A Week Ago...
"Why hasn't Luke or Nashi come back yet? It's 12:00," Lucy says in concern to Natsu.
Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were all in their hotel room waiting for the Dragneel siblings to come.
"Maybe they're celebrating her big win... Though, it is strange for Luke to keep her out this long," Natsu suggests.
"I have a bad feeling," Lucy sighs.
"Huh?", Natsu says with confusion.
"My mother senses are tingling. I think they might be in trouble," Lucy says.
"I could fly over and check for you," Happy says.
"Sure, thank you," Lucy smiles in gratitude as Happy flies out the window.
"Man, I was so proud of Nashi today. She did so well with that sword, but I have a feeling that it was too good to be true," Natsu says in a serious tone as he sits beside Lucy on the edge of the bed.
"What do you mean?", Lucy asks. She had been so proud of Nashi too. She would've hugged her and congratulated her if she hadn't run off with Luke.
"I think Ashton was going easy on her. He's a strong wizard. He could've done so much more, and then, he suddenly collapses," Natsu explains.
"But why would he do that?", Lucy asks with surprise.
"Maybe he didn't want to injure her all that badly?", Natsu suggests with a frown.
"But if Nashi were to find out about this, she'd be so upset- Oh come on," Lucy groans at the realization.
"What?", Natsu asks.
"I'm just guessing... but Nashi might've run away," Lucy says.
"What?!", Natsu yells.
"Natsu, calm down," Lucy says but Natsu ignores her.
He stands up and shrugs on the vest that he took off earlier.
"I can't calm down," Natsu growls out.
"Natsu...", Lucy whispers. She's learned to not be scared when Natsu got like this, but it still made her feel uneasy.
"I'm beating up that Ashton guy!", he declares and jumps out the window.
Lucy groans to herself. Why can't he stop and think before beating something up?
She knew that both Natsu and Luke are very overprotective of her because she doesn't wield magic. She tried for years to use fire and celestial magic, but it never happened. She tried to use takeover magic because of how easy Mira said it would be, but again, it didn't work. Nashi has tried hard to show how powerful she can be only for it to be crumbled down because of the fact that she can't use magic. Lucy didn't miss the fact that she was training with Erza's old sword in the woods one time when she was taking a walk. Nashi is very great with a sword just not magic.
Lucy has also noticed when she gets bored at the guild and reads the books that Levy left for her with no interest. She's sure that reading isn't her thing just like Natsu who had to learn from Erza in three days without water or food. Nashi is smart, but she isn't a bookworm. Many of her guildmates have tried to give her some activities to do such as that. Kana would play cards with her... and always win. Juvia would show her the reigns on how to sneak around the guild quietly which often resulted in her accidentally crashing and breaking something important. Erza would take her to make some extraordinary cake made with the special sweet strawberries found in the mountains, but Nashi would almost always unintentionally burn the cake. Happy would go fishing, but Nashi could never catch a fish. Lucy just decided to tell her guildmates that she was fine as she was after she noticed her training. Lucy had her complete faith in her and wanted her to focus on her own dreams.
But it all didn't matter when Ashton went easy on her. Lucy was sure now that she ran away. But why did Ashton do it?
Natsu sprinted off to Blue Pegasus once his feet hit the ground. The cool breeze felt nice as he moved against it.
"Natsu?", Happy calls out from above.
"Take me to Blue Pegasus," he says.
"Aye sir!", Happy lifts him and flies to their hotel.
Natsu barges inside causing people inside to start screaming their heads off, and Natsu to cover his ears in irritation. The hotel looks slightly like the Blue Pegasus guild except smaller, but it seems that they're still doing their regular business despite being in Crocus for the magic games.
"Excuse me, Natsu. But you seem to be wearing an angry parfum," Ichiya states.
"Hi, Natsu. I'm Evelyn," a girl greets along with two others. "I can be your little niece."
