So…now that you're interested and have had some time to wallow in agonizing pain of waiting to find out just who got taken…maybe it's time to update? I have to before I up and leave for college in a few days anyway, because I have to warn you:
When I start college, updating may become a challenge. Please be patient and the reviews or messages that say Please update soon! Or any variation of that will NOT help your case. At all.
On that note, here's the next chapter of Fueling the Fire.
Lucy grunted as a fist connected solidly with her stomach, but since the magic had been broken out about fifteen minutes earlier it took only a second for Loke to step forward and send Jet flying backwards into Droy before either of them could do anything about it. A blue cat dropped on the blonde's head lazily, groaning, and she ignored him, trying her best to stay focused. It was only Happy, and he was too tired to try to mess with her right now.
Sensing something to her right, Lucy stepped back—tripping over the unconscious Elfman, who began to stir at the impact—just in time to avoid the airborne ice mage.
"Get back here, Gray!" the dragonslayer guilty of sending the dark-haired man flying roared, coming into Lucy's line of sight for the first time in a while. She could probably only see him so clearly now because most of the other guild members were sprawled on the ground, exhausted, with the rare exception of those who were unconscious like Elfman. There were even fewer guild members still at it now.
As Natsu continued to charge at Gray, Loke jumped in his path and reared his fist back, catching the salmon-haired man by surprise. With a twinge of jealousy, Lucy recognized Natsu's nonexistent hesitance when attacking the celestial spirit compared to his stalwart refusal to hit her—wait, what? Of course she wasn't jealous of that. Just the attention he gave his opponents—no, that was almost worse!
Inwardly the blonde was freaking out, but she climbed up from where she'd fallen on Elfman's stomach and went to intercept Gray's attack on Natsu and Loke with her whip…only to be beaten to the punch by Erza. Lucy decided right then that she was absolutely doomed because she would be entirely unable to redirect her whip in time. And true to form, it encircled the scarlet-haired mage's right arm tightly four times and Erza's brown eyes found their way to a fearful blonde. Since she'd already decided she was done for, Lucy mad a split-second decision to make the most of her inadvertent attack on the Titania and gave her whip a heave.
Miraculously, Erza Scarlet was in the air, thrown towards Gray by the celestial mage's uncannily strong pull. One of the redhead's many blades flashed up and cut a good three feet off of Lucy's whip but not before she was three feet from the shell-shocked ice-make mage. The two collided and went rolling separate directions as Lucy turned to find another opponent quickly.
I'm gonna die, she thought to herself, ducking as Cana followed Erza's example and flew through the air over the blonde's head. The brunette card mage landed heavily on Macao, who groaned and cringed as her momentum sent her rolling head over heels off of him. When she looked up it was to find herself at the feet of Laxus Dreyar, who just kind of smirked back.
Gray had leapt at Erza as soon as he'd regained his senses and she'd regained hers, tiredly attempting to bring the Titania down. Noticing that the person she currently feared the most was distracted, Lucy quickly sought Natsu with her eyes, realized that he was about to overpower Loke, and decided that charging Natsu was safer than charging at Laxus, Fried, Mira, Erza, or Gajeel, who were now the only ones other than herself who remained standing. Mira and Fried were fighting and somehow Laxus, Gajeel, and Erza had been pulled into a three-way battle.
Lucy sprinted towards Natsu, launching herself at him from a few feet away. The dragonslayer sensed Lucy coming at him from the side and turned to intercept the fist hurtling at his face by stopping it with one hand. He sighed almost exasperatedly and repeated for what must have been the seventeenth time in the last two hours, "I'm not going to fight you, Luce!"
The blonde let her hand fall, this time not even arguing with him.
"Fine then," she shrugged as the realization of how weary she really was finally hit her. Her shoulders and arms were aching from how many punches she'd thrown in the course of the afternoon and her legs started shaking a little. She laughed a little dryly, then said, "I'll stop trying to hit you…if you'll give me a piggyback ride."
