I'm so sorry about not being able to post the chapter last Tuesday! I didn't realize that I would be so busy settling into China! But after a week I was able to squeeze in another chapter for you guys. Thank you so much for waiting patiently. Sorry about the delay, but now chapter three is finally here!

Luvy's POV

The guild's environment was unbearable, well, at least for me.

I hated the fact that Natsu was right there, but he wasn't himself. It was like he was a robot, a clone, with Natsu's features, but a cold hollow heart. I also hated the looks on everyone's faces. Natsu walks in, they're all happy and elated, and now they all looked like Natsu like he was an enemy in needing to be fended off. But Natsu could never be the enemy. The real enemies were the ones who did this to him. The real Natsu would never hurt his friends.

3rd person POV

Suddenly, loud huff and puff and a crunching sound of someone stumbling on the path leading towards the guild, out of breath and sweating like crazy attracted the attention of the people inside. Everyone whipped their heads towards the front doors, staring at the messenger who looked like he ran here as quickly as possible from who-knows-where. The messenger took in the sight in front of him. The guild was in shambles. People were injured all around… and Natsu in the middle. Unmoving. The messenger was a bit stunned at first but then shook his head.

Makarov, the guild master, slowly limped towards him, and demanded the messenger to hurry and tell them what news he was bringing.

Panting and leaning heavily against the door with a hand to support himself, he started to speak, "Th-the council… sent me here… to give Fairy Tail a message…" He gulped, trying to catch his breath and continued, "A group of savage wizards are d-destroying towns after towns… and… they kept demanding civilians to tell them where the 'prisoner in the prophecy' is… All of them… they killed all of them… even as they… the civilians, were trying to protect themselves… their friends… their family… by trying to tell them random locations… but every time a lie was spoken, they started killing even more people mercilessly. They even said… if the wrong person was given to them, the whole town would be destroyed at once... That has already happened, and we have no idea how they are seeing through the lies. A few weaker guild have also been dispatched, but they haven't went near the stronger guilds yet… Even a large amount of the council's army have been sent, and all have not came back so the council has halted sending forces and now is trying to evacuate any people from places that still have not been taken over yet to safer places." He was starting to speak more smoother now, and hurriedly. "Two children were in the woods near their town. The wizards never spotted them. The two children were the ones who saw and heard what they did and somehow got to the council, shaking and crying, telling them everything… They also also mentioned they were dark cloaked men, and they all had deep, raspy voices they scared the hell out of everyone."

Everyone was silent as he spoke, no one knew how to respond. Natsu started shaking as the messenger mention the dark hooded men. Deep in his conscience, Natsu knew he was broken. Broke by the dark, dark evil men, and he did not know if he would ever be able to feel light in his heart again. There was a hole in his heart. A deep void, so deep, that it may not be filled again.

The messenger kept speaking, "It is said that they have magic that is unknown to us, so we are holding off sending anyone until we can figure out what kind of magic that is, and how to counter it. There was word about some coven in a lowlife tavern in Bosco, but that was just some gossip I heard along the way here. It sounded kind of weird so I just think I should mention it."

The messenger shifted his feet and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"I don't know why, although I have my own theories, but the council has also asked me to bring Natsu with me. They said they had to question Natsu I think?…"

All sounds disappeared as Natsu started to slowly comprehend everything the messenger was saying. The men he described. The evil people. Then, he zoomed in on the word 'question'. He vaguely recalled a prison, and being questioned as the razor-sharp whip came closer.

no

no

No

No

NO

NO!

"It's them… they took me…" Natsu whispered with pain laced into his words. Natsu heard fire raging in his ears a moment before another blast came. Uncontrollable. Just as before, when he hurt his guild mates. But this time, the magic was automatically directed towards the messenger. Your magic is alive. It's part of you. And will protect... As the voice said that in his mind, his vision started flashing with dark spots, and he blacked out before he could hear the rest.

At the same time Natsu fell unconscious and crumbled down to the floor, the messenger's body had made a loud thump as it fell to the ground, blood pooling underneath him, his body practically completely scorched. All his clothes were burned off completely and his body was destroyed beyond recognition. You couldn't even been able to tell if he was a human.

A scared weeping noise could be heard in the back of the room. This might have started out as the most happiest day ever, as everyone thought things would be much better now that they had Natsu, but now? Now it was horrible in every possible way.

Makarov broke the silence.

"Right now, our only lead is the tavern in Bosco. We will not sit back silently."

