Chapter 12

Escape from the City

An hour later, Onibus marketplace…

Alu pushed and shoved her way through the crowds of the Onibus marketplace. Despite the weather being pleasantly warm, she was wearing her green jacket to hide her Fairy Tail insignia. She also had the hood up to conceal her hair. Since she didn't have anything to disguise herself, hiding her most notable features was the next best thing.

After all, there was only one other person who had sakura pink hair and was from Fairy Tail. Those details alone would be enough to give her identity away to anyone. And if they saw her here, they might just contact the Fairy Tail guild. Alu really couldn't afford to let that to happen. She had to be very careful this time.

Alu was hoping to have been able to purchase some travel food, along with some emergency bandages, and get out of Onibus unnoticed. Unfortunately, the city was so crowded that it slowed her down a great deal. Twenty minutes had already passed since the time she had first entered the city, and she still hadn't purchased what she needed. At this rate, she was going to be late getting back to Aries and Aquarius.

She was already starting to imagine what kind of snarky remark Aquarius would say to her when she got back, and it made her blood boil.

"If she gives me some stupid remark I'll bite her head off," she growled bitterly to herself.

Finally, the pink-haired girl came upon an open-air stall that was selling some food. Since she was in a hurry, Alu didn't care what she bought so long as it was relatively cheap and fresh. As a result, she ended up purchasing a loaf of bread, some cheese, and four red-delicious apples from the stall. She put her items in a bag she had tied around her waist underneath her jacket. She then searched for a place where she could get bandages and medicine. Unfortunately, the most that she found were stalls that sold clothing such as shirts, skirts, and bathing suits. None of which Alu found very appealing either. They were too revealing for her liking.

"Oh, just forget it." Alu finally said, frustrated. "I'm running out of time and I really don't want to have to deal with that Psycho Fish-Face. I've got food and that's good enough for me. I'll just…"

Alu didn't get to finish her sentence because it was at that moment she smelled something. It was a scent that made her stiffen in terror and her blood run cold. It was the scent of burning mahogany embers. It wasn't a scent of nature though. That scent belonged to a person.

A person that she knew all too well.

Alu snapped her head in the direction where the scent was the strongest and looked for its source. Among all of the blonde, brown, and black haired-peopled; one man with spiky sakura pink hair stood out in the middle of the crowd. Alu's vision seemed to zoom through the crowd and enlarge the man's image in her mind, and she jolted in fright.

It was Natsu! No doubt about it!

"Dad?!" Alu shrieked under a whisper. "What's he doing here?!"

The moment Alu voiced the question, she immediately answered that, too.

"Oh duh! He's looking for ME! Crap, I didn't think he'd start looking for me this early! I gotta get out of here before he finds me!"

Alu grabbed the edges of her hood to prevent it from coming off her head and turned around. She began to move through the mass of people again, this time at a much quicker pace. She pushed and shoved even harder than before, not even stopping to apologize even when people yelled at her for jostling them. She kept her ears open solely on her father actions. Despite all of the large crowd with its jumble of noises, and the distance between her and her father, she could hear him very clearly. She could hear him moving through the crowd quickly. His sandals clattered against the the cobblestone pavement in fast succession and he was sniffing the air intently.

"Oh crap, he's trying to pick up my scent!" Alu said frantically to herself. "He might have picked it up already! If he catches me, I'm done for! I just hope all these people will be enough to slow him down!"

The moment Alu exited the crowd, she made a bolt for the park. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, not even stopping to look back. Her best chance of escaping was to put some distance between her and her father before he got out of the crowd.

Keeping all of her senses sharp and open, she headed towards the center of the park. She knew full well that she was more vulnerable now that she was out in the open. Natsu would be able to track her more easily now that she wasn't among so many people. She had to hurry and find a way out of Onibus.

She was about to run down a set of cement stairs, but quickly came to a dead stop. Just walking by the foot of the steps was Wendy and Romeo, with Carla hovering beside them.

