Instinct Chapter 3:

Oh boy how time has flown. I apologize for the extremely long hiatus but I'm about to finish my first year of college and it is demanding. However, we are finally onto chapter 3 and this is where the action gets good. Hopefully….Well….You'll see.

Leaving out from the safety of the hotel room without even the smallest acknowledgement from Natsu left Lucy more than a little unnerved. Wrapping her arms around herself, she glanced up where she knew his bedroom window would be and saw him standing there. He said nothing, did nothing, but it made her feel a lot better to know he was watching her.

Steeling her nerves, she took a deep breath and took off opposite of the market. The night was warm, and she found that Brunewell actually was a lot quieter than Magnolia even though their sizes were similar. Although that could have something to do with the murders that have been happening. It set her anger off, and she felt her jaw clench. This guy wasn't going to know what hit him. She would make sure of it.

She was walking for ten minutes when she finally heard footsteps. They were light but she was used to the sneak attacks that Natsu would spring on her. Lucy turned down a side road and just hoped that Natsu was somewhere behind those footsteps.

XxXxXx

Happy was on sky duty. He was to follow Lucy from a distance above her and to make note when someone appeared. He watched her look behind her but there was no one there. No one besides Natsu and he was too far back and too quiet for her to hear…so what was she looking at?

He brushed it off as nervousness and continued to follow. He saw her take a right down a side road and immediately it worried him. It was too early for her to take that turn and no one had given her a sign to do so. What was she doing?

The footsteps were getting louder. At this point she wanted to run and she was sure that was what the person was trying to get her to do. It took everything in her not to, but she finally sprinted when she felt something try to touch her. Immediately, she swerved and took off down another side road before slamming into someone. She looked up quickly only to see a masked figure wearing a cape. Before she could yell or grab a key or even pull away, she felt a tug in her center of gravity before everything turned black. The last thing she remembered hearing was Natsu screaming her name.

XxXxXx

He shot off down the alley way to find nothing. Not even her scent. It was as if she never even walked that way. When Happy caught up to him, Natsu turned to the cat to find out what he saw.

"There was a cloaked figure. He wasn't there a second before, and Lucy slammed into him. Before she could even do anything, he just disappeared!" Natsu clenched his jaw and even Happy could hear him grinding his teeth. He knew the dragon slayer was quickly losing his patience. "Natsu we need to call Master." The raven-haired's pacing halted and he nodded briefly. He quickly returned back to the hotel room to find their Lacrima. After a moment, Mirajane answered and he could see the guild was in full roar of some celebration. She grinned at Natsu, about to greet him before she took in his somber features. She faltered and quieted the guild.

"What's wrong Natsu?" he swallowed and she could see how distant he was.

"Get Master, Lucy's been taken."

XxXxXx

She woke up in a room with other people. It was still night but the moon was full and was shining through whatever window was in the room. She counted 6 other girls in there, all of them around her age or a bit older or younger. She had no idea this many girls were missing on top of the ones that had been killed. Fear spiked her heart briefly at how uninformed her and Natsu were. She tried to stand up only to find that her hands were chained somewhere to the floor. Grunting in surprise, she heard the other girls squeal.

"Who's there?" one of them whispered harshly.

"My name is Lucy. I was just taken. I'm a mage from Fairy Tail…and I'm here to save you guys. One of the girls snorted, probably the one who asked the question, and Lucy was glad they couldn't see her flush. "I'm not alone. I have a partner who's here looking for me…I was the bait." It quieted them down, and one of the girls, younger than her and sitting closer to her started speaking.
"My brother is a mage. He can control the earth." Lucy smiled.

"I know a mage like that. His name is Jura. He's one of the Wizard Saints. Are you a wizard too?" she could barely see the girl shake her head, and she seemed to realize her mistake and repeated 'no.'

"What about you Lucy? What kind of mage are you?" the blonde smiled to herself.

"I'm a celestial mage." Some of the girls made noises of affirmation, knowing what that was, but one:

"What's that?" Lucy was surprised that not everyone knew what a celestial mage was, but she knew that it wasn't exactly a widely known magic. Celestial mages were about as rare as dragon slayers, especially ones that had enough strength and keys as a mage. After receiving Angel's keys, the only predominant celestial mages she knew were herself and Yukino, with Lucy holding 10 gold keys along with several silver ones and Yukino holding the final two gold keys. Still, she smiled in the direction of the voice.

"What's your name?" the voice was hesitant, but responded softly.

"Aya."

"Well Aya, a celestial mage is gifted with the ability to be the bridge between this world and the celestial one. We use keys to open doors and grant access to Celestial Spirits who help us fight. Depending on a celestial mage's strength, you can bring out as many Spirits as your magic will allow or switch through them to help you. My keys are Spirits I've collected and found and saved from others, and most importantly they are my friends. There are extremely rare gold keys and more common silver keys and they go in order of the zodiac and celestial patterns in the sky. There are 12 gold keys, following the zodiac, and there's dozens upon hundreds of silver keys." She could tell she had everyone's attention, and she was glad she could take their minds off of their current situation.

