Author's Note: Oh man, not gonna lie; this chapter was a slog to get through. It sets up the plot for the rest of the story, but I hope it isn't too boring. I know it was a long wait for this. That being said, yeah I'm slow. Sorry.

Thanks so much for the feedback! I really appreciate that people spend time reading my words and writing stuff to me. It still boggles me sometimes. Well, without further ado...

My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I am 17 years old. It's the sixth month of the year X784. I don't know when someone will find this, but if years haven't passed, I'm asking for your help.

A couple months ago, I was kidnapped in Hargeon by a man posing as Fairy Tail's Salamander. His name is Bora and he uses magic to seduce women and lure them onto his ship. We sail all day and stop every 2 weeks for supplies. I don't know on which day. I'm not sure how many of us there are. Maybe 15, maybe more. He has many more men.

If it's already too late, then please just care for my keys. They belong to someone who loves them as much as I do. If it's not, we can't save ourselves. Please help us. If you can find a way, please help us.

Please.

Branded by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 2

Natsu Dragneel

It was a beautiful day in Magnolia. The sun was shining down on the city as pedestrians buzzed about with smiles on their faces. The gondoliers in the canal tipped their hats at a young lady they had just transferred across town. She spared them a few extra jewels and walked off, blending into the crowds as she headed towards the shopping center. A young man brushed against her shoulder, muttering an apology as he emerged from the masses of people. Finally feeling as though he had a little more freedom, he took off in a sprint. His much shorter and furrier companion flew behind him in close pursuit, wings and tail on full display.

Maybe ten or fifteen minutes later, he rushed towards a large two-story building tucked away near Magnolia's coast. Laughter and loud voices could be heard from within, but the noises went in one ear and out the other for him. Although he hadn't taken a mission off the board, he had one clutched in his hand as he pushed opened the building's doors. Nobody batted an eye when he entered, his guildmates continuing about their business, completely unaware that he was here. Normally this wouldn't bother him, but needed their attention and so he gathered a deep breath to project his voice.

"Yukino!"

Natsu Dragneel of Magnolia's sole guild, Fairy Tail, felt much more satisfied when the glances of several of his guild mates landed on him. He tossed his rucksack on the ground and glared at nobody in particular. "Well? Where is she?"

"She's still in lessons with Mira, you moron," an irritated voice came from his left side. The dragon slayer turned to see Gray Fullbuster standing nearby with his hands jammed into his pant pockets. The man didn't have a shirt on, leaving the guild mark on his right pec exposed. Normally, the condescending expression his face would have Natsu planting a fist in it, but he didn't have time for that right now.

"Hey Natsu!" a buck-toothed man shouted from his right. He was sitting at one of the tables with Niggy, looking smug. "Did you find anything good while you were gone?"

Frowning, Natsu, slipped the piece of paper he was holding into his shirt and began stomping over. "Aye! We found lots of fish!" he heard Happy reply. Krov and Niggy were having a good laugh in the meantime. That promptly ended when a fuming Natsu grabbed Krov and chucked him across the room into another table which splintered into broken boards.

"YOU LIAR! THERE WAS NOTHING ABOUT IGNEEL IN HARGEON!"

Just then, Gray grasped one of his shoulders. He was pretty much naked now, barring his underwear. "Bastard! I was talking to you!"

Natsu looked at him daringly, eyes blazing. "Talk to me when you're wearing pants, ice freak."

"What'd you call me, dumbass?"

"An ice freak, you frozen jerkoff."

Gray threw the first punch which Natsu dodged with ease before he went prancing off around the room. He guessed he could spare a moment to put this all to rest. He was feeling pretty smug looking at the other man's face until he felt his feet slip from beneath him, his chin hitting the floor that was now slick with ice quite painfully. Natsu shifted onto a knee with his hands on the floor and melted the ice on the ground. He wasn't the one with the smug look on his face anymore.

Natsu rose to his feet as fire surrounded his hands. His opponent stood metres away, the side of his fist pressed against an open palm.

"Come get me," the dragon slayer taunted.

He was anticipating some sort of attack, but was taken off guard when a sword planted itself on the ground between them. He stared at the weapon for a second and exchanged looks with Gray who shrugged. A minor disruption. Back to fighting. They ran at each other without a second thought.

"I thought you two would be more mature by now."

Natsu was abruptly ripped out of his sprint and yelped as his scarf choked him a little bit. Gray was being held by an earlobe about an arm's length away. Fired up, he was about to fight back against the person holding him when he realized exactly who it was.

