Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. It wouldn't be half as good if I did.

This story is actually a prolog to another story that I have in the works. But it should completely stand on its own (hopefully). No "planned" pairings for this, but plenty in the sequel. And for the record, I wrote this and planned it out way before the GMG are finished. So spoilers up to then. Thanks to luffy fan for helping me out. Hope you like it!

Arcadios had finally showed his hand. The Royal Army of Fiore stormed the Grand Magic stadium and began to restrain all the mages from the tournament, save two. While her comrades were fighting against the surprise attack, Lucy Heartphilia was thrown into a full body bind by an unknown assailant and jerked into the air. She had time to cry out one final name before she was completely out of earshot.

"NATSU!"

Above all the fighting, Natsu heard Lucy scream his name and his heart skipped a beat. He barely saw her before she vanished into the clouds, being pulled by something he could neither see nor smell. He had to get to her quickly, before her trail ran cold.

Natsu called out to his guild mates, "Happy, Gajeel, Lily, anybody that can fly! Follow me, there's something bad going down. They took Lucy! We've got to get her back!" The other Dragon Slayer and both Exceeds took off after him and quickly climbed into the sky.

"I wonder why they flew off when there's plenty of fighting here?" Sting Eucliffe was sure that Natsu would never run from a fight. "There must be a better battle in skies!"

His dark haired partner looked up as well, "I heard something about the girl being kidnapped. Do you suppose all this is a distraction for some other master scheme? We should check it out, if for no other reason than to not be shown up by Fairy Tail. Frosch, we need to get up there."

"Yes Rogue-kun, leave it to me! Frosch will fly you! Frosch will be strong!" The bright-eyed frog-cat sprouted wings and took off.

"Hey, wait up! Lector, we're being left behind. Let's get a move on," Sting called to his own Exceed who was trying to make his way across the battlefield. With a jump, Lector's wings appeared and they quickly followed after the rest. "Why are we chasing after the Fairy Tail losers?" asked the little pink Exceed.

Sting eyed the sky and breathed in deeply to make sure he had all the right scents committed to memory. "I have a feeling they are on to something big. Besides, there's only small fry down here. Let everybody else hand it."

Happy flew as fast as his wings could carry them, with Gajeel and Pantherlily close behind. Natsu would give slight commands to follow, but he had not yet seen any trace of Lucy. "Natsu, I think they are using concealment magic to stay hidden," Gajeel yelled over the wind whistling. "Keep your nose sharp, you know Bunny Girl's scent better than me. Just stay focused."

Natsu nodded and continued to concentrate on finding Lucy. If they were invisible, that would make a lot of sense because he swore Lucy smelled close enough to be seen. He had to find her. He promised that he would always keep her safe, and they all knew someone had been trying to abduct her. For what, no one could guess. But damn it, she was gone and it was his fault!

Natsu was literally smacked out of his thoughts as he and Happy hit some kind of force field. Lily noticed their abrupt halt and stopped short. "I see some kind of shimmer. I think it might be a magical platform," mused the masked Exceed. Happy righted his partner and Natsu felt along the unseen barrier. "Its completely solid," he mused and blew out a frustrated breath with some fire mixed in.

"Yes and it appears rather large, the edge is over near that mountain," Rogue commented as he rose up through the clouds. He was alarmed by the look Natsu gave him. Surely the pink-haired idiot sensed him coming.

Natsu did a double take. "What are you doing here?"

"We," huffed Sting as he also cleared the cloud layer, "thought you guys might have found a good fight. Didn't trust you two to handle it since you've been out of the game for so long."

"Well whatever. Rogue, if you can see the edge of the platform, we need to get over there and find out what's going on and where they took Lucy!" Natsu was almost frantic. Even if he had to team up with the guys who killed their own dragons, he would do it save to Lucy.

Rogue dipped his head once and took off towards the West with the others close behind. He had no idea why this quest felt so urgent, but every fiber of his being was urging him on. He tried to shake it off. There would be time later to contemplate his feelings.

On the other side of the magical platform, Lucy was still bound, but could clearly see everyone around her. To her surprise, Yukino was with her too. The excommunicated celestial mage was strung up on an ornate metal cross, with her hands slightly above her head. There was a metal collar attached to the cross that kept her head from moving, but her eyes were wide with fear. Her keys were also attached to the filigreed dais in a pattern around her.

"Ahh, Lucy dear, thank you so much for joining us. Between you and sweet Yukino, I hope to achieve the most magical of miracles tonight!" Lucy could move her body just enough to see the snub-nosed Arcadios. What is the chief squadron leader for the King doing here? She kept that thought to herself, but did want other answers.

"What do you want with us? Why is the Army attacking our friends?" Lucy shivered at the look she was pinned with, but tried to put on her bravest face.

"With the last two Celestial Mages, I will open the forbidden fourteenth celestial gate. I am going to bring forth the dragon Alduin, the World Eater!"

Let me know if you liked it!