Chapter 2: Strong Access
Lucy, Natsu, and Happy have been traveling from train, to carriage, and by foot for the last few days. Off course, the train and carriage are not Natsu's options to get around due to his motion sickness. But it all paid off when they reached their destination. Right now, they're in the area where Natsu and Happy first last saw Gildartz. "Any idea where he might've went off to?" Lucy asks him as she looks around the area. They're in the middle of the forest. Like any other spot, with trees so high, with grass that are hard at growing like those in the meadows. But that's not what their attention is for the trio. "It's seems that he went down southwest." Natsu answers as he looks in the general direction. Happy flies up to him. "He couldn't gone back to Magnolia." He assumes. Lucy comes up to him. "He might, he might not. There's no telling where he is going." Natsu narrows his eyes and sniffs the ground. "It's hard to say. We'll have to see for ourselves when we find him." He explains to her. He walks in the direction of southwest. Lucy and Happy walk behind close behind.
Somewhere else, in the town of Hurene. (Made up) at a bar in the northern part of the town. A man is sitting at one of the stools at the bar. "Want another beer?" A male bartender asks his customer. The man sighs as he pushes his glass towards the bartender, "Yeah." He replies in a drunken matter. The man has orange hair that is slick back. His face has a few facials of a beard and a moustache. He eyes is full of sincere and determination. But for now it's full of concern and sorrow. The bartender gives him his next glass. "Here you go." He said. The man takes the glass and takes a chug of it. The bartender then spots something on the costumer's chest. Turns out that it's the mark of Fairy Tail. "So you're from Fairy Tail?" He asks curiously. The man chuckles. "Yeah. I'm on one of my jobs. I'm just taking a break." He replies back to him. The bartender spots the costumer's scars on his chest, and the left side of the body. The arm and leg. "What happened?" The bartender asks him, a bit way too personal. The man stares at him with a look of annoyance. "Sorry. You don't have to tell me. Pretend it never happened." The bartender apologizes. The man waves it off. He then digs into his pocket and pays the bartender the amount of his beer is and leaves the bar. Once out, he sees that most of the citizens are home about to go to bed. 'I must move on. I have to head back. I don't know if I can take any more of these century quests.' He narrows his eyes and heads out of the town, back towards the town where he got his mark from.
A few days after the man left the town. Natsu, Lucy and Happy enter the town. "No doubt about it. Gildartz was here a few days ago." Natsu claims as he heads towards a bar where the strongest of the scent is coming from. Natsu enters in, while Lucy and Happy enter a bit nervously. Inside are other customers. More like the shady kind. Some of them don't take likely for kids, or teenagers to enter an adult drinking establishment. Natsu spots the bar in the back and takes a seat. Lucy and Happy looked at each other with a look of concern. But it's best that they join Natsu at the bar. The bartender turns around with a nice smile on his face. "What would you like to drink?" He asks them. Natsu thinks for a second, "I'll have some water." He gives his order nicely. The bartender nods and turns his attention to Lucy and Happy. "And you two?" Lucy smiles at him. "Water please." She asks him. "And some milk." Happy said to him." Coming right up." The bartender replies as he begins to prepare the costumers' orders.
It doesn't take long for the bartender to give the trio their orders. The bartender then notices the mark on the back of Lucy's hand. "Hey you guys wouldn't happen to be from the Fairy Tail guild." He whispers to them. Lucy only nods to him. "Yeah Fairy Tail was great great for sure." Lucy spoke softly with some sadness to her voice.
The bartender widens his eyes. "What do you mean 'was great'? Did something happen?" He asks her with so much curiosity. Natsu stare at him. "Right now, we're looking for someone who is from our guild." Natsu speaks to the point. That made the bartender realize what he's doing. "Oh sorry. I didn't mean to be nosy. So you're looking for someone from your guild?" He asks them. Happy takes a sip of his milk. "Yeah, one of our guild mates is a man with orange hair. He has scars on his chest and he has the mark on that spot." Happy gives the details. The bartender nods his head, telling them that he's listening. "I might actually be able to help you guys." He cheers them up. Natsu stares at him. "Really? You've seen Gildartz?" He asks a bit too loud. With such noise made a few of the other costumers stare at him. The bartender nods. "Yeah he stopped by the other day. He said something about heading back to the guild. I assume something must've happened to your guild?" He said to them quietly. Lucy doesn't want to tell the truth about the guild about being disbanded. It was just too much on her shoulders. Natsu and Happy know best it's not to speak about it either. "Let's just say we are to get back there as soon as possible." Natsu gives a persuasive lie. Bartender hmms. "I see. That man was speaking something like that." He tells as he takes the empty cup of milk and fills it up again, much for Happy's delight. "Did he say anything before he left?" Natsu asks him. The bartender holds his chin. "If I were to be right on this, he didn't say much. He said he was on a break from one his jobs." The bartender tells them what he knows so far.
Natsu nods, "Thanks. Hey Lucy, you pay the tender." He tells her as he gets out of his stool. "Not gonna happen!" Lucy protests him. "Come on, Lucy. You're the only one here who has the jewels." Happy tells her. Lucy groans and goes into her her purse. "You're covered. The drinks are on me." The bartender halts her. Lucy looks up to him. "You sure?" She is hesitating about paying the man. "Honestly. I'm nice enough to pay off the customers' drinks. You are nice enough to look for someone who is having a hard time." Natsu smiles. "Thanks for the info." He and Happy left the bar. Lucy stays behind a little. "Hey Lucy. Let's go." Happy flies to her and yanks her side ponytail. Feeling that pain made Lucy come back to reality. "Stop it, Happy. My hair is my life." She glares the blue cat with wings. She then runs out of the bar.