A/N Welcome back! I'm excited about this chapter and how you will all like it. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail!
Chapter 3: Sayonara, Juvia-chan
Note: It's nighttime now because I'm lazy and Natsu and Happy tend to get lost.
Lucy sighed. She, Natsu and Happy were finally at Fairy Hills after walking through long, dark and quiet streets, avoiding puddles and trying to stay warm. She wished she had brought her favorite pink jacket...
She smiled at the familiar place. She usually came here once in a while, invited usually by Levy and occasionally by Juvia or Erza. Laki even invited her once to ask her opinion on a new piece of sadistic wood carvings.
Most of the lights were on because the girls usually stayed up quite late. Lucy noted that the Juvia's room had light spilling through its open window.
Good, she's still awake.
She turned to the pink-haired mage and his faithful Exceed sidekick.
"Natsu, you should stay outside! What if Juvia's changing or something?"
"Happy's allowed in!" Natsu said cheerfully. "So I'm going with him!"
"Ugh, ignorant child," Lucy facepalmed.
"Natsu, you'll love the library, the books are fireproof! It's incredible!" Happy informed the dragon slayer as they entered the peaceful dormitory.
"YOSH! I'M ALLL FIRED UP! LET'S BURN SOME NONFLAMMABLE BOOKS!" Natsu cheered.
Lucy rolled her eyes and followed them in cautiously. "Your choice, your punishment," she muttered, thinking of the water mage's fierce attacks not to mention how angry Levy would be when she found them making a ruckus in the library.
"THIS PLACE IS AWESOME! Sure beats home right Happy? We should get a room here!" He walked into the middle of the foyer and looked around. Happy nodded happily.
Lucy sighed. "Bakas! Stop being so loud, you could wake the dead! Also, guys aren't allowed to rent a room in a girls' dorm! And the rent is 100,000 jewels!"
Natsu shrugged. "C'mon Happy, let's go to Juvia's room!"
"Aye! I'll bring you there!" Happy cried. They paraded up a bunch of stairs, stalled at some intervals while Natsu and Happy played 'ninja'. After many accidental bonks on the head later, Lucy arrived at Juvia's room with Happy in the lead and Natsu following behind them.
Lucy stepped forwards and stuck out her arm to block Natsu. "For your information I don't care if you're already here. You're not allowed to be here in the first place so you're staying outside of her room, got it, bakas?"
"Aw Lucy," Natsu whined but made no move to enter.
She knocked on Juvia's door. "Juvia-chan!" No answer. Knock-knock-knock. "Juvia-chan!"
Lucy frowned. "I'm sure Juvia's awake. Weird..."
"Okay let's go in!" Natsu cheered. Before Lucy could protest he kicked open the door and Happy flew in after him.
"BAKAS!" She spotted them heading towards Juvia's bedroom where her form was on the bed. "Juvia must have left the light on - Oi, you idiots, if she's sleeping then DON'T SHAKE HER AWAKE!" she yelled as Natsu and Happy violently attempted at shaking Juvia's sleeping form awake.
"YOU IDIOTS! I just told you not to do that!" Lucy yelled grasping Natsu by the shoulders and shaking him angrily. He fell back pulling Juvia from the bed but it wasn't Juvia's body at all. It was a water dummy of herself like the ice dummy Gray had made at Akane Resort.
Lucy's eyes widened. "NO WAY! No... Phantom Lord must've taken her. Juvia-chan~!" she wailed. "I still haven't made up with you yet~! We still have a long way to go in our friendship~!"
When the boys didn't reply she blushed. "Er, let's just say that Juvia's finally forgiven me about the whole love rival thing."
"Un hun." Natsu's eyes lit up. "Let's follow them! I still haven't finished trying all of that Toto-what's-his-name's fires!" He started to climb out the window.
"WAIT!' Lucy yelled. "Shouldn't we get Gray, too?"
"Oh yeah, let's go to icebrain's place! Come on!" Natsu jumped out the window, calling behind him, "You won't believe it! He lives in a mansion!"
