I know I set this out to be mostly a GaLe story, but honestly I keep falling back to write about NaLu.. hehe, sorry about that. It'll be more GaLe later on I promise! I've had a hard time putting this fic together, that's why it's been a while. I'm sorry about that too..

I might take a break from this fic and start a new one soon, but I don't even know yet.. ahh.. I need some inspiration! Feel free to leave a comment or PM me if you have any ideas or wishes for what you want to happen next in this story, or even for an entire new story for that matter! All ideas are welcomed with much gratefulness! I reply to all PM's and some reviews !

Kidnapped

Gajeel carried Lucy in his arms out of the dark basement and up to the fresh summer night. Lucy clung around his wide neck and took a deep breath when they reached the air above ground. "You don't have to carry me, I'm fine," Lucy smiled and wiggled her legs trying to get down.

"You seem tired, and I don't mind," Gajeel said firmly as he walked down the road.

"You're an amazing mage, Gajeel. I mean, you beat up all those guys on your own. I'm sorry I wasn't of much help, I feel so useless without my keys," Lucy muttered the last words slowly. Back in the basement there had not been just the one guy, but six more guys in the floor above them. They had heard the ruckus and stormed down to find Gajeel untying Lucy. Gajeel had beaten them all to a pulp within minutes, but it cost him almost all of his magical power, still he insisted on carrying Lucy. She let him so that they could get the hell out of there.

Gajeel carried Lucy for about half an hour before she convinced him that she could walk on her own. When he finally put her down, they had reached a crossroad; there was a sign that pointed north and south saying: North - Dillen, South – Retter.

"Wow," Lucy sighed, "We're that far from Magnolia?" Gajeel sat down on a rock and looked to Lucy,

"How far away are we?" Lucy sat down next to him and rested her face in her hands, "About nine hours by train," she exclaimed. "Wow that far, huh?" Gajeel suddenly felt broken, now they were even further away from finding Levy, she had apparently been sold to a man up north and they had been taken even further south in Fiore.

"At least we made it out, right?" She tried to cheer him up, but knew how disappointed he was.

"We should get to a town and tell the police about those guys back there, those ropes won't hold them forever," He stood up and helped Lucy to her feet.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," Lucy padded his back and directed him to the town up North, Dillen.

They arrived in Dillen about two hours later, both exhausted from the trip over the mountain and from the lack of food and water.

"Do you have any money? I'm starving," Gajeel turned his pockets inside out and looked over at Lucy with a hopeful face.

"Sorry, no. But, I have an idea!" She clapped her hands together and smiled eagerly. "Why don't you go down to the Royal Army's office down that street and tell them about what happened so they can go and get those guys, I'll meet you back here in an hour," Lucy started skipping down the street, it made Gajeel relieved to see her in such a good mood, she really is stronger than she looks.

Gajeel walked slowly down the road that Lucy had pointed out to him and kept his eyes open for the Army's office. When he found it he stomped inside and grabbed hold of the first person he saw dressed in official clothing.

"Hey, I'm here to report something, I need to see however is in charge around here, it's urgent!" He demanded.

"Easy there," The soldier scoffed Gajeel's hand off of him and pointed him down a long corridor. "The head of this unit is on the third left."

Gajeel hurried down and didn't even bother to knock on the door, he had no time to waste right now.

"What can I help you with?" a young looking man stood up behind a huge wooden desk and lowered his glasses as a greeting, he reached out a hand as a sign for Gajeel to sit down, but he didn't.

"The Silver Cape guild, that has a cabin up in the woods near Retter, they have kidnapped my friend and sold her, why haven't they been taken in already, huh? My friend and I just escaped from that cabin, and now there are seven mages from that guild tied up right over this mountain. I want to know how this could happen! You need to find my friend!" Gajeel didn't know which story to tell first, but the head of this unit, called George M. Velho if you were to trust the name plate on his desk, suddenly spun around on the spot and sent a team to the cabin, he reached out a hand to Gajeel in gratefulness. He explained how they had been trying to get those guys for the past months, but they had never had any real evidence. Now they had witnesses and the Army now had a chance to find the leader of the guild and arrest him, all they needed was to interrogate the guild members.

Gajeel exited the office quietly, satisfied that the guild members would be arrested, but angry that Velho had just given him his condolences when it came to Levy, he had said that the Army had no way of finding her, but they would try and force the guild members of Silver Cape to tell them where she was. Velho had also told Gajeel to stay in town for a few days so he could serve as a witness during the interrogation. It drove the dragon crazy to be forced to stay, but he knew it would be so much easier for the Army to lock up Silver Cape if they had a witness, and Gajeel wanted them locked up so they could never do what they had done to Levy ever again.

He met Lucy back where they had parted almost precisely one hour later. She stood and waited for with a big smile on her lips.

"What are you so happy about?"

"My dad used to do a lot of business in Dillen when I was younger, I went with him here a few times and we stayed at a hotel down the main street. I went there and luckily the manager remembered me and said that we could stay in a room for free since he and my dad were pretty close, the business is slow here in the summer anyways," Lucy started walking down to the main street and was really proud of herself for what she had accomplished. Turns out that having a businessman for a father wasn't only a bad thing, she smiled.

