Welcome back for a second chapter of Revolution! I want to thank you guys for everything you've said about my stories so far, and hope for you guys to continue to read this story and like it.
Revolution
Chapter 2; First Words
The screams finally came to a stop after five consecutive hours. They had drowned out the painful screams and barely noticed when they had stopped. It only occurred to them once they saw Laxus carrying to dragon slayer up to the infirmary where he laid him down in the bed. At once, the infirmary temp-nurses quickly wrapped him up to the sheets. Lisanna quickly took the seat besides his bed with a water bowl and a wet flannel she placed on his head. Levy and Mira brought the towels and began wiping the dry sweat off his skin and Cana and Juvia cleared up the blood on his skin while the other girls were kept constantly looking after Happy.
Laxus left them to it and came back down into the guild hall were the other men were assembled, along with Erza. The creak of the infirmary door echoed throughout the silent hall as the rest of the Natsu curing team began clearing up. Wendy carried to bucket of blue tinted blood and Gray carried the towels with Erza as Romeo was finishing whipping the floor clean of any red stains. Once he finished, he disappeared into the kitchen before returning with everyone else.
Everyone but Mira and Lisanna returned to the guildhall after settling Natsu and Happy, and took their seats among the rest of the worried mages.
"How is he?" Macao asked firstly, looking up at the blue haired girl from a tired slump on the floor against one of the booths. Wakabe sat beside him, fiddling with an unlit pipe as everyone else looked at Wendy.
"It was harder to separate the blood from the poison as I would have liked, so he ended up losing a lot of blood, but not enough to be life threatening. I got all the poison out, so he should wake up in a little while." Wendy explained.
"Thank you Wendy." Makarov smiled softly. "Will you and Romeo go keep an eye on them for me please?"
"Sure," Wendy nodded escaping up the stairs with the other young mage before the two silver haired sisters descended after them.
"Do we know anything about the location of Lucy yet?" Makarov asked again as Mira and Lisanna sat in a booth besides Elfman.
"Cana tried a locator spell on her magic signal but we couldn't seem to find her and no one has been in contact yet." Juvia replied.
"I did a search of the city and I can't read her magic anywhere either." Freed added.
"Some people went out a search as well but found nothing." Wakabe included as well, running a hand through the damp strands of his hair.
"For all we know, Lucy could have been hit with the same thing Natsu had." Laxus commented bitterly, feeling tired and irritated.
"You mean she could be stuck unconscious in some dark alley way in this storm where we can't find her." Gray added quietly. After everything with Natsu, Gray had been worryingly quiet. Dark circles hung under his eyes on his lax expression, showing exhaustion all over his face. The mage wasn't trying to sound bitter, or give any hint to his feelings at all in what he said. And everyone just quietly accepted the dreaded feeling that knew he could be telling the truth.
The guild doors creaked open and all eyes went back to it. The earlier shock sent them instantly jumping up from their seats, expecting someone else to collapse through the doorway. But it was Levy who made their hearts bound in hope instead when she expectantly cried out "LUCY!"
For a second, they expected her to come bounding into the door completely okay. But it wasn't her.
A tall man with short brown hair, a long white cloak and a crossed scar running over his left cheek stood in the doorway instead. Besides him, stood a taller man with long black hair and glasses, wearing the same white coat. They quickly came in, closing the door behind them. They were wet through but all they did was take off their wet cloaks, setting them quietly by the door.
"Dranbolt. Other guys name" Makarov spoke curtly instead.
"It's been a while, Master." Dranbolt spoke softly, but his tone already indicated that he knew everything.
"If it's you here Dranbolt, I can understand why no one knew much on these wizard assault cases." Erza spoke suggestively. "I suppose your magic to rewrite memories comes in handy again."
"It's not exactly rewriting memories, but the point you're making it right." Dranbolt replied half-heartedly.
"It's only been a few hours and you already knew." Gray added, his eyes falling dully on the mage, who could only look back sympathetically.
"I contacted them." Makarov interjected. Everyone turned to look at the small man in surprise. He sat on the bar top, with eyes darkly masked with irritation and anger. His eyes looked on as civil as he could manage at the two government officials. "Someone's attacking wizards. And that someone attacked three of my own. And now one's missing. I want to know what the hell is going on and it seems like the government popping up in all these rumours might have something to tell me."
