A/N: WARNING be prepared for crazy neko-girls and complete and utter despair
A slightly shorter chapter...enjoy...
Natsu lead the rest of the team through the mansion, Happy sitting on his head and Erza followed closely behind, her broken a piece of the bedpost held tightly in her hands for when they ran into any feline trouble. Gray and Lucy walked not too far behind, the ice make mage ad his arms folded over his bare chest while Lucy kept taking the occasional glance back if they were being followed.
"It can't be a co incidence, with the cats attacking and Rissy disappearing" Erza concluded as they walked down a flight of stairs and into what looked to be a study.
Lucy quickly glanced behind her, half expecting an angry hoard of cats to descend down the stairs, only it was too quiet "Yeah and we haven't even seen this master" Lucy pointed out, taking in the vast amount of books on the shelf.
"Natsu I'm worried about Lavender and Rissy..." Happy said, the blue exceed's voice filled with sadness.
Erza placed a comforting hand on the exceed "If they're together they should be fine"
"But if Lavender is half as useless as Happy maybe Rissy will be fine" Lucy said...a bit too loudly, causing the blue exceed to burst into tears.
"Lushii hates me!" Happy wailed.
The desk was filled with books and stray bits of paper, dusting the papers aside Gray noticed a map of Fiore taped to the desk, taking a closer look a large black 'X' was placed where the town of Violet was.
"That's where the girls disappeared from..." Gray sighed, still staring at the map.
"Looks like a dead-end..." Lucy sighed, she turned to Erza the scarlet haired mage had a look of determination on her face.
"Natsu, des the trail end here..." She paused as she got no answer from the dragon slayer
Natsu stood in front of the book-case, his head tilted to the other side.
"Ash for brains, what are you staring at?" Gray shouted, Natsu was too focused on the bookcase taking no heed in Gray's insult.
"The trail ends right here" Natsu said, gesturing to the book-case in front of him.
Erza walked over to the bookcase, standing beside Natsu she placed her hands on it as if expecting something to happen.
"There must be something..." Erza whispered to herself, her hands still on the bookcase.
The mages all stood transfixed on the bookcase; looking up at it Lucy noticed something...something not right about one of the books.
"A cat lover with a book on dogs..." The muttered placing a hand on the book, as she tilted the book backwards as if to pull it off the shelf, the entire case rotated revealing another flight of stairs.
"Luce you did it!" Natsu exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the celestial mage. Suddenly embarrassed about the close contact after the events of operation Nalu, Lucy turned red. As if sensing her sudden rise in body temperature Natsu released the blonde, staring at her with curiosity.
"You must be sick, you're all red" He stated, still staring at her.
"N-no I'm fine...let's just go!" Lucy stuttered, quickly ushering her team mates down the stairs.
"Guys I can hear something..." Happy loudly whispered as the team walked down the stairs
"How does it feel to be in utter pain?" An unfamiliar masculine voice asked
"Hurts...like...a bitch!" A more feminine voice gasped out, the team froze, all of them recognising the voice.
Natsu was the first to react, quickly bolting down the stairs like a man possessed, with little choice the rest of the team followed after him down the spiral stair case.
The fire dragon slayer growled at the sight before him, his sister lay motionless on the ground, a purple haired mage laughing over her limp body while her exceed partner loudly sobbed.
A dark aura suddenly surrounded him as he walked forward, the men suddenly taking notice of him.
The man dressed in the dress shirt and trousers tuned to face him, a bored expression on his face "Ezekiel, looks like we have an intruder" he sighed.
Ezekiel turned to Natsu, flicking the bangs out of his eyes, he narrowed his eyes at Natsu for a moment and then he smirked "You look a lot like her...you must be her brother" he hissed as he placed his hands out in front of him.
Natsu growled, this was the man had hurt his sister and he was going to pay. "None of this talking shit...I just want to be the crap out of you..." Natsu growled, engulfing his fists with fire causing Ezekiel's eyes to widen.
"Very well..." He hissed as a purple coloured magic circle appeared in front of him "Let's get this over"
Natsu ran at Ezekiel, landing his flame engulfed fist square in his jaw, the purple haired mage had no time to attack and was sent flying to the floor.
