Natsu was angry. Scratch that, he was downright furious. First they had been ambushed by a dark guild that called themselves Medusas Wrath, then the team had been forced apart and into separate battles. Next some bastard had managed to grab onto Natsu's scarf and make it disappear, that was the reason the guy ended up being the first one to go down, and then to top it off, Lucy was gone. No, not gone. Taken. Yes, this has happened many times before and yes, they always got her back. That doesn't stop Natsu from being consumed by worry for the blonde. It was bad enough when it happened and the two were just friends but now that they had started seeing each other romantically, well it was downright unbearable.
Happy cried in Natsu's arms, apologizing frantically for letting Lucy get kidnapped. Natsu shushed him. Of course it wasn't Happy's fault, it's not like he handed Lucy over to them. One of the mages had aimed a particularly nasty spell at the exceed and Lucy had jumped in front of him, taking the spell head on and knocking the two back. According to Happy, Lucy had been in quite a bit of pain and couldn't stand up very easily. Her spirits had been sent back when she had been hit so no one was protecting her. Happy had done his best, he'd tried to stand in front of her and take the brunt of the spells aimed at her but they had just knocked him out and thrown him away from his mother-like figure.
Finally, Natsu had reached the rest of his teammates. Erza was sat on the ground, in the dewed grass, having a cut on her arm healed by Wendy. Gray stood behind the two, looking at the ground until he heard Natsu approach. His eyes flickered behind Natsu, to Happy and then to Natsu's face. Worry etched it's way onto the ice make wizards' face and he stood straighter.
"Where's Lucy?" he said, glancing behind Natsu once again. At this, Happy began to sob harder. Wendy, Erza and Charle all looked at the approaching pair along with the ice wizard. Natsu said nothing, he just looked at the ground and tried to control the anger that he could feel creeping back up inside of him. He placed Happy next to Charle and rubbed his head before standing up and walking further into the forest, leaving his friends behind.
"Flame-brain! What happened to Lucy?" Gray yelled, running over to catch up to the dragon slayer who was sniffing around like a dog. The rest of the team followed and Wendy, who understood that Lucy had disappeared, began to smell the air, hoping to catch Lucy's' scent. Natsu huffed and picked up his pace.
"They took her. Damn it, why is always her. I need to get her back." Natsu said through gritted teeth. Suddenly Natsu stopped and stood in the clearing that they had just entered. There in front of them, perhaps a few feet ahead, was nothing. The ground just came to a halt. Wendy peered over the edge of the cliff that they were seemingly on and gasped at the very steep drop that led to jagged rocks and thrashing water. It was a dead end. Natsu growled and began sniffing again, hoping to grab hold of Lucy's scent once more. After a minute or two, his shoulders slumped. He took a deep breath. Then another. Natsu suddenly spun away from the group and threw a flaming fist at a nearby tree.
"Bastards! If they think they're gunna get away with this, they're dead wrong!" Natsu was about to storm back into the forest to track down Lucy when a strangled scream was heard in the distance, although to the two dragon slayers it seemed closer. Everyone froze for a moment before joining Wendy and Charle at the edge of the cliff. They all awaited another scream or something of the sort with baited breath. Then another scream came, sounding more tortured than the first. Natsu gritted his teeth and flinched involuntarily.
"That sounded like-" Erza began but Natsu cut her off "Lucy." After waiting a little while longer to try and hear anything else Natsu spoke.
"Guess there's only thing to do." The group looked at him expectantly, his signature grin began to creep onto his face.
"Natsu don't be stupid" Erza warned. "We know how you get when Lucy's not around but don't be reckless."
"Sorry Erza, but Lucy is pretty much 80% of my impulse control." He took three big steps backwards before sprinting towards the edge of the cliff. When he reached the edge, he jumped into the air and then started to fall towards the ferocious sea. He hit the water with a crash and his team waited anxiously for him to surface. He didn't.
Hi Guys, sorry about the short chapters but I'm just settling into the story. Once I get into the swing of things I promise they'll be longer.
Thank you for favouriting, following and reviewing. I really appreciate all of you. I hope you liked this chapter and I look forward to posting more soon!