Things are heating up kids! Our favorite hot headed, pink haired pyro is about to find himself in an interesting position. I wonder how he will react…

As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!


"Leo, buddy, I get the feeling you didn't think this through," Natsu said.

"What are you talking about?"

Natsu remained where he was in the center of Lucy's kitchen. He hadn't moved an inch since Leo had brought them there, afraid he might break down if he walked through her home. His fingers dug into his arms in a painful grip as he tried to keep himself from touching her things, walking where she walked, laying where she laid…

"You said you brought me here to help you find her, right?"

"Yes, so would you please stop the statue routine and start looking?"

"She wasn't even taken from here! You said yourself that she was on her way home when she was grabbed."

"I said I think she was," Leo corrected. "If she'd been in her house, my runes should have stopped her. However, I understand that all demons have differences in their magic and maybe one of them could have snuck her out."

"So your magic would have stopped the demon from grabbing Lucy or just leaving?"

"It would have caught the demon in a trap between the layers of runes, stopping them from getting in and keeping them away from Lucy so she was safe while I worked on getting here."

Natsu glanced around the kitchen. Plue was rubbing against his ankles, his purrs so loud they practically echoed around the space. In a blink, Natsu disappeared into a black smudge on the floor and then was gone all together. The cat stared at the space for a moment, and then sat down to wait, as though knowing Natsu would return.

A moment later, Leo heard his runes trip, sensing Natsu's presence as it slipped passed. He put his hand on the wall and found that Natsu had slipped all the way through to the outside. After a little while, he slipped back in and then reformed in the kitchen.

Natsu rolled one of his shoulders as Plue resumed his rubbing. "It's a good barrier, but a nightmare demon would definitely be able to slip through. I had some trouble, no doubt because I'm only half demon, but someone like Midnight would have been able to do that no problem. It might have slowed him down a little bringing Lucy with him, but not enough to stop him."

"Then will you look through the rest of her home, please? You just proved he could have grabbed her here."

"Did you not do a trace spell?" Natsu asked.

"Yes," Leo said, "but it didn't work. Now will you just-"

"Why?"

A shutter came down over Leo's face. "I don't know. Now will you just do it, please?"

Natsu casually moved to sit at Lucy's table, in her seat of course, and studied Leo. The angel was wound tight, and it was obvious he was trying to look casual, but he was failing. "What's going on, Leo?"

"There's nothing-"

Natsu cut him off. "Don't lie to me. The longer you refuse to talk, the longer we wait to find Lucy." Even saying it made Natsu want to skin himself as the itch started. He hated that he wasn't looking for her, but he had a feeling he needed to confront whatever was bothering Leo first in order for them to be effective.

"It's nothing."

"Nothing wouldn't be bothering you. Talk."

Eventually Leo sat down with a grumble. "The missing piece that's in Lucy is messing with my magic."

One of Natsu's brows shot up. "What do you mean?"

"Most of my magic is fine, but some of my spells just get caught where that hole is. I think it needs to finish healing, but I don't know for sure. I've never heard of it happening to another angel, so as far as I know, I might just always have this problem." He put his face in his hands. "I'm hoping we can find her soon enough I can pull it back out and try and fix it."

"And if you can't?"

Leo looked up and then averted his gaze. "I'm trying not to think about it."

Natsu watched him for a moment more and then stood. "Well, let's get this going. Lucy doesn't have all day for us to pull our heads out of our asses and save her."


"Is there something wrong, sire?" Gillax asked.

Zeref didn't respond as he stood over Lucy and watched her. She was pale and her skin was coated in sweat. Her brows were smashed together and her breaths were coming out in gasps most of the time. He leaned closer, but his conclusion was the same.

She was not at death's door. And wasn't that disappointing?

He stood up with a frown and wondered what they had done wrong.

"No matter," he said out loud, surprising Gillax. "There's more than one way to gut a hybroneux and more than one way to kill a human."

He left without another word, wondering if perhaps he should allow the honor to go to his partners, but then banished the idea.

As he was doing all the work, he decided he should be allowed to be the one to kill the Heartfilia heir.

It really was too bad the other kings weren't on board with the idea. Something so monumental deserved a ceremony.