"Natsu!" Lucy shouted, her and the others had arrived and gasped at the scene in front. Natsu too no notice of Lucy and the others, his focus entirely on Ezekiel.
Erza turned to face Myon, the master of the manor was holding a brown coloured cat in his hands, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at the mages.
A flash of light suddenly appeared around her, and once that faded she was dressed in her normal armour, this cased Myon to gulp.
Lucy quickly ran over to Rissy, gently placing her in an upright position the celestial mage begun to gently shake her to wake her up "Come on, Rissy you need to get up..." She whispered to the salmon haired girl.
Gray turned to Lurch, the butler instantly released the lilac coloured exceed from his grip as he held his hands up in surrender. The small exceed ran to stand next t Erza, who had her hand on her sword's hilt.
"Erza, that rich guy kidnapped the girls, turned them into cats and has used the catnip to control them!" Lavender shouted whilst pointing a paw at Myon.
Erza tilted her head to the side "So that explains all the cats..." she muttered to herself.
"Then how do we change them back?" Happy asked, the blue exceed standing next to Lavender.
Myon quickly snapped his fingers, in suddenly the sound of meowing was heard, catching the mages attention.
"What was that?" Lucy asked she still had her arms supporting an unconscious Rissy.
As if answering her question three women all dressed in the same leopard print two pieced cat costumes stepped out of the shadows, hissing angrily at the mages.
Myon stepped between the three women, stroking the greenettes hair "My neko girls here will take care of you three"
Gray scowled "So you're controlling these girls too?" he asked, his question more like a statement.
Myon shook his head "I'm not controlling just enhancing their emotions..." He paused to stroke the blunettes hair causing the woman purring softly "You see. Ezekiel and I infused a Lacrima into the catnip, it can be inhaled and it enhances certain emotions"
Lucy looked up at Myon, her disgust clear on her face "That's sick!" Lucy snapped
Myon shook his head once more "Not sick...clever, we enhance anger and hate...for our enemies and adoration and admiration for the master...the perfect warrior"
Erza shook her head "No, not warriors...but slaves and it needs to end now!"
Myon lightly chuckled "You're right...Neko girls attack and defend your master!" Myon shouted, the three cat women instantly obeyed all charging at the mages.
The neko girls moved like women possessed, their enhance desire for their 'master' causing them all to strive to please him and in this case pleasing their master meant defeating his enemies.
Gray and Erza fought hard; both mages trying not to hit the women as they were the victims, which meant that hurting them wasn't an option.
Lucy placed Rissy gently on the ground, reaching for her keys to summon a spirit. "Lavender keep an eye on Rissy" She told the lilac coloured exceed. Lavender nodded her head, standing protectively next to her unconscious partner.
Lucy quickly grabbed Aries' key, ready to summon the celestial spirit, however before she could her keys suddenly disappeared from her grasp. "What the...!" She gasped in confusion, looking around for her keys.
Suddenly hearing a 'nyan' she glanced up, spotting the green haired neko girl dangling her celestial keys in front of her "Looking for these?" She hissed, before she started shaking the keys around.
Lucy growled, the blonde quickly darted to snatch the keys back, however the neko girl was faster and swiftly dodged out the way, causing Lucy to fall to the ground.
"Aw poor little blonde can't get her keys..." The greenette hissed whilst dangling the keys around like some sort of trophy
Lucy growled once more "Now I really hate cats" She moaned
Gray sighed once both the brunette and blunette neko girls fell to the ground with a thud, using his ice make magic he had created shackles around their ankles and wrists. Even Lurch; as Rissy had called him was imprisoned in his own ice shackles, the butler had long ago surrendered and accepted his fate, however this didn't step him from whimpering bout 'not wanting to die in prison'. Both girls tried in vain to break the shackles but with no magic and not enough strength the task was impossible.
Erza stood beside the navy haired man, admiring his handy work "Nice job, Gray..." She paused for a moment, placing a finger on her chin in thought "Weren't there three of them...?"
As if on cue the third neko girl landed, face flat on the ground with a thud, Lucy immediately ran over snatching her celestial keys from the woman's grasp. She then triumphantly placed her keys in the air "I finally...got them back..." She said between pants.
