Trying to get a few things out for you guys. This story has been going on far too long, and for that I apologize to everyone who's still with me for all the delays! I'm doing my best do write some in my free time (whatever free time I have, which isn't much).
Anyway, let me introduce chapter 9 of Fueling the Fire: All the Difference
Natsu didn't know how much time had passed since that magazine had been thrown on his floor. Consequently, he wasn't sure how long Lucy had been missing or if they had found her yet. The only plus to this predicament was that now they were feeding him again, because Head Captain Lahar had come to ask Natsu a few things and seen the evidence of his starvation. He had even personally seen to three small snacks in as many hours, to slowly rebuild stamina and appetite. He was now provided with an adequate supply of water, and the dragonslayer's guards had been switched out for more reliable ones than his previous tormentors.
It didn't make any different to the salmon-haired young man who watched him or how much food he got…not anymore. He only finished the food he was given because he had to, or his new guards would report something amiss to Lahar and he would ask questions. That had happened at least once…maybe more, but Natsu wasn't sure of anything anymore because everything was running together.
Lucy.
Even her name hurt him when he thought it. Just the not knowing was more torture than anything he'd ever endured. And the fact that the Rune Knights and the Council hadn't taken action against those Demon Card bastards infuriated him.
They ran to reach Demon Card's headquarters when they reported the Fairy Tail attack…but they wouldn't even investigate Fairy Tail's claim against Demon Card. That was some pretty shitty governing, as far as Natsu was concerned. Shouldn't each guild be treated the same? They all had to follow the same laws, so why didn't they get the same treatment? Why was it Fairy Tail being treated like the dark guild in this situation, instead of the other way around?
It was beyond frustrating.
Lucy could be hurt, or, Mavis forbid, dying, and the Council would just as soon let it happen than go to Fairy Tail's aid in recovering her. And Levy, for that matter, since she had been in the enemy's grasp for who knows how much longer than his blonde partner. Natsu knew that he certainly had no idea how long it had been. Time had been running together since he'd been taken, and even more since Demon Card had abducted Lucy—it still hurt to think about her, because then he remembered her bright smile and her determination, her courage, her everything—and it was so bad that he hardly knew day from night anymore.
And then he heard something, right outside the bars of his cell, and felt a magic that hadn't been there before. His guards had paced down the hall and just around the corner on one of their patrols, because he could still hear them there, so out of curiosity he had to look.
A white cloak was pressed against the bars, and the owner tilted the back of his head against one. He'd appeared silently, so silently, and for a second Natsu wondered if whoever had framed him was about to finish things quickly so he didn't have the right to a trial, but after just a few more seconds he recognized the Council member before him. It was quite possibly the first time he'd ever been almost excited to see one of them.
"I heard that another guild kidnapped Levy and Lucy," he said slowly, in a low voice. Natsu listened closely, but there were no signs of a hurried return from either of his guards. "You knew about Levy. Did you know about…?"
"Yeah," Natsu's voice was slightly croaky, and he reached for the pitcher of water at the metal shelf by his cot. After a long drink, he continued, "The last bastards that were watching me gave me the Sorcerer."
The dragonslayer saw the other man's face crinkle in disgust. "That was in very poor taste, on top of everything else."
"You don't have to tell me that."
With a sigh and a turn of the head, so that he could peer at the salmon-haired man behind the bars with one blue-grey eye, he murmured, "I guess I don't, do I?"
After a few moments of utter silence between them, as Natsu heard one of the guards turning at the end of the far hall to come back, his cloaked companion turned to face him, grasping a bar with one hand. His scars made his face look slightly menacing when it was thrown into shadow like this, but Natsu wasn't afraid of him in the least.
"Fairy Tail's complaints against Demon Card are being ignored right now, spitefully, because they believe you attacked the general that was with those Rune Knights. But you already guessed that much, I'm sure."
The fire dragonslayer clenched his fist, and that was enough of an answer.
"I managed to get some time off starting tomorrow afternoon…and I wanted to let you know that I'm using it to go check things out."
At this, Natsu's gaze found those of the fiercely determined man in front of him, and for the first time in what had to have been at least a couple of weeks, Natsu let out a smirk.
"I think you've got the Fairy Tail spirit, Mest."
With a smirk right back, the other quipped, "I'm glad to hear it."
