Chapter Eleven

A/N: Oh yeahhh, double-length update that I wrote in one sitting! I wanted to split this up but couldn't find a good place to, and I figure one longer chapter is better than two short ones. Also, I was considering naming these chapters, "Chapter X" is just so boringgg!! 

I'm super excited by where this story is heading, and by super excited I mean emotionally drained and dreading making the upcoming chapters exactly what I want them to be :) :) :) :) Still, I'm going to plow through it and make this story awesome for you guys!!

Anywho, enjoy, see you at the bottom of the page xx

- - - -

Gray

At first, I wasn't sure if I was hearing things correctly.

Fourteen deaths within eleven minutes? Was that even possible?

As the news anchor spoke, the words combining to make the worst possible combination, it all felt impossible.

And maybe my past self would've thought it was. Only a few months ago I was living in my naive bubble, ignorant enough to think the world was full of sunshine and rainbows. Ever since Natsu Dragneel traipsed into my life, everything I thought I knew about life was erased to nothing.

Since escaping the Hakai Laboratory, my only priority was to keep Natsu and myself safe. But with the possibility that my family is in danger, I was willing to disregard my own safety.

I hardly heard the shattering of the plate I knocked off the table as I scrambled out of the booth. The world was a blur as I weaved through the crowds in the lobby and bolted out the automatic doors.

West... I need to go west. Which way is west?

It was still morning, so the sun wasn't at the highest point in the sky yet. It was towards my right, and since the sun rises in the east, I knew I needed to head in the opposite direction. I didn't hesitate a second before taking off in a run.

Whatever training Natsu had taught me in the last few weeks was paying off, mixed in with the adrenaline of heart-stopping, soul-crushing fear of your family's lives at stake. Feeling stronger than the last time I was running like this, I shook my wings out of my hoodie, allowing them to ruffle in the light morning breeze. The ACFP was built on a hill, so when I reached the edge I hopped off and caught a gust of wind, soaring down and nearly grazing the untrimmed grass before sailing high into the air.

I didn't get far before I felt a presence close by. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ten-foot wingspan of jet-black feathers. Rogue didn't notice I was staring; instead he kept his eyes trained forward, a determined look on his face.

About a minute later, Natsu caught up to us, red-faced and panting slightly. He flew a feet lower than us before fighting against the wind current and pushing himself to the altitude that matched ours.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked dumbly, casually, as if we had happened to stumble upon each other in a supermarket aisle.

"Isn't it... obvious?" Natsu said between breaths. "We're coming with you. You need all the help you can get, you know." He turned to look at me, smiling softly. Don't worry, the look on his face said. I'm here for you.

I'm scared, by ghostly white face told him right back before averting my eyes away.

Shielding his eyes from the sunlight, Natsu scanned the area. "At this pace, we will reach Starlight City in about five hours," He predicted. "That means we have about 36 hours left until the Black Angels are set to detonate."

"What are you saying?" I questioned, getting angry that his top priority was the angels, when the safety of the citizens was mine. "We wait a day and a half for them to explode, and then problem solved?"

"No," Natsu drew out the syllable, giving me a look that showed he was insulted. "We have no idea how big their explosions could be. Doing that could be even more dangerous, causing large-scale damage that could kill hundreds per blast."

Oh, I thought. Right.

"Instead, we need to beat them at their own game," Natsu explained. "They're looking for us, right? We need to use that to our advantage. Lure them out somehow, so their focus isn't on ripping innocent people to shreds."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" I demanded, a bit harsher than I intended to.

"I..." He stuttered. "I don't know. We'll figure it out. We always do."

Rogue was watching the both of us curiously, as if to figure us out. When he noticed me looking at him, he immediately turned his head away.

"Well, we have plenty of time to think of a plan. Five hours," I shouted over the loudness of the blowing wind, blowing at my face and though my hair.

Five hours. Who knows if the city would be destroyed by that time.

- - - -

Natsu looked almost bored after a few hours of flying. I had hardly noticed the passing of time; my brain was too busy working on a plan and worrying sick over my family. "This is taking too long. We need to get to Starlight City faster," He said sleepily, his eyes beginning to droop.

