A.N. - oka guys I'm going to start off by saying that I'm new to publishing my stories for reading but I really hope you like it! Also I'm still catching up in the Fairy Tail episodes. On that note I do not own fairy tail or any of the characters. I do however own my various characters. Hope you enjoy!

It was getting dark when Natsu and the team were getting back. All had went well with the job that had taken, but without much of a fight. Natsu hung back from the group as he was still recovering from the train ride. "Why couldn't we just have walked?! It wouldn't have been that much longer" he explained as his face turned green from the not so distant memory. Being aggravated and pushed toward her last nerve Ezra spoke up with heavy annoyance in her voice, "If we would have walked then we would have had to walk all night to get back by morning when a train ride was good to get us back tonight". Natsu sighed and carried on walking, a little grumpy that it wasn't much of a fight on the mission. "Collect this thing from that person.." he thought to himself, "the only reason why I decided to take the job was it was suppose to be heavy guarded. Right if scrawny men with weak swords is what they called heavily guarded". He chuckled at the last thought. "You got something to say ash for brains?!"

"Oh Gray. I forgot you even went on the job with us." Natsu said with a snicker.

"You forgot?! I bet you forgot how I saved you from that nasty guard that was about to slice your head?"

"No I was just waiting for the right time! He was the only real fight there!"

"Would you please for once just try and get along guys it hasn't even been ten minutes since we got off the train." Lucy, who was lost in thought before this point decided to give her two cents for what it was worth. Judging by how Gray had already gotten in Natsu's face, her opinion didn't even reach there ears.

"Stop Fighting." Ezra said with such force it made the two look at her.

"Sorry." They said in unison.

A while passed and it was dark outside. While they were in the middle of the city the lights didn't seem to produce enough light in the moonless night. Crying. And pleading. That's what perked Natsu's ears up. He was still behind the group. There it was again. He ran the opposite direction of the group to find the crying. It sounded like a girl but it was a pain cry. He had to find her. In an alley way a group of three or four men stand in a semi-circle. "Please just let me go." A woman's voice rang out. "But why we just want to have some fun then I promise we'll let you go. You were just sitting here anyway, it looks like you could have fun."

"Please just go away." She pleaded as the men pushed her against the wall.

"She said let her go" Natsu hissed.

"And who's gonna make us? You?" He snorted. Natsu threw a punch that connected and sent the talkative man flying.

"You two take care of the kid. I got the girl." The new leader stated.

"Right." The two others said in unison. They were big sure but it looked like that's all the men had was their strength no magic of any kind. "Great," Natsu thought to himself, "not a challenge at all". He looked to find the girl but was further down the alley as she was being dragged down by her hair. "Please! Help me!" She shrieked.

"I said let her go." Natsu growled and fire started dancing along his hands and up his arms.

"Holy shit. she didnt say anything about any mages being her friends! I'm not fighting fire!" One of the burly man said as he fled. "I'm not fighting him alone!" the other man right on his tails. They pushed past the leader. When they did , the leader went flying into the alley wall, knocking into the young woman and rendering her unconscious. "Now look what you shitheads made me do, it wont be any fun now!" The leader looked back just in time to get a face full of fire and fist. Paying back the favor he did to the girl.

"Like I said, not even a challenge. Fuckers." Natsu said to himself. "What'd you do now ash snot?!" Natsu turned to see his team behind him looking at the alley that what been scorched in the process. "Uh, saving someone. What's it look like?" He said with sarcasm in his voice. "It looks like shes unconscious too." Gray retorted with the same amount of sarcasm. "We should take her back to the guild, these bruises don't look promising. And her head could be looked at too." Ezra stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Yea those creeps either were planning on doing something or going round two." Natsu said eying the new leader that tried to escape. Lucy shuttered at the thought. Natsu picked up the girl and started heading toward the guild.

Later on at the guild, they were all surrounding the bed when Mira and Wendy were tending to her wounds, Mira wrapping the girls wounds and Wendy trying to heal what she could. Natsu hovered and answered any questions the girls had and Master eyed the situation with his ever present thinking face. Lucy and Gray had left for the night. And Ezra sat in the corner supervising the situation. When Wendy took a break and stepped out of the room, Mira eyed Natsu and Ezra and asked what exactly happened.

"I heard her crying, well more like pleading for her life. She was scared to death. I showed up and I couldn't exactly see what was going on but I knew that she wanted no part of it and she had been crying." Natsu finished with looking at the woman looking a bit sad that he hadn't been able to save her from the suffering entirely. Ezra stood and spoke, "it looks like they did a number on her arms I wouldn't be surprised if at least one is broken, among other things." Everyone knowing what she meant. As they turned to look at the bruising that had formed around her thighs and lower stomach.

The girl's shirt was all but shreds and her waist length auburn hair looked almost dark red from the blood that tainted it. She wasn't thin but she wasn't fat either. She had scratches and scrapes all throughout her body and it surprised Natsu that she was even conscious when he found her looking at her now. When Wendy returned to heal her more, the master shook his head and said she needed rest for the night and that the girl would be fine and she needed sleep as well. Natsu volunteered to stay with her for the night at the guild in case she woke up and had questions or started to freak out. It was decided, and everyone headed home and Natsu settled in a chair by the girl's bed. Happy was already passed out on the bed across from the girls'. He faded in and out of sleep always worrying that he would miss her waking up.

He woke up the final time an hour or so before dawn to the girl violently tossing and turning in her sleep mumbling something in her sleep. As he got closer Natsu strained to hear what she was saying. When he was about two inches from the bed he stared to make out what she was saying. "Jewel... Dragons.. Igneel... Save them. Jewel!" By this time, at the mention of dragons and Igneels name, he couldn't stand it anymore he was shaking her to get her awake. He had to have answers. He had to know the connection. But a blinding white/gold light make him cover his eyes and a second later he was on the ground. When he stood the girls cuts and scrapes had vanished and the bruises had all disappeared completely. And he looked up further to meet intense bright green eyes. She was awake.

Please review guys! Hope you enjoyed and its suspenseful! But please review and tell me how I'm doing its the first time I've ever published anything for the world to read!