Chapter Thirteen : Secret Town

Natsu's P.O.V. -

Something nudged my arm roughly, waking me up. Wendy was beside me with Carla.

"N-Natsu-san," Wendy was crying. "Please wake up."

"Mmm~" Happy rolled around on the floor, asleep.

"Wendy?" I slowly sat up, suddenly, I remembered everything. "Where's Lucy!"

"He took her," Wendy quickly began to push Happy and me towards the trees. "But Natsu-san, we need to regroup with the other before we go out to find Lucy-san."

"We need to get Lucy now," I stood up and shook Happy awake.

"But Natsu-san…" Wendy sighed, "it's already almost 7:00. If we don't regroup the others will worry and it might cause a lot of trouble. It'd be better to search for her together."

I nodded sadly. I knew Wendy was just as worried as me.

"Wait…where's that Kagayaku?" I looked around.

"Kagayaku-san told me to wake you up while he did a quick search around the area," Wendy said. "He hasn't come back though…"

"How long has it been?"

"Around ten minutes?"

I frowned, sniffing the air, "He smells close…"

Kagayaku burst out from the trees a few feet away from them. He frantically waved his hands around, shouting at them to run. Behind him, two giant hounds pounced towards them. I stood up and created a ball of fire in my fists. Kagayaku shook his head.

"If you hit them, they divide and grow!" Kagayaku shoved them forward. "Hurry up and run! We need to get back to the others!"

"B-But let's just kill it!" I resisted his pull.

"I already tried that!" Kagayaku growled. "Hence the three dogs!"

"Kagayaku-san…there's only two," Wendy pointed.

A hound jumped out of the trees, almost crushing Happy under its foot. I angrily punched its side. It stumbled backwards.

"See? Easy," I grinned at Kagayaku, who drew his sword.

"Idiot," he began to morph into his tiger like form.

From the place I sent one hound, two arose. They were smaller, but slowly, they began to grow.

"We might be late to meet the others," Wendy began to power up. "We should hurry."

"Aye!" Happy flew beside Carla, who transformed.

She walked next to Wendy, "Let's do this!"

"Carla~ teach me how to do that!" Happy wined.

Mystery P.O.V. -

"I think I want that tiny girl too. Why didn't he grab her along with the other girl?"

"My apologies, father. I'll bring her as well."

"I want one person from each group. Maybe that…Levy girl or Hikari - was that her name?"

"Yes, father."

"And…Gray. That woman seems to be very attached."

"Yes, father."

"Yes...I've decided. Wendy, Hikari, and Gray."

"Yes, father."

"Who knew some of them used dark magic! How fun. Oh and who's that scarlet haired woman?"

"Erza Scarlet, father. She appears to be the team leader."

"And the white haired girl with her? The one with dark magic?"

"Nakina, father. She was the one who killed the children."

"I want you to put those two together."

"What do you mean, father?"

"Push both of them to their limits. I want to see that Erza break and I want Nakina to show her true colors."

"Yes, father."

"Has Z3 finishes the body?"

"Yes, father."

"And the Lucy girl is in the container?"

"Yes, father."

"Alright. Send in the blue haired boy. Oh, before I forget, I decided on a present for you."

"Thank you, father."

"It's Erza."

"I…I don't understand, father."

"She's yours to play with."

"Ah…"

"Are you not pleased with my gift?"

"N-No, father. I'm grateful for your generosity. Thank you, father."

"But I don't want you to have her yet."

"When then, father?"

"After her dark magic grows a bit more. You're dismissed. Make sure to send the blue boy."

"Understood, father."

"Oh...and I think it's time to show them the city. Don't you think?"

"Yes, father. But how will you get them to meet together and separate how you want them to?"

"Use the dogs and send in some shadows. Just get them where I want them to be."

"Yes, father."

Z3's P.O.V. -

I hauled the body onto the metal table and pulled the cart beside me. I began to groom his deep blue hair, dress the boy, and finalize the tattoo on his face. My creation. Finally, I inserted the chip into his head.

"Wake up," I smiled and sat down onto the sofa as I watched him slowly rise from the table. "Morning beautiful."

He stared at me blankly.

"You take orders from me, understand?"

"Yes, master," he stat before me on the table.

