Chapter Twenty-One
"Where is Levy?" Lucy asked as she stepped out of the room. She and Natsu woke up and realized the Magi-Hover was no longer moving.
"The other human female disembarked from the Magi-Hover over a sckrowl ago."
"She's been outside for an hour?" Lucy panicked and ran for the door, slapping her hand on it. It slid open and she grabbed her weapon as she leapt out, Natsu hot on her trail. He grabbed her and sniffed the air as she strained against his hold. He led her towards the store.
"Her backpack." Levy's backpack was on the ground further up the street. She pulled free and ran forward, picking it up and looking around. At first she didn't see anything but abandoned streets, then she saw it. She ran forward as Natsu tried to grab her. She stopped and picked it up, a blue strand of hair. She looked at him.
"A strand of hair?"
"It's a trail, I'm sure of it." He looked skeptical. "Natsu, fallen hair wouldn't wrap around a piece of rebar sticking out of a wall. It would rest on it or fall off or blow away."
"I'll notify the others that it looks like Levy was taken. We don't know by who."
"It has to be militants." He looked at her. "It's too clean of a scene. Raiders would have left evidence they were here. Militants enter and leave without traces."
"Why would militants take Levy?"
"I don't know unless…" Lucy grabbed Natsu's arm and he looked into her wide eyes, nearly black with fear. "What if Mard Geer has her?"
"Grolkwl." Natsu growled and immediately sent out an alert that Levy had been taken. Suddenly there was a crashing sound and Natsu spun, flames erupting all around him and Lucy swung her weapon up and took a fighting stance. Suddenly Gajeel emerged from thin air, leaping from his cloaked Magi-Hover.
"Whadda mean Mard Geer might have Shorty?" Gajeel asked as his arm transformed into a long wicked double edged blade.
"She left the Magi-Hover while we were sleeping. The A.I. said it's been over an hour. Her backpack was on the ground and there's no evidence of the chaos of Raiders. So I think militants took her. And I know I saw Mard Geer barking orders at one band of militants."
"I told her to stay on your Magi-Hover!" Gajeel snarled and sniffed the air and honed in on the backpack in Lucy's hand. He grabbed it with his un-transformed hand and raised it to his nose. He lowered it and sniffed again. "Got her."
"We'll come too." Lucy said following him. He didn't answer and didn't slow down. He was fast. Way faster than her, but Lucy pushed herself to keep him in her sights. Natsu stayed beside her as they made their way down the abandoned streets. Suddenly Gajeel stopped and pulled Lucy towards a building. They got to the wall and waited. Then she heard marching. Soon two lines of men appeared, five in each line. She looked at them and relaxed ever so slightly. None of them were familiar. This might be a different militant group.
"Let's go up." Natsu suggested softly and Gajeel nodded. Natsu grabbed Lucy and spun her around so she was facing his back and he pulled her arms over his head. She carefully wrapped her arms around him and then her legs and he started to climb the building. Using his claws; both on his hands and feet, to make small holds in the concrete wall to allow him to scale upwards.
At the roof they made their way around and they were about to start a second round, when Lucy stopped them by patting on Natsu's shoulder. "Look, over there. There's movement in that window."
Sure enough, across the street, about ten stories off of the street level, someone was pacing in view of the windows. It looked like a male but it was too hard for Lucy to see. But she knew it wasn't Levy, whoever it was was too tall and stocky.
"You two wait here. I'mma go get her."
"That's crazy. Going in alone." Lucy objected but Gajeel had already leapt over the roof's edge. She shook her head.
"I've never seen him this worked up before." Natsu murmured and Lucy closed her eyes. That worried her. She turned to state her worry when she pushed Natsu, kicking out his legs. As he dropped he watched as she tossed herself backwards and sideways. As she fell, three arrows flew over her. Natsu's eyes widened and he immediately looked the other direction. Three guys in dirty black outfits had crested the opposite side of the roof. He snarled and got to his feet.
"What the hell kinda dragonoid is that?" One of the guys asked as he notched another arrow. Lucy crouched beside Natsu's legs and she swore under her breath.
"Don't matter. There's a woman next to him." A second guy said. The third snorted.
"The way she's sticking to him, I think she's a dragonoid fuc…" He was cut off as a hunk of concrete Lucy threw connected with his face and he jerked backwards. His friends gasped and turned to watched as he teetered on the edge of the roof before he fell backwards. They turned back right as Natsu appeared; his clawed feet connecting with their chests and they too went flying over the edge.
