A/N: The Tartarous/Blood Eagle Arc is finally over! And now I will drown you all in a sea of fluff and it's going to be fantastic. After I do a little plot development of course. Still going to be fantastic :)
Reviews:
NaluhasNashi: Thank you so much, I'm glad the wait was worth it :)
Moon Stone Tiger Lily: Hooorrrraaaayyyy!
Alaina Kuski: Indeed…
SunflowerChrysalis: Oh my gosh. So many reviews. SO MANY REVIEWS! You are an amazing person for taking the time out of your day to review my story and I'm glad you enjoy it :)
Kaggy-Higgs88: Thank you :)
Thank you for your patience and apologises for the wait.
Enjoy! :)
…
Lucy's POV:
…
Everything seemed to be going well after Minerva teleported everyone back to the guild hall. Miraculously, no one was killed during the fight with Tartarous. Not even the people who were knocked unconscious. But that didn't mean that they weren't bruised and battered from being thrown around like ragdolls during the fight. Healing them was fairly simple, though that responsibility largely fell on Wendy, as she was the one with the most medical experience, though Erza did lend her assistance to the half-Sky Dragon. Sort of.
The people who actually fought against Tartarous were the ones who needed the medical attention the most. Juvia needed immediate treatment for anti-Ether poisoning, Yukino had a minor concussion and a sprained ankle, Gray was barely able to stay conscious, Ogra had multiple cracked ribs, Minerva and Erza had deep cuts, Carla had a bad head wound, and somewhere along the line Rufus sprained his wrist. Thankfully, those were about the worst of the injuries. At least the physical ones.
The battle had also taken an emotional toll on some of them. Gray was much more reclusive than normal and only Juvia seemed to be able to provide comfort to the ice mage as she was the only one he was willing to talk to. Lucy wasn't sure what had happened to him, but at the moment she wasn't really sure she wanted to know. She was thankful though that Juvia did appear to be providing some sort of emotional comfort to Gray.
Besides, she had some emotional baggage to struggle with herself. Since they returned, Aquarius's cracked key hadn't left Lucy's hand. Natsu had stayed with her to reassure her that everything was going to be okay, but he got pulled away by Wendy and Erza because the half-Fire Dragon had reopened the wound on his side for the second time. Not to mention to tend to all the other wounds he had acquired during the battle.
Natsu was probably currently cowering in the Titania's shadow as she scolded him for being reckless while Wendy worked diligently to heal the wound in the infirmary. Lucy would be there too, but she had already been tended to and she didn't want to get in the way. Thankfully she had somehow scraped by with only some minor burns and cuts during her scuffle with Jackal. She only wished Aquarius was so lucky.
Loke had stopped by earlier to inform Lucy that Aquarius was fine, but in a semi-fragile condition due to the crack that had formed in her key, but other than that she was doing fine and should be back to her normal self soon. This brought much relief to the Celestial Spirit mage, though she realized that she might not be able to summon the water spirit until the key was repaired for risk of damaging it further. Or breaking it.
Thankfully, with Loke's reassuring message in mind, Lucy managed to steer her train of thought from the matter of Aquarius's cracked key to a different matter she needed to ponder.
The Unison Raid that had decimated Tartarous's forces.
The Unision Raid that Lucy had performed with Natsu.
Lucy had never done a Unison Raid before, of course she never needed to before that moment. She didn't know what to expect or what it would feel like to fuse her magic with someone else's, but the feeling of performing a Unison Raid with Natsu was...incredible.
It felt right.
Then Lucy remembered the purpose of their journey. They had to find Natsu's soulmate so he could get his wings.
Lucy knew that it was inevitable and once that happened, the adventures would more than likely stop. It would be unbearably awkward if Lucy hung around, but the thought of having to leave Natsu and the adventures they had behind made her...sad. She had tried not to let that bother her, in fact when the adventure started, it didn't really bother her much; if not at all back then.
But now...it did.
Maybe it was because back then, Lucy clung to the idea that she wouldn't become attached to the half-Fire Dragon, but Unison Raiding with Natsu really brought into perspective how attached she had gotten to him without even realizing it. And how much she didn't want to let go.
