Former Arrangements
By Genavere
Chapter Seven
A voice was calling her. Familiar and warm. No, the voice was not warm, it was sweltering, but brought a sense of comfort to her. A sigh of contentment left her lips and she snuggled deeper into the pillow with every intent to sleep longer.
Then something began poking her face.
Irritated, a twitch started at her eye and she swiped at the offending object. She turned over in her sleep with a grunt. Everything was warm and comfy enough that all she wanted to do was keep sleeping. There was a heavy settle of exhaustion deep in her bones that she wished would go away. How long had it been since she had actually slept a full night without interruptions?
"Since me." A tattooed face pressed close to hers from the darkness of her sleep idled mind.
She jolted up from the mattress, ready to bolt. Fear clenched her chest in tight as her body's flight or fight instincts kicked in. It pushed down any sense of exhaustion in order to survive.
Arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close to a hard chest. "It's me, Luce. Only me." A wisp of air brushed over her ear with the words. The pounding of her heart nearly drowned out his voice, but she heard it. Drew in the comfort from those words. From that voice.
"Natsu," she sighed and leaned back into him. Eyes still open to keep herself grounded, she took in a slow, deep breath and reminded herself that she was safe. And that no matter what her sleep deprived brain or her exhausted body said, she had, in fact, had several restful night sleeps since they had gotten back. All due to being held in the arms clutched around her now.
She lifted a hand to wipe her face, not caring if any tears, sweat, or anything was actually there to be wiped away. Even if it was imaginary, she felt the need to clear her face and the cloth from the ruffles clothing would be good enough for now. Yet, only skin pressed against her face and she finally noticed with a frown that the gloves was gone. Upon closer inspection, the clothes she wore now were not the ones she had fallen asleep in.
"I had Loke call Virgo out to change your clothes when Levy said you wouldn't want me to see what you were wearin'," he explained as his lips laid kisses along her neck. "Somethin' about ruffles and something, I wasn't paying attention. Just knew I wanted you gone from here, but Levy refused until you were changed."
The clothes were different then any that she had seen before, but Virgo had mentioned wanting to present new clothes for her in these moments. The middle of her chest was exposed with two strings tied in the middle to keep the top closed, but offered a generous view of her cleavage. It looked much like a wrap around with flared sleeves that went to her fingers and flowed down into a long skirt that wrapped around her waist and tied together.
Dark greens and blues made up the soft material and she had to admit, it was a beautiful outfit. Once she would gladly wear again. The only thing she did noticed was the lack of shoes with it, but there would be something she could find to go with it. Being without shoes left her with a bit of a dilemma on how to walk home.
Natsu seemed to notice that, too. "I will give you a ride back home. I have no idea where Mira put your shoes and I ain't stayin' around to find them."
"Are you sure? And where did Levy go?"
"Gajeel took her home," he said. "All the dragon slayers have left."
"They all left…?" She turned to actually look at him then and realized he had a script mask over his face. Concerned, she turned to face him completely and gripped his face with her hands. "What happened?"
Behind the words, his telltale smirk warmed her. "We captured him, Luce. You don't have to worry anymore, but man, is he one smelly bastard. None of us could handle his stench." He leaned his forehead against hers. "Even with a barrier around his cell and this mask, I can still smell him. The others are taking care of questioning him since we kept losin' our stomachs down there."
"Then let's go home." A smile pulled her lips up. It was over. There had been no doubt they could do it, she was just ecstatic that it had ended after only a single attempt. "Where is Happy?"
"He's went with Carla and Wendy." Offering her his back, his hands slipped under her legs and moved to her butt. Grinning, he gave her a firm squeeze and hefted her up into a comfortable position. "That means we will have the whole house to ourselves and there won't be no pesky visitors."
Biting her lower lip, she leaned forward and buried her face between the skin of his neck and his scarf. Soft kisses trailed up to his jaw. It had been over a week since they had been able to truly spend time together that was not just quickies or to help ground each other. Just the suggestion of what they could do brought a deep ache to her lower belly. And she noted the lack of underwear in her current outfit. That was something she would have to talk to Virgo about later.
"I did nap earlier," she spoke between littering kisses over his skin as he took them to the entrance of the guild hall. "I might not be able to sleep right away."
"Heh, now I am all fired up! You'll be exhausted once I am done with you!"
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To say it was weird not having the Flame Brain around to help threaten a prisoner for information would have been an understatement for Gray. Even Erza seemed a bit unnerved by the lack of dragon slayers, especially since their guild had four and their own team consisted of two of them.
