Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor anything else associated with Fairy Tail. I only own the plot of the following story and my OCs who help move the story along. (Of course, some of the ideas for my OCs come from research on certain things, or if I found nothing on that, I created it for the sole purpose of this fanfic.)

Author's Note: Thank you for the comments. I do my best to make sure that things don't seem so repetitive but it's kinda hard to catch all the time. :) This chapter took a bit of time. The little bit of GaLe that I've thrown in took me some time to write. (I pay more attention to NaLu than GaLe, but I do love GaLe.) And the NaLu moments that I've written so far, I love them. Of course I'm going to have to go back and edit them to make them even better! But those are still a few chapters away. And finally! New chapters! And so much fighting. Can't wait for the anime to continue. If you find anything strange/wrong and/or you don't understand, feel free to leave a comment or pm me. Commentary is always welcome. I also apologize. This chapter isn't very long. Future chapters will be longer, or shorter, depending on what the focus is. Well, without further adieu, the next chapter. Enjoy! ^.^

Chapter 4

Erza strolled out from the town hall. Levy followed quickly behind. A melancholic air hung about them as they walked briskly back to the hotel the group had been able to afford. The train ride to the town had cost an arm and a leg, at least that's how it felt to their very small monetary funds.

Gajeel stood outside with PantherLily, waiting for the two to arrive. "So squirt, what'd you find out?" he asked. When Levy didn't respond, he stopped chewing on some iron and actually looked at her. His face filled with concern. "Something's wrong." He addressed Erza.

"I'll explain once we're with the others." Erza responded very matter-of-factly. She glanced back at Levy and sighed. "Levy, you can tell him. I don't expect everyone to be up this early."

Gajeel nodded. "Gray wasn't up when I left. I'm not sure about Wendy or Carla. Juvia didn't mention anything other than Gray when I slipped on her by accident," Lily responded.

Erza nodded. "I'll leave you two alone and get the others together. Join us when you're ready."

Both Levy and Gajeel nodded, while Erza walked inside.

Gajeel turned to face Levy. "So..." He couldn't call her squirt. It just didn't feel right at this moment. "Levy..."

"We came a few days too late." Levy blurted. Her eyes welled up with tears. "The request had been posted a couple of times before. Every time someone would come to take care of it, they'd disappear. Th-that's what h-happened to L-L-Lu-chan and N-N-Natsu."

Gajeel led Levy to a picnic table that sat a couple yards from the entrance, under a tree. "What do you mean?"

Levy closed her eyes, taking quite a few deep breaths. "Every wizard who responded to the request talked to the town's mayor. Only one came back, and he was almost on his deathbed saying that he had managed to knock out his opponent. He said that someone from a strong guild, such as Fairy Tail or Blue Pegasis, could probably take them out. When Natsu, Happy, and Lu-chan arrived, they had thought that two wizards from Fiore's strongest guild would be more than enough. But..."

"So, the mayor didn't tell them any of that at all?" Gajeel looked quite astonished.

"It's not that. Natsu had arrived a minute before Lu-chan and had told the mayor not to mention how difficult this request was. Lu-chan had no idea that this was an S-class request. She had no idea that the town began to suspect that there was a dark, or at least a rogue, guild involved. This would explain why Erza wanted to leave right away. I'm sure that Lu-chan had known once they arrived that we would follow because she realized that Natsu had taken an S-class request without her knowledge. "

"What about Happy?" Lily asked.

Levy attempted to calm herself to no avail. "Because we couldn't leave right away, Happy flew back here to find that we weren't here yet, but he had gotten word that we were heading out here."

"So where's Happy now?"

"...looking for them..."

Levy burst into tears, burying herself in Gajeel's chest, her hands rubbing her eyes. Instinctively, Gajeel wrapped his arms around her tiny body. He looked down at her, uttered her name, then looked up, forward.

"It'll be okay." Gajeel squeezed her slightly. "We'll find them."

Levy looked up at him with big, teary eyes. Her face born a sad, yet hopeful smile. She spoke not a word.

Gajeel looked back at her. "I promise." He kissed her forehead.

She dug her face back into his chest.

Natsu jolted awake to a scream, Lucy's scream, followed by a deadly silence. He looked around the room, not recognizing any of it. Two of the walls consisted of brick, while the other two consisted of a magical glass. The cot he sat on had been pushed up against one of the glass walls. He looked through the wall to see Lucy, lying on a cot in her own room, worse than before, as if she had been drained of all her magical energy.

A man stood inside Lucy's room, by the door. Natsu felt a rage grow through his chest, which caused him to punch the glass wall between his and Lucy's rooms. The glass shattered, having only been regular glass, leaving gashes.

"Lucy!"