Chapter five.

A fire's plight.

What was it with the dragon slayers and the number seven? Their lives seemed to revolve around that one number, supposedly the luckiest one there was, and yet it had brought so much despair along with it, at least in Natsu's experience.

His father left on 7 - 7 - X777.

He was frozen in time for seven years.

Seven dragons had attacked the capital city once again on the seventh of July, fourteen years after they had left.

And now, Lucy had been missing for seven months, and if Natsu thought the trail couldn't have gotten colder than when he first set out, then he was being shown otherwise.

He and Happy were in a town on the border of Fiore, sharing one of the several benches in the park at the city center, dully watching as the citizens and local wizards helped decorate the area for the upcoming Halloween festivities, spiced rums and pies, roasted meats and harvest vegetables being brought out by the nearby street venders as the chilly October day gradually transformed into the cold night of autumn.

The pink haired dragon slayer kept his head down, absently petting the exceed in his lap behind the ears, paying no head to the powerfully enticing smells and cheerful laughter around him, and absolutely refusing to even so much as glance at the night sky, undoubtedly filling with the first of the evening stars.

Back before all this shit hit the fan, Natsu had rather liked looking up at the heavens on the nights he and his adopted son had gone camping, or fishing, both of which they had done often. They used to make him think of all the good times he'd had with Igneel, and the desperate hope, his endless drive, to be reunited with the dragon again.

But now...he couldn't stand the sight of them, the never ending worry and despairing thoughts that were triggered by the connection the constellations would forever in his mind bare to Lucy. He'd been over half the country by that point, and yet he hadn't found a single trace of the blonde he sought after.

Had he been mistakenly directed towards other blonde women? Yes, he had, and each time that happened it was Happy who had to keep him from burning down whatever town or city they were in out of a misguided way to get rid of his bottled up emotions.

It could not be healthy to shut most of his emotions in 24/7, but he was going to keep himself together if not for his sake, but for Happy's. It was laughable, as nowadays the little blue feline was what kept Natsu himself from exploding, but the Dragon Slayer could tell that Happy was feeling the loss of Lucy just as keenly as he did, if not more since the cat had never had to deal with worry to this extent in his life.

They had at least believed Lisanna was at peace, and after a period of mourning with the rest of their collective family, had patched themselves up as best they could and gotten on with their lives in the process. But they couldn't, not with them being tied in place by the unknown fear of what could be happening one of their own, or where she was so they could help.

Because that was how their guild worked; if a member was taken, or a mission had suddenly gotten out of hand, it was assured that the rest of the guild would come for their own, would have their backs.

But they couldn't guard someone's back if they weren't there to guard, and that made them all anxious, jittery, nervous.

Natsu could almost guarantee that his thoughts were generally running along the same lines as the rest of the guild, but he knew that that choking amounts of loneliness, the furious anticipation he had due to Lucy leaving was all his own.

Gods above, he needed to find her so he could get on his knees and apologies. He couldn't wait the remaining nine months until the next Grand Magic Games for it - she didn't deserve to wait that long on him.

That brought him to another area of thought the pink haired Mage dreaded. Natsu knew that the chances of Gramps putting him on the team was high, but he couldn't abandoned his search for Lucy, and at the same time he couldn't let down his family that was counting in him to win.

If he went out of his way to train...no, he wouldn't be able to do that, as just thinking of it made his insides roll in protest and his instincts to scream 'NO'. He physically and emotionally could not give up this search; Lucy was way to important to him to ever give up on.

Maybe he could do what Erza was doing; he'd met the redhead again by chance several towns back, and had been dully surprised to see that she was rolling with Jellal and Meledy to find Lucy by taking down dark guilds. The Dragon Slayer had already taken several down in the process of his search, but now he thought Erza had the right idea.

Lucy could be anywhere, and that most definitely meant within the vial clutches of a Dark Guild. She was a prime target for people like that, beautiful, powerful, and with what might have been considered a naïve trust in other people.

