"What the fuck?!"
Natsu stops messing around with the set when he hears Jet's voice from the other side of the office. He and Gray share a look before bolting over there, only to find Jet and Droy standing over one of their laptops with horrified faces. Natsu and Gray aren't the only ones there, either. Laxus and Freed are staring over the boys' shoulders with matching frowns and Mira and Makarov are weaving their way through the desks to reach them. Neither Jet nor Droy seem to notice, their eyes completely glued to the screen.
"What is it?" Gray asks as a disgruntled Cana trudges downstairs. She was probably napping.
"All our videos are gone," Droy says, his voice sounding faraway.
Natsu's eyes widen. He heard that correctly, right? "Everything? On just your channels, or what? What's going on?"
"My channel, Droy's channel, Levy's channel, our shared channel," Jet lists off. "The others are fine, I checked, but why just ours? Years of work, just completely gone. This isn't just some sort of prank or something, right?"
He asks the question, but Natsu knows he already has the answer. If this is a prank, it's a well-executed one, because it's impossible to just hide videos without deleting them. Someone has hacked into these accounts, but that begs the question - why? Is it because they're a bored kid with nothing else to do? Or are they getting something out of this?
"I'm gonna call Levy," Droy mutters, pulling out his phone and moving away from the forming crowd.
Makarov's face is serious as he takes Droy's place in front of the laptop, staring at the screen. The page looks so empty without anything in the 'uploads' section of the channel. Natsu swallows thickly, but stays silent, waiting for Makarov to say something. If anyone will know what to do, it's him.
"First, we need to find out who's doing this. And it'll be a good idea to say something on Twitter and other platforms to fans so they know there isn't anything to worry about." The second part of that statement is directed at Jet, who nods and takes out his phone, moving to where Droy stands. "After we're able to put a stop to the hacking, we'll make sure to re-upload all the old videos."
Jet and Droy come back seconds later, only slightly more calm than before. "We just called Levy, she and the others are coming back right away," Droy says. "She says Oracion Seis agreed to do the music, by the way."
Laxus nods, but his expression doesn't change. "Great, I'll write that down."
Droy sighs, falling back in his desk chair. "I'm just gonna sit here, refresh the page for a while - wait, what?"
"What is it?" Makarov asks.
It's easy to see over Makarov's head, so Natsu takes a look and, right there where the channel's most recent video should be is a single video. The thumbnail is completely black, giving nothing away aside from the title. 'HACKED'.
Droy doesn't give anyone the chance to discuss it. He clicks the video and everyone gathers around, waiting for something, anything, that might give this person away. There's nothing at first, but then Natsu hears it, and by the looks on everyone's faces, they do as well. The sound of an electric guitar surrounds the otherwise silent room, the background music to everyone's confused expressions.
And then it begins.
"Shooby doo bop, just doing my job. Shooby doo bop, betcha lookin' at me like a snob. Shooby doo bop, the guy that came in was a real stiff dude. Shooby doo bop, when I asked he said his name was Jude."
Mira narrows her eyes. "Jude?"
"Shooby doo bop, he says he wants his daughter back. Shooby doo bop, he'll keep comin' until she cracks. Shooby doo bop, and everyone else, Phantom Lord is comin' for you. Shooby doo bop, don't think that this is through. Shooby doo bop, shooby doo bop, shooby dooby doo, shalalala."
The video ends there. No one speaks for a long moment, everyone processing what they just heard. Natsu isn't sure if he wants to know, but whoever this is not only admitted that they hacked the channel, but also dropped a name along with it. Phantom Lord. The name doesn't ring any bells to Natsu, and neither does the other dropped name, this 'Jude' person.
Freed brings up Google on his phone. "Phantom Lord sounds familiar. Sort of." He types the name in. "Ah, right."
"What?" Laxus asks, leaning over Freed's shoulder.
"They're a hacking group," Freed says, scrolling through the search results. "I don't know who their ringleader is, but I've heard some shady things about them. Shadier than normal for a group of hackers, anyway. Apparently, people pay them to hack into wherever they want, and it pays good money, but there are rumours that the boss keeps all of the money for himself. There isn't much about it, and a lot of it is probably just exaggerations, but I wouldn't be surprised."
