Chapter 2
It was a weird town out of place compared to the rest of Fiore. Nama Town was a now abandoned old military outpost from the 7th Inveni war. Which only a few decades ago ravished Fiore. This was one of the many places that had never recovered so the people here had been rather queer. Since exiting the train Team Natsu both Wendy and Natsu were grumbling as their motion sickness was wearing off. The sun was beginning to set as the train had been delayed by several hours. As they walked across town a tingle ran down Lucy Heartfillia's spine. Something was wrong. She had pushed the feeling off since the mission was started, but now it was getting worse. The sun had begun to set so they had decided to find a place to stay the night. But as the 7 members of Team Natsu walked through the stone streets eyes fell upon them. People scurried away or gathered in small groups to watch them. Eyeing them some of the doors and windows closed as they took a step. Muttering in a language that none of them could understand was heard except for Wendy. Who looked around at an old man sitting on the porch. "These people speak Enli," Wendy said as an observation. The 14 year old muttered the rest to herself.
"Look there's the hotel," Lucy said quickly changing the subject. Erza looked at her with a glare. "We'll deal with this later."
"What was it that-" Gray was going to ask, but Lucy cut him off again.
"That's not important. How about you guys go out for some food and we'll get the hotel rooms set up." With that before any of them could respond Lucy grabbed Wendy's arm and dragged the girl with Erza quickly away from them. Leaving the two of them stumped. Wendy struggled, but Lucy only tightened her grip and with that the four of them (including Carla) entered into the main lobby of the hotel. It was a three story tall building. The lobby was nothing special, but a man standing there.
"Hey let me go," Wendy said.
Lucy walked up to the staff man standing there who turned to look at them. "Two rooms, three nights. And I need to know what Clan territory are we in?" She pulled out the cash and the man looked at her.
"Very well then," the man said suspiciously. "And this is Ensi territory. The Mycalin tribe. Its End of the Cycle Festival. Their biggest festival and they only come out at night."
Lucy and Erza got into a heated argument the moment they walked into the room. Wendy just sat and looked at Carla as the two of them spat over something involving Wendy. Lucy puffed up her cheeks as she was about to say something, but decided against it. "Forget Erza. We'll just keep her here out of harm's way. We just can't tell them."
"I don't like this nor do I want her here," Erza said. "We need to leave."
"I need the money to pay my rent," Lucy snapped at her. "It's not like I live with you."
The four of them had settled in the room. Wendy was the first one to sleep as Lucy and Erza sat in the silence listening to Wendy mutter in her sleep. Natsu and Gray were sleeping in the other room away from them. It was silent and neither of them said much. Wendy and Carla got one bed and Lucy and Erza got the other. "We need to cancel this entire mission and go home. We can't put Wendy in danger. Not with these people being the way they are."
"I need the money Erza," Lucy said. "This is my rent money. And my landlord won't be happy if I have another late payment. She still wants to be refurbished for the 7 years we were stuck in time. And she's made it clear if I miss another payment, she'll evict me from my place."
"When's your rent due?" Erza asked.
"Right when we get back," Lucy said.
Erza grumbled about the response and Lucy looked at her thinking for a moment, "Look we just need to keep a close eye on her at all time. And avoid going out at night. If we do that we should avoid having any problems. Should. Assuming Natsu doesn't do anything stupid. Besides, all we're doing is helping to move cursed objects across town. I'm assuming these are valuable items based on how much we are getting paid." Erza's brown eyes moved away from Lucy to think on her own.
"Look, we're just leave it for now, but if anything goes south. We're leaving regardless of whether we complete the quest or not." Erza said. With that the two of them flicked off the light to lay in the darkness. Unknown to the two of them Wendy was silent, awake and listening to them. A sense of confusion was on the girl's mind, but she didn't move to not give away the fact she was awake. But confusion was certainly there, what were the two of them hiding?
The next two days were rather monotonous. As Team Natsu met with a rich man in town, a questionable individual. Who had an interest in things that would make any sane individual turn the other cheek. Wendy was mostly by Lucy and Erza's side the entire time. Until the last day where Wendy was mostly put by Natsu's side so Lucy and Erza could get some much needed alone time. Everything had gone quite well, but that nagging feeling was there. The moment they got paid the three of them were out of there regardless of whether Wendy protested or not. Lucy and Erza were in the man's private room waiting as he went to fetch the money. "As soon as we get the money we're leaving," Lucy told her red headed campaign as the two of them sat on the leather couch. This man's room was uncomfortable.
"Well I won't complain," Erza admitted. She had taken Lucy's hand in hers and slowly scooted closer to her blonde haired friend. The man returned with the cash in hand and Lucy quickly snatched and dragged Erza out before they could even say anything. Now it was time to find Wendy, "Lucy slow down!" And that's when they heard Wendy scream. Lucy cursed underneath her breath and the two of them took off running as a massive mob of people emerged from the shadows. The sun was just beginning to set as a mob had formed and violence filled the street. Lucy and Erza dashed into the maze, but Wendy was nowhere to be seen. "Wendy!" Erza screamed, but it was pointless and Lucy and Erza looked at one another and ran around town, but she was nowhere to be found.