"Do you have a lot of gold keys?" Aya asked. One girl scoffed.

"If you're bait, I doubt you have that many keys to begin with." Lucy frowned, it was the same girl who originally spoke to her.

"What's your name?" she asked softly.

"My name is Serena, not that it is any of your business." Lucy refrained from rolling her eyes and trudged on.

"Well Serena, and Aya, I happen to have 10 gold keys, and 5 silver ones." She could tell the girl was surprised. "Now I'll admit, in the beginning I wasn't that strong, I didn't have that many keys, but with friends like mine, strength is something that comes, they won't let you fall behind." She smiled at her words, thinking of how excited Erza was when the others told her what Lucy was capable of during the fight with Zeref's demons. Her heart had a pang of pain when she thought of Aquarius, and thought of the broken key she still kept on ring set. Brushing the pain aside, she looked for her keys, only to find them missing. She gasped.

"Did they take anything from you guys?" she asked. The girl closest to her nodded.

"If we had any weapons, we woke up without them." Lucy bit her lip, trying to focus on her keys. She knew they were nearby, but she could barely hear them. It wasn't a comforting thought. Before she could speak further, the door opened, and a light turned on, causing everyone to close their eyes.

XxXxXx

Natsu slammed a hand on the table in front of him.

"What are we gonna do?!" he growled, smoke wafting out of his mouth. Makarov was staring, stony-faced into the enraged dragon slayer's dilated eyes. He could barely see the blue ringing it anymore. Natsu had a temper but this was anything beyond what they had seen before. This boy in front of him…Makarov shook his head, he was looking at a dragon.

"I'm going to send a team out tomorrow morning. They'll arrive by the afternoon. For now, stay put Natsu. You're of no help to Lucy like this." The connection ended abruptly, causing Natsu to growl and shoot up from the desk, the chair slamming down behind them. He paced the room immediately, while Happy stood on the bed, rubbing his paws nervously.

"Ne…Natsu? Master's right. You need to calm down and get your head on straight before we go looking for Lucy." At once, the dragon slayer froze, before slumping and sighing.

"You're right Happy…I just feel so damn useless!" he grabbed for his hair and slumped onto the bed next to the currently grey cat. Happy frowned and patted Natsu.

"Aye. But we'll get her back. We'll save them all." He hoped.

XxXxXx

Makarov sighed wearily and turned to the others in the room with him. Natsu didn't know they were there but they heard everything. 5 pairs of eyes looked at him solemnly.

"I want you all to head out as soon as possible in the morning. Please. We all understand the risks of this mission clearly, and this is something that should not be taken lightly. That's all." They all nodded and went to leave, when Makarov remembered something and called Gajeel back. The man hesitated, and turned back to the older mage, already knowing what he was going to ask.

"How bad is it?" was all he said. Gajeel sighed and thought about the signs.

"He's still coherent for right now. He'll listen to what you have to say, but time is running out before his instincts take over completely." Makarov frowned.

"What sped this up, I thought we had more time to prepare Lucy, to prepare Natsu?" Gajeel nearly snorted, dumbfounded at the ignorance their master was currently showing.

"When you decided to give them this mission is what sped this up. If it had naturally taken its course, it wouldn't be happening and we wouldn't have to address this for a couple of months. He first started showing signs of his instincts taking over this past month. That would last about half a year before he started to feel the need to keep her safe and pleased as a mate would. Between that time, he would realize what was happening, but right now it's happening too fast. He might not recognize the signs outside of his worry for his nakama. His temper is escalating because his dragon is considering her a mate possibility and knowing that possibility is in danger is speeding things up as well. If we don't get her back soon, he will go feral and rampage, searching for her and only she will be able to calm him." Makarov felt true fear at that. Natsu rampaged on a good day, he didn't want to think of what would happen if given a good reason to rampage. Gajeel could easily read the emotion on the old man's face.

"If me and Wendy are there, our dragons might be able to temper him some, but not by much, and not if he's too far gone." Makarov nodded at the small respite.

"Please do everything you can Gajeel. Thank you." The dragon slayer nodded and left.

XxXxXx

When she opened her eyes, a man was standing in the doorway with two others behind him. For some reason he looked oddly familiar, but when he made eye contact with her, she gasped. It was the guy that ran into her when she and Natsu arrived in Brunewell earlier that day! Or was it the day before? She wasn't sure, she had been out for a while before waking up. Was he the guy she slammed into in the alleyway that night? Or was it one of the guys behind him? Everything about this situation made her so unsure and it unsettled her. She didn't like it at all. The guy grinned at her.
"I know you~" he singsonged at her. She flinched and instead looked at the girls around her. She was right, they were all around her age, with all different skin colors and hair colors. There was a smaller girl with soft pink hair and dark skin, who looked just like Virgo, and one with long black hair and pale skin who looked like Kagura. Despite knowing she looked away, the guy strolled right in front of Lucy, his brown eyes unnervingly reminiscent of her own. It made her skin crawl. He grinned.

