Hiro Mashima is the only owner of Fairy Tail.

Chapter 6 - The kidnap

Erza woke up, trying to move from the uncomfortable position she was in. However she failed to do so – she discovered being covered in ropes and having a tightly tangled material around her eyes. H-hey, what's going on…? She thought, panicked. How did it even happen? Oh, right. She was traveling during the night out of the town in order to escape from Jura… And went into the forest. I was careless. How could I think there'd be nothing dangerous in there? Such a fool! Erza tried to shift her hands higher to check the resistance of the rope. Unfortunately, it was just as strong as she thought it would have been.

The Reequip mage tried to move right by rolling, but when she tried that there was a sigh and someone approached her and sat her down. Quite gently. "Missy, you'd better behave."

"Who are you? Untie me and take the thing off my eyes!" she ordered but received a hoarse laugh from the man – oh, yes, he definitely was a male.

"Easy, you lady. Don't make me hurt you" he chuckled and patted her cheek. Erza frowned and thought her situation over. She had been kidnapped. No one knew where she was. She had a child on the way, and she was tightly tied up. Surely, she was a damn lucky person.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, blinking madly under the material.

"Don't tell me, missy, you don't know" another voice said angrily. So there are more of them. I wonder how many villains there are… However, keeping the conversation was the only thing she could have done right then.

"I don't."

"Chef, she doesn't know?" some shaken voice asked with respect, directing itself somewhere right from Erza. So the chef of that gang seemed to stand on her right side.

"Of course she does" a deep, harsh and somehow ironic voice. "But the woman is dazed and confused for now, so she can't really say, eh?"

"Hahah, right, chef! You're the real guy!"

"I know, I know. Now, let's go and have some treats. And, sweetie," someone came closer to her and a fetid smell reached her nose. Erza tired really hard not to wince. "We'll be back in a blink of eye."

The villains left the place she was in loudly and the Reequip mage stayed all alone. She started to pull and push the fragment of the rope she could have reached with her hands. There was no effect. She tried to summon a sword, bah, even a pocket knife, but her magic stopped responding. It looked like the rope was preventing her from using magic at all. Of course, because by then she would surely have been free… Why does it always happen to me, she thought with a sigh. She was not that clumsy… Was she?

Erza leaned over the wall behind her, exhausted. The position she was kept in was getting even more uncomfortable. The rope was sinking into her body. The redhead was annoyed. Why did she have to run away from the Lamia Scale's town? To hell with her plans and finding Jellal.. Jellal… Erza had a feeling he had been nurturing over her. To be more specific, she had heard his voice, telling her to stay safe… But she could not have possibly experience any of it, right? Such a strange impression… Her back slipped a little on the left and she hissed when her arm impaled onto something sharp. Wait, what? Something SHARP! Erza almost screamed from joy. She turned her head so that her neck started to hurt and begun to scratch the wall with her forehead where the material covering her eyes was. To her delight, it started to go up and soon it was laying on the floor. Erza had to get her eyes used to the normal vision again, and after that she returned to her breaking free doings. The redhead examined the wall and found some signs after the shelf – they were that something which scratched her. She moved closer and started to rub her wrists where the rope was the tightest and the thick. After a while there was only one loop that she was able to cut. Come on! Faster! She was thinking desperately.

At last, the rope was cut and thrown away. Erza stood up and massaged her ankles and wrists where the thick rope made purple signs. She looked around. She was in an old, ruined room or a small house. There used to have been two other rooms, but they were connected with the one she was standing in. There was much of the rubble everywhere. What is this place? She wondered. Erza summoned a sword and started inspecting the place, although she did not find anything special. Well. When the inspection was over, the Titania sat down on an old sofa and decided to wait for her kidnappers… And then have some fun.

The redhead had been waiting for a long time. The night had already come and made her almost invisible on the dark sofa in the middle of the ruined room. Ultimately, she heard some harsh voices coming from in front of the place. She nodded to herself and summoned her second sword.

"Chef, let's go check on the mage now" the same shaky voice exclaimed and there was an evil laugh.

"Go by yourself, don't you have any guts?"