"You're right." Lahar replied with the same vigilant, but business-like air around him. His calm, almost calculating tone was probably a good thing when talking to all the high strung wizards in front of him. "Although you might not like what you hear."
"I'll listen to anything if it's going to help me get my kid back." Makarov convicted himself, followed by a crowd of intense eyes agreeing to the same thing.
"Alright, we've needed to forgive you for what happened seven years ago anyhow, so we'll tell you all we know." Dranbolt nodded, pulling up a seat into the crowd with Lahar already settling into his own.
Lahar began. "First of all, we know what poison was used on Natsu. It's a new drug used to paralyse the body and your magic using ability. It's used from a rare and unknown plant thought to be extinct. Naturally, it's unharmful to humans. But if the leaves and roots are mixed together, along with a few other chemicals, it becomes quite toxic. Although it makes the body incapable of movement, and incapable of using magic, it won't kill. It also has no long term affects if removed in time."
"And if it's not removed in time?" Cana dared to ask, thinking horribly back to Gray's earlier statement.
"Nothing permanent." Lahar added. "Although the person will be in excruciating amount of pain, paralysed and unable to use magic until it's removed. We've made a cure but it's not as effective as your air dragon slayer's magic so I've heard. Ours takes almost two weeks to rid the system of the drug."
Everyone seemed to look a little relieved, but at the same time the news also inspired growing concern.
"And what can you tell us about this guy that's attacking these wizards?" Laxus asked, leaning up against one of the guild columns.
"I can tell you one thing straight away." Lahar said knowingly.
"Which is?" Gray pressed, turning around in his seat for a better view of the guy's impervious poker face.
"That it isn't just one guy." Lahar replied.
"What do you mean?" Gajeel growled irritatingly, feeling that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.
"An anti-magic activist group we thought we extinguished resurfaced. They call themselves the 'Red Church'. The followers call themselves the 'Exorcists' doing God's work to be rid the world of the sins of magic. The man at the top as the most power; they call him the 'Saint' and just like our own churches pope, whatever he says, goes. On the outside they're simply a campaigning group against the practice of magic and witchcraft and exercise their right to public speaking." Dranbolt explained. "On the inside..."
Dranbolt fell quiet, feeling the heavy pressure of his words that were about to befall his old unofficial guild mates.
"...they're infamous for wizard-hunting." Lahar finished coldly.
A dark and cold silence fell over all of them. Only the faint sounds of cogs clicking could be heard turning in each of their heads to the same conclusions. Nothing was said as they slowly thought, until Levy finally spoke.
"They're...murdering wizards." It was only a whisper, but her emotion spoke louder and clearer to everyone. Dranbolt quickly intervened, desperate not to let their thoughts get too far ahead.
"There have been no cases of wizards being murdered. All of the cases where wizards have gone missing have just been kidnappings. They kidnap their victims and try to converge them to their side, and stop the practice of their magic." He explained.
"So what happened to the kidnapped ones in the end? Did they let them go when they said no?" Erza suggested.
"The thing is," Lahar answered. "None of them have said no."
"What? They all just agreed to not use magic anymore?" Gray exclaimed, almost launching out of his seat in shock.
"The one's we were able to speak to were genuinely convinced by the leader and immediately withdrew from their guilds and-" Dranbolt began explaining before Laxus cut him shut.
"The one you were 'able' to speak to. What do you mean by 'able to'? What about the ones you're not able to?" He spotted.
Dranbolt sat quietly, withdrawn back into his chair and Lahar took up the microphone again. "They're still missing."
The drop of their faces was painful to watch as their faces grew darker once more. They were just giving them bad news after bad news, and the hope the eyes was slowly getting smothered out.
"Is there any way we can find this group?" Freed asked.
"I would be surprised if you can. They're constantly moving around with an evolving complex tree structure, so it's near to impossible to infiltrate and even the members keep secret about it. No one knows where there base is and every time we think we find one, they're gone." Dranbolt renounced bitterly.
"So we have no leads where to find Lucy," The ice mage ranted, jumping up from his chair again. "Or if she's even been captured, or even alive!" Gray concluded with rage. "She could be waiting for us and we can do nothing!" His anger was like a pot boiling over as he began marched back and forth across the room looking for somewhere to place his anger but finding nothing making his frustrations burn up more. Finally he switched, his fist lurched forward with all the force he could muster and collided against the stone wall. The wall wailed in pain as cracks drove like ice outwards from the fist like crater from his red and bloody fist. "DAMMIT!" He screamed, raising his other fist.