She scoffed to herself.
Had she really…?
No. She did. Lucy absolutely did.
Absently, Lucy's eyes drifted around the room, drinking in the lush furnishings.
The Celestial Mage was sitting alone at a desk in a spare room in the Sabertooth guildhall. The room had a large window overlooking the city streets and was richly decorated with plush couches and even a few beds for guests. The members were allowing Lucy, Natsu, and the Fairy Tail members to stay in this room until they could leave, but no one was in much of a hurry to go yet.
At the moment, everyone else was downstairs partying and celebrating the victory and that they were all alive or in the infirmary getting treated. Everyone except for Lucy.
The blonde felt out of place among the happy mages. She felt unusually anxious and this probably stemmed from the sheer amount of stuff on her mind. And it wasn't just Aquarius's key and her feelings about Natsu that were bothering her.
The matter of her father was still a huge issue. He went as far as to hire a dark guild to bring her home, not once, but twice.
And what would stop him from trying a third time? Jude Heartfilla got what he wanted when he wanted it and if someone had to be hurt in the process, so be it.
Lucy was lucky that none of her friends hadn't been hurt during the first two attempts, but she doubted that she'd be so lucky the next time around and she knew that there was going to be a next time.
Finally, it dawned on her that there was no other option.
She really didn't want to have to go through with this, but the last thing she wanted was for her friends to get caught up in this mess anymore than they already have.
Taking a deep breath, Lucy pulled out a piece of paper, picked up a pen and started writing.
…
Natsu's POV:
…
Natsu winced as his eyes watered in pain as the disinfectant seeped into his wound. The vile liquid hurt more than the actual wound. Natsu had been unfortunate enough to be dragged down the the infirmary to get his wounds checked out by Wendy, and strangely Erza, who had Requipped into a nurse's outfit in order to assist Wendy.
Happy and Carla were there as well to lend their aid, though Carla seemed to be more helpful than Happy. The blue cat was flying above the infirmary, surveying the patients while Carla wrapped bandages in a practiced manner.
"Ow, ow ow! That huuurrrrttttssss!" He whinned as the disinfectant soaked cotton swab touched his side.
"Sorry Natsu-san, but I told you to be careful not to reopen it." Wendy apologized as she applied said disinfectant.
"You need to be more careful Natsu." Erza scolded from the other side of the room, "What if you get seriously injured again and we aren't there to help heal you?"
At that moment, Wendy glanced over her shoulder to check on Erza's progress with the remaining injured members, but the half-Sky Dragon's expression dropped to one of horror and mild confusion.
"E-Erza-san, that isn't how you lay bandages…" Wendy pointed out, her face slightly paler than before.
Somehow, the Titania had managed to tangle two unfortunate members of Sabertooth in an elaborate web of bandages that seemed to be causing them a fair amount of discomfort as they had practically been bound together in a very odd, and uncomfortable looking position.
"You seem to be causing them more harm than good!" Carla exclaimed, sounding a little furious.
"Oh. My apologies. You may strike me as punishment." Erza stated humbley.
Happy sweat-dropped as he looked down on the scene from above. "Erza, it might be best to leave the medical stuff to Wendy."
The redhead nodded. "Of course. Just let me finish up here."
Before anymore could be said on the topic, Erza returned to her work; though much more professionally than before. Seeing that there probably won't be anymore trouble, Wendy returned her attention to her own work. Much to Natsu's dismay.
Thankfully the wound hadn't gotten infected but the half-Sky Dragon wanted to make absolute sure that the wound wouldn't get infected since this was the second time that it had been reopened in the course of a single day. Natsu didn't even know that the wound had reopened until they returned to Roba and was unsure of when it had.
Though part of him had expected the wound to reopen at some point during the fight.
In the chaos of the battle, for the most part he didn't feel the pain the wounds inflicted. At least not until the adrenaline wore off.
When they returned to Roba, Wendy had jumped straight to work getting everyone treated and she wasn't pleased when she discovered that he had reopened his wound and tried to rush him off to the infirmary. Natsu was resilient because with his abilities, he'd heal up just fine in no time. But when Erza showed up, that's what sealed the deal.
