One thing the slayer didn't count on was the fact that there were no leads what so ever to finding his mage. Lucy had disappeared without a trace. Strangely enough, he expected nothing less from the girl. With all the experience she had gained after trying several different attempts to slip away from Natsu, it wouldn't be a surprise if she was able to do it subconsciously. All of those attempts never really worked however. Versus Natsu's dragon slayer nose, she was at a loss. The sweet scent of strawberry and vanilla was always around and it always lead to her. That scent was like a drug to Natsu. Like any addict, when his drug was gone, it hit hard. Most people can overcome their addictions, however to Natsu, this was an addiction he never wanted to conquer.
Natsu ran his hands through his soft pink hair, trying to remember that scent. Tonight the rain lashed out on the city, conquering it with harsh winds. Hours had been spent in the weather earlier, aimlessly looking around the city for the golden haired girl before they gave up on the pointless expeditions. Without any leads, there wasn't even a guarantee that Lucy was still in Magnolia. There wasn't even any definite idea on what memories Lucy was carrying with her. For all they know, she could have lost them all. Sadly, that was something they dreaded. Natsu watched the rain drop from the clouds. Everyone stood over a map, thinking about the possible places where the mage could have gone.
Natsu sighed, laying his head on his arms. Natsu bundled himself into Lucy's favourite table at the back of the guild. Next to a window, closed off one side by a wall, Natsu lounged in the booth. Leaning his back against the wall his arm and head rested on the top of the booth seat and his feet sprawled out to the edge of the red seat. Natsu had been pondering it a while. Where could Lucy have gone? Closing his eyes to picture the blonde mage and her addictive scent, a grasp on his mind slowly soothed him into a deep sleep.
Once again Natsu found him stood in a white room. A similar one to the previous hallucination or whatever it was. Everything was white. A small hope inside of him, thought her might be able to see Lucy once again. Natsu spun around in circles, scanning the endless white room. Nothing was there. The only thing he gained was a dizziness, knocking his sense of balance. Shaking his head, the dizziness faded. Natsu looked forward into the whiteness and sighed. "Looking for me?" A soft voice whispered. Jumping around, a figure stood a few meters away from him.
A white cloak covered their body. Black lines ran down the side of the cloak and one down the front and back. Its white hood fell down over their eyes, only showing their lightly tanned skin, small nose and thin, pink lips. Long, thick honey-brown hair ran down to his waist. White ribbons tied her hair in various places down each side of hair. A few stray prices of hair sprung out of her odd hair style. A single wavy brown strand fell over her face.
"Looking for someone?" her soft voice inquisitivly asked. Strangely, her lips never moved as the words echoed in the white chamber.
"Ah. No." Natsu answered giving a curious look at the figure. Natsu's voice didn't seem to have the same effect she had. "Who are you?" Natsu rumbled in a unsure growl.
"I am not the one you are looking for." her echoed voice replied, once again from her unmoving lips.
"Huh?" Natsu gave a confused stare at the figure.
"You're searching for someone." At first her words didn't make sense to the slayer, but then he realised. Lucy.
"How do you know i-" Natsu began to wonder allowed before the echo cut him off.
"You search for her. A friend- A best friend- ..." she paused as her head cocked to the left 45 degrees. Even so, the cloak still did her face from her view. "...Lucy?" For the first time, her lips moved to speak her name, moving slowly so not even the echo followed.
"Where's Lucy do you know?" Natsu ran to move closer to the figure but as he did, she seemed to move further away. No matter how much Natsu ran, she still remained at the same distance. Eventually Natsu gave up. "Where's Lucy?" he panted.
"I know." the voice echoed against still lips. They seemed to have return to the way they were before.
"Where? Where's Lucy?" Natsu repeated. After a moments hesitation, she spoke again.
"I will tell you." Natsu perked up, opening his mouth to thank her. However, she cut in before he got a chance. "IF you can tell me that you will save her." Natsu looked in surprise at the figure. Its straight lips showed all the seriousness the slayer needed to be convinced. For a moment, Natsu closed his eyes and pictured the blond he so desperately wanted back. Taking a gentle breath, Natsu opened his eyes with a fierce determination. It was barely visible however even the figure flinched slightly at the perseverance blazing in his dark, onyx eyes.