The playful smirk she flashed at him made Natsu grin a bit more cheerfully than he had been since the entire rivalry with Demon Card had begun. Lucy was just relieved to see that kind of expression on his face, even if it had caused her to endure a few hours of absolute insanity to get it back.
"Alright, then," Natsu laughed, turning his back to her, "just don't use this chance for a dirty trick."
Fairy Tail's celestial mage placed her hands on the Salamander's shoulders to help pick herself off the ground, swinging her legs up then so that her pink-haired dragonslayer could catch them. Once that was done, she leaned her head over his shoulder and crossed her wrists over his chest, admitting matter-of-factly in his ear, "Frankly, I'm too exhausted to fight with anyone right now."
Natsu squeezed the blonde's legs with a relieved sort of chuckle.
"Good. I was starting to get tired of getting beat up and not being able to fight back."
"You could've hit me back," Lucy muttered, sighing. "Everyone else would have done it. I think if Gray hadn't attacked Erza and distracted her, I might be dead…"
"You…you attacked Erza?" the incredulous tone normally would have made her indignant, but the blonde wasn't foolhardy enough to intentionally attack the Titania, and Natsu knew it.
"Not on purpose," she mumbled. That really made Natsu start to laugh as he started to pick his way through their unconscious nakama.
The pink-haired dragonslayer and the blonde celestial mage on his back came to where Gray was groaning and picking himself up off the ground after fighting with Erza and Natsu tiredly and halfheartedly kicked his rival's foot.
"Why you…!" Gray started, turning around to glare. Lucy couldn't help but grin a little. Natsu just couldn't leave the ice mage alone, even when they were both exhausted.
"Got a problem, droopy eyes?"
"What'd you say, squinty eyes?" the almost naked man pushed himself to his feet, his voice on the verge of anger.
"Guys, not while I'm here, please?" the blonde said weakly and Gray seemed to notice her on Natsu's back for the first time. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, and she decided that she didn't know what the exhibitionist was thinking.
"A-aye!" the small voice of the blue cat still perched atop Lucy's head agreed with her and Gray lowered his fist with a groan.
"That's cheating, taking hostages," the ice mage sulked, dusting his boxers off as if it was commonplace to do so—and, Lucy supposed, it was pretty much an everyday occurrence. It must have felt natural to him.
"That's enough," a voice boomed suddenly and Lucy let out a frightened 'eep!' and clung to Natsu more tightly than before as he jumped and Happy's tail twitched forcefully against the side of her head. Gray froze in place, turning slowly along with all the others still standing. Master Makarov loomed over everyone, glaring down at them intimidatingly…although when he was grinning so widely there was no denying that he was just as happy for the distraction as everyone else was.
"A-aye!" chimed Natsu, Gray, Happy, and even Lucy in unison as other guild members began to climb exhaustedly to their feet all around the still-standing victors Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane.
"I'm sorry, Master, I allowed it to get out of hand," Erza bowed her head in shame. "I won't let it happen again."
"That's perfectly fine," Master shrank back down to his usual side, beaming. "Now, as long as everyone's fine, after clean-up the first drink is on me!"
The street erupted into cheers and the citizens who had taken refuge in their homes started to trickle out into the street once more, the relief evident on their features. Lucy spotted a little girl tugging her mother towards the mages with an awestruck gaze but then her flame-brained nakama surged forward with the rest of the guild, stampeding inside once it was obvious that there was nothing to clean up. Somehow the street had remained intact, as well as all the buildings in the vicinity. Perhaps it was a subconscious reaction to the ominous aura that had surrounded them for weeks, or perhaps it was just because they were finally becoming more cautious—which Lucy doubted—but she was kind of thankful for it. She couldn't wait to collapse into her usual seat at the bar and chat tiredly with Mira and Levy and Cana and Lisanna.
"When do I get to put you down, Lucy?" Natsu asked when they got inside, and Lucy realized the stares that were being cast in their direction. That, when she paired it with the fact that she wouldn't stop hitting him in the fight and that he staunchly refused to hit her back and that everyone had probably seen that made her suddenly understand what they were thinking. Her face began to flush and she wanted to avoid Natsu's notice.
