Chapter Sixteen

A/N: So so so sorry I haven't updated much lately! I swear, I've been in a really bad unproductive funk lately. School is starting for me soon as well, and I'm afraid I may not update as much because junior year is going to be hell x'D!! However, I'm pretty active on my art book, so you should come and hang out with me over there!

Hopefully forcing myself to write this has helped me to get back a bit of my motivation, and I'll have more updates coming out soon. Also shoutout to Set it Off for providing EXCELLENT music for me to jam out to while I write this. (Love you, Cody.)

Hope you like it! Thanks for 5k+ reads btw!!

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Natsu

Out of every single inconvenience in my eighteen years of living, this particular attack could quite possibly be the worst timing ever.

"Was that the angels?" I thought aloud as my conscience convinced me it couldn't be possible. They're scheduled to self destruct at midnight, according to Rogue. Which means...

"They're attacking the school," Gray mumbled into my shoulder, as if he was reading my mind.

There's no fucking time for this, I decided with disdain as an afterthought, trying to pick up Gray from his slumped-over position in my arms. "Shit," I muttered when I realized how heavy he was. "Come on, we have to go," I told him desperately. "Now."

Sniffling, Gray pulled himself up into a standing position. "Y-you're right," He muttered, voice hoarse from crying. "Go on ahead. I'm right behind you."

I tested to see which way the wind was blowing and turned in the direction with the current. With one last look over my shoulder, I took a running start on the field until my world was a blur flashing over my eyes. Launching myself into the air, I increased in altitude, flying over the trees in the direction towards the school. I heard the faint sound of flapping wings behind me, meaning Gray managed to pull himself together and get into the air.

The flight to the school took about a minute, but that was with us pushing the speed.

I noticed the flock first. I saw six in the air, one of which was Rogue, who was looking anxiously around, and six on the ground. They were like streaks of black in the sky, all wearing - presumably stolen - civilian clothes instead of the issued white and black bodysuits. As I got within earshot, I dove into the trees and landed on a top branch, studying the opponents carefully.

I heard a thump a moment later, followed by the shuffling of leaves. "What are you doing?" Gray whispered angrily. "There isn't any time to waste!"

"If you have the opportunity to, watch the enemy for any flaws or weaknesses," I whispered back, surveying the school area.

Shards sparkled on the school grounds, encircling the school buildings in deadly sharp pieces, sparkling iridescent from the early morning sun.

I knelt down, about to jump off the branch when the doors were blown off their hinges, and the window panes split and fell in broken pieces on the ground. Startled from the loud explosion, I had to clutch the branch to steady myself.

"Is this all really necessary?" A girl with curly blue hair asked from her spot in the sky, arms crossed over her large chest, as she scrutinized the culprit of the explosion. None of them noticed our careful observation from a distance.

"Absolutely," The one called Nine, who had long, electric green hair pulled back in a ponytail, shouted back, sounding offended.

"Subtlety is not your strong suit, Nine," Another one in the air, well-built blonde with a scar on his face, shouted.

"The targets are smart enough to know we're here by now. It will bring Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster right to our location, to save all the innocent people inside."

Oh, how the plan was succeeding so far, I smiled to myself. If only they knew it was a Sunday on a three day weekend, and not a single soul was inside that building. There'd be a huge commotion when everyone returned however, but I wasn't worried about that.

"They're nearby," A redhead told the group. "It's fuzzy, but I can see them in the distance."

"Let's go," I told Gray, who was motionless - staring off absentmindedly into space - by my side. "Hey. Snap out of it."

"Sorry," He shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the flock. "But why now? Right as they're trying to lure us in?"

"Exactly," I nodded. "We have to arrive first, before a passerby calls the cops and the whole city gets involved. We don't have much time to waste. Ready, on three."

Another explosion. This time, Nine had uprooted a tree on the front lawn, which toppled over and blocked the front entrance to the school. Gulping, I prayed the rest of the plan would unfold properly before the entire school was destroyed. I counted down from three and we jumped, free falling until we caught wind and soared towards the scene, completely making ourselves vulnerable.

"There they are!" The same redhead shouted, her braids fluttering behind her as she soared towards Gray and me. The blue-haired girl followed by quickly, a glint in her eye when she spotted us. Hands out in front of her, her fingers curled into fists.

We barely made it to the main grounds of the campus when large cumulonimbus clouds appeared in the air, covering the entire sky with darkness. A streak of lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a rumbling wave of thunder, and then it began to pour down on us.

