Hello my good fanfic readers! How are you all doing? I hope you're well. Anyway I'm sorry for the wait but here's chapter 5. I was a little bit stuck on this chapter so I would like to thank Bri-chan of Konoha for helping me out with this chapter. Also thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorite and started following this story. :3 you make me glad I'm actually writing this. I know everyone was a little worried about what was going on at the end of the last chapter so….. I'm not going to give anything away :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

Natsu and Happy arrived at a large building. It was built up with thick bricks and looked to be well enforced for battle. This was where the shadow scent had led him and he could smell Lucy's scent mixed in with others. When all the scents first assaulted his nose he had to fight a wave of nausea, blood and sweat as well as multiple different people and weird creatures were all mixed together and almost over powered his senses. He carefully attempted to pick out Lucy's scent from all the rest and caught it. Not even waiting before slamming the door open Natsu burst through the door and headed down a hallway at a run. Happy followed closely behind him, his hair beginning to rise on his body. They traveled quite a ways before they heard a muffled sob. Or at least what sounded like a muffled sob. Lucy's scent was coming from that room and Natsu felt a shiver of anger rush through his body. If anyone had hurt his Lucy all hell would pay. Taking a breath to calm himself he began to push the door open. What he saw however made his temper flare and he felt the urge to find the bastard and kick his ass.

~Meanwhile~

Erza and Gray followed the man, dragging the creature behind them. The creature's whimpers were heard as it was scraped along the ground. They entered the same place they had met and Erza turned to the man.

"Is there some new information you need to share with us?" she asked him. The man nodded but then shook his head.

"Well not really" he told them, "Just, I was wondering if you learned anything new?" he asked.

"Well to start off with our friend was taken. I'm hoping this creature here will lead us to where the others are and in turn to Lucy and the one responsible. We also did realize that someone here can manipulate shadows" she told him.

"You mean like a shadow mage? That would explain why people seemingly disappear" he said as he nodded.

"Yeah but if the people just disappear then why the animals?" Gray asked.

"I think the bigger question is, why do this in the first place? What possible motive could this person have?" Erza said. The man looked frustrated.

"I don't know. I don't know of anyone who would want to do this" he told them. Erza turned her attention to the creature who had shrunk away as far as It could from her. She moved to it and pulled it up so she could look in its eyes.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find all this out when we meet him. Alright you" she said to the creature.

"You're going to lead us to your master" she told it. The creature seemed to understand as it began to shift its position nervously.

"Also if you run to far ahead, I'll be sure you'll regret it" she said sternly. She then motioned to Gray.

"We need to catch up with Natsu before he gets into more trouble" she told him. Gray nodded.

"Knowing him he'll have already started by the time we get there" Gray said. Erza then turned back to the man.

"We will find everyone and bring them back. Not to worry" the two plus the creature then left and Erza and Gray followed as it led the way.

~Back with Natsu, Lucy and Happy~

Lucy sat against the back wall of the room, her clothing ripped in multiple places revealing large portions of skin. The skin showing had many small lacerations as well as a few large claw marks. The claw marks had a steady stream of blood flowing from them which had soaked the pieces of cloth Lucy had used in an attempt to stop the bleeding. When they had finally stopped bleeding she let out a relieved breath. Her whole body hurt and the cuts and bruises stung whenever they made contact with the ground or the cloth. When she heard the door open she feared that the man and creature had come back again. She quickly picked up the chain, holding it as she would a whip in case she needed a weapon. She tried to hold back a sob as she felt a sharp pain flash up her right arm. When the door opened however and she caught a small glimpse of pink hair she let the chain drop and the sob to come freely.

"Natsu" she said his name as the door fully opened and Natsu and Happy rushed in.

"Luuuucy" Happy cried as he flew toward her, hugging her tightly. Natsu had hesitated a moment as he took in the scene before also rushing to her side. Lucy could see his clenched hands as his eyes roamed over her body, taking in her injuries. When he saw just how much of her clothing was ripped and where, his teeth ground together. He tried to hold in his anger. Lucy saw his reaction and knew how she must look and quickly rushed to reassure him.

"I'm fine, I'm okay" she told him as a few tears streamed down her face. He looked up into her face and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"He didn't…" he trailed off as Lucy shook her head.

"He didn't get to. He and the animal jumped on me and I, I fought back. I threw the chain at them again and again hoping they would just leave. Then the animals claws got at my skin and tarred my clothes so I tried to wrap the chain around its mouth to keep it from biting me" She said before taking a deep breath.