A sneeze sounded from just around the corner, and Mest glanced quickly towards the sound. N, atsu tuned into the sound just as quickly, and realized that the guards had gotten closer while he sat, impressed at how much determination this member of the Council could exude…especially where Fairy Tail was concerned.
"Looks like you gotta get out of here," Natsu pointed out needlessly. "So get going, Mest!"
With one more look at the salmon-haired dragonslayer, Mest quickly stated, "It's Doranbolt!" before grinning and disappearing shortly thereafter from where he had been standing. Natsu slumped back onto his cot, more satisfied with this development of his imprisonment than any other.
Even thinking about Lucy still freakin' hurt…but now there was someone who kind of had the authority to do something about those assholes. And if Natsu was right about Mest—or Doorbolt or whatever his name was—he didn't have anything to worry about. That man was as close to a member of Fairy Tail as anyone could get without actually being a member. He had the heart, he had the drive…and despite his rocky beginnings with them on Tenrou Island, he had their trust.
Natsu reached for his water again, and wondered when his next meal or snack or whatever would be sent.
For the first time in days, he felt like he could eat anything.
.
.
When Lucy woke, it was to a loud argument down the hall from the cell she and Levy were both in. Her back ached, her neck ached, her shoulders ached—hell, everything ached!—and when Levy groaned into alertness, she could tell that the solid script mage felt the same pains. They shared a glance and slowly got up, tuning into the argument.
"—ain't no reason the boss can't just off them or starve them or somethin', is there? That way, they don't got nothin' to use against us if they ever get out, and we don't have to waste our food on them!"
The voice was an angry man's, cracking with the force of his conviction. The way he easily tossed in the idea of offing them—because Lucy didn't doubt he was talking about she and Levy—gave her the chills. It also sounded like he'd voiced his opinions on whether or not they should be alive several times, because it had the air of something much used.
"The boss has his reasons, I'm sure," this voice was more levelheaded and feminine, and Lucy recognized it as the woman who had helped capture her. She bristled slightly, but then took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do about it right now, and she had let herself be captured on purpose, so right now she couldn't be upset. "And I'm also sure that you don't need to know every little thing that goes on around here, honey."
"Don't you honey me," the man groused. They sounded like they were nearing the cell. Lucy took the time to stretch and try to work some of the kinks out of her back while also listening for any continuation of the subject. As she had told Gajeel back at the guild, any little bit of information she could glean was potentially useful in this situation. Even the knowledge that at least one member of the guild wanted to kill the two Fairy Tail members could be decent evidence, if the council was persuaded to believe she had really been incarcerated at Demon Card's guild headquarters.
"Don't take it seriously, honey," the woman scoffed. "I call everyone that. You're not special in the least."
A harrumph sounded, and Lucy thought to herself that this grown man was acting like a child. She couldn't even see him yet, but in her mind's eye he was a fairly short, bearded man with his arms crossed and a grumpy look on his features.
"I have to agree that some measures should be taken to prevent any information from leaking out," a third voice smoothly broke the silence. "However, killing them would only make things seem more suspicious. If we had some memory manipulation magic…we could make everyone think they had gone off on a job together or something."
"That's just boring," the grouchy man mumbled.
"It's better than your idea, honey," came the scathing retort.
Lucy wondered if she should say something now. Maybe ask about what they intended for the two of them. There was obviously some kind of rule not to harm them, but she wondered how many of them would adhere to that rule. Before she could think of something to say, though, the group came into view.
For a second, the blonde considered laughing as someone fitting her imagined image of the grouchy man stepped up in front of the cell, but when the taller, blonde man in a ball cap spoke up, something about how she was more attractive than the magazine let on, she held it in. The shorter, less attractive man had the smoother voice, and the attractive one just sounded like a total sleaze. She found that amusing, too, but her attention was more drawn toward the woman.
"Hello again, doll," she smirked at Lucy, and the blonde woman couldn't help but grit her teeth and clench her fists at the expression. She knew she shouldn't be angry for this woman capturing her, just like she had wanted…but dammit if she wasn't still upset about being overpowered so quickly when she wasn't even putting up a real fight.
She thought Natsu was rubbing off on her.
"What do you want with us?" the celestial mage demanded, deciding to just go with it. "What do you want with Fairy Tail? What have we done to you?"
"Those are questions you'd have to ask the boss," the taller man drawled. "We wouldn't tell ya if we did know, and it's up to him whether anyone tells ya anythin' or not."
