Chapter 4

It was a long night for the group as a whole, but longest of all for Loke, who felt like he was going to go out of his mind with the skin-crawling tension and terror he was enduring. He didn't think he'd ever lived through a longer, darker one – not even when he'd been trapped in the mortal realm himself with his life-force being slowly and painfully eroded away.

The others dozed off and on through the night, at least trying to get what rest they could while they could. Loke didn't begrudge them that, though he envied them a little. He wouldn't be able to sleep again until Lucy was back home safe and sound.

He groaned and sat up a little straighter from where he'd slouched against the seat back, rubbing at his dry eyes as light from outside the carriage indicated that dawn had finally arrived. He pulled back the cloth draping the windows and looked around. They were approaching their destination – he could feel Lucy getting closer, though they were still another hour or two away from where she was.

Tension beginning to heighten again, Loke deliberately stretched, taking care not to bump into Wendy, who was still sleeping along with Gray, Happy, and Natsu. Erza and Charle were the only two others that were awake at the moment.

Sighing quietly, he didn't even realize he was clenching fists that were beginning to glow lightly until Charle cleared her throat and looked at him meaningfully. He grimaced and apologized, deliberately relaxing his hands and cutting off the flow of his power. He just wanted to hit something so badly...

"Lucy needs you to stay calm right now," Erza said softly as she watched him fighting to find his center.

"I know that," he replied just as softly, though he sent her a slightly perturbed look. "It doesn't stop the worry."

"It never will," she smiled without any rancor. There was a slightly dark look in her eyes, as though worry was an emotion she was well-acquainted with. With her background, she probably was. "But you can't let it get in the way of saving her."

"Oh, it won't," Loke assured her coolly. "You don't have to worry about that." Nothing will get in the way of saving her, not even you guys. You're my friends and I care about you, but Lucy comes first.

Lucy will always come first.

~~LoLu~~

By the time they arrived near the town that lay close to the Heartfilia estate, it was more than obvious that something was going on. There were explosions and people screaming, and as the carriage came to an abrupt stop on the edges of town, Loke practically tore the door from its frame getting out of it. He grabbed the arm of the first man that tried to pass him.

"What's going on?" he demanded, though he already knew it had something to do with Lucy, because he could feel her very close now, and her magic was through the roof. He paled at the feel – if this kept up, the dark mage controlling her would burn her out forever, sending her into magic deficiency disease and killing her.

Magic deficiency disease – the same thing that had killed her mother.

"Some renegade mage, a young blonde woman, has taken out the jail here and freed several prisoners. They were captured and turned into a small town further down the line a few weeks ago – train robbers," he gasped, breathing hard from running. "Then they were brought here to wait for the king's justice, since I guess it turns out they'd killed some important people on another train robbery." He panted for a moment more, then pulled his arm from Loke's grasp. "Now she's randomly targeting things and blowing them up." When he finished that statement he took off running again, in quite a hurry to get away from the danger, and the lion just let him go.

The others had piled from the carriage as well, even Natsu woken from his long sleep by the screams and commotion going on around them.

"So it did have something to do with the train robbery that we stopped," Loke said through clenched teeth. He muttered a few curses under his breath, so deeply infuriated that it was getting more and more difficult not to just leave the others behind and step through his gate so that he could instantly reopen it in her immediate vicinity, and take on whoever he found anywhere near her.

The man who'd driven them all the way from Magnolia called down from his seat at that point. One didn't need to look up at him to feel his fear. "You'd better unload your things, because I'm not sticking around to deal with this kind of mess. I'm turning right back around and going home."

The lion sneered at the shivering little mouse of a man, though really he understood where the guy was coming from. The man wasn't a mage and couldn't do anything to protect himself from a situation like this. Normally he wouldn't begrudge such a thing – it was smart and even instinctual to stay away from what could harm you, those things that you couldn't otherwise defend yourself against. But at the current time, with Lucy being in such tremendous danger, he couldn't be so sanguine about the matter.

He climbed into the back of the carriage and rapidly unloaded everyone's gear before Gray or Natsu could follow Erza's order to grab their stuff from the carriage, then jumped down and scowled at the driver. "There. Now get the hell out of here."

The driver didn't even attempt to say a word in return, simply turning the carriage and setting the horses into a lope. He vanished back down the road, plowing right through the people trying to get away on foot.

Gray narrowed his eyes as he watched the carriage disappear; the bastard wasn't even attempting to watch out for those legging it, leaving several injured people behind on the ground. "Oi, fool!" he shouted after the disappearing carriage, shaking a fist at the cretin. "Don't think I won't track you down when we get back to Magnolia and teach you a lesson about what you're doing right now!"