Erza Scarlet, or better known by the public as the Titania, was holding them both apart and not looking very happy to be doing it. She was in her favourite Heart Kreuz armour, glowering at both of them.

"Ridiculous. You can't even behave yourselves for two minutes when you're in the same room!" she scolded them like an older sister. "Now apologize to each other and quit fighting."

They glared at each other, but both of them knew better than to disobey the orders of their senior. "Sorry," they said simultaneously, equally as insincere.

Erza eyed them cautiously, probably aware of their ingenuity, but didn't seem to care so long as they weren't disrupting everyone else. Satisfied, she nodded and relaxed her grip. As soon as she turned around, Natsu sent a spark at Gray's hair, singeing a few of the tips. Gray was quick to retaliate by flicking a piece of ice at Natsu's forehead. They swiped at each other childishly when a massive chasm suddenly split open the floor between them.

Eyes wide, the boys found the Titania looming over them. "What did I just say?"

Unfortunately, this scuffle had started a chain reaction amongst the other guild members. The vibration of Erza's attack had knocked the sand mage Max into Elfman's back. Of course, Elfman did not take well to being hit from behind for reasons of the manly variety. "An assault from behind is a cowardly tactic!" he announced belligerently, then punched Max into Cana. The impact resulted in Cana spilling her bottle of wine and igniting the embodiment of the term "raging alcoholic." Cana flew at Elfman with frightening fervor. Their tussle landed right in the middle of a game of poker game between Jet, Droy, and four other guys. The whole foyer began to unravel into chaos and Erza was suddenly ignoring Natsu and Gray in an effort to break up some of the fights that had just broken out.

Obviously the rivals of fire and ice took this opportunity to get at each other yet again. Natsu ducked under the ice hammer Gray swung at him, blowing fire. The ice mage threw up a wall that dissolved in a sizzle of steam. A second later, frozen arrows were flying at him. Natsu sidestepped one, feeling the breeze of the arrow as it whizzed by his face. It was the same game they played since they were kids, neither of them ever winning. Fighting made them come alive; it was their sign of brotherhood. It was like breathing. It was just what their guild did. Nobody really seemed to care about anything anymore besides fists and magic and using fists and magic to beat each other up. It was how their guild showed love. Well, probably anyway.

Natsu was in the middle of readying another technique when he found himself crushed under a massive force. He was forced onto his stomach before he even knew what was happening, everything but his head completely immobilized.

"Silence! All of you!"

The booming voice echoing throughout the guild stopped everyone in their tracks. Erza looked rather ashamed of what she had been taking part in while the rest of them looked mildly terrified. On the other hand, Natsu just felt irked that he couldn't move at the moment. Being squashed beneath his master's gargantuan foot wasn't exactly something he found enjoyable.

"Children will be treated like children! Now, clean this place up this instant!" Makarov demanded, his voice shaking the floor. He glared at everyone for a few seconds before shrinking down to his normal, unintimidating size and grinning at his underlings. "If I let you all destroy this place with magic, it would take weeks to rebuild!"

They all responded by getting down to work, evidently forgetting what all the ruckus was about in the first place. Erza bowed her head to their master apologetically.

"It was irresponsible of me to get caught up in such juvenile antics," she said as she glanced at the floor in embarrassment.

"There's nothing wrong with a fight every now and then. It was just getting a little out of hand," he replied dismissively. "Besides, I'm sure this one—" Makarov stepped a little harder on the still-facedown Natsu who frowned in annoyance. "—was right in the middle of it again, isn't that right?"

Now that he was no longer trying to punch his rival, the dragon slayer remembered what he'd been trying to do in the first place when he walked into the guild hall. "I got important stuff that needs to be taken care of, old man." He rolled out from under his Makarov's foot and stood up. "You should read it. This...this isn't something I'm gonna be able to handle alone," Natsu stated somberly as he pulled out the message to hand to his master.

The piece of parchment was probably more worn out now since their widespread brawl, but it would still be legible. Even if it wasn't, he practically had it memorized by now. He couldn't forget the girl out there that needed his help. The frantic penmanship that it was scrawled in reminded him of how serious this whole thing was. Not to mention the fact that someone was out there sullying the good name of his guild. Whoever this despicable man was had to be punished.

Makarov raised his head when he was done reading, his face entirely sober. "It's the sixth month of X784 right now. Where did you find this?"