"I swear I will save Lucy." Natsu spoke in a clear declaration of fortitude.
Silence followed as the stranger stood frozen watching the boy. Thin lips were parted in shock. Natsu returned to his normal look, settling the fearsome power in his jet black and willful eyes. Realising she was stood so stifly, she recovered. "Very well. I will show you." the voice echoed. And with that, the white world disintegrated.
A rush of images swarmed over Natsu as if he wad there, flying through each image. There was water, sea water. A old, large building hung nearby. The image loomed closer. Several men in black suits stood guard. They were definitely mages.
Once again the image dove through the walls. Room after room it stopped and showed the men guarding. It pointed out several entry and exit points. Finally it stopped in a grand hall with aleast 200 mages in black surrounding a deep navy throne chair. It loomed in, looking up like one of the people in the crowd. It was difficult to see in front of him. People surged infront of him, blocking his line of sight. A person stood infront of the thrown, waving a large gesture towards the men. Something caught his eye. Something stood behind the man. Something blonde. It was Lucy he was sure of it. Even if he couldn't see her properly, it was definitely Lucy. "LUCY!" Natsu began to call. Slowly, his image began to grow darker. "LUCY!" the blonde was devoured intimately a sea of darkness."LUCY!" Natsu yelled desperately, almost throwing the table straight over. Natsu was back in the guild. Eyes glared at him, frozen in shock. Panting for breath, his voice was shallow, but what he said, everyone heard clearly. "I know where Lucy is!" Gasps escaped from the guild members as they glared at the dragon slayer in surprise.
Natsu stood in front of his guild mates as they watched him with disbelief. After explaining the dream, people were unsure what to do next. Were they supposed to believe him? or wasn't they? Either way, they all stood on the edge of the fence, indecisive. Until finally, one person pointed them in the right direction. "He's right." A stern and ages voice said from the crowd. Poryluscia stepped forwards, looking at the pink-haired boy intensly.
"What?" Gray questioned, earning him ignorance from the pink edo-dragon but a scowl from the dragon slayer.
"You dreamt you saw images of a warehouse besides a port?" Poryluscia questioned. Natsu nodded. "Then we must believe Lucy is there." She decided, turning to face the guild. All she did was walk past the members and sit in the chair next to gathered crowd of Fairies. They all watched her curiously, wondering whether she was joking or not.
"But...It was just a dream!" Gray exclaimed finally from umong the stunned mages.
"I see..." the master muttered from the bar top where he sat. Everyone turned to face their beloved master with still dumbfound faces. Nodding to himself, the master lifted his head, staring directly at his children. "We must believe him." Life began to slowly filter back in as voices began to jump out of their mouths.
"How do we know that they're actually there?" Droy whimpered, holding a large loaf of bread in his palms.
"Um...Actually..." A small voice tried to jump in and catch the attention of the crowd. Levy waved and called with her gentle voice but nothing was working. Obviously, her point was relevant but she couldn't find the way to get them to quieten down.
"Oi!" A voice growled from the crowd. Slowly, the seas of voices began to plummit. Everyone turned to see the iron dragon slayer towering above the small blue-haired script mage. "Shrimps got somet to say. So shut up." he moaned in a menacing tone, silencing the rest of the voices. Levy didn't realise Gajeel was behind her until just then. A small blush pinked her cheeks at his chivalry.
"Thanks," she gave a small smile to the floor. Gajeel huffed in reply, sitting back down in the seat he had risen from, acting indifferently.
"Levy~" Jet and Droy whined silently with puppy looks on their faces.
"Um...actually what Natsu says is true. There's a abanodoned warehouse besides the dock that fits Natsu's description. It's large and could easily conseal hundreds of men hiding with in it. Also, it was bought about a month ago by a wealthy man. Apparently, he just dropped a huge brick of jewels on the owners desk and told him to get out." Levy informed the guild.
"What? Who is that guy?" Gray exclaimed in disbelief.
"Nobody knows. But people have called him the Blue Devil."