"You can put me down here," the blonde told him quickly. "I feel a bit better now."
"Alright," Natsu let go of Lucy's legs and she swung them to the ground, her tip-toes barely touching, before dropping to her feet. She caught herself on Natsu's vest when her weak legs tried to give out on her and Natsu spun worriedly, asking, "Luce, are you okay?"
Lucy waved her hand dismissively, beaming as she released his vest, "It's nothing, Natsu! I'm fine, I promise."
The pink-haired man looked at her in disbelief as Happy slowly transferred himself to the top of Natsu's head, but she turned and made a show of flouncing energetically over to the bar where Mira and Cana were chatting as Lisanna began to tiredly serve their fellow exhausted guild mates. The blonde tried not to acknowledge the fact that her knees trembled just a little after all that ruckus earlier, and she slid onto a stool next to Cana. She had no idea that Natsu's eyes had followed her all the way, his brows furrowed in slight confusion. Why was she trying so hard to make him thing she was fine?
"C'mon, flame-brain," Gray grunted, flopping down at the nearest table. A rather ragged looking Juvia seemed to materialize out of nowhere to tentatively sit beside Wendy and Romeo on the other side of the table.
"What did you call me, ya icy bastard?" Natsu growled halfheartedly, sitting beside his rival—or best friend, really, although they didn't show it well. Happy drifted lazily down to the table beside him, lying flat on his back as Charle examined him disapprovingly.
And the hush that fell across the guild now was the normal hush. The lull in sound that always accompanied one of the massive free-for-alls that were an everyday occurrence was a much more comforting silence than the crushing weight of the depressing silence that Lucy had lifted by challenging Natsu to a fight. The celestial mage sipped idly at the random drink Mira had placed in front of her, flinching at the unexpected strength. When she looked sharply up at Mirajane, the white-haired woman smiled charmingly at her.
"Everyone drinks something strong after a fight to get their energy back. It's tradition," she explained with that same disarming smile. "Just one will work. You'll be able to walk on your own more easily."
Lucy flushed as the barmaid winked at her and protested, "It's not what you're thinking, Mira!"
"Oh?" she queried, still wearing the same grin, "Then what is it, Lucy?"
"I-it was the price he had to pay for me to stop hitting him," the blonde tried, but even her words held a questioning tone and a chuckle came from the brunette cardmage sitting beside her. The bottle of whiskey in Cana's hand made a thunk against the wooden bar top as she turned to look at Lucy. After staring at the blonde for a few seconds, a huge grin broke across her face and she uttered one single word that deepened Lucy's blush.
"Denial."
"S-shut up!" Lucy turned away from the brunette, standing from her stool with her glass of whiskey in hand. She cast her eyes about the room then, and realized that the person she wanted to talk to now wasn't there. "Hey, did anyone see where Levy went?"
Jet and Droy stood up from their table and started to scan the guild, ashamed with themselves for losing sight of their beloved Shadow Gear teammate. Pantherlily's brows furrowed a little and he too began to look around the room. Lucy watched the corner with the Exceed and iron dragonslayer thoroughly, wondering if Levy was hiding out over there—since she definitely liked Gajeel, if Lucy hadn't lost her touch—but she didn't see anything. Gajeel's eyebrows then followed Lily's example, furrowing in a look of concentration. He lifted his head to sniff the air and Lucy made her way over to him.
"Is she—" Lucy began to ask if Levy was somewhere in the building, but Gajeel cut her off.
"The Bookworm's not here," he said gruffly, a frown on his face. "And she hasn't been here for a while."
"That's unusual," Mirajane said from a few feet away, her hand on her chin in thought and her eyes looking about worriedly. "Levy knows that it's not a good time for anyone to go off on their own, especially someone as small as she is. She's strong, but she is an easier target than Laxus, and you saw what they managed to do to him…"
"Levy's not stupid," Lucy murmured to herself, leaving her barely touched glass on Gajeel's table in the corner and striding out to the center of the room, intent on stepping outside to look for signs of her smart friend. "She wouldn't just wander off on her own..."
