Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, and I never will. Hiro Mashima does and is a much better writer than I am.

A/N: I forgot to mention this but this takes place between the 7 year arc and the Guild Games…

Oh and thanks to VitaeCursus for Laxus and Erza's mission!

SilverShinigami 49 your idea will be in the next chapter so look forward to it!

The Bond

Chapter 3: We Have to WHAT?

Previously on The Bond:

"Finally!" Natsu yelled and all but yanked Lucy's arm off in his rush to the front.

They both looked at the paper and their eyes bulged out. We have to what?


Lucy read over the small paper for what seemed like the billionth time. "We have to finish this treasure hunt…in less than 4 days…or we will be punished…with that. What is that anyway? No one has ever told me." Lucy stomped her foot in frustration. Natsu leaned down and whispered something in her ear. She suddenly paled and looked at Natsu quickly. "Is that even legal?" He just nodded once, solemnly.

"Well, clue one says, What can run but never walks, Has a mouth but never talks, Has a bed but never sleeps, Has a head but never weeps." Lucy thought about the clue for a moment and then it came to her. "It's a river! The next clue is at the river!" With that she took off, dragging Natsu with her in her rush to get to the river. When she slowed she was at the mouth of the river. She looked around but didn't see the next clue. "Maybe we have to follow the river until we find it?"

Natsu just nodded his agreement and they started walking, at a slower pace this time, down the river. Eventually they came across a piece of paper with their names on it in Mirajane's handwriting. Lucy snatched it up and opened it eagerly. As she read her eyes widened to a comical size. The clue read, "The next clue for you to find, is in a place you were in a bind. An imposter who tried to sell, the girls he caught up in his spell. You were saved by a salamander's pet; I am where you two first met." Lucy frowned. "So, we have to go to Hargeon for our next clue?"

"Seems like it. We only have twenty hours left though." Natsu said. Lucy groaned and dragged Natsu onto the train and they were off to Hargeon.


Levy and Gajeel had made it to Lucy's apartment and tried the door but it was obviously locked.

"How should we get in? It's locked." Levy stated.

"I could make an iron key or we could use the windows Lucy keeps unlocked for Natsu to sneak through." Gajeel said with a bored tone.

"Lucy keeps her window unlocked for Natsu…really?" Levy giggled a bit. "But we can't use any magic so I suppose the window it is." Levy said since Gajeel forgot about the no magic rule.

"I'll give you a lift up." Gajeel grunted and hoisted Levy up to the window. She grabbed onto the window sill and hefted herself in and then turned to offer Gajeel her hand. Gajeel shook his head and jumped up and grabbed the sill that Levy was hanging half out of because her wrist was handcuffed to Gajeel's wrist. He hoisted himself inside the room shut the window in case someone was looking.

"Bunny girl must love pink." Gajeel commented with a curl of his lip. "It looks like something pink died in here."

Levy punched Gajeel in the arm and then turned her focus to where Lucy would hide her manuscript. She checked all the usual places, in the desk, under the bed, hidden in the bookcase, to no avail. After an hour of looking, Levy slumped onto Lucy's bed with a groan. "It's not here."

"Really, are you sure?" Gajeel said mockingly as he held up a stack of papers he found while rummaging through Lucy's drawers. "Who would have thought she'd keep her story in her underwear drawer?" He laughed.

Levy gaped like a fish out of water. Not only did Gajeel find the story, he was searching through her best friend's underwear when he found them.

"Can you believe she wears these?" Gajeel laughed again holding up a skimpy thong. "What is the point? It's almost like there is nothing even there."

Levy turned bright red and grabbed Lucy's underwear from Gajeel's grasp and shoved them back into the drawer and slammed it shut. "I can't believe you just looked at Lucy's underwear! Is that a fetish of yours or something?"

Gajeel sent a smirk at Levy. "Wouldn't you like to know, shrimp?"

"Don't call me shrimp!" Levy yelled, stomping her foot in anger, making Gajeel give his signature laugh.

"Anyways, we better get back to the guild. We don't want to be the last team to arrive. Plus I'm tired of being stuck to you." Levy said and she pulled Gajeel out of the house through the front door and locked it again. The two of them ran to the guild, briefly glancing over at Lucy and Natsu who were walking along the river looking for something.

Three hours later Lucy, dragging a motion sick Natsu, stepped off the train in the port town called Hargeon.

"Now where do we go? Where did we first meet in here?" Lucy asked Natsu who was still out of it.

"Wasn't it in the city center…where that Bora guy was imper-impersa-uhm pretending to be me?" Natsu asked, struggling over the bigger words.

"Impersonating, and yeah, you're right." Lucy said, correcting him and dragging him to the city center.

"Why are you in such a rush? We won't be the last team so why can't we take a break?" Natsu whined to Lucy who ignored him.

"Here we are! Oh! I see the note!" Lucy exclaimed happily, running over to the note stuck to a pole with their names on it. "Let's see, hmm." Lucy hummed to herself looking over the next riddle. "The first clue is: I am the brightest of all colors. I can be found in fire, water, and even the sky. What am I? The second clue is: I am found on a bird, reptile, or monster. I am sharp and piercing. It takes one swing for me to leave a gash. What am I? The third clue is: Add the first and second clues together and you get the location of the next riddle! Good luck!"

"Well isn't white the brightest color? So the first part would be Shiro right?" Natsu reasoned.

"Good job! So the second clue would be a nail or a claw? So the second clue is Tsume. Now add them together and you get Shirotsume! We have to get to Shirotsume Town!" With that being said Lucy and an unenthusiastic Natsu ran for the train to take them to Shirotsume Town.


Meanwhile with Erza and Laxus, their hands both shook as their faces turned from blue to green. Stealing the undergarments of an old man shouldn't have been that hard right? Wrong! Not only did he have traps set up to stop intruders to his personal quarters but his clothing wasn't organized at all. He had pants in with the shirts and socks. The underwear was in with the undershirts and more pants. There was some of everything in every drawer. Erza and Laxus thought they were lucky when they found a pair of shorts. Turns out that they were just regular shorts, the master apparently wore…man-thongs.

A/N: Well! There we have chapter 3! What do you guys think so far? Anything you want to happen in the next few chapters let me know through with a PM or review! Thank you for reading! I may be a bit late updating the next chapter so I'm really sorry in advance.

I changed the length of time they had to complete this task because thinking realistically, it would be impossible...