More than anything, Natsu wanted to protest that he was completely okay and didn't need immediate medical care because he knew in his gut that a certain blonde friend needed his company more. But for fear of facing an angry Titania, Natsu kept his mouth shut and hoped that Wendy would be done soon. Not only so he could leave, but so he could get away from that dam disinfectant!
But that still didn't stop him from being worried about Lucy.
She was in a fragile emotional condition, even he could see that. Aquarius means a lot to her and Lucy needs his support no matter how much she pretended that she doesn't. What he feared most was that she would build a wall to keep her emotions in. The loss of someone close can do that to anyone. Natsu knew that all too well.
But thankfully, the check up didn't last much longer.
"There!" Wendy said cheerfully as she finished wrapping the final bandage, "All done, Natsu-san! You can go now."
The pinkette's expression lightened and he quickly stood up from the stool he had been sitting on, almost knocking it over. Natsu's first goal was to find Lucy, which shouldn't be hard because he has long since memorized her scent. However, that plan was quickly derailed when he exited the infirmary. As soon as the door opened, three things hit his senses.
An unfamiliar scent, the scent of anger, and the deafening silence.
Natsu immediately realized he probably wasn't going to be getting to Lucy as soon as he would like.
The members of Sabertooth were dead silent, all of them crowded around the doorway. Natsu was about to ask what was going on when a voice boomed from the entrance.
"WHAT IS THIS!? YOU DISGRACEFUL WELPS!" A male voice shouted angrily.
Natsu's brows furrowed at the voice. He didn't sound nice at all, and it didn't look like the Sabertooth mages were too happy to see this stranger either. Forcibly, the crowd parted and a large man with a deep set scowl and the Sabertooth guild emblem stamped on his forehead pushed his way through. The man's narrow eyes skipped past Natsu, apparently not seeing him, or just not caring enough to pay him any attention; and settled on the people who had situated themselves at the bar. At the moment, the occupants of the bar consisted only of Gray, Juvia, Minerva, Sting, Rogue, Yukino, Lector and Frosh. The Sabertooth members looked uneasy as the man's gaze swept over them.
Natsu's own scowl deepened as Minerva shifted with uncharacteristic anxiety as if she was severely uncomfortable all of a sudden in the man's presence. The man's gaze fell squarely on the half-god and narrowed.
"You…" he growled, "What are you doing here, you abomination?"
Minerva flinched under the man's words and Natsu felt his blood boil in rage. The word 'abomination' was a serious slap in the face for anyone of half blooded nature, but what bothered Natsu was Minerva seemed almost used to it, the word only rising a simple flinch from her.
But before Natsu could unload a can of kick butt on that loser, Sting spoke up.
"Is that any way to talk to your own daughter, Jiemma?" The half-White Dragon demanded, clear anger in his voice.
The words Sting spoke shocked Natsu to the core. This horrible man calling Minerva an 'abomination' was her father? That enraged the half-Fire Dragon even more than he already was.
However, he was once again ignored as Jiemma's eyes focused in on Sting, though he looked just as angry as he did before. Tension hung between the two for what felt like hours. And then the man suddenly rose a hand and a surge of magic threw the half-White Dragon out of his seat.
"HALF BREED SCUM LIKE YOU DO NOT BELONG IN A GUILD AS GREAT AS SABERTOOTH!" Jiemma screamed, "I HEARD HOW YOU AND YOUR PITIFUL EXCUSE OF A PARTNER LOST MISERABLY IN A FIGHT AGAINST ANOTHER OF YOUR MISERABLE KIND! AND YOU CALL YOURSELVES THE STRONGEST OF HALF-DRAGONS?!"
Jiemma turned his destructive rage towards Gray and Juvia next. "AND THEN I HEAR THAT WE WERE ATTACKED AND NEEDED HELP FROM YOUR WEAK AND PATHETIC GUILD!" He turned away from Gray and Juvia, facing the rest of Sabertooth, "WE ARE SABERTOOTH! WE DON'T NEED THE USELESS HELP OF OTHERS! ALL OF YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO OUR NAME AND SHALL BE PUNISHED SEVERELY!" he turned back to the Gray and Juvia, "AS FOR YOU FAIRY WIMPS, GET OUT OF MY GUILD, YOU WEAK INSECTS! AND TAKE YOUR HALF BREED AND THAT SLUT WITH YOU!"