Just before it came back down, Erza was stood behind him, catching his wrist in his gauntlet. Gray looked back over his shoulder, with a face looking completely and utterly broken. Erza's face turned in pain as she slowly shook her head from side to side. "Dammit..." Gray choked, his eyes squeezing shut it frustration. His eyes fell on the rest of the guild mates looking at him painfully, with horribly upset and sad faces. Gray broke free of Erza's grip, charged to the other end of the guild before swinging the doors open and unhesistantly escaping into the loud storm.
Erza looked concerningly at the door, and then back to the clustered mages. Juvia was almost at the guild doors before anyone could ask her. They opened and exposed the howling thunder as she slipped out and closed them behind her.
"I suggest no one goes out alone, especially since it seems they might be targeting your guild next." Lahar recommended.
"Then we'll make that a rule now. No one goes out alone." Makarov ordered. "I don't want anyone else going missing."
"But what about Lucy?" Levy whimpered softly, her eyes like fragile glass against her pale worried face.
"We'll find her." Makarov reassured the girl. "As long as she's a part of our guild, we'll bring her back!"
Sudden cheers rose up throughout the room as determination flocked into the mages. A single hand rose at first, with their index finger upwards. Seconds later there was a flood of hands in the sky as everyone declared their willingness to protect their guild mates, and find Lucy no matter what.
The crash of the infirmary door caught everyone's attention. "Happy's awake!" Romeo yelled excitedly from the stairs. Everyone leapt up from their chairs and raced as fast as they could up the stairs and into the door.
"Happy, are you okay?" Lisanna asked first, rushing to the little blue cats side. She stroked a hand gently through his fur as he slowly looked up at her. His face was cold and expressionless as his eyes moved across each and every one of them.
"Where's Natsu?" Happy mumbled faintly through a hoarse throat.
"He's right over there." Lisanna directed his black eyes over to the sleeping dragon slayer calmly on the infirmary bed, breathing softly as he slept.
"Oh," Happy sighed in relief. "We managed to get away...good."
"Happy," Mirajane approached gently, crouching next to the bed, facing the small cat in the eye. Happy turned towards her with a vague acknowledgement that he understood her. "Do you know where Lucy is?"
"Lucy?" Happy uttered. For a while, he continued to stare at Mirajane's face before turning his chin in on himself, holding his chin in thought. A strained expression crossed his small face as he thought back to what happened. "We were on the cliff...but Natsu was poisoned, and Lucy wanted to save him...and-" Happy's voice cut off. His small body frozen stiff, his black eyes staring at the ground. A silence rested over the rest of the guild mates as they watch with a sick sense of dread. Slowly, small tears beaded in the cat's eyes and rolled quietly down over his fur. Happy didn't say anything more for a long while, and each of everyone's fears slowly dawned onto them. They found themselves stuck to their spots, still staring at the cat, waiting for him to reveal their last picture. "A gunshot...there was a gunshot..."The cat whispered.
Levy's wail broke through the silence, as she collapsed to her knees. The crowd of mages spread back from the girl, just staring at her in shock. "Lu- Lu- Lucy's...dead?" Levy cried into her hands as the tears began overflowing from her face. Gajeel silently went to her side, pulling the weak girl to his chest and said nothing.
Suddenly, more people broke out into grief, collapsing onto the floor, attempting to flee or just stood quietly staring. Other's moved to comfort or chase the ones who had left, holding them quietly. No one said another word. They just quietly watched as everyone around them fell into a state of shock and grief.
"Stop crying." Another voice sharply snapped from the doorway. Eyes darted around to the drench dark-haired ice mage in the doorway. Erza stood behind him with long red hair plastered to the edges of her face. Gray's eyes looked dark but controlled as he look over each other guild members with shame. Then his eyes fell onto the blue cat and he marched straight towards him, unhesitant moving guild members out of his way.
"Happy." He said, standing over the blue cat. Happy looked up with big eyes at the ice mage. "Did you see Lucy when you heard the gun shot?" Happy shook his head. "Did you see Lucy actually get shot?" Happy shook his head again. "Did you see Lucy die?" Once again, Happy shook his head. "Then none of you have any right to start crying. You're shameful thinking Lucy, one of us, would go and die so easily. We're Fairy Tail for Christ sake. Have faith in her. She'll come back to us alive. I know it."