"They're here, too?!" Alu exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down.

"I don't think Alu's here, Wendy." Romeo said.

"Yeah, but I think she is in Onibus." Wendy replied. "I keep picking up her scent. In fact, I can smell her like she's close by."

Just then, Carla's head happened to turn and she looked up in Alu's direction. The young Wizard's face turned pale the moment she made eye contact with the little snowy-white Exceed.

She had recognized her. Even with her jacket on, Carla still managed to see the little pink wisps of hair that were beginning to sway out of the hood. That mixed with Alu's dark eyes pretty much told her who this girl was.

"Alu, there you are!" Carla exclaimed.

Wendy and Romeo both turned to look up at Alu. The girl let only a startled shriek before turning darting away from the stairs.

"Alu, wait!" Wendy shouted.

But Alu kept running. Her acute hearing told her that Wendy and Romeo were running up the steps behind her. That would certainly buy her a few more precious seconds. But just as Alu thought she was safe, something else happened. Something that made Alu's fleeing instinct to kick into overdrive.

"Wendy! Romeo!"

Natsu had caught up.

Natsu rushed over to both Wendy and Romeo just as they had come up the stairs.

"Natsu, Alu's here!" Romeo called when he saw the Fire Dragon Slayer. "She went that way!"

Natsu ran right past the trio and after the teenaged girl that was now just several yards ahead of him. She had obviously heard him, because she was running away from him at top speed. Not only that, she didn't even bother trying to keep her hood up. It fell off her head, letting her sakura-pink hair fly freely.

"Alu!" Natsu called out. "Get back here!"

Alu heard him, but she didn't obey. If anything, Natsu's voice just frightened her even more. She started to run even faster.

But Natsu wasn't going to give up so easily. He pulled all of the strength he had in his legs and sprinted to catch up with the girl. Every single instinct in his body was telling him to catch Alu no matter what. It was clear to see by now that she wasn't going to come home willingly. And while it pained Natsu to see that, it wasn't going to stop him from getting his daughter back.

He was going to bring her home to Fairy Tail, even if he had to use force.

Of course, reaching Alu was easier said than done. Both Natsu and Alu were very physically fit, had long legs attached to their torsos, and could run for long periods of time before becoming tired.

Natsu had some advantages in that he was physically stronger than Alu and could take longer strides than her in his steps. But Alu had some advantages, too. For one, she was smaller than Natsu, which allowed her to move more swiftly than him. This kept her a good distance away from him.

But Alu also had two other skills that Natsu had forgotten about, which were that she was very agile, and she could turn on a dime.

And that's exactly what Alu did.

Before Natsu could even guess what her next move was going to be, Alu abruptly made a beeline toward a row of bushes and dove into them.

"ALU!" Natsu shouted, skidding to try and change his direction.

Alu came out on the other side of the bushes, catching herself with her hands and summersaulting back onto her feet. In less than a second after that, she was running again. By the time Natsu had leapt over bushes and caught sight of her, she was scrambling up a nearby tree until she found a branch that could support her weight. Before he could reach her, she was jumping from tree to tree like some kind of parkour master. Natsu realized what she was trying to do. He had seen her use this strategy many times before. She was trying to use higher ground to stay out of reach of her father. However, Natsu also knew how to intercept her. He ran beneath Alu, looking for the right moment to snag her ankle.

But just as he was about to jump…

SLAM!

Natsu ran straight into a large, concrete wall. He fell over onto his back and laid in the grass, dazed and stunned from the impact. Unable to move for a moment, all he could do was watch as Alu leapt up onto the rim of the wall he had just ran into and disappeared onto the other side.

"Natsu!"

Wendy, Romeo, and Carla came rushing over the the fallen Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Don't worry about me!" Natsu yelled dizzily. "Just get that kid!"

All three hesitated for a second before simultaneously agreeing. They ran past Natsu and headed for a staircase that would take them out of the park and into the streets of the city again.

