Both dragon slayers were beginning to feel the frustration settle in as the faint scent of the two girls didn't lead give them any clues to where they may have gone. "You iron bastard!" Natsu yelled across the abandoned clearing to Gajeel who was facing the exact same problem as him "You gave me the wrong scent description, the smell of cleaning supplies and antiseptic is everywhere around this site! It doesn't lead off!" Gajeel felt a vein pulse on his forehead, the pink haired boy had been yelling and cursing for two hours and it was really pissing the other man off. "I didn't give you the wrong description, it's just fucking EVERYWHERE! It's like they never left the area at all!" Gajeel began to curse like a sailor and throw rocks around like a three year old denied candy.
From the edge of the clearing Levy stood with Lisanna, Erza and Gray to avoid to messing with the already fading scent. Levy sighed at Gajeel's and Natsu's temper tantrum and prayed that Happy and Lilly would come back from their aerial search with good news. She turned to the red haired girl beside her. Erza's usually primp and spotless face was pale. Her eyes had dark circles beneath them indicating she had been sleeping well for quite some time. Gray's complexion didn't look much better than the scarlet haired girl's.
"We're glad you're here." Levy said, surprised by her own statement, she have expected herself to yell at them all, not be grateful to their sudden appearance. Both looked up at her, looking as shocked as she was. "Why?" Erza questioned, "We're three months late. We should have been on the mission with her in the first place." Erza felt tears spring to her eyes as the words quietly left her mouth. Levy looked at her with pity; she could see the guilt slowly ripping her apart. "Because we weren't there," Gray said finally looking up from the weed ridden ground. "Because we weren't there with her, this happened. Who knows what hell she's being put through right now?" Levy flinched at the guilt clearly displayed in his eyes as they shined with unshed tears. For the past few months Levy had resented them for their neglect of Lucy but seeing them like this she couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
"I doubt it," Levy said in an even tone. Both looked at her in surprise."The request asked specifically for one stellar mage and celestial key, Lucy would of gone by herself whether you asked or not." Levy gave them a small smile "And we're glad you're here because if these Umbraphiles are as strong and immortal as what Gajeel said then it'll be good to have people I know will go all out to get Lu-Chan back." Erza and Gray's faces adopted small almost insignificant smile. Lisanna looked over from the dragon slayers and smiled, grateful to Levy's unexpected kind words. Without knowing it Levy had lit a fire in the two that made their determination flare. Without another word they moved away from Levy and Lisanna to go over the Natsu and Gajeel, sick of stand on the sidelines.
Lisanna moved closer to the small blue haired girl."Thank you for that." She whispered. Levy looked up at the white haired girl. "They needed to hear that, even if they didn't entirely deserve it." Levy stared at Lisanna in surprise, not expecting her to admit that the two didn't deserve Levy's comfort. Lisanna moved her gaze to see Gray and Natsu arguing in the clearing about how useless Natsu's and Gajeel's sense of smell must be if they can't even find two girls. "How long did it take them to figure out Lucy was gone?" Levy asked scared to know the answer, but feeling as if she desperately needed to know for Lucy's sake. "It took Gray, Erza and Happy two months. For Natsu it took about two days after we came back from the week long mission." Lisanna said not taking her eyes off the clearing. Levy felt shock run through her she expected it to take Natsu longer than a few days to notice, she felt slightly guilty at underestimating him. "Two days? I thought it would take him longer."
Lisanna let out a small giggle, "By the way he was acting towards her before she left, if I hadn't been talking to him, I'd think that to. He's always aware of her. He probably noticed she was gone straight away but he didn't say anything till the second day." Guilt flooded Levy, she had been so resentful towards Natsu only to find out he had been just as worried if not more that she was. "Why did it take him this long to come looking?" She asked still slightly pissed it had taken him so much time to come save his usual damsel in distress. "At first he thought it was just a really long mission, which had him worried enough. Then he thought maybe she wanted a vacation away from the guild so he didn't want to come running after her to ruin it. Then a month back he final asked Mira-nee where she was. Mira-nee said that she has gone on a top secret mission with you and Gajeel, he asked to go after you to check but master said no and forbade him. We had to take a mission in the next town over just to get here."
Levy sighed, so he'd wanted to come for her, but couldn't? That must have been some kind of hell for Natsu, especially when it came to Lucy; he was always super protective of the blonde. "You know, when we were talking to the clients of the mission we took, I asked them about this village he said they didn't understand why the village was here." Lisanna paused and Levy looked up at her, Gajeel and Levy hadn't even gone to the town over, they didn't see the point when Lucy wouldn't have to even stop there since the train station was on the outskirts. "He said that the town has told them it was a bad place to build because of the old sewer system that runs under it, makes the ground unstable, but they build anyway. Village was erected almost overnight." Lisanna turned to levy and flashed a small smile. Levy stared at her wide eyed. "W-what did you say?" She asked voice quivering." That the village just appe-"
"No not that!" Levy cut her off. "About the sewer?" she couldn't help but feel excited, if this is what she thought then they may have just found the Umbraphiles. "That there's an old sewer system under the entire village?" Lisanna asked unsure if what Levy was getting at but she could feel the excitement and hope practically radiating off the small girl. "Yes that! Natsu and Gajeel can't smell them outside the sight of the village right?" Lisanna slowly nodded her head not quite understanding what Levy was getting at. "That's because they never left the village." Levy said, running off to tell Gajeel what she had figure out with Lisanna's help. The takeover mage suddenly clicked. Feeling stupid she ran to the others.
I hate filler chapters and yet here one is. Sorry but it needed to be done. Promise shit will go down next chapter. I don't really like this one but I wanted to show Erza's and Gray's guilt and Levy comforting them and understanding Natsu more.