Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've updated, but I've changed the name of the fanfic from 'Damsel in Distress' to 'The Moribund Star'! (As you can see) The name, I realised, was pretty mainstream, so I decided to change it. Besides, both names fit pretty well!
Anyways, here's Chapter 2 of The Moribund Star! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, and it rightfully belongs to our favourite Hiro Mashima-dono!
-TheFlyingNeko:)
Natsu Dragneel, the strongest member of their team at the moment, had disappeared.
"Natsu...?" Lucy muttered in shock.
"Natsu!" Happy yelled as he came to a standstill. His eyes and mouth were wide open, and tears were about to flow out from his eyes.
"Natsu!" Loke yelled, staring transfixed in horror.
'No way.
This can't be happening.
Natsu did not just protect me from some fatal blow and disappear.'
"We have our hostage, although not the one we wanted... Whatever, let's go." The man said, as he, along with the bandits, disappeared.
"NOOO! NATSUUUUUU! GIVE NATSU BACK!" Lucy screamed, but she was just too late.
He was gone.
"Wait... He said 'hostage'... Right?" Loke said, trying to cheer Lucy up just a bit.
"That's means... Natsu-san is still alive." Taurus said.
"Yeah... T-That's most probably true..." Happy said, tears falling onto his cheeks.
"I'm guessing there was a teleportation lacrima embedded in that arrow he sent there." Loke said. "Lucy-"
"Why... Why didn't he let me get struck? There's no need for someone like him to save me, of all people. Why..." Lucy said, tears streaming down her face.
"L-"
"Taurus, Loke, go back... It's okay... I don't need you here..." Lucy said, looking up with her tear-stricken face.
Taurus hesitated for a moment before going back to the celestial world, knowing that staying would just make it worse. However, Loke stayed behind.
"Loke... Go back..." Lucy said pathetically.
"I refuse. I'm still a member of Fairy Tail, and if someone's down, everyone shares that feeling. If someone is taken away, everyone must fight back. And I must also fight... For my master's happiness." Loke said, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder.
"We will get Natsu back."
"Yeah... We will... Thanks, Loke." Lucy said, wiping her tears away.
"Sitting here and moping won't do Natsu good. We must try our best and find Natsu!" Lucy declared. "Loke, you should really rest now. We will need your energy later, so for now, leave it to us!"
"Alright then. If you need me, just call my name. I'll come out of my own accord. We don't want to waste your magic power either. See you." Loke said, before going back to the spirit world.
"Yeah! Thanks!" Lucy said.
Lucy then tried to stand up, since she was sprawled out on the ground, but her injured leg sent a wave of shock and pain through her body and caused her to fall back down again.
"Lucy! Are you okay?" Happy asked, picking Lucy up.
"Yeah, I'm fine... This... Is nothing..." Lucy said, as she was slowly put back on the ground again.
She managed to stand this time and sustained it for a while. She looked at her wound and examined it.
"Alright, I'm fine." Lucy said, smiling to happy.
"Aye. Lucy, what's your plan?" Happy asked.
"They didn't leave around any bandits for us to interrogate... But we still need to find the person who gave us this job! It might have been one of the bandits as a lure... Or maybe a helpless citizen! Thinking of that... Doesn't this town seem a little too quiet?" Lucy asked.
They shared a moment of silence where they surveyed the town, and indeed, it was pindrop silence.
"Impossible..." Happy said.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah..."
"Alright then... You take the left and I'll take the right." Lucy said.
"Aye..." Happy said.
"If you run in any trouble, or find something, send up this signal flare." Lucy said, passing Happy one of the signal flares. "I've brought some out with me recently."
"Aye, sir! We meet back here in an hour's time if we have no luck." Happy said, flying off towards the buildings on the left.
"Mm!" Lucy agreed before running off to the buildings on the right.
"Oh Mavis... Is this for real?"
Lucy had went into all the houses just now, but all of them were empty, and barely had any sign of living. The windows were smashed in, tables flipped. The kitchens were also robbed, and there were several drawers lying on the floor. All that was left was this warehouse.
Hundreds of innocent civilians sat on the ground, each tied up with a bundle of rope. Their mouths were taped up and they had blindfolds on... And it didn't seem like they've only been there for hours.
"Gate of the crab, open! Cancer!" Lucy said, as Cancer appeared.
"Would you need me to cut all their hair-ebi?" Cancer asked.
"No... Cut off their ropes and blindfolds!" Lucy said, sighing. Cancer was as oblivious as ever.
"Okay-ebi." Cancer said, before swiftly cutting off all their ropes and blindfolds.
However, not as expected, the citizens fell on the ground one by one when they were free. They were too weak and only held by those ropes, and couldn't even help themselves take off the tapes on their mouths. Some children had already fainted as well.
"Oh no..." Lucy said, shocked.
Luckily, a few of them managed to sit up and pull off the tapes, and were starting to help the others too.
"I'll get Happy to help too. Cancer, try and remove all the tapes. No- not with your scissor! You're gonna cut them! Use your hands!" Lucy said, before running out.
She sent the signal flare up in the air and it appeared with a boom. Satisfied, she ran back in again.
Lucy, Cancer, and along with five or so of men who were strong enough to help slowly removed all their tapes- that's when Happy arrived.
"Lucy!-" Happy stared in horror at the many civilians, each weak and unable to move.
"Happy! Just in time! We need a little help here..." Lucy said, as Happy rushed over.
"Aye." Happy said, realising that they were helping the rest take off their tapes.
A whole fifteen minutes later, they finally managed to remove all the tapes.
"Who knew removing tapes would be this tiring..." Lucy whined yet again, as she sat facing all of them. "Oh, right! Happy, could you go find some rations for them to consume? Perhaps some water and food would do."
"Aye sir!" Happy said, flying off.
The five citizens who have helped remove others' tapes as well came over to Lucy -Cancer having gone back to the celestial world- and sat down beside her.
"Thanks for saving us. We deeply appreciate it." The man in the middle said, as they bowed to Lucy.
"No, it's fine! We were just here on a job... However, the moment we reached Zillia, the bandits attacked us as if they knew we were coming. And… They took our precious nakama, Natsu away. We have put his safety as our highest priority right now… Speaking of which... Do you know who sent out the job request?" Lucy asked.
"Oh, you're a mage? No wonder! Unfortunately, no, none of us sent a job request. All of us are probably too poor to even afford those kinds of things. We were barely able to feed the entire town and when we finally had our harvests... The bandits came. The bandits always stayed on the mountain to the side, and since robbing us wouldn't be of use since we were all so poor already, they didn't take any action. However, a month ago, they started attacking us, so someone must had sent a request a while ago-"
"But I think I know who." The teenage boy sitting the side said, catching everyone's attention.
And that's it for now:) I'll update after my exams end, but if you like the story so far, do drop me a review, favourite and/or follow! (And thank you to those who have done so, so far!:))
-TheFlyingNeko