"What's wrong, Lucy?" Wendy had come up behind her and spoken in a soft, worried tone.
"She's not stupid," the blonde repeated a little more loudly, and though she was younger the blue-haired dragonslayer understood what the celestial mage was getting at. But Lucy continued a little louder as Mira, Erza, and Cana came over as well. "I know she wouldn't have gone home alone tonight—not with the warning that Laxus gave everyone earlier about Demon Card. She's not stupid enough to go anywhere alone under the circumstances…and if she was going home she would have talked to me because she's been staying at my place for the last week with me, Natsu, Happy, Erza, Gray, and Juvia! And that's not mentioning that it was her idea for everyone to stick in groups…she wouldn't just wander off on her own, I tell you!"
"We know, Lucy," Erza said, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulders. The women all had thoughtful expressions on their features and Lucy couldn't stand this. The thought had just struck her.
What if those Demon Card bastards had taken her?
It was a rash thought but a viable one and she didn't like to think of it. Merely thinking it made her blood run cold and she clenched her fists tightly at her side, shrugging Erza's hand off to step outside like she'd been intending to do. Gajeel stood from across the room and followed, but Jet and Droy were still searching inside the guild vigorously.
Lucy was smart, but if there was some kind of rune barrier Levy would be their best bet to escape and the blonde was willing to wager an entire year's rent that Demon Card knew that. And besides that, if Levy wasn't there beside her, smiling that brilliant smile and encouraging her to write her novels, the imaginary book in Lucy's mind that was Fairy Tail was filled with hundreds of blank pages. Levy could very well be a muse much of the time, and a writer without her muse was hardly a writer at all.
"They better not have taken her," Lucy murmured under her breath as she stood in the middle of the street, scuffmarks on the ground all around her from the battle they had waged. At her words, Gajeel cast her a hard look and Mirajane gasped loudly. The same possibility hadn't occurred to the others before, and Erza clenched her fist tightly, her face tight. Wendy held a hand up to her mouth, eyes wide, and Cana had an unreadable expression on her features.
"You don't mean…?" Mira's eyes widened considerably. "Not…not Demon Card?"
"What about those bastards?" Natsu had followed the small group outside and in an instant he was by Lucy's side, looking at all the unfathomable emotions flashing through her deep chocolate eyes. "Did one of them come here?"
"Lucy…Lucy thinks that they might have taken Levy," Wendy murmured gently, her voice slightly shaking. Natsu's eyes widened and he immediately turned to scan the area for the solid script mage in question.
"We don't know for sure," Erza said firmly, striding up to Lucy. "We can't make assumptions. We just have to look harder—"
"The Bookworm ain't here," Gajeel finally spoke up, his tone dark and agitated. "Bunny Girl was right about that much. And we know she ain't stupid."
Everyone stared at the intimidating dark-haired man as he glowered down the street, sniffing the air. Natsu followed suit, furrowing his brows at the unnerving lack of Levy's scent in the air.
"Natsu!" a voice cried, and Romeo burst out of the guild, face flushed and eyes wide. Lucy didn't miss the way that Romeo seemed to want to say more but was having trouble doing so, nor did she miss the fact that he was holding something in his hand. Her heart froze as he brandished it in the air and cried, "Bro, I found this in the library!"
The blonde celestial mage stepped forward and snatched the dreaded Demon Card's trademark playing card, her hand shaking. Unlike all the previous cards, however, this one didn't have numbers on one side. There writing scrawled in a deep red across the unusually blank side.
One down. Who will be next?
Lucy's hand shook more violently, and she looked up into the red eyes of the man who had read the card over her shoulder. She spotted the same determination in the iron dragonslayers eyes as she felt coursing through her veins. He would help her, the blonde knew—after all, it wasn't only Levy who had feelings in their relationship, but Gajeel too. They were just dancing around the point. The impending relationship between them would make him a force to be reckoned with and a valuable ally in her quest to take Levy back from Demon Card by force.
