Thanks for the reviews! As I understand, you don't like the cliff-hanging plot. Please accept my apologies! I promise to explain everything soon…

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Chapter 14. A new threat

Half an hour later at the Fairy Tail guild…

"I don't understand… My cards are telling me strange things!" Cana said. Her expression was thoughtful.

She had placed her cards all over the table and was watching them. She was doing this job from nearly half an hour. At the moment the cards formed a complicated geometric figure. Cana changed their positions and sighed.

"What do your cards say? What is so strange?" Levy asked impatiently. She just couldn't stay still; every passing minute was a torture for her. She and the members of Team Natsu were surrounded Cana. The other Fairy Tail mages were also sitting around her and were watching her with curiosity.

"According to my Card magic, Gajeel is in the East Forest at the moment!" the brown-haired mage explained.

"What? In the East Forest?" Erza was really surprised to hear that. "That's impossible! Porlyusica-san lives in this forest… Why should Gajeel go there? He knows very well – like all of us – that she can't stand human presence!"

Natsu and Gray were also surprised but didn't say anything.

Levy hesitated for a second to say or not her supposition.

"Maybe… maybe you have made a mistake, Cana," she dared to pronounce. "Please don't think that I want to insult you but Erza is right, Gajeel can't be there! Please ask the cards again!"

"I also thought that it was some kind of mistake but I have already asked them three times and the answer is still the same!" Cana declared. Her tone was categorical. "That's all I can do." She gathered her cards and pocketed them.

The members of Team Natsu looked at each other. Obviously they won't gather more information.

"What should we do?" Lucy asked. "What do you think, Erza?"

"Well, there is only one thing we can do. We must see if Cana's cards say the truth. We have no other choice," Titania answered. "Maybe Gajeel is in the East Forest indeed… We will understand very soon. It is such luck that the forest is near to Magnolia! Let's go and visit Porlyusica-san."

"Is it necessary?" Happy looked scared. Erza, being the strongest Fairy Tail female wizard, might have enough courage to visit Porlyusica but it wasn't the same with him. Like the most guild members, he preferred to stay away from the pink-haired mage.

"I don't want to go there… I mean… I'm afraid of Porlyusica-san!" the little cat added.

Lucy remained silent but just the same words that Happy had said were running into her head.

"Don't worry, I will be with you!" Natsu answered in his usual care-free manner.

"Wait a minute, and what if Gajeel isn't there? What will we do then? Where should we search for him?" Gray asked.

"We will see," Erza replied. "Now let's go, we have no time to lose."

"That's right! Let's hurry up, please!" Levy said.

"Aye…" Happy nodded cheerlessly.

-ooo-

Meanwhile Porlyusica had managed to place Gajeel on a bed inside her home. She was taking care of him at the moment.

Despite his serious injuries he was still alive; she was sure about it because his heart was beating. As it was to be expected, its rhythm was irregular and slow. That wasn't just a consequence of the loss of blood; the pink-haired woman knew that he had lost a huge quantity of his magical power.

There was no doubt that Gajeel had been brought to her home just in time (in the most literal meaning of the word); only an hour later it would be too late for her (and for anyone else) to help him.

She was still wondering who had brought him here. And something more, why had this person gone without speaking with her? Maybe he or she was afraid of her, knowing that she hated the human race?

"I shouldn't think about this now," Porlyusica thought and focused her attention on the black-haired mage.

She took the blood-stained bandages off his body and placed them on the floor near to the bed; then she washed his wounds out with one of her herbal infusions. After a minute the bleeding stopped and she dressed his injuries again. Gajeel's hands weren't so cold now but face was still extremely pale and his eyes remained closed. He continued lying immovably. All her efforts to wake him up were fruitless.

The old woman sat on a chair next to the bed. She was wondering what to do.

"I definitely must find some way to let Makarov know that one of his guild members is here," she said to herself but just then she heard a sound of approaching steps for a second time that morning. The noise interrupted her thoughts.

"Who is it now? What a day…" Porlyusica was really irritated. Her calm and lonely morning was completely ruined. She opened the door with an intention to drive the newcomer away but when she looked at outside, she shivered.

Two guys were standing in front of her.

The first one was so enormous that she had to raise her head to look him in the face. She noticed was that his eyes were tied and tears were streaming down his cheeks.

The second man's hair consisted of two colours, black and white.

For a moment Porlyusica just stared at them.

"You confounded people!" she snapped at them. "Whoever you are, get out of here right now!"

The man with two colour hair made a mocking bow.

"Good morning, madam," he said. His voice was kind and yet there was a taste of irony in his tone. "Let me introduce myself and this friend of mine. My name is Totomaru and this is Aria…"

"I don't want to know who you are!" Porlyusica cut his words off. "Didn't you hear me? Get out of my sight immediately! I can't stand human presence!"

Totomaru raised his eyebrow.

"Is it so?" he asked. A sarcastic smile formed on his lips. "Please forgive me but I don't believe you, madam… If you can't stand human presence, why there is a man in your home now?"

That was so unexpected that the pink-haired woman lost her ability to speak for a minute. She guessed what these people wanted.

"We know that Gajeel Redfox is here. It's useless for you to deny it," Totomaru said. Obviously he was enjoying the situation because his smile became even larger. "If you really hate people, let us do you a favour… Let us free you from Gajeel's presence! We have come here for him. Our master, Jose Porla, has sent us to bring this iron trash to him dead or alive. In a few words, master Jose wants to finish what he started…"

He remained silent for a second. "And in my opinion, it will be better for Gajeel to be dead already!" he added and burst in laughter.

"What?" Porlyusica asked. "So Jose Porla is responsible for Gajeel's state? And he hasn't enough courage to come here himself so he has sent you two? Don't tell me that he is afraid of an old woman like me!"

Totomaru continued talking as if he hadn't heard her caustic words: "Please madam, give Gajeel Redfox to us and we will leave this forest at the same minute. You have my word."

"How dare you!" Porlyusica was so furious that she couldn't say anything else. She stared at the two men and her eyes sparkled with anger.

Totomaru's expression changed radically. His smile disappeared without a trace. In contrast with his previous premeditated politeness, there was a taste of threat in his words now.

"As I said, we must take Gajeel with us and bring him to our master. We can do it the easy way or the hard one," he said through clenched teeth. "It's your decision, madam. So tell me, will you give him to us willingly or not? In any case, you must know that we won't leave this place without him!" He took a step forward.

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