In the last moment when I expected him to, Rogue opened his mouth to speak. "I can get us there quickly," He said quietly, barely audible over the wind currents we were flying against.

"How?" Natsu asked.

"I can fly fast. I am not sure how fast I can go, but if you two grab on to me somehow, we can go much faster for short intervals of time."

"Just how fast can you go, exactly?" Natsu questioned, raising an eyebrow curiously. "In the woods, you were moving like lightning. I wasn't sure how you were catching up to me so quickly."

"In the woods?" I echoed, unsure as to what he was referring to.

"Nevermind."

"About 100, 150 miles per hour," Rogue answered after some thought.

Natsu's jaw unhinged and fell slack at the insane number. "One hundred fifty?" Natsu repeated, flabbergasted. Rogue nodded, his face turning red with embarrassment. "Damn, why didn't you say so? Okay, this is great! Gray, grab onto Rogue's feet, and I'll grab onto yours. That's the only way our wings won't get in the way of each other. We'll keep flying to ease the additional weight, but you lead, Rogue."

We dipped into formation, and I grabbed onto Rogue's ankles tightly, noticing how small his body was. My heart thudded with pain when I realized he was only a few years younger than us, yet his limbs were half the size of mine. I was afraid to touch him, like I would be afraid to hold fine china, afraid even the smallest push could break him into a million pieces.

"Are you ready?" Rogue asked quietly from ahead.

Natsu's hands found my legs and he shouted a "All clear!" from behind me.

This is so weird, I couldn't help but think, but when I remembered what our mission was, I had no problem being in an awkward position for the sake of ensuring my family's and the innocent people of my city's lives.

I felt Rogue's body tense up, his wings poised in the air, bent in an abnormal position.

Suddenly, a blast of air whisked around my face, and we were moving at such a high speed so quickly I nearly let go of him. "Oh my God!" I shouted in surprise, my words immediately drowned out and caught in my throat.

We kept increasing speed slowly, and it became exponentially harder to keep up with flapping my wings. It actually hurt to have the wind blow at me like this, so sharp it felt like a thousand needles poking at my skin. I strained to hold on, biting my lip in concentration and focusing only on the road ahead. My hair whipped around my face, getting in my eyes.

Roughly sixty minutes later, we started to slow down rapidly. I could hear Rogue breathing heavily, struggling to keep himself airborne. Natsu and I let go immediately, falling into our original places with me in the middle and Natsu to the left.

Rogue was out of breath and ghostly pale, even more so than usual. "Hey, you pushed yourself too hard. We can stop if you need to," I offered kindly, noticing the poor shape he was in. The last thing I wanted to do was stop, but leaving one of us behind was unfeasible.

"N-no..." Rogue wheezed. "We need to keep going. I... I will be alright."

I probably didn't look too convinced, but I nodded anyway. "If you say so."

"Thanks to you, Rogue, we cut down nearly two and a half hours of flying," Natsu calculated. "We're going to arrive at Starlight City in less than thirty minutes. You're really amazing."

Rogue nodded, saying nothing. A bit of color returned to his cheeks as he grew embarrassed at the praise. After several minutes of silence, he spoke up again. "I thought of a plan."

I was getting used to hearing him speak, which I figured to be a good thing; his silence always set me on edge. "What is it?"

Rogue took a deep breath. "I can be a spy to infiltrate the other eleven," He explained.

Natsu smiled proudly. "Hey, that's pretty ingenious!" He cried. "You can tell them you got lost along the way if they ask why you were gone, and then figure out what their plans are, maybe even convince them not to do anything rash."

Rogue nodded. "Like Thirteen said before, their goal is finding you two." Natsu flinched at the name Thirteen, but Rogue didn't seem to notice. I did, however, and I sighed softly as I watched him stare at the brand mark on his hand. "Therefore we can use that to our advantage, and make sure they don't harm anybody else."

