Groaning, Natsu rolled his head around on his shoulders, cracking his neck. He had been sitting on a chair in the command centre and mistakenly fell asleep despite the buzz that still filled the room.
At the beginning of the crisis, Natsu had headed out immediately and spent the majority of the night working despite having just returned from a long mission. He was beyond exhausted, but things were moving quickly now, and he felt he had little time to rest. On top of that, he still felt horrible after his discussion with Lucy the night before.
Looking around the windowless room, Natsu saw that it was relatively empty of Fairy Tail mages. Men and women in council uniforms walked to and fro from station to station. From their chatter, Natsu understood that they were trying to pull in more medics and doctors to treat that numerous people affected by the magic seal.
As he watched the bustle of the room, the door next to him opened and closed. Lucy's scent hit his nose almost immediately, making his body feel instantly more awake. Since she had told him that she was pregnant, he had noticed that her scent was mixed with his own, though his was very faint. It made him feel twice as protective of her than he had been before.
Lucy didn't notice him as she walked across the room. She was holding two steaming cups, her attention focused ahead of her. Natsu shifted his eyes from her, curious to know who she was so intent on. She stopped next to a man in council uniform. With a jolt, Natsu realized it was Captain Mandal as he turned to accept one of the cups Lucy offered him; a tired smile on his face.
Anger steeped in jealousy pulsed through Natsu. His vision went red as he watched Lucy talk comfortably with the captain. Barely knowing himself, Natsu stood up, his intentions unclear even to himself. His hands clenched into fists, his magic flaring up and covering his hands in fire, prepared for a fight.
"Natsu!" Erza barked, causing Natsu's attention to snap to her. She had entered the room without Natsu realizing. She glared at him, threatening intent in her eyes.
Taking a breath, Natsu released his magic, flexing his fingers. He looked over to Lucy and Captain Mandal. Lucy's eyes were as large as saucers as her gave focused on Natsu's hands for a moment, shifting to meet his eyes briefly before looking away quickly. Natsu's gaze flicked to Rai standing next to her. He leveled steady eyes on Natsu, his expression hiding whatever he thought about his behaviour.
Natsu glared back at him, feeling a small tinge of satisfaction as Lucy took a tiny step away from the other man. A cocky grin pulled at the corner of his mouth as he and Rai continued their stand off from across the room.
Without giving any reaction, Rai turned to Erza. "We've confirmed that the city has been evacuated of its citizens. Thank you, good work." Erza nodded her acknowledgement at his praise, "Moving forward, we must find and confirm the source of the Freezings."
The door opened, and Gray walked in. In his hand, he held a block of ice, from the smell of it, Natsu could tell it was Gray's ice. "Sorry for the interruption, but I think I've found the source you're looking for." He placed the ice block on the table with a loud thump. Holding his hand on it, he melted the ice to reveal a large sphere embedded in the ice. "I took the liberty to re-enter one of the less frozen houses, and I found this."
Rai walked over to Gray, inspecting the sphere in the ice. "So, it is a heating lacrima." He turned to Lucy, "Seems like your theory had some truth to it. This confirms it." Natsu watched Lucy. She nodded and gave a small smile to Rai before glancing at Natsu then back to the object on the table.
"It's not just a heating lacrima," Gray turned over the ice block, revealing a large crack on the sphere that ran deep, "It's emitting temperatures well below freezing. I'm not even sure if it is actually a heating lacrima." He inspected the ice encased lacrima, "The crack was a lot smaller before I surrounded it in my ice, which seems to be counteracting the Freezing. When my ice came into contact with it, this crack expanded."
"What does that mean?" Erza asked, walking up next to the two men to get a closer look at the cracks in the lacrima.
"I mentioned when we were trekking through the city on our return that the weather was unnatural." Gray added more ice around the lacrima after Erza straightened from her inspection. "If these lacrimas react to colder temperatures, then doesn't it make sense that covering the entire city in snow would cause them to begin cracking?"
Rai rubbed his five o'clock shadow, deep in thought. He dropped his hands and sighed dejected, "I was hoping that there was no connection between the Freezings and the business that offered Warren their services. Though honestly, after talking to him last night, the deal sounded too good to be true. I'm surprised it didn't bring up warning flags earlier."
"Can you blame us? We were trying to help the citizens of Magnolia to the best of our abilities." Erza spoke softly. Hearing the regret in her voice, Natsu clenched his fists.
"I'm not blaming Fairy Tail. I myself would have jumped at the same opportunity if it meant helping in anyway I could." Rai placed his hand on Erza's shoulder in a comforting gesture, "Please, don't blame yourself, or Warren for that matter. The people who did this had nefarious reasons from the beginning, if it hadn't been you, then it could have easily been someone else." Placing his hands behind his back, Rai walked over to the map that had been pinned to the wall. It was covered in pins, each one marking where a Freezing had been found. "We need to send a force to the business to look it over. We will plan our next more from what we discover there."