The Sabertooth mages muttered angrily, their words merging together into a sound that resembled a swarm of angry wasps. Natsu felt much the same way towards the man who he suspected was the same Jiemma who was the master of Sabertooth. Anger rising, the half-Fire Dragon strode across the room to the bar where Jiemma stood. Natsu was completely prepared to send Jiemma flying. For calling Minerva, Sting, and Rogue abominations, and especially for that slut remark that was no doubt about Lucy. But someone beat him to the punch.
Not the literal one. The figurative one.
"H-Hey, master. C-Calm down! I-It's no big deal really!" Lector stammered, his eyes wide with obvious terror.
Jiemma's full attention zeroed in on the maroon cat, rage rolling off of him in suffocating waves.
"What are you saying, you filthy animal?" He growled.
Lector trembled violently. "I-I-I'm saying that, it's okay to f-fail or need h-help! It's p-part of learning, a-and getting s-stronger! S-Sure, Sting-kun and Rogue-kun lost, b-but that's okay! B-Because they c-can learn f-from their mistakes a-and get st-stronger from there!"
Jiemma stomped his foot angrily. "WE ARE SABERTOOTH! WE DON'T NEED TO GET STRONGER BECAUSE WE ARE ALREADY SUPERIOR! AND FURTHERMORE, WHY IS AN ANIMAL SUCH AS YOURSELF SPORTING THE NOBLE CREST OF SABERTOOTH!?"
Magic began to swell at an alarming rate around Jiemma as his rage grew. He threw his hand out in Lector's direction, magic pulsing across his skin.
"VANISH!" he roared.
Natsu felt his blood run cold as Jiemma threw his spell at the helpless maroon cat. The half-Fire Dragon instinctively picked up his feet to run to Lector's aid, but a sudden flash of blinding white stopped him in his tracks.
The attack stopped short of its target, exploding violently against something else entirely. The explosion generated a huge cloud of smoke, but even the dark cloud couldn't obscure the shine of pure white scales. Or the massive waves of power that emanated from the the epicenter of the cloud as it dissipated.
Sting had been the one who jumped in between Lector and Jiemma. He had taken the full brunt of the attack, but he wasn't fazed in the least. This was probably because Jiemma's power apparently can't penetrate dragon scales. And maybe it was also because Sting had activated Dragon Force.
The half-White Dragon simply radiated the presence and power of a real dragon. Natsu couldn't help but wonder if this is what he looked like when he accomplished Dragon Force. In other words, an unstoppable force that looked ready to tear into anyone who dared to hurt his loved ones.
Surprise tore through the crowd like a knife, ripping into everyone except for Sting. The half-White Dragon's full, undivided attention was dialed in on Jiemma, his electric blue eyes burning with rage. Although Jiemma didn't seem afraid of Sting, he still bore the same expression of complete and utter surprise that everyone else did.
"Don't. You. Dare. Attack. Lector." Sting growled, anger dripping from his words, "Get the hell out of this guild Jiemma."
The surprised evaporated from Jiemma's face, being replaced by anger.
"YOU DARE TELL ME TO LEAVE MY OWN GUILD! FILTHY HALF BREED!" Jiemma roared.
However, this only served to add fuel to the fire. Jiemma's words whipped the members of Sabertooth into a furious frenzy, everyone of them shouting angrily at the top of their lungs until their voices merged into a crushing wall of enraged noise that no distinguishable words could be made out of.
But their message was crystal clear. They didn't want Jiemma to be their master anymore and they weren't going to let him trash talk their half-blooded members.
Once again, this sudden explosion of outrage only served to deepen Jiemma's anger. Natsu was beginning to suspect that anything could make Jiemma angry as the Saber master's face had contorted into what Natsu believed would be a permanent expression of rage.
"You dare…." he growled.
"Leave, Jiemma." The half-White Dragon repeated, his tone firm.