Natsu let out a sharp breath, trying to still his racing heart and adrenaline rush that came from even thinking that the girl he loved was being held against her will by the dark Mages.

That settled it, he was going to aim for the underbelly of society, screw being a single Mage against whole guilds. He'd done it before, and he had Happy for backup. That was all he was going to need, anyway.

"Natsu...?" Happy said from the pink headed boy's lap, a tired look in his eyes as he stared up at his best friend. "What's wrong?"

Natsu tried to twist his features into that of a reassuring smile, but judging by the feline's furrowed eyebrows it didn't turn out the way he wanted. "Nothing, buddy. Just thinking of our next course of action from here,"

"Oh. So what are we going to do?"

"Find a dark guild, see if they know anything about Luce, and then put them out of commission,"

"Like what Erza was doing with Jellal?"

"Yeah, pretty much,"

"It sounds like a better plan than what we currently have, which is asking around for a 'blonde, busty woman with a pretty smile'."

"See? But you have to admit, that description matches Lucy perfectly,"

"Aye. When so do we leave, ne Natsu?"

"Right now, buddy," he replied, standing from his hunched position on the bench to his full height, coat falling behind him and falling to the back of his knees. Happy hovered over his shoulder, watching his foster father. "We're not sparing anymore time, Happy,"

"Not even for a haircut?" The blue feline responded, noticing that Natsu hadn't bothered groom his pink spikes in ages, leaving the longer ones to grow to brush his shoulders. It was a strange sight, since Natsu had never let his hair grow out before.

"No, just for food and sleep," the pink haired boy replied, just now noticing his hair. Reaching into his bag, he took a strand of fabric and tied the lochs behind his neck so that they wouldn't get in the way when he fought.

"Ok, so where are we heading?" Happy asked, moving to follow as the Dragon Slayer started walking. "Erza and Jellal and Meledy came from the west, Clover Town I think they said, so we already know that area is covered since Erza said they started in Onibus,"

Natsu thought for a moment. "But that means they're heading either south or eastwards. And there's a lot of other places west of Onibus."

Happy nodded. "West it is then?"

"Yeah, buddy. Now let's go find Lucy, and bring her home,"

"Aye sir!"

Nine months. That's how long Lucy had been away from the guild, though she supposed to her friends it was seven, since they had noticed she left two months afterwards. But no matter what they said, it was nine months since she'd left, leaving nine months until she could return.

Sure she loved living in the palace, and she was glad for the new friendship she had with Hisui, but this wasn't her home. And by the way her training was progressing, she might be allowed to leave earlier than her previous deadline, which was good since the crystal ball Hisui had lent her had shattered from excessive amounts of magic being used on it.

Shattered may have been an overstatement though; Lucy had just been trying to smooth out a wrinkle in her faulty scrying magic, and a spiderweb crack had fractured the polished crystal surface, obviously making the spell fizzle out, and the the blonde panic.

She had spent the next twenty minutes profusely apologizing to Hisui, until the princess managed to calm her down and tell her it didn't really matter since there were Viewing Lacrimas for things like this now. It had gone a long way in easing Lucy's panic, but even now several weeks after the incident, Lucy still felt a bit guilty.

"Lucy, I don't think you should be zoning out!" A sudden shout from above startled the blonde out of her musings just in time to dodge the surprisingly hard fist of an enchanted training dummy, and cleanly counter by sweeping the legs out from under it.

Lucy spared a glance from where the voice had come from, spotting Hisui standing next to her cheering father in the viewing balcony of the palace training grounds, because apparently, the royal duo had need to check up on how their royal guard was doing in training from time to time.

"Thanks!" She yelled back, before giving the problem at hand her full attention. Twelve enchanted, human sized/shaped training targets stood before her, the one she had just taken down already picking itself off the floor.

These things were way tougher than their soft-looking bodies let on to be, and Lucy could clearly remember the bruises she had received the first day she had gone toe to toe with just two opponents. She had learned quickly to not underestimate them, and grow to hate this part of the training just as much was her king loved it.