"EEEEEEHH?! I want to see it!" Lucy squealed as Happy flew her out of the window after Natsu.
Gray scowled as he walked down the stairs to answer the door. "Who could be out in the middle of the night?"
"HEY STRIPPER PRINCE! Juvia ran away with the Element 4~!" Natsu cheerfully yelled in Gray's face.
"Oi, flamebrain, don't call me stri- WHAT!? Juvia - the Element 4! They - she - " he paused and gained his composure. "But she can't... I was gonna confess - I MEAN-"
"Oooooooh he liiiiiiiiikes her!" Happy grinned mischievously earning a slap in the face by Lucy.
"Shut up! " Then realized that she sounded jealous, which she definitely was not. "I mean, stop teasing people about who they like... and Gray, Juvia couldn't have ran away with the Element 4 by choice..."
Gray hesitated then nodded. "Yeah, she wouldn't..."
"Whatever let's go now!" Natsu cheered.
"Aye!"
No one moved.
Lucy was the first to break the silence. "You do know, idiots, where the new Phantom Lord is located right?" She sighed, exasperated, when Natsu and Happy shrugged in unison.
Gray frowned thoughtfully. "I heard them saying they would gather in Onibus Town."
"Onibus? That's not far from Magnolia. We can take a carriage," Lucy suggested.
"A carriage?" Natsu moaned.
"YES! It's only... like, ten hours, Natsu," Lucy explained as Natsu instantly turned green.
Gray sighed. "Come on firebrain, show some spirit, you loser."
"AYE!" Happy cheered as he dragged Natsu's form (who was was trying hard not to vomit) after Lucy and Gray.
Twelve hours later (the next morning)
"Welcome to Onibus Town!" The chauffeur called as he opened the carriage door.
Natsu tumbled out. "I'M NEVER GOING ON A CARRIAGE AGAIN!" yelled Natsu, his face puke green and clutching his abdomen.
"You say that every time!" Lucy exclaimed as she followed him out. Behind her, Gray and Happy also exited the carriage. Gray gave the chauffeur a tip and they watched him drive away.
"Let's go to the Onibus bar. Idiots like Phantom would probably have been seen there," Gray muttered and walked into the big gates into Onibus with Lucy trailing behind him and Happy following while carrying Natsu.
"By the way... Lucy, Natsu, Happy..." He stopped and turned to look at them, a serious look on his face. "Do not let anyone know we are mages. It may save us a lot of trouble... we don't want people following us around trying to fight us. They'd just get in our way."
Lucy pondered this thoughtfully, then nodded. "Un! We wouldn't want word to get to the Element 4 that we're here for Juvia, either."
"Also," Gray continued, "I've heard that Onibus Town has a lot of distractions - food, fancy hotels, tourist sites and so on. We must make sure we don't get separated..."
"Food? Do they have flame chicken nuggets?" Natsu inquired.
Gray scowled, obviously in a rare, serious mode. "Lucy, make sure this flamebrain doesn't run off and eat us out of house and home. You too, Happy."
"Aye, sir!"
"Hai!"
They walked towards Onibus Town, the entrance was a giant arched area with groups trailing in and out and a banner above their heads reading "WELCOME TO ONIBUS, THE TOWN EVERYBODY LOVES" (A/N yeah I know cheesy right?). They could hear street vendors calling out their merchandise and kids shouting to each other while running around wildly. Flashing lights blazed
"Eh, Gray?" Lucy said as they entered the busy town.
"Hm?" Gray looked over his shoulder quickly.
"I just noticed... you haven't stripped all morning."
It took Gray a moment to reply. "Well.. I must be worried about Juvia."
It wasn't hard to find the bar which had jazzy music and chatter coming from inside. They walked in slowly, taking a look at their surroundings as their eyes adjusted to the dim area, only lit by shady purple ceiling lights with tassels of fake blue crystal hanging from their four corners.
"Hello," Lucy said as she stepped up to the man behind the counter. He had blond hair (a professional but obvious dye job) and dark but dazzling eyes like that of a male model.
"Hey there," he grinned. "What can I help you with, gorgeous?"