A roar of agreement rose from the crowd, but only a growl of annoyance came from Jiemma. Finally, it seemed that Jiemma's anger completely overcame him and he threw another magic attack at Sting. Lector shouted in concern from behind the half-White Dragon, but his worry wasn't necessary as Sting simply pulled his fist back, gathered his own magic around his knuckles and punched straight through the attack.
Jiemma's attack was completely shattered by Sting's and the half-White Dragon's magic shot off his fist like a bullet and hit Jiemma square in the chest. The Saber master flew straight into the far wall; which was a good twenty feet away, with such force that there was now a six inch deep Jiemma-shaped indent in the wall.
The Saber master fell limply out of the crater and fell to the floor. Sting approached Jiemma, who pulled himself up to his elbows.
"For someone who's so obsessed with power, you sure are weak, Jiemma." Sting stated, bitterly, "'Sabers never lose'. Those were your words I believe."
Rogue stepped in to support his partner, red-eyes almost glowing with a silent rage as they locked onto the prone man.
"If you can't live up to your own rule, then you shouldn't be master. You excommunicated Minerva because she lost a fight against another mage, so what does it say about you if you lost against a filthy half-breed?" the half-Shadow Dragon stated coldly.
The rest of the guild cheered in agreement, some of them even throwing things at him. Jiemma stood up, using his arms to shield his face from the onslaught. Eventually the volley only seemed to get worse until Jiemma finally snapped.
"ENOUGH!" he roared.
A wave of magic rolled off the man and into the crowd. When the wave approached Natsu however, he acted fast and dodged it, as did Sting, Rogue, Minerva, and the other Fairy Tail members. The others weren't as fast and were knocked off their feet.
"You beat on your own members? That's just sick." Gray said in a disapproving tone.
"A guild master should treat his members with the respect and love he would give to his own child." Juvia agreed, sounding equally as disgusted by Jiemma's actions as Gray.
Natsu growled, putting in his two-cents. "And not just his metaphorical children, his actual children too."
"You treated Minerva like she was an abomination and you treat everyone else like they're beneath you. You are unfit to be master of Sabertooth!" Sting barked.
Jiemma snarled menacingly at the half-White Dragon. But before he could say or do anything, a sudden burst of magic struck the man hard and sent him crashing through the wall.
"Was that really necessary Minerva?" Lector sweat-dropped, "We just fixed that wall!"
"Pardon me," the half-god remarked calmly, not taking her eyes off Jiemma, "I got ahead of myself."
Natsu's onyx eyes followed Minerva as she practically glided towards her father with a deadly air of purpose. Jiemma grunted with effort as he pulled himself from under the rubble. Minerva stopped just a few feet from him, staring down at the man.
The half-Fire Dragon felt somewhat uneasy watching from the perimeter with Sting and Rogue. He wanted to do something, but he wasn't sure what. Rogue apparently sensed his uneasiness and turned towards him.
"Don't worry, Natsu. We can handle Jiemma. This isn't your fight." the half-Shadow Dragon assured.
Sting nodded. "Yeah, besides. If you're worried about Minerva, don't be. She's tough as nails and besides. She's got us backing her up."
Natsu still felt uneasy about not taking action against his friends' enemies like usual. But he respected them enough to know they can handle this one on their own. Though reluctantly, Natsu relaxed his guard.
After what felt like forever, Minerva finally spoke to Jiemma.
The half-god drew a shaky breath and spoke in a low voice. "Father...I no longer fear of you."
Jiemma's eyes widened in surprise as Minerva continued.
"You drilled into me that because I was half blooded, that I wasn't supposed to exist." she said dryly, "I spent my life trying to please you. Trying to live up to your expectations and trying to earn your affection. I was always afraid I was never good enough for you. However…" Minerva paused, "I will no longer allow you to rule my life."
"M-Minerva-" Jiemma growled threateningly.
"NO!" the half-god shouted, cutting her father off with a sharp sweep of her arm, "Leave. We have made it quite clear that we don't want you as our guild master, or even in our guild anymore."
Jiemma was shocked to silence, his jaw actually hanging slack. Silence gripped the guild for only a few moments before the guild erupted into chaotic shouts once again as the volley of random objects resumed pelting Jiemma with a vengeance.
