Chapter 26: Natsu vs Irene
An unusual sight greeted the male guests as they accompanied Lady Irene into her house. There in the center of the room, a little girl with a pink cowgirl hat played with two dolls – the picture of innocence and serenity.
Irene's eyes grew soft focusing on the dark-haired child; the little girl beamed up at the lady.
"Lady Irene! Lunacy and Heine are getting bored! We want you to teach us how to shoot." The child's smile was bright and full of joy, holding a doll in each fist as she ran to Irene.
The owner of Phantom S place her fist on her hips and in a rather stern voice lectured the girl, "Now Asuka you know that your mother said that you have to be older before you learn to shoot. You can't go behind your parents' back. Do you want me to tell your dad or Erza?"
The little girl's face filled with horror as she excitedly yelled, "No ma'am! Erza will make me whitewash the fence with a toothbrush again!" Asuka shuddered at the punishment Phantom's head foreman could bestow on her.
"Now go upstairs and take your dolls with you. We have company. Adult stuff. Don't come downstairs until someone comes to get you. Play in Eric's room," Irene smiled over at her son, "and if he has anything laying on the floor, throw it out the window."
Cobra backpedaled from leading Laxus and Jellal to the couch, casting a quick scowl at his mother, before chasing the squealing munchkin to the stairs, "What?! Hey kid! You better not…" Asuka had already dashed to the top out of his reach. "If you so much as touch my stuff kid, I will beat you!"
The man pouted before growing red-faced at the widening eyes of the Jellal and Laxus.
"Damn. A man is entitled to his privacy." Cobra asked, embarrassed in front of guests, "Why did you tell her that?"
"I told you to keep your room clean, I'm your mother not your wife or your housekeeper, clean up your own shit." Irene flashed her eyes at her son.
"Sorry I'm not a neat freak like Erza." He complained, folding his arms.
"We all wish we were more like Erza." Irene spoke as she trailed to her whisky cabinet. "Drink? We seem to have a surplus of alcohol lately courtesy of Bora."
The Love and Lucky boys declined. It was strange seeing Irene in a maternal role, especially for Jellal who still remembered how she had tried to seduce him in the worker's bunks, pretending to be her daughter.
"So why are you here?" The lady finally sat, crossing her legs in a seductive manner that let the slit of her skirt show way more than what the boys wanted to see. Laxus nodded to his blue haired partner, who launched into a summary of the night's search for Lucy. Jellal carefully scrutinized Irene's every reaction, starting from her expression to her body language in order to weed out her innocence, or guilt.
For the most part she didn't move, and she genuinely seemed surprise at the news. Although, he could almost detect a hint of happiness rising in her eyes before it disappeared completely. She might be innocent of abducting the girl, but she wasn't innocent of something.
The part about Levy riding off into the woods on the back of a Loke gave Irene some amusement. She barked out a laugh. "I always knew you were backwards at Love and Lucky. Having little girls ride giant house cats."
Cobra also gave a snort, his eyes dancing with mirth as well as he asked, "Save a horse, ride a pussy?"
Frowning, Jellal hissed at their light hearted banned. "This situation is very serious. We want to know if you had anything to do with this? Or if you knew about it."
"This is news to me."
Irene could feel her face muscles working into a sneer but decided to be nice, taking in account of the dark circles under the two men's eyes and genuinely curious as to who could have kidnapped her rival. She calmly took swallow of liquor, before questioning, "Besides me, do you have any other suspects?"
Jellal frowned thoughtfully. He strolled over to the fireplace before leaning against the mantel with his forearm. "The only only nefarious group around would be the slave traders but they are currently being rounded up by Natsu and the military."
The two phantom members gave a quick look before Eric wondered, "You don't think? Because of that?"
"Eric Cobra Belserion you hush your mouth right now. There's no need to speak of that incident."
"What type of incident?"
"We recently fired two employees – Cain and Jacob. You remember them?"
Laxus frowned remembering Lucy's reaction to whenever these two men were mentioned."Apparently Cain was drunk one day and spewed the truth before Jacob shut him up. Eric dear, maybe you should let us know since you are the one that heard it."
Before Irene's son could mutter a reply, something caused a ruckus at the door and Erza marched into the room.
"Mother! What is the meaning of this?!" The younger Belserion demanded. Alzack and Bisca weren't far behind, dragging Sting into the room.