For someone who hardly talks, they think a lot to make up for it, I figured. The plan made sense. It would need more details later, some fine-tuning and nitpicking to make sure it was foolproof and we came out of it alive. But for now, it eased my mind to know we were headed in a direction towards succeeding.

"Hey," Natsu pointed forward, changing the topic, "I think I can see the city's skyline!"

Sure enough, following the direction of his finger, just peeking over the hills, the tips of the skyscrapers could be seen. As we neared closer, the city became more and more into view, the familiarity of the city hitting me like it had never left.

Starlight City looked so peaceful from a distance, welcoming for anyone and everyone to come explore its wonders.

Yet I knew it was under attack, and the innocent people living there were in danger. The thought alone sent a surge of anger through me, one that made me see stars, my head spin, and my skin grow cold.

How dare they, I thought angrily, over and over. They were going to pay for this!

"Gray, are you okay?" Natsu asked worriedly, looking me up and down. "You seem a little blue."

"Fine," I gasped out. "I'm fine. Let's just keep going."

"Actually, we're going to need to stop at my old house for some supplies," Natsu recalled, pointing down at the hilly landscape thousands of feet below us. With my heightened vision, I could just make out Natsu's tiny mountain house peeking behind some trees and a cliff.

Reluctantly agreeing, I nodded and we coasted downwards, spiraling so quickly I felt like I would catch on fire. The house drew nearer and nearer, rapidly getting bigger until we dropped on the platform and skidded towards the glass doors.

Natsu threw the door open, breathing in the fresh air. "Ah, home sweet home."

It was a complete mess, filled with broken planters, shattered glass, and other crazy paraphernalia. "Just like I left it," Natsu murmured to himself, glass crunching under his boots as he crossed the room. Rogue and I shared a look before trailing behind tentatively, with Rogue avoiding the glass with his bare feet.

"We need to make this quick," I snapped, impatient. "We don't have any time to waste."

"I know that," Natsu retorted, running up the stairs to his loft bedroom area and disappearing from sight. "Make yourselves at home!" His voice carried through the tiny home. "I'll just be a minute. I need to find some things."

While Rogue sat down in the old armchair, I made myself busy by finding a broom and dustpan in a closet and proceeding to sweep up the glass and dust, tossing it in the wastebasket. Then I moved to dusting off the computer screens and seeing if I could make them work. I remembered a while ago Natsu explained that they were issued by the government for citywide surveillance; if we could get them to turn on, we could see where in the city the experiments were attacking, or even better, hiding.

I twiddled with buttons and levers, praying something would work. Eventually I realized the electrical unit had probably cut out, and searched for a breaker switch to reboot it. I ducked down and found it underneath the system and promptly flicked the switch. The system whirred to life, emitting a televised buzzing sound before the screens faded into fuzzy pictures from all the different streets.

I recognized quite a few of them; 23rd and 10th, my (previous) street corner, 31st, where the high school was, 20th, the busiest mall in the city, and 17th, where my family often went shopping.for groceries. My heart lurched at the thought of my family, and I desperately wished to see them on the computer screens. At least then I'd know if they were alive and breathing.

My eyes scanned for any signs of trouble, anything that could give us a clue to the whereabouts of the experiments. On the bank's street, I saw the shattered glass from the window scattering the sidewalk, with CAUTION tape put up around the premise.

The rest of the city was quiet. Too quiet. Hardly anyone was on the streets, and those who were were walking quickly or running to their destination, looking behind their shoulders occasionally.

I hardly noticed when Natsu returned downstairs. "I'm back!" He announced, voice too cheery and not matching the grim situation at all. "Hey, you got the surveillance screens to work. See anything?"

"No," I shook my head. "The city seems like a ghost town."

Natsu sighed disappointedly. "We'll keep on track with them with this," He held up a walkie talkie, one of the higher-quality ones and not the cheap plastic ones you could buy at a toy store for ten dollars. "This is a police radio I stole a couple years ago. We will be notified of any reports they send out."

A police radio was handy, but it wasn't enough to defeat eleven superhumans. "What else you got?" I nodded towards the pile of stuff in his hands.

He dropped the pile on the couch, picking out different things. "First order of business, disguises."