Although Alu had managed to evade them, Wendy's powerful sense of smell could detect where she was, and where she was going. All the Sky Dragon Slayer had to do was follow the scent of mahogany and vanilla.

"She's heading towards the theater!" she informed Romeo and Carla as they ran down cobblestone street.

"That's where Lucy and Erza are!" Carla pointed out.

"If she runs into Erza, she's not getting away!" Romeo said with a nervous grin. "Actually, I don't know who would be scarier right now: Erza or Lucy!"

Wendy was only half-listening to what Romeo said. Most of her powers of concentration were focused onto her nose and scent it was tracking.

One of the advantages of being the Sky Dragon Slayer was that Wendy's sense of smell was the strongest out of all the Dragon Slayers. It took a few years for her to master it completely, but she was now at a level where she could effectively use the air to sniff out whatever she needed to. Not only that, she could also track her target's every movement, even from a great distance.

And right now, that skill was coming in very handy.

"Wait!" Wendy said quickly. "She's changed direction! She must've spotted Lucy and Erza because she's running away from the theater! Faster than before!"

"Where's she going?" Romeo asked.

"To one of the outer districts!"

Meanwhile, Gajeel and his daughter Carol were just walking out of the busy marketplace and into the outer district of the city.

Carol was a slender fourteen-year-old girl who came up just a little bit past her father's elbow. She had long wavy black hair that was tied back into a high pony tail, reddish hazel eyes, and fair skin. On her upper left arm was a black Fairy Tail insignia.

She wore a black sleeveless shirt underneath a set of Iron Dragon Scale armor that covered her chest and abdomen. On her arms were white fingerless gloves that stretched up to the middle of her upper arms. On her lower arms were a matching set of Iron Dragon Scale guards. She wore a tight black skirt that reached down to the center of her thighs. Underneath were white leggings that went down to her knees. On her feet was a matching set of brown boots that were enforced by a pair of Iron Dragon Scale guards. Around her waist was a belt with a pair small dagger-looking weapons in their sheaths, and a belt with a bunch of little Lacrima charm-like items attached to it were was strapped around her front and back.

At the moment, she and her father were making their way down a path that would take them to one of the outer districts of the city.

"I still don't know why you wanted us to tag along." Gajeel said irritably. "Personally, I think we have more than enough people out looking for that little terror."

"I guess so," Carol replied calmly, "but Alu is pretty slippery. One time when we were assigned to stop a bunch of bandits, she dodged every single one of them without getting a single scratch. Well...that is until her Magic ran out and we had to save her."

"Hmph," Gajeel grunted. "She seems to run out of Magic easily. It's kind of annoying."

"Dad!" Carol snapped. "Alu works really hard to be a Fairy Tail wizard!"

"When she's not causing trouble for everyone else," the Iron Dragon Slayer grumbled sarcastically.

Carol was about to say something when a male voice from behind them shouted, "Gajeel, Carol, she's coming your way!"

The two Fairy Tail wizards both whipped around to see what was going. Much to their surprise, Gray and Ash were racing down the street towards them. A few yards in front of them, a pink-haired girl in a green jacket was trying to outrun them. When she saw Gajeel and Carol, she skidded to a stop and tried to escape in the opposite way. However, she didn't get far when she remembered that Gray and Ash were there. She then attempted to dash down a nearby alley

"Gajeel!" Gray shouted.

Gajeel didn't need another command. He darted from his spot and blockaded the girl's line of retreat just in time. Alu reacted quickly and turned around, only to be stopped by Carol, who had taken one of the Lacrima charms and pressed the crystal in the middle. This caused the charm to instantly turn into a large silver-colored shield, which Carol used to bar Alu's way.

Seeing her one last chance to get away, Alu tried to sprint down a street just to her right. However, before she had time to move her feet, she staggered and nearly fell over. She regained her balance quickly and looked down to see that her feet were encased in ice, planting her firmly to the ground. Her head snapped up and saw that a reluctant Ash had trapped her with his Ice Magic.

