Hello everyone C: because it took me so long to update I finished another chapter quickly for you. I hope this means you will forgive me :P enjoy chapter 3!
He was frustrated and irritated again. The damn fool wouldn't go away and leave him be.
"She sure is pretty" he said as he once again looked over the blonde.
"Don't be getting any funny ideas. She's the one reason I joined up with you. You touch her and I'll beat you bloody" he warned. The man seemed to cower back but still sent longing glances at the blonde. He let out a sigh and continued his spell casting on her bindings.
"So what exactly did you want her for again? Some pink headed boy or something of the sort?" the man asked. He smiled.
"Exactly right. Now will you get outta here? Go find something better to do than bug the hell outta me" he told the man. Shrugging the man left the room to go and feed his animals.
"There, all done" he said as he propped Lucy up against the wall. He wrapped a piece of fabric around her face so she wouldn't make noise and stood up.
"All right now darling. You stay there and be good. I'm going to go and enjoy the show." He said before opening the door to the room. He whistled and a large, half dog half tiger came toward him. The animal went into the room and sat down, watching Lucy. Closing the door behind him he left, going through the large set of doors at the front of the building.
The last animal was down. This was the only one that didn't disintegrate and disappear into nothing. It was laying silently on the ground when Erza bent over it. She took a few minutes studying it before turning to Natsu and Gray.
"It's not real. It has no blood, heartbeat. They disappear after being taken down" she said.
"So they're like dolls?" Natsu asked.
"Not exactly dolls as they aren't made from real materials. It's just magic" she told them. Just then Happy flew toward them.
"Hey Happy, are the safe?" Natsu asked him.
"Aye!" Happy responded as he landed in front of them.
"Well we are done here, let's go and get Lucy" Erza said and they all followed Happy toward the small house.
When they arrived however and saw the house was empty Gray turned to Happy.
"You sure this is where you left them?" he asked.
"They were here" Natsu said as his fists clenched at his sides. Erza looked at him and noticed his hands.
"Let me guess" she said. Natsu nodded.
"The shadow was here and one of the animals too. Their scent is all over the place" he said, teeth clenching.
"Hello?" a voice called out from the doorway. Everyone's attention turned to the voice. Erza moved forward toward the women.
"Are you okay?" she asked her. The women nodded a frown on her face.
"But your friend..." she began.
"Do you know what happened to her?" Erza asked. The women nodded again.
"A... a creature, big, appeared in the room and attacked her. It pounced and, she told me to run so I grabbed my child and ran but the thing... bit her" I don't know what happened after that" she told them. Erza thanked her and told her to go home and stay safe.
Teeth clenched Natsu moved toward the door, before he could get far Erza put a hand on his shoulder.
"Natsu wait" she told him. He shook off her hand and looked back at her.
"I'm not going to just stand around here and do nothing. Whoever it is that owns that shadow has Lucy" he turned to head out again but Erza grabbed hold of him again.
"Natsu, we can't just go barging anywhere. We don't know where she is. We need a plan" she said. Natsu glared back at her.
"I have a plan. I'm going to follow the shadows scent and find her then I'm going to beat the shit out of whoever it was that took her and get her out of there" he said angrily. He didn't have enough time to duck as Erza's fist came toward him. He moved his hands up to grab his head where she hit him.
"What the hell was that for?" he asked angrily.
"For being an idiot, just barging in where Lucy is would probably do more harm than good. While you're making your way into where ever it is that she's located, anything could happen to her. We know you're worried, we all are but you need to calm down and think about this" she told him sternly.
Natsu's face fell into shadow as he looked at the ground. Gray came up on his other side and set a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll find her Natsu. Try not to worry too much, we'll need you for this one" he told him.
"I told her no one would try pulling anything with us around. I told her she'd be safe" he murmured. Erza's face fell in sympathy. She pulled him in tight against her armour and a loud ting was heard.
"We'll find her Natsu" she whispered. She then let him go and moved toward the door. Natsu looked up and followed behind her and Gray behind him. Happy walked beside Natsu out the door when the stopped outside, he set a paw on Natsu's leg.
"She'll be okay Natsu" he told him. Natsu nodded.
"Okay so first things first, we need to figure out exactly where she is. It seems obvious that the shadows and creatures are connected so if we figure out where they are coming from then we're likely to find Lucy" Erza spoke up.
"I can follow the scent of that shadow" Natsu said. Without waiting for an answer he moved in the direction the smell was coming from. Erza and Gray shared a look before following behind him. They didn't get far though before Natsu made a frustrated sound.