Erza had a puzzled expression on her face, not knowing what was written in the letter. Clearly she wanted to know what was going on, but Natsu disregarded her as Happy strolled up alongside him carrying the rucksack he'd disposed of earlier.

"The harbour at Hargeon. And look," he replied, pausing to rummage through his bag before pulling out the item he was looking for, "this is what it came in."

The elderly mage stared at the bottle that was now in Natsu's hand, eyes caught on the keys that sat at the bottom. Sighing, he folded up the letter neatly and turned to Erza. "Get Levy and Gray. We must go to the library."

Still rather confused about what was happening, the ex-quipper nodded and went to fetch the requested fellow members. Makarov didn't say anything and simply headed for the library with Natsu and Happy following close behind.

When it came to difficult situations, children were often presumed to be the ones most perplexed by them for the plain fact that they didn't understand what was going on. Yukino, however, was no such child. She had always been intelligent, but ever since she'd been taken in by their guild, her study sessions with Mirajane had only made her more intuitive. To Natsu, that was pretty indicative as to why the young girl immediately took the bottle from his hands maybe three seconds after he walked into the library.

"You have celestial keys," she said pointedly, blinking. "Why does Natsu-sama have celestial keys?"

Mira smiled at them from the table in the middle of the room, obviously unsure of when Yukino had escaped from her seat. The girl was generally so quiet and well-behaved that Natsu could see why Mira had been thrown for a loop.

Makarov patted her gently on the head despite being smaller than her. "Go back to your seat, Yukino. All will be explained as soon as the other arrive."

"Are we sure this is real?"

It was the question Gray (now fully clothed) posed as soon as the letter was finished being read to the entire room as they sat around the table in the library. Of everyone, he was the most unmoved by its contents. Natsu's immediate reaction was to use his fists to convince his stripper ass, but he restrained himself knowing that probably wasn't going to go over well with certain other people nearby. Frankly, he didn't care what Gray thought and was more curious about why this guy was even here.

"It seems pretty serious if master thinks it is," Levy responded from across from him, her blue hair held back by a white hair band.

"Yeah, but Natsu's a moron," the ice mage retorted. "Maybe someone's playing a prank on him and he's too stupid to notice."

"No, this is very real."

They all turned to look at Yukino who had risen from her seat again. She didn't bother walking around the table to get what she was looking for and simply got on top of it to reach for the bottle that was sitting near Natsu. Carefully, she slid back into her seat, never taking her eyes off the keys that sat within the glass. She turned it over, shaking it a bit until the keys fell with a clang onto the wood.

"These are celestial spirit keys, just like mine," she explained to Gray as she set down the bottle to examine the keys instead. "Gray-sama, don't you understand? We would never part from our spirits unless we had to. They aren't just our closest allies; they are our friends."

He crossed his arms and looked away without an answer.

"Yes, Yukino, and that is exactly why I've called you all here," Makarov said. His glance over all of them around the table was stern but powerful. "Do you understand how easily this message could have been lost at sea for months, or even decades? The chances that Natsu would have found this message when he did are miniscule, and yet he did. This is a cry for help from those who cannot help themselves. As the few who can use magic in this world, are we so selfish that we can't help those who are in need? Hargeon is our neighbour and they don't have any guilds of their own. I will not sit idly by while innocent civilians are out there suffering at the hands of another mage."

"You know that's not what I meant..." Gray mumbled grumpily.

"Nevertheless, I wanted to make a speech that sounded cool!" their master announced cheerfully, lightening the mood. "Besides that, we can't overlook the fact that someone is using Natsu's name to tarnish the name of our guild. As far as I'm concerned, we're already involved."

The dragon slayer had been feeling good after watching Gray be admonished by their master but mentally paused at that statement. "Wait, my name? You mean...?"

Gray stared at him as if he were stupid and Erza just sighed.

"Oh yes. All the magazines refer to you as Fairy Tail's Salamander." It was Mira who answered in her sympathetic tone.

"Aye! I knew that too!" Happy chirped.

Natsu looked at his best friend in betrayal for a second before shaking it off. "Whatever. So we're gonna find her, right? Levy can track her?" He couldn't wait to get his hands on this bastard who was stealing girls and making them his slaves. Lucy...whoever she was... She had been through enough.

