Chapter Ten: The Hideout

Natsu watched in satisfaction as Nullpudding and Kurohebi finally fell on their knees, catching their breaths and glaring at their enemies with contempt. Apparently, they had underestimated Fairy Tail's teamwork, he thought, adjusting his scale-patterned scarf around his neck.

It wasn't that they weren't skilled. Nullpudding had the capability of expanding parts of his body like Makarov and producing spikes from his body at will, and Kurohebi could copy magic from the mages and exert the same amount of magic energy. While the older mage played the role of defense, the younger one, on the other hand, acted as the offense.

The only problem with these dark mages was that they had lousy timing, and they didn't work well together. Nullpudding had been bossy while Kurohebi had been a complete whiner. As a result, Natsu, Gray, Juvia, and Gajeel had easily kicked their asses.

"Had enough?" taunted Gray, grinning smugly at the Raven Tail duo. "What do you say you surrender in peace and tell us where your master is?"

"We'll never surrender to the likes of you!" sneered Nullpudding, his eyes glittering maliciously. He staggered back to his feet and then charged forward at the ice mage, his abnormally large fist aiming directly at him.

Although Gray was poised to dodge the attack, Juvia stepped in between them and blasted the attacker with her water magic, sending him back next to Kurohebi.

Spitting and coughing water from his mouth, the purple-skinned mage raged, "You'll pay for that one, you little bitch!"

"Hey, watch it," said Gejeel angrily, turning his arm into a long metal spear.

"Let me handle this," hissed Kurohebi, copying the iron mage's move; his arm also transformed into a metal spear.

Nullpudding placed his fat hand on his comrade's shoulder. "No," he growled. "I think it's time for us to head back to our hideout. Let's go."

The mimic mage gave him an uncertain look. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, you idiot! Now summon some lightning magic and teleport us out of here!"

"Oh, no, ya don't," yelled Natsu, running toward the dark mages with his fists aflame.

Kurohebi flashed his snake-like eyes at the fire mage and snickered. Then, within seconds, the Raven Tail duo disappeared into thin air before Natsu could even reach them. He tried to sniff them out, but their scents were no longer detectable.

"They're gone!" exclaimed Happy, glancing everywhere.

"Damn, we almost had them!" snarled Gajeel.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Juvia worriedly, looking at Natsu and Gray. "Should we split up and look for them?"

The ice mage frowned. "I guess we have no choice. Without them, we're clueless as to where they'd taken Laxus and Lucy," he replied.

"With their bruises, I'm sure they couldn't have gone far," suggested Happy.

"Alright. Gray, Happy, and I will search for them this way," declared Natsu, pointing to the East. "The two of you will search that way." He cocked his head to the West while looking at Juvia and Gajeel. "If any of us see somethin', we'll send a signal. Ya hear?"

The water mage looked startled at the thought of being separated from Gray, but Gajeel already grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. "Yeah, we have the flare gun," he agreed.

"Then, let's get moving," said Gray. "Catch you guys later, okay?" With a final wave, he followed Natsu and Happy as they headed to the East side of the woods.

"You bet," grunted Gajeel. Then, he began walking toward his designated direction, dragging Juvia along with him.


Lucy gasped and stared in amazement as streaks of electricity emerged everywhere in the cell, magnificently lighting up the place. She glanced back at Laxus, who looked pleased with himself, his imposing confidence returning.

"You can use magic," she said excitedly. "But how...?" She turned her attention to where his magic canceling mark once had been.

The lightning mage followed the direction of her gaze and smirked; the horrible-looking mark on his right chest was gone. This could only mean that he was able to void the magic canceling spell that the vile creature had placed on him.

So that was all it took, huh,he thought wryly, gazing into Lucy's hazel brown eyes. Mavis, she was beautiful, warm, and attractive—how the devil could he have ever hurt her the way he did?

When he had kissed her moments ago, his senses were filled with tremendous arousal. Something had ignited inside of him that he couldn't quite fathom. Learning that the celestial mage also had feelings for him had made him want to protect her even more—and make her his at the same time.

"I can now understand what Jiji's been telling me all these years," he mused, lifting her chin with his fingers and watching her greedily.

"What are you talking about?" asked Lucy, distracted by his arresting gray eyes and realized that they had flecks of blue in them.

