"You're going on a quest...with Laxus!? Why?"

"Relax, Natsu. I'll only be gone a few days. You can survive without me."

Natsu couldn't believe what he was hearing. Out all the mages in Fairy Tail, not including himself, Dani chose Laxus to go on a quest with her. She was insane!

"Dani...you can't go with Laxus. You just can't."

"Why not? Is someone jealous?"

Natsu looked at the little fox exceed on Dani's shoulder in disbelief.

"What!? No! What makes you think I'm jealous?"

Dani smiled and hugged Natsu. "I'll be fine, Natsu." Dani kissed Natsu's forehead, making him close his eyes. He just had this feeling that something was going to go wrong.

"Dani…"

"I'll be home in a few days, Natsu."

Laxus approached from behind, a slight smile on his face. He was enjoying the look of jealousy that Natsu was trying to hide.

"You ready, Dani?"

Dani smiled at Laxus before hugging Natsu once more. "I'll be home soon. I promise."

Natsu watched as Dani and Laxus walked off, Koda flying above them. "See you soon, Dani."

"Natsu? Are you alright?"

Natsu snapped out of his trance and looked up at the person who had approached him. It was Lucy. Concern showed in her brown eyes. Natsu quickly looked away and wiped away the tears that managed to fall.

"Hey, Lucy. I didn't hear you. Whatcha doin?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come on a quest with me? Gray and Erza said you'd be too upset today and I was wondering why."

Lucy approached the stone that stood in the center of the clearing. She read the name on the center of the stone, curious as to who the wizard was the stone belonged to.

"Dani Lee Dragneel? You had a sister?"

Natsu shook his head as he started to gather a bunch of wild flowers. "Have...not had. Dani's not dead. She's just...missing and she's not my sister. She just has my last name because she didn't have one when she was found by Igneel."

Lucy got confused. "Wait. Igneel trained two kids?"

"That's right. Fairy Tail has two Fire Dragon Slayers."

"Wow. That sounds so cool. Um, how did she go missing?"

Natsu stopped and felt his breath stop too. He felt a little angry at Lucy for asking, but it was only right that she was curious. She wasn't a member of Fairy Tail when Dani was around, so...it only seems right for her to ask.

"She went out on a quest with Laxus...and from what he said...they were jumped by a group of rogue wizards on their way back. Laxus said they grabbed Dani...and just disappeared in a cloud of smoke."

Lucy saw the pained look on Natsu's face and felt bad about asking. She walked over to him slowly and hugged him. Natsu froze at the touch, but he knew Lucy was just trying to comfort him. He hugged Lucy back before placing his bunch of flowers on the monument.

"Come on. Let's go back to the hall."

"Ok."

The hall was quiet when the wizards returned. Gray and Erza were sitting at a table near the entrance. They got up when they saw Natsu and Lucy enter.

"Bout time you showed up. Where the hell were you?"

Natsu glared at Gray, furious that he would ask such a question. "You know damn well where I was. If you even cared a little bit about her, you would have done the same!"

Silence filled the hall as the rest of the guild watched. All eyes were on Gray, some of them knowing who Natsu was talking about and the feelings Gray had for the person. For a moment, it seemed like the two wizards were going to start fighting, but they were interrupted by the door to the guild hall being slammed opened.

"Please...Help us…"

Everyone was shocked to see the dark figure standing in the doorway. The person took a few steps forward, just enough so everyone could see clearly. The person appeared to be a young girl in a dirty cloak. The hood covered her face, but everyone could see she was bleeding. In fact, she seemed to be bleeding from several wounds on her body. In her arms, the girl seemed to be holding a small animal. The creature looked up at the mages in front of it. Some of the members recognized the animal as a fox exceed. It was dirty and seemed to be bleeding from a slit in one of its ears.

"Help us…"

Lucy was horrified by what she was seeing, but couldn't believe the condition the girl was in. She could see droplets of blood falling to the floor and she could see that the girl was swaying.

"What happened to you!? Did someone do this to you!?"

The girl seemed to look up at Lucy. Lucy could just barely make out the girl's eyes from behind her bangs. The girl took one step forward and then seemed to look at Natsu. The smallest fragment of a smile spread on her face.

"The S.T.S."

Natsu had no clue what she meant and didn't have time to ask because the girl fell sideways onto the floor. Erza and Mirajane ran over and knelt down by the girl. Mira scooped up the little fox while Erza picked up the girl.

"This girl needs medical help right away! There's no time to take her to the hospital. I need help in the infirmary now!"

Erza ran through the crowd of wizards, who quickly stepped to the side. Mira ran after Erza with the exceed. A few mages followed, leaving the rest of the guild standing in awe. Lucy had sat down, a few tears falling. She didn't know why she was crying, but she was.

"That poor girl. Who could have done such a thing? And what did she mean by "the S.T.S"? Is that some sort of group?"

Lucy looked over at Nats and was surprised to see that he was reacting. Even Happy was looking the same. Lucy took a couple steps forward.

"Natsu?"

Natsu didn't even look at Lucy. He just walked away from Lucy and left the hall. He didn't even care that he stepped in the blood that remained on the floor. Lucy tried calling after him, but Gray shook his head.

"Something's up with Natsu. I think you should leave him alone for awhile."

Lucy sighed and looked at the door. "Yeah. Thanks, Gray. I think I'm gonna go home now."

Lucy left the guild hall and went home. When she reached her house, she just crawled into bed. At the same time, Natsu was sitting in his house in one of the two bedrooms. Unlike his messy room, the room he was in was clean and neat. Natsu sat on the purple covered bed, crying and looking at a picture. In the picture, he was smiling with a girl. At their feet, were Happy and a smiling fox. A couple droplets of tears fell on the picture.

"Dani…"