Updated: 6/16/15

Chapter 10

Natsu finished unloading the cart. He is sure that Lucy will probably throw a fit at the muddled arrangement of the boxes he had unloaded. But honestly he just wants to get back to her. He can't pinpoint why that is though. Sure, he loves her and wants to be with her. That part is a given. But he also has this huge pit in his stomach that is composed of an emotional amalgamation of missing her, even though he has been away an hour at most, and worry.

Natsu pushes the cart through Magnolia. He greets people as he passes with smiles. He feels like he has to share this insurmountable amount of jubilation with the world around him. Last time he was nearly this happy was probably when Happy hatched from the egg. But no, this happiness topped that by an immense measure.

He neared her apartment now. What would soon be a vacant empty apartment, he smiled to himself at the thought. He waited to hear a retort in return. He was sure that he was close enough their mental link would be intact but when he heard nothing the worry inside him bubbled to the surface with a vengeance.

He haphazardly dumped the cart outside the building and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When he opened the door nothing immediately looked off. Her keys and whip were laying on her desk where she left them when they started packing. Luce?

She still didn't respond. Yes, something was wrong here. He went into her bedroom and a red haze engulfed his vision. He knelt and inspected the small pool of blood on the floor. He snarled as he recognized an unfamiliar pungent scent. The strange thing about the scent was that it wasn't altogether unfamiliar. "Another slayer has Luce."

He whipped back through the living room to grab her keys and whip. She would want them to help kick the abductor's ass when he found them. Because the scent was strongest at her bedroom window he vaulted through it and began tracking.

He followed the scent to a deep forest. There were rocky hillsides encompassing the forest on all sides as far as Natsu could tell.

Then Natsu scented something that would put a damper on his search. The sky opened up and it started to downpour. Crap, he had to keep trailing the scent as far as he could before the rain washed it away.

OoO

Lucy groaned as she felt an uncomfortable rocky surface below her. She was hoping she would wake up to dull headache. But no her head felt like someone had cracked her skull open then repeatedly smacked at said crack for good measure.

She opened her eyes to her surroundings. Nothing but darkness loomed around her. Although she was assuming since the surface was rocky and the area had a dank feel to it that she was probably in a cave of some sort.

A shadow in the cave tore apart from the rest. Her abductor she assumed. She couldn't make out any of his features. All she saw was a darker shadow amongst the rest that paced back and forth.

"Ah so the girl awakens," his voice has an element to it that sends chills up and down her spine. The shadow comes closer to her and she shivers when she feels his breath on her neck. "Don't worry, I don't plan on hurting you."

Keyword 'plan' I'm sure. Lucy knew to never trust what an abductor said, only to keep alert and not to do anything reckless. "So, what do you want from me if you don't plan on hurting me?"

"Right to the point, I like that." The shadow moved to the wall and lit a torch. It bathed the cave in firelight.

It wasn't enough to lighten much of it, but at least she could see the general area around her now. She could tell that the cave was deep because she could not see a hint of natural light anywhere.

Her abductor had been staying here for a bit also. There were hints at a campfire and his bedroll lay beside it, rumpled from having been slept in.

She surveyed her captor as he took the hood from his face. He was older, probably mid twenties. His face was marred with scrapes and a huge scar decorated his right cheek. He had long mangy midnight blue or purple hair (the lighting made it difficult to tell for certain). The cut of his hair kind of reminded her of Gajeel's style but where Gajeel's was swept back from his face. This man's hair framed his in a spiky disarray. The man was mildly intimidating, but there was something about his eyes that calmed her.

The color of his eyes was hard to define. He had small beady irises and the color looked to be a viridian green. But there wasn't a maliciousness in his eyes. There was almost a fear in his eyes which confused Lucy to no end. He was the one that held her captive and he seemed scared.

The man in front of her cleared his throat. "Give me your ring and I will let you go."

"My ring? But why do you want my ring?" She looked down at the ring in question and was mildly confused by what she saw. Earlier the ring had been almost pulsing with it's own light in a red brilliance. But now the color was dull and the ring seemed to have a lifelessness in comparison. This she added to the growing list of things that didn't make sense.

"I'm a dragon slayer and my mate needs that ring!"

"Huh?" Lucy felt she was going to be in a forever state of bafflement. She looked at the ring again and for some reason it seemed to pulse back to life.

"Why would your mate need my ring? It's just a ring...isn't it?"

Luce? Dammit Luce, where are you? Please hear me.

Natsu?

Oh Luce, thank the gods. Please, love, describe to me where you are.

Lucy smiled at the endearment and proceeded to mentally visually project to Natsu what she saw.

Hmm, not much to go on. But no worries Luce, I know I'm not terribly far away. If only this rain would let up.

Wow, I didn't even know it was raining. I must be pretty far underground if that's the case.

Underground? Hmm that gives me an idea. Too bad I can't call your spirits. But that won't stop me from getting to you. We will be reunited soon, Luce.

Too bad Gajeel isn't with him he could shovel her out. But Natsu's reckless determination is probably what will get him to her. At least I think so. See even I don't have this part completely planned. The new dragon slayer here, was so not in my mild outline I had for the story. But once I thought of him I was like 'oooh must run with that.'

Thanks to those of you that gave me recommendations to read. If you have more feel free to PM me. Don't feel limited to mate stories though. Just no AU and especially no Fairy Tail High School ones. I also love GaLe (Gajevy) too so don't feel limited to NaLu. :)