Natsu tossed a couple of satin masks at Rogue and me. I caught mine, whereas Rogue clearly fumbled with the catch and dropped his mask.

"Is this really necessary?" I demanded sharply, feeling like we were wasting time. Like I gave a damn if my identity was exposed when there are more important things to worry about.

"Absolutely," Natsu narrowed his eyes at me. "If the people discover who you really are, it'll just be like going back to the Lab, except this time we'll be captured by the government because we're "threats", or locked in zoo exhibit cages, allowing companies to make money off of people coming from far and wide to gawk at how freakish we are."

At the mention of the word cages, Rogue immediately slipped the mask over his face, his rigid posture prepared to fight. I decided to tuck mine in my pocket for the time being.

Natsu then proceeded to hand us lumps of stretchy black fabric. "I also have these super suits for you guys to wear. They're black - good for night camouflage - and made out of a special material that allows for easy movement and protection in combat. Rogue, I got you one that I wore a few years ago, it should fit you. Gray, I'm praying we're the same size."

"And lastly," He grabbed a pair of gloves and pulled them over his fingers. "I still don't know what's up with this fire power of mine, so for now it's for the best to use these flame-resistant gloves."

Rogue reached for the burn marks on his wrists reflexively, which didn't go unnoticed by Natsu. He bit his lip and clutched his outfit a bit tighter. To ease the awkward silence, my eyes trailed to the couch, which held a worn-out backpack, the same one he used for school.

Nostalgic memories rushed through me, and I remembered what it was like to just be a regular high school student with a normal life. That all seemed so out of reach now.

"What's the backpack for?" I asked.

Natsu responded a little too quickly, his voice borderline shaky with lies. "Just some extra things, just in case."

It was my fatal mistake not to question him further, to just forget the conversation altogether. I dropped the subject matter and shrugged, heading towards the bathroom to change clothes. 

I changed quickly, struggling to put on the tight suit but somehow managed after some effort. The hardest part was configuring the suit through the slits for my wings. 

Honestly, how has Natsu managed these annoying things for eighteen years? I thought with a painful grimace as I yanked my wings through the slits. Neatly folding the spare set of clothes, I tucked them under my arm and shoved them in Natsu's backpack. Rogue and Natsu did the same after returning from their own private corners, and then we were ready to go.

"Ready?" Natsu asked as he zipped up his bag.

"As we'll ever be." I replied automatically, as we turned off the lights and headed out the glass doors, taking off swiftly towards Starlight City without a second glance.

- - - -

As we flew, amidst the light breeze and the perfect weather, if I closed my eyes and shut out all the thoughts in my head I almost, momentarily, felt at peace. Key word: almost.

No matter which way I looked at it, the finale was inevitable: every ending to this story ended in tears and bloodshed. 

Snap out of it, Gray. Innocent people are dying out there, I reminded myself firmly. And more people will continue to die, with their blood on your hands because you didn't do anything to stop it.

I was willing to risk myself for the sake of others. For my family. For the people I love with all my heart. The ones I would die for in a heartbeat.

Even though I was deadset on protecting my loved ones, that didn't stop me from incessantly worrying.

The nagging feeling in the back of my head was telling me that this expedition was going to be much more difficult than I thought. If one of the twelve had super speed flight, what was in store for the other eleven?

Looking back on the city again, I saw it in a completely different light. I remembered it fondly as it the city I was born and grew up in, the city I can truly call my home. It was a city in danger, the people shoved in a corner and petrified with fear. A city that needed help, and we were the only ones who could.

But now, this time, it was different. It wasn't just a city. It was our city.

And we were going to save it or die trying.

- - - -

A/N: Hellooo!! Tell me what you think!! Any predictions for the next few chapters?

Life update: I got a bunch of art supplies (idk if y'all know this, but I really like drawing - not as much as writing, but yeah), and I was wondering if you guys wanted to see me make an art book? I'm not the best artist but I thought it would be fun (but totally unoriginal ik). Let me know in the comments.

Love you guys!! Thanks for reading xx