I don't own Fairy Tail or any of the characters.

Chapter 10

I'm skipping all the way to the end of Lucy's second year in order for the story to progress. Basically Lucy worked at the restaurant, went to her classes, did a few jobs for Fairy Tail, and went home for winter and spring break. Natsu continued to climb into her room often and they became even closer.

Early May

Lucy and Levy were in the school library studying and reading together. They were in the library for a couple of hours now. Lucy saw the time and she needed to head back to her place. Levy wanted to stay a little bit longer to continue reading her book.

Levy closed the last page of the book and stretched. She looked outside and it was pitch black, she saw the time on her phone was around midnight. Levy was about to call a taxi, but Fairy Hills was only a 10 minutes away.

As she was walking home, she started to hear yelling and commotion. Knowing about the gangs in Magnolia, Levy found a tree to hide behind. She could see four men, breaking into a convenience store. She was close enough to hear their conversation.

"Yo, Gajeel stay outside and be the lookout." Levy heard one of the men say. She saw a tall man with pierced eyebrows stay outside, while the rest of the men went into the store. Levy knew that she should have started running away, but she was too frozen to move. She took some pictures of the men inside the store, catching them in the act.

Suddenly, she saw the man who was on the lookout see her. "Oh, no. He saw me. I'm in so much trouble." Levy thought. He stared at her and then motioned for her to leave. "What? He is letting me go?" Thankful for the man, whose name she remembered was Gajeel, Levy started running away.

The next day, Levy sent the photos to the Magnolia Police and they were able to apprehend the other three guys. Levy also had a photo of Gajeel, but since he let her go, she didn't send his photo to the police.

Next Week

Lucy and Levy were walking back from dinner at a restaurant. Lucy suddenly felt strange. "Levy, don't freak out, but I think we are being followed."

Levy immediately stiffened. "Lucy, what should we do?"

Lucy looked around, "We need to get to a more public place. There isn't too many people around. Don't run, walk faster and follow me."

They were about to get to the end of street, but they were stopped by a few thug like men. They grabbed Levy and covered her mouth so she couldn't scream. Lucy also started to grab on the men, so they could let Levy go.

One of the men "We only need the blue hair girl, leave the blonde and let's go."

Lucy was not giving up "Leave Levy, alone!" She kept kicking and punching the men around, but she was outnumbered by the men.

"Ugh, take the blonde bitch as well. We need to hurry." The men blindfolded and tied Levy and Lucy up and threw them into a truck.

After some more shoving, pulling, and dragging, Lucy felt the blindfold being taken off. She saw a man with a long face and a weird moustache staring at Levy and her. "Who are you, why did you take us?" Lucy asked.

"I'm Jose, leader of the Phantom Gang. Did you know your little friend put three of my best guys in jail?" He stared at Levy angrily.

Lucy suddenly understood, Levy told her about the night at the convenience store. Jose must have found about Levy providing the pictures to the police. "What are you going to do to us?" she asked Jose.

"I'm not sure about you yet, but your friend is going to be a hostage, so the police will release the men back." Jose replied. "Put blondie in the other room." he ordered the men.

Two men escorted Lucy to another room, "Hey let's play with this bitch, she has a banging body." The two men looked greedily at Lucy who was on the ground.

Lucy begged, "No please don't." She tried to crawl away. One of the men was getting impatient and slapped her face to make stop moving. The other guy ripped her shirt up and started to pull on her bra.

A cold feminine voice called out, "Mr. Jose is calling an important meeting, he wants everyone there." Lucy looked up and saw a serious looking girl with strange blue curls in her hair. The men grunted and slapped Lucy's ass before leaving.

The blue hair girl asked, "Are you alright?"

Lucy nodded, "Thank you, you came at the right time. Who are you?"

"I'm Juvia. Jose sent me to watch over you." She tried helping Lucy to fix her up, but her shirt was no longer usable. Lucy was left wearing only a bra.

Lucy asked Juvia about why she was in a gang. Juvia told Lucy, that her friend Gajeel and her grew up in the same orphanage. They both went to the same community college*. Juvia wanted to transfer to Magnolia University and Gajeel wanted to get a simple degree and start working. They both needed Money and Jose promised that he would pay them. While Juvia and Gajeel were getting paid, they didn't want to be in the gang anymore. However Jose threatened the both of them and they couldn't leave.

Lucy wanted to help Juvia so she asked her if she did anything illegal. Juvia shook her head and said that both Gajeel and her got simple jobs like surveilling and collecting money. Juvia suddenly burst into tears and told Lucy that Jose beat Gajeel up for not noticing that Levy was also there at the convenience store.

