TO MY READERS: Hello, everyone! I'm back! I know it's been an ungodly amount of time since I uploaded a chapter to this story, but here is the latest installment! Although I do continue on uploading the rest of this story, I can't tell you guys when the next chapter will be up because I really don't have any sort of scheduling in mind. I can promise you guys, though, I am back and I will finish this story for all of you to read. Thank you to everyone who decided to stick around for this AU and, again, I do apologize for keeping you guys waiting for so long. I consider myself very lucky to have such great followers. Okay, enough of me! Here's the story! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN any of the characters or places included in this story. They all belong to the original creator, Hiro Mashima.
Six
The beeping of the heart monitor at the side of Cana's bed filled the silence in the hospital room. She had been admitted at two in the morning following the infiltration and, after having gotten a few hours of sleep, Natsu went right to the hospital to check up on her. When he arrived, Cana's doctor had told Natsu the gunshot wound to her leg had been the most serious. Despite Natsu having wrapped his shirt around Cana's shoulder wound, bacteria had still invaded the wound, but the leg was the worse. The bullet had gone right through and the exposed flesh had been submerged in the water for too long.
Cana was asleep now and on a lot of morphine. It was going to take time for the infections to clear up but, fortunately, Cana hadn't broken any bones. The bullet in her shoulder had stopped just short of the ball-and-socket joint because it had ricocheted off the wall first and lost some of its momentum while the bullet to her leg missed her fibula by a hair. As Natsu continued to watch Cana breathe, he heard footsteps from behind him. He didn't even have to turn around to know it was Gildarts.
"Morning, Natsu," he said as he walked into the room. Natsu looked up and saw he was holding a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. He hadn't been in the room when Natsu arrived and the doctor told him they had to practically shove Gildarts out of the room to get him to eat and relax. He had been with Cana since Natsu carried her back to the docks and hadn't left her side even though the doctor told him she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. He was probably completely wiped, but Natsu knew he wouldn't leave his daughter's side until she forced him to.
"Officer Clive," Natsu replied. "How have you been?" Gildarts took a seat in the chair on the opposite side of Cana's bed. He took a sip of the coffee and placed it, along with the untouched sandwich, on the small bureau next to him.
"Fine. I'm just hoping she'll wake up soon," he said, looking at his daughter now. Natsu's stomach clenched with guilt. He looked down at his hands before speaking again.
"Gildarts, I just need to tell you how sorry I am," he began. "I was in charge of the mission and I should've…"
"Stop it, Natsu," Gildarts said sternly. Natsu's head shot up.
"But, sir…"
"What happened to Cana could've happened to anybody. It could be you in this bed right now. Cana knows the risks that come with this job. Sure, it'll slow her down for a while but she will never let it stop her. I'm not angry with you and I know Cana isn't either. In fact, we're both incredibly grateful to you. You saved her life. I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am." Natsu stared at Gildarts in disbelief and saw tears shimmering in his eyes. Natsu smiled and nodded, feeling his body relax.
"I'd never leave anyone behind," he said. Gildarts chuckled and sipped his coffee again.
"Well, I think you better get going. Captain Scarlet wants you all at the precinct to report the mess from this morning," he said.
"Will you be alright alone?" Natsu asked.
"I've already called in reinforcements. I want this room protected twenty-four-seven until Cana gets outta here. Those minions of Zeref were sent to kill us. I'm not going to take any chances in leaving her alone while she's recovering." Natsu stood and glanced back at Cana.
"She's going to be fine, Natsu," Gildarts reassured him. "I'd say you're even more worried about her than I am." He chuckled and Natsu smiled, heading out the door.
Grabbing a taxi outside of the hospital, Natsu thought about the disaster waiting for him back at the office. The flop that was the infiltration would cost the investigation dearly. It was going to take everything his team had to think of another way to nab one of Zeref's faction leaders. He also knew Erza was going to need to make a very persuasive argument to her higher-ups. It worried him thinking they might not get the approval they needed to try for another arrest.
Before he knew it, Natsu was back at the office, walking the long hallways into the meeting room where Erza and the rest of his team were. When he opened the door, he could tell right away something was incredibly wrong. Every single face that looked up at him as he entered appeared broken, tired, and defeated. His heart sank as he walked to the front of the room and saw Erza watching him with the same expression.
"Good morning, Detective Dragneel," Erza said, her stern voice echoing a strength her face betrayed.
"Good morning Captain Scarlet," he replied.
"I trust you just arrived from the hospital visiting our brave Detective Alberona," she said, looking back out to his teammates.