"Or not. Dammit" he said, fists again clenched at his sides.
"What's the matter?" Gray asked.
"The scent disappears right here" he answered.
"In that case, whoever this person is must know that we would rely on your sense of smell to track her down" Erza said. Natsu nodded.
"I guess our only option then is to follow one of the creatures. They have to go somewhere. That or wait until this person shows himself" she told them. Just then they heard a loud noise coming back from the way of the town square.
"Sounds like this will be our chance" she said as she took off in that direction.
"They're pretty persistent aren't they" Gray stated as he ran alongside Erza. Natsu followed closely behind. Intent on finding out where Lucy is from the weird creatures. They made it to the square in no time and stared in shock when they saw a few people disappear into thin air. They saw the creatures jumping on people and biting into them.
"Quick! Stop them from taking anyone else" Erza ordered and everyone moved off into different directions to fight off the animals. There were many of the creatures around the square. Some men fought them off with household items while the women and children took cover in their houses. Swinging her sword down hard on one of the creatures about to pounce on a man it let out a yelp and disappeared. The man looked shakily at her and she motioned for him to get going. He moved to run out of the square, who she assumed was his wife following closely behind him. Erza turned back to the fight at hand and saw Gray taking care of a few creatures with his ice. She moved quickly, going after more of them while telling people to leave as fast as they could. Children cried as they were carted away from the houses and out of the town square.
A little ways away Natsu swatted at creatures, fists full of fire as he connected with body after body. Letting out a little frustration and anger on the creatures, he pummeled them until they disappeared. Some burst into flame from his fire and squealed into the air as their bodies burned to a crisp.
"Stupid animals" he said as he hit another one with a flaming fist. As he neared another animal it seemed to rise up on its hind legs and swung at him. Dodging the hit Natsu moved to the side and hit the animal in the side. It fell over back on four legs before turning its ugly head at him and spewing something from its mouth. A disgusting stench filled Natsu's nose as he rubbed at his face. Eyes watering Natsu sent a dragon's roar at the creature and listened to it shriek before disappearing. As the horrible smell left his nose he heard Happy above him.
"You okay Natsu?" his friend asked.
"I'm fi…" his voice drifted off as he smelt a familiar scent. The scent of the shadow. Turning around he quickly moved in its direction. Happy not knowing exactly what he was doing followed behind as Natsu moved away from the square and down a few side streets.
Erza let out a heavy sigh as she finished with the last creature. They had one tied up and it continued to squeal and struggle to get away.
"There was so many of them this time" Gray said as he joined her with another creature bounded. He dragged it beside the other one and turned to Erza.
"So these things will take us to Lucy?" he asked her.
"I hope so" she replied. They each turned to call Natsu over and noticed him missing.
"You don't think he actually lost to these things do you?" Gray asked jokingly. Erza let out a frustrated sigh.
"He probably went off to find Lucy by himself" she said. Gray nodded. They both turned as they heard footsteps and saw the man who requested the job. He moved steadily toward them, eyeing the creatures nervously.
"I need to talk with you" he told them as he came to a stop in front of them.
Natsu moved quickly through the streets, following the scent of the shadow.
"Natsu. Where are we heading?" Happy asked from beside him.
"I'm not sure Happy. Wherever this scent ends, that's where we'll find Lucy" he told his friend. With the thought of Lucy in his mind he put on a burst of speed, using his fire to project himself forward.
"I'm coming Luce, wait for me" he spoke to the air putting on even more speed to get to her quickly.
He smiled as he watched the salmon haired mage run. He tried to hold back a laugh at the shear desperation on his face.
"Hurry along Natsu, rush to the blonde girl's side. I want to see more of your desperate face" he whispered to the air around him. He turned back to the alley in which he was watching. Satisfied that he was following the shadow exactly to where he wanted him.
"Hmm, what else can I do to make him worry?" He wondered to himself, an evil smirk on his face. "Something that will scare the daylights out of him" He tried to figure out what he would do next as he vanished into the shadows again, heading back to the place where everyone was being held.
"Maybe I'll let the annoying man have a bit of fun"
Okay so there's chapter 3 C: I hope you enjoyed. I wanted to make Natsu go absolutely crazy but I tried to make it more realistic xD I don't know when I'll update next because I'm stuck again :/ I hate not knowing what to do next v.v if anyone has an idea feel free to pm me C: