All rights to Fairy Tail belong to Hiro Mashima
Natsu just stood there, stunned for a moment. Lucy looked as if she was glowing from the way the moon reflected off of her porcelain skin. She looked like an absolute goddess, in Natsu's eyes at least. He then turned his attention to the person she was dancing with, and immediately felt anger boil within his flesh. He wanted nothing more than to go over there and kick that guy right where the sun don't shine. He immediately dismissed the thought; however the scene was really starting to bother him now.
His chest started to clench as he watched the two dance. One thing that made him even angrier was the fact that Lucy wasn't smiling. In fact, she almost seemed to be in pain as she was looking at her hand from time to time.
He needed a plan to take her away from him, and fast.
Lucy just wanted to go up to her room and scream. This Edison guy was making her insanely uncomfortable. She just tried to imagine that he wasn't there, but the pain of him squeezing her hands was enough to keep her in reality.
But, there was also something weird that happened. Every time her mind started to wander when Edison was giving his pointless jabber was that she kept imagining Natsu, and all of the times they spent together. Lucy missed those memories the most. Anytime she looked at something pink- whether it is a pink dress, a pink purse, or a pink table cloth- she always thought of the idiot's smile and his wild hair. His toothy grin can make any girl melt in front of him. Lucy doesn't know why Lisanna would be stupid enough to cheat on him, but he is the best boyfriend and friend that anyone could ever ask for.
All in all: he was the type of guy she wish she had.
She wished that he was here with her. He would make sure that there was never an awkward silence, and that is what she liked best about him. She hadn't known him for too long, but she could definitely feel the connection between them.
Her chest hurt just thinking about him. She didn't know how they became such close friends in just a week. Her face contorted in pain, but the man dancing with her did not seem to notice. Lucy was trying to focus her attention anywhere but him. She needed some excuse to get away from his tight hold. "Excuse me, I am going to get a drink. I shall be back." Lucy said as she silently excused herself, but Edison stood in her way.
"No, no, my lady. It would be quite the awful thing if I let a lady such as yourself be unaccompanied. Please allow me to escort you." He said with a smirk. Lucy knew that whatever she said could be used against her by her father. Can this guy not take a clue!? Lucy screamed in her head. She kept her formal demeanor as she let him escort her to the table where the refreshments were. Basically, like most aristocrat parties, the beverages consisted of mostly alcohol, but she swore to her mother before she died that she would never drink a single drop, seeing that her dad drank so much even back when her mother was still alive. Plus, she was too young to drink.
"What would you like, my lady? There is plenty of vodka, wine, and beer. Whatever suits your interest." Edison said as he gestured to the drinks lying across a table covered by a white cloth.
"Thank you, but I would much rather prefer a non-alcoholic drink." Lucy said as she took a glass from the table and started filling it with grapefruit juice. It was not her favorite thing to drink, but the only two non-alcoholic drinks that they had were water and grapefruit juice.
"Oh, come on now. It is a party. Enjoy yourself." Edison said. "Or, maybe you need a little help?" He said as he dragged Lucy away. Lucy was trying to pull her wrist away from him, but he had an iron grip on it.
"Let me go this instant!" Lucy screeched as Edison dragged her behind the building where no one was, not noticing the shadow that followed them. He slammed her against the wall of the building and trapped her there. "If you do not let me go…" Lucy started to threaten.
"Then what? No one is going to come and save you." Edison said with a smirk that she wants to wipe off of his face. She wriggled her wrist out of his grip and slapped him hard on the face. Edison shrank back, but quickly regained his composure and was stalking towards her. "Now look what you have done, you bitch!" Edison rebuked as he raised his hand to hit her. Lucy screwed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact of the golden rings on his fingers on her skin. However, the blow never came.
Instead, there was a blow to his face. And she couldn't be happier to see the person who delivered it.
Gajeel was getting pretty fed up with these damn aristocrats looking at him in disgust because of his piercings. And the girls who didn't find him weird, started to try to flirt with him, and it's really started to f*cking piss him off. Just tonight, he had three girls poke his ass.
At least Gray was not having the same exact trouble. Even though all of the girls found him attractive, Juvia wouldn't let them go near him. If looks could kill, every single girl in this room would be dead, especially that stripping old lady. What was her name again? Ooba Baba-sama, or something like that.
Gray approached Gajeel while Juvia went with Erza to go to the other side of the mansion to look for Lucy. "Did you find her?" Gray asked.
"It's hard to find anyone here. If there is one person I want to find, it's flametard. I really want to see him serve people. Then I could finally have potential blackmail for him." Gajeel said with a devious smirk.
"As much as that sounds tempting, we're on a mission right now." Gray responded.
"It doesn't really feel like a mission. It just feels as if we are playing hide-and-seek. And let me tell you, I really suck at that game." Gajeel mumbled the last part and Gray snickered before he finally got an idea.
"Do you know what would make this feel more like a mission?" Gray asked with a knowing smirk. Gajeel looked at him with a raised 'eyebrow', but eventually caught on to what he was saying.
"Aviator Gangster Swag." They both said as they reached into their tux pockets and pulled out a set of aviators and put them on. Afterwards, they both faced one direction and crossed their arms with stoic faces, making them look like real spies. This made almost every girl that was staring at them have a nosebleed.
"Now this feels like a mission." Gray said. "Let's go, Gajeel." Gajeel just nodded without looking at him and set off to find the blonde-haired girl.
Lucy stared in shock as she was watching Edison get beat up. Her savior gave one last kick to his stomach and he fell on the ground. "That should teach you to keep your paws off a lady." A masculine voice said. The man turned to her, and she at first thought that she was imagining him (because she has been doing that a lot), but then he held a hand out to her to help her up from the ground. "Come on, Luce. I don't think this is a great time to space out." He said teasingly. She quickly took his hand and flung herself into his arms.
"I'm so glad you're here, Natsu. I was so scared" She felt Natsu tighten his grip on her, as if she was his life line. She started to silently sob from the frightening experience.
"Shh, it's okay, I'm right here." Natsu said as he caressed her hair. Afterwards, he reluctantly pulled out of their hug. "Come on, we have to get out of here." Natsu said as he pulled out his phone to text his friends about where he was and that he found Lucy.
"Natsu, why are you here? How did you find me?" Lucy asked. Natsu shoved his phone back into his pocket.
"Well, isn't it obvious? We came to get you back after we found out that you were kidnapped. You know, it's really good that you were filming at that point. You just so happened to drop your camera." Lucy smiled sheepishly. "Also, we had Loke show us where the estate was." Natsu explained.
"One more thing," Lucy said, "why are you dressed as a waiter?" Lucy asked as she chuckled.
Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I kind of stole it off some guy on the way here." Lucy laughed in response. "I know, I look weird."
"No, I think that it makes you look handsome." Lucy said before she could stop herself. She immediately wanted to slap her own face in embarrassment.
Natsu's cheeks turned a little red, but he kept his composure. "Thank you. You look really pretty in that dress too." He replied.
"Thanks." Lucy said awkwardly. They shared a few minutes of awkward silence before the party came. Lucy was first tackled into a hug by Juvia.
"Juvia missed Lucy-san! Is Lucy-san hurt? Thank God you are okay." Juvia said as she cried into Lucy's shoulder.
"It's fine Juvia, I'm fine." Lucy said as she tried to soothe her roommate, but she kept crying. She looked to Gray for assistance, but he just mouthed 'you're problem now'. Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. Juvia finally broke out of the hug when Gajeel spoke.
"Why the hell is this guy knocked out?" Gajeel asked gruffly as he nudged Edison's neck with his shoe.
"He tried to attack Luce, so I kicked his ass." Natsu said nonchalantly. Gray found this to be a perfect teasing moment.
"Protecting your woman, eh?" Gray said. Natsu was about to punch him in the face, but was stopped by the sound of a groan. It was coming from the beaten up man on the floor.
"You bastard, you will pay for what you did to my face." Edison growled as he launched himself at Natsu. Before Natsu could kick his ass again, Edison was knocked out of the way by a lead pipe. Natsu turned to see Erza, holding the lead pipe like a baseball bat.
"That is for trying to attack my friends." Erza said with a monstrous glare. "Come on guys, let's go. I don't want to stay here any longer." Erza said. She turned to see that someone was missing. "Where's Loke?"
"He said that he would stay behind, because he has to take his car home." Gray answered.
"Wait, so we aren't riding in Loke's car?" Natsu asked, a bit relieved he doesn't have to cram himself in the back.
"Nope, I called up a friend. He'll get us out of here. Hurry, we have to go to the roof." Gray said. The group shot a questioning look to him, but agreed that Gray knew what he was doing. Natsu snickered at that thought.
The six of them tried to get to the roof if the mansion undetected. Lucy showed them the fast passage to the roof, and luckily it wasn't surrounded by people. There was a secret door that, when opened, revealed at least eleven flights of stairs. "Great, now we have to climb stairs." Gajeel muttered. Erza punched his arm.
"Stop being a lazy ass, let's go." She said. The party ascended up the stairs, only to be stopped by a voice.
"Princess?" The whole group froze and Lucy turned to see her favorite maid at the bottom of the stair case. "What are you doing, milady?" Virgo asked.
"Virgo…Listen, I can't live here anymore. I can't live under my father's reign. I will miss you and the others dearly, but this is the path that I want to take. Please…please let us go." Lucy pleaded. Virgo's stoic face now held a smile.
"You were always meant to follow your instinct, princess. Go. I will not tell anyone of what I have seen." Virgo said as she turned and closed the door behind her.
"Thank you, Virgo." Lucy whispered to no one in particular, as if the pink-haired maid heard her. She stared at the door for a few minutes before she felt Natsu take her wrist.
"Come on Luce, we have to go." Natsu said with a low and caring voice. Lucy nodded mutely and followed her friends up the stairs, not looking back.
When the group reached the roof, they all shivered (except for Gray) because of the cold draft that had come in. "What are we waiting for?" Natsu asked Gray.
"Don't worry, he'll be here." He? Lucy thought.
Suddenly, the wind started to blow like mad, and there was a loud whistling sound coming from above them. The party looked up to find a helicopter with the emblem of the Fiore army on it. As the copter landed on the roof, everyone stared at it in shock, wondering why the army would be here of all places. Lucy noticed Erza stare at the insignia, as if remembering something.
Suddenly, the door of the helicopter opened to wear a man dressed in army clothes. "Come on, guys. If you want to go, we have to go now." Erza's eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped and she couldn't believe who she was seeing.
"Jellal?" She said with her eyes wide. The blue-haired man with an odd tattoo looked at her and gave a soft smile.
"Long time no see, Erza. Now let's hurry!" Everyone complied and they hopped into the vehicle sat on the benches inside. "Alright, Doranbolt, move out!" He ordered the pilot.
"Roger that, Staff Sergeant Jellal." The man dubbed Doranbolt said as he pressed the accelerate and lifted them into the air before taking off.
Back on the roof, Jude Heartfilia watched as the helicopter flew off, but it was still in shooting range. "What are your orders, Mr. Heartfilia?" A royal security guard asked.
"Shoot them down." He said simply. The guard was inwardly shocked. After all, his daughter was still in there. However, he had to obey commands.
"Open fire!" The guard ordered his men as they brought out the cannons, holding grenades. They shot the grenades out of the cannons one by one, and for the first time, Jude didn't care what the people below thought. He just wanted that helicopter destroyed.
"Jellal, we have artillery coming in from the rear!" Doranbolt said as he looked at the radar.
"Turn the helicopter 45 degrees west and head for that mountain." Jellal ordered. Doranbolt complied as he turned the helicopter just in time to not get hit by the exploding grenade. Doranbolt had to maneuver the copter around to not get hit by the barrage of explosives. "Hang on, guys." Jellal said before he opened the door. He had in his hand what looked like a grenade. He pulled on the trigger with his teeth and threw it out the door, creating a smokescreen behind them. This blocked any vision of them as they escaped.
Jude let out a heavy sigh. His good-for-nothing daughter had escaped.
"Should we go after them?" The guard asked.
"Do not bother. I will bring her back, one way or another." Jude said with a hard glare in the direction that they went.
The six young adults were sitting on the benches of the copter. Gray, Juvia, and Gajeel were sitting on one side with Lucy, Natsu, and Erza on the other. Jellal was in the cockpit.
"I can't believe you guys came for me. You know that was reckless right?" Lucy asked as she directed her last question to Natsu.
"Of course we came for you, you're our friend." Erza said as she patted Lucy's shoulder. "Beautiful dress, by the way."
"Thank you, your too!" Lucy said while smiling. "By the way, who is the guy who came to save us?" Lucy asked.
"His name is Jellal. We're very close to him, but after high school, he was set on joining the army, so we don't see him much. I was lucky that I got in contact with him." Gray explained. Lucy could feel Erza stiffen beside her. Lucy wondered why, but knew that this was not the right place to ask. Before she could comprehend anything, Natsu pulled her into a tight hug. Lucy's face flushed red with embarrassment.
"N-N-Natsu!" Lucy shrieked with wide eyes as she was slammed into Natsu's toned chest.
"I was so worried. I'm glad you're okay." He said looking into her eyes. She saw a mixture of sadness and pure joy in them, and just couldn't help but be captivated by the deep onyx color.
"Geez, get a room you two." Gajeel growled softly as Juvia promptly punched him, earning a kiss on the cheek from Gray.
Lucy felt drowsy and found her head lying on Natsu's shoulder before she could do anything. She felt her consciousness slip out as she heard his last words.
"No one will take you away anymore, Luce. I promise."
Back at the front gates of the Heartfilia Estate, a man who was clad in his boxers woke up to be poked by the thorns of a bush. He looked down to see his pink-heart boxers.
"Where the hell are my clothes!?"
Hello everyone~! I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long. I decided to add Jellal in here because I completely forgot in the beginning of the story, and I really really wanted Jellal in here. I hope everyone is having a great day wherever they are! :)
K, bye~