With another smile, he entered the elevator and began to plan.


"So what are you saying?"

Leo leaned back against the wall as Natsu answered Erza's question. "I need to perform-"

"I heard that part," she said with a wave of her hand. "It's the where that's the problem."

Natsu frowned. "I thought you were both certain my brother was involved?"

"I do not recall using the word 'certain.'"

Leo rolled his eyes. "Erza, you said you suspected him."

"Yes, and knowing where Natsu was being kept has proven I was right that he was keeping something from me."

"So you honestly think he was just hiding Natsu for no reason? Come on, Erza, you gotta give me this. That's a hell of a coincidence otherwise."

"Coincidences do happen," she said. "Look at Natsu. It's a rather big coincidence that he showed up as Lucy's demon when she shouldn't have even been able to summon him, and turned out to be his mate."

Leo shook his head. "That's not a coincidence, that's divine providence. Without her being the target of the prophecy, her life would have passed in relative normalcy just like the others."

"So says you."

Natsu could see Leo getting worked up, so he decided to intervene. Normally he wouldn't, but this was wasting valuable time they could be using to find Lucy. "At any rate, if you guys are right, this will save us time. I just need to get onto the property without Zeref noticing me. If he finds me, we'll have problems."

"Can't you just disguise yourself?" Leo asked.

"He's my family. He'd see through that kind of magic. And with our shared blood, I'm not sure a handmade one would work either. As it is, my proximity might set him off, which is why I need you two to distract him."

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Erza asked.

"Tell him you're following up on a lead or something. Ask if he suspects the other kings. Give him whatever you need to so he has his full attention on you."

"What if we told him what we really know?" Leo suggested. "That might spook him enough to want to check in on Lucy, perhaps lead us to her."

"He would never be so stupid as to do that while we're around," Erza pointed out.

"Yes, but Natsu could follow him. I can hide him for a little while with my magic. If he can figure out where Zeref is hiding her, if he's hiding her, then we can go get her back."

"Are you sure you can do it?" Natsu asked, giving the angel a hard look.

"Yes, I'm sure," Leo said, answering the hybrid's look with one of his own.

After a moment, Natsu nodded. "Fine. I'll only need a few minutes to do the ritual." His fist tightened around the journal in his hand. "If she's there, it's all I'll need."

Erza nodded and then stood. "Let's get going then."


Natsu stuck to the shadows as he watched Leo and Erza walk up the front steps. He hadn't wanted to say anything, but he'd begun to suspect his brother as well. While his brother had always been nice to him, he'd been off when Natsu had last spoken to him. And with his first solution to be to send him off instead of convincing him to talk like he usually would…

Added to that, now that he was back, he could feel Lucy stronger here. Even if Zeref wasn't the one who took Lucy, she was still somewhere near him, and that was a pretty strong case against him being involved. The door opened and Zeref's stuffy butler appeared. Natsu sank further into his shadows until the trio entered the house and the door closed.

When the door shut, he took a deep breath and sat back to wait. He needed to give the others a few minutes to get started before he came close, to make sure Zeref would have his attention on them.

As he waited, he allowed himself a moment to just feel. He was pretty proud of himself for how well he was holding everything together. Despite having only had a few hours to process Lucy being ripped from his life, he was doing rather well, his destruction at Zeref's other home aside.

Natsu attributed that to his mating instincts. That part of him was strong, and was overpowering the rest of his emotions to keep him focused on saving Lucy. He was glad for it, because underneath all of that…

Under all that, he was a wreck.

Lucy had not only been taken from him, to live her life without him, far out of his reach, but he could nothing to change it. He had had his mate for a month. Or was it two? He didn't know, but he knew it wasn't long enough. He was in a turmoil the likes of which he'd never experienced before, and now with her missing, it was infinitely worse. Despite the focus his mating side was providing, he kept thinking about what could be happening to her, and the ideas were worse and worse with time.

With a shake of his head, Natsu turned back to the castle. He could feel Leo and Erza inside and he could tell his brother was with them. Even though he wasn't sure how long they'd been talking to him, he wasn't willing to wait anymore. No matter how focused he was, he was still a hair trigger, and everything in him was screaming at him to find Lucy now.

