"What do you mean she's gone?!" Happy exclaimed.
"I-I don't know.." Erza answered, still shaken up about what she discovered this morning. "I had sent her to sleep but when I woke up in the morning, she was gone…"
The older members of the guild were currently gathered around a table in the main hall, discussing the matter at hand. One of their guildmates was currently missing, a small one at that. It was no laughing matter, and everyone was extremely worried.
"Are those jerks still locked up?" Cana turned to Laxus, who shook his head.
"No, from the looks of it they just found out themselves, so I doubt they've told their council buddies yet.."
"We have to find her!" Happy said frantically. "I… I can't lose her too!"
His guildmates frowned, knowing all too well about the exceed's close relations with the Dragneel family. He'd been with Natsu since the dragon-slayer was a kid, and had basically raised Nashi as well.
"Did she take the keys?" Mira asked Erza, knowing that most of the belongings recovered had been taken to her house as that was where Nashi was staying.
"No.." Erza finally got out, taking the ring of keys from her bag. "I just thought it would be too soon, with everything going on…"
"It's fine, Erza…" Mira rubbed her comrade's back in an attempt to comfort the redhead.
"No, it's not." Erza closed her eyes, trying to reign in her emotions. "I was careless, letting her out of my sight. It was stupid of me to have let her out of my sight in the first place, we wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place."
"I said it's fine, Erza.." Mira repeated more firmly. "Don't beat yourself up over it, you were sleeping. Anyone in that situation would've done the same things, there was little you could've done."
"But what if she was kidnapped?" Erza retaliated anxiously, raising her voice a tad. "What if she was taken against her will or is even harmed? I'll never forgive myself if that happens."
"Come on," Cana rolled her eyes. "Judging from who her parents are, she probably just ran away. You're probably worrying over nothing."
"That's true." Gray finally entered the conversation. "Maybe she just needs some fresh air, she did almost lose her mom. Plus, she couldn't have gone too far, I'm sure the exceeds could find her in no time."
"Yes, but we don't know which direction she ran in, or if she even ran in the first place." Laki adjusted her glasses.
"Could you possibly smell where she went?" Levy turned to her husband.
"Me and Wendy had looked on the morning that she disappeared, but we couldn't find much." Gajeel grunted. "Maybe if Salamander was here we could've found where she went since he has a stronger nose, but…"
Gajeel didn't have to finish his sentence, they all knew what he meant to say.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a fierce little runt, smart too." Gajeel directed this at his wife, who he knew was extremely worried. Nashi was like a second daughter to them.
"But she's not familiar with anything outside of Magnolia.." Levy brought up. "She doesn't know why she has to hide, and she's a little girl. She could put herself in harm's way unintentionally."
"I just wish she had taken the keys…" Erza murmured, completely drained.
"I may be able to handle that…" A bright flash appeared behind the table, causing the group to look up and turn their heads.
"Loke.." Happy breathed. "What are you doing here?"
"What does it look like?" The spirit made his way to the table.
"How's Lucy?" He asked immediately. "I know she's alive since I can still feel our contract, but she doesn't seem to be conscious."
"She's alive, barely though.." Gray answered. "Wendy, Porlyusica, and I have been working hard to make sure she makes it through, but it's not looking so good."
"I figured.." Loke chuckled sadly. "I'm sorry, I should've protected her better. They caught me off guard and before I knew it I had been sent back. I should've fought the order to leave though, because she used that spell, and now.." Loke rambled, obviously upset at the events that occurred.
"Loke.." Levy started slowly. "What.. happened? Nashi wouldn't tell us anything, Happy left to get help, and Lucy's unconscious. We don't know what went on."
"To be honest, I'm not completely sure either," Loke scratched the back of his head. "But I can tell you what happened leading up to the current situation, although I have plenty of blanks as well."
"That's fine." Levy smiled softly. "As long as I can get an idea on what happened to Lu~chan…"
"Very well." Loke took a deep breath. "It all started after our small conflict…"
"Now that I think about it, Nashi hasn't come back upstairs in awhile…" Lucy thought.
"You're probably overthinking it," Loke tried to calm his master's nerves as she sat up in her bed. "Happy should be with her, they probably just went to that small meadow like she normally does. I can go find her, if you'd like."
Lucy waved a hand in front of her face. "You're probably right, she doesn't really like being cooped up in here…" Lucy smiled sadly. "I didn't like it when I was her age either, I wish I was at least strong enough to take her on a small mission but…"
"You're plenty strong Lucy," Loke reminded the blonde. "You're just on a little… break.."
Lucy scoffed. "As if. I don't think I'll ever be able to leave this house again…."
"Lucy…"
"I'm kidding.." Lucy said, although she knew she really wasn't. Her condition was only getting worse. "I just have to be optimistic, right?"