"Blue Devil? That's not ominous or anything." Happy remarked, sitting next to Natsu. Something told the blue cat that the more Natsu heard the more angry he was gonna get. It wouldn't surprise Happy if the slayer just upped and charged through the front door of the warehouse. His fists clenched around the table edge he leaned against until his knuckles turned white. Even with his poker face, you could see the anger stirring with in the dark irises.
"If what Natsu says is true, and that he managed to hire hundreds of mages to work for him, then we will have to think of a logical plan." Erza advised. "Natsu said he saw all the enterances and exits of the place. If we know which advantage points to take, we can each have a team located at each of them and be able to take the place quickly and efficently."
"We can decide the teams and asign each team a position." Erza continued.
"I drew a plan of the warehouse from Natsu's descrption." Bacus added, showing the scale plan of a builing.
"You guys should go after Lucy. She must be in the big hall with the most mages." Mira spoke to Gray and Erza. Just like that, the plan began to develope. Time was taken to thoroughly create a detailed plan.
Natsu sat besides the small feline, watching the events unfold. Shaking slightly, Happy saw Natsu's body quiver, like he was shivering. Fists clenched tighter around the table edge and his eyes remained staring intensly at the floor besides his feet. "Natsu~" Happy whined silently, his paw clutching a handful of fabric from the slayer's clothes.
Natsu turned to look at his small companion, accidently bringing the intensity with it. Flinching, the cat dropped the fabric from his paws, setting an inch back on the table. Like a burning fire it peirced straight into Happy's soul. Like an icy blizzard, it send chills down his spine. Happy had never seen Natsu like that before. In all honesty, it caused a pang of fear to race the felines heart. "Natsu," Happy whimered again in a quiet mutter.
"Sorry Happy." Natsu mummbled, turning away from the cat. Fear had perked up all over the cat's face at the dragon's glare. Natsu didn't mean to stare at him that way and Happy knew that.
Happy could see the look in the fire slayer's eyes. Dark black iris' burned with an anger Natsu had never seen before. A storm blundered underneath his eyes. This Blue Devil or whoever he is, had taken Lucy away from Natsu. That was something Natsu saw as unforgivable. Even if there was the possibility Lucy had forgotten everything, Natsu wouldn't let that stop him from reaching her. There was nothing Natsu wanted more, than to hold his Lucy again. What fustrated Natsu more than anything was no being able to be there to protect her. Those endless days Natsu waited beside her bed, Happy always listened subtly. Lucy was the only one Natsu would talk to. Even Happy had forgotten the sound of his own name coming from his best friends mouth. What Natsu was telling Lucy wasn't about the day, or how the guild was or anthing like that. Natsu told her stories. Over and over again, he told her about their adventures, mission and even the painful times that they had all shared. Some Happy didn't even remember. It was shocking how good Natsu's memory was when it came to times Natsu and Lucy had spent together. There was a smile on his face that Happy had rarely seen on his face when he told those stories. Once, Happy saw it when Natsu would talk about Igneel. That time, he was talking about Lucy.
As the table creaked under the pressure of Natsu's fists, Happy clung to the slayers fabric once more. "Natsu," Happy spoke again. The creak from the table subsided and the quivering of his body stopped. All what was tense before seemed to have slipped away. Natsu closed his eyes, releasing a sigh and dropping his face into his palm.
When Natsu opened his eyes again, he felt all the tense anger that had been stirring inside of him slip away like water breaking through a dam. "For now," Natsu turned to his partner. "We will do what's best for Lucy. If that means waiting for the plan, then so be it." A small, sadden smile turned on his lips. This softness and patience was something the cat had rarely seen inside the dragon slayer. Happy didn't fear it but welcomed it. Even if this was a different side to Natsu, there would be no reason to say that this wasn't him. This was the Natsu that would do anything, even change his reckless ways, for a certain blonde mage. This was the dragon slayer,Natsu that loved a stellar mage called Lucy.
Awh! Happy's comments on his suspicions about Natsu loving Lucy feel kind of inspirational. I did listen to inspirational music. So who is the true identity of the Blue Devil? What about the white figure that visited Natsu and Lucy's dream? What plan have Fairy Tail got in store?
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-A-ccentric