A sudden whimpering was heard and turning around the three mages spotted Myon standing frozen as he clutched a brown coloured cat to his chest.
Erza instantly fished out her sword, causing the once confident Myon to whimper even more.
She walked slowly over to him and with every step she Myon's whimper's got even louder "Gray, Lucy gather up the cats...I'll take care of him" She said, never taking her eyes away from the master of the house.
Both mages nodded, Lucy summoning Aries to help keep the cats in one place whilst Gray tried his best to catch them...a task that was much harder than it looked.
Ezekiel staggered up, his opponent's attack causing him more damage than he had originally thought and the pain was already starting to kick in. His opponent was stronger physically than his sister, since using his pain spell on her was enough, it wasn't the same for Natsu who simply fought through the pain purely on a desire to protect his sister and his nakama.
And that's where it dawned on him. Whereas Natsu was physically stronger than his sister, it didn't mean the same emotionally.
A flame engulfed fist to the jaw suddenly brought Ezekiel back from his thoughts, he rubbed at the sore spot on his jaw, smirking once he realised how perfect his plan was.
Natsu tilted his head to the side, confused about why Ezekiel looked so smug...what was he planning.
"I have no idea why you're smirking...but I promise you that I'll wipe it from your face!" Natsu declared whilst punching his fists together.
Ezekiel smirked once more "And how do you intend on doing that?" He asked
Natsu shrugged his shoulders "By punching you a lot..." He stated matter of factly
A magenta coloured magic circle appeared in front of Ezekiel raised hands, before Natsu could react, the wave of magenta colored light was sent at him, sending him to the floor with a thud.
"Natsu!" Happy shouted, the blue exceed flying over to his partner's side.
Natsu sat upright, the usual fire in his onyx eyes was gone, replaced by a pure darkness...replaced by utter despair.
Happy shook his partner, shouted his name loudly however he got no response from the salmon haired dragon slayer, only a blank look in his eyes.
"Lushi, something is wrong with Natsu!" Happy wailed, tears falling down his face at the thought of not being able to save his partner.
Lucy abandoned her chase of the small tan coloured cat, rushing over to Natsu's side. Placing an arm around a wailing Happy she glanced into Natsu's eyes, an inaudible gasp escaped her lips once she noticed the pure darkness that lurked there. She turned to Ezekiel, anger clear on her face "What did you do to him!" She demanded, however she only received a creepy type evil laugh from the purple haired mage.
"I made him feel utter despair..." He stated, sounding quite proud of his work.
Lucy stared into Natsu's eyes once more, gently shaking the dragon slayer however she got no response.
Ezekiel sighed, a purple magic circle appearing once more from his outstretched hands "He looks quite pathetic...I should just end his misery now..."
Both Lucy and Happy tightened their hold on Natsu, both of them squeezing their eyes shut at the pain that was about to come...
Lucy was never gladder to hear those three words...
"Fairy dragons roar!"
The multi coloured light from the attack sent Ezekiel flying into the wall, and glancing back Lucy noticed the salmon haired woman sporting a toothy grin as she admired her handy work.
Happy glanced over too, the blue exceed smiled widely at the sight of his friend "Rissy!" Happy exclaimed.
Rissy smiled and then walked over to Lucy who was still holding to Natsu tightly.
Rissy frowned once she noticed her brother's empty dark eyes "Lucy what's wrong with him?" Rissy asked, gently poking Natsu in the cheek...only to get a blank stare from the dragon slayer.
"Ezekiel put a despair spell on him...and now he's like this..." Lucy explained sadly
Rissy continued to stare at her brother, a gasp escaping her lips at how empty his gaze was "Rissy, do you know how to get him back to Natsu?" Happy asked
Rissy sighed, "Make him happy..." she suggested
Lucy and Happy both exchanged confused glances
"How...?" they asked in unison
Rissy face palmed "I don't know...tell him a joke, tickle his belly, give him a kiss...just do something" she growled before standing in fighting stance.
"But Rissy-"
"Look I'm a little busy now..." she sighed as she jumped in to battle once more with Ezekiel.
Leaving Lucy and the two exceeds to come up with a plan to get Natsu back to normal.
What did you think of that?
Stay tuned for the next chapter 'The Revelation'
JustAnotherFairy :)