"Wow, you're certainly strong. I'm Masaki," another girl oogles at his arms.
"I mean, you're kinda interesting but not really," the last girl turns away with a small blush. "My name is Lin."
"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, do you know where Ashton is?", he mutters out angrily.
"He's over there," the first girl points to where he's sitting beside another girl at the bar. They seem to be conversing about something. Too bad their conversation will just have to be cut short.
Natsu marches right up to Ashton and grabs his wrist.
"What the hell, man!", Ashton hisses at Natsu. "I was in the middle of a lovely conversation," he winks at the girl who smiles at him.
"Sorry, but it'll have to wait," Natsu drags him out the door.
They make their way outside and beside the hotel away from all the noise.
"What do you want?", Ashton orders impatiently.
"Tell me why you went easy on Nashi," Natsu subconsciously lit a hand on fire which showed he was indeed angry.
"Woah, woah. Calm down," Ashton puts his hands out in defense.
"Tell me," Natsu says with a threatening tone.
"Do you really want to know?", Ashton shrugs.
"That's why I'm asking you," Natsu raises an eyebrow.
Ashton mumbles out, "Nevermind," before saying, "Someone paid me even though I would've gone easy on her either way."
"Huh? Who?!", Natsu asks.
"I'm sure if you think hard enough, you'll figure it out," Ashton says.
Natsu started to think about different possibilities. Lucy couldn't have been the person she wouldn't do that. He definitely didn't do it because he's here asking. Happy? He seems a little suspicious.
"Happy?", Natsu asks.
"No, it wasn't that stupid flying cat," Ashton sighs.
"Don't call him stupid!", Natsu yells.
"Sorry...", Ashton mutters.
Think, Natsu, think. Luke? He was the other person gone. Maybe...
"Luke?", Natsu asks.
...
There's no way, though.
...
Right..?
"Ding, ding, ding! He came up to me and looked as if he were about to have some sort of heart attack," Ashton explain. "Now, excuse me while I go back with my conversation- What are you doing?" Ashton looks at Natsu who has a grip on his collar.
Ashton's jaw quickly moved to the right.
"That's for going easy on Nashi!"
Moves to the left.
"That's for losing a point for your guild for money."
Moves to the right.
"That's for being annoying."
Falls to the ground.
"That's because I wanted to."
Ashton spits out blood and glares at Natsu. "Do you really want to fight with me?"
"Maybe I do," Natsu grins.
"Fine then. Don't go easy on me just because I'm younger than you-," Ashton gets up, but Natsu quickly punches him back to the ground to the ground leaving him unconscious.
"Sure," Natsu says with a grin.
I've been training for many years more than you. You didn't stand a chance in the first place.
Natsu decides to at least take him back to the guild, and everyone gasps when they spot Natsu holding Ashton.
"He thought he could fight me. Ask him more about it when he wakes up. Maybe he'll tell you why he lost a point for your guild," Natsu says as he places him on a couch.
"I can't believe he could just do that to Ashton," Evelyn says with disbelief.
"I know he's strong, but I expected him to be nicer than that," Masaki starts rubbing up Natsu's arm again causing him to shove the girl away.
"Then again, Ashton is an asshole who probably deserved it," Lin shrugs with her arms folded.
"Just because you two are fighting doesn't mean you get to go out using language like that. There are guests here," Masaki scolds.
"I'm not the person who cheats on my boyfriend every time I get the chance. I'm done with his shit. I don't care about what the guests think either!", Lin yells grabbing the attention of everyone.
"Ashton has been a big meanie to Lin," Evelyn says to Natsu whose eyes are hardened.
"Who the hell cheats on their lover? That guy is messed up in the head," Natsu says to Lin.
"I know right? I've been wanting to give him a piece of my mind for awhile now," Lin nods.
"I'll happily beat him up again," Natsu says.
"Nah, I rather do it myself. It'll be more fun," Lin cracks her knuckles with a creepy smile.
