Chapter 35: The Hunt

A/N: Hello there people! So I hope your excited, because today is the day! THERE WILL BE TWO CHAPTERS TODAY! First shout out to FanGirlLevy for the follow! Thanks! Now onto the chapter!

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The following morning (Natsu POV)

I woke up and stretched, yawning loudly as I looked down to see Lucy doing the same as me. "Morning Luce. Sleep well?" I asked as I gave her a hug and kissed her on the forehead.

"Yeah, how about youuuuuuu!?" She started to say as she got up and tried to walk, only to almost fall over before I caught her while laughing like crazy, last night's activities shockingly making her that sore and wobbly, "SHUT UP! This your fault!"

"Uh, no. If I remember you yelling for me to go faster, which means go harder, so I did." I said, smiling at her as she turned redder than Igneel's scales. "Don't be embarrassed, it'll just turn me on more, your face is too cute when it's red like this. Now relax. Here, let me relax your muscles by heating them up a little bit, now come here." I pulled her up so she was facing me and her legs were on my lap, I put my hands on her legs and warmed up my hands. I immediately felt her muscles relax and she sighed in contentment, her legs regaining their strength.

"Thanks Natsu! Now let's go! We have a long day ahead of us. Now get dressed!" She said and walked over to the bags and threw me some new clothes as she got dressed in a black tank top and white skirt, with her keys on her belt next to her whip. She put on her boots and I got dressed in my usual outfit, both of us wearing the scarves that Igneel made us. "I think today's a good day to match, no? I think Igneel might not like it if we didn't. I'd rather not have him mad since he'll be our ride for the day."

I smiled at her and took her hand and said, "Yeah, he almost started crying when he missed our wedding, so he probably wouldn't like seeing us not wearing our scarves. Let's get going, he's impatient like me. Come on!" I dragged her along until she caught up to my pace, we get outside and see Igneel waiting for us.

(POV Change to Lucy)

As he soon as he sees us wearing our scarves he smiles and says, "So you are wearing your scarves! Ah, that makes me feel better, at least now I know you liked your gifts! I feel better about them, and I feel like you actually love me! Luce hug me!" I sweat dropped and hugged him as best as I could, smirking after a second thinking that he sounds more like an overbearing stay at hom mother-in-law than the king of Fire dragons, before he grunted and said, "Man Luce, lose some weight, your heavy. And now I have to carry you? Natsu you married a weirdo!"

"OH FUCK YOU! I get it enough from Natsu, so shut up!" I yelled at him very out of character and I gasped at my outburst. "Sorry! I don't know what came over me!"

"Ok… um sorry about that. Natsu, treat your wife with respect you idiot! You should only say nice words to her, like how big her ass is, or her breasts." Igneel scolded.

"Kyaaa! Pervert!" I yelled as I blushed and the two males laughed at me. I glared at them and huffed, saying, "Fine, be like that. I'll just stay here and let you two go on your own. See if I care."

"Aw, Luce don't be like that. I'm sorry, the truth is you're a beautiful angel, and I am unworthy of you! And I mean that." Natsu apologized and I could tell he was sincere.

I sighed, relenting and said, "Ok, I believe you. Now let's get going ok? We have a long journey ahead of us. Igneel, are you ready?" Igneel nodded and lowered himself so we can climb onto his back, and Natsu climbed up first and then helped me up.

As I got up onto his back, he pulled me into his lap and kissed me on the cheek, saying, "Hold on tight. He likes quick takeoffs, and keeping that speed. Hey dad, how long of a trip are we looking at?"

"Twelve hours. We'll stop every three and rest for an hour, so it should take sixteen hours in total. Sorry but there's no way you two could last longer than three hours at a time. Get ready, because here we go." Igneel replied and suddenly we are up in the air and my stomach was on the ground still.

"OH MY GODS! KYAAA!" I cried out and didn't stop for the first three hours.

I must have made Natsu deaf because when we landed and we got off and I started kissing the ground he was yelling the whole time, "GODDAMN LUCE! CAN YOU STOP YELLING ALREADY?!"

I looked up from the ground and said, "I did. Natsu can you hear me? Natsu!" I waited until I realized his ears were adjusting to normal sounds again. So what? I screamed while riding a dragon, who wouldn't?

"Oh, ok. Whew man that was loud, I warned you about his flying, he's crazy. It's why I hate transportation, only reason I don't get sick on him is because he's not transportation, so don't ask about it." He said and I sighed in relief he could hear me now, and that he wasn't yelling anymore. "Hey dad, I brought some food, you hungry or you wanna save it?"

"Save it, we have three more stops to go. And Luce, if you scream the whole time again I'll have Natsu tie your mouth shut with your scarf, I almost went deaf." He said and looked serious about it, "But if you're ready, we can leave now."

"Just give me half an hour and I can't promise anything. Sorry." I said and laid down on Natsu's chest and asked Igneel, "So how have you been dad?"