Yet, even with Freed's barrier around the cell, there was a slight odor that even those with normal senses could smell. The way each of the slayers had reacted to it when they came back noted how bad it was for their sensitive senses. Natsu particularly seemed heavily affected.
Knowing that Sting and Rogue had sent a message that they would arrive later to help with their investigation with Yukino had been a good thing. They did not need six slayers throwing up all over the place.
Instead of a hot-headed fire mage in the cell, it was Erza, and she was not pulling any punches. Scary Erza really was the stuff of nightmares.
"What is your purpose to follow Lucy around? I want an honest answer, or you will find how difficult it can be to walk without toes." A sword was out and held at the chained man's neck. They took precautions with ensuring he had the seal stone cuffs on his wrists, ankles, and around his waist to keep him from using any magic. It also kept him in place by the back wall he was secured to.
Mirajane stood by Gray outside the cell, already changed into her normal clothes, and frowned as she watched the interrogation. There had been something about his look that had bothered her since his capture, but she could not place it. While the capture had been particularly easy compared to some, they had planned for there not to be much of a fight. A lone wizard could only do so much against the team they sent out against him.
Especially with three over-protective dragon slayers.
Still, something about it bothered her, but she just could not quite put her finger on it.
Looking at the stairs that led upstairs to the main room of the guild hall, she wondered how Laxus was doing. She was one of the few who knew of his motion sickness, but it had surprised her when his face had paled the moment the stench hit him when they brought the stalker into the guild hall. Of all those affected by the smell, she had assumed he would have been best able to remain neutral or look like it had not caused him issue.
The sooner they could get info from their prisoner and get him to an imperial prison, the better. No one would want to eat anything in the main hall if they could still smell him.
"I am getting tired of your silence," Erza growled. "If you don't give me an answer in the next thirty seconds, I will send you somewhere I can promise you will never be found again. We have friends who would be more than willing to take your body to their plane and let you rot there. No one would ever know you were gone. And each second you spend there will be like agony in your entire body."
Her sword slid along the skin of his neck, slicing a very thin line into the flesh there. A small bead of blood pooled and rolled down to his collarbone, but no reaction came from it.
"Do you care so little for your life to remain silent on your plans for our friend? Did you really think making an enemy of Fairy Tail a wise decision?"
The prisoner rolled his shoulders carefully. It had been the first movements he had made since being chained up. His eyes lifted to meet hers. All of them waited to see if he would finally say something. "We were hired to follow her, gather information, and wait for the word and opportunity to capture her."
Gray and Mira shared a surprised look. It had been awhile since they had started asking him questions and he had not uttered a single word before. Then he just decided to reveal all of that? "Who sent you?" Gray asked before the other two could.
"I am unable to reveal classified information. Even Dark Guilds have some standards," the prisoner said, but gave a small chuckle. "Tartarus might have destroyed most of us under them years ago, but we have rebuilt."
"What guild are you with? I have not seen a mark on you." Erza pulled the sword away from his neck, but kept it close still since she was the only one in the cell with him. The other two could help defend her if things got rough, but she wanted to remain prepared.
"We were known once as Nexus, small but strong. Now we are called Eclipse Nexus in our rebirth."
"And what were your plans with Lucy once you had captured her?"
"To deliver the cargo to the client, as most jobs require for payment."
Cargo. That was all their friend was to this bastard.
While they were glad to finally get information from him, each of them found it strange that he was now giving them answers. What had changed from a couple minutes earlier when not even a sound escaped his lips? Was it ploy, Erza wondered as she formulated what question she would ask next to glean the most information.
Mira leaned closer to Gray and lowered her voice. "How long has it been since we brought him here?"
"Little more than an hour, I would guess," he said. A frown marred his features.
An hour since they had arrived, and all the slayers left shortly after. Knowing that Natsu would have gone to get Lucy first, she would have assumed that they would have left a bit later after the rest of them. There would have been no way the blonde would have left without a change of clothes.
Everything that happened during the night ran through her mind again, especially what had happened in the alleyway. Something about his reaction was bothering her.
Her fist pressed against her lips as she pondered over it. The cuffs had stopped her magic, that had made her disguise fall. He had been surprised, as would have been the normal reaction to your target changing into someone else. His eyes had expressed it clear enough.
Her lips pressed together.
"Why are you answering our questions now when you could have right away?" Erza's question barely registered as she mused, but it piqued her curiosity. Maybe it would help her figure out what bothered her about the whole situation.
"It has been over two-thousand seconds since the dragon slayer left," he said. "The targets will be far enough away for rescue to be less likely to arrive in time."
A cold blanket fell over the dungeon.
"Targets?"