The first time he'd read the letter, he had wondered himself if it was a hoax. Finding a letter in bottle within the same month it'd been sent out just seemed too convenient—not to mention how unlikely it was to even have someone write this message and put it in a bottle in the first place. But then her saw the scratch of her words, the way the leftover wine stained the parchment, and thought of the messy way the cork had been shoved back into the bottle. All of that screamed for help as much as she did.

How must she be feeling right now? Alone in an unfamiliar place with hostile criminals who had taken her away for their own devices. How forsaken did she feel, being unable to help herself and knowing there probably wasn't any help coming?

"It's not that easy," Levy said apologetically. "Even if I could get a magic signature off her keys, we have no idea where to start looking. There's no way I could search the entire ocean and there's no way of knowing when they dock or where."

"Calm down, Natsu. I know you're eager to help this girl, but we need to have a plan first." Makarov looked to Gray. "I understand your skepticism, but the reason I asked you here is because you had contact with the dark mage Bora before."

"You think it's that Bora?" the ice mage asked like he was having an epiphany. "I...yeah, I thwarted one of his jewel thefts a few months back. He'd enchanted the staff with a love spell, but he was out of there by the time I arrived. His lackeys took the fall for it. We never saw each other."

Erza shook her head. "So we're at a dead end then."

"No, we're not," Yukino said firmly. Her hands were cupped together around the keys as she held them out to the group. "The spirits, they might know something. Some of these keys are incredibly rare. They must be invaluable to Lucy-sama."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's do it!" Natsu insisted as he stood up, pumping his fist in the air.

Without waiting for her master's approval, Yukino clutched the keys in her hands and headed straight for the door. Natsu jumped up and followed enthusiastically. One step closer... They were about to get one step closer to saving Lucy.

Natsu ran after Yukino who had headed over to the nearby river. He vaguely heard footsteps behind him, indicating that the others had come along, but he was too occupied with seeing what the spirits might uncover to bother looking back. Though her expression remained neutral, his younger guildmate was definitely excited about calling a spirit she had never called before as she held out a shiny golden key towards the rushing water.

"Please let me do the talking, Natsu-sama," she instructed him as she closed her eyes. "O great goddess of water, answer my call, I beseech you! Open the Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

He had seen her open the gate of the spirits quite a few times, but it never got old with the way some of them loved to embellish their entrance. This spirit clearly had a flair for the dramatic as she burst out of the water, her long hair flipping over her shoulder with both her hands around a pot overhead. She glanced at them with piercing blue eyes as the jewel on her headpiece gleamed in the sun. Slowly, she lower the pot to her side, gathering water into it.

"Who are you and why do you have my key?" she asked defensively, as if she were ready to attack at a moment's notice.

He was tempted to demand answers of his own, but let Yukino do as she'd requested. The younger girl stepped forward confidently.

"I am the celestial spirit mage Yukino. I am the one who summoned you."

Aquarius glanced around warily. "And where is Lucy?"

And that was the question, wasn't it? Natsu bit his tongue in an effort to keep his mouth shut. Just standing here watching was driving him crazy. He was always going to be restless if he couldn't do anything to help.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Yukino replied, unafraid.

"That brat...she abandoned all of us, didn't she?" Aquarius asked bitterly.

He couldn't take it anymore. He wouldn't just stand here and listen while Lucy's own spirits were insulting her. He didn't know a ton about celestial spirits, but he knew that the bonds between them were as precious as family. Yukino had said that herself. "She was taken, and she still tried to save all of you," he growled. "She's your friend, isn't she? So why are you so quick to blame her?"

"Taken?" Aquarius blinked, looking subdued. "You mean...these past few months we spent stuffed in a drawer somewhere was because..."

"I found a bottle with a letter inside. You were all in it too," Natsu supplied stubbornly, still not quite placated.

From what he had seen of the water spirit so far, she suddenly became uncharacteristically quiet. He silently hoped that she was feeling a little guilty about being so cavalier about the whereabouts of her key bearer. However, her face grew determined and compliant only a few seconds later.

"Then that stupid girl is in danger," the spirit stated, expression worried despite her rough words. "I can't tell you where she is because I don't know myself, but if you're going to help her, I'll tell you what I can."

She emptied the water from the pot distractedly. "It was probably about a week and a half ago in your terms...I felt her trying to open my gate."

"You mean she didn't?" Natsu asked, eyes narrowing.

"No, I mean I think she couldn't," Aquarius replied thoughtfully. "She didn't have enough magic, but she tried twice. I felt it."