Eyes fell guiltily onto the floor, the shame of Gray's words hitting them in the stomach like a punch into the chest. How could they believe Lucy was dead so easily? Gray was right. She was a member of Fairy Tail. If there's no proof she's gone, then they'll find her no matter what.
"Instead of standing around crying and feeling sorry for yourself, we should be finding Lucy. Spells, witnesses, research. Go do something or you're not helping her at all!" Gray barked, and everyone immediately nodded with determination, filtering out the door.
Makarov stayed behind, stood on the edge of the cat's bed beside the young dark-haired mage. "You could make a good Guild Master one day, Gray." Makarov complimented softly. Gray just quietly shook his head.
"I just know that Lucy would be mad if we gave up on her so easily. I was almost ready to go myself." Gray replied softly, watching the last of their mages disappear out of the door.
"What changed?" Makarov asked curiously, stealing a glance at the red-haired mage waiting in the doorway.
"You could say someone beat some words into me." Gray shrugged, and moved through the door past Erza. Her small dark eyes caught the Master's gaze, and she gave a curt nod before following Gray into the guildhall.
Maybe it wasn't just Gray who might take his seat...
"I don't know what it is, but there's no reading on her magic anywhere." Cana grumbled bitterly, tossing another useless card against the table.
"Then stop looking for her magic. There's that poison out there, right?" Gray replied with a demeaning tone. "Go actually look for her. Send search parties out in teams of three just in case and go find her." Gray announced. "Erza, will you set up the teams. Lisanna's talking to Happy, trying to get the details out of them. Cana, give everyone a card so their all contactable. If you find anything, contact everyone else, okay?"
"AYE SIR!" Everyone yelled dispersing around Erza as the ice mage raced up the stairs.
"Dranbolt, Lahar, do you have any leads on the 'Red Church'?" Gray asked, coming into the guild infirmary where the Master, Lisanna, Happy, Natsu and the other two government officials remained.
"There are a few places we have listed down." Dranbolt replied, pulling out a pen and notepad, writing down a list of names of places. "Here" He handed the paper to Gray, but it was almost immediately taken out of his hand.
Laxus stood over him, looking specutively at the list. "Laxus..." Gray turned on him.
"My team will take this, you stay here." Laxus ordered, without looking over the paper. His big coat and hood swept around his neck and moved to the guild door.
"See if you can find anything of help or if there's any indication of Lucy being there." Gray advised. "Just don't go in or-"
"I get it." Laxus cut him off, waving a hand in dismissal. "Just have a look right, and don't do anything stupid?" He remarked over his shoulder before disappearing behind the door where his team waited to fall in line behind him.
Erza appeared shortly after him and turned to Gray with a nod, saying how she allocated the teams and where she sent them. "Cana's downstairs, controlling the team's information and contacts, with a few other who are staying behind for research with Levy." Erza informed, hanging a towel around her shoulders. She threw one to Gray as he sat down in an empty seat beside an unoccupied bed.
"All we can do now is wait." Makarov sighed, resting on the bed.
"I'm sorry," Happy whimpered. Their eyes turned to the cat sat silently besides Lisanna. "I let Lucy go...I said I wouldn't leave her...but I did and now this has happened."
"We don't know if anything's happened at all yet, Happy." Lisanna consoled the cat.
"Besides," Gray cut in, with a lazy roll of his head resting against the back of the chair. "I bet it was Lucy who left you right? She told you to go?"
The cat nodded silently, with no trace of reassurance or guild leaving his face.
"That's just like her." Gray sighed heavily, dragging a hand down his face. "Don't worry, we'll find her. If not, I'm sure she'll come running through those guild doors any second to shout at us for not finding her sooner." Gray chuckled half-heartedly.
"But what do we tell Natsu?" Dranbolt pointed out, settling into his own chair.
"We'll figure that out when he wakes up." Makarov suggested. "Let's just hope we find Lucy before he does."
Next Sunday; Painful Recollections
As Happy recalls the events to the guild members before what happened to the terrifying event, how will they react? Will they find Lucy before Natsu wakes up?
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-A-ccentric