A/N: And it continues...


They brought him to a dank dungeon cell, throwing him roughly against the wall and slamming the barred door shut with a clang. Mildew spotted the stone walls, and the stench of urine hung thick in the air. Natsu coughed. This place was disgusting.

Now that that guard's death grip wasn't restraining his wrists anymore, he evaluated the anti-magic handcuffs that locked his arms behind his back. He knocked them against the wall. They seemed fairly sturdy. And without his magic, his strength was cut in half.

Luckily for him, he was flexible, so he stepped through the loop formed by his arms to bring his hands in front of him where he could see the cuffs. They appeared to be sealed in a perfect circle around each wrist, but Natsu could faintly see a crease where the handcuffs were sealed. His fire magic would be able to weaken that seam easily, but without his magic, he was in a bit of a bind.

Well, this wasn't his first time in jail, and it probably wouldn't be his last. He dusted a spot on the ground and settled in to wait.


He didn't have to wait long.

"Natsu," a voice whispered.

Natsu looked up. "Happy!"

"Shh, quiet," Happy whispered. He slunk between the cell bars to join Natsu.

"What're you doing here, Happy? If they see you, you're trapped too, you know," he said.

"Erza sent me," Happy said. "See?" He carried a slender blade tied on his back, which he shook off. It clattered to the floor.

"Will that get me out?" Natsu said.

"Yes. Erza's prepared for everything."

"I'd hope so, with all the luggage she packs," Natsu muttered as he watched Happy get to work. Happy held the knife in his paws and lined it up along the seam of one of the cuffs. A quick swipe was all it took to break the cuff open.

"Oh!" Natsu jumped up and waved around his free hand. "These things are weak."

"No; normal knives won't work, Erza said. But she knew this would happen so she brought this. It's an anti-magic handcuff key. She has a bunch for when she arrests people."

"Must be useful being a knight," Natsu commented as he squatted back down to let Happy do the other hand.

"Do you know where Lucy is?" Happy said. "I didn't see her in the other cells, and she's not with you."

Natsu frowned. When the second cufflink dropped from his wrist, he absently rubbed the skin underneath it. "He took her somewhere."

"The Chief Advisor took her?"

Natsu nodded.

"Why?"

"I don't know. But I'm gonna follow her scent and get her out of here."

"Aye. Take this." Happy handed Natsu the knife.

"You're not coming with me?"

"I am. But I don't have pockets," Happy said.

"Neither do I."

"You have opposable thumbs."

"Good point," Natsu ceded. "Thanks, I'll keep this then."

"Hurry up. Gray's outside keeping a lookout. He knocked out all the guards, but if any more come we're in trouble."

"Got it." Natsu lit his hands on fire and used them to melt the iron bars enough that he could bend them. He stepped through the gap he created. "Let's go. We gotta save Lucy."

Gray was standing at the top of the stairs that led to the dungeon, arms crossed. "Good going, Hothead," he said as Natsu approached. "You weren't supposed to let anyone see you. Word spread fast that the Celestial Spirit is in the area."

"Shut up, they didn't even see her face so I don't know how they knew it was her. Anyway, Lucy comes first."

"Right."

They ran through the hallway, following Natsu's memory and the lingering traces of Lucy's scent.

Natsu traced Lucy's path to the administrative wing, and straight past several horrified bureaucrats to the Chief Advisor's room. Natsu slammed the door open. Inside the room was a large wooden desk sitting on a red carpet, several bureaus, and a wall-length bookshelf. There was no Lucy.

"Where did he take her?" Gray wondered aloud, looking around the office.

"She was in here," Natsu said. "I can smell her. It goes…this way." He pointed to a blank wall that he quickly realized was actually a hidden panel.

Gray pressed at the side of the panel and swung it open. "It's just a normal closet," he said.

"The floorboards," Happy pointed out.

"Ah." Gray pulled up a rug, revealing a ladder descending into darkness. He smirked. "Wow, a trapdoor under a rug in a hidden closet. Must be something important down there."