"You shouldn't be fighting with Ashton so much. Just get over him," Masaki presses.
"I'm already over him. I just want to give him a piece of my mind," Lin stretches her arms.
"That's the spirit!", Natsu cheers.
"Don't be encouraging this," Masaki glares at Natsu.
"It's her problem, not yours. Let her beat the guy up," Natsu says.
"Natsu!", Happy comes flying towards Natsu.
"Yeah?", Natsu asks before noticing his look of panic on his face. "What's wrong?"
"We need to get out of here. Now!", Happy says before tugging on Natsu's scarf to go outside.
"Huh?", Natsu says.
"That's the cat that stole my food!", some stranger points at Happy and yells. "If you allow your stupid pets to do whatever they want, I'm never coming here again!"
"Hey!", Natsu shouts back. "Happy's not a stupid pet! He's my friend and a member of Fairy Tail."
"Pet or not, keep that rodent away from me!", he retorts.
"Happy isn't a rodent!", Natsu swings a flaming fist into his cheek with makes him go flying to the other side of the room. He looks over Happy and says, "Let's go home now."
Once Natsu and Happy got back to the hotel, Lucy sat there on the bed with a look of annoyance.
They covered his ears once Lucy opened her mouth. Natsu didn't mean to be rude but her mad voice would often be too loud for his sensitive ears to handle. Although, Happy did it just to irritate her more.
"You can't just go and beat up someone at a different guild like that! We might get disqualified! And you might hurt someone! Ashton isn't as powerful at you, Natsu! You can possibly kill him in one hit!", Lucy yells.
"I didn't kill him with one hit. I knocked him out with one hit," Natsu grins which results in Lucy groaning.
"Natsu...", she says with a warning voice.
"He deserved it," Natsu points out.
"Fighting can't solve the fact that Nashi is still gone. Don't you have any idea about where she could have gone?", Lucy says.
"Ashton did tell me something important actually," Natsu spoke.
"What is it?!", Lucy inquires.
"He was paid," Natsu answers.
"Who-"
"Luke paid him," Natsu said.
"Luke did that?", Happy asks.
"I'm afraid so," Natsu nods.
"I know that Luke doesn't want her to get hurt but... but why would he...?", Lucy shakes her head with a frown.
"Ashton told me that he looked as if he were having a heart attack," Natsu says.
"I just don't understand," Lucy sighs.
"Fear can really make you do the things you usually don't do," Happy speaks.
"What is a line of such serious words doing coming out of your mouth?", Lucy asks with surprise.
"I know that sometimes when I catch a fish way bigger than me, I let it go because I'm afraid it'll eat me. Though, it could've tasted great," Happy's mouth waters at the thought of fish. Despite doing his own "training" of trying to resist fish, he still isn't so great at it.
"Makes sense," Natsu nods.
"Anything with food makes sense to you two," Lucy mutters.
"Not everything," Natsu shakes his head.
"What?", Lucy asks.
"Was the color orange named after the fruit orange or the other way around?", Natsu asks.
"I've been wondering the same thing!", Happy states.
"Oh, Mavis," Lucy facepalms.
"It just hurts my brain after each time of thinking about it," Natsu says.
"Your brain always hurts when you think," Happy points out.
"What is that supposed to mean?!", Natsu asks with a glare.
"You aren't exactly as smart as Lucy," Happy explains.
'Did Happy just indirectly compliment me?', Lucy thinks with a small smile.
"But I guess Lucy is fatter so-"
"Shut up cat!", Lucy yells hitting his head. "Try having two kids and looking the same!"
"Ow!", Happy quickly flies behind Natsu. "Lucy is being mean to me!"
"Then don't call me fat!", Lucy screams at him.
"You know that Lucy gets upset when you call her fat," Natsu speaks.
"Sorry, Lucy," Happy says in a quiet tone.