"Is he saying what I think he is?" Gray's whole body tensed. He grabbed the bars of the cell.
Mira stood there; eyes wide. They had targets, which meant that Lucy was not the only one they were after. That meant…she ran through the events in the alleyway again, remembered the surprise in his eyes. That was clear to her. In that moment of surprise, his lips had turned upwards slightly. "He smiled…he had smiled! Erza, this has all been a set up!"
"Where are Natsu and Lucy?!" Erza quickly exited the cell, slamming the door shut behind her with a glare at the prisoner as she locked it and following the others upstairs.
"They left shortly after the rest of the guild did," Gray answered. "I think just after Levy and Gajeel did."
The main hall was void of any guild members or those who had been visiting earlier. With the combination of the late hour and the stench that had wafted through the building from the prisoner before they got him into the warded cell, it left everything feeling abandoned. Even the command post Hibiki and Lyon had set up earlier for their trap laid abandoned and empty.
"Dammit, they played us like fools!"
"Would anyone else have the larcima comms still?" Gray asked, hoping they could get some form of backup.
"Doubtful. You two head out there and find those two," Mira pointed towards the door and headed in a different direction. "I am going to grab some flares to get back up!"
"Right!" Erza and Gray ran out of the building as fast as they could. There was no doubt that their friends could handle anything thrown at them, but an ambush in their home city without warning put the odds considerably into the enemy's favor.
The other concern they had was the distance in order to get to Natsu's place. Being on the outskirts of the city, it meant an ambush could have happened anywhere, but if it happened outside the city, not as many people would have noticed it. Natsu could have blown up the forest and most would not have reacted due to their fire wizard neighbor.
As they ran, their shadows appeared in front of them as a red stream of light flew up into the clear night sky. A plum of red exploded into the air with a pop and fell back to the ground. When the light dissipated, another lit up the sky.
Five flares in total lit up the night sky by the time they reached the outskirts, the lights called for any help from the wizards around the city to gather at Fairy Tail. Unfortunately, Erza feared any help would come too late.
"Erza!"
She looked forward up the tree covered hill that hid Natsu's home at the top, the forest had begun to hide Mongolia behind them. In the darkness, it was hard to see what Gray was pointing to, but as they approached, she noticed the signs.
Unfurled and laying limp along the ground was Lucy's whip. Blood stained the tip of it. "We will need to collect this as evidence," she said, not daring to move the weapon yet. "I don't see any signs of fire."
"Yeah, and there is no way Natsu would have let anything happen to Lucy without massive destruction."
"Not unless he was taken out first." Neither liked the prospect of that. "Unfortunately, I have to admit it seems this dark guild knew what they were doing, and who they were dealing with."
Further along the road, they found what they were looking for. "An electric landmine."
While rare to be found, since Tartarus attacked, they had found more versions of landmines coming from their enemies. Even they were beginning to utilize them if there were wizards able and willing to learn how to set them up. It meant they had one more aspect of defense and knowledge on how they worked and how to defuse them.
Judging by the design charred into the ground, they could confidently say that whoever had stepped into the mine had stayed standing for some time before collapsing. They both knew who was stubborn enough to do such a thing, too.
Natsu.
"We need to check their home before we jump to any conclusions." She would not believe their friends had been captured until definitive proof was brought before her. There was no way…
Glancing around, she noticed damage to several of the trees and they began to follow the trail deeper into the woods. Trees were cut down with clean strokes, ones they hoped were from Taurus slowing down the pursuers.
Sand piled up along the ground the further they went with a clearing made of fallen trees. They stopped and looked around, taking in the damage.
"Do you think they ran here?" Gray walked forward, trying to see if there was anything more to find or a hint of where their friends were.
Under the trunk of a fallen tree, Erza noticed a pile of sand clumped up unlike the rest of the area. Her throat tightened in fear.
It was too small for it to be Natsu or Lucy, she knew that, but what if it was something just as bad? A hand or a foot. Something that was part of them and shown as a warning to say they had them.
Kneeling down, she brushed away the sand and felt everything collapse around her.
No, this was worse. Far worse than a limb.
"Gray," she called to the frost mage. "Our mission is now to find and rescue our comrades."
"What did you find to say that? We haven't even looked to see if there was a sign of them at home."
"There is no need." She shook her head and stood, holding the once hidden treasures delicately in her arms. When she turned to face him, realization dawned on him.
Cradled gently against her chest and covered in sand was a white dragon scale scarf that was wrapped loosely around the leather pouch that held all of Lucy's keys. Items that neither of their team mates would have willingly left behind unless absolutely necessary.
It left little doubt: Natsu and Lucy had both been taken.