"The man seemed to be half asleep and I managed to get him across the face with the chain. Then it was like he woke up and noticed what he was doing. He said something about being in deep trouble and pulled the animal away. Next thing I knew he was running out of the room. I'm guessing the animal followed him though because it's not here" she told him. Happy moved away from her a bit and looked at her worriedly. Lucy felt herself blush as him moving resulted in more of her body being exposed. She crossed her arms over her chest and pulled her legs up. Natsu noticed her discomfort and slipped out of his vest and placed it over her shaking body. Lucy quickly put it on and wrapped it tightly around herself, feeling better now that she wasn't as exposed. Natsu hadn't spoken in a while and Lucy wondered what he was thinking about.

"Was it this shadow guy?" he asked her finally. Lucy shook his head.

"There is two different guys. The one that attacked me, it seemed that the animal liked him so I assumed he's the owner of them or something. Natsu, this shadow guy, he knows you. He said he wants to play a game like old times. I don't know what he means by that though" she told him. Natsu seemed to think about it for a minute before his brow furrowed.

"I don't know either. We should get out of here though, in case those guys come back. Not that I'd mind" he said in a semi threatening voice.

"I can't go without my keys" Lucy told him.

"Then we'll go get them." Natsu said as he slipped his arm around her waist and lifted her and began walking towards the door, Happy flying alongside them.

They crept along the halls trying to be as quiet as they possibly could. Natsu sniffed the air trying to figure out where the shadow guy was. Natsu heard a noise and stopped in his tracks.

"What is it Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"I heard something." Natsu replied, looking down the hallway to where he thought he heard the noise.

"Could it be the shadow guy or the other guy with the creatures?" Happy asked.

"It doesn't smell like either of them. It smells like Gr-"Natsu was cut off by Gray and Erza running towards them.

"I see you found Lucy?" Erza said when she reached them.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"A few scratches and bruises, that's all. I'll live." Lucy replied, smiling lightly at Erza's worried expression.

"Do you have any idea where this shadow guy is?" Gray asked.

"I'm not sure, can't really smell him with all these other scents clogged together" Natsu told him. Gray gave him a puzzled expression.

"Other scents? Like the missing townspeople?" he asked. Natsu shrugged.

"It could be them, but it's also blood and the creatures, not to mention something smells like its rotting" Natsu replied, his nose twitching.

"Well, now that we have Lucy back he's likely going to come out anyway. Not to mention there's that creature guy to worry about" Gray said. Erza nodded.

"The best we can do would be to look around for both of them. Even better we need to find the missing townspeople." Erza spoke.

"So what do we do first?" Happy spoke up.

"We can go and knock down random doors and make noise to lure them out" Natsu suggested, which earned a hit on the head from Lucy.

"I think a surprise attack would be better and NOT draw attention to ourselves" Lucy said.

"Well they're likely to already know we're here" Gray told her.

"We weren't exactly quiet coming here" Erza agreed. Lucy felt a shiver run down her spine at the same moment Natsu caught the scent of the shadow man.

"That way" "He's close" Natsu and Lucy said at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment before Natsu grinned and took off toward the scent, Erza, Gray and Happy following behind him.

"Natsu I can-" Lucy began to protest being carried until she felt Natsu's arms tighten around her. She decided just to let him carry her, she didn't really mind especially since her clothing were ripped. However she knew she would have to stand up sooner or later. They continued down the hallway and turned a few corners before Natsu came to a halt.

"His scents gone" Natsu told them. Everyone let out a sigh of frustration as they searched around the large open area they had come to. The walls were bare and there wasn't much furniture in the room either. There however was another door off to the left but a quick look showed only a small closet like space. Back tracking they walked down another hallway and Lucy felt another shiver run down her spine. They passed multiple doors and checked each one finding nothing but odd storage spaces. When they came to the last door in the hallway Lucy pointed at it. The door had a weird design on it that looked like a cat and frog put together. Natsu frowned at the way it looked and set Lucy firmly on the ground. Making sure she was covered enough Lucy stood off to the side as Natsu opened the door. Seeming how they had finished checking the other doors Gray and Erza moved closely behind him to peer in. Natsu swung the door open wide and had to cover his nose as the smell hit him. Erza's eye widened and Gray Looked shocked. Lucy peered around them to see what they were looking at. When she did see it however here own eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"What happened?" Lucy whispered to no one in particular.

-coughs- okay so I'm going to end it there. Once again sorry for the wait :o please R&R