Never Let Go
Chapter Seven: Lost Already

GRAY

Gray stood in the doorway of the inn, overlooking the back garden and the field. Gajeel and Damien had disappeared inside, and last traces of the sun were dissolving into a dilute navy sky.

It was calm, quiet and cool. Erza was due back soon with the costumes for the masquerade. Natsu and the rest were taking their time making their way back from the field.

It was a good idea for them to relax, considering it was going to be the last day to do so. The next day was the day of the masquerade ball. It was going to be filled with tactical plans and positioning to infiltrate the ball and get Lucy out of it, if they were to succeed.

The break was perfect, especially for Natsu. Knowing Erza, she would definitely use Natsu to talk to Lucy. Out of them all, Natsu knew Lucy the best. And although he had failed once before, it didn't mean he would again. If he failed once more, Gray was worried he wouldn't be able recover.

"Thinking too much is bad for your health." Gajeel grumbled, a pint of ale in his right hand, and an iron nail in the other. Gray gave him a glance over his shoulder and looked back out at the dying sun.

"I thought you had a thing for thinkers." Gray returned with a sly smile and raised eyebrow.

Gajeel gave him a long stare. "What do you mean?" He swallowed the nail and leaned against the opposite door frame next to Gray, bringing the ale to his lips.

"Well," Gray grinned. "Levy's definitely a thinker."

A spray of ale made a small rainbow momentarily in the air before Gajeel whirled on Gray with a face as red as a tomato. "W- What are you talking about?" Gajeel's stammering only made Gray's grin touch from ear to ear.

"Oh I think you know." Gray teased.

Gajeel growled in frustration. "I DO NO-"

The furious crackling of flames exploding in the distance cut them off in an instant.

"Oh no..." Gray uttered. They both burst out of their shock, dashing as fast as their feet could take them.

Straws of barley whipped at their skin, cry dirt pounding on the bottoms of their shoes, heavy smoke filling their lungs with every shallow breath.

Gajeel and Gray flew into the field, desperately searching for the group. Their vision was obstructed by the barley growing up taller than their heads, but above it a long stem of black smoke rose into the darkening sky. They were getting closer with Gray racing ahead. Something heavy weighed in his stomach making him feel sick with dread. Gray needed to prepare quick. As he ran, he managed to call back to the iron dragon slayer over his shoulder. "Gajeel, when we get there, I need you to get the girls back to Dami-"

Gray crashed against something hard and staggered, falling flat onto his back. "What the- Lily!" Gray exclaimed. He near stopped breathing as soon as he got a good look at him.

Lily was in his battle form; black smears of soot staining his fur, fresh wounds dripping red, bruises covering the skin underneath his black coat.

"What the hell happened?" Gray shouted, launching back up to his feet.

"Where's Levy?" Gajeel jumped.

"Don't worry, we're here." Levy's soft voice muttered as she, Wendy and Carla slipped out from behind Lily.

"Our Magic was useless." Wendy's voice was soft, but her eyes vigilant as she kept an eye out for any followers. Natsu must have told her to look after Levy since hers was lacking in combat ability.

Soot smears marked their torn clothes with a few small cuts and grazes, but overall they looked safe. But then Gray looked closer. 1, 2, 3... 4.. The numbers didn't add up

"Where's Emi?" Gray asked. Levy's eyes widened in surprise before she whipped around checking behind her, then panic surged her face.

"Wha- Sh- She was right behind me?" Levy stuttered, the color falling from her face.

"Dammit!" Gray growled. "Lily! What happened? Where's Natsu and Happy?"

"We were in the barley field when these knives flew at us from nowhere. A group of about twenty people in black attacked us. They were professionals, all our magic attacks where avoided easily. Natsu told me to get the girls out of there while he stayed back and fought." Lily explained. After a sharp set of coughing made him suddenly shrink back down. "Damn, I'm at my limit." Lily puffed.

"Gajeel get Lily and the girls back to the inn where its safe. Keep an eye out for any attackers that might have escaped and followed you." Gray commanded.

"Got it." Gajeel nodded, not question Gray's control. But he hesitated. "And you?"

"I'll go back to find Emi and meet up with Natsu, we'll rendezvous at the inn." Gray replied and disappeared into a sea of smoking gold grain.

Gajeel watched after him for moment before sweeping Levy into his arms, despite her protest, and charging back with the group to the inn.

The stench of smoke grew thicker as the ice mage homed in. Small raindrops of water began to trickle from the clouds, dripping onto Gray's skin.

A second later, Gray exploded the core of a black wasteland, flames surging into the air like a roaring ocean.

A group of men clad in black sprung aside to dodge the heat raging past their sides. Their body's pressed together in a corner, pressure tightening their expressions, trying to control the flickers of fear in their light-lit eyes. They were petrified- and with good reason...

Natsu was mad.

"You dare attack my friends!" Natsu roared leaping forward to strike. A fire-gloved fist landed hard against the faces of the perpetrators. They blew back against the charred barley, groaning in pain. But Natsu wasn't satisfied. Trains of fire coiled around his fist and he leapt into the sky. "Wings of the fire dragon!" Natsu yelled, whipping his chains of fire down upon the enemy. The men in black collapsed against the crisp field floor, unconscious and defeated. The fight was over. Except, Natsu's fists were still coated red with a ravenous anger still on his face.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted, darting into view. Natsu didn't look at him. "Natsu!" Gray shouted with more force. Finally, Natsu turned. Black eyes washed in a red film, lit by his irate flames, stared numbly at the ice mage. Gray felt his feet planted into the floor. He didn't recognize those eyes...he didn't recognize that person.

With slow, pain-staking time, they faded back to just black. Natsu looked around with calm, back in control. The dark anger, gone. Natsu's eyes narrowed on the empty space of burnt field. "Dammit, they got away." He growled, extinguishing his flames. Natsu stood in silence, staring at the aftermath of his destruction, a rumble of thunder overhead.

Rain began to trickle from the burnt orange sky. It was light at first, but turned heavy a second later. Natsu just stood there staring at his feet while Gray stared at him. The heavy rain felt like the weight of Natsu's emotions showering down on him in that moment. He looked so distant, so lost...so unreachable. The twisting feeling in Gray's stomach wouldn't let him watch any longer. "Natsu!" Gray yelled, over the storm, rushing at him. "Where's Emi?"

Natsu looked up. Damp pink hair plastered to the edges of his face, his dark wounded eyes disappearing behind a steeled shell. Dark eyes focused on him and his words. He gave Gray a shake of his head before looking up and around the sky.

"She went back with Lily and the girls." Natsu shouted over the crash of the rain with confusion. "Wait. Where's Happy?"

"I thought he was with you!" Gray roared.

"He was!"

"Then where the hell is he? We need to find Emi!"

"I know that! Happy was here a secon-"

A high pitch scream tore through the storm like a knife.

"Emi!" Gray and Natsu yelled, darting off in the direction it came from. They hit the barley at a sprint with Natsu taking the lead, his head up and breathing deep cold breaths of air through his nose.

"Where is she?" Gray called, coming up beside the dragon slayer. Natsu shook his head, wiping the layer of water off his face.

"The rain's too heavy; I can't smell anything!" Natsu shouted back.

"Emi! Happy!" Gray yelled, with Natsu jumping in. "Emi! Happy!"

Their hope began to dwindled as the crash of the rain drowned their hearing. They searched and searched, but nothing and no one appeared. Still, they ploughed and ploughed through the endless fields, refusing to give up just yet. They had to be there.

"This is useless; we'll lose them at this rate!" Gray yelled.

"No! We've got to find them. We can't lose them! Not again!" Natsu roared, knocking his speed up by another few notches.

Gray picked up his feet and matched Natsu's pace, but remained a couple of feet behind him. 'Again...' Gray repeated in his mind. 'Not again...'

"Emi! Hap- Ah!" Natsu yelped, disappearing out of sight, forcing Gray to stumble into a halt.

"Na-" Gray yelled.

"Natsu!" A high-pitched cry overlapped him. Gray recognized the voice. His feet exploded from his place, running forwards towards the sound.

The weight of his feet grew light for a split second and then the ground was pulled from underneath him. His body came crashing down several feet onto a pile of hard soaked mud.

Gray choked, grasping for air into his lungs as he began to ease his body up.

"Gray!" The same voice exclaimed again. Dark eyes leapt behind him. Long blue hair fell in tangles over her dirt-caked clothes. Silver eyes filled with relief that brought tears to her eyes. A smile pulled her quivering lips, a blue fur ball laid curled asleep in her arms.

"Emi! Happy!" Gray exclaimed in relief. They sat underneath a small crevice, worn away by endless years of rain. Thin ground reached over their heads like a sheltering umbrella- the same umbrella both him and the dragon slayer had taken a dive off.

Gray seemed to have fallen into some kind of ditch. But where was Natsu? "Where's Natsu?" He asked.

A grumble of a reply came from underneath him. "Natsu!" he exclaimed, jumping up and seeing the flattened boy pressed face first into the mud.

He bounced up a second later, grabbing Gray by the collar. "Stupid Ice princess!" He roared pressing his dirt mask against Gray's. "Watch where you fall!"

"What was that, matchstick?" Gray bit back, grabbing Natsu's shirt in a mirrored grasp. "You should have moved outta the god damn way!"

"You-" Natsu growled, but stopped when his eyes fell on Happy and Emi. "What happened to Happy? Why is he asleep? Yo Happy! Wake up!" He called.

"We...we were...um..." Emi slurred, sending spikes of alarm through the ice mage. Emi's breathing was heavy, skin covered in cold sweat, pupils dilated.

"Emi, are you alri-" Gray began, reaching forwards. A second later, the girl suddenly keeled over. Natsu lurched forwards, catching them both in his arms

"Oi get a hold of yourself! Oi!" Natsu barked.

"Quick grab Happy. I'll get Emi. Let's get them back to the inn now!" Gray ordered, sweeping the girl into his arms. They leapt up, clearing the ditch walls with ease and hit the ground running.

...

GRAY

"Don't worry; it's a simple tranquilizer. They'll both wake up in twelve to fifteen hours." Damien informed, closing the door of the back room leading to the bedrooms, where they let the pair to rest. "Though with that little girl's help, they'll be awake in about ten." And by little girl, they meant Wendy who had rushed straight for them the moment the door had opened.

"Thank goodness!" Everyone sighed in relief. Natsu, the girls, and Lily gathered in the vacant bar along with Erza and Rose and several tons of shopping bags.

"I can't believe this happened while I was gone." Erza growled, tightening her fist with frustration.

"At least you didn't get caught in the city." Wendy tried to find an escape out of the heavy atmosphere but failed to do so.

"Yeah. Although the amount of guards has increased with the ball coming up." Erza replied bluntly.

The mages flinched at the sound of the second door leading to the back yard opened. Two drenched mages with long trench coats burst through. "There's no one there." Gray informed, pulling off his coat.

"What? We knocked most of those guys out!" Natsu yelled, launching from his seat.

"Figures." Damien muttered.

"What figures?" Gajeel grumbled, falling heavily into a chair besides Levy. He gave his hair a shake, letting the loose damp strands free to dry.

"Anyone left behind is a liability. The ones able to move must have taken them back with them." Damien explained, sipping from a glass of wine. Sighs and grunts of frustration grumbled under the surface of the air.

"Fortunately..." Damien continued catching everyone's eyes. "I managed to catch one."

"You caught one?" Natsu exclaimed, flying up out of his seat.

"Yeah." Damien nodded, brushing a relaxed hand through his hair.

"WHERE IS HE? I'LL GET HIM BACK FOR WHAT THEY'VE DONE!" Natsu snapped, his fist lighting with anger. Something cold and dark rapped up Gray's spine and the same twisting feeling in his stomach tightened. Dark eyes switched on to the dragon slayer. Something about his cold calculated face made even Gray want to get out of the room as fast as possible. A second wave of hostility shot every hair on his arm straight up. He turned on his heels looking directly at Damien.

Green eyes sharpened like knives on the dragon slayer. His face was neutral and calm. But Gray felt like he couldn't even move. Natsu didn't notice, trapped in his dark shadow. "There's nothing he can tell us." Damien's cold neutral tone even cut into the dragon slayer's rage. Not even Natsu dared challenge him further. Natsu settled back into his chair. Dark eyes were still fixed on Damien but showed nothing more than directed frustration. If Damien noticed, he either didn't care or felt no threat. Either way, his coarse hands slid over a wine glass, brought it to his lips and drank from it, paying no attention to anyone. Silence settled around the room.