"Yes," he said. "She's doing well, considering everything. The doctor's still want to keep a close eye on her since her leg was exposed to the bacteria longer. Other than that, she seems to be in good health and will be recovering soon. Gild—Uh, Officer Clive is still with her and he's requesting a few other officers to stay with her until she's well. He doesn't think it's safe."
"I wouldn't expect anything less of our honorable officer," Erza agreed. "I'll make sure I hand-pick the officers who will watch over Detective Alberona as she recovers. You have my word." Natsu nodded and stood off to the side of the room, waiting for Erza to continue. He knew the rest of the conversation today was going to be bleak as hell, considering everyone's morale.
"Now, as I'm sure all of you are well aware of, I had a meeting earlier this morning with my higher-ups. And, as you can probably imagine, it did not go well," Erza said, letting out a sigh. She leaned against the table, shook her head, and looked back up at everyone, her usual all-business demeanor coming down.
"We all know what a complete failure last night's infiltration went. We completely lost the ship and anything that could've been on it to use as a lead to find Zancrow's faction leader, we weren't able to take anyone in for questioning, and, worst of all, one of our own was injured in the crossfire," she explained. "It was bad. Worse than bad. It was a complete and total shit show. And my higher-ups were…less than pleased." Natsu couldn't help but hold his breath as Erza worked up the courage to share the news with everyone. She sighed again, standing up straight again with her leadership attitude, and crossed her arms. Even though her stature appeared strong, Natsu could see the defeat in her eyes.
"I am sorry to inform you that our investigation has officially been shut down until further notice," she said. Immediately, every person in the room jumped from the seats and began shouting. Erza tried to gain control of the room, but she seemed so tired it was impossible for her to shut down the uproar.
"Quiet!" Natsu shouted, the word scraping against his throat as he forced his voice to rise above everyone else's. Suddenly, all their eyes fell upon his, including Erza who seemed surprised at first, but eventually stepped to the side to give Natsu the spotlight.
"I'm sure it's no surprise to all of you that I'm just as upset about this as you all are," he began. "Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know this case about bringing my own brother to justice. And you all probably know how infuriated I am about last night and the higher-up's decision. However, we all know we won't stop. We still have Zancrow to give us information and I believe we've all forgotten about one special weapon we have in our back pockets. Makarov Dreyer.
"Sure, we might not be given official permission from Erza's higher-ups to do anything, but we can still work to find leads and information. I'm not going to stop investigating just because of one stupid hiccup. I know we failed miserably, but we just have to brush ourselves off and prepare for the next fight! It's as simple as that. And until we find something good, we'll just have to be careful how we go about this. Keep quiet about any information you find unless you bring it to me or Captain Scarlet. And I'm sure Captain Scarlet hasn't heard any of this and won't have any idea what we're planning on doing from here on out." Natsu then turned to Erza who had a knowing smirk on her face. She simply nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Natsu alone with his team.
"Jellal, I would like you to continue doing your's and Cana's research on that store you both found a while ago," Natsu said. "Hopefully, Cana will be up to visitors soon and you'll be able to talk to her about it." Jellal nodded.
"Gajeel and Levy, I want you both to try and find out more information about that decoy from last night. Try and see if Hargeon had any security camera footage we can use to identify it."
"You got it," Levy smiled.
"And, finally, Gray and Juvia, I want you two to focus on a young woman named Lucy Heartfilia. I was doing some research on the whereabouts of Zeref and some of his cronies and her face kept popping up. I want you both to do some serious digging on both her family and her possible connection with Zeref. I'll also be helping you on this so I want you both to stop by my office to collect some of my notes," Natsu explained.
"I thought Gray-sama and Juvia were going to try and find the missing girls," Juvia asked.
"Yes, and I'd still like you to work on that if you can. But this Heartfilia girl has been seen in a lot of places all over the kingdom. I'm curious to know her association with Zeref. It just seems pretty strange to me that the heir to the Heartfilia fortune and Konzern is being seen with Zeref's known cronies."
"Whatever you need, boss," Gray smirked, leaning back.
"Juvia just hopes searching for this particular woman doesn't distract Gray-sama from the one who loves him most," Juvia mused. Gray's face immediately fell and he covered his reddening cheeks with his hands.
"Anyways," Natsu continued, giving Gray a smug look, "I just also want to give you all a final note before you leave to begin your work.
"Last night wasn't random. When Gildarts and I were talking, he was telling me he believes we've been found out by Zeref. Our investigation is no longer secret. I know no one in this office is untrustworthy, so I'm going to take a wild guess and say someone in Zancrow's faction realized he's gone missing and has informed his leader who brought the information to the attention of Zeref. If we continue with this investigation, we are now at risk. Zeref knows what's going. I doubt he knows all of us by name, save for me, but we still need to be careful. No one outside of our team will know any of the details."