"Whatever," Lucy mutters. "So what do we do now about Luke and Nashi. We need to find them."
There's a knock at the door, and Natsu walks over to open the door.
Gray and Juvia are revealed looking obviously stressed out just like Lucy.
"Have you two seen Storm anywhere?", Gray asks.
"Storm? No, we haven't actually," Lucy catches a glance at Natsu whose eyes look just as stressful as theirs.
"Wow, you can't even keep up with your own kid," Natsu laughs.
"Stop, Natsu. This is serious," Lucy pinches his arms which makes him glare at her. "You also can't say that because we have no idea where Luke and Nashi are."
"Nashi is missing?", Juvia asks with concern about her horrible stalking buddy.
"We think she ran away," Happy says.
"Why would she run away after such a win?", Juvia asks with a frown.
"Luke paid Ashton to let her win," Natsu said.
"But... but that's cheating!", Gray sputters out.
"We're assuming that he didn't want Nashi to get hurt," Lucy said.
"But she was so great with the sword," Juvia says.
"That's it! I'm going to go look for them. Come with me, Lucy, Happy, Juvia. Stripper, go away or something," Natsu carries Lucy at he jumps out the window making her squeal in surprise.
"Shut up, fire brain. I'm coming with," he picks up Juvia and jumps out to leaving Happy to fly out and follow everyone.
Natsu sprints towards the GMG stadium and catches a small whiff of the smell... smoke and mint.
Luke and Storm.
He sniffs again and can barely catch the other scent of burning cherry blossom.
Nashi.
Natsu found that Nashi was a perfect mixture of his and Lucy's scent, so he always found her scent more appealing than Luke's ordinary smoke.
"Luke and Storm's scent are fresher meaning that Nashi left this way before them," Natsu starts his running through the forest. Although their scents seem harder to sniff out because of the rain.
The rest follow after Natsu. Juvia sighs at the nice water soaking up her magic in relaxation while Lucy complains about the mud ruining her shoes.
"I bet Luke and Storm went after Nashi to bring her back," Gray says.
"Then why aren't they back by now?", Juvia asks.
"Beats me," Gray answers.
"What if they're in trouble?", Lucy asks anxiously.
"I'm sure they're fine," Natsu says after detecting her obvious fears.
"But anything can happen... What if they-"
"Lucy," Natsu starts, "I promise that they're okay and that if they aren't, I will protect them."
"Natsu...", Lucy quietly says.
"There's no need to be worrying, Lucy. Luke and Storm can take care of themselves, and I'm sure it's no different with Nashi," Gray says.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm just being paranoid," Lucy nods with a smile.
"I'm tired and cold," Happy mumbles as he finds a place comfortable in Lucy's chest.
"My chest isn't your personal heater, stupid cat!", Lucy yells at Happy.
"Oi, shush, Lucy. I'm trying to sleep," Happy says and closes his eyes.
"I will Lucy kick you to the moon if you don't get out in 3...", Lucy starts and watches at Happy's eyes open wide. "2...", Happy tries to pull himself out of Lucy's shirt. "1...", Happy dashes out into Natsu's arms.
"Lucy was threatening me again," Happy cries.
"It's okay, Happy... Lucy's chest is mine anyway," Natsu grins.
"Shut up, you idiot!", Lucy gives them both a taste of her powerful kick.
"You guys need to focus on the task at hand," Gray says with his arms folded over his bare chest.
"Your shirt is missing again," Lucy points out.
"Ahh shit! Not again!", Gray scrambles around, but Juvia places a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm him.
"Juvia's been holding onto your shirt," Juvia hands him the shirt.
"Uh... thanks," Gray gives a short smile to her before letting his face fall back to its usual frown.
After many more minutes of bickering, they come to a certain tree.
"Isn't this Hargeon?", Lucy asks Natsu who nods.
"There's another scent here...", Natsu states.
"Who?", Happy asks.
Natsu shakes his head, "I'm not sure. It smells kind of familiar although."