Loke gave Lucy a long and sad stare before grunting in agreement. "But even if you were completely healthy, she couldn't go out anyways. She'd attract negative attention."
"Yeah, it's just wishful thinking…" Lucy scrunched the blanket in her hands. Her heart ached for her daughter, what she had to go through compared to other kids was completely unfair.
Loke was about to ask another question when the two heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Loke gazed at Lucy for a small moment before rushing downstairs.
He opened the door and was met with three men, whom he noticed wore the Magic Council symbol. "The Magic Council?" He muttered in confusion before raising his voice to talk to the newcomers. "What brings you here?"
"Hello," The middle one wore a sinister grin. "We're looking for Lucy Dragneel, is she home?"
Loke gritted his teeth. "She's busy right now, try coming at a later date."
"But she's home?"
"She's busy." Loke repeated.
"She can't be that busy, it's important. We're looking for her husband."
Loke's eyes widened. Why on Earthland was the council looking for Natsu? "Natsu-"
"Loke? Is…. is everything okay?" Lucy called out, holding the wall for support and wincing as she slowly made her way down the steps.
"Lucy!" He rushed to his master, helping her down the rest of the flight of stairs. "You shouldn't be up!"
"You were taking too long," She responded. "I was worried that something had happened..."
"I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about…"
"Oh, care to enlighten me?"
Lucy glared at the man who was at the door. "What do you want?"
"Well Hello to you too, Mrs. Dragneel. I'm here on behalf of the council. We've finally found a way to charge that monster you call your 'husband', and lock him up for good. Do you know about his whereabouts?"
"Charge him?!" Lucy exclaimed. "Why are you charging him?! He hasn't done anything but help Fiore!"
"He's a threat. It doesn't matter to me though, as long as I get the bounty money-"
"You bastard!" Lucy shouted, angry tears blurring her vision. "You would lock up an innocent man for money? I despise people like you."
"Now now, I would watch your tone, Mrs. Dragneel. Anyways could you tell me anything that you know? I don't want to get physical.."
Lucy froze. "Where is she…"
The guy raised an eyebrow. " 'She'? We're looking for your husband, Mrs. Dragneel."
Lucy panicked, moving a foot towards the intruder's direction. "What did you do with her?! Where is she?!" She yelled frantically, afraid that they had taken her daughter as well.
"I told you to watch your tone.." He snapped.
"You watch your tone," Loke growled. "You're trespassing, now if you would please-"
Loke wasn't able to finish his sentence before he felt something hit him, knocking him to the ground and causing him to glow. The man had attacked, but Loke was surprised that he had caused enough damage to send him back.
"Loke!" Lucy stumbled to his side.
"I told you to watch your tone," The man sighed. "Now I have to dirty my hands…"
"I'll be fine.." Loke groaned.
"Y-you're hurt!" She trembled. "I... I force close your gate!"
"Lucy!" His eyes bulged as he began to glow. "I can still fight! You can't do this alone."
Lucy didn't meet his gaze, turning to face the intruder that had attacked. He sighed, already knowing that arguing would be useless. His master was a bit too stubborn for that.
Before he was about to disappear, he whispered five words.
"Don't do anything rash, princess."
"And that was all I remember. The rest is a blur, all I know is that she ended up using the spell and…" Loke swallowed hardly. "We almost lost her…"
The guild was silent for a while, which was very unlike it. No one knew what to do with this information, but it didn't help that the news brought the mood even lower. Not only had that group that was currently locked up below their guild attacked Nashi and Lucy, but they had also immobilized Loke for a short period as well.
After awhile, Levy broke the silence. "H-how did you find out..." She cleared her throat to speak a bit louder. "...if you weren't there?"
"I could feel it." Loke responded, almost immediately. "I could feel our contract... our bond starting to fade."
"Having a bond with someone is special, you know?" Loke tried to explain. "It's part of the reason that I can appear at her side when she needs me, I can tell when she's distressed or even happy. But when it happened..." Loke paused, swallowing to prepare for what he would say next. "I couldn't feel anything. It wasn't just me either, all the spirits she had nearly lost their connections towards her."
The group sat in silence, taking in more of the information that the spirit had left them with.
"I'm sorry, Loke.." Levy finally said. "Not just for what happened, but for asking so soon..."
"Don't worry about it." Loke sighed. "But... can I at least see my master? I know she's okay for now, but I'm... not sure how long that will last."
"Yeah sure.." Gray stood up, trying to ignore the last phrase and get his fellow guildmates to do so as well. They'd had enough sorrow for one day. "Let me warn you though, it's not the prettiest sight.."
Loke took note of the warning and nodded, following Gray deeper into the guild.
Nashi couldn't sleep.
She had slept perfectly fine the first night as it had been her first peaceful sleep in days, but tonight was different.