With a quick scan of the area, he left his hiding place and began to look around Zeref's castle. The thing was enormous, but in his shadows, he was able to finish his search in record time. There was a small alcove in the courtyard that was out of the way and mostly hidden. He would have preferred to stay outside of the building, but it would be smarter to do the ritual in the middle of Zeref's castle. If Lucy was inside somewhere, she would be easier to find this way.

He rose out of his shadows and checked around him once more. There were four doors that opened into the courtyard, but none of the paths passed near his hiding spot. Since Zeref had no pets that might sniff him out and the ritual was silent, he would be fine where he was. He set Lucy's journal on the ground in front of him, careful to pick a dry spot. Next, he pulled out the stones he had prepared in advance and put them around the journal at even intervals. Once they were properly placed, Natsu checked to make sure the symbols were in the appropriate order before he started the spell. He leaned forward and placed his hands on either side of the book, inside the circle, and closed his eyes.

He started up the mantra in his head as he willed his body to relax and sank into his magic. The deeper he could go, the better the spell would work. He ignored the heat, the buzz in the air, the footsteps within the walls, the sweat on his skin. He sank further and further into himself, willing his inner senses to rise to the surface.

The spell he was using was designed to use an item that was treasured by the person being sought out and help to discern their whereabouts. People on the move could be tracked and anyone sitting still could easily be located, so long as the spell was performed properly. Natsu wiped his mind, forcing himself to only feel his magic as it searched for Lucy's location. If he could not find anything, it meant she was in a different realm. All he needed was a ping, just one little ping, and he would know he was in the right place…

Just as he felt something shift in his magic, a door opened into the courtyard.

"So you're saying you know where she is?" Zeref's voice floated across the air, threatening to distract Natsu from his spell.

"No, we're saying we have some suspicions, but nothing concrete yet," Erza corrected.

There was a pause. "Tell me, Leo the Lion, why is it one of our demons is helping you find your charge?"

"She is as worried as I am, of course, and offered to aid me in recovering Lucy," Leo answered.

Natsu ignored them, cutting off the noises around him, and focused on Lucy's name. He said it over and over in his head, recalling every detail about her that he could.

That shift started again, and then he could feel it, a line between himself and his mate. It was flimsy and dull, but he continued to focus, making it grow brighter and more detailed. He knew she was in his realm.

Relief flooded him, allowing his magic to rise up and strengthen the spell on its own. As the line became even more focused, Natsu felt his anger rise. It stretched straight below him, miles below him. When the end of the line lit up, marking Lucy's location, Natsu's concentration snapped.

His eyes flashed open, immediately cutting off the spell. As a growl began to build in his throat, he slammed his hands over his mouth. He wasn't alone yet, and if Zeref figured out he was there, they would have no chance of getting to Lucy in time.

"I understand your concern, but I think you should focus more on finding the Heartfilia heir than my brother." Zeref's voice was farther away now. "He was very upset when he came to speak to me. I think he needs more time to pull himself together before you speak to him again."

Natsu's anger spiked, and rather than go after his brother, who he desperately still wanted to trust, he picked up the journal and sank back into his shadows.

He was through waiting.

He was going to find Lucy on his own.

Leo felt a chill sweep through him as Erza continued to speak to Zeref. He looked around, pretending to study the landscape, as he searched for the source of the cold. When he finally realized what it was, he had to stop himself from cursing out loud.

Natsu was on the move.

He turned back towards the other two, as nonchalant as he could be. "Erza, he's right. Even if Natsu didn't hate us right now, he's not allowed to be around Lucy. We'd have to get permission from all the kings and that would take too long."

Erza studied him with a sharp eye as he spoke and then nodded. "Fine." She turned back towards Zeref. "If you hear anything, please let us know. With one of your demons involved, you might be the best bet we have of figuring out where Lucy is."

The king nodded. "Of course. I promise if I hear anything, I will let you know immediately." He reached forward and shook their hands. "Believe me, none of the kings wants a return to the origin, least of all me. It would ruin everything we've built over the last few centuries."

"Thank you," Leo said. "We'll get out of your hair now. We apologize for taking up your time."

"It was no trouble," Zeref said with a smile. "I'll walk you out."