Eventually, the onslaught grew so vicious, that Jiemma was forced to retreat a fair distance from the hole he had came through to escape the volley. But before he left, he turned back to the members.
Unspeakable rage burned in his eyes. "I WON'T FORGET THIS YOU WELPS! YOU WILL ALL-ACK!"
The Sabertooth master was cut off by a ping-pong ball sized stone pelted him smack in the center of his forehead where his guild emblem was stamped, courtesy of Minerva.
"Begone." the half-god spat bitterly, "I never wish to see your face again."
The man opened his mouth to speak again, only to get peppered by guild members throwing debris that had fallen from the hole in the wall. Natsu's eyes followed Jiemma as he retreated into the swarming crowd that filled the streets where he disappeared.
The guild erupted into victorious cheers and it felt like a heavy cloud that had previously clung to the guild had finally been lifted. In front of Natsu, Minerva wore a relieved smile as she stared at the spot where Jiemma had disappeared.
The half-Fire Dragon couldn't help but smile as the half-god looked like she had just been relieved of a heavy burden. With the interference gone, Natsu turned away and left the members of Sabertooth to celebrate their new freedom to check on Lucy. The half-Fire Dragon leapt up the stairs, skipping two or three steps at a time until he reached the door.
Without bothering to knock, Natsu flung the door open. The oaken door banged noisily against the wall as he entered the dark room.
"Luuuuccccyyy!" he called, his voice echoing hollowly in the still, empty room, "You in the shower or somethin'?"
Natsu strolled around the room, his onyx eyes searching for the owner of a head of blonde hair that he had grown so fond of over the past few weeks. The pinkette strode over to the bathroom door and turned the knob. The door swung open easily, but Natsu wasn't greeted by a blast of humid steam, the smell of strawberry soap, and a startled shout of rage from the bathtub. And maybe a few odd objects being thrown at his head.
Instead, he was met by a pristine, untouched bathroom and judging from the smell, it hadn't been used by Lucy, or anyone, at any recent point in time.
Now, Natsu was getting concerned. This is where Lucy was last, but she wasn't here and to make matters worse, her scent was going stale.
An overwhelming feeling of panic ballooned in Natsu's throat as it quickly dawned on him that Lucy was no longer in the room. The half-Fire Dragon's gaze drifted to the desk that he had left Lucy at the last time he saw her. Something on the desk caught his eye. There was a single piece of paper lying on the desktop. This immediately struck Natsu as unusual because he had seen Lucy's desk at her and Levy's apartment. It was immaculate and all the papers and pens were in their proper place, not left out in the open where someone can freely read them.
Natsu walked to the desk and picked up the piece of paper. It looked like a letter and was written in Lucy's neat, swirly handwriting. The half-Fire Dragon felt his blood run cold as he read it.
In summary, it said that she was going home to finish things with her father before anyone got hurt.
Natsu clutched the letter tightly in his hand and without waiting another second, sprinted out of the room and leapt down the stairs. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the pinkette made a hard right around the corner towards the door and almost immediately crashed into someone, the sudden impact knocked the pinkette and whoever he crashed into falling flat on their behinds.
"Hey! Whatcha in such a hurry for, flame barf!" Gray exclaimed, angrily.
Juvia, who was standing behind Gray, literally began to steep with outrage. "Apologize to Gray-sama this instance!"
The ice maker mage didn't look too happy about being knocked over by Natsu and Juvia, who had faithfully been tailing him at a fairly respectful distance wasn't happy with him either. However, at the moment Natsu could care less about whether either of them were happy with his actions or not. Without a word, the half-Fire Dragon was up again and making a break for the door. He had only just passed the stairs leading up to the infirmary when an armored hand clasped his shoulder, pulling him to a halt.
"Natsu, where are you going?" Erza asked from behind him.
"Is there something wrong Natsu-san?" Wendy questioned, genuine concern in the half-Sky Dragon's voice.
"Yeah, why were you going so fast?" Happy inquired.
The pinkette turned to face his friends, his face involuntarily contorting into an expression of distress and horror as he uttered the two words he wished he never would have to let pass his lips.