Nashi felt restless on the cold floorboards, tossing and turning before deciding that she wasn't going to get enough sleep tonight. She cursed internally, knowing that working tomorrow would be a pain and she'd probably be exhausted.
Nashi got up from her heap of blankets, abandoning them and walking out of the back door of the small restaurant. The cool summer breeze hit Nashi immediately, the girl silently closing the door behind her so that she wouldn't wake the two gracious souls who were willing to take her in temporarily.
Letting her cloak down, Nashi took a deep breath, calming her nerves. She looked at the moon, which was full and bright, it's luminescence shining on Nashi's face. The little girl's eyes then trailed to the constellations that were not as bright. She could see Cancer and Loke's constellations, although the lion constellation wasn't as vibrant yet.
Nashi knew what this meant, her birthday was coming up.
Nashi held her arm out, tracing the constellations out with her small fingers. Her gaze then landed on her hand.
Pulling her hand down, she turned it over, staring at it in curiosity.
It had been a few days but Nashi remembered the day clearly, the day she had lost everything. She had also remembered another important detail.
How she had set herself on fire.
She wasn't really sure how she'd done it. It definitely wasn't something that Romeo could do. Gajeel and Wendy had different elements than her, so she couldn't tell if they could do anything of the sort; although it would be kind of hard for Gajeel to turn himself into metal.
Wendy could surround herself and others in wind, it wasn't something that was exactly hard. But the average person did not set themselves on fire and live without major injuries.
Nashi was smart. She knew it had to do with the magic she had inherited from her father, but she wasn't sure which magic it was; whether it was the demon or dragon magic. She couldn't exactly ask her guildmates either as they were too far away. They didn't even know the extent of what happened either, Nashi refusing to tell them anything.
The child kind of regretted it now, but there was nothing she could do. She was forced into a situation she didn't know how to deal with, especially at a young age. It was only natural for her to act like that.
The problem now though, was that Nashi wasn't sure if she could use the magic, in public at least. She didn't know what was distinctly dragon magic and what was a demon curse, so if she accidently used the wrong one, she would be found out immediately. It was especially bad if it were to happen in front of Madeline and Miss Iris, then she would be found out and without shelter.
But… Nashi thought with a frown. She was itching to try her magic again, wanting to feel the excitement of unlocking a new skill, without the negative emotions this time.
Closing her hand into a fist, Nashi tried setting that on fire. She managed to make a small flame, which was easy for her at this point. It wasn't something that Romeo had necessarily taught her, but more a skill that she had just naturally gained.
Now, how do I make the flame go to my whole body? She thought.
"You have to meditate." Uncle Gajeel grunted.
"Meditate? What's that?" Nashi tilted her head.
"It's doing nothing, in simple terms…"
"Nothing? But how is that supposed to help my magic?!" The child huffed.
"I don't know, it just helps!"
"You're no help Uncle Gajeel!" Nashi stuck her tongue out at him.
The iron dragonslayer growled, "Yea, yea you little runt."
"What are you two talking about?" A familiar blunette chirped, walking up to her husband and the small slayer.
Nashi pouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Aunt Levy's husband. "Uncle Gajeel is being a meanie! He won't tell me how to get stronger!"
"I told you! You have to meditate!"
"I don't know what that is!"
Gajeel groaned as Levy held a hand to her mouth, releasing a small giggle. "Is that really what caused all this?"
"Yes." The two answered simultaneously.
"Let's see, how should I go about this?" Levy put a finger to her chin in deep thought. "Meditation is like doing nothing, just letting yourself be."
"But that's what Uncle Gajeel said!" Nashi whined. None of this was making any sense!
'I'm getting there!" Levy chuckled. "It's like stopping your physical movement and focusing on the magic inside of you."
"The magic inside of me…" Nashi thought. "Like the fire?"
Levy nodded. "Kind of, yeah…"
Recalling the memory, Nashi sat, trying to clear her mind and focus on the warmth in her stomach.
When she opened her eyes though, she found that she wasn't in an orange haze as she had hoped.
"Dang it!" Nashi cursed silently, careful not to alert anyone in the surrounding area. "Why isn't it working?!"
Nashi groaned, hesitantly trudging back inside. She would have to work on this later. For now though, she needed rest. She didn't want to fall asleep on the job!
"Hey..."
"Hello?"
"Brat!"
Nashi jumped at the last name, turning to Miss Iris. "Y-yes?"
"Would you stop daydreaming and get to washing? You're taking too long!" She scolded, crossing her arms across her torso.
"S-sorry ma'am."
Iris gave the hooded child a long look before rolling her eyes and going back to prepare the next dishes. "You seem distracted. Is there anything bothering you?"