"Good, I've been flying a lot though. Ran into Grandine while I was out and about, Metalicana too. Told me an interesting story," He paused and looked at his very seriously, "about how you attacked Fairy Tail and killed four people, nothing major." He said pointedly and we knew we were screwed.

"Listen we can explain, we had to do it!" Natsu started, "Lisanna almost killed both of us and the others tried to kill us too you know." Natsu said very defensively and I nodded furiously. "Sorry dad, but you know I had to, Zeref comes first and I will do anything to stop him. ANYTHING."

Igneel nodded and said calmly, "I understand, just surprised by the death count."

"OH SHIT! I just remembered we forgot to tell Gōsuto to release the dimension I dumped my magic in! Quick call him!" I said and he pulled out the lacrima and turned it on. "Gōsuto! Can you hear me?"

"Holy shit! Mai! right there! YES!" I heard Gōsuto moan and I quickly turned the lacrima off.

Natsu start howling in laughter as does Igneel while I blush at the embarrassing moment. "Man, we really have to work on timing as a group, we interrupt each other having sex way too often." Natsu said and I nodded before looking at him and laughing at the memories we had shared doing that.

"Ok, Igneel. I'm ready. Let's get moving, I'd rather not wait anymore." I said and we climbed aboard, getting ready for another long journey.

Time Skip to when they arrive (Natsu POV)

We landed just outside of Boa and hop off Igneel as I said, "Ok dad. We'll give you the signal when we find him, just go and hang out somewhere and don't get caught, or else we're fucked." Igneel nods and takes off, heading towards the mountains off to the west of Boa.

I turn to Lucy and nod, telling her the plan is a go and we need to get moving. Our plan is to first find a man named Fun, Fay's handler and associate and find out where exactly Fay is in Boa. Boa is rather large and looking for him by finding his scent would be near impossible, as there would be too many scents. So once we find Fun we will extract the information from him and take Fay captive, and hopefully take his research in one fell swoop. If not, then we'll just take him back to base and have the others extract the information out of him the hard way. 'I'm pulling for the interrogation method.' I thought to myself, particularily intrigued by what Kurayami had said before. 'I wonder just how successful this torture would be… it's only a bunch of nightmares to be honest…'

We walk into the city and head to a small bar on the outskirts of town, the place where all the scum gathers like dirt on a boot. We know he frequents a place called 'The Constrictor', yes like the snake, and is most likely there right now. We arrive and enter the bar, the two of us separating and fanning out in the bar to cover more ground. I walk around the edge of the bar and head to the back corner of the bar, where I find our man sitting there drinking a beer of sorts.

"This seat taken?" I asked him and he shook his head, clearly confident that no one was going to touch him. No one would hurt a guy who worked for someone as well known as The Index, or so he thought. "So I'm looking for a guy, name's Fay, heard he could help me with something, you know him?" I asked and saw as he visibly tensed at my question.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Who wants to know?" He said as coolly as possible, trying to seem like my question didn't affect him even though it obviously did.

"A prospective client, that's who, no need for names yet unless I know if you have the information I need, right?" I said as I took a beer off the waitress's cart as she came around trying to sell more beer. I took a swig and continued looking at him with a very nonchalant look to myself, though my face was hidden by my cloak.

"Hmmm, ok. I might know where he is, but it's gonna cost ya. 20,000 jewel for the meeting, another 40,000 for his services, and that price is daily. He's a busy guy as you would guess." He said and I nodded.

"Alright, but you're not getting any money until I know that you ain't bullshitting me. I'm not just gonna blindly trust ya. Take me to him, I want to talk to him first. Gotta be specific in what I need him to do for me." I said and the guy nodded, and stood up as well holding out his hand for me to shake, which I took and shook firmly. "Alright let me grab my partner and we'll be on our way. Follow me."

I stood up as well and we walked over to the bar where Lucy was but only made it halfway there when a guy came flying at us, his nose broken and his face bloodied. "Don't fucking touch me you pervert!" She yelled and I sweat dropped, 'Idiot, you never touch Luce, she's fucking crazy when that happens.' She sees us and walks over to us and says, "So you found him? Good, this place is crawling with pervs, so let's get out of here. Oi, eyes up, my face is up here not where my boobs are." She looked at Fun and he immediately straightened up, apologizing under his breath.

We walked out and headed back into town, walking into the town center and into a very busy café. He nods to the girl working the counter and she nods back, opening the counter so we can walk into the back of the café. We enter the back and he pushes an unseen button on the wall and the wall slides away, revealing a hidden entrance to a hidden room. We walk in and see that there are stairs there and walk down them, the stairs seemingly looking like they go on forever. But end they did. When they did, we reached a door that was bolted and would take weeks to melt through. But that's why we went with this plan, no?

