Extortion

"All clear." Levy said, as she peered around the corner of our school building. There was a door near the back end of the class that was always open for some reason. The five of us slowly filed out of the building, creeping along the alley like a snake. We huddled near a street lamp, making sure the passing guard didn't spot us, and then were were off, racing under the sun to the nearest cafe. Once inside, Levy took charge.

"Alright, you guys wait here, I'm gonna go ask if anyone saw Gajeel when he burst out of school."

"Alright, be careful Levy." I said. I watched as she nodded and turned, heading straight out. She was back in about ten minutes or so, looking grave.

"Ok, I just asked an old woman who said she was sitting on the bench near the front yard. Pretending to be his friend, I asked her about him. She said said she saw a black-haired boy with red eyes running out of school, obviously Gajeel. The thing is, he it seems like he just sprinted towards the city."

I squirmed a bit. The city was not a place for kids, even if that kid was a giant, "Should we still look for him, I mean, it's not exactly safe you know."

Natsu crossed his arms and stared out towards the rising sun over the city, "Lucy, we need answers, his behavior was really suspicious."

I wanted to say no, I really did, but there was somwthing in me that just needed to go for it. I really hate how wacky my mind is sometimes, like some weird cuckoo clock. I nodded back to the group and Natsu smiled as he lead the way. We quietly went for it, creeping along the edges of the streets like shadows. If a person came within a small radius of us, we pretended to look as if we knew where we were going; as if.

The inner parts of the city were nothing like the outside, jagged building with dirty window-panes and broken doors strutted out onto the street almost as if they ere about to jump up and jaywalk. Really creepy, scratch that, very creepy.

Levy was literally shaking in her shoes with each step, and I wasn't far behind. A man, long hair in dreads, baggy clothing, was smoking on the street, almost like a scarecrow. Jet must have been feeling pretty brave, because he strut right up to the man and asked him in his most persuasive voice, "Excuse me sir, but a friend of mine is missing, you haven't happened to see a tall kid with shaggy black hair have you?"

I immediately pulled Levy and Natsu into an alley, Droy quick to follow. Not that I didn't trust Jet, but this could easily backfire.

To our collective surprise, he jogged back to us grinning, "That old guy said he did see Redfox, said he barreled into that old abandoned church down the street."

"As much as I appreciate the effort Jet, please don't do that again." Levy said with unease. I agreed but didn't say anything.

"Well let's get going then, I've got a bone to pick with that asshole." Natsu said, grinding his fists.

"Language dummy!" I said, slapping him on the head. He would be cursing left and right before we knew it.

"Jeez Lucy, lay off a bit."

I huffed and kept walking. The sun was lower now, reflecting a pleasant mix of red and yellow onto our faces. This whole situation was seeming worse by the minute, if Gajeel really was caught up in dangerous company, then who were we, a group of kids, to intervene? I know the boys are angry over what happened to Levy, but there must be so many reasons as to why Gajeel did what he did. He'd never done anything like that to a girl before, even though he did get into a lot of fights. Something just seemed off, like why did he just run off? Obviously the drugs were the problem, but there should have been no reason why he would be taking them out during school. If he was a dealer, then he wouldn't have been so dimwitted as to take them out in the middle of the day. From what we had learned from our drug safety seminar back in the beginning got the year, dealers at schools usually liked to do their business when there were less people around, which made a lot of sense.

So why did Gajeel take out a bag full of drugs in the middle of the day? I mean, even if he had to sell it to someone, he wouldn't have had to sell the whole stash, no one at school would be able to buy all of that, whatever it was. Then it dawned on me, Levy had had said that the drug was poweder-like, which meant that it wasn't your average marijuana. According to the seminar, there were broadly two different classifications of drugs, "hard" and "soft". Marijuana and others like it were labeled as soft, and as such were highly used. Then there were hard drugs, drugs that really were very dangerous for your health. One of those was cocaine, a fine white powder capable of giving someone intense highs, but it came with a price: severe addiction. Could that have been the drug that Gajeel had? And if it was, what was he doing with possession of such a dangerous drug? He was only in middle school!

I was lifted from my thoughts by Natsu, who had put his hand up in front of me, signaling us to halt. There was a liquor store to our right, a shoddy and beat up sign on its front. The entrance looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"See that alley beside the store?" Natsu asked, "I heard something down that way, almost sounded like Gajeel."

"Are you sure?" Levy asked him, craning her head farther in the direction Natsu was pointing, "It could have been anyone."

"Just trust me alright?" Natsu said shortly, and he crept into the liquor store for a few minutes. He came back with a smirk.