Eventually, Levy managed to free herself from the wrapping vines of tension to ask the inevitable. "So what did he tell you?"

Wendy shifted in her seat, wondering whether or not she wanted to know. It seemed she had no choice as Damien threw the answer at her so fast she barely caught it. "They're assassins under the general guard."

"Assassins?" Wendy choked. "So they really wanted to kill her!"

"No." Damien interrupted. "Had they wanted to kill her, they would have shot her with a poison dart, not a tranquilizer. I think their aim was to kidnap her. "

"Why?" Levy asked.

"He didn't know. It was an order from higher up. From what it seems, these guys were pretty low on the pecking order." Damien replied. "But that also means there's a lot more involved than capturing Emi for ransom."

"Could it be your uncle?" Wendy suggested.

"Maybe. He could have found out that Emi knew the truth about his plans. But, it would have been easier to just kill her if that was the case." Damien replied, spinning the red wine in his glass, staring at it with fake interest.

"I feel like we're missing something." Rose added, her face subtly strained with thought.

Damien lifted his glass to his lips again, sighed and put it down. Green eyes rose to the faces of the wizards. "What are you going to do?"

The wizards looked among themselves. Just as Natsu was about to launch out of his chair -again- a voice cut in. "We go look for Lucy." Erza cut in. Her quiet has been unusual throughout the discussion, but when she rose from the table, her hands spread out against it, eyes falling directly on Damien, everybody listened. "We're going to that ball and getting Lucy back."

A long silence drew it out. It wasn't a heavy silence, but an electric energy rippled with anticipation through the room.

"Well then," Damien spoke. "We better get started."

...

NATSU

Explosions of color burst through the grand room, decorated in streamers, lights and feathers. Lively, feet-tapping music brought excitement over the flood sea of wildly dancing bodies. People glided in clusters of fantasy costumes with matching masks sealing their known identity away for one night, giving their walk that air of confidence.

Among them, there were wizards.

Natsu and Gray calmly worked through the sea of people with avoidance skills and quick reactions, dodging a woman being thrown into the air, caught and twirled. It was impossible to hear past the music, the pounding vibrations so strong that the earth seemed to shake.

Dry ice moved in, grey clouds of fog in rolling with the music booming through the sabers of colored light cutting through the air. Rather than a ball it was like a wild party of both chaos and extraordinary awe. It was almost impossible to hear anything anyone was saying, so they left it simply to the interpretation of their bodies.

Natsu pressed on a few feet ahead of Gray, but not far enough out of his sight to lose him; Erza had made it clear that she didn't want anyone breaking from their pairs. Why she had put him with Gray was anyone's guess.

When the music was cut off, people froze like it was a game of musical statues. Whispers rose form the crowd in a wave, and washed away just as fast. A spotlight clicked on, directing everyone's attention to the small balcony rising over the ocean of people.

A man with dark red head, threaded with silver stood looking down at the people with a wide grins, pulling aside his grey mustache and short beard. A hearty laugh came from his broad chest with a loud boom of laughter. He was well built and strong with a dark cloak over his shoulders, covering every inch of whatever it was he was wearing underneath.

"Welcome to the Summer Solstice Ball!" He cried. The crowd responded with an ear-bursting cheer. An anxious buzz vibrated across the crowd, awaiting for something to happen. "As our tradition stands, this will be the night of joy, excitement and mystery. There is only one rule: You must never take off another's mask by force. Other than that, my people, tonight is a night for your celebration at a place where the law can no longer reach you!" His hand clutched the shoulder of his cloak, and the intensity of the crowd flew upwards. "Let the party begin!" He cried, tearing his cloak free. The spotlight disappeared from the man, focusing on the falling black cloak. People cleared a space for it to fall, with every eye waiting for it to do so.

The second it hit the ground, music, lights and roars of excitement burst back through the crowd with an out bursting cheer. The party before, with loud music, colorful lights and wild dancing was really just the beginning. It could hardly compare to new level the ball had just shot up into.