"Oh, c'mon Ash!" Alu whined. "I thought we were friends!"

"Sorry, Alu." Ash replied, frowning.

"You don't need to apologize, Ash." Gray said sternly, looking at the captured girl. "Alu, you should've known better than to run away from home like that. You've caused us a lot of trouble, you know."

Alu just scowled at the older Ice Maker Wizard.

"Gray! Gajeel!"

The two men looked behind up the street and saw Lucy and Erza racing towards them. Happy was close behind, using his Aera wings to fly.

"We got her, guys." Gray informed.

Lucy almost gave a relieved smile when a shocked expression came over her face. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Alu with an angry expression. This made everyone else freeze and look at the Celestial Wizard with concern.

Why was Lucy so mad?

"Gemini!" Lucy suddenly shouted.

At that second, the figure that was Alu disappeared in a puff of smoke and turned into the two little blue Spirits.

"Piri – Piri!" they chimed together, almost teasingly.

"What?!" Carol shrieked.

"Are you kidding me?!" Gajeel bellowed in irritation. "Not those two gremlins again!"

"Gemini!" Lucy scolded. "What are you doing here?!"

"We're just following out key holder's orders." Gemi said cheekily. "She wanted us to lead you away so she could escape the city."

"Are you serious?!" Lucy cried, clenching in annoyed distress.

"Hey," Mini replied in the same tone as her twin, "you're the one who gave us to her, remember?"

Before the others could do anything else, Gemini disappeared in a puff of smoke, chiming their usual catchphrase, "Piri – Piri."

This left the Fairy Tails all dumbfounded and annoyed.

Once again, Alu's prankster habits let her slip through their fingers.

"Lucy," Gajeel finally said dryly, "I have to question your reasoning on this one. What the hell were you thinking when you gave that little terror of yours Gemini?"

Lucy shot Gajeel a nasty glare, making him step back a bit in defense.

"Trust me, they will be the first thing I take from her when I get my hands on her!" she snarled. "Now let's get back to finding Alu before she leaves the city!"

"Oh, she could be anywhere by now." Happy moaned.

"Then let's get moving." Carol spoke up, reverting her shield back into it's little charm state. "We can't waste anymore time. Maybe the others have found her."

"You're right, Carol." Erza nodded. "We need to hurry and see if Natsu or Wendy have found her."

With that matter settled, the group set on their search again.

Meanwhile, Natsu recovered from his previous collision with a concrete wall and had resumed his chase for his daughter. Now that he knew she was here, it didn't take him long to track her down again. He pursued her like a cheetah after its prey, not letting her out his sight for more than five seconds. Alu tried to evade him by ducking in and out of alleyways and dodging through crowds. But no matter what she tried, he just appeared either ahead of her or behind her.

At one point, Alu was so desperate to get away that she wasn't watching where she was going.

She crashed right into a stand that was selling perfume and three glass bottles of Cherry Blossom spray broke and spilled on her, soaking her from head to toe. Although that powerful scent punched her in the face like a fist, she recovered quickly and darted away just as Natsu was about to reach out and grab her. He would've gotten her immediately after his first miss. However, he slipped on bottle of perfume and fall to the ground.

That gave Alu the lead, at least for a while.

Thanks to the crowded area, Alu managed to get ahead of Natsu for a moment, but this added scent of Cherry Blossom perfume only gave Natsu another tracking device to use. And this one was even stronger than Alu's regular one. He wasn't going to lose her trail this time.

Finally, he chased Alu to the edge of the city.

"ALU!" Natsu shouted. "GET BACK HERE NOW! I MEAN IT!"

Alu didn't listen. She just kept running like her life depended on it.

This only made Natsu increase his own speed. He was going to catch her.

He saw his opportunity when Alu led them to a wall with a narrow opening in it. Seeing as the wall was too high to jump over from where she was on the ground, Alu had no choice but to try and squeeze through the opening. On the other side was the forest where Aries and Aquarius were waiting for her. All she had to do was get through that crack, and she would be able to escape.