"Gray," Erza said, glancing at the irate mage, "now is not the time. You can deal with him once this matter has been successfully resolved."

Natsu had been staring in awe at the billowing clouds of dust giving away the celestial mage's location.

"Damnnn... I haven't seen Lucy cause this much destruction since we met in Hargeon Town and she summoned Aquarius against that fake Salamander guy and his boat. She wiped out most of the harbor that night. That's when I knew she'd be a perfect fit for Fairy Tail!"

Wendy winced at his rather impressed statement. "Natsu-san, this is not a good thing. When Lucy-san wakes up, she's going to feel terribly guilty for what she's done, though it isn't her fault. And it will be so much worse if she's hurt or even... even-" her voice fell into a whisper, "-killed someone."

Loke glowered at the dragon-slayer over his shoulder for a second, totally in agreement with the smaller slayer's statement, before turning back around to see if he could tell where Lucy was heading.

Erza smacked the pink-haired teen in the back of the head and glared at him with disapproving eyes, cowing him. "Wendy is right, Natsu. This isn't something you should be proud of. Lucy won't be, and you know it."

"Can you tell where she is in all that mess?" Gray stepped up next to the tense celestial spirit and glanced at him through sympathetic eyes as they both ignored the others for the moment.

Loke didn't even notice the way his friend was watching him, too busy tracing his owner's energy. "Yeah, I can feel her, just like I told you. She's heading in a relatively straight line towards the north-" he pointed, "-northwest. Does anyone know what's out there?"

Natsu ran his eyes across the landscape with a frown, remembering his journey here after the whole Phantom Lord mess, when Lucy had left a simple note behind saying that she was going home, and disappeared. He'd come after her, and he still remembered the general layout of the area – or at least, what he'd seen of it.

"There's some ruins out there, I think," he said after a moment, frowning thoughtfully, and the others turned and looked at him in surprise. "If I'm remembering it right, part of her family's estate shares a border with those ruins."

Loke stared at him, eyes piercing. "How do you know?"

"After Phantom Lord attacked, when Lucy felt so guilty about what they'd done to the guild and all because her father sent them after her, she decided to return to him. I followed her, 'cause I thought she might not come back. It turned out that she'd only come to warn him never to go after Fairy Tail again, though."

The sounds of explosions had tapered off, then disappeared entirely while they were talking, and it was clear to Loke that she'd moved beyond the town's limits. He glanced at the rest of the group.

"She's left the town," he said. "If Natsu's right about those ruins, that might just be where the dark mage is holing up. We should follow."

Those fleeing the chaos had finally thinned; as there hadn't been any further explosions for several long minutes now, there seemed no further need for escape. And as Loke had already indicated that Lucy was now outside the town, the team didn't bother worrying about the people there any longer.

"Someone's going to have to go in and find the authorities," Gray stated, hands shoved in his pockets as he stared down the road. "We'll need to assure them that we have this under control before they call in outside help. We definitely don't need that."

Erza nodded, though her expression wasn't pleased at having to lose a team member for such a thing. "You go take care of that, then," she spoke up crisply. "Happy, you go with him, and once he has things under control there, you fly him to the ruins that we're heading for. I'm sure you'll be able to see them fairly easily from the air."

The ice mage's lips tightened, not really wanting to miss out on the chance to get some good blows in against the one that had done this to one of his closest friends for himself. He supposed he and Happy would just have to hurry... though from the forbidding, closed expression on Loke's face, no one but him was going to be getting any real satisfaction from the bastard in question, anyway.

He sighed. "Fine. But you'd better leave some for me," he added. "I'm going to be pissed if I came all this way just to spend my time appeasing the townspeople instead of getting some payback of my own for what's been done to Lucy. Let's go, Happy."

"Aye, sir!" the Exceed saluted and then sprouted his wings, before lifting the dark-haired teen up and rapidly disappearing into the town.

Without a word Loke began heading overland in Lucy's direction, and the rest of the team exchanged solemn, worried glances before hurrying after him.

Surprisingly, after just a few minutes the spirit came to a stop in an area heavily covered by a wild tangle of overgrown vegetation, and looked at Erza. He shook his head at her a little dryly. "If you didn't pack everything you own every time you go anywhere, you wouldn't run into this problem." He indicated a spot where the shrubs and plants and even a few low scrub trees covered the ground completely with a finger, and continued, "I think you should be able to hide your luggage there without having to worry that anyone's going to find it."

The red-haired mage couldn't help the appreciative glance she sent the lion. She'd been having a hell of a time hauling her usual cart behind her and keeping up with his long-legged stride what with the challenging terrain, but she hadn't thought he'd even noticed. Not with the way he was distracted and worried sick about Lucy.