"We're looking for a blonde celestial mage, a big guy with long black hair and a lot of piercings on his face, and a tiny bluenette who uses script magic. Have you seen, or heard about, anyone like that around here?" Gray was in a dark pub doing a round to check if anyone had seen his missing teammates.

"Sorry, no," the old man slurped down his beer and turned away clearly annoyed to be interrupted. Gray walked out into the daylight and saw Natsu sitting on a bench with his head in his hands; his legs were shaking with impatience. "Anything?" Erza asked. Gray shook his head and nodded over at Natsu, "How's he doing?"

"Not good, he's really going crazy," Erza was getting worried for the dragon slayer. Natsu had not slept or eater for the last two days, he had barley even spoken to the others, including Happy.

"I'll go get something to drink, you want anything Natsu?" Erza asked.

Natsu waved his hand dismissively and kept shaking his feet as if he wanted to get up and run until he found his friends. "Be good to him while I'm gone," Erza pointed at Gray. She knew Natsu really couldn't take any jokes from the ice mage right now. Gray huffed at her and went over to sit next to Natsu. He really didn't want to say anything, and he felt that is was nothing he could say, still he felt that leaving Natsu alone to his guilt wasn't too good for him in the long run.

"We will find them, I swear," Gray whispered and laid his hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"We should've found them already," Natsu yelled and pushed Gray's hand away, "Lucy doesn't even have her keys! What if something happens to her, what do I do then?" His voice was husky as he tried to suffocate some sobs that where threatening to escape his mouth.

"She's most likely with Gajeel, and he's a strong guy, he can protect them both, you know that!" Gray tried to sound cheerful and positive for Natsu's sake.

"What if they got separated or something happened to him, huh? What then? I know Lucy is strong, but without her keys she really might be in danger, and I would never forgive myself if something happened to her!" he couldn't hold it in anymore, the sobs where to pressuring and he knew he had lost the battle to hide them. He turned away from Gray and tried to muffle the sounds with his scarf.

"Natsu…" Happy whimpered, "Do you really thing that something that bad happened to Lucy?" he sobbed along with him.

"Hey guys! I think I have found something!" Erza came running towards them waving her arm up high with a paper in her hand. Natsu leaped up from the bench and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Really?" he exclaimed.

"It says here that a gang of mages from a dark guild where arrested by The Royal Army this morning in the woods between Dillen and Retter," Erza stumbled along the text to find what had caught her eye in the first place. She felt Natsu's warm breath on her neck as he nervously waited for directions or answers. "Here it is! The head of the Dillen department George M. Velho says.. blah blah.. mhm… Yes! A man came in and reported the incident claiming that he and a friend had been held captive by the dark guild Silver Cape, but managed to escape. The man is going to serve as a witness and has been ordered to stay in Dillen during the early stages of interrogation!" Erza took a deep breath after the long sentence and waited for Natsu and Gray to react. "So..? Is it them?" Gray broke the silence, but according to Natsu's face there was no mistaking it, it was them. "How did they get to Dillen?" Erza questioned for a second before being dragged along by Natsu to the train station. This time Natsu could barely wait to get on that hell ride of transportation.

"I have to admit it Bunny Girl, you really saved us this time," Gajeel wiped his mouth clean with his sleeve and let out a satisfied moan.

"Well, I'm glad I could be of some use," Lucy smiled and leaned back in her chair. They had just finished a meal at the hotel restaurant after Lucy had been begging Gajeel for hours to eat something. She had told him that she knew how much he wanted to find Levy, but he was no use when he was out of power. He had unwillingly followed her with tightened fists.

"How are you holding up?" Lucy tilted her head and softened her eyes as she spoke.

"Not too good, I really wanna get going right now! Who knows what terrible things that might have happened to Levy already? I'm gonna kill those bastards if I ever get my hands on them again!" he slammed his hand on the table with red fury burning in his eyes. It was clear to Lucy how much he worried for Levy, she was just as worried, but she was kind of worried for herself as well. Without her keys she was pretty much defenseless and going north to find Levy could mean bumping into a lot of scary guys. She would only be in Gajeel's way if he had to protect her as well.

Lucy bowed her head and Gajeel saw what she was thinking. He knew that face, he had seen it in Levy before. When they had been going to Tenrou Island Levy had had that same look. That was when Gajeel had first felt the need to prove to her that she was more than good enough. He had just volunteered to go with her as assistance really, he knew she was both strong and smart enough to do it all by herself, but it didn't end up like that. Well, it wasn't Levy's fault.

Gajeel cleared his throat and turned his face to Lucy's watery eyes. "I see what you're thinking. You're thinking that you shouldn't come with me to find Levy without your keys cause you feel weak,"

Lucy nodded slowly. She knew it, Gajeel had felt the same thing, of course he had! She was useless. Utterly useless.

"I won't be able to find her alone, you know," he lifted his brow and revealed just a little hint of a smile.