Luckily for Alu, she was just small enough to fit through the crevasse. Holding her breath and making herself skinnier, she squirmed through with little difficulty. However, the time she used to get through allowed Natsu to catch up with her. While the opening was too small for his body, his arm was just the right size and length to reach through and seized his daughter's jacket in mighty grip.

Alu let out an involuntary yelp and came to a forced stop.

"Enough, Alu!" Natsu strained, panting heavily for air. "You're coming back with me right now! You've got some explaining to –"

Alu didn't wait for Natsu to finish his sentence. With a sudden burst of determination, she wriggled out of her jacket and sprinted away.

"ALU!" Natsu shouted, trying to squeeze through the crevasse after her.

However, he stopped when he saw Alu turn and look back at him for a moment. His eyes widened when he saw the expression on her face. It was just a brief glimpse, but he could see that tears were beginning to brim her dark green eyes. And the expression on her face was one that startled him the most.

Alu looked lost, afraid, and hurt.

The girl then grimaced and turned away. She darted into the forest, disappearing among the trees.

Natsu slowly backed away from the wall and then stopped. He lifted his daughter's now Cherry Blossom-smelling jacket and clutched it tightly in both hands. He lowered his head, making his bangs fall over his face and hid his eyes in shadow. All that was coursing through him now was confusion and pain.

Alu ran away from him. She actually ran away from him. What's more, she did it with clear determination. She wanted to get away from him. She wanted to escape. She didn't want to go back. That much was all too clear for Natsu to deny.

But then again, why did she look back at him with an expression like that? It was like it pained her to leave her father behind.

He just couldn't understand it. Why would Alu run away from him like this?

"Why, Alu?" he whispered bitterly to himself. "Why?"

Natsu wasn't the type to cry, but a single tear managed to leak from the rim of his eye and slowly slid down his cheek. It dripped off of his chin and landed on the jacket in his hands. He gritted his teeth and forced the rest to stay where they were.

He didn't want to show any weakness when he found the others. Even after all this he still had to be strong for everyone else.

Alu ran through the forest. Her legs ached and she was breathless, but she kept going. She soon came upon the place where Aquarius and Aries were waiting for her and slowed down to a stop to catch her breath.

"Alu!" Aries exclaimed when she saw her key holder. "Are you alright?! What happened?!"

"I'm fine." Alu gasped, hunched over and supporting herself with her hands on her knees. "But we need to…get moving. Mom and Dad…and some other Wizards…are looking for me. I got away…but they'll be…on our trail soon."

Aquarius gave an irritated sneer.

"Well, that's what you get for coming unprepared," she lectured. "And now we've wasted even more time thanks to you. And why the hell do you smell like Cherry Blossoms? Did you WANT your daddy to find us or…?"

Alu shot Aquarius a deadly gaze.

"Aquarius!" she growled menacingly. "You say another stupid thing, so help me, I'll blow your face off with a Fire Dragon Roar!"

"Alu!" Aries yelped, stepping back in alarm.

She knew that Alu was upset, but she never expected her to say a threat like that. Even that wasn't like the Alu that Aries knew.

Aqurius didn't speak, but she did look at the pink-haired girl with a defensive scowl.

"Let's go." Alu commanded.

Without speaking another word, the group hastily made their way through the forest once again. This time, Alu trailed behind so that neither Celestial Spirit could see her face. She really didn't want them to see her in right now. She tried so hard to restrain herself, but she couldn't repress the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

Those tears were caused by the image of her father's face. She felt a horrible tug in her heart when she remembered how horrified he looked when she ran away from him. It killed her to think about it.

What was worse was that it was too late to change anything. If there was some other way to resolve the issue, Alu had missed it. What was done was done.

She couldn't change it now. All she could do was think over that painful image and feel its effects stab her heart like little knives. It was enough to make a few tears slip past the rim of her eyes and trickle down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Dad," she whispered bitterly to herself. "I'm so sorry."