"Let's see where it goes," Natsu said.

"After you."

Natsu climbed down the ladder, Gray following behind and Happy flying beside him. It went down a narrow shaft for a while, but eventually Natsu's foot hit the ground. Jumping to solid ground, he lit a flame in his hand to light the area.

"Thanks," Gray said, joining Natsu. "Damn, it's dark down here."

"No torches," Happy added.

"We don't need 'em," Natsu said. He held out his flame to light more of the passageway. It faded into blackness so they couldn't see the end.

"We should be quiet," Gray said. "This is an unfamiliar area that we can't see well in, so we're at a disadvantage."

"Then shut your trap, Creamsicle."

"Say that to yourself, Matchstick."

"Both of you shut up," Happy said.

Happy was someone Natsu was willing to obey. He walked down the dark tunnel. The walls were made of stone, and the floor dirt. Where in the castle were they? How had they managed to get such a place in the castle connected to the Chief Advisor's room?

They walked for about a minute before they started to see a light glowing at the other end. Natsu extinguished his flame.

The light was coming from a small room lit by candlelight. On the far end was a small wooden door. One side of the room had a huge wall of shelves that surrounded a messy desk, and on the other side, a barred door.

Natsu made a beeline for the single cell. Sure enough, Lucy was inside.

"You're safe!" Happy exclaimed.

"Shh," Lucy said quickly, putting a finger to her lips. "He stepped into the other room for a moment but I don't know when he'll be back."

"The Chief Advisor?" Gray said as Natsu worked on bending the iron bars.

"He thinks he can use me to revive END," Lucy said.

Natsu helped her through the gap he'd made in the bars and turned her around to use Erza's key on her handcuffs. "What makes him think you can do that?" Natsu asked.

"I have no clue," Lucy said, "but I'm not sure I want to find out. If it works, we're all doomed."

"Well, we're getting you out of here," Gray said. "The others are taking care of things outside. We should hurry."

Lucy's anti-magic cuffs fell with a clang. There were red rings around her wrists where the handcuffs had been, and Natsu felt his anger rise again. They'd put them on way too tight.

"Let's go," he said through gritted teeth, reaching to grab her hand but refraining when he saw her rubbing at the redness on her arms.

"My keys," she said, looking at the desk. Natsu followed her gaze to her key ring lying among the clutter. He went to grab it, and noticed the heavy leather-bound book sitting next to it. On the cover were three letters: END.

"This is…" He was both fascinated and afraid. Zeref's ultimate demon was contained in this worn, ancient text. Tentatively, he reached out to touch it.

Pain.

He recoiled as if shocked.

What…what was that? The moment he'd touched it, his hand reacted like he'd been zapped, a current of pain shooting up his arm.

But he didn't have much time to think about it because Lucy snatched her keys from his other hand and pulled him along. "Come on, hurry," she urged, pulling him toward the door they'd come from. "He could be back at any second."

He tried to protest to tell them they should grab the END book, but the words died on his lips and he couldn't understand why. So he let himself be dragged back into the dark tunnel.

"Natsu, light," Gray said, snapping him out of his trance.

Natsu lit a fire in his palm. "There. Now you won't trip and fall."

"Now we can all see," Gray said.

"Don't fight now," Lucy groaned.

"We should hurry before that guy comes back," Natsu said, throwing balls of fire down the passageway that burned where they landed, lighting their path. Lucy squeaked when he lifted her backwards over his shoulders so she was piggybacking him. He firmly grasped her thighs as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Race you there, Gray." He took off.

"Oh, no you don't," came Gray's voice from behind him. Natsu sprinted on ahead, Lucy in tow, back to freedom. Or, back to the ladder. Guards and soldiers probably awaited them at the top, since so many people had seen him and Gray in the halls. Maybe they should've knocked all those guys out before they came down to get Lucy.

Either way, at this point they had to do what they could with what they were given. And they indeed were given a crowd of armed soldiers waiting for them when they emerged from the Chief Advisor's secret closet.