She should have known better; despite his flirty, playboy ways, and occasional absentmindedness when focused on something else, he'd always been a gentleman when it came down to it.

"It's as good a place as any," she agreed with a small smile and a nod at him. "Thank you, Loke."

"Don't mention it," he replied, though his gaze had once more turned to stare into the distance, his eyes darkening again with anxiety.

Between them, Erza and Natsu managed to hide the large cart in less than five minutes, and as soon as they'd stepped back and indicated that they were done the lion was off again, though this time the formidable female mage had no problem keeping up with him.

Loke himself was actually barely aware of them at this point, his senses all trained on his mistress as he followed her on a parallel track from a half-mile or so behind. He didn't want those around her to realize they were being trailed and set an ambush for them; he much preferred to be the one doing the ambushing.

At this point the lion's thoughts were pretty dark, and he was entertaining the part of his brain not busy tracing Lucy's trail with very cimmerian visions of just what he wanted to do to the one who'd had the nerve to put their hands on his mistress. He was peripherally aware that the others would doubtless be thoroughly shocked if they could see into his vengeful mind right at that point, but he simply couldn't bring himself to care.

He was a lion, and though he normally seemed nothing more than an easy-going human man in a neat suit, there was a wildness, a ferocity that hid just under that unassuming surface that most never noticed. Even his fellow Fairy Tail mages and friends hadn't seen that side of him before.

But the beast that lurked inside him paced impatiently just out of sight, eager to take their mistress back and avenge her, and very soon now it would break free. Once that happened, they'd know. He almost idly wondered how they'd look at him afterward, but in the end it didn't matter.

You don't toy with a lion's pride.

It's a death sentence.

He paused in his prowling stride and then swept a cautioning hand out. As the others came to an immediate halt, he tilted his head and closed his eyes, listening to his inward sense of the bond he shared with Lucy.

An icy, nauseous feeling swept through his gut even worse than it had yesterday when he'd been in the celestial realm and this had all started, and he shivered. Something's happening, his sense of her whispered.

How he knew for certain, since Lucy wasn't conscious, he would never know. Technically, right now he shouldn't really be getting anything other than the general sense that she was alive, because her mind was asleep and couldn't broadcast any reactions to circumstances she wasn't even aware of. But he was.

He stiffened in response to what he'd felt and a low growl slipped from his throat. "We have to hurry," he said urgently before breaking into a soft-footed, almost silent run. He heard the low curses from Natsu and the exclamations from the others but didn't stop. There was no more time.

It wasn't difficult for him to outdistance them, and Loke broke into a small clearing ringed by low trees and the abundant, local brush well-ahead of his friends. He came to an instant halt at the sound of voices from just beyond the perimeter of the glade for a few seconds, and then crept carefully forward until he came to the first of the ruins that Natsu had mentioned. After determining that the sounds were coming from slightly past them, he slunk into the remains of what appeared to have once been a mid-sized stone house and peered around a half-collapsed wall.

There was the remnant of a much larger building across what had once been a street, and that was where the voices were coming from in front of.

Loke's eyes narrowed dangerously. Standing out front of the old edifice were a group of men – men he remembered from the gang of train robbers. They were accompanied by a tall, dark-haired man he didn't recognize, and Lucy herself. His eyes swept over her, greatly relieved to see that she appeared at least physically unharmed.

That emotion didn't last when he began to hear what they were arguing about.

"-get some satisfaction for everything this bitch caused me!" the one who had sliced her arm was yelling at the slightly older man standing next to Lucy. "It's not like it matters if I give her a good fucking, it won't cause you any problems with controlling her and you know it! Hell, it wouldn't matter if we all fucked her. She's just a warm carcass at this point, anyway, right?"

"Not quite, Olvar," the man replied. "And it doesn't matter what you want, I'm in charge here, not you."

"It's that wench's fault I look like this, not to mention that I was arrested and sentenced to death!" the one now known as Olvar shouted back as he pointed at his own face, where bruising was still visible from the beating Loke had laid on him for cutting Lucy as he had.

He didn't even realize that he'd begun to move towards the group until a hand reached out and grabbed his arm, nor that his eyes had burned from their normal hazel to a glowing gold until Erza sucked in an almost-silent surprised breath when he turned to glare at her and she caught sight of his face.

After a few heartbeats of staring into his suddenly slit-pupiled eyes, she shook her head. "Not yet," she mouthed silently.

Barely stopping the menacing snarl that was about to break free of his throat, Loke bared his teeth. "Just how long do you plan to wait? Did you hear what they said?!" he whispered back, his fury clear despite the barely there sound. His eyes flicked to the side and met Natsu's just as incensed ones, and then further to Wendy and Charle's horrified expressions. Damn, I wish those two hadn't heard those bastards...