"We need to move. Gajeel is getting Levy and we can be a distraction." Lucy said as she pulled on his shoulders to keep him from jumping down after the other men. He nodded and grabbed her. "No…"
She bit her lip as he leapt down to the street. She shook her head as she struggled free of him. "I hate when you do that."
"It's faster."
"Tell that to my stomach that's still up there!" She snarled and gagged before turned and waving at several militants that were staring at them. She turned on her heel and started running. The men headed after her. Natsu chased after her as well, grabbing her left hand and pulling her along faster. Lucy kicked a hubcap and it bounced off of an abandoned car and hit one of the militants in the chest. He fell, his closest comrades tripped over him.
Natsu pulled Lucy down an alley and they stared at a brick wall. Lucy looked at him and rolled her eyes. She glanced around and gave herself a curt nod before she pulled free of him and ran at the corner of the dead end and the building next to it. She bounced against the two and caught the bottom of the fire escape two floors up and pulled herself up. She glanced down at a stunned Natsu.
"I might not have fire boosters but I can get around when I need to." She taunted him and his awe turned to a grin. He leapt up and joined her on the fire escape; causing the militants to stumble back in shock.
"I've never seen no dragonoid do that." One of them gasped and another turned and fled the way they'd came. The rest headed for the front of the building to run up to the roof. Natsu and Lucy raced up the fire escape, Lucy using the actual metal steps and Natsu jumping from one platform to another. At the top of the roof Lucy didn't even wait. She ran along the edge. Natsu raced behind her. As the militants burst from the door, they watched as Natsu and Lucy jumped onto an adjacent building.
"Aw man!"
"Come on!"
"I'm not going after them anymore." The militants complained. Natsu grinned and turned around.
"Lazy humans!"
"Sad little wanna be soldiers!" Lucy echoed and stopped, putting her hands on her hips. "Bet none of you would know what to do with either of us if you did manage to catch us."
"Little bitch!" One of the men yelled and got up on the ledge and started to run. Lucy looked at Natsu. He was angry but she patted his shoulder and turned her head ever so slightly. He looked from the corner of his eyes and the scales on his arms and shoulders darkened and rose up. As the man on the ledge jumped, an Aerial Silverback caught him in its claws. Its cry echoing in the mid afternoon sky.
"'Noids!" One of the militants shouted. Lucy and Natsu jumped down onto a new fire escape and Lucy put her hands on the ladder and slid down. Natsu leap and pulled her into a broken window. The floor had a massive hole in it. They fell through it and Natsu wrapped his arms around her. They crashed through several floors before stopping. The air knocked out of both of them. They gasped for breath, and Lucy looked out of the window. She watched as a Fire Starter crawled over the window.
She turned and threw her arm over Natsu who was still struggling to breath. She pulled him towards the door and prayed the draconic stayed outside. She inhaled sharply and pulled him to her chest in the hallway.
"I'll go…"
"And stay right here." She cut him off and tightened her arms around him. "Let the draconics out there take care of the militants."
"But…"
"Natsu…work smarter not harder." She rested her head against his.
"Fine." He whined softly and snuggled closer to her. They laid there, propped against the wall, listening to the screams and cries of draconics and the humans caught in their path. After some time they fell silent. Natsu pulled away from Lucy and helped her to her feet. They headed down the last three floors and looked around. Blood was everywhere. One silverback was dead on the sidewalk across from them.
"I'm never gonna get used to the carnage." She shook head.
"It never gets easier." Natsu sympathized. He sniffed, his nose wrinkling. "Blood and venom, but no breathing draconics."
"Militants?"
"No."
"Ok." She sighed and they headed out into the street. She turned her head on a swivel but didn't see anything. They ran down the street, looking all around. Natsu pulled her towards the store and she looked at it and fought back tears. He shifted to go to his Magi-Hover but she caught his arm.
"We need to finish the mission. Check the store out." She said and he hesitated but agreed to follow her in. Inside they found several bags of soil, fertilizer, and compost starter. She also found three compost bins. Natsu loaded up the Magi-Hover and she did another sweep. Satisfied there was nothing else worth grabbing she met him outside.
"Come on." He pulled her inside and she immediately went to the console. She looked at it. He joined her and she dropped her head. "Luce?"
"No message from Gajeel that he has Levy." She looked at everything and Natsu wrapped her in his arms.
"Gajeel is an idiot, but he'll get her. And they'll meet us at the launching coordinates. We need to get moving."