"Really?", Lucy asks.
"It kinda reminds me of those treasure hunters from that frozen city job we took from that tree dude a long time ago," Natsu says.
"Tree dude?", Lucy inquires with confusion.
"Are you talking about Warrod?", Gray asks.
"Oh yeah! The wizard saint who joked around a lot!", Lucy nods with realization.
"Yeah, that tree dude-"
"You shouldn't be calling a wizard saint, 'tree dude', Natsu," Lucy sighs.
"What else do I call him? 'Tree guy'?", Natsu asks with confusion.
"Stupid," Gray shakes his head at Natsu.
"Who are you calling stupid!", Natsu yells at Gray.
"NATSU!", Lucy yells making him back down.
"Sorry...", Natsu mumbles out.
"It's fine. You just need to focus. You're the only person who can sniff out where they are," Lucy says.
Natsu nods in understanding and continues his way of sniffing out the three. They walk through town finding that it was silent and empty allowing it to be easier to smell the three for Natsu.
"That other scent is still here," Natsu says to the group.
"Do you think something happened to Nashi, Storm, and Luke?", Juvia asks worriedly.
"I'm sure they're okay. Whoever was with them was confused. Although, his scent is also faint with Nashi compared to Luke and Storm's. I'm thinking that maybe the guy took Nashi or something," Natsu theorizes.
"But why would someone take Nashi?", Happy asks.
"I'm not sure," Natsu shrugs.
They continue their way until...
"Dad? Mom?"
Natsu and the gang all turn to face towards Storm who looks panicked.
"What's wrong, Storm?", Juvia asks.
"Damnit! Someone took Luke!", Storm says.
"Calm down and tell us," Lucy says softly.
"Well...", Storm drifts off.
"Do you know where a good hotel would be around here?", Luke asks.
Storm's eyes widen with realization. "We forgot to bring money!"
"I can't believe you forgot to bring money!", Luke says to Storm with annoyance.
"Well, it's not like you brought money either," Storm defends.
"Maybe! But... But...", Luke goes quiet as he tries to think of a good comeback.
"Idiot," Storm mutters.
"What did ya just call me!", Luke yells.
"I called you an idiot, stupid!", Storm shouts back.
They start off again with their fighting until they both get the shivers. They both know it isn't because of the cold night air since they're both immune to cold. Turning slowly, a beastly man stands in front of them with his eyes closed.
"Are you a Dragneel?", the person asks.
"Yeah...", Luke answers truthfully which makes Storm groan at his ability to be so dense towards a creepy looking guy. "Who the hell are you?"
"I am Akumu if you want to call me by a foolish name that humans have brought upon me," he answers.
"Well, Akumu, what do you want? I'm kinda in the middle of talking to my guildmate," Luke gestures to Storm even though Akumu's eyes aren't open.
"I'm sure you should fix your priorities. Lord Zeref will be pleased to see me after I take you with me," his eyes open wide to reveal blood red eyes that look into Luke's brown eyes.
Storm watches as Luke collapses to the ground, and Akumu slugs him up over his shoulder.
"What the hell man! Let him go!", Storm yells and sticks his hands out to spray water.
Akumu's eyes try to open, but Storm quickly sprays more water at them.
Storm swiftly pulls on Luke's arm and tries to run away with him.
"You foolish brat! Lord Zeref needs the Dragneel in order to carry out his will!", loud thundering footsteps follow after Storm.
Storm ices the ground to make him slip and fall allowing him to run past Akumu, but his eyes widen when Akumu's form turns into a larger beast.
"Now you're just making me angry!", he reaches out a hand and swiftly grabs Luke from Storm, but he keeps a grip on Luke.
"Let go!", Storm yells at Akumu.
"I'm not here to play around, human," he opens his eyes but Storm flings ice at them along at his hand which makes him release his hold on Luke.