"Gajeel…" the celestial mage said softly. She didn't have to continue because he nodded with a hard look in his eyes. Almost in unison, the two turned and Lucy shoved the card hard against Erza's breastplate as they took off down the street, running as if Death himself was on their heels.
Natsu didn't need to see the card to know that Lucy had been right. He pushed Cana aside to chase after the other two, reaching his blonde's side in a few long strides. Erza let a sort of feral growl pass her lips as she requipped into something lighter and tossed the card in the air. By the time the frantic Mirajane caught it, Erza was sprinting after Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Happy, and Pantherlily with a fury akin to that which she had used at the Tower of Heaven.
"Oh, no!" Mira gasped, staring at the card in her trembling fingers. Cana snatched it with ease, read it quickly, then looked at Romeo.
"Squirt," she addressed him, and he looked up at her with wide eyes, as did Wendy. Cana glanced to the dragonslayer to include her, as well. When she was sure she had their attention, she said darkly, "Go gather everyone and tell them that we're all going to Demon Card now to give them a piece of our minds."
"D-Demon Card?" Romeo was confused, as he had been absent when Lucy's suspicions were revealed.
"T-then Lucy was right?" Wendy's eyes widened and Romeo looked at her in alarm. He was still confused but the way all the women were acting was really starting to worry him. He was fifteen, he wasn't completely dense; he knew something was definitely wrong. When Cana nodded in answer to Wendy's inquiry, the small blue-haired girl grabbed Romeo's hand suddenly and dragged him toward the doors. "W-we'll get everyone! Just go after the others!"
Cana nodded and grabbed Mirajane's wrist and the two were off, far behind the others already. They were all exhausted, but the fury that coursed through their veins and the loyalty for their Fairy Tail family members was enough to spur them to new heights.
Far ahead of even Erza ran Gajeel, Pantherlily right beside him, and just a few paces behind ran Lucy with Natsu keeping pace, Happy on his shoulder. He knew how much Levy meant to Lucy, and he knew that she was unaccustomed to so much activity in one day since she had just survived her first brawl, so he would stay beside her. As much as he wanted to call Happy to action, to fly to Demon Card's guild and blast it to pieces, he knew Lucy needed to be one of the first ones there or she'd never forgive herself.
Upon hearing the news from the frantic Wendy, Gray was the first one out of the doors, Juvia hard on his heels. Elfman and Lisanna weren't too far behind, the knowledge that their beloved older sister had a head start spurring them to action more quickly than some of the other guild members. Jet soon followed, Droy making his way out as quickly as his weight would allow.
The fury of Fairy Tail would be a force to be reckoned with, even more so when they all had the same idea in mind: make Demon Card pay.
Lucy's lungs burned fiercely, begging for air and feeling fit to burst, but she pushed her body to keep up with Gajeel. She still trailed him, but as long as he was in her sights she would be fine because it meant she would be one of the first ones to reach Levy. It didn't matter to her that Natsu was making sure to keep in step with her rather than pulling farther ahead like he was surely capable of—she hardly even noticed the pink-haired man charging along beside her. She also didn't know that his reason for sticking so diligently to her side was that he wanted to make sure she wasn't the next to disappear.
No, what mattered to the blonde celestial mage was retrieving her blue-haired friend in time and making those dark guild assholes pay for all the trouble they were causing her family. She needed to fill those blank pages with words, intricately woven tales inspired by the muse she found in the solid script mage.
Lucy would do whatever it took to get Levy back, even if she had to tear down Demon Card's hideout brick by brick and completely alone. It wasn't a personal matter—or maybe it was—but all that she could be sure of was that when someone messed with one member of the Fairy Tail family, they were messing with every single person in the guild. And sometimes, they were messing with Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale, the extended 'family' of Fairy Tail. When the whole family was together, their enemies, whoever they might be, were utterly doomed.
What enemies of Fairy Tail might not have realized, the blonde thought vindictively, was that an enraged Fairy Tail might just rival the power of all three guilds together or even exceed it. They would be a more threatening opponent than Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale combined.