Jellal's heart began to pound as he saw his ex-lover, they had not embraced for several weeks now. Every time he had seen her, she had been working with her mother. He yearned to hold her, kiss her, and barely noticed Irene explaining to Erza. He loved the way her eyes spitted fire at them all, even her mother. The blue haired man carefully closed any outward signs of his inner emotions before before being distracted by the younger blonde Dreyar when Sting was thrown to the ground.
Laxus winced at the sight of his brother's freshly bruised face. The older blonde slapped his forehead to hide the exasperated look that fell on his face as Sting merely smiled from the floor, "Yoo. Fancy meeting you here."
"Idiot." Laxus murmured before telling Irene, "I think I will take that drink you offered."
Jellal seconded that notion.
Erza snapped with folded arms, "This is not the time for niceties and drinks."
"Darling that is no way to speak to our guests. Go sit by your brother and let us talk. These two are here because Lucy and Levy have gone missing and they suspect us."The younger redhead glared at Jellal, "I didn't have anything to do with this." Her red lips broadening into one like a Cheshire cat before Irene handed drinks to both. Jellal raised an eyebrow while she laughed, "It's not poison."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Cobra joked.
Natsu pushed his horse faster than he normally would, starting to lose the ability to reason. He needed to search for Lucy. He didn't have time to stop this confrontation with Phantom S. The road between the ranches seem to go on forever, leaving him a lot of time to think.
Damn, Laxus Sting, and Jellal for taking matters into their own hands.
Back when he was in the army, he had been skilled so much so that he got recruited for a special squadron used for black ops. He wasn't use to other people acting on their own. If anyone did act on their own, it was usually him. The men called him "E.N.D," for bringing the end to some of the biggest war criminals and missions.
He sighed thinking of his old buddies. Most had died and the few that were left were scattered God knows where.
Since becoming a ranger, it hadn't bothered him as much since he was always moving, never getting close to anyone. The mission always was between him and the bad guy. Which was probably why his horse was so important to him back when Lucy shot Happy.
In the weeks he had been stuck at Love and Lucy, the people there had become more important to him - Laxus, Mira, Levy, Elfman, Jellal, and even the kid Sting.
But nothing compared to how much he cared for Lucy. Sure, he had been initially attracted to her, but then they became friends. And he had seen her kind heart and strength in the face of pressure. Plus she could keep up with him in banter and randomness.
Now she was gone.
And the ache in the pitt of his stomach was starting to rise until it was clutching his chest like he couldn't breath.
He couldn't lose himself yet. He couldn't go back to his old ways of doing things. He need to keep calm. He wasn't E.N.D. anymore.
Natsu needed to get the peacemaker in this interrogation between Love and Phantom.
Soon the enemy ranch came within sight. He pulled his gun out as he headed for the wall, surprised nobody had set up watch. Maybe the men were gathered inside against Laxus's group? He didn't bother to check if anyone was hidden anywhere as the gates were wide open. A lone rider moving swiftly also made a hard target and he hoped to get closer to the main house before being noticed.
He didn't want to start a war himself. That would defeat the purpose of chasing after the boys.
Of course if Phantom had anything to do with Lucy's disappearance, he wouldn't mind starting a war with them, he just didn't want anyone from Love and Lucky getting caught in the crossfire.
He drew out his gun as the first group of workers came into sight...
Cobra began to scan the window.
"I hear commotion outside."
Nobody else heard anything until hushed, rapid steps sounded across the porch.
Suddenly, cowboys were running into the room making everyone's nerves jump.
"Lady Irene! We have company!"
"A rider is seen on the horizon coming fast."
Irene glanced at her two children, "Go see what this is about."
Erza shook her head, "And leave you with these." She inclined her head toward Jellal and Laxus. She nodded for Bisca and Alzack to go check the noise. The pair left swiftly, taking their rifles.
Natsu had just knocked out the first group of men using nothing but his bare hands as he continued to move quickly to the large ranchhouse.
A flash of black and green stopped him - the man and woman he had met before at the fence. Their guns trained on him.
The dark haired man, Alzack, drew abreast of him and shook his hat off, slapping it against his thigh nervously.
"Mister, you have to be the craziest son-of-a-gun or the bravest to move into an open enemy ranch at the speed of light holding a gun. Don't you know that's the way to get every sharpshooter trained on you? Give me your gun. No sudden movements. One wrong move and my wife kills you. She has excellent aim."
"Wouldn't be dead."
"What?"
"You said she would kill me. You are wrong. Only would wound me in fact. She won't get a head shot, my reflexes are much too fast, and anything less will only wound me. But I can give you two guesses on who will be dead if that was to happen."
Alzack gulped a bit when he stared into the hard eyes of the man in front of him. "You have a pretty big opinion of yourself."
"I also have the law on my side as I am an official Alvarez ranger. To kill a ranger is federal crime, hanging in an open square."
Natsu stepped forward...
The booming sound of a shotgun heard in the distance caused Erza, Jellal, Cobra, Sting, and Laxus to leap to their feet.
Irene sat calmly drinking her alcohol.
"We are under att…!" Someone yelled from outside before being cut off.
Erza grabbed a butter knife from the silverware on the coffee table. She began walking toward the door on a mission, muttering, "Nobody is getting through this door."
Everyone breathed slowly as they rested their hands on their various weapons, not sure what to expect from what was fixing to enter the room.
The door opened.
It took a moment for Jellal's eyes to adjust to the new brightness from outside.
"Quite the welcoming committee you had for me," drawled a light voice, announcing the rival of the Ranger. Jellal rolled his eyes at the other's damn cheesy smirk and that gawd awful, unruly pink on top of his head. Of course, his eyes seem to be a little duller than normal and his face lacked the normal friendliness that immediately set Jellal's spine unease.
Everyone else gaped at the pink haired ranger except the redhead waiting for him behind the door. She stepped toward him in a stabbing motion, better left to fencing class. Natsu easily knocked it out of the way before dodging Erza's fist to his face. When Erza tried to kick him, he jumped out of the way, catching her other hand before twisting it around her back sending a shock throughout the room. Her muscles automatically tensed as she shifted her stance to accommodate an opponent behind her. When she tried to throw him, he let go causing her to fall.
Even Irene looked amazed that Erza had been tripped.
"See how I feel unwelcomed." Natsu shut the door unceremoniously. "It's almost like you are trying to kill me or something. Stay down." He said to Erza who had tried to trip him with a kick to the shin "Attacking a ranger is a federal offense."
Sting whistled, "Man he's so cool."
Holding his head with the largest headache of his life, Laxus snorted, "Fanboying doesn't become you."
Irene's face contorted in anger before rapidly disappearing. "I have never known Erza to be disarmed so quickly and so efficiently."
A few men with guns, including the dark haired and green haired lady, burst through the door, barely managing to miss hitting Natsu and Erza with the door. They invaded the room, squeezing in through the threshold, aiming their guns at Natsu.
Irene stood then, a hard smile toward her men. Her intent ominous made them wisely step back. Clear understanding dawned on them that they had earned her wrath.
"You let rider on my property? Inside my house? You might as well let him stay since he is here now." She shook her head, striving for calm. Turning a black expression toward the guard, she ordered, "I will deal with you later. Get out!" Before adding, "Bisca and Alzacks stay."
They practically tripped over themselves dashing for the door past Natsu who raised his hands naturally, letting Erza go. "Already leaving? But the party's just beginning."
The redhead matron glared at him before sighing, "What is it? Everyone-Visit-Irene Day?"
Natsu shrugged, "Guess so," before he strutted over to the couch where nobody was sitting, falling limply before propping his boots on the coffee table. The young sniper couple stayed at the door, guarding it.
He leaned back with a click of his fingers toward Erza.
"Hey you," Jellal tried not to smile as he saw her whole body shudder with distaste at Natsu. "Get me something to drink. Preferably strong. I have had a helluva night. And make it snappy." The ranger snapped his fingers to emphasize his point.
"Why you?!" Erza had never been so insulted in her life. Her handed fisted to punch the intruder before it got caught by Cobra.
"Calm down."
Irene grimaced, "Yes. Let's calm down. Erza, why don't you get the nice ranger a drink?"
A long silence almost caused Cobra to break out in sweat as he wondered if Erza would push him out of the way to get to the ranger and their mother. His sister took a slow breath before bowing slightly. "As you wish mother."
"So you know who I am?" Natsu said seemingly amused.
Inclining her head toward the man, Irene smirked, "I make it my business to know everyone within a twenty-five mile radius. We wouldn't want to be caught with our pants down. Now would we?"
