Now that Natsu knows Gary was the one that started the fire, he has to make sure Lucy is safe. He ran as fast as he could and made it to where she works. He looked around to find Lucy and spotted Levy instead.
"Hey!" Natsu called as he hurried to her. "You're Levy McGarden, right? You're Lucy's friend?"
"Yes. Are you Natsu?" Levy asked.
"Yeah. Where's Lucy?!" Natsu said.
"I was just wondering that myself." Levy said. "Your fellow firefighter, Gary, came by earlier and said he wanted to talk to Lucy in private, but that was while ago."
"Damn it!" Natsu shouted as he slammed his arms against the wall. "Gary's the one who set her building on fire! So it was Lucy he was after the whole time!"
"What?! Oh no!" Levy said as she is starting to see Lucy could be in real danger. "He must have kidnapped her. I'm calling the police. Maybe they can track their phones."
"That won't do any good. If Gary is smart enough to make a fire look like it was an accident, he's smart enough to get rid of their phones so they can't be tracked by the police or anything." Natsu said as he turned away. "Still, you call the police."
"What are you going to do?" Levy asked.
"I think I know someone who can help because there's no way I'm just standing around while Lucy needs me." Natsu said as he hurried out. Natsu pulled out his phone and gave someone a call. "Hey, Lisanna!"
"Hi, Natsu. What's going on?" Lisanna asked.
"I need to know something. Do you have any dogs or anything that's great at tacking?" Natsu said. He needs to find Lucy fast. There's no telling what Gary is really going to do to her.
...
Lucy
Lucy was starting to wake up, but she felt the back of her head hurt.
"What happened?" Lucy said as she tried to think about what happened. Her senses were coming back to her. When she tried to move, she couldn't really move her arms and legs. "What?" She looked around and saw she was tied to a chair. "What is this?" She looked around and saw she was in a room that seemed abandoned. She had no clue what is going on.
"Good. You're wake." Lucy looked and spotted Gary.
"Gary?" Lucy said. It was then that she remembered talking to him and something hit her in the head. "Did you knock me out?"
"I had to. It was just so you wouldn't put up a fuss." Gary said.
"What? What are you talking about? What is all this?" Lucy said.
"We're near the top of an old building." Gary said. "No one would think to look for us here. I didn't want to do this, but that Natsu kept getting in my way."
"Natsu? What are you talking about?" Lucy said.
"I didn't go through all the trouble of starting that fire just so he could look like your big hero." Natsu said.
"Fire? You were the one that started that fire at my apartment?!" Lucy said. "Why? You seem so nice. You're a firefighter as well. Why would you start a fire?"
"For you!" Gary said as he got right in her face and he had crazy eyes with a wicked smirk. "I started that fire because I wanted to be the one to rescue you! I wanted to have you close to me! It would have worked, but that Natsu ruined all of it. I wasn't expecting him to arrive so quickly and go straight for your apartment. He beat me to the punch." He reached over and slid his hand against Lucy's face and Lucy felt terrified. "When Natsu introduced us, it was love at first sight for me. You're so beautiful and I just had to have you. However, I could tell there was something between you and Natsu. It drove me nuts seeing you two the way you were and it practically killed me to hear you say you and he were official. You deserve better than him."
"And you think that's you? Newsflash! Natsu never did anything like you did!" Lucy said.
"You really want to talk back to someone who might be crazy?!" Gary said as he grabbed her shirt and pulled her closer. Lucy was getting really scared. "Maybe I am crazy, but with good reason. Sometimes crazy can be pretty fun and I be happy to show you." Lucy didn't like the sound of that. Gary's got a strong fire burning, but this one is out of control.
...
Natsu
Natsu ran all the way to the animal shelter to see Lisanna. When he got there, Sting drove up in a car and stepped out.
"Hey! I got your text! You really think it was Gary that started that fire?" Sting said.
"I know it was. I found his missing bracelet in the mess. He's got Lucy." Natsu said. "We need to find him fast and that's why we're here." The two of them ran into the shelter and spotted Lisanna with a German Shepherd. "Hey, Lisanna. This the dog?"