Natsu butted in. "Hey, bozo! Didja see a bunch of shady looking people here recently? Like really recently?"
Lucy blinked as the man replied, "Hey dude, bars get lots of shady people." The calm, chill expression on his face had turned to a big smirk and some annoyance. "Ever knew that? Apparently not you big stupid oaf."
Lucy looked at the man in surprise. "Hey, Natsu's not dumb," she retorted, surprised at herself for standing up for Natsu rather that laughing inwardly... and felt a bit happy that Natsu looked surprised himself.
The man's smirk widened. "He sure looks like it. Anyways, describe the shady people? Or would you rather stay here and chat about other things, pretty lady?"
"Shut. Up!" Gray said coldly, clenching his fists. "We didn't come here to watch you flirt with our friend, you IDIOT!"
The man looked stunned for a split second then regained his composure. "Oh finally, a serious pretty boy! This must be the luckiest day of my life, and I'm not even gay; I finally meet someone who's got the looks and who's not drunk." He gave an awkward laugh. "What can I do for you, baka?"
"We're looking for a group of at least seven people, all male except one girl. The first guy has silver hair and a wide grin and a wears magic Rings, Bora. Jose, you've definitely seen his picture around no? He's the master of the late Phantom Lord. Then there's Aria, a tall, big guy who's always crying and has a cloth wrapped around his eyes. A thin guy with a messed up spine named Sol - he wears spectacles and says 'non non non' all the time. And the average guy called Totomaru, with slick hair and plays around with colourful fire. And lastly, a lovely blue haired lady named... Juvia," Gray said taking a deep breath.
The man nodded, his eyes glittering like stars. "Yes, I saw her. Lovely but not as lovely as your friend here," he nodded and looked at Lucy with a smile.
"And the others?" Gray's stern voice was cold enough to make the man's eyes dart back to Gray, followed with a sigh as the man turned to face him. "Yes, I saw the others except the famous Master Jose Porla. Well I saw the thin one and the emo one, at any rate. The other four stayed outside the bar but the emo guy wanted a match and thin one wanted some wine, some French wine...?" the man said.
"Where'd they go afterwards?"
He smiled. "I don't know. I seem to have, ah, forgotten..."
Gray scowled. "You do know! Tell us!"
"Perhaps if you stay in Onibus for a night or two, I'll remember?" He snickered. "You really have no choice, I'm certain of that."
Gray grimaced. "Well... alright," he agreed although tempted to pull out an ice scythe. "But if you still don't remember by tomorrow, I'm killing you."
The man chuckled, then turned to gaze into Lucy's shimmering eyes. "Hey there lovely. Looks like you'll be staying around for a while. My break is just about now, sweetheart. How about I take you around town?" Lucy nodded, inside her heart was racing. "I'll just take off this apron and come around to fetch you then." He walked into the back room of the bar.
Gray leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Try and get the necessary information out of him, then come up with some excuse and leave. We'll be at the Onibus Hotel."
Natsu looked up. "Hey Lucy..."
The blonde blinked in confusion. "What? Lucy? Oh you mean me." Funny, he always calls me by the wrong name. "Yeah?"
"Just to let you know... I'll be following you around while stripper checks out the hotel." He smiled deviously. "You get into any trouble with that stupid guy, I'll beat the heck outta him!"
Lucy smiled back. Natsu's so stupid himself a lot but he'll never hesitate to be nice to his friends, huh? She giggled. "Natsu... I'll count on it. You better not go back on your word, like get distracted by some chicken leg vendor or something!"
Natsu's grin widened. "You think they have those in Onibus? Awesome!"
*THWACK!* "YOU BAKA!" I thought he was being nice and then he goes and makes some stupid comment like that...
Lucy observed her fingers with a scowl. "And you better pay me back. I just ruined my manicure on your absurdly hard skull."
"Ah? What did I do?" Natsu moaned, rubbing the top of his head.
A/N And the chase begins! Will they find Juvia? And is Natsu actually going to follow her around or get distracted? (somehow I already know the answer to that)..
See you next time! :)