The goal was to avoid getting any injury possible, as well as fending blows that came too close and casting the spell that would grant her a win in the eyes of her king. Which meant she had to take down all of her opponents without pausing for too long. Fun.

Toma seemed to also enjoy giving her handicaps to deal with at the same time, both to spice things up (as if fighting multiple opponents at once by herself wasn't stimulating enough, on some days she could use her keys, others her whip, and yet on others she was sometimes helping to train the Rune Soldiers, using them as opponents instead of dummies) and give her practice in casting magic, traditional Gypsy style.

Three of the dummies charged, fists raised as they closed the gap between them and her. She was ready though, her left leg positioned outward in front of her (and through the slit in the side, which Lucy had not noticed when she had first seen the gift) and arms raised above her head.

She exhaled, a faded gold light covering the ground where her left foot touched, and then began her dance. Skillfully, she twisted and maneuvered her way between the converging targets, redirecting and deflecting attacks, paring with her own once or twice before continuing.

Seemingly without purpose, she paused, another glow spreading from her feet before she continued her graceful whirl, more of the dummies joining the fray. Lucy's face showed the first signs of strain, bending over backwards to avoid a well-aimed kick, and then catching the tail end of an elbow by another moving target.

Twice more she had to pause and likely enchant the ground where her feet stopped upon, both spots hardly more than steps from each other compared to the waltz between the first two.

Lucy smiled in relief, feeling a good chunk of her magic vacate her being as the spell she'd set up activated, the glowing patches of ground flaring up, connecting, and a large, pinkish red magic circle was drawn around what could now be seen as the constellation of the ram.

The blonde said nothing, watching as curling flames erupted within the area of the circle, their intense heat making both the fire and smoke a soft pink color, reminding Lucy of a much more firy version of Aries' Wool Bomb, and taking out the training dummies that had previously populated the arena with her.

When the flames cleared, Lucy stood on the last star in the constellation, untouched by the fires she had summoned, while her artificial enemies were nothing more than smoking ash piles. She took a deep breath, in, then slowly let it out, the gigantic magic circle retreating as the magic was dispelled.

"You did great, Lucy!" Hisui called down again, and Lucy smiled back up at her in return.

"Thanks, the dancing is starting to come much more fluidly than before," the blonde replied, moving towards her mentors so she didn't have to shout quite as loudly. "But it's still kind of hard to keep a beat without music,"

"We can work on that later," the green haired girl replied, watching as her father prepped the Viewing Lacrima to replay the dance so they (she) could point out where the blonde could improve.

(Her father would usually try to help by pointing out where she could make things more dramatic, or fun to watch. Usually Hisui would have been exasperated by that habit of her dad's, if not for the fact that what he was talking about would actually help Lucy improve, as enjoying herself would be beneficial to her movements, and the exagerations would make her casting less noticable.)

"And how would we do that?" Lucy asked, entering the balcony from the stairs in the back.

"The coin belt already helps, but only when you move your hips," the princess explained, pointing to a played back image on the Lacrima screen as an example. "We could tie either more coins around your wrists and ankles, or bells. Personally, I think the coins would work better,"

"Yeah, bells wouldn't be close enough to match the already existing sound," Lucy agreed, taking the seat next to the royal jade to watch her practice match. "It would throw me off. But what about an instrument? Finger cymbals wouldn't be too far off,"

"That might work. We'll try it -"

"If you girls are done already-kabo," Toma started, acting in the typical way a man would when two girls talked about what was perceived as girly things. "We still have to review Lucy's progress-kabo,"

Both girls rolled their eyes, but nonetheless turned their complete attention to the screen.

"Well, let's start-kabo," the king said, starting the video.

Ten months ago, Lisanna would have never pictured the guild could ever be this empty, or that she and the few members remaining in their base would have to cover for everyone else due to another surprise visit from Sorcerer's weekly Magazin's Jason, and his two protégé reporters.

