Chapter 9

"What no way!" Natsu yelled after the vote.

"Natsu-" Lucy tried to calm him down but he continued.

"No! No way can that bastard think he can just trap us all here, try to kill Lucy and terrify the hell out of all of us. And oh yeah, did I mention that bastard tried to kill Lucy!" Natsu yelled.

"For once, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Natsu." Gray said.

"I understand that you both are very upset-" Erza stated.

"Pissed off actually." Natsu said interrupting her, which got him a glare from her but stood his ground.

"Fine, you're pissed off, but we took the vote and more of us want to do the other plan." Erza finished still staring Natsu down.

"But that's not fair!" Natsu further complained.

"What's unfair? We took a vote and that was the end result, I'm sorry but we are going with that plan." Erza stated simply.

"The only reason you guys won was because Jellal is wiped!" Natsu yelled, which now got Jellal glaring at him.

"I am not wiped!" Jellal said angrily back at him.

"Huh, yeah you are." Natsu said with a little bit of a laugh at the end.

"You're the most wiped guy here." Gray added.

"Great, now I'm agreeing with the idiot." Gajeel stated angrily as he realized that he just hit rock bottom.

"See!" Natsu yelled "I declare that the vote does not count on account that Jellal is wiped. Which makes the other choice the winner. Gajeel, do you want the chair or a frying pan to beat this guy's ass with?"

"Natsu…" Lucy said shaking her head in dismay knowing that Erza is going to kill him.

"Give me chair!" Levy yelled, ignoring her grammar and getting completely excited to beat the living daylight out of whoever is doing this.

"Juvia actually has another idea guys. I think-" Juvia tried to tell them but was cut off by Erza.

"Natsu you are out of line!" Erza yelled, finally losing her cool.

"A frying pan? What the hell is he supposed to do with a frying pan idiot?" Gray asked.

"Dude, have you not seen Tangled?" Natsu asked shocked.

"No and what, Gajeel did?" Gray asked.

"Yeah he did." Natsu said laughing.

"Really?" Gray asked, raising a brow at Gajeel.

"I got cornered by Shrimp, Bunny Girl and Salamder over there into…a movie double date." Gajeel said tiredly remembering that day.

"And I'm wiped!" Jellal yelled still trying again to save his reputation.

"Yes!" They all, including Erza, yelled at him.

"Oh, guys why don't we just go get-" Juvia tried saying again, but again got cut off by Erza.

"Natsu we are going to go look for a phone to call for help. If, and ONLY if we run into whoever it is that is doing this then you and Gajeel can beat them senselessly with a frying pan. Got it." Erza glared at him, which finally got Natsu to realize that he was picking a fight with Erza Scarlet.

"Aye Sir! You got it! Whatever you say." Natsu said, now hiding behind Lucy but was still being stared down by Erza.

"If the plan is to just call for help, why don't we just use me or Jellal's phone?" Gajeel said.

They all remained quiet till they finally realized…

"You guys have phones!" They all yelled at the realization of them having cellphones.

"Well yeah, we showed them to you remember?" Gajeel said chuckling a little at their shocked faces.

"Hey!" Levy called punching his shoulder, "Don't laugh at us!"

Gajeel still continued to chuckle, and rubbed his shoulder pretending that Levy's tiny fist actually hurt him.

"How do you beat someone senseless with a phone? I mean I never tried it, but maybe if…" Natsu thought out loud, then went to mumbling to himself.

"What is he talking about?" Levy asked Lucy silently.

"I really don't want to know." Lucy said hanging her head exhaustingly and a little upset on how he's using more brain power trying to figure out how to beat someone with Gajeel's cellphone than in his school work. And again, reference back to when he bobbled in all his answers into the shape of a dragon.

"Gajeel's right though. Here…though, wait where is it." Jellal said patting all his pockets in search for his phone.

"Did you really lose your phone?" Gajeel asked still smiling.

"I swear I just had it a moment ago. Gajeel use yours." Jellal asked giving up on looking for his.