Natsu looked up to the balcony but the man was long gone; probably having gone and integrated indifferently with the rest of the crowd.

Natsu struggled to find his orientation. The current of the crowd stole his ability to walk on his own. At one point he was thrust up and onto the hands of people pushing him over the top of the crowd in a wave.

When he was put down again, he could no longer see Gray, leaving himself stuck on the outskirts of the huge crowd where the people had dumped him. There were other circles of people escaping to flirt, chatter and kiss, out of the limelight of the thousands-strong rave club.

Natsu was surprised to see his white prince costume with the fluffy scarf, tight trousers and blazer, left intact. Even his white eye mask still firmly covered the skin around his eyes, somehow concealing his identity. Gray had dressed in a blue suit almost exactly the same as Natsu's. However, his matching prince clothing could not be seen. There were too many people for Natsu to smell anything other than sweat and a great deal of perfume and smoke.

"Lost already?" A voice appeared behind him. Natsu jerked around in surprise, both relieved and shocked to see Rose standing behind him.

She was dressed in a skin-tight shorts, knee-high brown boots and a cowboy hat dipping over her checker shirt. It was tied in a knot under her chest, revealing a bare stomach with a faint six pack of muscle underneath. Two guns sat in holders attached to her belt. Natsu eyed them with caution, wondering whether they were real or not.

Rose grabbed a handful of his white blazer and dragged him further away from the edges of the crowd. Her voice lowered and she was able to speak enough for him to decipher her voice from the rampaging crowd. "The person you just saw on the balcony is Emi's father. We don't know what he's dressed as -only his tailor and personal secretary knew. But I have no doubt that Lucy's husband knows as well. Make sure to keep an eye out for him in the crowd and for anything suspicious; we still haven't spotted Emi's uncle." Rose informed, looking past the dragon slayer and scouting the flood of people. His body tensed at those two words... Lucy's husband, but he managed to force his body to relax before Rose caught on. He looked up and scanned over the crowd. How anyone could find anyone else in the monstrous crowd, amazed Natsu. "I'm off to go inform the rest." She announced, disappearing behind the slayer's back. He turned back on the crowd and any evidence of her was gone from sight.

In order to do what was needed to be done, the dragon slayer took a reluctant step towards the people and slipped back into the crowd.

NATSU

They had been partying for at least three hours and nothing had yet to show themselves. It was eleven-thirty and there was another half an hour until midnight. Thousands of people had left, but there were still hundreds of thousands still dancing. Hope of Lucy appearing dwindled as time went on. Any signs of Emi's uncle had yet to be found and hadn't even located him in the ball, not that it was any less of a challenge to identify people in a masked crowd. Natsu still hadn't managed to reunite with Gray.

Natsu had retreated to his perch only half an hour after arrival; the top stair leading to the balcony provided the perfect look out over the swarming crowds. There were still people scattered up and down the stairs but they were the minority. Dark eyes peered through the marble banister posts at the crowd moving in swarming waves. At first they appeared to be a group of individuals dancing to their own beat, however, after a longer inspection, it soon appeared they moved as one entity, like a wave rolling in and out over a white marble beach.

Tired but watchful eyes scanned the figures in the crowd for what seemed like the thousandth time, trying to locate the man he saw earlier, and their two other targets of interest.

He managed to spot someone, dressed in a sharp blue suit with a frilly tie, drawing the eye of scouting women. Gray moved through the crowd like a fish trying to swim upstream; moving unnaturally against the flow of bodies. For a small while, it actually amused Natsu; sitting there, watching him struggle.

The moment became a thorough joy when the ice mage caught his gaze. A glare shot up to the slayer sat protected, away from the crowd, bearing a broad smile on his face at his rival. In the end, Gray gave up with the silent eye arguing, moving onto his point of objective. His head jerked over to his four o'clock and Natsu followed.

It took him a while at first, trying to spot what Gray was indicating to, but when his eyes found it, he knew he was looking at the right thing.