"O-okay." Erza approached the door and hid herself behind the place where the opened door would stop. The villain came inside and gazed around, trying to get used to the darkness. He was fat and dirty, wearing some old, ripped clothes. His hair and a long beard did not smell too well, too. The mage reached her sword right under his neck and whispered: "Try making any suspicious noise."

The villain stopped, pasting his sight into the sword so close to him. At first he looked like he was not going to obey her order and scream, but he changed his mind when the magic steel came closer. Only one glance at Erza told him he was in mortal danger. The woman growled and said: "Tell your chef it's all right here."

The bearded man made a quiet squeal but gulped loudly and said with the shaky voice of his "It's all right."

"Now, get fully inside" she moved her sword forward and he must have gone with it. She shut the door and, still aiming for his neck, asked. "How many of you, fiends, are there?"

"N-not many, m-missie…" he stuttered, but when the sword came closer, he squealed and moaned. "Five more, five more!"

"I see. Is any of you a mage?"

"Y-yes, one…"

"Thank you, now I don't need you anymore" Erza withheld her sword and hit him with the second arm. The beardy man fell on the floor and stayed there without moving. The redhead sent away her weapon for the time being and sat down, waiting for the others to come. The minutes were passing and she started to get bored and sleepy.

Finally, someone opened the door. Erza summoned two swords at once and attacked without hesitation. The person screamed and bumped into the wall. He tried to defend himself and make a counterattack but failed under the mage's knock-down.

"Chef, something's happening there!"

"Let's go!"

Great, the woman smiled evilly. There were only four man left, according to the information the first villain revealed. The fiends ran inside with fury and the light was turned on. Erza saw a bunch of seedy man, smelling of alcohol and sweat. One of them stopped and started to make some signs in the air. She frowned, not sure of what kind of magic to expect. But nothing happened to her.

Erza did a gracious spin and smacked the closest villain to her. He yelled and fell on the floor next to the first one defeated. The next one was lucky enough to hit her with his fist. The man had huge strength and Titania swayed. Maybe that's the magic of the one standing away, she thought. Erza whisked her sword and the fighter dodged it, however the second weapon hit him hard, breaking his leg. He moaned and the redhead moved to the next one, although that one cried "Mommy!" and fainted.

The Reequip mage turned slowly in the direction of the mage standing in the corner. "Show yourself" she ordered, but there was no response. She sighed and attacked. The mage moved quickly and the sword hit the wall. Erza smirked and danced once again, doing a complicated attack of two weapons at once. That time the man got cut and fell as well. The redhead reached and threw away his hood. "Well, well. Mage Daishi Oda, for whom the whole Magic Council is looking. I thought you were hiding somewhere."

"I was" he snarled and tried to spit at her. Erza quickly bind him and took a deeper breath. She should not have been fighting that much. But her stomach seemed to be in good condition. Okay, what do I do now… I guess I should deliver him to the closest guild. Which makes it Lamia Scale, again. Erza grimaced. Jura's going to kill me. However, there was nothing else she could have done with the gang. If she would have let them be, they would have definitely escaped and continued with their behavior… No way.

Erza managed to get the defeated villains to the guild. The mages were surprised to see Titania entering the building with six bind man and passed them to Ooba Babasaama. As expected, the Fourth of Ten Wizard Saints got furious, hearing that Erza went there on her own and dealt with the bunch of man in her condition. So he knew. Moreover, Chelia seemed to be annoyed that the redhead dared to come back after she had seen her off.

The Reequip mage did not take much time and when the guild's mages started to talk of delivering the criminals to the Council, Erza sneaked away, disappearing in the crowd on the street.

"So, to the Magic Council, then…" she murmured to herself, looking far ahead. That time, though, she would have chosen the safest path. For the sake of her child and… And Jellal.

"This is the town of Lamia Scale?" asked surprised Lucy when the three of them got off the train. Gray, naturally, had to help Natsu stand after the transportation. The blonde turned to Gray and observed: "It's much bigger and seems more… entertaining than I have expected."

"No shit" he rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Haven't you heard Lyon babbling all around about this place as the best city for party ever?"

"Yeah, maybe I've heard something of that" she smiled.

"Aye!" commented Happy.

"So, what are we doing here exactly?" asked Gray, letting go of Natsu who hit the ground, still unable to stand on his own. "Oups."