"Yep. Meet Shadow." Lisanna said. "He's got the best tracking scent around. I'm surprise police haven't come to recruit him. So Lucy is in real danger?"
"She just might." Natsu said. "That's why we need this guy. If he can track Lucy by her scent, we can find her and I have just the thing." Natsu reached in his pocket and pulled out Lucy's bra.
"Wow! She actually wears that?! That's a little bold!" Sting said.
"That's what I said." Natsu said.
"Please tell me you don't always have it on you." Lisanna said.
"No! I'm not a freak! I just stopped by my apartment and grabbed the first thing I could find with Lucy's scent." Natsu said, but Lisanna was entirely sure that was the case. He held up the bra to Shadow and he started sniffing it to get the scent. "Come on. Find her." Shadow barked and he got the scent. Once he got it, Lisanna let him go and Shadow started tracking the scent with Natsu and Sting following.
...
Lucy
"Gary, please just let me go and we can talk about this." Lucy said. "We can work something out. You don't have to do anything crazy or illegal because of me. There must be something we can work out."
"I tried being nice. I tried being the guy you could go to." Gary said. "I thought if you hadn't known about the fire, if I came to you as the caring person, you would see for yourself that you want me. Natsu came and ruined that. Even when I tried after that, he still got in the way. So I'm taking matters into my own hands."
"And what does that mean exactly?" Lucy said as she wasn't liking where this was going. Gary smirked as she reached for her shirt and just tore it open.
"It means that if I can't have you willingly, I'll take you by force if I must!" Gary said. "I'll take you away from here. We'll move somewhere else and start a new life. Maybe have a child. With a child, you won't have a reason to leave. We just need one." His hands moved closer to her and Lucy was terrified on what he was going to do to her. Just when it seemed like it was over for her, someone came and pushed Gary out of the way and pinned him to the wall.
"Natsu!" Lucy called. Natsu had Gary pinned down and hit him across the face a few times until he hit hard enough and knocked him out.
"You okay?" Lucy looked behind her and saw Sting as he was trying to untie the knots.
"Lucy!" Natsu called as he ran right over to her. "Did he hurt you?"
"No. You arrived just in time, but how did you find me?" Lucy asked.
"It was all thanks to this guy." Sting said as Shadow showed himself. "Lisanna let us borrow his nose so we could find you."
"Let's get you out of here." Natsu said. "The police should be on their way soon."
"Lookout!" Lucy called. Natsu turned around to get hit in the face by Gary and got knocked down. Gary turned to Sting and hit him in the face as well to keep him away. Gary walked over to Natsu and kicked him right in the head to keep him down.
"That wasn't nice." Gary said as he cleaned the blood off his nose. Natsu tried standing up, but Gary stood over him. "Let's see if women would still want you after this." Gary stomped hard right between Natsu's legs and that really hurt. "Face it. She's mine just as she should be."
"Not a chance in hell!" Natsu shouted as he tried to fight through the pain. Gary thought he had him, but Shadow stepped in as he jumped on Gary and bit him on the arm.
"Get off me!" Gary shouted as he hit Shadow hard and got him off, but it allowed Natsu to get up and tackle Gary. He smashed Gary against the wall and the two of them started fighting each other. Sting was able to pull himself together and went to help Lucy.
"Hurry, Sting." Lucy said.
"I'm trying. Gary sure knows his knots." Sting said. As Sting was trying to help Lucy, Natsu tried fighting Gary through the whole floor. He knocked Natsu against a few shelves and tried to hit him again, but Natsu caught his arm and bashed his head against Gary's. Natsu grabbed Gary and pinned him to the wall, but Gary grabbed him by the neck and tried strangling him. Natsu tried to pull his arms off, but Gary drove his knee into Natsu's gut and tossed him to the floor.
"I've just about had it with you." Gary said as he grabbed an axe he kept hidden. "Good thing I came prepared." He held it over him and tried swinging it down on Natsu's head, but Natsu rolled out of the way just in time. Natsu got up and grabbed the axe to take it out of Gary's hands. Natsu and Gary wrestled around with each other and they soon found themselves at the stairway. Natsu smashed him against the railing and, in an old building like this, it weakened it. Gary wasn't going to go down without a fight as he smashed his head against Natsu's and hit Natsu across the face to knock him down. Natsu cleaned away the blood on his face, but Gary was going to end this. "Lucy's mine, Natsu!" He was going to kill him right there, but Natsu acted fast and kicked Gary right through the gut. That caused him to smash into the old railing and the railing broke. Gary was loosing his balance and it looked like he was going to fall.