Lucy suddenly had an epiphany, "Does Gajeel have a pierced eyebrows?" This must be the man who let Levy run away. Juvia nodded and Lucy was determined to help the both of them. "Do you know how to escape? I promise I will help you both."

Juvia somehow felt like she could trust Lucy, so they both silently walked along the walls. Since Jose was holding a meeting, the building wasn't heavily guarded. Juvia lead Lucy to Gajeel who was bloodily beaten up in a corner of the room. Juvia tried to wake him up silently, Gajeel opened his eyes and saw Lucy and Juvia. Staring at Lucy's unclothed upper half, he blushed "What the?"

Juvia spoke, "Gajeel we don't have much time, questions later." Gajeel put on arm around Lucy and another one around Juvia and they both helped him walk. They did not relax until they got far away from the building. They found an alley and stopped there. Gajeel who was more awake, took off his bloody shirt and gave it to Lucy. Lucy was grateful, but felt bad for Gajeel because she could now clearly see his wounds.

They continued to walk towards Lucy's house, it was really late at night and there was nobody around. On the way there, they ran into Gray and Loke. Apparently Natsu was worried that Lucy was not answering her phone and she wasn't home and called both Gray and Loke.

Loke staring at Lucy's bloody shirt and Gajeel's beaten up body was confused and relieved at the same time. "Lucy, what happened?"

"Not now, Loke. Help us carry him to my apartment." With Gray and Loke carrying Gajeel, they were able to move faster. Once they reached Lucy's apartment, Lucy took out her first aid kit and started tending to Gajeel's wounds.

She heard Natsu entering through her door, "Lucy, where have you been? You haven't been answering your phone and it's late?" he rambled and chastised her.

She snapped at him, "Sorry Natsu, I was a little busy being kidnapped. You are not the first thing on my mind." The whole room suddenly became She was tired, angry, and still worried about Levy who they had to leave behind. Natsu finally looked at her appearance and saw the wound on her face and bloody t-shirt.

Natsu got really angry, "Who did this to you?"

Lucy sighed and told them the entire story. About Levy's experience at the convenience store, them being kidnapped, Jose's plan, and Juvia and Gajeel's escape. She finished fixing up Gajeel's wounds.

After her story Loke asked, "What do you plan on doing now?"

She told them her plan. "Juvia and I will go to the police station and tell them where the Phantom headquarters is. Hopefully they will be able to rescue Levy." Obviously the five of them could not overtake a whole gang of fighters with weapons.

Juvia and Lucy went to the police station with Gray and Natsu, who would not let them go by themselves. The police had just received the hostage video from Jose, demanding that they let the men go and a huge sum of money.

Wanting to apprehend the gang and rescue Levy at the same time, the police listened to both Lucy and Juvia. A huge group of officers went to the gang headquarters by following the instructions Juvia told them on an ear piece. The police chief allowed them to watch the apprehension in the video room. The officers who went to had a video camera strapped on their bodies, so they could watch what was going on.

Juvia told them the best ways for them to sneak in without getting caught. The gang was surprised and overwhelmed with the sudden appearance of the police. They were some gun shots fired, but luckily only one officer was hurt. They were able to find Levy and Jose and take down the gang.

Levy was taken to the hospital as she was a little scratched up and unconscious. The rest of the gang (around 40 members) was taken to the police station. Jose saw Lucy first and escaped the officer who was holding him. "You bitch, you did this." He angrily swung his fist towards her. Juvia, who was near her, stood in front of Lucy and Jose struck her stomach and Juvia fell down. Gray punched Jose and he was caught by the officers.

Gray bent down to help Juvia up. "Are you okay?" he asked. Juvia saw how Gray came to her rescue and was smitten immediately. She fainted in his arms, "Hey, wake up." Gray said in a panic. Juvia opened her eyes and smiled goofily before fainting again.

Natsu, who had barely said a word this entire night, had a chance to think. He was so worried for Lucy and he didn't know what he would do if something had happened to her. He saw how brave and strong Lucy was this entire night. He saw how caring and gentle she was when she tended to Gajeel's wounds. He felt her compassion as she stood by Juvia's side the whole time. Lucy knew Juvia for less than few hours, but was still willing to help her. He thought about the all their other memories together and came to a conclusion.

He loved her.

*Community College: A smaller scale school compared to a University. Most people study there for a few years, before transferring other bigger colleges of University.

AN: I would have liked to have written about a "war" between Fairy Tail and the Phantom Gang, but Lucy is in college not some fight club. Fairy Tail is supposed to be a volunteer club. So no more gang or dangerous business after Phantom. Also yes, Natsu figured out his feelings now.