Team Natsu (Plus Lisanna)
The guild doors flew open and crashed into the walls either side. The pink haired dragon slayer beamed at his comrades and waited as the rest of his team caught up.
"Natsu! Slow down!" Lisanna panted, doubling over and placing her hands on her thighs.
Natsu ignored her and scanned the guild. His usually cheeky grin dropped. Lisanna looked up to see what had snapped the mage out of his happy mood and caught sight of the expressions on the guild members faces. She flicked her blue eyes over to her sister. Gray and Erza walked through the guild doors at that moment.
"Mira-nee?" The white-haired takeover mage asked her sister. "What's wrong?"
The older mage looked up from counter that she was wiping. It appeared that she had absentmindedly cleaned the same spot for a long time, making the wood faded.
"Lisanna, Natsu, Gray, Erza?" Her voice was soft, sadness laced in each word.
"Mira, what's going on?" Erza asked, walking over to the barmaid.
Mira let a small, transparent tear roll down her cheek and then collapsed to her knees. Sobs wracked her fragile body and Lisanna rushed over to comfort her sister.
"Mira! Tell is what's going on!"Gray almost shouted, fear gripping his insides at the sight of his comrades downcast expressions.
"I-It's L-Lucy…" Mira choked out between sobs.
Natsu froze, his whole body tensing. His hands clenched into tight fists at his sides, his knuckles burning an intense white.
"What happened to Lucy?" His voice was barely above a whisper.
Mirajane looked up, tear tracked staining her pretty face. She looked at the fire mage with a sympathetic expression. He hadn't known he had been ignoring Lucy lately – none of the team did. It was only Mira, Juvia and Levy who had noticed the abandoned celestial wizard. If Natsu had have known what she was feeling, he would've instantly felt guilty.
Mira cursed stupid fate. She cursed the fact that those two seemed to be destined to be together, yet apart. Like Romeo and Juliet, they were star-crossed lovers.
"Mira. What happened to Lucy?" He asked again.
"S-she's missing, Natsu."
"What?" Natsu whispered.
"She's been missing for the last 2 days. She never returned from a solo mission she took." Mirajane continued. "We've looked everywhere, but we haven't found her."
Everyone was silent. Natsu was visibly shaking.
"Actually, we do know where she is." A voice said from the doors.
Everyone looked up to see Master Makarov standing at the entrance to the guild, having finally returned from the regular masters meeting. It had lasted longer this time, all the guilds celebrating Fairy Tail's return after 7 years.
"What do you mean, Master?" Mirajane asked, this news surprising her, even though she had been had the head of the search team for Lucy.
"It seems that cases like this have been happening for the last two years. Mages will go missing for long periods of time. Many never return, but few do. Those who have won."
"Won what, Master?" Erza asked, interested in this new development.
Natsu remained quiet, just watching the master, waiting for him to tell them where Lucy was. He said he knew, after all.
"Apparently a Dark Guild set up a tournament. They kidnap mages from official guilds and make them fight each other. Everyone – which is very few – who have one the games say that there's only one rule."
Natsu glared at Makarov as he saw the masters eyes harden with anger, worry and fear. His fists tightened.
"What's the rule?" He growled, a horrible feeling settling in his gut.
"You lose." The guild waited with bated breath. "You die."
This is short on purpose. Natsu comes into it more later on, but I didn't want to leave you hanging with nothing to read, so I quickly typed this up.
Who's leading in the poll at the moment? Who's got the most votes?
Well that would be team...
I'm not telling :P