A/N: Time to get serious! :)

To guest: Bwahaha, yeah I'm quite devious ;)

Thanks I really appreciate that you like the shifts between places and characters, because it does give some variation (as you mentioned yourself) plus it adds some vital information to the plot.

I don't think it'll draw out though because things: "are gonna go doooooown!" In more ways than one, but you'll see that soon.

About the consistent updates: thanks again, I try writing ahead so I can publish chapters regularly :)

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 11: Past Revealed

Lucy felt slightly uncomfortable as the carriage containing herself, Gray, Happy and Erza started moving. Erza had been furious at first when she learned about Natsu's disappearance demanding to know why she hadn't been informed sooner. Well Lucy could relate to that because she would be furious too, if she had been in the same situation.

Fortunately Erza calmed down eventually and after a few minutes of planning they suddenly found themselves travelling out of Magnolia.

"So let me get this straight" the scarlet haired woman exhaled, calming her anger before glaring at Lucy "Approximately 14 days have passed since you last saw Natsu?"

"Yes, Happy saw him at the inn presumably looking for me after reading a note he thought I left for him"

"And you didn't create such a note?"

"No, I wanted to be alone and buy some books after we finished our mission"

"I see" Erza muttered while placing her index finger underneath her chin "What was your mission exactly?"

"Well it was quite simple. The mayor in this town told us they had some trouble with a guy called Butter Boyd who was selling fruits he got illegally"

"Illegally?" Erza questioned.

"Yes, even though the mayor couldn't get solid evidence, he knew for certain that Butter Boyd was importing fruit across the border disguising it somehow to prevent paying taxes. Because of that he could sell the fruit cheaper than the other merchants and eventually he was the sole ruler of the market, because the minor merchants got bankrupted"

"Forbidden fruit, huh?" the red haired woman smirked.

"You could say that. But things eventually got messy with him controlling the market like that, making a lot of peasants miserable. So our mission was to find solid evidence against him, so the mayor could imprison or banish him for good. With that said, we were sneaking inside of his building one night, trying to find some evidence but unfortunately we were caught by surprise when Butter Boyd was on his way to the bathroom"

"He was only wearing his trousers" the cat giggled "They had lemons on them"

"Yeah, that was... weird" Lucy shivered at the mental image spawning "But after that things got messy. Natsu and Butter Boyd started insulting each other and of course it ended with them having a full blown fight"

"I think I know what happened next..." Erza sighed.

"Yeah, as the fight escalated they somehow managed to destroy the entire building including his entire stock of fruit. Once the fight stopped they realised the extent of the damage and Natsu was... well you know him. But Butter Boyd was practically frozen stiff as if he was scared of something, while staring at the ruins of his building. After that he ran away, practically vanishing and leaving us puzzled"

"Hmm... what did the mayor say?"

"He was thrilled because even though we didn't get solid evidence, we managed to make the guy flee and thereby restore balance somehow. The mayor was so pleased that he invited us to have a huge dinner with him. Of course we participated in that for a few hours until we eventually went our separate ways"

"You wanted to buy books, correct?"

"Yes, Natsu wanted to look for more food and Happy wanted to take a nap so we agreed to meet at the inn when we were done shopping. I followed Happy back to there, because I left my purse in our room"

"I feel asleep right away so I thought Lucy made the note before shopping" the cat sulked "I should have known it wasn't from her"

"You couldn't have known Happy. Even Natsu thought it was from me if that makes you feel better" Lucy smiled gently while patting Happy on his head.

"... aye..." Happy said in a unenthusiastic voice.

"Then what happened?" Erza questioned watching the cat sulk in misery.

"I got back to the inn where Happy was playing with a bucket that used to contain fried chicken. Happy seemed confused at first but then he was all giddy and asked me if I had a fight with Natsu. This confused me so I asked why I would have a fight with him"

"Then I asked her if she didn't leave a note telling Natsu to meet her, but Lucy said she didn't" the cat said while glaring at Erza with small tears glistening in the corner of his eyes.