Leo barely managed to maintain his cool until they left the castle and moved out of earshot. "We have to get to Natsu. Now."

"What did he do?"

"I think he found Lucy. I don't know how he's getting there, but I could feel him moving around the castle and then he went underground, fast."

Erza crossed her arms as she thought. "I am unaware of any way for us to get underground to follow him without finding whatever way Zeref uses."

"I do, but I'll need some help hiding her entry. Zeref will feel it no matter what I do to try and cover it up."

"Just tell me what to do."


Natsu shot down the elevator shaft until he felt a change in the air. It became moist and warm, not like the rest of the cold journey down. He slowed down, stopping only once he'd hit the bottom. He partially reformed to check for other life forms. When he was certain there were none, he slipped through the crack in the doors and reformed just on the other side.

Looking around, he felt his stomach twist at what he found. Multiple screens shone at him with varying information, most of it about Lucy. He found machines surrounding a flat metal table, one of which still had blood in the tube connected to it. The drip of Lucy's blood on the metal table nearly sent Natsu into a fit, but he managed to calm himself just as he gripped the edge of the table. He moved his hands and pressed them against the center.

It was still warm.

Briefly, he considered trying to get Erza and Leo to help him, but decided against it. As far underground as he was, his brother wouldn't be able to sense him, but if he returned to the surface, he risked his brother figuring out he was there.

He sniffed the air, catching Lucy's scent first. He took a deep breath, and once he was assured that she'd been alive when she'd been moved, he continued to sniff out whoever else had been there.

He could smell one scent that was mixed with cleaning agents and other chemicals. He assumed that was Gillax, the researcher Erza had mentioned. As he breathed in more and more of the room, he realized there were two scents he recognized, but couldn't name. After a couple minutes, he quit trying to identify them and instead tracked them.

He figured out that all four had left the same way, so he sank into his shadows once more and followed the trail. As he made his way through the labyrinth, he realized the lab was much more extensive than he could have ever imagined. He briefly wondered what other experiments his brother had been working on, but then shut those thoughts down so he could focus.

Eventually, he found himself in the entrance to a cave. Fully within his shadows, he climbed the wall, moving along the crevices to hide his presence. Once he had a good spot, he scanned the room.

Red hot anger flashed through him as he saw the large pool in the middle, filled with Lucy's blood. Symbols had been written around the entire thing, in multiple rows that covered from the floor to the innermost rim. The pool was so full, Natsu wasn't sure much more would fit in it before it spilled over.

Voices floated up to him and he realized there was another doorway besides the one he'd come through. As he watched, a pair of demons entered, carrying Lucy between them. Her head flopped like a ragdoll, but Natsu could have sworn he saw her limbs twitching every so often like she was awake.

The trio entered the candlelight in the middle of the cave, and as the demons began to string Lucy up to a large cross, Natsu realized he knew who they were. Xeenathen and Rhjothe, two of the demon kings…

He couldn't believe it. He'd been certain none of the kings wanted a return to the origin.

Now that he thought about it… he didn't know why he'd believed such a thing. Demons were greedy and evil by nature, at least most of them. Bringing back the origin would give them a huge advantage. By not keeping them separated from the races that had little or no magic, they could easily run rampant across the whole of the origin and eventually rule. Why wouldn't they want that?

And what if there were others? He could only see the two, but that didn't mean they were alone. And if he had to fight them and Zeref…

He didn't know if he could win.

He didn't know if he could save Lucy.

Deciding it would be best to find Leo and Erza, he began to retreat, but before he could, he saw more movement.

A shadow rose up next to the kings, neither of which reacted to the presence. Once he had fully formed, Midnight crossed his arms and legs and floated on his shadows in the space next to them. "Are you guys getting ready for the completion of the ritual?"

"We are," the taller one said. Xeenathen was extremely thin, with white skin, bonelike wings, and teeth that were inches long. "Zeref asked us to set up while he took care of some business upstairs."

"Well you might want to be careful," Midnight warned.

"Why is that?" Rhjothe asked. His red skin and burning hair created a consistent glow around him that lit the ground a few feet in every direction.

Midnight glanced up and then pointed directly at Natsu. "Some of the upstairs business seems to have found its way downstairs."