Erza's POV

Only a select few could be chosen to go to Bosco. We decided it would be best to travel lightly and quickly and to have more forces protecting Natsu and the guild in case the evil group found out where Natsu was. We realized it was Natsu the men were trying to find when Natsu muttered that the people now-dead-messenger described were the ones who took him. Right now Bosco was the only lead we had to stop the men as soon as possible. The select few will leave tomorrow. Since the council couldn't take them out, we didn't want to take any chances.

The non injured people were helping to clean up the guild, which was pretty messy, especially with the blood from the messenger. My fists clenched. I hated seeing any death. I volunteered to clean up the messenger and the blood and Gray, needing something to do, joined me. There weren't that many people here to help, since they were out on missions or somewhere else. Lucy immediately rushed to help Natsu who was still out cold on the floor.

That when it hit me. Where was Happy?

I stood up and said loudly, "Have any of you seen where Happy went?"

These two years, it has been very hard for Happy.

Flashback

It was just us, Natsu, Happy, Grey, Lucy, and I. We were just on another mission, earning money. Our job was to capture a few thieves who kept stealing from a small village in a desolate area. The reward money was 160,000 jewels and we decided to split it between all of us. After we got to the village we executed our mission like all the other times. We knew the drill. Find out what we need to do, do it, then claim our rewards! Well, that's how Natsu put it. Always putting things into the simplest words.

When we got to the village after a tiring trek through a tame and quiet forest, with no small amounts of arguing over the directions of the village, we met with the village elder who posted the mission. The elder was old, with gray hair and wrinkled skin. He was hunched over, holding a cane to support himself. And then he explained the request in detail and what they were to do.

"Starting a week ago, thieves have been stealing things from us. Money, crops, and anything valuable. This village has been in an uproar. We have several wealthy merchants and others whose money started to dwindle quickly because of the horrible thieveries. They always steal during the night and then the villagers find their things gone in the mornings. We've only seen them run away once and they were wearing black suits I believe. Please catch them for the village."

Three hour later we were stationed in our places. We each chose one house to guard. I picked one of the larger and more expensive looking houses. I was hiding under the darkness of the bushes in the backyard. I guessed that if anyone was going to come steal something here, it would be from the back.

Neat, trimmed bushes lined the back, marking the house's large boundaries. I hid in the bushes, facing directly towards the door and windows that lead into the house. There was a swimming pool in front of my hiding place, blocking a straight and quick entrance into the house so I doubted that anyone would accidental sneak up behind me. There were several paths leading from the pool, house, and a small building near the pool. Probably for storing things. I also kept my eye on that. It looked like a good way to sneak closer to the house running from the bushes, hiding behind the storage building, then running into the house. So I waited.

And waited.

And nothing came for a while.

Gasping, I awoke from a nightmare I was having that was already fading away from my memory. The sun was already up. It was probably around 8:00 right now. I didn't know when I had accidentally fallen asleep. I also didn't know where I was. Then it came back to me. Did I miss the thief? I thought frantically. Oh no. I didn't like to make mistakes. Shame flowed through me.

I sat up, twigs, dirt, and leaves tangled in my hair and my armor. I grit my teeth. I really hoped that the thief didn't slip past and steal from the house I was supposed to guard.

I brushed the mess off my hair and clothes, then I head towards the center of the village, where I was to meet up with the others after daylight came. I wonder how it went for them.

As I strolled quickly towards our meeting point, knowing I was late to meet up with my friends, I noticed the worried or scared expressions on everyone's faces. I saw a bunch of people heading east. Apparently something had just happened. I started to pick up my pace because I felt like something bad had happened.

"Erza!" Lucy shouted, waving her hands up in the air to catch my attention. I walked the last few meters and stopped.

"Oh, I was so worried because we thought you weren't going to come," Lucy said, biting her bottom lip and her brows creasing, "Gray and Happy are currently trying to figure out what happened on Natsu's side. I was told to wait here… but… but…"

Suddenly a few tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes showing her frustration and anguish. I was stunned. I set my hands firmly on her shoulders in comfort. Something bad had happened.

Softly, I pressed on, "It's alright. Tell me, what happened?"

She whispered, "There was an explosion in the east on the village when Natsu was stationed. When I saw it from my station, I immediately rushed over there… and what I saw… was mass destruction. The house he was guarding was completely destroyed. From magic. But not Natsu's magic. I'm sure of it. The people who lived in the house are now.. D-dead. I saw their bodies… and Natsu isn't anywhere to be found! There was only blood leading into the forest. I was trailing it, until it justs stops out of nowhere."

Her tears rolled faster and she went down to her knees, her hands covering her face. I pulled her into a hug.