Just us, I quickly realized, as Gray and I were immediately encased in a cage of water. It rushed all around us, streams of water as sharp blades.

Gray looked like he about to break through it, but I held him back. "The water is moving so rapidly, it will slice you to pieces." I warned him.

"This was not part of the plan," He hissed, voice hardly audible over the rushing water.

"My my, what do we have here?" The bluenette came closer to the water cage, her hands still curled out in front of her. "Asano didn't tell us that Gray Fullbuster was so damn cute!" With one hand, she twirled a lock of her hair flirtatiously. "Such a shame I have to capture you."

"You don't have to do this, you know. We don't want to fight you!" I yelled at her, moving as close as I could, the dangerous water only mere millimeters away from the tip of my nose.

"Honey," She barely acknowledged me, barely giving me a passing glance before returning her gaze on Gray, inspecting her nails. "There's no fight. You're the one in the cage; you've already lost!"

"Look, you crazy bit-" I bit my tongue, not allowing myself to finish that insult, "There is another way for you to be free. Please, just give us a moment to explain-"

I couldn't finish my plea, because she flicked a slice of water casually, aimed straight for my arm. I dodged, the bolt of water barely grazing my shoulder.

"Speak again, and I won't hesitate to not miss next time," Water Girl scoffed. The rest of the flock surrounded the water cage, encasing us in the darkness of their jet-black wings.

"We don't want to fight," Gray repeated. "We can help you. Please," He begged. "Asano isn't going to grant you freedom! He's just manipulating you to do what he needs, and then-"

The members of the flock began to shout at us, their voices clamorous and melting together into one ear-piercing sound.

"Silence!" A blonde boy, the same one from the television broadcast, I recalled, screamed. They all listen to him, I noticed. He must be the leader. "You don't know anything," He snarled to Gray. "We've lived in cages our entire lives, and Asano promised to give us our freedom once we bring you back. Now, you're going to cooperate, or we may just bring you home dead instead of alive."

Before I could second-guess myself, I was getting into the leader's face. "Are you stupid?" I challenged him. His face lit up with an angry blush, and he was about to say something, but I cut him off. "I lived in a cage for most of my life, so don't you dare tell me I don't know what you've gone through. Why do you think we want to help you?"

"Asano is notorious for lying to people just to get what he wants out of them," Gray added, looking pained. "He's not going to give you back your freedom, no matter how much you want it to happen."

"B-but I heard him say it!" An older girl cried hysterically. "And I always know when someone is telling the truth!"

The members of the flock murmured words that were inaudible to me, and even the leader looked unguarded for a split second, considering his options before his face morphed back into a hard grimace. "I know what you're trying to do," He hissed, eyebrows furrowing in anger. "Getting us to believe you before you make your escape. Well, it's not going to work."

I sighed frustratedly, feeling anger well up inside of me. I allowed myself to reach into the pool of anger, honing in on the power until I burst into flames, my entire world alighting in red.

The surprised expressions of the flock were evident as I sent a blast of fire towards the water cage, turning it into steam for just long enough for me to slip through, quickly followed by Gray, who wasted no time in escaping.

"Alright!" I laughed, my eyes flashing murderously as I let anger overtake my sense of reasoning. "Guess we'll have to do this the hard way, then."

I managed to take down what looked like to be the three weakest, the ones who were lingering in the back and looking anxious. Next, I lunged for the leader, nearly sending a flying kick his way when a fire-resistant steel shield materialized in his grip, blocking my kick and knocking me off balance. In his other hand, he created a lance out of thin air.

"Well, this isn't a fair fight," He laughed easily, quickly dodging my attacks. "You don't even have a weapon."

I stretched out my hands, creating a sword made out of my flames. "That's what you think," I smirked, slashing the sword out and sending an arc of flames towards him, which he deflected. I felt a presence behind me, whirling around and barely deflecting an attack from a second red-haired angel, wielding a sword in the same design as the blonde's lance.

It proved to be extremely difficult to defend myself against the master swordswoman and the lance boy, let alone winning a battle against them. A bolt of lightning struck down from the cloudless sky, nearly striking me down if I hadn't sensed it and dodged, leaving me wondering where it came from.

From above me, I noticed Gray fighting against the water-bearing girl, who looked like she was just toying with him by dodging his attacks with complete ease. Gray, however, was struggling to keep up with avoiding her slices of water.

He managed to slice through one, soaking through his boot but leaving him unharmed. He took the opportunity to lunge for her throat, taking her down with a kick to the jaw.

"Oh, cute and feisty!" She giggled flirtatiously, cradling her face. "I like it."

