Friendship: The Search
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!
That if you fall, stumble down
I'll pick you up off the ground
If you lose faith in you
I'll give you strength to pull through
Tell me you won't give up cause I'll be waiting if you fall
Oh you know I'll be there for you
(Save You ~ Simple Plan)
"This is useless... She's not here. Nothing is here except that stupid thing.", Gray was frustrated. He wanted to find Juvia as soon as possible. He knew Gajeel had hurried despite his state, but no one could know where the attackers took Juvia.
It had taken them longer to reach this guild hall. Just because they had taken the damned train. He supposed Erza was right by pointing out that he needed to stay at least physically rested. If he were dead on his feet he could do nothing to save Juvia.
While Wendy, Carla and Erza went to the Inn whose keeper had placed the job, he, Natsu, Happy and Lucy went to the dark guild Gajeel, Juvia and Lily destroyed.
The building in front of them was vacant, there were remnants of iron poles that must have been destroyed in the fight. The floor was soaked, the wood inside as well.
"This place smells weird.", Natsu ignored his friend's words and sniffed around. "Smells kinda like smoke but... also very foul."
"Could be from the explosion Gajeel mentioned.", Lucy tried to make sense and Gray's head snapped around to Natsu.
"Follow the scent.", he ordered and Natsu raised a brow at him.
"Who do you think you are ordering me around ice-pants.",he retorted and Gray grit his teeth.
"Follow the fucking scent you dumbass.", he almost growled. Lucy and Happy took a step back.
Natsu was about to answer again when Gray took several steps towards him and pushed him back until he pushed the smaller mage against a tree.
"This is our chance of finding her now follow the scent before I-", he started but was cut off. He suddenly was pulled backwards and upon turning around found Erza glaring at him.
"Gray calm down. We understand you're worried for Juvia, but taking that out on Natsu isn't the way to go.", she explained and Gray scoffed.
"But-"
"No. We're going to tell you what we found out and then we can track the scent together as a group.", Erza ordered and Gray rolled his eyes. He stayed nonetheless.
"Turns out, the man who placed the job was not the Inn-keeper. We found that man bound into his office. He talked of men clad in black capes. He also said that the two leaders of the group were angry at one of their lackeys because they had mentioned a Moon ritual in front of him.", Erza explained and Natsu talked about the weird smelling smoke.
"Also because of the remnants of water and iron, we have reason to believe that this is where she was taken.", Lucy explained.
"You can't smell her?", Erza asked and Natsu shook his head.
"The smoky smell eradicates everything else. I hardly smelled you guys returning.", he explained.
"Okay. I will write a message to the master and then we will follow that smell.", Erza explained. Gray was anxious to go on.
"Oi Natsu.", he called out once Erza had disappeared to send the message. "Just wanted to apologize. I don't know what was wrong with me."
"It's okay. I would've acted similarly if our roles were reversed.", his friend shrugged and in a different situation Gray would have called him out for the look he threw Lucy.
Upon Erza's return they followed the smoky scent until they reached a stone.
"I'm sorry this is where it stops.", Natsu furrowed his brows.
This did not make any sense. How can a scent just disappear. He studied the stone. There was a weird symbol on it.
"They look like Runes.", Lucy pointed out and started pulling out a sheet of paper. Concentrated she drew the symbol, consisting of a crescent moon and a star filled with Rune-like symbols, on a sheet of paper.
They discussed their next step. Gray did not like waiting, but he trusted Natsu. If he said the scent stopped in front of the stone, then it was true. He agreed, despite being restless about the idea of having to wait longer with Juvia's rescue. The best idea was to return and to let Levy and Freed decipher the Runes.
They had returned late. Levy, who had rested beside Gajeel's bed after the man had fallen asleep, was awake and tried to decipher the Runes in the symbol with Freed.
Gray had reluctantly laid down on a bench in the hall, after he was reprimanded for annoying Levy and Freed. He had claimed not to be tired but as soon as he touched his makeshift pillow, he was out, softly snoring and murmuring Juvia's name.
Lucy had sat down next to Natsu. His radiating heat made her grow more and more tired. His soft snores against her shoulder did not help her staying awake either. Before she could stand up to get a cup of coffee she had fallen asleep.
Around her was black. A baby was before her, crying. She tried to reach it. The more she ran the further the baby seemed to get away. She stopped.
Lucy looked around. There was no light at all, yet she was able to see the young child. She had a feeling the baby was ill. In fact the life the small being emitted seemed to grow smaller and smaller. The baby was sick to death.
She did not want the child to die. What could she do? She was just standing around and watching the poor thing die.
Desparation bubbled up inside her. She felt tears stream down her cheeks. The life in front of her was almost non existent, a dull silence surrounded her. No crying from the child. No coughing. Nothing. Not even the sound of it breathing.
She felt like the child had lost its battle when suddenly a bright golden light bathed it. The light was so bright that it blinded her.
She came to senses again and found herself in yet another dream. In this dream it was night, she knew even though she could not see the sky. She followed a path through the woods and came to a clearing.
In the middle of the clearing there was a lake. However the water was not its usual colour but was golden instead. This did not seem weird to her for some reason. She neared the lake and found a figure standing inside it. She called out to them, only to find out that no sound left her mouth.
She studied the figure. The figure was female. She was dressed in a white dress with a trail that floated behind her in the golden water in a sheer fabric. Her long blonde hair was straight. She watched as the woman lifted her arms in an upward manner and it seemed like she had scattered the sky with stars.
Lucy looked up. Into the cloudless sky. Into the moonless sky. The night was illuminated by thousands of stars, shining at her in a golden colour.
I'm back... kinda... I dunno after 424 I've been looking at my list of plot bunnies and just got a nice review and decided to continue this. FINALLY!