"We'll get him back. I promise."

Crouching there for a few minutes, I started to think about what was happening. I knew Natsu was strong and very determined. But I still worried greatly about him. If that was Natsu's blood that made the trail into the forest… I didn't want to think about what was happening to him right now. I only hoped he would get out alive. Little did I know that my wish would be granted. In a very twisted way.

3rd person POV

Gray and Happy were back after investigation a while, but finding no valuable information about the explosion, Natsu's whereabouts, or the thieves. The only thing they really accomplished was helping the villagers dig out the dead husband and wife, and burry them. Which really wasn't an accomplishment if you think about it. During the night, no has had tried to steal from either of the houses they were guarding. Just like Erza and Lucy. Happy was in frantic mode.

"Natsu Natsu Natsu Natsu Natsu Natsu where are you?! Oh please be playing a prank. PLEASE JUST THIS ONCE BE PLAYING A PRANK I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITHOUT YOU NATSU!"

Grey slapped Happy on the head, "Oh knock it out you flying chicken. Stop squawking so loudly. Natsu's fine. He can fight like crazy. There's no way he would let himself get taken or captured."

Even with his bold words, Grey wasn't feeling so sure himself. The blood outside could very well be Natsu's blood. And Natsu wasn't someone who'd prank them by making them believe he was hurt. Maybe. If Natsu was pranking them, Grey made sure he'd hit him in the head hard to set his mind right and give him a little… huge speech that what he pulled was not funny in the least.

They went back the the village's center, where they saw Lucy and Erza sitting on a bench, both with worried expressions on their faces. Lucy's eyes were puffy and red from crying. Grey wanted to say something comforting, but he wasn't feeling so well himself and just walked up silently with Happy by his side.

Happy's POV

We headed back home. Without the rewards, without finishing the mission, and without Natsu. I know we all felt a bit ashamed about leaving without helping the villagers, but this was more important. The disappearance of a guild member. We had to get back to the guild, and make everyone help us find Natsu. I could never live without Natsu by my side. I had to get him back. He was there my whole life, and I won't let him just leave. I was more afraid than ever before. Even more than facing big scary monsters, or facing a large problem that needed to be solved or some disastrous thing will happen. Because all those time, Natsu was by my side. A light in my darkness, the ember to my candle. Now, that light was threatening to fade. My best friend, taken away. It's true I have other friends, people who I love and treasure, but Natsu is the one person I just can't have taken away from me. I know I was being selfish, but it's true. We went through everything together. Now my head's a mess of thought and worry that I never knew was possible.

Back to current time, Lucy's POV

I stood up from where I was helping to clean the splinters that had been destroyed from the tables.

"I'll go fetch Happy," I said quickly and ran out the door, side stepping the pool of blood from the messenger.

I knew where Happy would be. In the little house where Natsu and Happy used to live together. Now it was just Happy. He would stay there, day to day, until he had to refill his stock of fish and came out to get some from the river. Sometimes he would visit the guild, just to let us know he was alright, but we could all tell he was mourning deeply. Happy wasn't as festive as he used to be since the day Natsu was gone. Personally, these years I have been trying to hide my disappointment and sadness. Natsu makes things seem so bright somehow... I loved that brightness. It made me happy. I didn't know really what to think now though... Seeing Natsu broken made me feel broken too. It just wasn't right. His true self had to be somewhere in that void. I refused to think otherwise.

I haven't been to their home since Natsu was taken. I brought back the memories I have been trying to push down, deep inside me, so that I wouldn't break. I still didn't want to go because now it just reminded me of the old Natsu, the joyful Natsu, and it makes my tears threaten to spill. I also felt like I had a duty to go there and tell Happy what happened and face my memories. It was cruel of me to try to forget Natsu, even though they were some of my happiest memories.

So many memories sparked when I had seen him once again after two years, but we had all truly thought we would never seen Natsu again after five months of searching.

We were searching so hard that we started to feel depression every day for not being able to find him. Then the search was called off by Makarov, because it was technically already hopeless, and we all felt that way, but many of us had still tried to find him even though we have 0 clues of his whereabouts. In the end, practically everyone had stopped searching after a while. It was hopeless. I felt such emotional pain that I shut my memories out.

After we had gotten Natsu back, I was prepared to take on the guilt of trying to forget a friend, the guilt of wanting nothing that reminded me of him, and the memories themselves. And after I saw the state he was in, I knew I had to remember. For Natsu. Because he couldn't remember himself. With that in mind, I continued to jog on towards the house.