Chapter 13

Tapping his fingers on Lucy's kitchen counter, Natsu glanced at the clock, showing 10:45pm on the screen in bright blue numbers. Lucy had called him over an hour ago, but she still had not shown up, and when Natsu had called her, he was sent right to voicemail. He was sure everything was okay, but he wanted to make sure. Making up his mind, Natsu dialed a number on his phone, and held it up to his ear, his other hand scrubbing through his hair absentmindedly.

"Hey, Levy, sorry for bothering you, but Lucy called me over an hour ago to say she was coming home, but she still hasn't come home and she isn't answering her phone."

From the other end of the phone Natsu heard Levy's voice.

"Okay, give me a sec here, my computer is in my bag"

After a few seconds of listening to some rustling, and hearing a grumble from a voice that sounded suspiciously like Gajeel's, Levy spoke again.

"I was able to pin down the last location registered on Lucy's cell phone, looks like she's still in the parking lot of Jellal's place, and hasn't moved in over an hour"

"Great, thanks Levy, I'm heading over there now, I'll give you a call when I get there". Natsu said, hanging up as he quickly pulled on shoes and hurried out to his car, his mind racing with worry.

It just wasn't like Lucy to not call, and she rarely showed up late to anywhere. Natsu just hoped that he was overreacting, but years of service to Fairy Tail had always made him think about the worst case scenarios right off of the bat.

Pulling into the dark parking lot twenty minutes later, Natsu spotted Lucy's car at the far end of the lot, out of view from the lamp post that was dimly illuminating the dark lot.

Natsu jerked the car into park and swung out, but stopped short when he saw Lucy's purse laying abandoned on the pavement, her phone sticking out, cracked and broken.

Crouching down by the abandoned bag, Natsu called Levy again with shaking fingers.

"Did you find her?" He heard the blue haired woman say on the other end of the line.

"No. Call in the troops because I think somebody kidnapped Lucy. Her purse is laying here and her phone is destroyed, she didn't even make it to her car" Natsu said, panic starting to rise, his breaths starting to come faster, and his heart was pounding out of his chest.

"Does Jellal know what happened?"

"I'll go ask, and see if he caught anything on the security cameras"

Another hour later, and Natsu found himself back in Lucy's apartment, surrounded by the team once again. Levy and Gajeel had rushed over soon after his last call, Erza had left the Phantom goons at headquarters to wait for further questioning, Gray and Juvia had just arrived, Juvia giving Natsu a gigantic hug after seeing the worried look on his face. Lastly, Jellal had come back with Natsu, and was standing in the corner looking outside at the late night bustle of Magnolia.

"Any news?" Gray asked, coming over the the living room where everyone had congregated.

At this, Jellal turned to look at the rest of the group.

"I have camera footage. Looks like they were waiting for Lucy when she left my place and caught her by surprise."

Natsu turned the laptop in front of him around, and hit a button, causing the grainy security footage to play, showing three men jump on Lucy and drag her into a van. Rubbing his bottom lip with his thumb, he hit the keypad again, pausing the video after the van had taken off into the inky darkness.

"Has to be Phantom. Look at the insignia on the van. It's Jose's." Levy said, rewinding the video to take a closer look.

"Levy can you follow the security cameras around town and try to figure out which way the van went?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, it won't be quick though, there are thousands of cameras in Magnolia" Levy answered, pulling out a laptop from a bag at her feet.

"I'll give you a hand, shrimp, the two of us working together can narrow down the van's path faster" Gajeel stated, as Levy nodded and handed him a second laptop from her bag.

"How many laptops do you carry with you, Levy?" Gray asked. At this, Levy glared at him, causing Gray to lift his hands up, and turn instead to talk to Erza.

"Were you able to find anything out from the Phantom goons that Levy and metal head over here took down?"

"No. I'll give it to Jose. His goons wouldn't say a single word. I'm letting Makarov do his thing, maybe he will have more luck that I did" Erza scowled.

"Erza Scarlet wasn't able to make a man talk? That's a first" Jellas said, raising his eyes at Erza appraisingly.

"Excuse me. But who's parking lot did Lucy get kidnapped from?" Erza snapped back, with a glare.

"Guys, fighting isn't going to help us. Let's just find Lucy damn it!" Natsu yelled, slamming his hands on the counter.

"Natsu-" Levy started.

"No. Sorry guys. I'm just worried. You guys know what Phantom is capable of, look what happened to Juvia" Natsu sighed, taking a deep breath, and moving to sit down, putting his head in his hands. Gray grabbed one of Juvia's hands, and shared a look with her and giving her hand a quick squeeze.

"We'll find her Natsu." Levy said. "And we are going to make Phantom pay."

The first thing Lucy became aware of was that she was cold. And she had a headache.

With a groan, Lucy opened her eyes and tried to sit up. A wave of nausea hit, and Lucy lowered her head back to the cold floor beneath her, biting her lip to keep back the bile. Once the nausea had gone away, Lucy opened her eyes once again, and took a look at her surroundings.

She was in a tiny room, chained with her hands behind her back to the wall. From beneath her, she felt a lurch.

She was on a ship.

"Damn it." Lucy swore, giving an experimental tug on the chains to no avail. The jangling of the chains amplified by the small space around her.

"That will get you nowhere little girl" A voice from in front of her said, causing her lip to curl.

"Jose Perla, I should have guessed" Lucy spat, looking up at the man in front of her.

"I thought I sent Fairy Tale enough of a lesson after I found that one agent out, what was her name, Juvia? Yes." Jose said, reaching down to push Lucy's hair away from her face. "I also figured that the murder of your dear old Father would have swayed you off the path as well, but I guess that wasn't enough of a message, was it?"

Jerking her face away from his touch, Lucy bared her teeth at Jose.

"You can't hide from Fairy Tail. We are going to end you" Lucy snarled.

Jose laughed, and turned to leave.

"You say that now, but after I'm through with you, you won't be a problem anymore"

With a yell, Lucy yanked on the chains, trying to get at Jose, but it did no good. Slumping to the ground, Lucy tried to tug her hands out of the shackles frantically, letting out a gasp of pain a the effort.