Chapter Eleven

Happy's eyes drooped as he sat in a tree above his own home. He and Lily had been sitting in this tree for hours as they watched for any sign of movement and so far they hadn't seen anything. Happy just wanted all of this to go away. Carla would be ok and Natsu and Lucy wouldn't be in danger. Suddenly Lily elbowed his side and Happy found himself wide awake.

"Happy look," He pointed as four men suddenly appeared. They were all simply dressed in trousers, jackets and boots. One had black hair, one blue like Wendy's, one blond and one a few shades lighter than Erza's.

"Yura now," The blond directed the blue haired man.

"Movement lock," The blue haired man held out his hand towards the house and a large clear circle that looked like a bubble formed around the house. "Their movement is now under my control sir."

"Good," The blond pointed at the red-head. "Gen, stay here and keep watch. Yura needs to concentrate if we're to contain the fire dragon slayer. The little sky dragon slayer isn't as powerful yet and was easier to contain than Natsu will be."

The blond- and black-haired men entered through the front door and only minutes later came back out. The black-haired man held Natsu over his shoulder and the blond had Lucy. Both of them had glowing rope around their legs and torsos along with their wrists and feet.

"Ryou, take us back to the compound," He ordered the black-haired man. They all, including Natsu and Lucy, disappeared instantly.

"There's no way we'll be able to follow them with that kind of magic," Lily said.

"It was like Mests' magic," Happy said in agreement. "Let's head back to the guild."

Both Exceeds sped to the guild as fast as they could fly to find that not many had left despite the late hour. As soon as they entered the guildhall, the noise instantly stopped. Erza and the master approached followed by the rest of the guild while Lily and Happy perched on a table to report what they'd seen.

"They came just like we thought, but we weren't able to follow," Happy shrank back from the look on Erza's face. Lily placed a paw on his friends' shoulder in support.

"We wouldn't have been able to follow based on the magic they used," He explained. "There were four of them and we were able to get three of their names – Yura, Gen, and Ryou. When they arrived the man named Yura cast a spell called Movement Lock and said the movement of all inside was under his control."

"I've heard of that spell," Makarov said, thoughtfully. "It works similarly to Juvia's Water Lock spell."

"That explains how they were able to capture so many of our strongest wizards including dragon slayers like Laxus and Wendy," Erza replied. She nodded to the Exceeds to continue.

"The leader then told Yura and Gen to stay outside and he went in with Ryou to take Natsu and Lucy," Happy took over the explanation. "He told Gen to stay outside because Yura needed to concentrate because Wendy wasn't as strong as Natsu yet and it'd take all his concentration to contain him."

"They weren't inside the house long," Lily explained next. "They came right back out and both Natsu and Lucy were tied up with a glowing rope, but motionless. They did appear to still be alive and breathing. The leader then ordered us to take them all back to the compound and they disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Erza asked.

"It was like Mests' magic," Happy said with a glance at the teleportation mage. "There's no way we'd have been able to follow. Sorry guys."

"Don't worry boys," Makarov smiled at the Exceeds. "You gave us quite a bit of information. We have names, confirmation they're wizards and they mentioned Wendy so it appears we're on the right track."

"Now we wait for them to make contact with Warren," Erza said. "Let's all get some rest. We don't know when that'll happen or what we'll be facing when they do. Best to be prepared."

None of the guild members wanted to go home so they all found various places in the guild to rest. Now it was up to the captured group to make the next move.

…

Lucy woke slowly and was very aware their plan had worked. She no longer felt Natsu's constant heat and was on a hard surface instead of their bed. It was cold in the room, but she felt like her head was resting against something soft. Her eyes slowly opened and she found herself in a large cell. There were cots along the walls and a small toilet and sink in the corner. Wendy, Bisca, Evergreen, and Juvia were sitting around her and smiled when Lucy's eyes opened. Tilting her head backwards she realized the soft surface she was resting against was Mira's lap.

"Lucy we're so glad you're awake," Wendy exclaimed. "Are you ok?"

"Other than being a little stiff I feel ok," When she grabbed her ear she discovered Warren's new earpiece was gone, but her key pouch at her hip was still there with all her keys along with her whip.

"Don't even bother," Evergreen grumbled. "None of our magic is working in here."

"Lucy, please tell me you saw Asuka before you were taken. Is she ok?" Bisca had clearly been crying as her eyes were red.

"Yes, she's totally fine," Lucy smiled. "Natsu and I found her on her way to the guild actually. Master is keeping an eye on her there. She's perfectly safe."

Bisca sighed and looked like a giant weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Thanks Lucy."

"Now I guess we wait for the next of us to show up," Juvia sadly said.

"There won't be," Lucy replied. "As long as they keep Gajeel and Levy safe at the guild anyway. When we realized who was missing we realized it was all the guild's couples. We don't know why they want all the couples. We then figured out the train explosion was their way of trying to get to Natsu and I and it didn't work."

"How did they end up getting to you and Natsu?" Mira quietly asked.

"We let ourselves get captured so we could work together to get out. We assumed we'd have access to our magic which I guess was a poor assumption," Lucy said. "We didn't have a whole lot of information to go off of so we figured this was our only option."

"What about Gajeel and Levy. Are they alright?" Juvia asked clearly concerned for her former Phantom Lord teammate and his wife.

"Yea they're safe. They're staying at the guild until this is all over," Lucy stood on shaky legs. "Is it just us in here? What about the guys?"

"We haven't seen them since we all got stuck in here," Mira said. She scrunched her nose in confusion as Lucy stood. "What are you wearing Lucy?"

"Oh this is just my sleep shirt," She blushed as she looked down at it. "We didn't want to be too suspicious going to bed in regular clothes."

"It's awful big for ya," Bisca teased, knowing it wasn't actually hers.

"That's cause it's Natsu's," Wendy knowingly glanced at her teammate.

"Forgot you were on that job Wendy," Lucy shrugged. "If we weren't together I suppose I'd be embarrassed. I hope they're all ok."

All the other women sobered from the teasing and nodded thinking of their mates somewhere in the compound. They all had that same hope.