No matter what she and the others in the guild told them, they. Would. Not. Stop. Asking the same questions every five minutes with the same amount of enthusiasm they'd used the first time. Especially not after Wakaba had mentioned that both Erza and Mira had been out on missions with their 'boyfriends' recently.

Lisanna and silently cheered when Bisca punched him for being an idiot, because the first thing that Jason did after hearing that was swarm her, asking if it really was true that her sister was dating, who he was, how long they had been together, and where she was.

The white haired girl had given the three reporters vaguely satisfying answers, speaking loudly so that if they tried to question anyone else later, the guild Mages could keep their answers straight.

But for all of her coyness with Jason and his pupils, Lisanna was extremely happy for her sister, who along with Erza, was actually hiding out in the Master's office until the reporters left. More accurately, they had been speaking to the guild leader before the surprise interviewers arrived, and then she had sent Kianna to sneak upstairs and inform them of what was going on after Wakaba had slipped up.

But that was besides the point, and the reporters would leave soon anyway, where she could then go back to gossiping with her sister over how Laxus acted with her versus when he was alone in the guild. So far, the teen could only coo and squeal at the sweet stories her sister was spinning for her.

Suddenly, her thoughts flashed briefly to an image of a certain strange, yet adorably funny member of the Thunder God Tribe. She blushed lightly, shaking her head to clear the image of Bixslow from her mind.

She shouldn't be feeling like this, at least not with how guilty she still felt over Lucy leaving. The white haired teen stilled, her hands no longer moving in the unconscious, rhythmic movement of cleaning the dishes, an endless task even with most people not there.

During the past few months, Lisanna had had plenty of time to turn the events leading up to Lucy's disappearance over in her head, and though Lisanna wasn't as close the blonde as Levy might have been, they could still count on each other as friends, nakama.

The one thing that she kept coming back to, was when she had temporarily taken Lucy's place on Team Natsu. Thinking back on it, they had all been so excited to really catch up with each other, they hadn't asked her as nicely as they could have, and they didn't tell her that she would just go on that one mission.

And something in Lisanna's gut, an instinct she had learned to trust both on missions and in life, told her that that event was the lynch pin in her blonde guild mate leaving, probably mistaking the actions as her and Natsu getting together.

Lisanna wasn't surprised; she and Natsu were close childhood friends, which gave the impression that they might one day end up together. But that definitely wasn't the case, because the youngest Strauss sibling thought of the pink haired Dragon Slayer in a way like she thought of Elfman, like a brother, and she was almost certain Natsu saw her as a younger sister, like most of the people in the guild.

So if she followed that line of though - and she had, a long time ago - then it was logical to assume that Lucy leaving, the cause of Natsu, and the rest of their rag-tag family's heartache, was all because of her.

"No, it's not," a soft voice said, nearly making Lisanna jump out of her skin. She hadn't been paying attention, and she hadn't expected the first master to be on the counter in front of her, either.

"Not what, Mavis-san?" The girl said, recovering from what had just happened.

"Not your fault that Lucy left," Mavis reiterated, catching the white haired teen off guard once again. "In fact, she predicted you might think like that and told us to tell you that wasn't the reason,"

The white haired girl blinked, baffled. "When did she...?"

The ghost smiled. "Before she left; she was worried you might blame yourself, and she wanted to know you'd be taken care of,"

Lisanna felt gratitude warm the area behind her sternum, the blackening depression that had been their earlier slowly being ebbed away. "That's nice of her...but then why did she leave?"

"You know as well as I do that the strong point of this guild isn't forward thinking, a few people being excluded. And since there's been such a lull in people trying to take over the world," the young girl said, a sardonic twist to her lips. "By some coincidence, everyone in the guild chose to reflect on what's happened to them during those times all at once, blocking out most things but their own thoughts,"

"So she left because we neglected her," Lisanna said, guilt once again sinking it's teeth into her.