"If we did have anything to tell you, doll," the woman said slowly, "it would only be speculations. And with the kind of ideas these numbskulls think of, I'm not entirely sure you'd want to hear what they think the boss wants with you. Not a one of those ideas is very nice to little fairies like the two of you…or any of your friends who might fall in there with you."
"You won't get anyone else," Levy's defiant voice was strong, and Lucy was happy to hear her with so much conviction.
"And besides…I think we heard enough of your ideas when you were walking down the hall," Lucy chipped in, frowning.
"Let me tell you something, doll," the woman leaned in closer to the bars, after hitting one of the men when he tried to talk, "and that something? It's that neither one of you are going to leave that little cell there with any kind of knowledge that could backfire on us unless the boss has some kind of collateral over you. You won't be able to tell anyone what happened here without causing some kind of trouble for your precious guild. And you couldn't have that, could you?"
Laughing, the woman waved and finished with, "Later, doll!"
Lucy wondered at the fact that the men hadn't said anything new, but decided that the woman was definitely the one they turned to for an authority figure in that small group.
"We could've assumed that much on our own," Levy's tone was almost petulant, and Lucy was so unused to hearing it that she thought for a second that it wasn't Levy at all. "She didn't need to state the obvious. What are we, toddlers? Mavis, nothing makes me madder than someone insulting our intelligence like that."
And Lucy couldn't help but grin at the indignation in her voice.
That was the Levy she knew and loved.
Doranbolt rapped on the oaken door three times in quick succession and then waited. After a few moments, he heard Captain Lahar call, "Enter."
The lower-ranking Council member stepped into his superior's office. He felt like he was here more often than any other member of his same rank…and often because he came to argue with the captain over something or other that concerned Fairy Tail. He couldn't help it, because he knew Natsu was right—he had the spirit of Fairy Tail.
"You wanted to see me Lah—Captain Lahar?"
For a moment, Doranbolt couldn't believe he'd made that mistake. He wasn't a junior member of the council anymore, and while he and Lahar did get along remarkably well, they still had some sense of professionalism. Therefore, the captain was always paid due respect—that is, he was always addressed as Captain or Captain Lahar. The fact that he'd almost slipped and called the captain just by his name was almost mortifying…and more proof that he was too involved with Fairy Tail and their way of thinking.
The captain, for his part, merely raised an eyebrow at his subordinate's misstep and then stood from his desk.
"Your request for time off has been successfully processed, despite how late you put in for it," the captain informed him bluntly. It was Doranbolt's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Yes, Captain. I received notification of it a few hours ago," the lower-ranking man drew out his words, a questioning tone to his voice. It wasn't like Lahar to go out of his way just to tell someone a fact that they most likely already knew about. "Has anything changed since then?"
"It has, actually," Captain Lahar had walked to the front of his desk and as he spoke, he sat on the edge facing Doranbolt. It made more sense for Lahar to seek him out, then, if something had changed. For a second, he dreaded that his time had been moved, which would completely defeat his purpose, but then his captain continued, "I granted an extra day. Instead of tomorrow, your personal time begins now, or as soon as you get everything settled."
The teleportation and memory control mage blinked in surprise. Now that was something he hadn't been expecting the captain to do. it wasn't generally in Lahar's nature to give his men any extra time off…especially when the man in question loved Fairy Tail a little too much for his own good, considering that he was a member of the Council.
"Sir, there was no need—"
"Find good evidence, Mest."
Doranbolt froze, looked at his captain in shock, then grinned and straightened to his full height. "I don't know what you mean, sir. Shall I finish my duties for the day and be off now?"
"Please do. Dismissed."
With a quick bow of the torso, Doranbolt turned and strode from the office, his white cloak flaring out behind him. Lahar watched him leave and sighed as soon as the door closed behind him.
"I know you would be inconsolable if I let anything happen to them," Lahar remarked to himself and his empty office. "And everything you do when you're worried about Fairy Tail is complete rubbish."
The captain slid from his desk and walked back to the proper side to sit and finish correcting Doranbolt's—no, Mest's—reports from the last week or so. That man really couldn't do anything right if that guild was under fire for any reason, or in some kind of trouble or conflict.
"Why don't you just join up, already?" he mused aloud, magically erasing a box and ticking the correct one.