They all watched as Gajeel went from smiling at them to frowning as he too started patting down all his pockets like Jellal just finished doing.

"Uhh…" Gajeel didn't know what to say.

"Ha ha Gajeel lost his phone! Man this is just great! You must be a complete loser if you lost your own phone!" Natsu laughed.

"What! Excuse me but I believe a curtain Fire Loser I know also lost his phone!" Gajeel yelled back.

"Gajeel don't call Jellal a 'Fire Loser'." Natsu said completely shocked that Gajeel would insult Jellal like that.

"I was insulting you, you loser!" Gajeel yelled.

"What! Fight me!" Natsu yelled rising his fists ready to fight.

Both Natsu and Gajeel raised to their knees and both at the same time knocked their heads on the low ceiling and fell on top of their girlfriends.

"Not again." Lucy moaned getting squashed by Natsu.

But she had it easy; poor Levy.

"Sorry Shrimp." Gajeel said getting up and rubbing his head. "You okay?"

Gajeel asked giving her a hand and pulling her up.

"I'm okay." Levy replied.

"I'm not. Natsu get off!" Lucy said trying to shove him off of her.

"Ouch that hurt." Natsu complained rubbing his head for the second time, but didn't get off.

"Weakling." Gajeel

"FIGHT ME!" Natsu yelled rushing up to punch Gajeel but again slammed his head on the ceiling.

Which again landed him right back on Lucy.

"Ouch." Natsu said.

"Why me." Lucy cried.

"Where's Juvia?" Gray asked looking around wildly.

"What'd you mean? She was here a minute ago. Juvia!" Levy called.

They all then just realized that Juvia was nowhere in sight, except for Lucy and Natsu, Natsu was seeing double and Lucy was again crushed by Natsu and was trying to shove him off by was failing.

"My head…" Natsu moaned in pain.

"Forget your head! Get off me!" Lucy yelled.

"Juvia she's not here. Juvia! Juvia!" Gray said starting to panic.

"Gray it's okay will find her. I'm sure that she's not too far." Levy said and started making her way towards the exit but got cut off by Gray.

"Juvia!" Gray called already out of their makeshift fortress with one of the flashlights out and turned on cutting through the darkness.

The rest of them hurried with the rest of the flashlights in hand while Gajeel stayed behind to drag Natsu off of Lucy and also drag him out with Lucy following from behind.

"Natsu are you okay?" Lucy asked starting to get concern.

"Luce look at all the pretty little dragons." Natsu said smiling and weakly pointing to something above her head and then passed out.

"Natsu! Hey wake up." Lucy called patting his cheek a couple of times to wake him up.

"He's out of it." Gajeel stated and tossed him over his shoulder. "Come on, we better hurry up and catch up with the others."

"Right." Lucy said standing up, straightening Natsu's jacket around herself and following after him.

"Ggrrrrr. Look Luuccee I'm a dragon! Look I'm flying, Roar!" Natsu called suddenly waking up.

"Yeah, that's great." Lucy smiled worryingly. "Gajeel?"

"Salamder's alright. Just hurt what little brain he has." Gajeel stated.

"Hey take that back you-look the little dragons are back." Natsu's voice started to yell then changed into him smiling big and started trying to catch one of the little dragons that he saw flying around Lucy's head.

"Come on the others are just ahead." Gajeel said picking up his pace.

"I'm a awesome fire dragon. Look, I can even fly backwards." Natsu called flapping his arms up and down like they were wings.

"Juvia!" Gray called again shinning a flash light around cutting through the dark.

"Juvia where are you! Can you hear me!" Erza called shining the other around.

"Juvia!" Levy called. Then turned to see that Gajeel, Natsu and Lucy running coming towards them.

Levy ran over to Gajeel, with Erza slowly following while Gray and Jellal still calling out for Juvia.

"Where could she have gone?" Levy cried, tearing up at the thought of anything horrible happening.

"If anyone hurt rain women, I'll be using more than a frying pan to beat them senseless with." Gajeel spat, growling at the thought of someone hurting one of his closest and longest friends.