"Partially. The other half of it was that she could now go and train without Natsu and Happy interrupting her," Mavis paused, as she thought over whither or not to say what she was about to next. In the end, she decided to continue. "And it's a very good thing she is, too."

Annoyance flashed in Lisanna's blue eyes on her friend's behalf. "Lucy's anything but weak, and I don't know why you'd say - "

The first master giggled, making a 'calm down' gesture towards the wiled up barmaid. "That's not what I meant, but it does make me proud that you're so quick to defend one of our own,"

Lisanna calmed down a bit, placing the clean dishes she had been working with on the drying wrack. "Then what did you mean?"

"Just before she left, Makarov and I discovered she had a unique problem with her magic," the young ghost started, a serious look coming into her eyes. "Lisanna, if I continue telling you about this, you cannot tell anyone, and that includes Natsu,"

"I don't think that would be a good idea," she protested, moving another stack of dishes into their proper home. "Natsu's been the one most worried about Lucy, and this sounds like something he'd want to know,"

The spirit shook her head. "No, it would just make him more worried over something that is already coming under control."

The teen thought about it, a beat, then she sighed. "Fine. I won't tell him, so you can continue talking,"

"Alright...we discovered that Lucy has a type of magic that if she didn't start training in right away could lead to an early death, like what happened with her mother." The first stated matter-of-factly, watching Lisanna's horrified reaction out of the corner of her eye. "And before you say anything, we can't do anything to help her but wait for her to finish it on her own,"

"That really sounds like something we need to know, first," the youngest Strauss stated, her eyes shifting between anxiety, curiosity, and horror. "And I don't see why we couldn't just help her train this new magic,"

"Because no matter what anyone did, we would only get in the way," she replied sadly. "Which is why Makarov and I haven't told you where she is, and you're the only one who knows the full circumstances of why she left,"

Lisanna was oddly conflicted by this new revelation. Her masters had known where Lucy was the entire time for the past ten months, not once letting on while they watched their children desperately hound after a cold trail. On the other hand, they were just doing everything in their power to make sure Lucy had what she needed to extend her life, even at the cost of their guild member's trust.

"...why me?" The teen finally asked, spitting out the one thing she couldn't wrap her head around. "Why not Levy, or Erza? Even Cana is closer to Lucy than I am,"

"You already know the answer to that," the ghost said, raising her eyebrows and smirking. "It goes back to what I said earlier,"

Lisanna sighed, leaning her elbows on the bar top, hands scrubbing her face. "You trust I won't interrupt her training, and that I won't blab my mouth off,"

Mavis nodded, hopping off the bar and starting towards the Master's office. "That's exactly right. Now, you may want to come with me; your sister has something she wants to talk about with you, and those reporters still aren't gone yet,"

Lisanna startled, twisting her head to stare out at the guild hall, finding that what her founding Master had said was true. And that Bisca was just seconds away from clocking Jason for interviewing her daughter at point blank range.

Why hadn't they left already? They had been there for at least three hours by now! Wasn't pestering Grey and Juvia about their new relationship enough fodder for them?

The white haired girl was just glad that Alzack was out on a mission; that father was extremely protective his little girl, and Lisanna had no doubt that if he was here, he'd already have a gun out and ready to shoot the moment a camera flashed in his daughter's direction.

"Tell Mira-nee I'm coming," she called out to Mavis, making her way over to the two Connell women. "I need to keep Bisca from killing the paparazzi first,"

Mavis giggled, watching the scene with calmly amused eyes.

Now to deal with the two people in Makarov's study...

Natsu inhaled the cold, biting winter air, trying to both pick up a scent, and wake himself up from the numbing chill that only ever came from being outside in the dead of a winter night. He held his breath for a second, sorting through the sharp scents of snow and frozen wood and ground, then let the air out through his mouth.

Instantly, the warm breath turned to fog, making the Dragon Slayer look like he was breathing smoke, something that he did after shooting a Roar at some unlucky soul, or getting mad enough. He stood, keenly listening to any sound that was audible in the snow covered woods, branching his senses out to locate where his quarry was hiding out.