"We started searching for Natsu but we couldn't find him anywhere. We asked some villagers but most people told us they hadn't seen him. Others seemed to evade us for some bizarre reason and a few peasants told us that they saw Natsu leaving the town. After that we stayed at the inn for a few nights searching everywhere, but eventually we had to return to the guild to inform everyone of what had happened"

"I see..." Erza said stoically "Once we reach the town I suggest we split up. There has to be something they are not telling us and there has to be some weak link somewhere just waiting to be interrogated" her eyes flashed with anger making Happy, Lucy and Gray shiver involuntarily.

Taking a deep breath Gray looked around the carriage before resting his head on his hand "You know, I never thought I would say this, but I somehow miss the idiot complaining about being sick"

"Yeah..." Erza agreed while staring into the distance.

Lucy clenched her teeth firmly against each other as she felt a sudden pain clenching inside of her chest, making her heart beat uncomfortably. They would find him, they had too. She needed him and his absence made her realise just how vital a part of her life he was. Well ever since she met him the first time, he had changed her fate making her life so much better. He was the reason she had so many new friends, and even though that was more than enough for her to feel grateful towards the dragon slayer, she was beyond happy for all the new experiences they shared together. All of those moments were precious to her and she wanted desperately to create more with him. Well not just him but with all of their friends as well.

Lucy needed him back because he was everything to her. He was such a vital part of her life now, that she couldn't even imagine a world without him. She loved him deeply and why wouldn't she? He was her best friend! And he knew that, right? Didn't she show that to him through the things they did together? After all Natsu was the sort of person who wanted to live in the here and now, feeling things and doing stuff rather than talking about it like they do in a silly novel.

Which was totally fine with her! Really, she didn't need to know how he felt about her. Right?

Lucy exhaled in frustration before narrowing her eyes and glaring towards the distance. They would arrive at the town soon and when they did, they would find some answers. No matter what, they would definitely find him!

Lucy was scratching her head in frustration after coming to yet another dead end. It was so annoying that whenever she thought someone might know something, they would just ignore her or try talking about something else. Heck, she event tried using force when she was certain someone knew something, but somehow the person in question always found a very sneaky way to avoid her.

"Moohh!" she complained while rubbing the bridge of her nose "this is so annoying"

Lucy started walking when she noticed someone calling her name.

"Yes?" turning around she tried finding the owner of the voice "Who's calling?"

Maybe she misheard the person or perhaps there was another one called Lucy in this town? Shrugging Lucy continued down the street when she heard someone calling again. This time the voice was more clear and for some reason it seemed familiar. Really familiar actually...

"Who...?" whispering she started searching her surroundings to find the person calling. Her eyes stopped their search when she spotted a person standing in a dark alley. The person was barely visible but she could somehow make out the person's frame from the distance.

Could this be the person calling out to her? She wondered, while walking towards the alley. Well even if it wasn't, this person might know something valuable?

"Oy! You in the alley. Can I ask you a few questions?"

The person didn't respond and when she got closer, she noticed that the person was covering his face with both hands as if he was crying.

"Ohh sorry I didn't mean to bother..." her eyes widened as the person's frame became more visible. His height, physique, the spiky hair. Even though the majority of him was covered in the shadows of the alley, he looked almost identical to Natsu. But it couldn't be? The air got caught in her throat for a second, before she started sprinting towards the alley. Please, let this be him, she prayed stopping in her track, when there was only a few feet between them.

"Nat...su?" She reached a hand towards the person who hadn't moved an inch. Why... why didn't he move?

"Are... are you okay?" Lucy asked and watched as the person in front of her started shaking, as if he was crying. This couldn't be him... he would have said something by now. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably inside of her chest as she looked down at her shoes, unsure of what to do next.

"I'm sorry... it's just you look like someone I know... If it's my fault you're crying, then I'm sorry..."

Lucy was startled as the person started laughing hysterically, still holding his hands above his eyes.

"You're sorry?!" The person chuckled "Are you for real?! You actually feel sorry... for me?!"