"Oh, Juvia." Lucy said while starting to join Levy in tearing up.

"Why have I stopped flying?" Natsu asked flapping his arms harder as if it would help.

"Is Natsu alright?" Levy asked.

"Listen there is no time for crying. We all need to think straight and look." Erza said stopping her search and looking them all straight in the eye. "Gajeel leave Natsu with us then I want you, Gray and Jellal to-"

"Juvia!" Gray yell from in front of them, many emotions laced his voice but the one they most heard was terror.

They turned to see that Gray had dropped his flashlight and was now kneeling on the ground with Jellal running towards him. And soon they all were running.

"J-Juvia…" Gray whispered so quietly that Lucy barely heard.

Levy reached down and picked up Gray's abandoned flashlight and shinned it over to him.

Gray had Juvia's head in his lap and both of their hands were intertwined together on her stomach clocked in red that dripped from there to a pool of it on the ground.

"Shit." Gajeel silently mumbled out.

Erza rushed over and quickly added her hands on top of theirs.

"Gray keep pressure here. Gajeel, Lucy and Levy go into the kitchen and clear a long table, there should be a first-aid-kit in one of the bottom cabinets. Get it. Jellal get over here and help me lift her to the kitchen." Erza stated that snapped everyone out of their daze and immediately went to do what she said. "Gray I said keep pressure here!"

Gray choked back a sob as he applied more pressure.

Lucy, Gajeel, Levy and a still confused Natsu ran into the kitchen. Gajeel slammed Natsu into a nearby chair and took his arms across a nearby table, knocking off all the bowls and silverware to the floor causing a loud clash of metal against tile that echoed throughout the kitchen.

They only had Levy's flashlight to help them see but that was barely any help to Gajeel and Lucy because most of the time it was pointed into cabinet after cabinet in search for the first-aid-kit. But it didn't matter, they didn't need the light. Gajeel stood on high alert, trying to look throughout the kitchen for any sign of danger and Lucy kneeled in front of Natsu shaking his shoulders and even resulted into a couple of hard slaps to try and snap him out of it.

"Come on Natsu. Come on! Time to stop looking at the imaginary dragons flying above my head and look at me." Lucy said shaking his shoulders a little to try and get him to make eye contact with her.

Natsu looked away from the red fire dragons that circled around his girlfriend head with a lazy smile plastered to his face.

But it soon turned into a frown from seeing tears streaming down her face and the scared look that clouded her usual bright brown bow eyes. After that look he immediately snapped out of it and the little dragons disappeared and now forgotten.

"Luce." Natsu growled out, "what's wrong."

Lucy didn't answer him, just let out a deep breathe that she seemed to have been holding for who knows how long and let her head drop down from relief. But her relief didn't last long when Natsu, being not so happy that Lucy still haven't told him what made her cry, brought his hands on her shoulder and shook her head back up to look at him.

"I said what's wrong." Natsu growled from anger at the thought that someone made his Lucy cry.

Lucy opened her mouth to answer but got interrupted as the two doors were slammed open and Erza and Jellal carefully carrying Juvia in. Gray stood next to them, his navy blue jacket now off and used to help keep pressure on the wound.

"Carefully put her on the table." Erza instructed to Jellal and Gray. "Levy where that first-aid kit!"

"I got it." Levy called running towards them quickly not bothering to close all the cabinets she opened in her search.

"Luce what-" Natsu stated.

"Juvia…Juvia got hurt. Really bad Natsu. That's what's wrong." Lucy said interrupting him and looking over at their friends.

"Damn it." Erza whispered removing Gray's jacket for a second to see the wound that quickly pushed it back down to hold pressure. "I wish Wendy was here."

They all were wishing that at the moment. With her mother a doctor, Wendy was amazing when it came to healing. Especially in situations like this. Lucy even remembered when she was babysitting Wendy her freshman year one time when her mother got an emergence job call one night.

Lucy was over in less than five minutes, but not because of good traffic, but because they lived right across the street from her grandmother's apartment complex. And of course Natsu being Natsu, invited himself over after Lucy called to say that she couldn't hang out with him that night.