"Me neither. You're just getting on my nerves," Storm says.
Akumu grows larger with anger and flicks a finger at Storm causing him to fly back into the side of a building.
"I'm done with you," Akumu picks up Luke and disappears.
Storm quickly gets up and walks over to where Akumu was.
"The hell?! Get back here and fight me!", Storm yells.
"That's about what happened," Storm finishes.
Everyone is tense. Not just because of Luke being taken away but the fact that a strange man mentioning Zeref took Luke.
"What's wrong?", Storm asks after noticing everyone's reactions.
"I thought he was dead," Lucy spoke with a frown.
Natsu and Gray both internally freak out as they hear Lucy speak.
"Who?", Storm asks.
Juvia and Happy sigh.
"Zeref," Lucy answers.
"You know Zeref? I thought the name was some myth," Storm says.
"Damnit," Natsu curses aloud causing to make Gray glare at him for bringing the attention on himself.
"Natsu?", Lucy asks vaguely, but it's clear that her eyes give a bigger question.
Do you know something that I don't know?
Natsu sighs.
"He's not dead," Natsu starts off.
"Natsu," Lucy says with a mixed feeling of confusion, anger, and surprise.
"During the war," this time it's Gray speaking, "after Natsu and I were finished fighting, we came face to face with Zeref."
Now it's time for Juvia to be confused.
"We couldn't defeat him," Natsu spoke. "I tried my fucking hardest, and I couldn't get a single hair off his body. He came unscathed."
"I thought I'd have a chance because I had my demon slayer magic, but nothing," Gray said.
"But I thought you told us-"
"Technically we never said we killed or defeated him. We said he was gone because he disappeared, but everyone assumed he died," Natsu said while turning his head away from Lucy. "I'm sorry. I just figured that we'd be okay since he never bothered us these past years, and I didn't want to bring back bad memories."
"It's okay, Natsu. You can't take back the past. All we can do is to protect the future for everyone," Lucy says.
"You're right. Let's try to find Luke and Nashi," Natsu says with a nod.
"But Akumu disappeared with Luke out of thin air. He didn't run off. You won't be able to sniff them out," Storm says.
"Good thing we have a bunch of bookworms in the guild who could help out," Natsu turns to Lucy.
"I'm sure Levy will be glad to help along with Gale," Lucy nods.
"Great," Storm says.
They all turn to go back to the others as quickly as they can to inform the guild about the unfortunate events.
Lucy grabs ahold of Natsu's hand as they're running which causes him to whip his head quickly towards her way.
"I promise to protect the future for everyone," Natsu says to Lucy.
Lucy doesn't look satisfied, though.
"What's wrong?", Natsu asks.
"I know it sounds selfish, but I'm worried about you more than everyone else," Lucy admits.
"What do you mean?", Natsu asks with confusion. "I can protect myself."
"What if you come face to face with Zeref again, and you still can't defeat him. What if instead of disappearing he does worst and-"
"I'm not dying for a long time," Natsu interrupts. "I'm not quite old enough to die. I want to at least see how you'll look like when you're 80." He grins, but Lucy keeps her frown.
"You're not immortal, Natsu. I just... I just worry sometimes, okay? Ever since that war, I've been scared," she admits. "Our old master Makarov..." she trails off, "and everyone was so injured. Everyone packed a new pair of scars all over their bodies. I don't want that to happen again."
"Gramps died saving the guild," Natsu tests out his words. "and if I had to, I'd die for you and the guild, but I'm not dying as long as I have a choice, Lucy. I won't do that to you. Besides, I'm way stronger than I was before. I bet I'm even stronger than Igneel was."
"Promise me," Lucy whispers.
"I promise that I won't die," Natsu says with no hesitation.
"Remember that celestial wizards take promises very seriously," Lucy reminds.
"Good because I don't plan on breaking it," Natsu says.
Lucy smiles, and that leaves Natsu intent on never allowing her to frown again.