"Your security definitely had their pants down when I came in. I had a harder time getting onto Love and Lucky's property when I first visited them." Natsu flashback to Lucy shooting his hat and then Mira shooting at him plus Happy getting shot.
The room grew several shades tenser as Erza handed the man a drink. Pausing, he took a sip. "Not bad. Is this the stuff you took from the banker?"
The girl, who had been glaring at them jumped in shock, "You remember that? I didn't think you were aware that I was even there."
"I make it my business to know everyone I come in contact with, but the hair color definitely helped. You passed Lucy carrying a large bag of what looked to be bottles. That made me extra curious as to what you were doing. I make it my business to know everyone I come across who seems interesting." Even though Natsu said the words to Erza, he was looking straight at Irene, throwing her words back at her.
Laxus huffed out a laugh. He then coughed uncontrollably before muttering an apology when nobody joined him.
"Now that Mr. Dragneel has arrived, Go on with your story Cobra."
After a moment, Cobra began his story, a measured cadence to his words, "They said that they were getting extra money on the side. Telling people where they could pick up cute girls. When I heard, I immediately thought about the slave traders in the area. They mentioned the blonde they cornered in town who would make a good candidate but Jacob wanted her for himself."
Laxus's glass shattered.
Standing up, he glared, "Blonde isn't a common hair color in Alvarez, especially in this town. There are only the Dreyar's and Lucy." In deathly calm voice, he asked, "Were they talking about Lucy?"
Sting and Natsu folded their arms, waiting for an answer as well. Their faces hard. Jellal had to swallow back some bile. He knew the type Jacob and Cain were. He had seen them in prison, heard them run their mouths when he had a gang. And he suspected along with Laxus what they did to her in town that one day. She never told them but they saw how scruffy her clothes were. How she never left the ranch without a gun after that.
"Yea. They were talking about her and what they would do to her if they caught her alone."
Natsu rammed a fist though the table startling everyone. Nobody knew that Lucy had already told Natsu the truth about why she was scared of those two men.
Instantly, Laxus pointed his gun on Irene, at the center of her forehead. In a flash, Jellal was across the room sidestepping Erza with a warning expression and Natsu had his gun aimed at Cobra.
"Don't move." The ranger said as he chambered the next round.
Sting had twin pistols, Shadow and Light, pointed at Alzack's and Bisca. All the men momentarily forgetting their hosts were without weapons except Jellal who was thankful Erza did not have a weapon.
She stared at him, uncomprehending his action.
"Jellal move so I can beat Laxus."
"No."
"Are you daft?" The anger in her eyes made him sweat. He hated that. "He pulled a gun on my mother. That will not be forgiven." The redhead whispered through clenched teeth.
"I think everyone's best interest would be for you to finish your business and get off my property." Irene's expression closed. She seemed neither frightened nor angry. Almost a completely different person with hollow eyes sat there instead as if something reminded her of a bad memory.
Jellal held up his hand, "Please continue with the story, Eric. Ignore the details and the distractors until the end.
Cobra nodded, "After receiving more than a few warnings, we had to let them go. We also heard some disturbing stories about well-to-do women they approached. I personally chased them out over a week ago."
Laxus's voice shook as he spoke, his gun not wavering in the slightest, "So you are telling me that two of your men potentially could be responsible for her and Levy's disappearance."
Erza snorted, "What he is telling you is that is what he heard. And those two don't work for us anymore. We fired them a few days ago, their hides cost too much. Both lazy, drunken ungrateful fools. Like some other people I know too."
The room was silent, painfully silent, beyond Laxus's heavy breathing. A long pause had Cobra breaking out in a cold sweat, "Ma, Erza, you two don't antagonize the men who have guns pulled on us. I would prefer to live today."
Natsu stood, "Ladies, I respect that you two probably have the biggest balls here." Natsu paused as Jellal began to cough. Even Laxus had to work at keeping a serious expression. "But you don't have to rub the testosterone in our faces. I am a simple man, looking for a simple answer. We just need something straight or someone is about to get shot."
"We are telling you that we aren't responsible for her disappearance but we suspect that Jacob and Cain have hooked up with the slavers. Jacob was always fascinated by Lucy and her blonde hair. So pretty and gold. We think you should find out if they took the girls before you accuse your neighbors."
