"Come on Levy tell us already how we save Luce"

"OI simmer down flame head, leave the shrimp explain!"

"Let me see, ah here's the spell I was thinking of! Oh no it looks like I'll need some things first before I can cast it"

"We don't have the ti—" Natsu's protests were quickly shut down with a thump to the head from Gajeel and he went splashing down into the sea, "what you need shrimp?"

"Seaweed, fresh water and mermaid tears, and air somehow…and lots of all of them as there's so many of us"

"Juvia will go get the seaweed, maybe Gray-sama could help?" she looked up longingly at her boyfriend who's arm she was currently wrapped around.

"actually, Juvia I think I may have an idea for getting the air Levy needs" he brought both his hands together in front of him bringing a closed fist of one down into the open palm of the other "Ice Make: Ice Globe". A perfectly round globe formed in his hands – housed inside was air trapped there.

"That should work really well thanks Gray. But I'll need lots of them – I'd say at least 4 per person"

"No sweat, I can make those" he pulled himself fully out of Juvia's grip giving her a gentle pat on her head before he went back to the beach to set about making the globes Levy needed where they wouldn't float away in the sea. Juvia in turn bowed quickly to the group then waded deeper into the water before diving in.

"Jellal, Gajeel go and find the water Levy needs" they turned towards the store just off the beach to achieve their mission. "Meanwhile, we will need to…hey Natsu!" Erza glared daggers down to him, he'd stayed in the ocean glaring at it whilst the water around him had been rising in temperature from his rage and impatience. At her bark he turned to look at her, briefly taking his gaze from the water "yeah?"

"You will help me"

"With what?"

"We need to make Cana cry"

"What!? Like hell I'm gonna make her cry on purpose, you'd kick my ass for it!"

"Were you not listening Natsu?!" why she asked she didn't know, she knew he hadn't been listening, his one track minded nature was in full play and she could tell just holding him back from charging in the water was tormenting him. Still, this just made everything take longer – how could he not see that.

With a sigh she continued "Levy said we need mermaid tears, Cana is a mermaid, therefore we need her to cry"

"Woahhhh now, I don't just cry in front of anybo—hey Natsu!" fast and silent he was now looming over Cana raising a fist of fire

"Cry Cana"

Yup, thought Erza, single track mind. Tell him you need something for Lucy and all other logic and thought processes went straight out of Natsu's brain for sure.

"Enough Natsu"

"You said we need her tears Erza, I'm just getting em" his grin was menacing and Cana backtracked away from him before Erza stood between them.

"There are other ways idiot. I know you are worried about Lucy but you can't just hurt Cana to get her to cry"

Lowering his fist and putting out the flames he resigned, "fine, what do you suggest then"

She made two objects appear in front of her and held one out to him which had him break into a grin, "this is my suggestion"

"Uhh guys…what you got there" Cana was several steps behind Erza and couldn't see whatever objects had been summoned, Levy on the other hand could.

"Great idea Erza, I'll need a tear per person so I'll need 6 tears for everyone to go. I'll go and grab a pot for everything so I can do the spell", Levy went whizzing back off again leaving everyone to their assignments.

"Now, go get her Natsu"

"Aye sir"

Cana was running from them back towards the beach, sure King Heartfelia was scary but Erza could give him a run for his money and she wasn't keen for whatever Erza had planned.

"Cana! Come on we need to help Luce", she looked up to find Natsu flying above her. Whilst it was all his fault Lucy had been captured Cana knew it was probably only a matter of time anyway until Lucy would have been found – her father would have started sending out mermaids to land to search for her if he hadn't already. They'd travelled so far from their home to Magnolia hoping it would slow him down and be far enough that he may give up but that was wishful thinking, the King was not someone who gave up easily especially when there was something he could gain from it. Sighing she stopped running, she knew being the only mermaid around they would need her tears to save Lucy.

"Go on then, bring it on", she closed her eyes and held her arms wide waiting for whatever punishment Erza was going to inflict.

What she did not expect however was to be creasing up with laughter, when she opened her eyes she found Natsu in front of her, a fluffy stick in hand that he was using to mercilessly tickle her. It only took a few minutes of 'torture' for her to be crying with laughter – Erza appeared from nowhere with a vial that she used to catch the tears rolling down her friends' face.