He stood like that for the next several minutes, eyes closed, breathing in and out as he focused, the frosty breath coming out of his nose making him look like a sleeping dragon. A dragon that one could tell was awake by a slight tilt of the head as he located what he was looking for.

"Found them," he murmured, as he opened his eyes, gently patting the blue feline nestled in his arms into awareness. "Come on Happy, I found them. If you don't want to fight, then I at least want you awake when you wait outside,"

"Aye..." Came the muffled reply, the exceed snuggling in closer to his adopted father's side. Natsu sighed, consciously raising his body temperature enough to make the cat uncomfortable so that he'd wake up.

"C'mon buddy, the sooner you get up, the sooner you can go back to sleep," Natsu coaxed, watching as the cat grumpily stirred, extending his wings to hover a few inches away from the super heater that was the Dragon Slayer.

"You melted the snow, Natsu," Happy stated, noting the circle of bare ground extending a meter around the man.

Natsu shrugged, not even looking down as he started walking towards the sound he'd heard earlier. "Doesn't matter, we'll be done here soon enough,"

Happy followed, moving around trees and branches when they came his way. "You found the Dark Guild stronghold?"

"Yeah, they're a bit south of here, partying it up like there's no tomorrow," he replied, feet gently crunching on the snow as he also weaver between the trees. He growled, his foot sinking into a rabbit hole hidden by the deep snow, his pant leg filling with the cold material. "Damn it! Why are all the Dark Guilds so far into the woods, or mountains, or fucking cave systems?"

"Uh, because they don't want to be found easily," Happy said, watching the pink haired man blow off a fraction of his pent up frustration. Normally, if a person like Natsu had a lot of pent up negative emotions, it was a safe bet that he could explode at any moment and he should be avoided until he worked it out of his system.

But Happy had never felt like he was in any danger by being with the pink haired man. They had been on the road for a year now, the desolate mood of the late March, early April snow reflecting how they both felt perfectly. Twelve months of looking, twelve months of only each other for company, and twelve months of not finding a single thing about where their favorite blonde had gone.

Their constant wandering and continuous fighting had taken its toll on them. Happy having a notch taken out of his right ear when a bandit's arrow had gotten too close, and Natsu was taller, more muscular, and his refusal to do anything but look for Lucy had caused the ponytail he'd tied up months ago now to reach between his shoulders.

Luckily, the feline had managed to convince him to keep his signature bangs and spikes, the grumbling nineteen years old having to use his reflection in frozen ponds and streams to slice his pink lochs with his overly sharp nails. The result was that the top of his head was messier than ever before, and the blue feline openly speculated what the rest of the guild would think of his 'weird new hair'.

They walked in companiable silence for several minutes, before a sturdy looking stone building came into view as the woods around it faded away. True to what Natsu had said, booming laughter and drunken slurs could be heard from outside the thick stone walls, tankards being clanked together and loud music floating around the otherwise still night.

Natsu croaked his knuckles, eyes scanning the area to see if there was anyone on watch. He was pleased to see there wasn't. "You can wait here, Happy,"

"How long do you think this will take?"

"Ten, twenty minutes, tops," he replied, stretching out his arms and shoulders. "The guys from the Council we tipped off in Dawn City should be here in half an hour,"

"We'll be gone by then," Happy stated, watching as Natsu headed towards the enemy's base. "Be careful, or else we'll have to stop our search while you heal,"

"Don't worry," Natsu said, not looking back. "That won't happen, I'll make sure of it,"

Before Happy could blink, the pink haired man charged at the door, clothes and hair streaming behind him as the wood yielded to his fist. Judging by the sound it caused, Natsu had just taken out a few Mages without even cross the threshold.

The blue feline waited, listening as his partner spent the next twenty minutes questioning people about the whereabouts of Lucy, and then knocking them out when they didn't have the information the two wanted. This would be the third criminal syndicate this month, each one having been a dead end to cross off their list as their deadline got closer and closer.