Without thinking, I sent a shoot of fire her way. "Shut up," I shouted, avoiding the blonde's attack by pushing myself higher into the air. I glared jealously at her, the heat in my cheeks rising. "He's taken, bitch."

The fire singed at the ends of her hair, and she quickly grasped her curls to put out the fire. Glaring angrily at me, she sent a wave of water my way, which I dodged and landed on my sword-wielding opponent.

Before I could react to the redhead's next move, I felt myself being dragged towards the ground, like gravity had suddenly quadrupled in intensity. I struggled against the pull of the earth, only catching a glimpse of a white-haired girl with her hand stretched to the sky, practically beckoning me down. She reminded me so much of Lisanna, but her blue eyes were flashing with malice, not kindness like I knew so well.

Gravity control? I asked, beginning to feel myself panic, What's next?

I barely had enough strength to slow myself down enough from the free fall and land nearby the gravity-controlling girl. Luckily, her power was so strong it pulled down the rest of the flock, promptly knocking them to the ground so hard they didn't get up to fight.

"Twelve, you moron!" The blonde, one of the remaining five standing, screamed at her.

"I'm s-sorry, One, I was just trying to-" The girl called Twelve stuttered, staring at her bare feet.

"Help?" One finished for her, practically about to explode with rage. "Some help you were! Three, twist back time and-" He whirled around, looking at one of the flock members who had fallen. It was a blue haired boy with a red tattoo, almost mistaken for the blood trailing down his forehead from where he landed on a rock. "Are you kidding me? You knocked out Three? You're all weaklings! Two, finish him!"

Upon noticing Three, the swordswoman named Two dropped her sword and rushed to his side, slowly lifting his head and talking to him worriedly. Having been ignored, One whirled back around to glare right at me.

"Then I guess there's only one option left," He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Eight! Four! Go!"

Eight? I immediately realized he meant Rogue, and knew I'd have to make a quick escape. I took off in a run, hardly running thirty feet before a streak of black flashed before my eyes and Rogue caught up to me, clutching onto my arms and pulling me close to him. I easily could've pulled away, knowing how fragile he was, yet I didn't.

The white-haired girl used her gravity power to bring Gray next to me, stopping him in midair so he couldn't move no matter how much he struggled.

Four was following closely behind, flying low in the sky with a bow and arrow in her hands. The bow was glowing a radioactive green, smelling of putrid poison that made my nose automatically scrunch up and make me sick to my stomach.

"There's no running now," She smirked, pulling back the arrows.

"I'm so sorry," Rogue's voice was barely cogent as Four released the tension on the bow and sent the arrow straight towards Gray's heart. "No!" I screamed my throat raw, ripping away from Rogue's grasp. Screw the plan, I mentally cursed, diving to deflect the blow, but it was too late. Like I was watching the world tick by in slow motion, I watched in horror as the the arrow pierced through his bodysuit. Gray suddenly went pale, as if he'd been painted with white-wash. An eternal second later, he collapsed like a marionette puppet that was suddenly released of their strings.

The last thing I saw was the lopsided, malevolent smirk of One as another arrow was shot at me. One watched me cripple to the ground as the last of my consciousness escaped from me. I swayed from side to side, feeling like my insides were replaced by a black hole. Nausea swirled with poison and crept from the puncture through the rest of my body, promptly fizzling the world into black.

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A/N: *cringes at how rusty I am at writing* *apologizes forever* 

Also: Just to clear up any confusion just to understand the story better, here is a detailed list of all 12 members of the Black Angels and their powers. 

One: Sting // the power to create anything he imagines (yes it's sting but we all knew that already :D)

Two: Erza // a master with any kind of weapon and an invulnerable body/tools

Three: Jellal // controls the flow of time in small amounts

Four: Minerva // elemental power: poison

Five: Juvia // elemental power: water 

Six: Laxus // elemental power: lightning

Seven: Mirajane // truth discovery (can tell if a person is lying)

Eight: Rogue // super flight speed 

Nine: Freed // elemental power: air (which he uses to rip things apart)

Ten: Flare // extremely good sight (can see very far distances and slightly into the future when she tries hard enough)

Eleven: Levy // omnilingual, photographic memory (basically an insane genius)

Twelve: Yukino // gravity control

Also, do any of you have any good fics you've read on here lately? They can be fan-fiction (phan, mikayuu, makoharu) or regular fiction (boyxboy and girlxgirl bc I love gay stuff). Any good anime recommendations would be nice too. I'd like to relish in my fangirly weebiness before I die of stress next school year :'D