A quick glance over her shoulder in her mad dash revealed a trail of mages that stretched as far as she could see. Every member of Fairy Tail was following she, Natsu, Happy, Gajeel, and Lily. The strength of their bonds was such a monstrous thing that it still amazed even Lucy, but she couldn't focus on anything other than saving Levy for very long at the moment.
One thought that flitted through her mind stayed a few moments longer. It felt rather nostalgic to be running in this direction because last time Lucy had been at the Demon Card guild was when the land it was on had belonged to Phantom Lord. It was yet another of those places that the blonde would surely have fallen to her death had it not been for Natsu. If he hadn't been there to save her, she wouldn't be able to save Levy.
But Levy wouldn't have to worry—if Lucy failed, the rest of Fairy Tail was there to pick up where she had left off.
It was when that thought crossed her mind that she wondered suddenly why Lily wasn't carrying Gajeel ahead of everyone else and why Happy wasn't carrying Natsu. Were they still so exhausted from the guild's recent melee that they couldn't carry their dragonslayers for very long? Whatever the case may be, Lucy decided, she didn't care. She redoubled her efforts, her lungs screaming for relief that wouldn't come. The blonde had thought she'd pushed her body to the limit before, but it was nothing compared to how all her muscles screamed in agony. It didn't matter that the adrenalin was pulsing through her because it still couldn't cover up all of the pain she felt. And, she reasoned as she briefly stumbled, this was nothing compared to how her body would feel after pummeling a few Demon Card scumbags into the ground.
For the first time, Lucy completely disregarded all caution and didn't even care for her own well-being. She was beyond fury. After all, how dare those dark guild upstarts kidnap her precious nakama right from under her nose?! There would be consequences, of that the celestial mage was certain.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Natsu understood all of this without having to be told and that he knew she felt somehow responsible. It was just how she was. He knew that well enough to refrain from even attempting to stop her, but he kept a close eye on her lest she push herself too hard for her body to handle.
To him, her health was paramount to her cause, even if he was thoroughly pissed at Demon Card, too. And so he stayed with her, picking up the pace when she did and slowing the few times she stumbled. He was basically acting as the virtually unnoticed caretaker for the blonde girl.
When the lair of Demon Card came into view, he was immensely glad that their dash was almost over. He wanted nothing more than to get a lift from Happy, but he knew that the Exceed was weak right now and also that Lucy needed him to be beside her. He had enough self-control to stay back with her, his teammate and irreplaceable friend. Sure, his fury at Demon Card was immense…but Lucy was positively livid. It would be fitting for the blonde, as Levy's dearest friend, to be one of the first to set foot on the premises of the cowards who had stolen her away. And it would be best for the pink-haired young man to stay with her to make sure she didn't do something reckless when she couldn't think clearly.
And finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they topped the hill. When previously they had just been able to see the top of the highest tower of the dark guild, now they could see the entire building. And before it, arrayed like a miniature army, were hundreds of men and women that the celestial mage assumed were members of Demon Card. Natsu, upon spotting this, cast a worried glance at Lucy but remained at her side as she followed Gajeel's descent down the hill.
"Damn you!" The blonde shrieked at the top of her lungs, reaching for a whip that was no longer there and then switching to reach for her keys, all in mid-stride.
They were going to fucking pay.
OOOOOH HOLY SHIT.
What's happening next?
Sorry if there's any problems. I changed this a lot from the original version of the chapter. And I was typing rather quickly to A) get an update out before I move to college in two days and B) to get this finished and uploaded before my parents get home and start getting angry because I leave for college and two days and still haven't packed a damn thing.
So anyway. Sorry if any of my language offends you, and I hope you enjoyed! This one was about 4900 words, which was better than the first one.
Now you know who was taken…but what's going to happen next? What's this "framing" in the summary about? Well…that's next chapter.
(AGAIN: I START COLLEGE THIS WEEK. Updates may be slower and if I don't reply to your reviews, please don't be offended.)
Also, forgive my cursing. I've started to swear more and more lately and I don't know why but I think a lot of it is tumblr. Thank you.