He opened the door and walks inside, calling out, "Oi, boss! I brought some clients in today. Come on out!"

We then walk in as well, and see as Fay walks into the light. I was right, he's one ugly son of a bitch. He sees us and says, "Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartiphilia, to what do I owe the misfortune?"

"Tch, who says we came here to bring misfortune? We simply want some information you should have. Now we are prepared to pay you for it, but are ready to simply take it instead." I say as I lower my hood as does Lucy, neither of us surprised that he knew who we were.

"What do you want to know?" Fay asked as he stood before Lucy and checked her out, ogling at her figure.

"Well for one thing, you should know that her name is now Luce Dragneel-Heartiphilia, so stop checking out my wife." I said as he immediately stopped using that huge brain of his to think, continuing as he looked at me now, "And I also know you're here on business, you're looking for something. I want it. Hand over the information you have and we'll leave you be, with the money your man requested of us."

"Ha! Like I would actually give you that, you know who I'm doing this for and you know he doesn't take too kindly to failure. He killed one of his own lieutenants when he failed to bring him the right amount of sugar for his tea, I would know I was there. Now imagine if I failed to bring him the thing he wants, do you actually think he'll let me live if that's the case?" Fay said.

I scoffed and said, "I don't care, I want what you got hidden here," I pointed to his head and got even closer to him, whispering in his ear, "and I will have it. Now you can hand it over quietly with no mess, or things can get real messy and you wouldn't want that. Because I want it messy, I don't get to bash heads in as much anymore. So believe me when I say, you don't want that."

He looked at me and then yelled, "Index: Book End!" Suddenly the walls came out and tried to crush me, I stopped them with one finger each and scoffed at his effort.

"Is that all? My sources were right, you aren't a fighter at all. Luce, deal with Fun, I'll deal with Fay." I said and the there was a crashing sound and a groan as Fun came flying and landed in front of me. "Huh, that weak? You should have hired better men Fay, because now it's just us. Luce seal the door would you? We need to have a chat with Mr. Fay here." I smirked at the last part and watched as Fay tried to yell out a spell, but I stopped him by letting him feel the immensity of my magical power, which he did and started choking due to the pressure. I scoff and grab him by the throat, asking, "Now, Fay, what are you looking for? What does Zeref want?"

Struggling, he choked out, "I won't tell. I'm more scared of Zeref than you. I'd rather take a beating and say nothing than die."

"Oh, your death can be arranged, you see my other associates only really need your body more or less intact to get the information… you've heard of The Light and Dark duo of Naito, right?" I asked and he nodded slowly, "Then you should know I'm not bluffing. Now talk, fast or else." I said as fear filled his eyes at the realization of the validity of my threat, or the supposed validity of it. It was a rumor that those two could use even dead objects to find out the truth, but it was false. They needed the body alive, maybe not in good condition but alive, to interrogate him. And I want him alive to see if he actually goes back to Zeref. Save us the trouble of looking for him.

He looks at my blank face and shakes his head, "No you won't kill me. You want me alive and well so you can not only get the information, but also possibly lead you to Zeref. Well, I am not saying a thing." 'Shit, he called the bluff, I really need to work on not zoning out like that…. Oh well, I guess the jig's up.'

I start to let more of my magical energy flow out and he begins to suffocate faster, and is soon unconscious. "Luce we're gonna have to bring him back, find something to tie him up with and the search the place. Make sure Fun doesn't follow, leave him for the authorities here."

"I thought this would happen so I brought some magic cancelling handcuffs, he won't escape if we use these. But we will need something so we can tie him up to Igneel's back." She said sighing as she threw me the cuffs and I put them on him. "Go outside and call Igneel in, we should be ready for extraction soon. I'll look around and see if I can find anything."

I nodded and slung Fay over my shoulder and saw some rope by the door, 'Well would you look at that? Conveniently placed rope, like this some spy movie or something...' I grabbed the rope and walked outside, holding my hand up. I pointed one finger up in the air, shooting a flame out which then exploded in the air like a flare would.

Lucy walked up behind me as she sighs and says, "All I got were his journals, and those are basically unreadable. Don't know what he's looking for still, however it does look like it has to do with Tartarus… again. Thinking what I'm thinking?"

I sighed and nodded my head, "Yeah, he could be trying to find where we hid his book of demons, not like he'll ever find it. I burned it years ago, didn't even leave the ashes. No way he can call out any of those demons again."

She nodded and watched as Igneel landed in front of us, careful not to destroy any buildings as I said, "Hunt complete dad, let's go home." He nodded and we climbed on top of his back and flew away, leaving behind the place of our happiest memory, which we had slipped our minds. Not like we would have done anything special, there is no time for that anymore.

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A/N: Whew part one of two for today is done! Thanks for reading and remember to READ AND REVIEW! ADIOS! AND KEEP READING THERE IS ANOTHER CHAPTER TO READ TODAY!