"So, the guy at the register is sleeping, and there's an old stairwell with an unlocked door. We can get a clear view of whatever is going down in that alley if go up there."

I was skeptical, this could turn out really bad, not to mention the trouble we could get into by going into a liquor store of all places.

Natsu read the distress in my face, "Ah, come one Lucy, we've got no other option. We'll be in and out pretty quickly." he said as he extended his hand to me, I took it, noting it to be squishy, and followed him into the store, the other three right behind us.

As Natsu had said, the staircase was accessible, and we crept up with discretion. The top of the roof had a few heat generators, but was otherwise barren. A clang echoed from the alley. Quickly, we rushed to the edge, and took in the scene before us.

Gajeel was crouched in a servile position, a group of menacing men stood around leisurely, while one of them, who I guessed was the leader, sneered at Gajeel's form.

"So, you actually managed to not fuck this job up, huh Gajeel?" the man asked, "Because usually, this is the part where I beat your sorry ass."

I heard a sharp intake of breath from Levy, who was staring wide-eyed.

Gavel spoke with a shaky voice, "Yeah, I did the job fair and square. So... can I have him back and go home now?"

The man considered the boy and then smirked, "No, I don't think so. You see, you might prove useful in the future, I mean, what kind of cop would suspect a kid like of carrying around drugs. And, as for your little animal friend, I think I'll keep him a little longer; for incentive." he said that last part into Gajeel's face, and I saw the black-haired boy in fear for the first time.

"No! Jose, you gotta give him back right now- I-I can't let you guys just keep him, he's the only friend I got!"

The man, who was apparently named Jose, only laughed it off, a cruel laugh, mocking Gajeel and taking sadistic pleasure in his despair at the same time, "What a riot! Hear that boys? This shithead's only friend is a damn cat! What a fucking loser!"

The other men behind Jose guffawed as well, and it was then I heard the soft 'meow' of a cat coming from a bag that one of the men was holding. Gajeel perked up at this instantly, instantly pleading again with Jose to let him have his cat but to no avail.

I looked at Natsu, and saw in his eyes that he had the same thoughts running through hid head as I had in mine; I didn't know what to do. Here was Gajeel, displaying a side that none of us had ever seen before, that maybe no one had ever seen before, and I just couldn't help but, pity him.

Levy caught my eye and jerked her head towards the situation below, "Lucy.. we should call the cops."

"Are you sure Levy?" I asked, "Maybe we shouldn't get caught up in this."

"I agree." said Natsu, "Why should we help him after what he did to Levy? Just leave him."

Levy was shaking her head, "No Natsu, what he did to me may have been bad, but... we can't let him suffer, not like this."

Natsu eyed Jet and Droy, "What do you guys think?"

Jet sighed, "I guess I agree with whatever Levy does."

"Same." nodded Droy.

I smiled, well, its not like those two would've disagreed with Levy anyway. Natsu was sulking but I know Levy had convinced him. I took my phone out, and dialed 911.

Gajeel did end up getting his ca back, who's name turned out to be Pantehrlily, strange, but Gajeel was strange too, so I guess it made sense. The cops were there within minutes of my call, and they were there to Jose and his gang members. Gajeel was initially in trouble as well, but after some convincing from us, they let him off with a warning, considering he was blackmailed into doing what he did. Gajeel was cowling the entire team, and took off with our thanking us.

I expected as much, but what I didn't expect was the look he gave Levy right before leaving, as well as the gruff 'sorry' he muttered to her. Was he actually embarrassed? That was a first, since the he had never shown any outward sign of emotion ever before.

The police actually congratulated us on our work, but they did tell us that what we did should not be attempted again, and yes, they did contact our parents. Somehow Natsu managed to convince the others' parents that it was him dragging them us all along. That didn't help Igneel's galore when he came to pick up Natsu.

Mama suspected as much and asked me alter at home what had happened and I told her the truth. She invited Igneel and Natsu over for a talk, which ended up both of them delivering joint speech to the two of us on why we should never do something that, and I quote, insanely and utterly stupid, ever again.

That night found me and Natsu laying down on my bed, exhausted from the day's events. The last thing I saw before I went to sleep was his hair, reflecting moonlight like the waves of a pink ocean.

So, you'll probably be wondering why I was gone. Shit happened, school, injuries, more school. I was gonna update two weeks after the last chapter, but then I was hounded by school. I also did a pretty stupid thing over spring break and got alcohol poisoning, which put me off for another week. Then my soccer team in school made it to the state championships, and we lost on penalties, so that made me depressed for like another week, and then AP testing overlapped that, so its just really been very busy for me. Hopefully I can start update frequently again, since summer's almost here.