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Chapter 11

Both call in excessive troubles...

...but it had been worth it, probably!

"We are well on schedule, First Master." Makarov assured her in a low tone. Mavis let out a relaxed breath and began addressing the waiting demons, "We have completed our part for today, if the same goes for you, let's call it a day."

Zeref nodded and said, "Us as well. Then..."

"Wait! I'm not done." To everyone's surprise Natsu interrupted. Zeref recomposed himself quickly and asked, "What is it Natsu?"

"Sorry nii-san, but I would directly like to talk to the Tenrou Queen." Natsu faced Mavis, which let out gasps from many.

Before anyone could say anything, Mavis replied calmly, "Do go on. I would try my best to fix the problem bothering you."

Zeref hurriedly said, "I'm sure it's nothing important. We could talk it among ourselves, right Natsu?" he was now openly glaring at his little brother.

Natsu flinched a bit, but then, he had come prepared for it. He had spent the whole night for it for crying out loud! He did his best to ignore the metaphorical weapons his nii-san was throwing at him and said, "It isn't about me actually. It's about one of your fairies. Lucy."

And that was it. Angry murmurs started among the fairies, almost all of them giving Natsu murderous looks. Silver and Gildarts instantly stepped in front of Zeref and Natsu to protect them. Invel furrowed his brows in tension; the situation was highly disadvantageous for them as they had left the others back since the meetings didn't require everyone's presence. Everyone had been amazed when Natsu had opted to tag along rather than staying behind. No wonder! The notorious brat had one heck of ideas in his mind!

Natsu definitely hadn't expected this reaction. Zeref was now straightforwardly speaking to Mavis, "I'm really sorry on behalf of my little brother. He didn't mean anything offensive when.."

Natsu tried to explain "Wait...I just wanted to tell..."

"ENOUGH NATSU." Zeref shouted at him that instantly made him quiet. Once Zeref was assured that he wouldn't be interrupted again, he continued, "As I was saying earlier, he didn't mean..."

"FIRST MASTEERR!" Yukino's shout startled everyone. They all turned in the direction where the white-haired fairy was running at full speed towards them, "First Master! Lucy-sama..!"

Master Makarov spared a look at now-concerned Natsu and then asked the out-of-breath Yukino, "What happened? Tell us clearly."

"Lucy-sama...SHE RAN AWAY!"

"HUH?!" It was a thunder-shock to everyone among the fairies hearing that the never-rebellious Lucy ran away, hearing that she was kidnapped might have caused less surprise!

"Are you sure she ran away?" Kagura asked specifically, her hand already on her sword, ready to be drawn at any moment to attack the demons in front of her.

"Yes. She tricked us." Yukino said helplessly. Mavis turned towards Rufus, whose face was drawn in confusion as well. 'Gemini, she must have used Gemini for her aid.' Mavis' mind clicked the conclusion at once. Having no more time to waste, she told Zeref, "Something important came up. Please let's end it for today."

Zeref nodded in understanding, "Yes. Let's do that. We would head back then."

Everyone of the fairies soon dispersed to search for the runaway Lucy, and the demons were left alone in no time.

"Whoa...that was unexpected." drawled Silver.

Invel started annoyingly, "For crying out loud, denka, how could you be so casual..." and turned to the empty space behind him where Natsu should have been! He gulped and said, "No way..."

Gildarts said, "Geez. That kid. Never stays in the right place." while Silver muttered, "Not good. Not good at all."

Zeref's composure wasn't so good now. He said worriedly, "Let's get back. We can't loiter around here for long in such a situation. Invel, get Minerva, Wendy and Juvia to track Natsu down at once we reach there."

Invel replied, "Yes, heika-sama."

Zeref hurried them, "We don't have much time. Let's go."

...

Natsu had ran back to Lucy's place without any second thought. On his way, thinking where Lucy might have run to, he realized that he hadn't thought of any plan to find her. He had simply started running to the one place he knew that was connected to Lucy. Way to go! He had almost reached her home by now, he recognized from the now-detectable smell of hers. Wait...her smell! Even though it was faint, still he could track her down with it. He halted a bit when he came closer to her place, checking if there were anymore fairies remaining in case. He already had made an uproar in the meeting, he didn't want to get into the bad side of the fairies anymore.