"You'll be taking on a fake identity. I already downloaded the information onto your chip."

He thought for a moment, "Jellal Fernandez."

"Correct. Now who are you looking for?"

"Erza Scarlet. Presumed to be the lover of Jellal Fernandez. Grew up in the Tower of -"

"Yes yes I already know all of that," I leaned back. "But what's your mission?"

"Hurt Erza Scarlet."

"I have a script downloaded for you. Make sure to say some of that stuff in front of her friends. Humiliate her."

"Yes, master."

"You get extra points if you can make her cry," I chuckled at the thought. "Oh I'd love to see that."

"Erza...cry…" he seemed to be in a daze. "Erza...Scarlet…"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, master," he stood up. "When shall I go out?"

"When I send you the signal."

"Yes, master."

Gajeel's P.O.V. -

Tabiki walked before all of us. Drops of blood slowly dripped from his wounds and onto the floor. Gray glanced over at me, silently encouraging me to start a conversation.

"Uh...so you're kind of bleeding," I pointed. "Wanna get that healed?"

"I'm alright," he responded in a monotone voice.

I looked over at Gray and shrugged. He shook his head with disapproval.

"So...wanna talk about you and your friends some more?" I tried again. "I feel like I still barely know you-"

"What if that's for a reason?" he hissed.

Gray stepped forward, "Hey! We've been nothing but nice to you! What did we do to deserve your attitude?"

"If you want someone all nice and fake you should go talk to Tanoshi. I'm not your guy."

Juvia stormed toward him, "Don't yell at Gray-sama!"

He let out a long sigh, "I-I'm sorry. It's just that I don't trust that easily. When people ask about my friends or me...I just think of the worst."

"What could we possibly do?" I scoffed. "Kill you?"

"Perhaps. Or something much much worse," he shrugged. "I still haven't found a solid reason for me to trust you."

Gray smiled, "Well for one, if we wanted to do something, we would've done it already."

"Yeah! And Juvia would have sent you to the ocean if Juvia didn't think Tabiki-sama belonged in Fairy Tail!" Juvia grinned.

I joined in, "I used to be in a dark guild. But after meeting them, they showed me what love is. If they could change me, they can change you."

Tabiki smirked a bit before stopping. He allowed us to catch up with him.

"What do you want to know?"

I thought for a bit, "I want to know about Tanoshi and Nakina."

"Juvia never knew Gajeel-sama was so curious about love!"

"It's just that I want to know what makes them so close like lovers...but keeps them from becoming a couple?" I chuckled. "I mean love is love."

"Tanoshi and Nakina have been through the most...trauma. I won't go into that since that's their privacy. In that way, they've supported one another and helped one another cope. The reason they're apart is a bit more complicated. Both have an incapability for love. They don't know love. To them, love is just...pain."

"So...they don't love you?" Gray whispered to himself more than to Tabiki.

"They do in their own way. They try to cover our brokenness with their strength. I think that that's how they try to express some sort of emotion."

"Ah…" I nodded.

"I've never heard them even say that word before," Tabiki sighed. "What about you guys? Have anyone like that?"

"Hmm…" Gray thought. "I think...that Erza has had the most trouble with love. But she's told us that we're her family and that she loves us."

"Are you sure?" Tabiki turned around. "Some people just aren't capable of love. She might be one of them."

"Hey!" I barked. "You don't know anything about her!"

"She's got it in her," he laughed to himself. "The same magic as us. She reminds me of Nakina. Broken and powerful."

Juvia slapped Tabiki. Everyone froze. Gray tried to stop her, but I shook my head. Tabiki looked at Juvia daringly.

"D-Don't talk about Erza-san like that!" Juvia screamed.

He shook his head, "You'll see."

Suddenly, something huge ran into them, tossing them a few feet. The ground began to shake and buildings, houses, and broken began to rise from the floor like a lost city.

"What are those things?" I shouted over the noise.

"Hounds?" Gray grabbed Juvia's hand, stopping her from falling.

"And a huge city!" Juvia yelped as a piece of rubble fell beside her. "We really need to find the others!"

"We need to take care of that thing first!" I tried to change my fist into iron, but couldn't. "And I need to get some iron."

I didn't think much of the city at first. That was my mistake.