His jaw clenched, knowing that was probably when Lucy had written that letter. Still, it didn't give him anything else to go on. If even Levy couldn't track where she was, they really had no way of finding this girl.

"There's one other thing I noticed," she added, drawing Natsu's attention back. She gestured towards the ring of keys that Yukino was holding. "That ring is missing a key. Just before the dead period when we weren't being called at all, Lucy bought another key."

"So...she kept one?" He was scratching his head, trying to understand how this was supposed to help him.

Yukino stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on his arm. "Do you know which one?"

"Canis minor, if I felt it correctly. They haven't made a contract yet, but I'm sure that key was with the rest of us," Aquarius noted before her face soured. "Not sure why she would keep that useless little thing and throw the rest of us into the ocean."

"I...understand," the young celestial spirit mage stated a little breathlessly. "I...I understand!"

Natsu glanced her quizzically, mostly because none of this information meant anything to him. Yukino seemed to know this right away and brandished a silver key off her own small ring of keys.

"This is Nikora, the Canis Minor. I have the same key. He's doesn't require a lot of magic to call and he's not very strong, but he'll always do his best," she explained to both Natsu and the spirit in front of her. "If she didn't have enough magic to summon you, maybe she has enough for Nikora."

Aquarius appeared satiated by this rationalization. Meanwhile, Natsu was still confused.

"We may not know where she is, but my Nikora spirit can find hers in the Spirit Realm!" Yukino rambled happily. "Once she calls her own spirit, we'll have a way to contact her!"

Oh, well, that was something.

"That's all I can tell you," Aquarius said. The spirit closed her eyes and let out a long breath before sending Natsu a piercing stare. "You. Make sure you find Lucy."

He met her eyes with determination welling up within him. "I will."

Aquarius nodded in approval before she dove into the water, dismissing herself.

What she'd given them was a lot to think about; however, before he had any time to process this, a shout cut into his thoughts. He turned around to see everyone who had been in the library standing by. He hadn't realized they'd been observing the entire interaction until now as Levy alerted them to her presence. She was partially bent over with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. It seemed like she was the only one who had arrived just now.

"Master!" she called between breaths, bringing all eyes on her. "I found something!"

Makarov stood with his hands behind his back patiently, waiting for her to regain some oxygen. "Whenever you're ready."

She placed her hands on her hips to hold herself upright. "I did some research on Bora like you asked and I managed to contact someone from Titan Nose, the guild he was excommunicated from. It turns out Bora has a girlfriend."

"A girlfriend?" Gray piped up. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, his girlfriend goes to the same café every morning. We have a connection," Levy replied pointedly.

Natsu's mind was working quickly. Suddenly they had both a way to contact Lucy and a way to get to her captor. They were a step closer to getting her off that ship. He clenched a fist. He was getting all fired up.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" he insisted with a determined grin. He was already running off towards the guild when Erza grabbed his scarf and jerked him back for the second time that day.

"Not so fast," she said in exasperation. "You can't just barge into there. We need a plan."

He glared at her, feeling distinctly like the "plan" was quite obvious.

"Precisely. We can't spook the girl," Makarov stated, peering over at Natsu with a disapproving look. "Levy, what do we know about her?"

The solid script mage had taken out a notepad to refer to. "She's a mage of Phantom Lord. They call her the Rain Woman. And according to my contact, she's pretty quiet and shy."

"It would be best to send someone in incognito. Give her a friend, perhaps?" Mirajane suggested.

"Or a business partner for her boyfriend," Erza added. "We need to give her a reason to contact him."

Natsu struggled within his senior's grip. "Why are we even talking about this? I'll go!" he whined defiantly. He was getting really annoyed with all this talk and lack of action.

"Not a chance," she retorted sternly, her hold on him remaining solid. "Stay put. You have the subtlety of a house on fire."

Entirely annoyed, the dragon slayer watched as his master turn to the half-naked guy standing nearby. His temper flared within him, knowing exactly where this was going. He didn't care what they said. As if he was just going to sit around and do nothing. Lucy needed his help and he was going to do everything he could to find her. He couldn't just leave her with that feeling of despair and emptiness, like a hole in your heart that would never again be filled.

He knew, because once upon a time, Natsu had been alone too; he would make sure she knew she wasn't.

"Gray," Makarov started, "are you up for a mission?"

Gray's eyes landed on Natsu, locking them into a long stare. Sighing, the ice mage lazily glanced back at their master. "Guess I don't have much of a choice."