A man, dressed in a dark black cape with a double side of velvet red hovered around a group of younger women dancing. White fangs were clearly stuck onto his teeth and fake blood dribbled down his chin; a vampire. Earlier on, the very same man had been stood on the balcony giving a royal speech to begin the unconventional festivities. Yet, there he was, a blood-sucking monster, flirting with women at least ten years younger than him -the pale cast of his skin gave him an eternal feel.

Natsu nodded in Gray's direction the second he realized, and the ice mage nodded back in confirmation. He still continued to sift through the crowd towards the man, in an attempt to stay close to him for protection.

A shoe caught Natsu in the rib, making him gasp with pain. "Hey!" He snapped, turning on the assailant.

Fabric decorated in sequels and beads was shoved into the dragon slayer's face as a woman came toppling down on top of him. "Well aren't you a cutie?" She squealed in delight, pressing her thick claws against his cheeks. She was dressed as something between a cat and a dog with folded ears and sharp claws and whiskers. The front of her mask laid crooked over her dark eyes, covered by a large piece of hair, fallen from the unkempt bun on top of her head. A red blush to her cheeks proved she had been drinking; that and her eccentric and flirtatious behavior.

"I'm so sorry!" Her friend exclaimed in embarrassment, managing to pick up the girl from straddling his chest. At first she stumbled and staggered until the girl propped the drunk onto her shoulder for support.

They dashed away before Natsu could even manage to recover enough to speak.

As Natsu turned, he caught a glint of something shiny in his eye and turned for just a second to find its cause. It took him that second too late to realize what it was.

Time seemed to slow as dark eyes followed the silver arrow's aim; straight into the back of the black cape of a vampire.

His voice was already yelling before his mind could even think to summon it.

But it was all too late.

The echoing snap of the bow string echoed in his ears.

"GRAY!" He shouted.

Screams burst from the crowd, dispelling the music and excitement of the crowd as the vampire man collapsed, an arrow stuck in his back.

Natsu whirled back onto the opposite corner of the room. Dark eyes just catching the assailant swinging his bow over his back before ducking into the nearest hallway.

He was down the hallway in less than a second, barging people out of his way with quails of protest as they flocked back to the main dance floor to see why the music had watched them race by with dull awareness, slumped against the wall waiting for their heads to stop spinning.

Quick glimpses of fabric darting around the corner was the only tether Natsu had to follow his prey. The attacker couldn't run as fast as the slayer and those little glimpses became their green caped back.

Natsu pushed himself to cover the gap between them, and with each step, he got that little bit closer. He came so close that his hand lurched for him, certain he could catch him.

Just as Natsu's fingers were grazing the silk fabric of the man's cape, he disappeared around a corner faster than Natsu could follow.

Natsu came to a halt at a T-junction, unable to land his eye on the assailant. He looked left and right, but couldn't find a single trace of their presence, all except for the green hat abandoned on the floor. They were gone. "Dammit!" Natsu snapped, his fist colliding into the nearest wall. It crumbled with paint chips falling into a pile on the floor.

Only the sound of the fluttering curtains filled the silent night, the wind having fallen still. Wait? Curtains? Natsu's body reacted quicker than his mind, driving him down the left corridor too fast for his brain to catch up. His feet rounded the corner, open air slamming into his face. He froze, eyes staring down the balcony in front of him.

Green fabric rippled in the string breeze, a half turned head glancing over his shoulder at the dragon slayer. Long strands of hair drifted in the breeze, its color masked by the darkness. Dark eyes, shielded by the shadow of moonlight, turned and look for a split second. They flinched in surprise, eyes running over the pursuer that chased him.

A second later, the surprise died into contempt, his feet pulling his body smoothly on to the balcony's edge. His second foot never came down on stone, but instead, on the empty air ahead of him.

"Wait!" Natsu bellowed, lunging forwards. Fingers clasped around their green cape, capturing the tether he had to the attacker. They turned, spinning to free themselves, a hidden knife slicing through the thread holding the cape to their neck, their hat falling free. Golden threads unraveled under the night light, the moon looking down on their faces, unveiling their disguise. The green torn green cape half-tore and Natsu's hand let go.

Both the green fabric and the assailant plunged into the darkness bellow, leaving Natsu frozen in shock.

"... Lucy?"


Next: Chapter Eight: Arrest Him


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-A-ccentric