"Bust through the wall," Lucy murmured in a voice so quiet Natsu wasn't sure he was meant to hear it. But as she stared down the spears pointed at them, she said it again: "Natsu, bust through the wall."

"Which wall?" he said out loud. The spears repositioned closer in response to him speaking. He smirked. They were afraid, were they? That meant these soldiers weren't mages.

"Behind the desk," Lucy whispered.

Natsu nodded. "Roger." With a wave of his arm, he sent fire hurdling at the wall, smashing it to pieces. Taking advantage of the distraction, he scooped Lucy and Gray up with each arm and leapt over the spears. Trusting Lucy's judgment, he blindly ran through the huge hole in the wall.

He immediately found himself falling, and then with a loud splash he was in icy waters. They were in the castle moat.

Not knowing which way was up, he swam blindly. As luck would have it, he broke through the surface moments later, gasping for air.

"Good, you're okay," Lucy said. "This way."

His eyes were still stinging from the dirty water, so all he could do was follow her voice until his vision cleared.

"The moat only goes around the back of the castle," Lucy said, voice thin with the exertion of swimming. "Where are the others located?"

"They went to get a car. They should be near the entrance," Gray said.

"Okay. Once we get to the wall around the moat, climb up it and run to the right along the top. Happy, can you fly ahead and find them? Tell them where we are."

"Aye, sir." With a flap of his wings, Happy disappeared into the night. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy pressed on through the frigid waters until they reached a tall stone wall that contained the moat. Lucy somehow found a hold on the slippery rocks and began climbing up the vertical surface.

Natsu and Gray looked at each other. Were they supposed to be able to climb that?

Gray made a motion like a shrug and used his ice magic to attach icy stakes to his arms and feet. He stabbed them into the cracks between the stones. Natsu scowled. Cheater. Natsu's magic couldn't take solid form, so he had to do it the hard way like Lucy.

Ducking down under the water for a moment to give himself momentum, he pushed upwards to the wall, gripping it with his hands spread as wide as possible. The stones were slippery and wet, and for a moment Natsu thought he'd fall and have to try again, but he somehow didn't slip. Keeping a close eye on where Lucy found her hand- and footholds, he climbed up after her.

By the time he reached the top, the muscles in his arms and legs were trembling. He had almost superhuman strength when it came to fighting, and he'd done his fair share of scaling mountains, but never had he climbed up such a tall vertical wall made of round, slippery stones. It was a new challenge. Too bad he couldn't do it again to train himself more. Right now, they had to escape.

Lucy took a moment to squeeze the water from her hair, which had long fallen out of its updo. Natsu shook the water from his own hair like a dog. Lucy shouted when the water droplets hit her.

"Careful," she scolded, smiling.

"You said to go right?"

She nodded. "Follow Gray."

"Wha—" Natsu realized Gray had already run off as soon as he reached the top. "Ugh," Natsu groaned. All he wanted to do was squeeze the water from his sopping wet clothes, but it looked like he'd just have to drip the whole way to safety.

Partway along the wall, they found Erza at the helm of a magic-powered carriage, Wendy and Gray waving at them from inside. Natsu leapt down first and caught Lucy in his arms when she jumped after him.

"Took you long enough," Erza said as they got into the back.

"Just hurry," Natsu said, collapsing in a puddle on the floor of the carriage. He let Lucy lift him onto a seat as she and Wendy massaged his head and hands in preparation for what was sure to be a killer bout of motion sickness.

Well, he could deal with a little nausea. Lucy was safe. Rescue mission complete.


A/N: Thus concludes the first half of the story. That little moment with the book was the reason for this entire side trip to Crocus tbh. I just wanted that to happen, so I made them come back to Crocus. Well, they did find out some important details that'll come into play later, so I guess it's not so bad that I let this section stay.

Tartarus has made their move both here and with Jackal, so it's time for Fairy Tail to strike back, don't you think? Next chapter, it's back to Magnolia to regroup and make their battle plans!