"Uhm..." confused she blinked a few times "Well yeah... if I somehow made you cry, then of course I'm sorry"

"Ohh dear..." he stopped laughing "It's been ages since someone felt anything other than hate towards me. This is... awkward... and weird... yuck"

"How can you say that? I'm sure there's someone out there who cares..."

"Noooo, no no! Everyone hates me"

"Well I..."

"Stop! Don't lie! You hate me too"

"What? No I don't, I don't even know you?"

"No, I guess you're right" the person started chuckling before peeking through his fingers "but you will eventually"

Lucy froze as she stared into his eyes that was glistening red with something ominous and lethal, waking her primal fears.

"I..." a thin layer of sweat suddenly spawned, making her shiver involuntarily "I... no..."

"Oh yes!" he snickered before grabbing her wrist, dragging her further into the alley.

"No, stop!" she screamed but her efforts were futile as the person started running making them surrounded completely by the shadows, making it hard to see anything. As if the darkness wasn't bad enough, there was this nasty smell coming from somewhere. It smelled a lot like rotten flesh and something else... Something more sinister and evil, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

"Hold on for a second, jeez!" the person complained as Lucy kept struggling against him "This serves a point you know. Look! There's a lamp. I need to show you... yes... you'll see"

"I don't want to see! Let me go!" Lucy yelled but she stopped resisting once they were both standing under the lamp, bathed in the light coming from above.

Her eyes widened in shock as she took in the sight. She was so consumed that she didn't notice the person letting go of her wrist. This was too weird and macabre for her. The person in front of her looked so much like Natsu that it hurt. But then again it was plainly clear it wasn't him. His physique was practically identical with Natsu, but the colours were different. Besides he was having rather large wounds covering his body and in some places the meat had fallen off or was rotting.

"Yeah, yeah I know I'm not an exact copy. The hair colour is off. My skin is weird... bla, bla..." the copy of Natsu said while rolling his eyes in annoyance "... for some reason I can't impersonate male characters that well. Females however... now that's a completely different story! Hmm.. I do slip up sometimes when I get too eager though..."

"Who are you?! Where is the real Natsu?!" Lucy shouted as she grabbed her keys prepared to summon her spirits.

"He's in my cave at the moment. It's not that far away from this town, you just have to follow the road that leads in the northern direction and you'll reach it eventually"

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"You don't. But to be honest I've had enough with this Natsu person. He is... mmm... how do I put this delicately. Broken... yeah basically that's it. I don't like playing with broken toys"

"What do you mean broken?" Lucy dreaded the answer but she had to know.

"In every sense my dear. Physically and mentally. He's nothing but a pulp by now. Actually he might be less than that. He was rather... mmm... conflicted the last time I saw him, so who knows? Maybe he's..." he grabbed his neck to simulate himself being strangled "...you know, taken the ticket to the next level"

"No! You're lying" she growled trying to convince herself that Natsu was fine.

"Hmm?" he blinked in confusion a few times before tilting his head "What would I gain by lying about his condition? But hey suit yourself. I'm just saying what I know and perhaps, just perhaps, this might be crucial for you to know, because you might find him in a situation where he needs healing. I mean serious healing... that is if he's still alive"

"No..." she whispered while watching him step into the shadows.

"As I said do with the information as you like. Remember it's the road leading in the northern direction. You can't miss it" he said while grinning wickedly revealing his sharp canines "But I suggest you hurry... tic-toc. Ohhh before I leave I guess you would want this back"

Lucy's eyes widened when she saw her whip landing on ground. She only diverted her attention for a second but it was enough time for the copy of Natsu to disappear.

Gulping Lucy scanned around her and when she was sure the person wasn't there any more she reached down grabbing her whip with shaking hands. It was painfully clear it had some dried blood on it and she dreaded whose blood it was. Not that it truly mattered at the moment. No... Lucy searched her surroundings once more before leaping out of the alley. She had to find the others and let them know what had happened.

Fear and hope rushed through her, making the adrenaline pump into every cell of her body, making it easy to sprint quickly out on the streets. They would find him and they would make it in time. If he... she shook her head, trying to erase that thought. He couldn't, he wouldn't...