"Lucy's gone."
The group let out a collective gasp of surprise and horror.
"WHAT!?" they all exclaimed.
"Was she kidnapped again!?" Happy shouted, concerned.
Natsu shook his head and held out the crumpled letter. "S-She went home."
Erza took the letter out of his hand and began to read it while everyone continued to speculate.
"W-What!? I thought she didn't want to go home!" Gray said, confused.
"She didn't!" Natsu exclaimed, "She went back to finish things with her dad!"
Erza nodded, pocketing the letter. "Natsu's right. According to this letter, Lucy went home to finish things with her father in Konzern before anyone got hurt."
"Didn't Lucy's father hire Blood Eagle to bring her home?" Juvia inquired.
Natsu growled as the memories resurfaced. "Twice."
"What happened twice?" Sting asked from behind Gray.
The commotion that had been brought on by Natsu's news that Lucy had disappeared to return home had apparently attracted the attention of the Twin Dragons and their feline companion's. Really that wasn't a surprise. Even with the loud sounds of celebration that were swarming around the guild, the noise coming from the group were easy to pick up with the sensitive ears of a half-dragon.
"Lucy's dad hired a dark guild to try to forcibly bring her home twice!" Natsu growled, unable to disguise his anger.
Sting's jaw dropped and Rogue's eyes widened ever-so-slightly at the half-Fire Dragon's words.
"That's insane!" Sting exclaimed, "And I thought Jiemma was a crappy father!"
"Why would she go back if her father would go to such measures to bring her home?" Lector questioned.
"She didn't want anyone to get hurt." Erza explained, "Her father already made two attempts to bring her home by force, so what would stop him from trying a third time? No one has gotten hurt in his attempts so far, but…"
"Someone could get hurt in the next attempt." Rogue finished, nodding understandingly, "That doesn't seem like something Lucy could stand."
Frosh also nodded, mirroring the half-Shadow Dragon. "Fro thinks so too!" the cat said just a little too cheerfully.
"Still, Lucy's father doesn't seem like a man we can trust with our nakama. We must find her immediately." the Titania ordered, clenching her fist in determination.
Sting slammed his fist into his open palm, a look of determination on his face. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Um, are you sure you two should go?" Gray asked, crossing his arms over his now bare chest.
Juvia tapped the ice mage on the shoulder. "Gray-sama, your shirt."
Just like that, Gray had disappeared to search for his missing clothing article. And also left the Twin Dragons a little confused. Or at least Sting.
"Huh? Why?"
"You do have to elect a new guild master, you know." Happy pointed out.
Lector nudged the half-White Dragon's leg and Sting promptly deflated. Rogue patted the blonde half-dragon's back sympathetically and then looked back up at the group.
"Good luck and thank you for all of your help." he said.
A curt nod was the final response from the half-Shadow Dragon as he redirected his partner deeper into the guild hall. After that Natsu couldn't hold himself back any more and he started to storm towards the door. He didn't even need to turn around to know that his friends were following him. In all honesty, he didn't care. All he cared about was getting to Lucy before he even had a chance to lose her forever.
Even if he had to ride a train to do it.
…
Lucy's POV:
…
The Celestial Mage had just settled in for the long train ride dead bound for Konzern. Nervous didn't even cover what she was feeling. It had been a year since she had been home and she wasn't exactly eager to see her father again.
Especially not after he all he's done. Not just recently, but what he did in the past as well.
And on top of that, the fact that she left her friends behind in Roba with no other word to where she was going or what she was doing than a letter was really eating at her too. Lucy knew she should have told someone about it. She should have at least told Natsu what she was going to do.
The Celestial mage knew that the half-Fire Dragon would have come whether she wanted him to or not, but it would have been nice if she had the company he would have provided. But there that voice of reason that silenced that desire for company. It wouldn't be smart to let Natsu come, because knowing him he'd go off on her father for everything he did.
And...this was something she needed to do alone.
Or at least that's what she wanted to believe.
…
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. It's been crazy for me lately unfortunately and I have other stories I have to update as well, but I'll try to get back on my regular schedule.
See y'ah all next chapter :)