"Do you think we'll ever get this investigation back on track, Natsu?" Levy asked.
"We have to," he answered. "We don't have a choice. Zeref's factions steal, kill, and create chaos. Even if we don't have permission from Erza's superiors, I won't let this case be closed again. He poses too much of a threat to our kingdom. We are going to bring Zeref to justice, even if I lose my job in the process."
"Natsu…" Gray started.
"I know it sounds like I'm obsessed," he admitted, "but I have good reason to be. My brother is a dangerous and vengeful individual. He does what he pleases because he knows he won't be caught. The MPD gave up years ago in trying to bring him and his followers in because he barely leaves any traces. And if we stop now, who knows how many years it will be before the case gets reopened again only to be closed again. We're going to stop this cycle. And if we get caught, I promise to take all the blame."
"We won't let you do that, Natsu," Gray said.
"I'm the leader of this mission. If I make a decision that gets us into trouble with the higher-ups, then there's no one to blame but me. That is, as long as you are all willing to continue this fight." Natsu glanced around at his friends in the room. They exchanged looks to one another and then all turned to him, smiling.
"You'd have to be an even denser idiot than you already are to think we won't continue this mission with you," Gray smirked. Natsu smiled and nodded.
"I don't know what I would do without all of you," he said.
"Let's not get into specifics," Gray said, coming to Natsu's side and patting him on the back. "Juvia and I will get started on our assignment."
"As will Gajeel and I," Levy piped up.
"Thank you all, for everything you do," Natsu said. "Now, let's get to work."
For once, Lucy and Zeref weren't in his room for the sole purpose of having sex. The lights had been turned up all the way, so the soft, sultry red glow of the room was lost to the brightness. Lucy sat in front of Zeref's large oakwood desk straight and tall, waiting for information on her next assignment. Zeref sat behind the desk, flipping through papers he normally kept locked away in the drawers. Though she knew these assignments usually ended in killing someone, Lucy always looked forward to being out from underneath Zeref's thumb.
"Here it is," Zeref finally announced, pulling forth a sheet of paper from the pile. "This is the man you need to visit in a week's time." Lucy took the paper from him and looked at the picture on the top.
The man photographed looked to be quite old and not at all attractive and Lucy already hated the idea of having to seduce him. He had thick, ridiculous looking eyebrows over his very tiny eyes and his thin lips, when brought into a smile, made it seem like he had eaten something sour.
"That is Count Balsamico, one of my oldest and most trusted suppliers," Zeref began. "He helps to bring in weapons to us and, in return, I give a fourth of my earnings and protection for his family. A few days ago, one of my men heard he was planning on meeting with me to discuss his retirement from, not just his business, but also from his association with me. As you can probably imagine, his retiring just won't do unless he wants to lose everything, including his own life. And I need my best girl to deliver that message to him." Lucy looked up from the information on the paper to see Zeref smiling evilly.
"Alright," she replied, ignoring the goosebumps popping up on her skin from his look. "Where do you want this done?" Zeref stood and began pacing around the desk.
"Balsamico's only daughter, Aceto, is having her engagement party a week from today, next Friday. She marrying Velveno who, if I may add, is quite the dog. But, I suppose love is blind," he said with a chuckle. "Anyways, though he knows my identity is to be kept a secret and I'm to remain hidden from the public eye, Balsamico always makes it a point to invite me to every one of his parties. I'm going to give the invitation to you and you will tell him I sent you to give him and his daughter my blessing." Zeref rolled his eyes at that.
"Once the party gets into full swing, I want you to seduce Balsamico into one of the guest rooms he has on the floor above his ballroom and explain to him I will not accept his request to retire. Make sure he understands everything that that implies."
"Of course," Lucy replied. Zeref continued to pace until he came up behind her while she continued reading the paper. Stupidly, she had completely let her guard down as she read the information and found herself jumping and yelping in surprise as Zeref placed his hands on her shoulders.
"I'm sorry, love," he said, licking her earlobe. "Did I frighten you?" Lucy's mouth suddenly turned dry and it took her a moment before she could speak.
"Just a little," she said in the best sultry voice she could muster.
"I'm sorry," he repeated. "You just drive me up a fucking wall." He leaned further in and kissed her cheek. His hands wandered down, stroking the sides of Lucy's breasts and traveling down to her hips where his fingers toyed with the tops of her leggings.
"I want you," he whispered. "Right now." Lucy tightly squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She then turned around in her chair, bringing up her knees to sit on and leaning towards Zeref.
"Then take me," she said, batting her eyes. As she was led to Zeref's bed, Lucy tried to ignore her crawling skin.
A/N: Please don't forget to leave a review! I love hearing from you guys and it's always nice to get feedback on whether or not you liked the chapter.