Yes, Nashi wanted to answer, but she knew that she couldn't say anything. She didn't know if magic was another thing she should conceal. In truth, she had been thinking about her attempt at practicing magic last night. It hadn't gone as planned, and Nashi was searching her memories for a reason why.
She was frustrated. Why was it so hard when she had done it before?
More than that, how was she going to find her father? She had already gone out of Magnolia, but she was nowhere near finding him. She didn't even know where he was, or where she was in relation with Magnolia, no one had anticipated her escape anyways.
She wanted to ask around so badly! Her father seemed to be famous, there was no way that all the people that came in daily had no idea who her father was. Nashi was sure that she could've found at least one cluse, but she didn't want to expose herself in the process.
"No," Nashi finally answered. "I'm just... thinking about things."
"If you say so," Iris grumbled, adding the freshly chopped green onions to the boiling ramen. She knew there was more than the child was letting on, but she figured she would have all of her questions about the child answered eventually.
She just didn't know how close that time would be.
"Mother," Madeline barged into the kitchen. "You have some visitors, they're at the entrance."
"Really?" Iris frowned. They weren't really used to getting any visitors, if you didn't count their numerous customers that is. "What did they want?"
"They're looking for someone I think, but they didn't tell me any more details.."
"Alright, let's check it out." Iris halted her task and walked towards the door leading to the main cafeteria of the small restaurant. "Stay here, brat. Don't do anything silly while we're gone."
"I won't."
As soon as the two left the kitchen, Nashi quickly caught the door and peered outside. She looked at the entrance and saw two men, wearing something similar to what the guards that chased the child a few days ago wore. Nashi wasn't sure why, but she had a bad feeling about the newcomers.
Thankful for her great hearing, she listened into their conversation as the two women approached the pair. "This better be important if you're causing me to stop working."
"But it is," The guard cleared his throat. "We're a part of the Magic Council. We've heard of sightings of E.N.D around this area and we're asking around to investigate."
Madeline gasped in shock, fear consuming her features. "E.N.D? But I thought he disappeared a long time ago?"
Nashi was confused. Who was END, and why was it causing Miss Madeline to be so afraid?
The second guard chimed in. "He was seen around the outskirts of Hargeon about three days ago, but our guards weren't able to relocate him after he ran off."
Iris frowned, but alas she stayed silent and allowed the two guards to continue.
"So, now we have to ask," The first guard continued. "Have you encountered anyone in this establishment that could possibly be E.N.D?"
Madeline hummed. "Not really, I see most of the customers that come in but I'm not sure I've seen anyone that had pink hair."
Madeline knew someone with pink hair? Nashi questioned, becoming optimistic. Was it possible that she knew where her father was?Ecstatic, Nashi nearly pushed the door open and darted to the four adults, but stopped when she heard what the adults said next.
"Are you sure?" The guard asked yet again. "It's imperative that we find him this time, we must lock him up for good."
Nashi frowned, remembering how her father wasn't exactly well-known for a good reason. Was it possible that he was mistaken for END?
"Yes, especially since we now have the authority to do so."
"What do you mean?" Madeline raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't the Magic Council always looking for him?"
"Yes," The first guard answered hesitantly. "But he's never actually done anything that has intentionally harmed anyone, so it was hard to find a way to charge him."
"What?" Madeline furrowed her eyes. "That doesn't make any sense! If he hasn't done anything wrong, then why are we told to be afraid of him and why must he be locked up? Were the stories fake?"
"Because he's a threat!" The guard snapped, ignoring the redhead's last question. "He's too powerful. We can't risk that power turning on us, can we? One mistake and we'll all be decimated! There's no telling what he'll do!"
Madeline looked away from the guard, still confused but alas defeated. She would never understand how the council worked, but as long as they proclaimed to keep the people safe, she couldn't really argue with them.
"Simmer down, boy. You're scaring the customers," Iris narrowed her hazel eyes at the man, who muttered a small apology. "Anyways, what was he wearing?"
"He was wearing a black cloak, although people say he seemed smaller than what people thought…" Madeline and Iris shared a look.
Nashi froze, connecting the dots. She was wearing a black cloak, she had pink hair, she had run from some guards a few days ago, and she was small. The child had even recalled the words that someone had yelled at her a few days prior.
"It's him! END!"
Nashi felt like she was going to throw up as she started to tremble.
They were looking for her.
They had come to take her away.
Tears threatening to escape, she shut the door and scampered to the back of the kitchen, hoping that the guards hadn't caught a glimpse of her.
Unbeknownst to Nashi however, Iris had been watching the girl in the corner of her eye from the start.
A/N: This took so long I'm soooooo sorry. The next uploads will probably take awhile too because I'm writing these a few chapters ahead so I'm trying to finish writing the rest of the story before I continue posting. (Just to make sure it makes sense haha) Also this was lightly proofread so yeah. Let me know what you thing, see you sometime soon!