No one seemed to wonder where Gajeel had been when he entered the guild. They didn't even get angry at him for not being with someone other than Pantherlily—perhaps that was just because Pantherlily was the only Fairy Tail exceed that could take care of himself, but the iron dragonslayer had still expected some sort of interrogation when he'd showed back up.
When he got back to the guild, though, it was kind of obvious why no one was angry with him. Even Erza looked like the whole city was crumbling to the ground because of their two kidnapped mages and the incarcerated dragonslayer. And damn it all if Gajeel didn't feel the slump as soon as he sat down at his usual table. He knew that the two women were alive and mostly well, dammit, but when the bookworm wasn't sitting here at his corner table babbling to him about this character in her new favorite book that reminded her of him…it just wasn't the same.
"Your plan better work, Bunny Girl," the words just barely ghosted past his lips. He'd been here for three minutes and he already couldn't take it.
The freakin' nudist was actually wearing his clothes, the alcoholic was drinking water, Elfman hadn't said a damn thing about being a man in a few minutes. Erza didn't even have a piece of the cake she loved so much sitting in front of her. Quest-board-guy, Jab—Bab?—well, whatever his name was, wasn't even looking at the job request board. It was just…unsettling. Gajeel didn't like it.
Happy drifted over to Gajeel and Lily after a while, when Lisanna was distracted helping Mira behind the bar.
"Lucy…?" was all the blue exceed said, in as soft a voice as he could manage.
"They're both in the same cell," the dark-haired dragonslayer murmured in his gruff voice. "Got a few bruises and scrapes between 'em, but otherwise they're fine for now."
Happy nodded and soon after went back to the bar before Lisanna could really miss him.
"Let's go get a little rest," Lily mumbled after a while. "We won't do Lucy, Levy, or Natsu any good if we're too tired to do anything."
Gajeel grunted his assent, and the two got up to leave after only thirty or forty minutes of sitting in the guild hall. People barely paid any attention to the two as they left, and the iron dragonslayer couldn't find it in him to blame them for neglect. He didn't like attention, anyway…it was just that Fairy Tail wasn't such a damn quiet place.
Before the duo could get very far away, a presence appeared rather suddenly just a few feet away, and it was one he recognized. He raised his red eyes to meet the blue-grey eyes of the mage who stood before him in a simple brown leather jacket, cargo pants, t-shirt, and boots. He had a green bag over one shoulder. After a few moments of silence during which the two stood just taking each other's appearance in, Gajeel chuckled under his breath. This guy…he was too much like Fairy Tail. There was only one reason for him to be here at a time like this, and with glee the dragonslayer realized that this could be a very fortunate thing for everyone.
"Gihihi…"
"Something wrong…?" the council mage that didn't look the part raised a quizzical eyebrow at the taller, more intimidating dragonslayer.
"More like somethin's finally right," was the gruff response. "What'd you do, sneak out to help?"
A smirk spread across the face of Doranbolt—no, right now he would be Mest. Mest Gryder.
"I didn't sneak. It's not official council business, no, but I got time off with Captain Lahar's approval. Surprising, considering he knew exactly what I planned to do with my 'personal' time." Mest rolled his shoulders, grinning. His expression sobered then, and he asked, "Has there been any news yet?"
"Nothin' that any of them know about," Gajeel jerked a thumb towards the guild hall, "but I got somethin' I think you can help me with. Just come with us to my place and I'll let you in on our little secret."
An eyebrow shot up again, and the teleportation mage nodded his consent.
Now they had a council member as a witness and accomplice, if Gajeel knew this guy as well as he suspected he did. And that could make all the difference in the world where those stuffy old coots were concerned.
"Let's get to my place then. I got a lot to tell you."
Thanks so much for reading!
I used my not-so-free free time for this (by not-so-free I mean I should be working on about three huge projects that are all due next week…but haven't worked on any of them), so you'd better be thankful! And actually, the ideas just kept coming. This was actually nothing like the original chapter I had planned…but I rediscovered my love for Mest/Doranbolt when I finally watched the rest of the anime (I watched 125 or so episodes in a week and a half…) and so I had to add him in because there was the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please don't try to rush updates. I'll try to do what I can with what I've got, but I also have several big projects coming up and I don't know if I'll have much time during those.
ALSO: Guess who is SUPER PUMPED about the new anime season that starts in like 9-10 days?! YEAH!