Laxus was quiet for a moment. Then, he dropped his hand and started walking toward the barred entrance. Without wasting time, he blasted off the steel bars by raising a crackling fist, causing a loud, zapping explosion.

"Certain emotions can increase one's magic power and ability," he said, turning around to grin at the celestial mage. "The strong desire to protect the ones you care about—it's where Fairy Tail gets their real strength from. Thanks to you, I was able to break out from that magic canceling spell."

Lucy had no words to say to that but felt flattered. However, that feeling was only fleeting when she realized that she couldn't sense her magic power coming back yet. No kidding. She wanted to protect Fairy Tail as much as he did—so why?

But then again, the towering mage in front of her was far more powerful than her. She really needed to make peace with that fact. Right now, she could only hope to find the others as soon as possible, get her celestial gate keys back, and then complete their mission in defeating and capturing Raven Tail.

"Lucy," he said softly. "You okay? You're spacing out."

Lucy blinked a few times before coming back to her senses. She gave him a quick smile. "Yeah," she answered, "I'm fine. I was just… Amazed, I guess. I'm glad you have your magic powers back."

Laxus looked at her for a moment with one corner of his lips curving upward. Then, he moved toward her, his eyes never leaving her face. Before she knew what was happening, his lips brushed against hers in a tentative kiss.

Unwittingly, she took a step back from him and swallowed hard.

"What's the matter?" he asked, surprised.

"Listen, uh," she mumbled. "We can talk about this later. We need to get out of here first and find the others. I want to make sure that they're okay."

His face fell, evident that he didn't expect this kind of reaction from her. But he simply nodded and gestured for them to leave the cell.

"Yeah, let's go find the others."


Ivan had just ended his conversation with Jude Heartfilia over the communications lacrima when he heard a loud explosion coming from the underground cell. As soon as he sensed Laxus' powerful lightning magic, he glared accusingly at Obra, who was crouching conveniently on his shoulder.

Angrily grabbing the small creature by the neck, he snarled, "What's the meaning of this, Obra? I thought you placed a magic canceling spell on that boy?"

Obra's eyes widened in surprise, and it desperately tried to squirm out of the man's vice-grip to no avail. Unable to breathe, it made a gagging noise.

"Master, don't!" cried Flare, tugging at her master's arm, but she was easily pushed aside by the powerfully-built man.

"I'm this close to finally getting what I want," seethed the illusion mage, "and you just had to mess it up because you didn't do your job!" With that, he threw Obra against the wall.

The redhead rushed toward the wheezing creature and held it in her arms.

Ivan watched them in pure disgust, thinking how useless they were. Then, he raised his muscular arms, trying to summon his illusion magic. He didn't want to take the risk of fighting his son without his lieutenants, Nullpudding and Kurohebi—who should've been back in their hideout by now.

He realized that if Laxus was able to find a way to thwart Obra's magic canceling spell, then he was not to be underestimated. Damn it. Damn him. For now, he needed to hide himself and his worthless puppets until the time was right.


Juvia sighed and glanced up to look at her tall, dark companion as they both wandered aimlessly into the woods. But then, she thought of Gray and how badly she wanted to go with him to look for their missing comrades. However, she knew they still had a better chance of finding their guildmates if they had someone with dragon slayer senses.

The iron mage was looking straight ahead, silently fuming over the fact that Juvia had looked so blatantly disappointed when she had to part ways with the ice mage pretty boy. He didn't realize that he was still gripping her hand tightly in his.

"Does Gajeel-san mind letting go of Juvia now?" prompted Juvia.

"Oh," was all Gajeel said, and he immediately dropped her hand without looking at her.

They continued their search in silence, looking everywhere to see any signs of movements or danger. It was already getting dark, and they could hear bats and critters in every direction.

"I hope you're not scared of snakes or spiders," the iron mage snickered, trying to break the ice.

The blue-haired girl scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Those things don't scare Juvia."

"Is that so? Gihihi," he continued to tease her. "Tell me. What scares you then?"

Juvia thought of Gray rejecting her feelings, and she felt a chill run down her spine. She would do anything to win his affections, but what would be the best way to do that? Should she ask Gajeel? No. That was probably a terrible idea. The iron mage was always so overprotective of her that it was beyond annoying.

