"What's taking those two so damn long?!" Gajeel grumbled. He and the others were sitting by an entrance to what appeared to be a fortress. They were currently waiting for Natsu and Jellal as they went inside to pay for the tickets they received.
"Should we really trust Natsu to handle this process?" Gray asked, leaning against a wall crossed arms also appearing impatient.
"Jellal is with him, it should be fine." Erza brought up. She wasn't paying much attention to what's going on as she was eyeing the castle nearby. She squinted her eyes trying to locate the room Wendy was in, however she couldn't find anything.
"Can't find her either huh?" Chelia walked up next to Erza. She gave out a depressive sigh as she slumped down totally exhausted. Erza looked down at Chelia and gave her a reassuring smile. Shortly after Erza heard a noise towards the castle, her head shot towards the noise but noticed no change. "What was that? Am I hearing things?" She thought.
"Guys! Here they come!" Lucy shouted, pointing at Natsu and Jellal who were walking towards them. Natsu appeared grumpy, crossing his arms and looking to the side.
"Took you two long enough." huffed Gajeel. "Sorry...it was just a long process." Jellal apologized.
"I hope you behaved yourself, Natsu." Gray smirked.
"Of course ice head, what do you take me for?" Natsu scoffed.
"Well we waited long enough." Carla huffed, looking very frustrated. "We need to hurry up and discuss our next plan of action. The longer we stand around the more time we waste."
"Indeed." Erza agreed. "We've wasted enough time already, let's get going."
"Where are we going exactly?" Sting asked. "We have a room at the inn." Lucy answered.
Before the group left, they heard what appeared to be laughing, they all looked and saw a group of angels staring at the mockenly. There were three of them.
"It's been a bit since we've had troublemakers here." One of the angels said.
"With clothing like that, setting foot in here is criminal enough." Another mocked.
"Isn't the one with the red spiky hair the one who was yelling out like a child?" The third one chuckled.
Natsu glared at the three, but Jellal put his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't mind them, we dealt with enough trouble as is."
"Let's go before we gain more attention." Erza sighed.
The group made it back to the inn. When they went inside the person at the check in looked at them in confusion.
"Is it me or are there more of you?"
"It's just you." Jellal bluntly responded. They then went towards the room they were staying in. Once they went in, Carla immediately transformed back into her cat form.
"Phew, finally!"
"Isn't it a little cramp in here?" Rogue asked, scanning the room noticing how little space there is.
"That doesn't matter, now sit down." Erza ordered. A sweat drop came out of Rogue's head as he as well as everyone else sat around the room. "What have we learnt so far?" Erza asked.
"This place sucks." Gajeel started.
"*Other* than that."
"When we got separated, our group met this large guy at the bar we went to." Sting said. "He seemed to have a positive reputation and claimed he stayed at the castle."
"He mentioned this place's "god" was dying." Rogue continued. "Apparently Wendy was brought here to heal him."
"The nerve!" Carla huffed. "They kidnap her and treat her as a tool!"
"The guy also mentioned something about "disturbing the peace isn't taken lightly" or whatever." Gajeel said.
"Seems similar to what we've encountered." Jellal mentioned. "We were given the same warning, and with these strict laws it's not hard to understand why."
"You also noticed how the civilization here bears magic power in them?" Erza asked. Jellal nodded in response.
"Are you serious?" Sting grew wide eyed.
"Gee hee, so this whole area is our enemy huh? Sounds like fun." Gajeel smirked.
"What part of "not disturbing the peace" did you not understand, muscle brain?" Carla mumbled as she rolled her eyes.
"As for us…" Chelia started. "We actually met one of the townspeople here. He told us about their god being a tyrant."
"Mm." Lucy continued. "These laws he made have severe punishments if you obtain 3 of those tickets Jellal and Natsu got."
"Woah, really?" Sting sputtered. "That's messed up."
"It pisses me off that Wendy is being forced to help someone like him!" Natsu growled.
"I'm worried we may spark a war if we do anything rash, given the warnings." Worried Jellal.
"Well how are we supposed to rescue Wendy then? We hardly have any ideas or information." Gray huffed. Erza then stood up which gained the attention of everyone in the room. "Well then we'll just have to gather as much information as possible." She cracked a smirk. "And I know the perfect way to gain some." She then pulled out a flier to what appeared to be for a festival which started tomorrow. The picture had a rough sketch of a girl with long blue hair.
"A festival? I remember that man we met telling us about that…" Rogue mentioned.
"Is that supposed to be Wendy?" Happy asked.
"We'll gather in a populated area and split up in small groups, however we shouldn't stray too far from each other. Since it's late in the evening, however, we should be able to find each other much easier since it shouldn't be as crowded." Erza explained.
"I guess that's our only course of action…" Jellal sighed.
"The town square will be a good start, it's not far from here." Erza added. "Let's get going before night falls."
"Right!" Everyone else in the room yelled out.
Back at the town square, everyone split up in small groups and agreed to meet back in the middle. One of the groups was Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Carla, who was back in her human form. Natsu walked up to a small group of angels, a mother and two children.