"Gary!" Natsu called as he reached out to save him, but Gary ended up going over the edge and fell all the way down. Natsu couldn't believe it.
"Natsu!" Lucy called. Once she was free, she and Sting ran towards him and she ran straight into his arms. "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah." Natsu said, but Lucy didn't like seeing those injuries.
"Where's Gary?" Sting asked.
"What floor are we on again?" Natsu said as he looked towards the broke railing. Sting and Lucy were shocked because they were up high. With him holding that axe and on a high floor, no way Gary could have survived.
"Sirens. Police are here." Sting said as they could hear them. A little late. Once the police arrived, they came with some doctors that helped Natsu's injuries and they took Gary's body. Gary played with fire and he ended up getting severely burned.
...
The Next Day
"Are you sure you want me to go?" Lucy asked as she and Natsu stood outside his apartment and Lucy had some briefcases with her.
"He's your father. You should go." Natsu said. After that whole fiasco with Gary, Lucy told Natsu about how her father contacted her. When he learned about this, he practically insisted that she should go. "You've been through a lot and you should be with family. Besides, he's offering to make your dream of being a writer a reality. You can't turn that away."
"But what about us?" Lucy said as she actually seemed sad to go. "I could be gone for a while and we just decided to be more than just friends."
"I've waited this long. I can wait a little longer." Natsu said. They saw a cab pull up and it was time for her to go. "I'll be here when you get back." He gave her one last kiss before he helped her in the cab and it drove off. Natsu saw it drive away and he started moving in the opposite direction. Lucy saw that and she wasn't so sure about really leaving. Without Natsu, she was beginning to feel cold.
...
Natsu
"You let her go?" Sting questioned as the two of them were at the fire department. "Why? You said she and her old man don't really get along."
"It was a chance for her to see her father and for her dream to become a reality." Natsu said. "I couldn't take that away from her. Lucy's been through a lot already. She deserves something will make her happy."
"But that something could have been you." Sting said. "Sometimes I wonder the way you think. So you want to hit a bar later tonight and pick up some new women?"
"No way." Natsu said. "My days of jumping from one girl to the next are over. All I want is to be with Lucy and I know I will get another chance one day."
"Oh boy. You're really in love." Sting said with him actually happy about that. Natsu wants to be with Lucy, but he'll wait until she comes back to him, no matter how long. "Things are going to be different for a while."
"They sure are with Lucy leaving and Gary now dead." Natsu said It was then he got comfort from Shadow. Since Shadow helped saved Lucy, Sting and Natsu adopted him to have him become part of the rescue team. "Don't most firefighters have Dalmatians?" He said as he petted him.
"We're not most firefighters." Sting said as both of them had a laugh.
...
Natsu's Apartment
Once the day was over, Natsu headed back to his apartment. Once he stepped inside, he saw how empty it really was with Lucy gone, but there's nothing he can really do about that. Natsu decided to call it a day as he walked right into his room and dropped on his bed and rested on his side. Natsu tried to get back, but he felt someone get on his bed and wrapped themselves around him.
"Welcome back." Natsu looked and was surprised to see Lucy and couldn't really see any clothes on her.
"Lucy? What are you doing here?" Natsu said.
"I stopped the cab came back." Lucy said.
"But why?" Natsu said. "You had a chance to see your dad. You had a chance to become a writer like you always wanted."
"I know, but I told him I was doing fine and he's just glad I'm safe." Lucy said. "As for that dream, it can wait...because I've got one coming true right now. Around you, I feel safer, comfortable, and much more. I'm not giving that up so easily." Natsu didn't want to either. What was once friends have now turned into a burning flame of love for each other. Others can tell that this flame will burn for a long time with it being real and genuine...after tonight of course as Natsu pulled her and kissed her passionately and they both rolled right off the bed.