"I know…I know." She withdrew from his arms and sat down and he sat in his own seat. The magi-Hover started up and Lucy closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Saying a silent prayer for Levy.
"Natsu! Lucy!" Lucy looked up as Cana barreled toward her. She side stepped and headed towards Laxus.
"What is it Blondie?" He asked handing a crate of squawking chickens to Elfman.
"Have you heard from Gajeel?"
"No…why?"
"Natsu!" Lucy turned and Laxus wrapped his hand over her shoulder and immediately withdrew it snarling. Her Scalut had large spikes standing up on her shoulder. She was moving away from Laxus which caused everyone around to tense up.
"Gajeel's Magi-Hover is still at it's last location."
"We need to go back."
"You need to explain." Laxus stated and she looked at him. She looked back at Natsu who sighed.
"Levy got herself kidnapped and Gajeel went to get her back. That was sckrowls ago."
"We got the transmission but figured no news was good news." Rouge sighed, his dark hair flopping into his eyes.
"Levy was what?" Yukino asked and the Dragis stiffened. Lucy turned and looked at her friends.
"She left the Magi-Hover and got taken."
"We'll get her back." Erza said and headed for her sword but Laxus held his hand up. "We're going after her."
"Gajeel is on the mission." He said and looked at the fierce redhead who he'd learned was as lethal in battle as the rest of his squad. "We will trust him. We need to get you all up to the Guild Station as planned."
"We aren't…"
"Erza!" Lucy's voice had her friend turning to look at her. "I'm staying with Natsu down here. We'll get her back and to the Guild Station. I promise."
"And I'm going to help."
"No." Lucy shook her head and walked forward and grabbed her friend's hands. "You have to go up there. You have to make the humans that have already been rescued understand that the Dragis and the rest of the Alliance aren't the enemies. They'll need someone they can look up to."
"No…I'm not…"
"Erza," Lucy pulled her friend in for a hug. "You are the bravest of us. And we would all follow you, no matter what. So go up there, and lead."
"You better take care of her." Erza glared at Natsu.
"With my fire." Natsu nodded solemnly. Lucy hugged her friend and released her and looked around.
"Lucy, come with us!" Kinana begged but the blonde shook her head.
"I'm bringing Levy back with Gajeel. You all go, make sure the place is prepared for her and me. We're trouble you know. They need to be warned." She joked half heartedly. The girls still on earth cried but nodded. She turned and looked at the other Dragis and Laxus. He nodded.
"We'll take care of them up there." Gray promised.
"And I'll tell Gramps that you two are going to go retrieve Gajeel and Levy and come up as soon as possible."
"It's a promise." Natsu nodded again and Laxus wrapped his hands around Mira and Lisanna's shoulders and started moving towards the bright white pad sitting in the grass. Mira pulled free and ran over to Lucy and hugged her. Lucy was startled and it took a few seconds before she hugged the older girl back. When she pulled away, the girl smiled through her tears.
"Thank you. And we'll take care of everyone. I promise."
"Thank you Mirajean." Lucy said and watched as they all stood there before a bright white light shone and they were gone. Natsu wrapped an arm around her waist.
"We'll rest here tonight and then head out in the morning. You need to regain your strength." He said and led her toward his Magi-Hover. When she climbed in, it was back to being the size it had been originally.
"Really?" She asked and he shrugged as if he didn't know what she meant. She sighed and walked to the bathing chamber. Natsu sighed, resting his head on the wall. His system pinged that he had a message from Gray. He pulled it up and looked at it.
Whatever is going on with you and Lucy, don't let it get too overwhelming. And if you need anything, message me. I'll come down and help.
Natsu sighed and replied a quick thanks and then looked around. Sure he could have set the Magi-Hover for two; but right now he really needed to try and keep close to Lucy. He didn't trust her not to run off into trouble.
"Natsu?" He turned and looked at her as she leaned against the wall. "They're going to be okay, right?"
"Gajeel will get to Levy and Levy will keep him alive."
"You have more faith in her keeping him alive than otherwise?"
"He's a Dragis. We're great at acting in the moment, but sometimes we're less likely to think beyond the immediate plan."
"Are you sure that isn't just you?" She asked and he rocked his head around and scrunched his nose up. She laughed softly and crossed her arms over her stomach in a self hug. Her eyes took on a distance look.
"Luce," She looked at him. "I promise to get Levy and Gajeel back and we're all going to go up to the Guild Station together."