Him and his blue feline partner Happy crawled in through an open window that she was pretty sure was locked, but then again she always thought that of her window in her bedroom each time they snuck in and she woke to find them sleeping next to her in her bed.

Anyway, Natsu, after getting yelled at by Lucy with his suddenly being there and also the fact that he snuck up behind her and scared the hell out of her, was playing with Wendy while Lucy went to make dinner for all of them after Grandeeney called to say that she'll be home really late. When Lucy said that Natsu had come over she just laugh, but then again wasn't surprise. This was the sixth time he has done this.

Lucy was making sandwiches when she heard a loud noise and what sounded like a yelp from the living room. She dropped the two slices of bread and ran to see what happened. Natsu had his back against the wall, holding his arm and letting out a hurt sounding growl as he moved his hand slowly away then back again to his arm. Wendy had her hands covering her mouth staring at him.

Lucy didn't know how bad the situation was until she saw the blood running down his arm.

"Natsu!" She yelled running over and kneeling down next to him.

"Sorry, got a little too crazy." Natsu said, "Slipped on one of Wendy's toys and slammed into the fireplace, my arm got cut on the edge of it."

Lucy moved to the other side of him and took his hand in hers to move it aside for a second to see the cut. It was a long cut that went from his shoulder to the middle of his forearm and the blood was everywhere.

"Okay-um-I-I'll call 911." Lucy stuttered she wasn't good with blood, it always affected her especially with it coming out of her friends.

Lucy shakily stood and was walking towards the phone when Wendy came rushing past her and quickly took the spot that she previously sat. She then went to work on gently placing the things that she held next to him.

"Okay Natsu can you remove your hand for a second." Wendy asked placing one of her hands on the one that was covering the cut.

Natsu did and Wendy look at it quickly before placing his hand quickly back on it.

"It's okay Lucy you don't have to call anybody. It's not that deep, but we still need to disinfect it and wrap it." Wendy said grabbing for the towel that she had brought and started wiping away the blood.

Lucy stood in astonishment watching this little girl finish wiping away the blood, disinfecting it and then wrapping it up. It took a total of 10 minutes but it felt like hours to Lucy.

"There we go all done!" Wendy beamed with happiness.

"Wow Wendy I didn't know you could do this. Thank you." Natsu stated his hand going slowly down his wrapped arm looking at it with shock.

"Well you should thank my mom, she taught me everything." Wendy smiled and gathered all the supplies, "I'll go take care of these."

Wendy then left carrying the supplies into the kitchen.

"Who knew that she could do that? Seriously, I was scared for a second there Lu…" Natsu started to say but when he looked away from his arm and to her. He stopped talking when he saw her shaking; her back to him. "Lucy?"

"S-s-sorry. I'm sorry." Lucy said her back to him, "I'm sorry. I'm…just n-not good with blood."

"Luce?" Natsu said standing up.

Lucy spun around smiling and laughing, but her eyes were closed.

"Ha, ha sorry I'm being silly. How are you, are you okay? I can look for some pain medication if it hurts." Lucy said her eyes now open but looking away from him.

"I'm okay." Natsu said then flicked her forehead, which earned him a menacing glare from her but he just smiled, "Seriously I've taken worst then this."

"I know, sadly. Did you really have to tackle that pizza delivery man?" Lucy asked finally making eye contact.

"Oh, is that even a question! Of course I had to! Jerk, was leaving with my pizza and I was starving" Natsu yelled.

"First off, that guy was only leaving with the pizza because you didn't have any money. And second you were not starving. Don't tell me that you was because I remember that day. It was Thanksgiving and we were all over at Erza's for it. You had four plate fulls of turkey and mash potatoes and even the rest of my food. I seriously don't understand why you'd even call and you even expected us to pay for it!" Lucy said all worry completely forgotten. "Guy was just doing his job and you tackled him for it. You deserved getting your arm broken."

"Dude's job was to make me die of hunger!" Natsu said placing his hand dramatically over his heart for 'fake' shock.

Lucy just hit him over the head.