"Where is your savior now?" baring her teeth, she lunged at him, causing him to stumble back. One of the girls laughed, the Kagura doppelgänger, and in the blink of an eye, one of the guys behind him stepped forward and smacked her across her face.

"Shut up." Lucy lunged forward again, wishing she had her keys, not for the first time and yelled.

"HEY! DON'T TOUCH HER!" she was surprised at her own fury. It didn't feel like her own, but she was glad for it right now, it gave her the strength to stand up to these men. The blond laughed at her.

"You can't do anything at all little girl~ what makes you think you can tell us what to do?" her eyes flashed up to him, and he swear he saw them turn black for a moment. It caused him to take a step back, hesitant of the girl in front of him. She was a mage, he knew, and a celestial one at that. Shapeshifting was not part of her abilities…So what was going on? Not noticing his response, Lucy continued, speaking softly but surely.

"I'm a mage, and I'm going to help these girls if it's the last thing I do. No one, especially not you, is going to stand in my way of that." She made the room quiet. The girls looked around, unsure of what was going to happen next. Ignoring the dumbfounded look the blond was giving her, she looked to the girl that was struck. "What is your name?" the girl clenched her jaw, glancing at the man next to her, seemingly still posed to strike. Lucy noticed and smiled reassuringly at the girl.

"If he wants someone to hit, he can come hit me. It's okay. What is your name?" she sighed.

"It's Serena." Surprise showed on Lucy's face. Although it didn't surprise her too much that she was Serena. She couldn't help but wonder who Aya was. Just as she thought it, the man came over and quickly struck her, her head snapping to the side. The blow was harsh and surprised her more than anything. To everyone's surprise, including her own, a snarl ripped through her throat. 'Geez I'm starting to sound like Natsu.' The blond's laughter filled the room and everyone just looked at him. He wiped a fake tear.

"I like you girl, you've got guts." His light tone shifted and he leaned down into her face, gripping her up by her hair, his face a complete sneer. "Too bad it's probably going to get you killed."

XxXxXx

They didn't get there until around 2. And even then, there was barely anyone outside. They met up with Natsu outside of the hotel, agitatedly pacing back and forth. They almost didn't recognize the black hair and blue eyes, but the scarf was unmistakable. He quickly took the 5 of them into account and started upstairs.

"She's been missing for at least 12 hours. The victims usually turned up between 24 and 48 hours afterwards. That means we have 12 hours to find her." His voice was cold and monotone and Gajeel sent a look to Wendy. She frowned but nodded.

"Ah, Natsu-san, are you okay? Have you slept?" He turned to look at them, and they saw the bags under his eyes. He shook his head.

"Too busy looking for Lucy." They all shared a shocked look between one another and Erza grabbed his shoulder.

"Stop. You need to sleep and eat. You're of no help to us like this." He shrugged her off and spun on them, his eyes blazing.

"You guys are no help! Where were you when she was taken?! Where is she now?! Can you tell me that?!" he screamed, his voice breaking. Gajeel knew they didn't have long. Natsu was going to snap before long. Surprisingly, he was the one who came between the two, quietly inspecting Natsu. He could sense his dragon pressing hard against the boy, crying out for the mate his host didn't realize was his. Before long it would take him over, and Gajeel knew they would definitely find Lucy that way…but the damage in the process would be unfathomable.

"Gajeel." It was Wendy's voice, and it was a command. He nodded and watched confusion fill Natsu's eyes before he hit him sharply in his solar plexus, efficiently knocking the boy out. He caught him roughly and deposited him on the bed. Turning to the rest of the group, surprise was the main emotion, except for Levy's sadness. Gajeel knew she peeked in on what Gajeel knew and saw in Natsu. She worried for the dragon slayer, and while it made his hackles rise, her caring for another man, he knew that it was natural, Lucy was her best friend, and she knew Natsu for a very long time. Of course she was worried about the two. Still. She noticed her mate's inner turmoil and gave him a small smile, rubbing his arm as they all headed downstairs to speak of a plan. Wendy was to stay back and ensure that Natsu wouldn't leave. Gajeel was sure that she had the hardest job. When they made it downstairs Erza turned to them.

"We'll split off. Levy, you and Gajeel will check the alley that Lucy disappeared in and see if there's something you can find. Gray and I will check around the town and find any places they could've been taken." Everyone nodded and Erza ignored the rolling in her gut that something bad was going to happen. She was going to get Lucy back, there was nothing else to believe.

XxXxXx

I'm sorry this chapter was super long but it just started getting so good and running away from me. We're getting to the climax! So many things are racing against Fairy Tail, including Natsu! Will they get Lucy back in time before someone, or something else does? And will it be the bad guys or will it be Natsu?