"Whether you are responsible or not, I will make sure any Lucy's captors suffer with interests anything they do to her. "
"Is that a threat, little man?" Irene growled in response, standing as well. She was tall for a woman, made even taller by her high heels. She stooped over Natsu. She didn't have the face or the body that could intimidate. Natsu learned long ago that attitude made a person intimidating, and a lesser man than him would be quaking at this point.
"That's not a threat, Ma'am. That's a promise." Natsu tipped his hat to her, not backing down.
"You think I won't shoot you in the back as you try to leave for this disrespect today?" Cobra demanded skeptically, reminding Jellal of a child wanting attention.
"Go ahead. We have done nothing to deserve that." Sting held up his hands in surrender before slapping Cobra who muttered for Sting not to touch him.
Irene called out as the boys started to leave, "I imagine it's hard for you. Having to conform to the law. As your father was a gunslinger before settling down to ranching. And your time in the army, being apart of a special guerilla team. Unit you were discharge for 'behavior unbecoming of an officer' I think your papers said."
Natsu flinched before his features went ice cold. "Don't talk about things you know nothing about."
"You probably would have been court martialed had your brother not been a big bad senator. When Zeref wants something, he gets. He went so far and got you a ranger job, doing what you do best. Hurting people like that friend of yours... What was his name?"
Laxus quickly shoved Natsu out the door as the guy made a move toward Irene. Jellal glanced one last time at Erza while grabbing Sting before quickly following.
Irene gleefully smirked as the men road away. Her workers following them to make sure they left properly.
"So Love and Lucky is having a problem? I should have thought of this. Fate has smiled on me today. Who would have thought the Heartfilia girl would get caught up in something and kidnapped. I am going to go get Asuka from upstairs. You two go back to work. We will have a big supper tonight." The lady floated away, merrily.
Erza turned to Cobra. "Didn't you say you heard slave traffickers were working the area? I bet Bora would know."
"The slimey bastard probably is in cahoots with them, but I have heard the army has been putting pressure on those thugs. I heard God Serena actually have made a deal with Acnologia."
"How would you know that?"
"Remember when we asked Acnologia to send us Gajeel? Word on the street is that Gajeel had to take a detour first to do something else in this area. And I heard that God Serena has stopped moving girls."
"Acnologia does not buy and sell slaves" Erza spit out. "And if he did, mother would not work with him. She and I both had first hand experience being slaves."
"He doesn't but God Serena and Bora have used Acnologia's railroads and ships for years while Acnologia has profited by turning a blind eye to it. And even now with Acnologia buying all this real estate through here and Magnolia to make a railroad. Having slave traders roam the area is a good way to keep people from moving in. Acnologia wants to see God serena's plans succeed. Gajeel might be dealing with him as we speak."
Erza gazed downward before her face grew fierce. "Don't tell mother Cobra but I am going to stop this! Even if Love and Lucky is our enemy, I can't let those two innocent girls get sold into slavery."
"You and what army? No really? Cuz you are just so good that you can take down this whole organization by yourself."
"Watch me."
"Ok fine. I will go with you and we can both keep Irene in the dark." Cobra cocked his eyebrow when Erza slapped him.
"I didn't ask you to come. I said I could go."
"You did ask me. It was when you said, 'Watch me.' How can I watch you if I don't go with you? Besides someone has to look after you after all." The guy shrugged before leaving his sister.
"Thanks Bro." Erza softly pulled his cowboy before they dashed to saddle their horses.
Next Chapter: Lucy Loses Her Hair
Hey everyone!
Sorry for the long update. Between work and hosting projects on MH like the current ft battle ranking, any free time I get has been used to sleep and be lazy. Plus there was that hurricane which hit close to where I live. It didn't effect me like it did other people that I knew. And just kind of didn't feel like putting any effort into writing. It's not that I had writers block. I know exactly how this story is going and have the whole thing mapped out. It's more.. I lacked motivation. So I hope you enjoy this chapter. Peace and Love. Plus I am going to try to post on the weekends, Friday through Sunday. Clearly just being back, I don't have a set schedule. Will try not to disappear so long again. Also for those of you who want more Nalu. I put some Nalu in this chapter, but for some real Nalu - two more chapters. Next chapter has something huge happening to Lucy. Plus a character who has been talked about in the last 25 chapters finally shows up. And some Miraxus coming in a few chapters too. Plus we will see about Mira's baby, if she miscarried it or not. Also I have neglected Jerza in this story. So trying to work Erza and Jellal in more. Peace!
-Cres