"That ought to do it. Time to stop now Natsu"

"Oh but Erza come on, it's so much fu—"

"Lucy"

"I'll get these to Levy!" and off he took running back to Levy with Cana's tears held carefully in his hand.

"His brain is totally Lucy loco land" Cana threw Erza a wink which she chuckled off. She'd seen Natsu's fascination with Lucy, so long as Lucy didn't seem to mind him hanging around she was all for it – Lucy seemed to make Natsu calmer and could keep him in line, which took something off of Erza's plate. They started after Natsu towards where the others were gathering with their items round Levy.

Whilst they waited for Levy to assemble all the items Erza turned to Cana, "tell me Cana, how bad is the situation with Lucy and her father?"

"Suppose it's only fair you all know if you're going to go down there. It's bad Erza. The King sold her off like a prized seahorse, she was due to be wed to this real slimy merman, Prince Dan. See Lucy's dad is the King of the Pacific Ocean, slimeball Dan is the prince of the Atlantic Ocean. Lucy's dad has the biggest Ocean but he's trying to create an alliance with the Atlantic – there's no wars or anything, he's just a power-hungry man and greedy. He wants more power, and he thinks marrying Lucy to the Atlantic Ocean will give him power over there too through Lucy when Dan takes the throne."

"That son of a b—"

"Finish that sentence and you'll be staying here Natsu"

"Come on Erza, that's bad and you know it"

"I don't deny that Natsu but language!" he nodded in resignation and turned to Levy.

"How much longer do you reckon Levy?"

"Almost there Natsu – just got to put everything in the right order" she offered him a small smile as she arranged everything and started her incantation over the pot.

"Hey Cana, any idea where they'll have Lucy down there?"

"I've got a pretty good idea yeah Gray. Either she'll be locked up in the dungeons' or they'll have locked her in her room under heavy guard – that would be my guess, couldn't have it be found out your princess is in the dungeon, doesn't give a good impression"

"This King sounds like a real nightmare" commented Gray

"Oh he is, he's very strict on all the merfolk. There's heavy shell taxes in his kingdom and if you don't fulfil them you have to do all the worse jobs in the kingdom for no money. Plus he's just cruel to Lucy"

"What did he do to her Cana?" he hadn't moved this time but Natsu's piercing stare on her sent shudders through her, trust Lucy to have found a dragon to act like the one and all protector of her.

Cana looked away from the group and out to sea recollecting the childhood of her friend. "She wasn't allowed out of the castle. I'm her only friend and the only reason I got to meet her was because I was her tail-maid. She wasn't allowed to go to school or out to play with anyone, she tried to make friends with some fish and seahorses once but he found out and had mesh put across all her windows so they'd never get through again. We'd started planning her escape long before we found out about the wedding – that just gave us a time limit and may have made us a bit more rushed than we should have been. I should have done better at protecting her"

She felt a warm hand on shoulder and looked back to find Natsu standing there with a kind smile, her other friends behind him with sad expressions but no anger to her to be seen. "You got her out of there Cana, this isn't your fault. If it's anyone's it's mine – I shoulda listened to her, I got her near the ocean."

She shook her head back at him, "if I can't beat myself up then neither can you dragon boy – Lucy knew the risks when she came to the beach and we should have told you all the truth before."

"Well, now we all know", Erza approached them both, "so let's go get our friend back"

"The breathing potion is ready!"

They all turned to Levy who now had a pot of a purple shimmering substance in front of her, "we each just need to drink a glass of this and we should be able to breathe underwater"

"How long for shrimp?"

"Well…I'm not exactly sure – with the ingredients we have I'd say at least 3 hours from brewing it but I'm not sure on the maximum exactly sorry"

"Well then we'll just have to go save Luce quickly – hand me a cup Levy and then let's get going, Cana be ready to lead us!" Natsu was the first to quickly down his cup of purple the rest following suit and rushing towards the ocean as they all followed Cana down underwater. Natsu took his first breath and was surprised how cold it was. Cold but breathable – that would do.

'I'm coming Luce, just wait for me'


It's been a hot minute with this update - sorry! I was focussing on finishing off my main story The Hunted and this one took a back burner but the the hunt complete my mission is finishing this one before moving on to another idea I'm brewing. Hope you enjoy!

Thank you to all of those who already left comments and followed/liked this story - sorry to have kept you waiting so long :)