"Does everyone understand? We are strictly going to get Lucy and bring her back. Regardless of the size of men on the enemy's side, and regardless of how strong or weak they might appear. This is to be a swift mission. In and out," Erza declared.

She earned nods from her fellow guild mates. The plan was simple. Wendy had just finished casting her Troia spell on Natsu and Gajeel before she and the majority of the guild headed back to the guild hall. The team that was going to save Lucy was a small group. Natsu, flown by Happy. Gajeel flown by Pantherlily. And Erza, flown by Carla.

Carla had her protests at first, but when Erza said she could fly Wendy up instead, she hesitantly agreed. Wendy and the rest of the guild was going back to prepare to treat Lucy for any injury she might have sustained, whether from the explosion on the ground or something unknown on the aircraft.

The exceeds were ready, extending their wings and preparing to carry their assigned person. Erza cast a glance at Natsu.

"Remember, Natsu—"

"I get it, Erza," Natsu interrupted, quoting her from a minute ago. "In and out."

She smiled and nodded at him. The exceeds were ready, Erza signaling them it was time to go. The aircraft had since traveled a bit further, but Natsu and Gajeel sniffed it out and they were able to locate it again in no time. Flying at a speedy rate, they neared the ship just five minutes later.

The exceeds hovered cautiously above the ship. Each of them scanned to see how many men there were. To their surprise, it looked rather empty. There was only one person above the deck, so they were either a small numbered dark guild or the rest of them were below deck. Natsu hoped they weren't preparing for an attack like this.

The three of them dropped, landing smoothly on the deck. Their actions were immediately met with guards barreling out from below deck. The men were no match against magic, their swords easily outmatched. Erza didn't even need to requip to take them down. Natsu's eyes searched for Lucy while he tried tracking her scent.

He turned to see someone appear out of thin air on top of Gajeel, catching him off guard. The iron dragon slayer responded quickly though, punching the man off of him before he disappeared again. Teleportation magic? Natsu thought. That would explain how they were able to grab Lucy so quickly.

And if that was the guy who took her, then he sure as hell should know where she is. He caught a whiff of his scent, lifting his hand to catch the fist that was aiming to punch his face. He grinned, holding tightly to the man who looked surprised at how quickly Natsu was able to react and defend himself from his attack. The man tried pushing Natsu off, but the dragon slayer was quicker than that.

The man managed to push Natsu away for a second before he was grabbed again by a flaming fist. Even through his teleportation magic, whoever was touching him would follow where he went. So when he appeared below deck, Natsu gave a swift punch to his face before being teleported above deck once more. The dragon slayer had a firm grip on the man's collar with his left hand, while his right hand remained free to land punches.

"Where is she?" Natsu demanded.

The man didn't answer. Instead, he continued to try moving from one place to another in the hopes of shaking Natsu off of him. Every time they touched ground, Natsu was quick to land a blow, and the man was forced to continually use his magic, still unable to get rid of the dragon slayer.

They transported to the upper deck, and Natsu heard the sounds of Erza and Gajeel fighting more men off as they continued to press on towards their goal of finding Lucy. His attention shifted back to the man he had a death grip on, punching him over and over before the man stopped teleporting. His face was beginning to swell while one eye was already swollen to the point he couldn't see out of it. Natsu lifted his fist again before the man pleaded.

"Stop, please!"

"Then you better tell me where you took my friend. Or else I'll—"

A new voice shouted above the commotion.

"You don't mean this girl, do you?"

Natsu turned his head, blood running cold at the sight of Lucy unconscious and held up by the collar of her torn shirt. She was limp like a rag doll, and it made the members of Fairy Tail that were there to see her pissed. Not even an hour had gone by since she had been captured, so how on earth could she already be this badly wounded?

Erza was certain that if Wendy were here the small girl would be running through the amount of things to heal on her body. She was covered in bruises, welts, and bleeding out of multiple wounds throughout her body. The most concerning thing she noted was the wound to her stomach that was caked in blood and still lightly dripping. A rage filled her at the sight of her blond friend.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Natsu bellowed, tossing aside the man he'd beaten to a pulp.

The man who was holding her moved to place his ear to her chest. A smile grazed his lips while he exclaimed, "I'm not sure her heart's even beating anymore."

He stared at the unconscious mage in his hand before roughly punching her stab wound. Lucy let out a pained groan at the action, and Natsu saw red. He let out a battle cry, moving to charge at the man before he watched as he moved his hand to hold Lucy over the edge of the ship. It froze him in place.

"Wouldn't want me to drop her, would you?" The man taunted, looking over the edge. "That is quite a fall."

"Don't you dare," Natsu said in a deadly tone.

The man glared in response, his own voice deep and murderous. "Get off my ship."

His hand released, and Lucy began to fall. As much as Natsu wanted to burn the man who'd dropped her to a pile of ash, he decided he'd have to do that later. Right now he needed to save Lucy.

"Happy—"

"Aye, sir!" The exceed was quick to respond, already thinking the same thing.

Natsu jumped off, faintly picking up the sound of Erza commanding Gajeel to fall back. He was glad his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. This way, he could make out Lucy's falling form. He placed his arms to his side and his feet straight back as he began to catch up to her in the air. His eyes watched as each second they came closer and closer to hitting the ground.

All at once, Natsu reached Lucy, being both as quick and as delicate as possible to wrap his arm arounds her. The moment he connected himself to her, he felt the familiar tug of Happy grabbing onto his clothes, pulling with all his cat might to stop their fall. It took a couple seconds, and they nearly hit the ground, but Happy was able to carry both of them and prevent any further injury.

The exceed proceeded to lower them safely to the ground, Natsu cradling Lucy in his arms. He wanted to check over her, ask for a response, make sure she was going to be okay, but he knew she needed Wendy. And she needed her now. He instructed Happy to fly as cautiously and safely as possible, thankful that the guild hall wasn't too far away. Happy gave a determined nod before carrying Lucy back to Wendy.

Natsu proceeded to run faster than Laxus' lightning back to the guild. His mind kept replaying the moment he saw Lucy unconscious. It then flashed further back to her future self dying in front of him. He felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He failed to protect her again.

Blinking his tears away furiously, Natsu kept reminding himself this was no time to cry. He tried blocking out the images that kept flashing in his head, but to no avail. It made him run even faster. He kept mumbling the same thing over and over as the guild hall finally became visible in his line of sight.

Please be okay

X

They got her back! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter :)

Chapter 8 will be posted at 16 reviews ❤︎