Natsu's hand curls into a fist, and he wishes he could place a face to Mr Shooby Doo Bop so he knows exactly who to punch. He takes a deep breath to calm himself down, knowing he'll end up punching the laptop screen if he doesn't, and he doesn't think Jet or Droy would appreciate that.
"And the other name they mentioned?" Lisanna asks. "Jude, I think they said?"
Mira's eyes become steely, and it doesn't matter how many times Natsu sees this expression, because it unnerves him every time. "We need to wait for the girls to come back."
It's another fifteen minutes before the girls return. Levy looks frantic, and Lucy stands beside her the whole time just in case she needs something. Erza looks as furious as Natsu feels, and he wonders if they've seen the video yet. He hopes so, because he doesn't want to watch it again. For the sake of his blood pressure.
"Any developments?" Erza asks, tone business-like.
Mira nods and leans over the desk so she can bring the video up again. "There was a video posted about twenty minutes ago. I'll just let you guys listen to it."
The girls crowd around the desk as the video plays again, and rather than paying attention to the abysmal voice breaking the speakers, Natsu decides to pay attention to their reactions instead. He quickly finds that doing so doesn't make him feel any better, especially when he sees Levy's widening eyes and Erza's gritted teeth. Nothing really stands out until the name 'Jude' is mentioned and Natsu hears a soft gasp. By the girls' body language, he deduces that it was Lucy, and he frowns. Does she have some sort of connection to this 'Jude' person?
When the video is done, Freed says, "I looked up Phantom Lord. They're a group of hackers who have a client base who pay them to hack into things. I assume this Jude person is their client."
Erza turns to Lucy, who appears to be on the verge of tears. The realisation makes Natsu's stomach do flips. He's never associated Lucy with tears before, just bright smiles and funny text messages, so he doesn't know how to react initially. Mira does, though, and she's quickly standing with her arm around Lucy's shoulders.
"Don't worry, Lucy," she says in a soft voice.
"Care to fill us in?" Laxus says with a frown, planting himself on one of the nearby chairs.
Mira and Erza both look at Lucy, asking questions with their eyes that Natsu can't quite decipher, but Lucy quickly shakes her head and wipes her oncoming tears. "This is - it's my fault."
"What, no it isn't," Lisanna says, and everyone either nods or hums in agreement.
"Thank you, but it is," Lucy says, her smile sad. Natsu doesn't like it. "They said that Jude wants his daughter back, right? They probably mean Jude Heartfilia."
Gray scowls. "Heartfilia? You related to this guy?" He freezes once everything she said catches up with him, and under different circumstances, Natsu would have laughed. "Wait, you're his daughter? Why did he do this just to talk to you?"
Lucy seems hesitant to answer, and her gaze lingers on the floor as she does. "He can't because I cut off all ties with him. I - I ran away from home a little while before I started my channel. He never tried to contact me once since I left, and the first thing he does to try and get in contact with me is this?" Her voice is taking on more anger now, and Natsu can relate. "So it is my fault. I'll have to go back."
Protests rise up from all directions, but it's Makarov who manages to silence everyone with one hand. "Enough. This isn't your decision to make." He looks at Lucy. "And it isn't mine either, but if I may impart some words of advice; don't go. Not yet, anyway. Wait for a moment, let us all see what we can do about the situation before you go. We can't force you, but this clearly brings back some bad memories, and you don't deserve to go through that."
"I can't ask you to do all that for me," Lucy says, and she looks like she's going to cry again. "This is my problem, I should be the one dealing with it."
"Don't be ridiculous," Cana says. "You're one of us. When one of us has a problem, all of us has a problem."
Bickslow laughs, a tension-cutting sound at a time like this. "Exactly! We're not gonna ditch you just 'cause of your old man."
There are more words of agreement, and soon everyone is shouting so loudly that Lucy becomes overwhelmed, bursting into tears. "Thank you, everyone."
The crowd parts after that, Levy, Jet, and Droy heading off to do some damage control while Freed and Warren look for ways to counter Phantom Lord if they strike again. Natsu doesn't move until he's able to step in beside Lucy and lean his arm on her shoulder. She gives him a watery smile, but it's not a sad smile, so it's something. An improvement is all he can ask of her right now.
