Found & Forgotten

Chapter 23

Warning: this chapter gets quite violent in places. I'm not big on descriptions of that kind of stuff, but if you're squeamish, here's your heads up.

Gray finally managed to tackle Natsu to the ground on his fourteenth attempt. Before the dragon slayer had a chance to shake him off, Gray had physically restrained him, preventing him from moving.

"Let me go! I need to find Lucy!" Natsu struggled against him, but Gray was not giving up anytime soon.

"Baka! How are you going to do that when even you've lost the trail?" Gray questioned.

"It's here somewhere!" Natsu answered, still struggling. "It ends here! I've got to find her, Gray!"

Gray froze in shock for a moment. Natsu never called him Gray. It was always baka, or ice princess, or some other childish insult. As Natsu threatened to overthrow him, Gray regained control of his limbs.

"You don't know that they're here, though," he tried to reason. "They could have taken a magic four wheeler or something, there's no way we could track that!"

"They haven't!" Natsu argued. "I would have been able to smell if they had! Let me go, Gray, I need to get to Lucy!"

With a final effort, Natsu managed to throw Gray off, and was about to start pacing around the small clearing looking for clues like he'd been doing for the last however many hours, when Erza and Mirajane emerged from the surrounding forest. Natsu stopped short as he saw a glowering Erza in front of him, arms crossed and eyes glowing dangerously.

"Cut it out, Natsu. Pacing won't help find Lucy or Levy." Erza instructed.

The helplessness hit Natsu all at once. "I just hate it!" He exclaimed suddenly. "Sitting around, not being able to do anything! I promised Lucy I'd protect her, and I've failed, again! Dammit!"

To vent his frustrations, Natsu formed a flaming fist and punched the ground as hard as he could. Breathing heavily, his brain could not register what was happening as the first cracks started to appear, spreading out from where his fist had made contact with the ground.

"Uh...minna?" He asked.

Erza, Mirajane and Gray were just as confused as he was. Gajeel was still trying to recover from the motion sickness Gray's ice roller coaster had caused. Tentatively, Natsu retrieved his fist. A soft creaking sound. Then, with no more warning, the ground beneath them gave way, and they all fell several storeys into the blackness below.

Disorientated, Natsu picked himself up and looked around, dragon slayer vision allowing him to see pretty perfectly in the sudden darkness. Hearing a faint cry, he tilted his head to the side slightly. Had he imagined it? Or...no, there it was again!

"Hold on, Luce, I'm coming!" He shouted back, once again sprinting towards the voice he knew so well, oblivious to the four behind him demanding he wait.

After turning a few corners, Natsu noticed the corridors were lit with torches, which he took to mean he must be close. Hearing an agonised cry, he burst through the next doorway and saw...a scenario even worse than what he'd imagined.

Lucy and Levy, both blindfolded and bound to iron rings set in the floor. Levy had a long thin cut across her side and tears had soaked through the blindfold as she shifted around to try and relieve some of her cramped muscles. The sight of Lucy, though, made Natsu stop and stare in horror.

Lucy was covered in far more blood than Levy, so much so that Natsu could see not an inch of clean skin. Her clothes were so torn they were practically non-existent. The injuries on her back, which looked to be worst, were many raised welts, so that the skin was no longer smooth, the way Natsu was used to. But though he was certain Lucy was the one he had heard screaming in pain, he couldn't see a single tear on her cheeks.

"My, my, looks like we have a visitor!" Came a male voice. "Isn't this our lucky day, girls?"

Natsu's head whipped round to face the direction the voice had come from. In his horror at Lucy's condition, he had completely neglected to notice that there was someone else in the room with them.

The man looked normal enough, but Natsu was not worried about his appearance. The thing that caught his attention was the whip held loosely in the man's left hand. Thinking back to the wounds on Lucy's body, Natsu growled subconsciously.

"You!" He exclaimed, taking a step towards the man.

"Now, now," the man wagged a finger at him. "You just stay there. I haven't finished here."

Natsu was so angry he couldn't think straight anymore. He just wanted to destroy the lowlife in front of him.

The man had turned back to Lucy. "Are you ready for more, Lucy, love?"

And it was that - that pathetic excuse of a being calling his Lucy 'love' - that tipped Natsu over the edge.

The man raised his whip, ready to strike Lucy again. Bringing it down, he heard a satisfying crack as the whip made contact with flesh. As he made to raise the whip again, though, he found it wouldn't budge. He tugged a little harder. Still nothing. Frowning, he looked at where the whip had landed.

The whip was grasped firmly in the pink-haired boy's fist. That was no mean feat, the man knew, in fact, he could already see blood running down the boy's wrist. And yet, he showed no signs of pain. The man narrowed his eyes, trying to figure this boy out. He had caught the whip...to save the girl from more pain? Why bother? Shaking his head, the man burst out into a cheap imitation of laughter.

"You. Leave. My. Nakama. Alone!" Natsu advanced forward a step for every word he spoke, and on the last word, kicked the strange man through the wall, conveniently into a more than slightly surprised Gray, who on instinct froze the man who'd crashed into him.

The four who'd just arrived took in the scene in front of them. Or rather, two did. Gajeel had immediately rushed over to Levy, and Gray was still occupied with his unexpected prisoner.

"What happened here?" Erza wondered aloud.

Mirajane merely shook her head in reply.

A faint whimper caused Natsu to turn sharply and rush to the blonde girl sprawled on the floor behind him. Working quickly, he untied her wrists and removed the blindfold, cradling her gently in his arms.

"Luce? Luce, it's me, Natsu. Are you OK? Speak to me, Luce!" He begged desperately.

Lucy managed to focus her slightly blurry vision on the pink hair above her, though it took a huge amount of effort.

"Nat...su...?" She whispered. "I'm glad...you came..."

And then her blurry vision faded into blackness.

Ohaiyo minna-san!

I know, I'm evil, it's another cliff hanger. I would apologise, but I'm not really sorry >:D

I feel like the last few chapters have been quite violent...maybe I'll go back and put a warning in. Do you guys think I need to change the rating or anything like that? Is there a rating? :/

Anyway, for some reason, this chapter was a lot easier to write than the last few. I don't know why. I had to force myself to stop at around 1000 words (that's my chapter length aim :D).

I hope you enjoyed, as much as you can when this kind of thing is happening. Poor Lucy D':

Please COMMENT and tell me what you think!

AA

Oh yeah, chapter dedication to Keithuh for leaving me a really lovely message! Thank you so much, it really inspired to keep going, knowing that people actually enjoy reading this! :D <3