Lucy sat on the floor of the stone cell staring at the barred door. Natsu's head rested lightly in her lap as she absentmindedly played with his pink tufts of hair. Levy and Juvia had been taken off somewhere on their own and when Lucy had finally returned she found Natsu laid out on the floor unconscious. His body was bruised and he wore tight white bandages around his chest… it looked like a few of his ribs had snapped.

Lucy stared blankly at the door waiting for something…

She wasn't exactly sure what, but she had a twisting feeling in her gut telling her something was coming.

"As if this nightmare could get any worse…" she whispered, looking back down at Natsu, who only lay still and silent, the only thing showing he was alive was his chest weakly rising a little before collapsing inwards again.

A loud knocking came at the door, making Lucy jump and stand up quickly.

She waited for the door to open but was surprised when a mere piece of paper was slid underneath, she ran to it.

'Jude Heartfilia,

We have your daughter… if you want to see her again unharmed and alive you must not call security or anyone else.

We demand you pay us at least £10,000.

We will wait in the forest in the North West part of your grounds at 02:00 am…

If you bring anyone or anything other than yourself and the money, we will not hesitate to kill your precious daughter.'

Lucy read the note in silence. She gripped it tightly, so tight her nails started digging into her palms through the paper as her body started to shake with anger.

"…They can't do this!" she whispered.

Darkened thoughts of her going home to that place began to creep into the corners of her mind. Questions flooded in… Why now? Why would they do this now?

"They can't…. do this!" she said.

She didn't want to go back… even if that meant spending the rest of her miserable life here. She didn't want to think about the horrors that awaited her return home.

Worst of all, there would be none of her friends… Levy… Natsu…

Over these last few days (if it was days… maybe a couple weeks?) Lucy had grown especially close to the bunch of teens… they were the first real friends she'd ever had.

She'd sat with them every day at lunch, she had interesting conversations with all of them…. Like how Juvia was planning to kidnap Gray before their marriage, and how Gray was planning to try and keep control of his stripping habit because he was scared Juvia would try and kidnap him so they could get married.

How Levy still got teased for being short and Erza and Jellal had taught her about armour and weapons… she'd even learned a few new fighting skills.

Gajeel had chatted to her a few times about trying to get his cat help for his kiwi addiction and he'd given her a new nick name… 'Bunny girl"

She had no idea where it came from… she wasn't quite sure she wanted to…

Lucy couldn't even imagine her life without these people anymore… it was weird that in such a short space of time they'd all become so close. They clicked, it was as if it was just meant to be…

It would break her heart to leave them now.

The blonde screwed up the paper and threw it across the room…
"I'm never going back…" she mumbled to herself, leaning on her side against the wall.

"Why do you always talk to yourself?"

Lucy turned to see a certain pinkette laid on his side, lazily propping himself up off the floor with his arm.

She blanked…

"W-Wha?.. I don't!" she said, frowning.

"So who we're you talking to?" he replied with an eyebrow raised.

"None of your business!"

"…Weirdo…"

She puffed out her cheeks angrily stomping her foot.

"I'm not the weird one here, pinkie!"

"I'm just sayin'… it's pretty weird to talk to a wall…" he smirked.
"Oh shut up."

Natsu started laughing to himself, as Lucy glared at him unimpressed.

But she wasn't really mad him… it was hard to be mad at someone that cute…

The little blonde blinked at this strange thought, pulling a face.

"Phahahah… if you could just see yourself right now… hahahah…" he said pointing at her.

Lucy rolled her eyes.

Natsu suddenly sat up and started coughing… his smile quickly forming a frown as he clutched his chest tightly.

Lucy's eyes widened for a moment, before she sighed quietly making her way over to him.

"Are you ok?..." she asked calmly sitting next to him and placing a pale hand on his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah…" he spluttered, calming slightly at her presence, "Are you?" he said turning to face her.

Lucy was taken aback… she'd still not gotten used to this whole asking her questions thing.

"O-Oh, yeah I-…. I'm ok." She smiled softly.

"Then me too." Said Natsu, easily returning the smile.

Lucy suddenly felt her upper body slowly moving forward… he started at her blankly for a second before moving towards her.

Her eyes fluttered shut as the space began closing between them….

This was it…

It was happening…..

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Oi, it's time to go!" a guard's voice shouted from the other side of the door, making the pair jump apart.

Never mind…

It wasn't happening. :c

*A few minutes later*

"We need to figure out how to get out of here!" Gajeel said grumpily, with his arms folded tightly over his chest. Lucy sat opposite him, to his right Levy sat slumped over the wooden table frowning as she rested her chin on her hand that was balled into a fist. It was clear she was in deep thought… it would be stupid to disturb her.

"Yes, I agree." Muttered Erza, who sat on Gajeel's left, "Perhaps fight our way out…" ...she shook her head at her own suggestion, knowing full well it wouldn't work.

"We don't have our magic… that would be stupid." Jellal replied, who sat on her other side.

"I think its an awesome idea!" Natsu jumped from the seat next to Lucy and fist bumped the air knocking over her cup of water…

"NATSU!" she shouted, picking at her now wet clothes.

"Uhm.." he stuttered… "S-Sorry Luce!" he said trying to clean her up with an old napkin he found.

Gray face palmed next to Lucy as Natsu patted her chest with the paper.

Lucy could feel a blush creeping up her neck…

'No! No, no, no, no, no, no! Please!'

Gajeel sniggered opposite the blonde which only made her face redder.

"N-Natsu get off!" she snapped, pushing his hands away awkwardly.

"S-Sorry.." he sat down, his own cheeks tinted red…

Oh god!

He was so cute!

Gajeel laughed to himself…

"Looks like Flame brain likes Bunny girl, huh?" he said chuckling.

"No he doesn't!" Lucy snapped again.

The group exchanged smirks, as Gray handed Gajeel his money.

"A bet's a bet…" Gray sighed.

"Told ya." He said smugly.

My note thingy...

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long... there's been some issues that have come up in my personal life and it's kept me busy, so I've not really had much time. I'm really sorry to everyone... i'll try and write more for you all :3 I really hope you're enjoying my story, and I thank everyone that has reviewed or followed, etc. It's really nice to read all your comments.

Anyways have a good day, thanks everyone, byeee :)