Lucy sat up in shock, had he really just… Gajeel was… so sweet. Lucy smiled back at him and let out a little chuckle. "That's nice of you to say Gajeel, I know I'm not at my strongest, but-,"

"Stop, I mean it. I can't do it without you. We're a team right now, and we have to do this together. I won't return home to Magnolia without Levy,"

Lucy nodded eagerly. She wouldn't let Gajeel down. She would fight even without her keys. For Levy, she would fight until the end.

Suddenly, what Gajeel had said the other night at the camp fire popped into her head, about how never playing the game because you were scared to lose would definitely not make you the winner. That went for both Levy and, well how is Natsu doing anyways? Lucy hadn't had time to even consider how mad he must be when they hadn't been there that morning. I hope nothing bad happened to him, he would probably be able to take care of himself though. He must've been scared when he saw that we were gone, I hope he's ok… Lucy's mind drifted away slowly, she didn't even notice how fast she fell asleep.

She didn't wake up for hours, and when she finally opened her eyes she was back in the hotel room, Gajeel was sleeping loudly on the couch, he had probably woken her up with his snores. Lucy rubbed her eyes and rolled over to see the clock on the wall above the door. "3.45, have I really slept for that long?" she mumbled, wow, it's hot in here, I need some air… she quietly removed her clothes and tied a robe around her body before walking across the room to open the glass door to the little porch.

"So, where do we begin?" Erza held a map in front of her face and narrowed her eyes in the dark to see clearer. It was way past midnight and the train had just arrived at Dillen Station.

"Don't know, I've never been here before, but it looks like it's quite the big city," Gray roamed over the map with his sleepy eyes and could barely even focus. Natsu had made it impossible for the two other mages to sleep on the train with his disgusting noises and pained moans.

"Maybe we should check into a hotel, get some sleep and start looking for them tomorrow?" Happy yawned hopefully as he landed on Gray's head with a pop.

"No! We have to find them! We can't stop now, we just got here!" Natsu still fought the urge to hurl but his feet were at least on solid ground.

"Happy's right," Erza said firmly, "We know that the possibility is big that it's them, and we also know that they were ordered to stay in town for the next few days, we should rest. We've been awake for a long time and we'll do better tomorrow if we're fully charged," Erza and Gray both agreed that it was for the best, and started walking down a small alley to find a cheap place to stay. Natsu followed unwillingly, but kept his nose up in the air just in case he might catch the familiar scent of…vanilla, and… strawberries! Lucy!

Natsu spun around so fast he barley even registered that his feet where moving away from Erza and Gray. He knew he had smelled her. Her smell was unmistakable. He stopped a few times just to make sure he was on the right track. The light summer breeze sent playful whiffs of Lucy all over town but that didn't really help the dragon's nose. Dammit!

The night wasn't nearly as silent as it would be in Magnolia at this time. The tall buildings stretched up towards the black sky and echoed sounds of loud shrieking voices between narrow alleys. Natsu ran around like a wild animal in the dark streets, he was hunting and was on the right track for his pray.

The scent he was following was getting stronger by each step and his stomach tightened with a burning happiness. He stopped, looked up and that's when he saw her. Right there, on the balcony of a yellow-painted hotel in the main street.

"Lucy," his voice had a hint of disbelief in it. "Lucy!" he screamed with watery eyes and a shaky voice.

Lucy had seen him. She had heard him scream her name and she was following his movements as he ran towards her. Her heart skipped a beat every time he called for her. "Natsu.." she whimpered. He came for me? All this way…

"Natsu!" she waved her hand up and held the other over her chest to calm her pounding heart.

Natsu leaped up from the ground and caught the rail on the balcony in his hands. He jumped over it effortlessly and stood silently before Lucy as he caught his breath. He panted hard as a huge grin appeared on his flushed face, "I found you!" he chuckled "I knew I would!" he walked over to her and laid his arm around her petite body as if he wanted to protect her.

"You had me worried sick, you know that?" he tightened his grip around her. "I'm sorry," Lucy whispered into his chest.

"I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to you Lucy. You can never disappear ever again!"

"I'm fine, I swear," Lucy reached around him and connected her hands together in a tight and warm hug.

"I missed you so much.." Natsu sighed

"I missed you too,"

"I'm never taking my eyes off of you ever again!"

The relief Natsu felt in that moment was indescribable and he honestly never wanted to let his Lucy go. When she finally released herself from his warm hug she reached up to his face and gave him a big kiss on his cheek.

"What happened to you? Where have you been? Where is Gajeel?" Natsu had so many questions running in his head but before he could ask any more questions Lucy laid her finger over his lips.

"I'll explain tomorrow, you look exhausted so let's just get some sleep for now."

"Erza, Gray and Happy are also in town, but I'll find them tomorrow. You're right, I'm really tired,"

Lucy took Natsu's hand in hers and guided him inside to the hotel room. The first thing Natsu registered was the loud snoring and the smell of cold iron, Gajeel, thank god he's ok. He landed on the bed with a crash and fell asleep almost instantly, with his arms wrapped around Lucy.

End of chapter three

Leave a comment to let me know what you think, please ! :)

Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!