"Oups? You bastard, you did it on purpose" the Fire mage hissed, trying to get onto his feet.

"I thought it'd be wise to go and ask about Erza in Lamia Scale. After all, if she's been traveling so far, she had to stay somewhere, right? And she had friends here" replied Lucy. She did not even mind repeating that sentence for the fifth time already. It was purely genius, was it not?

"Nice idea" Gray praised her and crossed his arms, looking at Natsu, constantly lying on the ground. "Hey, are you staying here or what?"

"It's not my fault the train was an express and it's worse" he moaned.

"Anyway, Lucy" started Happy, and when the blonde looked at the Exceed, he smirked and finished: "Even you sometimes can say something smart. I wasn't expecting this to ever happen!"

"You shitty cat!" she exclaimed and caught him in the air, stretching his muzzle into strange shapes.

"Uwaaa, I'm sorry, Lucy-san!"

Natsu finally was able to stand up , however he still looked pale and like he was going to throw up soon. Lucy stopped molesting Happy and announced they were moving forward. Gray agreed and headed first. He was a little concerned about the meeting with Lyon, who was his friend then, of course, but he had known of his feelings towards Erza. Dammit, Lyon, I hope you didn't tell her anything unnecessary… he thought with a frown.

"Woaaah! It's huge!" yelled Natsu when they approached the colorful building where a sign of Lamia Scale was hung. "It's like double-Fairy Tail!"

"You mean the building of our guild, right?" corrected him Gray.

"Yeah, dumbass, you haven't realized?"

"I just helped the sentence make sense, ash-brain."

"Goodness, it's never gonna stop, eh?" complained Lucy with a resigned expression. "Anyway, let's get inside. Seems like there's some fuss over something."

The Fairy Tail mages did not bother to knock on the door and hesitantly entered the guild. It was really crowdy there – the wizards with Lamia's insignia were discussing something over and pointing out their hands at something in the corner of the hall. Lucy, Gray, Natsu and Happy glanced there and saw six men bind in strong ropes, who were sitting silently.

"What is happening here?" asked Lucy under her nose.

"Oi! Gray, what a surprise!" the brunet heard his friend's voice and Lyon came from behind the crowd with a smile. "Ah, and Lucy-chan and Natsu! You, Fairies, sure do amaze me."

"I was forgotten" sobbed Happy.

"What do you mean?" asked the pinkhead, shaking Lyon's hand.

"At first it was Erza, who came yesterday, later escaped and today, about an hour ago she handed those criminals to us and disappeared again, and now you three…"

"Woah, wait a sec" interrupted him Gray. "Erza was here?"

"Sure she was, she wanted to ask Jura about something, and we had a little talk as well" Lyon laughed. "You know, I've never expected you to tell her…"

"Yeah, yeah" Gray blushed and shook his head for the Lamia's Ice mage not to say anything more. He smirked.

"Wait, Erza defeated them on her own?" asked Lucy worriedly. The guys glared at her like she had lost her sense.

"It's Erza we're talking about…"

"Sure she did it on her own…"

"That's totally not what I meant!" she stamped like a child. "Geez, you don't realize? Any of you?"

"But what?!" Natsu got annoyed.

"Erza shouldn't do anything on her own now, She shouldn't even be traveling, rather laying and taking care of her condition" Lucy blurted out. The men did not seem to realize what was the matter and stood there with strange expressions. Lucy exclaimed in anger: "Ouuugh!"

"Lucy-san, hello!" Chelia materialized out of nowhere and hugged Lucy from the back. Lucy's eyes opened widely – since when had she been in such good conditions with Chelia?

"Hi, Chelia-chan!" the blonde smiled. "Oh, maybe you understand what I meant when I told them about Erza!"

"Sure I do. That's why I came to you" Chelia pouted when she looked at the stunned men. "They just don't realize anything! Bakas."

"Have you seen her?"

"Yup. And cast a special spell on her" she chuckled and so did Lucy. Lyon, Gray and Natsu looked at each other with risen brows and nodded in silent agreement. Those girls, they were mad. Lucy sighed heavily.

"You still don't realize?"

"Not a thing" said Lyon.

"Can't both of you stop using some codes and tell us what's happening?" Natsu scratched his head. "Please?"

"See, Erza-san is pregnant!" the girls told them.