"Yo!" Natsu greeted, unprofessionally. "Think you can tell us about the festival tomorrow?"
The mother angel looked at Natsu and grew wide eyed. "O-oh dear! Uh I'm sorry mister but I was about to take my kids home!" She gasped. She quickly grabbed her kids and sped walked off. "Huh? What was that about?" puzzled Natsu.
"Maybe you should leave the information gathering to us." Lucy admitted. "I think you gained a reputation after what happened earlier today."
"Jeez, I don't get why it's such a big deal." Natsu crossed his arms and turned his head away.
"It's just a custom we have to get used to." Carla explained. She and Lucy walked up to a town person but Natsu decided to stand around. Happy landed on his shoulder but kept his wings out. "Aren't you gonna do anything to help?" He asked.
"What's the point if no one is gonna even talk to me." Natsu whined.
"Maybe you shouldn't always yell out all the time." Happy chuckled. "It worked out in our favor didn't it?!" Natsu protested.
Suddenly, a scent brushed up Natsu's nose and immediately time seemed to have frozen for him. He started looking around frantically with confusion. "Uh Natsu? You ok?" Happy asked, but Natsu didn't listen as he still looked around. He picked up the smell once more and turned his entire body quickly which made Happy slip off a little. Natsu then squinted his eyes as he saw what appeared to be a figure in a large cloak. Once they were spotted they immediately ran off. Acting quickly, Natsu gave chase, dashing away at high speeds as Happy fell off and regained his composure.
"Natsu?! Where are you going?!" Happy yelled out as he gave chase as well. Lucy and Carla noticed and turned away from the conversation, seeing Natsu and Happy run off.
"Natsu?! Didn't Erza say to not run off?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"That fool! What is he doing?!" Carla complained. They both ran after Natsu and Happy. During the chase the group passed by Erza and Gray who were in their own group.
"Natsu?!" Gray exclaimed.
"Those fools, what did I just say?!" Erza growled. "Gray!"
"Yea!" Gray immediately agreed as the two also gave chase.
Natsu wasn't paying attention to his surroundings or the noise around him, pushing others out of his way and jumping over whatever got in his way. The only thing that mattered was the scent he picked up. He continued to give chase but the cloaked figure was still far ahead. "Tch. If only I could use my magic." Natsu thought.
Lucy and Carla caught up with Happy in short's notice. "Happy! What's going on?!" Carla questioned. "I don't know! Natsu started acting weird and ran off!" Happy answered. Lucy then looked up ahead and faintly saw Natsu chasing the mysterious cloaked figure. "Who's that?" Lucy thought.
"Lucy!" Gray yelled out. He and Erza were the next to catch up with them.
"Erza! Gray!" Lucy exclaimed. "Natsu seems to be chasing after someone!" She then pointed up ahead and they saw him chasing the cloaked individual.
"That idiot! They could be leading him to a trap!" Gray chastised.
"Natsu!" Erza yelled out, but Natsu didn't even slow down. "Tch! After him!"
The chase seemed to have led the group to the outskirts of town. After a bit, the individual suddenly came to a stop, with their back still faced towards the group. Natsu skidded to a stop several feet away towards the cloaked person. Shortly after Lucy and the others caught up.
"Natsu! What're you doing?!" Erza badgered. Natsu didn't answer as he squinted his eyes again to get a closer look at the individual who led them there. He immediately noticed how short the person was. "That can't be…" He thought. He then noticed a small green skirt poking out from below the cloak. The person then turned around and faced the group. The group stared at the person for a moment and the first person who walked up a bit closer, was Carla.
"Wendy?"
The hood of the cloak was removed. What was under was, Wendy, with slightly messy hair and one of her twintails still missing.
"...Hi guys…" Was all Wendy muttered. Carla immediately ran up towards Wendy and gave her a big hug.
"Child! It's you! You're safe!" She blubbered. "Your hair! What happened?!"
Wendy returned the hug and softly smiled. "It's okay, nothing too serious." Natsu then walked up with a huge grin on his face. "Yo Wendy!" He patted her head.
"You guys, actually came…" Wendy said.
"Of course! We're friends, we weren't gonna just leave you here!" He chuckled. "And it's not just us. Jellal, Gajeel, Sting, Rogue and Chelia came too!"
In the distance, Gray, Lucy, Happy and Erza smiled but at the same time were shocked that Wendy was here. Even alone.
"So, you managed to escape from the castle?" Carla asked. Wendy simply nodded.
"Maaan. You sure made our job *much* easier. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to deal with that place!" Natsu commented, giving a light chuckle.
"Indeed." Carla smiled as she held both of Wendy's hands. "Come now, let's head home before anyone notices.
Wendy did not respond however. Instead she let go of Carla's hands and took a few steps back. She looked down where her hair shadow was covering her eyes.
"Wendy?" Carla questioned.
"...Thank you guys. For coming for me…" Wendy started.
Erza then noticed something was a bit off from Wendy.
"...But it's okay!" She turned her head up and gave a warm smile with her eyes closed. "You don't need to worry about me, I decided to help them!"
Erza's suspicions were immediately correct.