"You're no fun," came Gajeel's grumble when she didn't answer his question. She's probably still thinking about him. Ugh. Juvia…

Moments later, they felt the ground shake.

Gajeel stopped in his tracks and grinned. "Gihihi. Sensed that one, Juvia?"

Juvia had stopped, too. "It's Laxus-san's magic. Juvia can feel it!" she breathed.

He nodded and then looked down. "They're underground, I can tell. Go signal the others while I start digging." With that, he transformed his arm into an iron dragon shovel.

The water mage quickly opened her small bag and pulled out the flare gun that Gajeel had given her prior to departing for the mission. Then, she pointed it to the sky and pulled the trigger.


The sky was starting to grow dark, and the breeze suddenly became chilly. Natsu, Happy, and Gray searched everywhere for any signs of Raven Tail or their missing comrades, but they didn't have any luck.

"Ne—Natsu!" called Happy, falling a step beside the fire mage.

Natsu glanced down at his best friend as he led the others deeper into the woods. "What is it, buddy?" he asked distractedly.

"Lucy dropped these earlier," the blue feline replied, wiggling a group of keys with his paws. "I think you should carry them."

"Whoa! Good job, Happy." He took the silver and golden keys from his best friend and then slid them inside the pocket of his pants. "Can imagine her goin' nuts out there, wonderin' what happened to her celestial gate keys."

"Think she and Laxus are alright?" mumbled Gray. He didn't really mean to ask out loud, but he was worried sick about those two.

"Of course, they are," declared the pink-haired boy, gritting his teeth. He was apparently worried about his friends, too, but was unwilling to show it. "Once I find Raven Tail, I'm gonna teach 'em a lesson they'll never forget! No one messes with Fairy Tail and gets away with it!"

At that moment, they saw a red flare in the sky, indicating Juvia and Gajeel's signal. They tensed up and looked at one another.

"Ikuzo!"


Laxus wasn't surprised to find bookshelves, tables, chairs, and even sleeping cots a few turns from the prison cell where he and Lucy had been. The place was, after all, a dark guild's hideout.

He could still smell his father's scent, but he couldn't find him or his followers anywhere. They might have heard the explosion that he created in the prison cell and then decided to flee. What cowards.

Pathetic.

Right now, he wanted to find his other comrades. He was convinced that they wouldn't lose to those Raven Tail thugs, but he still wanted to make sure that they were okay.

To his annoyance, Lucy hadn't uttered anything since they left the prison cell. What was going on in her mind, he couldn't guess. As much as he wanted to hasten his pace, he didn't want this blonde chick to fall behind.

What if he just teleported them both out of the hideout? That should save them some time. But Laxus would need to hold Lucy close so that his teleportation magic would work on both of them. Would she let him?

The lightning mage was about to share his thoughts with her when he heard a rumbling sound from above.

Lucy looked up and stared curiously. "What's going on up there?"

Laxus frowned as he sensed that someone was heading straight to their direction from above. Any moment now, he was about to learn who was doing all that digging. Could it be...?

"Oi, found you, Blondie!" yelled Gajeel as he landed heavily on the ground along with several rocks. He was covered with dirt and maybe a few wriggly worms, but he was smiling broadly at Lucy. But when his gaze shifted to Laxus, he cleared his throat and gave him a curt nod. "Laxus."

"You found us!" cried Lucy.

Moments later, a sturdy-looking rescue rope descended from the large hole that the iron mage had created using his metal arm shaped like a giant shovel.

"Juvia's up there with Natsu and Gray," explained Gajeel as he transformed his metal arm back to normal and took hold of the rope. "They're going to pull us up, so I'm gonna go first, okay? Gihihi."

"Yeah, okay," answered Lucy, feeling relieved. She beamed at Laxus, who was looking at her oddly, and then her smile faltered. She could tell that he was still awkward around her, but maybe they could talk about what happened later.

"Lucy! It's your turn!" they could hear Natsu yelling.

The celestial mage held the rope in her hands and looked at Laxus for a moment. "Well," she murmured, "I'll see you up there."

The tall mage nodded his head, his stormy eyes glued into hers. "Yeah. See you."