"I'll go." Natsu stepped forward. He wanted revenge on whoever it was behind the Freezings. His anger spiking whenever he thought about how Lucy had been a target. He wanted to protect what was his, making his body itch for a fight.
Rai nodded at him, "All right. Gray was it?" He asked, turning back to the ice mage who nodded his affirmation, "With your ice magic being able to seal the Freezing magic, I think you should go along as well, just in case there are anymore of these things to be discovered. I will send some council troops as backup with you."
Gray turned to leave the room, he grabbed Natsu by swinging his arm around his neck and pulled him along with him. "C'mon, flame brain. Let's go."
The business, they discovered, was in a rougher part of Magnolia. A lot of the buildings had boarded up windows. Those that weren't covered in boards had broken windows or missing doors. Many of the store fronts were empty of goods, indicating that they had been long since been abandoned.
"Well this is promising." Gray remarked sarcastically as they walked through the empty streets. The snow had stopped over night, parting the dark clouds and letting the sun shine down. The weather, no longer being manipulated by an outside force, was warm, causing the snow to begin melting; it sluffed off roofs in a slushy mess.
"Did Warren even come out here to look?" Gajeel grumbled. When he had discovered they were heading out to look at the possible source of the Freezings he had insisted on coming along. His demeanor clearly indicating that he was expecting a fight.
"Warren advertised. The man came to him." Gray stopped to look around the desolate street. He indicated a building that had a fairly intact store front, "That's it there."
Natsu walked over to the door, pulling on it to test if it was open. "Tch, locked." He mumbled. Clenching his fist, he brought flames to it before punching off the handle. The lock, now broken, allowed the door swung open.
"Impatient as always." Gray said, pushing past him. "Y'know, me or Gajeel could've made a key?"
"Yeah. Yeah. Faster this way." Natsu shot back, following him inside.
Natsu heard Gajeel stop to address the troops that had been assigned to follow them, "You guys wait here. We'll handle this and come get you when it's all clear."
"Yessir!" They called. Natsu heard their uniforms jingle, no doubt saluting the other Dragon Slayer.
Gajeel walked into the building, "Fucking greenhorns." He mumbled as he stalked past Natsu.
"They're just doing their jobs." Gray replied. He was inspecting behind the counter at the far end of the room.
"Are they? I'm not their commander and they didn't even argue with me." Gajeel grumbled.
"You did work for the council for a year. Maybe they remember you. Captain." Gray smirked. Gajeel growled, ignoring his jab.
Natsu looked around the room they had entered. The windows had thick curtains, allowing very little light and shrouding the room in darkness. Bringing flame to his hand, Natsu raised it in order to cast the light outwards to cover the room. On the walls were posters that advertised various jewelry; they were mostly faded, some even half torn from the wall. The floor was covered in dirt and debris, clear signs that no one had been there in a long time. The counter that Gray was inspecting was completely made of glass and covered in a thick layer of dust. There were other display counters strategically position throughout the room, the glass had been removed from them, the velvet inside rotting away.
Gajeel walked over to a door behind the counter, banging against it when it didn't open when he turned the handle. Turning his hand iron, Natsu saw him form a key-like shape before inserting it into the lock. After a soft click, Gajeel swung open the door and glanced inside. He turned back to Gray and Natsu who were watching him and shook his head. "Empty office, even more bare than the front."
Gray huffed, rubbing his hands over his face. "Alright," He said somewhat chipper despite the circumstance, "Let's let the councilmen have their own look around before heading back to the guild. This is obviously a dead end."
Half an hour later, they walked into the command centre. Rai turned to greeting them, "Well?" He asked expectantly.
"Empty." Gray replied, "There were only jewelry display cases and some posters. Its just a front."
Rai sighed, running his hand through his hair. Natsu noticed that he had black circles under his eyes and wondered the last time the man had slept. "Fuck." He cursed, making those working around him to jump a bit and look at him strangely. He turned to look back at the map. "There goes our only lead."
"Wait. I have an idea." Warren said, walking over from where he had been working at the communications station, " I've met the business owner. If I get Reedus to paint him from my memory. Combine a photo with the information I know about him, we could look into his aliases and maybe, if we get lucky, find him."
"It's better than nothing." Rai replied.
Warren raised his fingers to his head, calling out to Reedus who arrived shortly after with his sketchbook and pens. Natsu and the others watched over them as Warren began described to the pict magic mage what the man had looked like. As the picture started to become more complete, curious onlookers walked over to see the depiction of the man they were now hunting.
A crashing sound caused Natsu's head to whip up. Lucy was standing behind Warren and Reedus, a look of terror on her face. At her feet were shards of a cup she had dropped. Her hands, which half covered her face, were trembling. Natsu, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, immediately made his way over to her and took her hands in his.
"Luce? What's wrong?" He asked, lowering his head so he could look her directly in the eyes. Lucy clung to his hands, her grip nearly crushing his bones. A flash of light filled the room briefly, and Natsu caught Loke's scent as he made an appearance.
"That man." She choked out, her voice trembling as she looked directly at Natsu, "I know that man."