"No, it was to bring the pizza, get paid, and then leave. You didn't pay him." Lucy said crossing her arms across her chest and turning to the side.

"Why are you pouting I was only playing? What, is he your best friend or something?" Natsu said doing exactly what she was doing by crossing his arms across his chest on turning away.

"What are you talking about? You're my best friend Idiot." Lucy mumbled.

Hearing this instantly perked Natsu up. He dropped his arms and walked to stand right in front of her.

"You're weird." Natsu said turning his head to the side and smiling down at her.

"I am not!" Lucy said dropping her hands and glaring up at him.

"Sure you are. One moment you're shaking in terror, then being happy, then you go all out angry, and then start pouting, and now back to all out angry." Natsu said, "That's weird in my opinion."

"You're a real jerk, you know that." Lucy said looking down and again crossing her arms. "Get me completely worried over you then insult me."

"Worried?" Natsu asked a little confused. "What're you talking about, like you said, you seen me get hurt before."

"Yeah, but…." Lucy looked up at him, "Never with that much blood before. I'm not good with blood, e-especially that much coming out of someone I care about."

"Y-you care about me?" Natsu asked seriously.

Lucy only nodded yes.

After, Natsu again flicked her forehead.

"Wierdo." Natsu stated smiling at her.

Happy walking over to them and sat between them, looking up at them with his smile.

"You're right Happy! Sheee lliiikkkeesss mmeee!" Natsu said dragging out Happy's signature statement.

"Shut up! And stop pretending that you can understand Happy!" Lucy yelled.

"Of course I can understand Happy, are you crazy too?" Natsu asked looking completely hurt.

"You're crazy! You think you can understand a cat!" Lucy yelled again.

Natsu looked back at Happy and after a minute gave a nod then looked back at Lucy.

"He says you rreeaaallllyyy lliiikkkee mmeee!" Natsu sang and began to run singing that she likes him over again over.

"Natsu….YOU'RE DEAD!" Lucy screamed running after him.

"Yyyooouuu lliiikkkkeee mmeeee! Yyyooouuu lliiikkkkeee mmeeee!" Natsu sang running around the room.

"NATSU GET BACK HERE!" Lucy screamed running right behind him.

"I'm back. What's for…" Wendy wanted to know what was for dinner, but after seeing them running around like that she completely forgot about it "I wanna play tag to!"

Soon all three of them were running around the living room. Natsu singing that Lucy liked him, Lucy screaming that she's going to kill him, and Wendy laughing behind them. Happy smiling at them from where he laid on the couch.

When Grandeeney got home she smiled when she saw all four of them sleeping on the couch.

"Levy open the first-aid kit and find some gauzes, tape and something I can use to disinfect it." Erza stated jumping into action and snapping them all back from their helplessness.

"O-on it!" Levy squealed and wiped open the kit and searched through it like a mad woman.

"Gajeel and Jellal can you two look around real quick and make sure that the bastard isn't in here." Erza stated not looking up at any of them, keeping both eyes locked on her hands that kept the jacket on the wound.

They both quickly went to search around the kitchen as Levy found and brought over the supplies.

"I found the gauzes and tape but I couldn't find anything in her to use to disinfect it with." Levy stated tossing them onto the table.

"Okay no problem, Gray go get a glass of water and put some salt into it. It's not an alcoholic disinfectant but it should work the same." Erza said.

But he didn't respond.

"Gray." Erza said finally looking up to find him.

Gray stood on the other side of the table looking pale and like he was going to fall over any second, with his eyes dead locked on Juvia.

"Gray!" Erza yelled causing Gray to snap his gaze up to her, "You need to listen right now Gray! Do you hear me? Juvia's going to be alright okay. Now I need you to pull yourself together right now for Juvia and got get me some water with some salt in it to me, got it!"

Gray just gave one nod and ran over to the sink.

Lucy began to shake terribly from watching the blood drip to the floor, tears escaping for her eyes and running down her cheeks.

"It's going to be okay." Natsu said placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her around and placing her head against his chest as she continued to shake violently.