'No barrier anymore. Nor the other fairies.' thought Natsu, sensing the absence of both and jumped off the cliff to land in front of her home. At once, he began to concentrate on her smell and began to search for her path of going out. Five minutes passed and he was back to the spot where he began from.

Weird. She must have gone through some way. But the smell didn't leave the place...

'No way. No freaking way.' He thought as his mind put the facts together. He took a breath and gave a shout, "Lucy! I know you are here."

No reply. Even though it made him seem a bit foolish, Natsu was sure that she was there only and tried again, "I'm the only one here Lucy."

"Natsu?" came the hesitant reply. He eagerly turned in the direction of the voice, "Yea. Where are you?"

"Natsu?" her voice was more strained now, as if she were on the verge of crying.

Natsu's eyes bugled and he instantly hurried of in the direction of her voice. Was she in danger? He would beat the hell of whoever dared to hurt her, "I'm on the way Lucy."

"Natsu...help me." Surer about her location now, he brushed the branches aside, only to see Lucy...trapped between two tree trunks! She had one foot forward and the other at back, struggling to move her wider hip stuck in between the gap. Natsu stared for a moment at her desperate attempt and burst out laughing!

Lucy turned towards him, made an annoyed face and said grumpily, "Don't you dare say anything. Just help me out already!"

"Yes yes..." Natsu said in between the laughs and went to put his arms under hers to pull her out. After some tries, it was successful and Lucy stumbled into his arms, Natsu steadying her. Both stared at each other.

Natsu was the one who first broke the silence with his smile, "Hey."

Lucy smiled shyly in turn and replied, "Hi."

Neither one let go of one another. Lucy found herself quite comfortable, with his arms wound lightly around her waist and hers on his shoulders. She could easily get used to this. She blushed at the thought and averted her eyes.

"So...this was your excuse, huh?!" Natsu's playful voice made her look back at him. "Well...not exactly." She continued upon seeing his confusion, "I initially planned to go to the place where you are staying. I was hiding till everyone was gone from here."

Natsu didn't like the idea at all, "Fool! What made you think of going there? I wasn't even there."

"I would have waited for you."

"What if someone other than me would have found you first?"

"They won't have hurt me." Lucy stopped seeing his grim expression. She gulped and ask him, "They won't have hurt me right?"

Seeing her a bit wary, Natsu said reassuringly, "I won't have let them."

Lucy let it slide with it, not wanting to ruin their reunion. She instantly changed the topic, "You were in the meeting? What happened today? Did it get interrupted because of me?"

Natsu carefully said, "No...we were done. That short white haired girl came running to inform, I straightway ran here." He deliberately didn't mention the little war he had almost caused. He got the instinct that she would chew his head off if he told her what he did!

"Oh." was all she said. Natsu now changed the topic, "We have to let others know you are here. They were pretty worried by this act of yours."

Lucy didn't say anything. Natsu suddenly realised their position, let a cough and let his hands slide off her waist, "Anyways..."

"Natsu." Her interruption made him give a questioning look at her to continue.

She still didn't let go of him "I would like to meet you again. Without excuses. Even I'm out of them." Her straightforwardness surprised him as well as pleased him to no extent. He raised his hand to stroke her face and said, "Me too." which made her smile.

"I should go now before anyone finds me here." His evident tension made her drop her hands off his shoulders. As much as she didn't want him to go yet, she said, "Yea...take care Natsu."

He gave her face one more stroke and went on his way back. He jumped the cliff. And turned towards her, "I will see you tomorrow Lucy." he said with confidence, which made her heart flutter with anticipation and she nodded, "Mmmm."

Three fairies had managed to find Lucy's actual location and witnessed the whole scene, hiding well. "The guts of him!" Cana huffed. Even Rufus was disturbed, "What are those two thinking?" Cana continued, "The tenacity of that demon. Even if he's the denka, doing whatever he wishes just because he thought they were alone."

"No." interjected Mavis, "He knew we were here. He knew the whole time."

"Huh? Then why?"

Mavis sighed and said, "Let's call the others. We have a lot to discuss." Natsu had made his move in front of her and so had Lucy. Now it was her turn.


What will Mavis do...?! To be contd in the next chapter. As many of you might have noticed, the 'Lucy-stuck' scene was when Natsu and others had went to rescue Lucy and Yukino during the final day of Grand Magic Games in the anime. As I said before, it's uncertain when I will update, but I will do my best to do it as soon as possible. Thank you again.