"Wanna get something to eat?" he asks.
To his surprise (and delight), she laughs. "No, maybe a little later. Right now, I just want to sit somewhere quiet. I can feel a headache coming on."
Natsu gently takes her wrist. "Come with me, I know just the place."
He leads her to one of the back rooms, a storage place he doesn't visit often, but there is a couch there, and it's far enough away from the main rooms that she won't be bothered by any noise. It's a bit dusty with all the various unused objects scattered around the place, but he loves it. There's something homely and comforting about it.
Lucy moves to the couch by herself and he lingers by the doorway. "I can leave if you want."
He doesn't want to leave, but he will if she wants him to. Everyone has their own ways of coping when they're upset, and Natsu can't say he knows what Lucy's are, but he knows his. He hates being left alone to his thoughts. He needs a distraction, something to keep his mind off of whatever is making him upset until it goes away completely. Easier said than done, but he likes to think of himself as a pro at this point, and having so many friends definitely helps with that.
"You don't have to," Lucy says. "I don't really want to be alone."
Natsu grins and makes himself at home beside her. He's squished between her and a cardboard box full of old recording equipment, but he's not complaining. It's cosy. "Then you won't have to be." There are a few moments spent in silence, and he fiddles with the hem of his shirt before speaking up. "Do you wanna talk about it? It's fine if not, and I'm not that great with feelings and junk."
Lucy laughs. "'Feelings and junk'? You sound like a teenage romcom from the 80s." The laughter dies down and so does her smile, just a little. "I wouldn't really know where to begin. My father hasn't always been this way."
Natsu searches for the right question to ask. "So, uh, when did he start acting this way?" Though he doesn't quite know what 'this way' is.
"After my mother died."
Well, that isn't the answer he anticipated. He stiffens, only because he wasn't expecting it, but once the initial shock dies down, he finds himself empathising. He's been in her position before. Sort of, anyway. He knows what it's like to have a parent pass away. He wonders if Lucy has ever talked about it, if she had the support system he did. The same one he still has.
"So, what? He just flipped the switch?"
Lucy leans back, staring at the ceiling. "Pretty much, yeah. He became more obsessed with his work - he's a wealthy businessman - which meant he didn't have any time for me. Our relationship's been strained since then, to put it simply. As I got older, he started deciding things about my life without telling me, even after I became an adult, so I just left. I'd tried reasoning with him so many times that I didn't see any other option. I changed my phone number, got a job, moved into a new place. And he didn't try and contact me for over a year. He only calls for me unless he wants something, so I guess he wants something. And he's trying to destroy everything around me so I can come crawling back to him, because that's what he does."
She says it so casually that they may as well be talking about the weather, but Natsu feels a surge of anger towards this man he's never met. "We won't let him do that, okay?"
"Nothing's ever stopped him before," Lucy says, closing her eyes, but she opens them again when he rests a hand on her knee.
"We will stop him, okay?" Natsu looks right into Lucy's eyes as he says it, trying to make her understand.
Her eyes water, but she smiles. "Thank you, Natsu."
The rest of the day progresses normally after that. Lucy and Levy continue to write the script for the short film and Laxus lives in his corner of the office for the rest of the afternoon, making plans. Freed, Jet, and Droy are the only ones actively working on the hacking situation, and they don't rise from their isolated corner of the room for a few hours. Natsu doesn't bother them after the first time they shooed him away. He knows he would be the same if it was his channel that was hacked, so he decides to play cards with Gray while he waits for news.
"We found something," Freed says, standing up. Then he frowns at Jet and Droy's laptop. "I think."
That's still enough for everyone in the room. They head over and stand behind the boys' seats. The screen shows another YouTube channel, one that Natsu doesn't recognise, and while there are a few videos, they don't seem to have too many views. Though most channels pale in comparison to Fairy Tail, anyway. Not that he's boasting or anything. Of course not.
"We think the owner of this channel is part of Phantom Lord," Jet says.
Natsu leans forward and squints so he can read the channel name. 'DripDripDrop'.
"Is this the person that sung that awful as fuck song?" Gray asks, arms crossed.