Lyon opened his mouth and said nothing for a while, Natsu's eyes widened. Gray kept a stony face but the information pierced his heard. Lyon looked at his fellow Ice mage and took him on the side. Lucy regretted that she and Chelia were so direct, but there was no other way.

"So that's why her smell had changed, yeah?" asked Natsu, feeling uneasy. Chelia nodded. "I never thought that… She… I mean…"

"Natsu, just shut up" the Stellar Spirit mage fizzed when she saw the Ice mages coming back. Gray had an arcane expression on his face, it was hard for her to tell what he was thinking. Lucy was truly sorry for her friend.

"Well" she said nervously. "I think we should talk to Jura-san."

"Mhm. I'll show you the way" Chelia proposed and they accepted her help. Jura was sitting in the farthest part of the guild, murmuring something to himself and looking angry.

"Jura-san" started Lucy with a slight smile. "Hello! Can we have a word with you?"

"Oh, Lucy-dono" he gave her a terrifying look. "Welcome. Sit, my friends. I hope you came to take care fo the reckless woman who's a part of your guild?"

"Yeah" answered Natsu.

"Could you tell us what you know?" asked the blonde.

"Erza-dono came to our town yesterday when we had the Origami Festival. She asked me about the information of the dark power on the west of Fiore, so I told her everything I know. I never imagined she would like to go and fight it on her own" he growled and the Fairy Tail mages shivered from the coolness in his voice. "You are going after her, right?"

"Y-yes, we want to take her back to the guild" said Lucy with a scared expression.

"Can you tell us about the dark force, too? We need to know what Erza knows to predict her moves" asked Gray, speaking up for the first time.

The Fourth of Ten Wizard Saints sighed and repeated everything. The mages listened carefully and decided not to disturb the peace of the angry wizard. They expressed their gratitude and left. Lyon offered to see them off to the borderline of the town.

Natsu started to talk with Lyon about some strength matches, so Lucy seized the opportunity and approached Gray with a worried look on her face. "Gray… Can I talk to you?"

"I guess" he muttered.

"I'm so sorry you found out like that… But you had to know. Right?"

"No, actually, thank you for telling me. I've been behaving like a complete asshole towards her… I think I should let her do what the hell she wants to now" he said with no color inside his voice.

"Gray! You say that because you're angry…" Lucy shook her head.

"No. I shouldn't be obtruding her like that."

"Oh , Gray!" Lucy felt two tears left her eyes and she hugged the man to show that he had a friend in her. The brunet patted her head and disentangled himself, saying "Thanks, Luce."

The Celestial Spirit mage sighed and wept her tears away. So there was nothing she could have done for her comrade… Baka. I'm such an awful friend.

Gray understood her intentions, and was truly thankful, but that kind of wound… It was something he had to deal with on his own.

Erza glared at the sunset and pouted. She wanted to go twice as much as she had already, but she managed to only reach the river. On the other hand, she should not have been forceful and accepted that she would have had to make a camp for herself at that place. The mage found a kind of a shelter in a cave in the wood and prepared a small fire. Erza leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Only then did she feel how tired she was. And the nausea was returning.

Ignoring the urge to vomit, she prepared herself something to eat and slowly consumed the food. The nausea became lighted and Erza smiled. That was the time to rest a little bit if she wanted to continue with her crazy walking tempo tomorrow.

Almost unconsciously the redhead started to stroke her belly where a new life was. It made her more at ease. She fell asleep next to the fading fireplace, thinking about only the pleasant and lovely things consisting of a smiley child and a man of her dreams beside her.

Goodness. I'm SO sorry for abandoning this story for so long. But I think that this one is not as polished as the second Jerza, Strike a pose! :) well, but I still plan on finishing the story. Although I know after this chapter you may feel disappointed – I know the long waiting was not worth this chapter, after all.

Oh, and I didn't even have time to check the mistakes... So in the nearest future I'll correct everything in the chapter:) but you're more thatn welcome to point them out.

PS no, the fact that Lucy hugged Gray doesn't mean that they'll be together or something. They're friends, and let it stay like this:) my two other stories are with GrayLu. If you need to read something about them, go there!

I love you all. Please, do punch me for my inconvenience, or at least yell at me for it :D