattered wall into the wide tunnel beyond.
"Come, then. Let us dance to our hearts' content in a spacious place."
Jose walked slowly deeper into the tunnel.
Lucy followed with her spirits.
(Keep my distance. More than five meters. Never touch those threads.)
Lucy repeated it to herself.
The tunnel was dim and chilly. Magic lamps glowed here and there along the walls.
"Young lady, why do you fight?"
Jose asked without turning around, still walking.
"...Isn't it obvious? To protect my own path, with my own hands."
"Your own path? How amusing. Your path was laid on rails by your father from the very start. You ran away from home, joined a guild—and you think that made you free?"
Jose stopped and turned around.
"You are someone's doll. Your father's, the guild's, and from now on, mine. A doll has no path of its own."
Jose's words stabbed into Lucy's chest.
(I'm... a doll?)
Lucy bit her lip.
(No. I'm here by my own will.)
(Leaving home, joining the guild, fighting—I decided all of it.)
"...I've been quiet long enough. You certainly say whatever you like."
Lucy raised her head.
"I am not anyone's doll! I am Lucy Heartfilia! My path is mine to decide!"
Lucy's voice rang through the tunnel.
That was when it happened.
BOOOOM!!
The tunnel ceiling collapsed again with a thunderous roar.
"...What!?"
Jose leaped backward, dodging the falling debris.
From beyond the rubble, an old man appeared.
A small frame. Short white hair. A long white mustache. And an immense magical power overflowing from his entire body.
"I've finally found you, Lucy."
Makarov Dreyar. Master of Fairy Tail. One of the Ten Wizard Saints.
"Master!"
Relief spread across Lucy's face.
"...Makarov Dreyar. I never thought you'd come this far."
Jose's smile vanished for the first time.
"Jose Porla. You've done quite a number on my precious child."
Makarov glared at Jose.
"Even if it means staking the guild's survival, I will protect Lucy. That is my decision."
Even more immense magic power poured from Makarov's body.
The air trembled.
"...Staking the guild's survival, you say. Foolish. To endanger the entire guild for the sake of one slip of a girl."
Jose's smile returned.
"Foolish suits me fine. That is the Fairy Tail way."
Makarov stepped forward.
"Lucy, stand back. From here on, I'll handle him."
"But, Master...!"
"Don't worry. I'm far stronger than you think."
Makarov smiled at Lucy.
"Kukuku... A duel between two of the Ten Wizard Saints. How interesting. But my puppet strings control anyone they touch. With that bulk of yours, you can't dodge them all."
Jose released threads from his fingertips.
Shhk.
The threads shot straight toward Makarov.
"Hmph."
Makarov suppressed the threads with his magic power.
The threads stopped dead before his eyes.
"...What?"
"My magic power can stop your little threads with ease."
Makarov flicked the threads away with his power.
Snap.
The threads were severed.
"Lucy, while you can, circle around behind Jose. Then use your spirits to wrench his arms up."
Makarov whispered so only Lucy could hear.
"Huh...?"
"His threads come from his fingertips. Wrench his arms up, and the threads will tangle around his own body. Hoist with his own petard, as they say."
Lucy understood Makarov's intent.
(Entangle Jose's threads around Jose himself...!)
"Cancer! Sagittarius! Let's go!"
Lucy circled behind Jose with her spirits.
"Oh? From behind? What a clever little trick."
Jose turned and moved to release threads.
"I won
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