When the sounds of fighting and screaming stopped, Happy figured it was safe for him to help Natsu tie up the unconscious Mages for the council members coming to pick them up in the next few minutes.

"They didn't know anything, did they?" The cat asked, already knowing the answer, dragging a man over to the group his friend was preparing to wrap in ropes.

The dragon slayer scowled, all the frustration from the last few months evident on his face. "No, they had absolutely nothing on where Luce might be,"

They were both quiet for bit, the disappointment of another useless raid resting on their shoulders as they continued rounding up the bodies. It was Happy who broke the thick tension first, dropping the last of the dark Mages at his partner's feet.

"I miss her, Natsu..."

The pink haired man sucked in a sharp breath, then sighed, securing the knot binding the Mages, leaving them unable to escape should they wake up before the guys from the council arrived to arrest them. "I know, buddy, I really miss her too,"

The cat was about to respond, but a ringing from Natsu's bag cut off whatever he was about to say. Shifting the pack off his shoulders, the Dragon Slayer dug his hand through it until he found the cause of the unexpected noise - a speaking Lacrima Gramps had stuck in his bag just before the two had set out.

Pouring some his magic into the stone, Natsu accepted the incoming connection, and a small image of the tiny guild master appeared on the polished surface.

"Gramps," the teen greeted, a gruffness to his voice since he hadn't been in contact with anyone from the guild except Erza and Happy for over a year. "What'cha calling for? Is Lucy back early?"

The old man blinked, as though surprised by something Natsu had done, before collecting himself and shaking his head. "No, I'm sorry, she's not here my boy,"

"Then why did you call? Me and Happy are busy over here," he stated, turing the Lacrima so that Makarov could see the several groups of tied up men and women who used to be free dark wizards.

"So I've figured from all the news reports about a pink haired man who uses fire magic to take down dark guilds." The old man stated dryly, but Natsu and Happy could see the proud tilt of his lip. "But I contacted you for a reason,"

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"I want you and Happy to be back here, at Fairy Tail, in one month," the giant Mage stated, continuing over the two other Mages protests as though they hadn't said anything at all. "This is important, Natsu, and I've called everyone back to the guild, not just the two of you,"

"What is more important that finding Luce, Gramps?" He hissed, not believing that anything could trump that as his priority.

"That's a surprise until you get here," Makarov stated. "But I'll make you deal; you get back early, and if you don't think this is as important as finding Lucy, then you can leave and continue the search before the others from the guild even get there,"

The teen thought about it, looking at his blue partner, asking the cat's opinion with his eyes. Makarov didn't just call every one of his Mages from out of the field for no reason, but whatever he was talking about didn't seem like a bad or dangerous thing.

The fire dragon slayer relaxed his posture, and sighed before looking back at his grandfather figure. "Fine. We'll be there in two weeks, give or take a few days,"

Makarov nodded, relief obvious in his features. "In two weeks, then,"

"Yeah, see ya then Gramps," Natsu said, canceling the magic channelling into the Lacrima and cutting off communication. He slipped the stone back into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he and Happy made their way out of the stone building.

"I wonder what that was all about," the blue cat stated, picking up his partner to make a faster getaway; they could hear the clink of armor and the thudthudthud of boots as the guards sent by the council closed in the on the trail Natsu'd left in the snow earlier.

The Dragon Slayer shrugged, not sure what to make of it either. "I don't know, but I guess we'll find out in two weeks,"

So I changed the summary to something I think fit the plot better. I'm torn between hoping Natsu was depressed enough for you guys, and at the same time still trying to keep him true to his old self. It's rather odd.

Besides him, you get a little snippet of Lucy's training as well as my first attempt to write Lisanna in depth. If you guys want more of Lucy's training with Hisui, you'll have to wait for the next chapter where they get into several misadventures with Arcadios and some others ~^.^~

Until then, I'll see you guys later!