"Yes," she breathed, her eyes flat and dangerous. "And if they move to touch her, I won't hesitate to attack them. But for now, we need to decide how to go about this."

Even knowing she was right didn't make Loke want to listen to her. He could barely hear the wisdom in her statement when those men were talking so casually about raping his mistress. Even the suggestion of such a thing made him want blood, and in about two more seconds he would take it, Erza and the others be damned.

"Control yourself, little brother," the man who'd been revealed as the dark mage snapped, glaring at the younger man warningly. "While her mind might be asleep, it's possible that her magic could itself respond to such a direct threat to her and make you disappear. If you know what's good for you, stay away from her."

"Liar. I know better than that, Delenn. You taught me enough about magic not to fall for that bullshit excuse," the still-bruised man sneered, running an angry hand through his dark hair and making it even more of a mess. "You just want her for yourself, don't you?"

Loke tensed even further as Delenn reached out and grasped Lucy's arm, pulling her into his side.

"Are you challenging me, Olvar?" he asked the man he'd called his younger brother, his voice dropping dangerously and his eyes narrowing. "You, who has no power?" Then he turned dismissively, and still holding onto Lucy, headed through the yawning doorway behind him.

The man's answer was lost beneath the jeering and dismissive voices of the others as they followed their apparent leader, and Erza took that opportunity to speak.

The lion wasn't particularly surprised to find that the warrior mage was already in the middle of planning their assault.

"Were all the men that you remember from the attempt on the train there?" she asked in a still barely-audible voice.

"No. There were a couple missing at least."

She nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "So there could be at least a few more somewhere else close by. Hm." She glanced carefully around at what they could see from where they were hiding. "That building looks big enough to hold them all, but I wonder if the ones you didn't see have been posted as lookouts elsewhere in the vicinity."

"It's possible," he replied, gritting his teeth against the worry for Lucy and his almost overwhelming desire to rush in and steal her away to safety.

"Well, I can help answer that question and even draw their attention so you guys can go and get Lucy away from that prick," Natsu grinned tightly before ramming his right fist into his left hand and igniting it. There was no opportunity to stop him before he charged ahead and started yelling challenges to those inside the building, and Erza was left to curse the impulsive teen as shouts answered him and the men that had just disappeared into it came running back out.

When Lucy appeared with whip in hand and ready to fight, though, she was left with little choice but to requip and follow the dragon-slayer out – he'd be unable to fight them all with Lucy underfoot, so she'd have to battle her friend herself, since she was certain that Loke wouldn't, especially at this point. As Master had said, he'd probably have to be backed into a corner before he'd do what they really all knew would have to be done.

"Wendy, with me," she called out as she strode forward, and the young teen scrambled to follow her after a rather numb look at the celestial spirit, Charle hovering protectively above her shoulder.

Loke was actually pleased – by Erza's actions, she was leaving the bastard responsible for Lucy's state to him, just as he'd demanded. And he was most certainly going to make the man pay for such an egregious lapse in judgment as to harm the woman who was not only his beloved mistress, but a member of Fairy Tail, as well.

As the requip mage had said, Fairy Tail did not leave nakama behind, no matter what. To harm one was to harm all, and they would enact a swift and terrible retribution for such a thing. He was just as eligible to do so as Erza or any of the others because he was, after all, still a Fairy Tail mage. His status as Lucy's celestial spirit hadn't changed that – it just gave him even further reason to gain righteous vengeance on the ones responsible, not that he really needed it.

When it came down to it, he was going to kill the dark mage for the same reason he protected his mistress so wholeheartedly - a reason that had nothing to do with duty... or the guild.

He waited only until the rest of the team had engaged the bandits and Lucy before stepping out to face the one not already fighting someone else – the man who was ultimately responsible for her condition. A wicked, menacing grin took his lips at the surprise on the bastard's face when he noticed him, and he slowly stalked forward on light feet as he charged his ring in preparation for the coming battle.

Loke paid absolutely no attention to the even louder ruckus when the other men, who were all fighting with Natsu, noticed him and started shouting about his connection to their arrests to their leader. It didn't matter one little bit whether the man knew who he was or not, because the knowledge wouldn't help him either way.

Both he and his younger brother were already nothing more than dead men walking - he was only there to finish the job and bury them.

Cat-like eyes gleamed with an alien light as he closed with the man now warily trying to back away.

"W-who the fuck are you?" the man quavered as he felt the incredible energy bleeding outward from Loke, his entire body glowing with golden light.

The lion's malicious grin only widened at the fearful query, and he purred the answer with a great deal of satisfaction.

"Your executioner."