13,000 views! God its getting hard to keep up, I just managed to finish this chapter on time. Please slow down :') Anyway, back with another chapter! Reviews and constructive criticism is welcome. Enjoy!
Chapter 11
The sun rose early the next day. Natsu gave a loud yawn and rubbed his head, tired as anything, sitting up an stretching, he looked round at his fellow team. Then froze. He sniffed deeply, checking that she was around, but once confirmed that she wasn't in the area, panic. Anger and fear bubbled his blood, realising she was gone.
"WHERE ARE YOU!" He bellowed, fire coming from his fists and mouth.
"Ahhhh!" Gray woke in a scream, and even Erza jolted awake. "What the hell was that for?!" He asked angrily.
"She's gone!" Natsu yelled, pointing. Gray and Erza followed his gaze towards where Lucy, Carla and Wendy were sleeping. Fear also took over them as they understood.
"What happened!" Erza shouted.
"No..." Gray said.
"Stop being so loud." A groan came. Lucy sat up and yawned, looking annoyed at Team Natsu. "Its early."
"Lucy, look!" Natsu instructed. Lucy turned around to see Carla in Wendy's empty sleeping bag.
"W-Where's Wendy?" Lucy asked worryingly.
"Gone." Natsu growled. "I can't smell her anywhere in the area. She must of left over night."
"Where did she go?" Happy asked, now wide awake from all of the yelling. Natsu used his nose to scan the area, hoping for a new smell.
"She was taken." He informed them. "By *sniff* by... *sniff* Jackal. The rest of their group was nearby last night."
"The Balam Alliance was nearby?" Lucy asked faintly.
"Wendy?" Everyone turned to see Carla picking herself up from the floor. She was rubbing her eyes and looked around sleepily. "Where's Wendy?" Everyone froze and looked at each other, almost mentally battling to see who would tell Carla. Happy lost.
"Um, well, Carla... She's... she's gone." He said awkwardly.
"Gone?" The cat repeated, worry growing on her face. "Gone where?"
"That's the problem... We don't know." Happy answered, avoiding looking at Carla in the eyes. "B-But don't worry, we'll find her!" He added. Tears began to well in the white cats eyes. Everyone looked at each other. Even as kids, Carla was always overprotective of the dragon slayer, trying her best to keep her out of danger. But after seeing how strong Wendy had become after Tartaros, the feline agreed to back off a little. Clearly, that was a mistake.
"WENDY!" Carla bawled, tears flowing like Juvia's magic. Happy flew over to her, and let her rest her head on his shoulder.
"Don't worry Carla." Natsu growled. "We'll find her. Then we'll make Tartaros pay!"
"Oh, he sounds mad." Cobra chuckled.
"They woke up?" Rustyrose asked.
"Yeah. I can't hear everything, due to all of the trees and stuff, but Natsu sounds really mad."
"Good." Midnight smiled. He glanced at the back over Tempester's shoulder. Not a sound had come from the bag, but he could tell the girl was still in there.
"So when do we get to kill her?" Zancrow asked.
"Once Natsu finds us. Then we'll kill her right in front of him."
"How powerful will E.N.D be then?" Kyoka questioned.
"Too strong. But that's what he wants." Midnight grinned. Kyoka nodded in agreement.
"So I can't barbecue her yet?" Zancrow seemed disappointed.
"I promise, you can roast her later." Midnight sighed. "For now, get to the castle, it's just ahead."
Erza pulled out her communication lacrima, and called up Master Makarov.
"Erza? You found something?" He asked.
"No, lost someone. We believe the Balam Alliance have took Wendy. Who's nearby?"
"Gajeel's team, Mira's team and Sting's team."
"Send them to us. Quickly." Makarov nodded and closed the communication. She then sighed at turned to Carla. The cat was quietly sniffing, head still on Happy's shoulder. The rest of Team Natsu was packing up, getting ready to head out.
"What happened?" Gray asked.
"Gajeel's, Mira's and Sting's groups are on the way. Now we have to wait." Erza replied.
"Are we splitting into different groups, or one big one?"
"I think a big one." Lucy said. "We got beaten last time by one member, we need more numbers if we want to even have a chance."
"Agreed." A gruff voice said. Team Natsu turned to see Team Gajeel, Levy, Gajeel, Pantherlily, Jet and Droy, looking at them. "What happened?" Gajeel asked.
"They took Wendy." Carla whimpered.
"No!" Levy gasped. Pantherlily narrowed his eyes.
"Jet, go check the area for any hints. Don't die." Gajeel instructed. Jet nodded and was gone, leaving only a trail of dust behind him.
"Well, lets go!" Droy cried.
"Not yet." Natsu muttered. "We need to wait for Sting's and Mira's team."
"No, just Mira's." They turned to see Sting, Rogue and Yukino running up to them, with Frosh and Lector flying above them. "We heard what happened? Do we have any clues?"
"Jet has gone to search for them now." Levy said. "Um... Carla, are you ok?" Carla shook her head, avoiding eye contact.
"Happy. Go search the sky." Natsu said. The cat nodded.
"We'll help." Lector suggested. Him, Happy, Frosh and Pantherlily took off, leaving Carla in Levy's care.
"Hurry up Mira." Gray grumbled.
"So why did the Balam Alliance not kill you?" Rogue asked.
"You sound annoyed." Gajeel grinned.
Erza placed a hand on her chin and thought. "Maybe they still need us."
"For what?" Lucy asked.
"Well, Wendy was attracted to the Sky Orb, and we know there's a Fire Orb too. Maybe they couldn't kill us without hurting Natsu and Wendy, who they might need."
"Why did they take Wendy then?" Yukino asked.
"Probably to try stuff. Like experimenting with the Orb." Gray speculated.
"Hey, so why not me?" Natsu sounded annoyed.
"Well, you're stronger then Wendy. If anything went wrong with your power, it could be disastrous." Lucy pointed out.
"Cool." Natsu smiled. Suddenly, Jet appeared before them again, panting.
"Not much." He said between gasps, "But it looks like some trees were destroyed this way." He pointed south.
"That leads to the edge of Fiore." Sting realised.
"A perfect place to hide." Droy stated as he started to stress eat.
"Well, lets go." Natsu cried. He took off like a bolt towards where Jet pointed.
"Natsu, wait, we need to inform the master." Erza yelled. Natsu didn't listen, blood was pumping through his veins at the thought of Wendy being kidnapped. His mind was on overdrive and magic already began to swirl in his body.
"Idiot." Erza snapped. She turned to everyone else. "Lucy, Gray, Sting, Gajeel, Yukino, go after him. Everyone else wait with me for Mira's team to come. I'll tell the master."
"Right." Everyone said. Everyone stated ran after the dragon slayer. The rest collapsed to the ground to wait, all except Levy who was still holding Carla.
"Hey, come on now." She said soothingly. "You know how strong Wendy is. She'll be ok!"
"She's with the Balam Alliance." Carla said with fear in her voice.
"Exactly. Now we get to make them pay."
Another chapter done. Looks like Jackal made a mistake by grabbing Wendy instead of Lucy! Hope you enjoyed. Now, I want everyone to head over to my profile page, click the link at the top and vote for the next story that will be posted after Academy! I need as many votes as possible. Thank you all once again for 13,000 views on Academy!