"You back to normal Natsu." Erza more stated than asked.

"Yeah." Natsu replied.

"No one's in here." Jellal said walking back with Gajeel walking beside him.

"Here." Gray said placing the glass of salt water gentle next to the other supplies.

"Alright, here we go." Erza said removing the jacket. "That's a good sign, the bleed stopped a lot."

Erza went to work and reached for the glass of salt water.

"Ahhhh!" Juvia eyes snapped open and she began to breathe heavily, her eyes going everywhere.

"Juvia! Juvia it's okay! It's okay. It's Gray." Gray said gently placing his hands on the sides of her head to get her to look at him.

"G-gray." Juvia whimpered.

"Yeah, yeah it's Gray." Gray smiled tears forming in his eyes at hearing that much terror in her voice.

But Juvia bet him to the crying as sobs quickly escaped from her.

"I-I'm sorry. Juvia's s-so sorry!" She yelled through her crying.

"It's okay, it's okay." Gray said over and over brushing her hair away from her face.

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Levy stated, crying a little herself.

"B-but there is. Juvia doesn't k-know what s-s-she was t-thinking!" She cried harder.

"What are you talking about?" Gajeel asked after placing a hand on Levy's shoulder.

"I could see them from the entrance; Gajeel and Jellal's phones. I was trying to tell you guys but you were fighting. I thought, I thought, I mean t-they were not that far away. You t-two must have dropped them when we were r-running toward the fortress. I went to go get them. I was about to pick them up when….when…." Juvia's sobbing increased, "I-I d-didn't s-see him c-coming! H-he r-ran right out of t-the kitchen door r-right at J-Juvia and…and t-then…I-I don-t remember! But the next t-thing Juvia knows is that s-she on the floor and h-he's t-t-towering over her! He r-reaches down grabs the p-phones then i-is running out t-he cafeteria's doors and into the s-school!"

"Shh, it's alright. It's alright." Gray mumbled gentle stroking her hair in an attempt to calm her down, even though he himself was on the verge of complete and utter rage.

"Juvia I know that you are very upset right now, and you are fully right to be. But I need you to calm down and be ready for this." Erza stated now holding the glass over the wound that stated to bleed a little from her sobbing.

Juvia finally took in the rest of her surroundings and saw the knife wound on the right side of her stomach.

Immediately realizing what Erza was going to do, her hands reached up for Gray's and gave a nod for her to do it when Gray intertwined their fingers.

With the nod of approval Erza started to pour the salt water on the wound; causing Juvia to scream at the burning sensation that completely consumed her as Erza pour the rest.

"Good, good, you did great Juvia the worst it over." Erza said and placed the now empty cup on the table and grabbed the gauzes and tape.

She quickly went to work and placing the gauzes all over the wound then securely taping them down.

By the time she was over Juvia was sleeping.

"That should hold, but she still needs a doctor." Erza said walking over to the sink and started washing off the blood.

"This is insane, right? I mean we really can't be trapped in here with someone trying to kill, right?" Levy asked, her voice uneven. "L-like this can't be happening right now, right?"

"What are we going to do?" Jellal asked looking around the room.

Lucy was still shaking with her head buried in Natsu's chest, Gray was still holding Juvia's hand and kissing her forehead over and over again, Gajeel comforting Levy by starting to rub her shoulders, and Erza was still scrubbing her hands.

"Should we just barricade ourselves in here and wait till someone comes?" Natsu asked looking over to the rest of the guys for thoughts.

"No." Erza said, still scrubbing her hands; her back to them.

"What? But-" Natsu began.

"No." Erza stated turning around to face them, "No. We are not going to sit and wait here for that son of a bitch to come back here and hurt another one of us. Juvia said that he ran into the school; then that's where we'll go."

Erza walked over and grabbed a frying pan that was probably placed there from earlier that day. Holding the handle with one hand she smacked the other end of it into her other open hand.

"If he believes that he can hurt one of our friends and get away with it, then he's about to learn that you don't mess with Fairy Tail students." Erza said, glaring straight ahead.