Freed shakes his head. "No, the owner of this channel is female, but by the looks of it, she has a roommate. His voice is very similar to the one we heard, and we know he has a guitar. And when this girl talks about 'work', she doesn't look all that happy about it, but that might not mean anything."
"Play it," Laxus says, though he doesn't specify what. There are quite a few videos, and Freed selects the most recent one called 'How to Make a Stuffed Bear from Household Items!'
"She's a DIY YouTuber, it looks like," Freed says, leaning back in his seat so the others can see the screen better.
The young woman that appears is pale with wavy blue hair. She's smiling at the camera, apparently very excited about her video, and Natsu knows how that feels, even if she's a member of Phantom Lord. That feeling is universal, after all. Everyone should feel it at some point during their lives.
"Hello, viewers! It's Juvia, back again with another project for you! This is one close and dear to my heart, one of the first projects I did when I was little, and it's really easy, too!"
Before she can get into it, however, the room's door opens and a buff figure steps through. Their face is cut off due to the camera angle, but whoever it is definitely has a guitar case in one hand. The woman, Juvia, turns around in her chair with a bright smile.
"Gajeel, say 'hi' to our viewers!"
"What viewers?" comes the gruff voice that can only belong to the buff person. They walk out of shot and Juvia turns around again, this time pouting.
"Juvia has viewers! And they like you, too! They think you're funny!"
"I don't mean to be funny. This is just my normal personality, now fuck off."
Juvia just huffs and looks straight into her camera. "Gajeel says 'Hi'!"
"I do not! Make sure to keep it down, I have songs to write."
Juvia giggles, covering her mouth with dainty little hands. "Ah, Mr Shooby Doo Bop is at it again!"
"Don't call me that!"
Freed pauses the video. "So that was that, and if we skip ahead a little bit, she mentions work."
He skips ahead to about four minutes later. Juvia's face has lost its original happy glow, and her hands are now fidgeting with a small white doll she has attached to her lapel. When Freed presses play again, she's silent for a few moments, like she's thinking too hard about something.
"This is something else Juvia made when she was very little. It's a teru teru bozu, and it's supposed to bring good weather. It's been her companion for as long as she can remember, and he doesn't have a name, but she always brings him with her when she and Gajeel -" There is a pause. A forced smile. "When Gajeel and Juvia go to work." She coughs, and it's almost like she's back to normal.
"It's not much to go off of," Freed says, pausing the video yet again, "but it's all we have. It took us forever just to find this. Phantom Lord don't care about spreading their name whenever they hack, but they keep their lips sealed otherwise."
Laxus breathes out through his nose. "Alright, so what can we do about this? Is there any way to stop them?"
"I don't know yet," Freed admits with a sigh. "We'll just have to increase our security measure for now, so we'll see how that goes."
Freed starts going over his Phantom Lord Prevention Plan™, but Natsu isn't paying attention. His focus is entirely on Lucy, whose nails have to be digging into her skin from how tight her hands are, her teeth chewing on her lip like there's no tomorrow. He doubts he can say much to comfort her now. Instead, he just lets his actions speak for him, flicking her shoulder and sending her a grin.
The initial look she gives him is one of surprise, but the next one is full of determination, like her eyes are on fire. He can't help but stare.
"You were right," Lucy says to him. "My dad can be stopped."
He gives her an encouraging grin and a one-armed hug.
The following day rolls around and Natsu is confident as he strolls through the door, Happy draped over his shoulders. He has a fitting for his film costume, then it's time to film with the gaming channel, then he gets to finish the day with Fairy Family Friday and a nice dinner. Whatever they're playing tonight, he hopes they win so he can choose what they eat. It's the best part of the night. It's food.
But a wrench is thrown in his plans when Levy walks in with a forlorn expression and asks for everyone's attention. She's holding her phone, scowling at it like it's wronged her in some way, and Droy asks her what's wrong.
"It's Lucy," she says. "I was talking to her last night and she told me that she's going home today to talk to her father. She wanted me to tell you all in her place. And she says sorry."
Natsu almost drops Happy as an ice cold feelings spreads through him, overtaking his every limb until he involuntarily shivers. Then he says the only words he can think of under the current circumstances.
"What the hell?!"
tragic backstory ahoy! but it's not all that different from canon so is it really a surprise?