"Gray, Erza, Happy!" She yelled from the bottom of her lungs, while running as if death itself was just a step behind her, waiting to snatch her away if she stopped.

It didn't take long for Lucy to find everyone and after she had explained her encounter, they started their journey towards the cave.

"Hmm" Erza muttered before continuing "you're right, it is not necessarily the truth that the creature told you. However I think the part about him being in the cave is correct. I had a... nice..." her eyes seemed to sparkle for a second "...conversation with some people who told me they had to throw Natsu into the cave because they had to punish him"

"But why?" Lucy questioned.

"I'll get to that in a second. Happy?" Erza turned to face the cat.

"Aye!"

"We do not know whether or not the thing was telling the truth about Natsu's condition. But it's better taking precautions so I want you to search for a healer or a doctor. If there's no one in this town I want you to go back to the guild and bring Wendy. We will meet at the entrance to the cave. Understood?"

"Aye!" Happy instantly spawned his wings flying away in determination to full fill his task.

"We should head out as well. It seems time is of the essence" Erza started walking with Gray and Lucy following close behind.

"Erza? Was there something more valuable than fruits in that place Natsu destroyed?" Gray questioned before continuing "I mean it seems kinda harsh to punish him for doing that. Don't get me wrong I would want to punch him too if it was me, but it's fairly easy to get new supplies and if the person wanted to, he could just demand Natsu paid for it and also repaired his house"

"Yes, there was. The fruit business was just a façade to import different illegal stuff. Their primary focus was items used to perform dark magic" Erza sighed heavily "And since Natsu destroyed all of it, it would seem that Butter Boyd lost a lot of money. Or all of it, but that doesn't matter. The main problem is he wanted revenge"

"I see... moohh, this is why you shouldn't be so reckless Natsu!" Lucy complained "But why a cave?"

"It would seem that this Butter Boyd has some sort of arrangement with someone who lives in there. He provides human sacrifices, for lack of a better word, and the person in the cave takes care of them"

"Takes care of them?" Gray asked dreading the answer.

"Evidently there's only been a few people who entered the cave who made it out alive. But those who made it out... well they had lost their sanity so..."

"... so even if they made it out they would be unreliable witnesses against him" Lucy finished her sentence shaking involuntarily from anxiety before staring at the others with determination shining in her eyes "We have to go, right now!" She started running following the road leading in the northern direction. It didn't take more than a second before the others started running as well.

They didn't know what they would find, but they would definitely save him!

Natsu could feel his body falling for what seemed like forever, but in reality it only lasted for a couple of seconds. Where was this again? Why was he so pathetic? This wasn't like him... Lucy...

A million thoughts seemed to bombard his mind at the same time, making him roar in frustration trying to remove the tension rummaging inside of his mind.

Why, he managed to question himself one more time before he felt his body colliding with the ground. It hurt like fucking hell and he could hear the nauseating sound of the bones in his left arm cracking and splintering into pieces.

Why, he blinked a few times trying to stay awake, ignoring how heavy his eyelids felt and the uncomfortable pressure that was somehow restraining his body, making every muscle in his body ache as if he had been running for an eternity. He wanted to prevent his consciousness from fainting, but it was hard. So fucking hard...

For some reason he was shivering. He felt... cold... both physically and mentally... and for some reason it didn't seem to hurt that much any more...

No... he thought while inching into a foetal position, clenching his teeth and feeling how hot tears streamed down his face. Not that he cared. Nothing seemed to matter any more.

Closing his eyes he submitted to the darkness, falling deeper into himself.

A/N: Butter Boyd! I love that name for some bizarre reason XD

I actually wanted Natsu to fall for a longer time and struggling with his thoughts, but then I thought: "hmm if he falls for a long time, he would have to fall from a rather large height. I mean a height where he would be killed when he hit the ground... because gravity and the laws of physics...".

But then again I think it works with the current length, because we've already seen how he struggles in the earlier chapters.

The next chapter should be up soon (if I keep eating sugar and drinking coffee – yay for hyperactivity and typing!)

Until next time, y'all have a nice weekend :)

/Hejmdal