(A/N: The first chapter for the re-write is up! (Well, most of it, anyways). Ah, I feel so much better about this fanficiton now that it's all been heavily edited! I hope you like it, and thank you for reading!!
~~~~~ Chapter 1~~~~~
P.O.V. : ?????
An angry growl echoed throughout the stone walls of a large room. There was little question of the sound's source; it was obvious it came from the only one in the position to make such a noise in this place and get away with it: it came from a shadowed figure seated upon an elegant obsidian throne.
The said figure looked at the servant kneeling at the base of the throne in poorly concealed disgust- if he was even attempting to hide it- and fury. "What did you say?" the shadowed figure hissed.
Quivering under the weight of his lord's glare, the servant spoke in a nervous stutter. "Y-your orders, my lord, th-they could not be carried out."
The lord snarled, and flicked his wrist, effectively sending a wall of invisible force at the kneeling man. The servant was taken by surprise, and with a slightly strangled yelp was sent flying back several feet. "Who was in charge of this mission?"
Scrambling back to his kneeling position, the servant paused for a moment. "My son, my lord." He said in a strangled whisper. He clasped his hands together. "But it wasn't his fault! The mage he and his team faced was too strong! I-if you must take someone, take me instead!" begged the man.
The previous fury in the room seemed to dissipate at once, and as the servant dared to glance upwards, he saw a frown on his master's lips.
"Do you really take me as such a cruel man, servant?" The man queried.
The servant in question blinked, confusion surging over his brain. "W-well-"
The frown transformed into a devilish smirk. "Because you are absolutely right." The man snapped his fingers, directing his voice at one of the 'guards' (it wasn't like he really needed them, he just liked toying with people; it was entertaining) at the entryway to the rather dark room . "You! Bring me this filth's entire family. At once."
The guard's head bobbed up and down hastily. "Yes, my lord! They shall be brought!" Without further ado, the man hurried off, armor clinking annoyingly.
The lord turned back to the now sobbing servant, eyeing him up and down. "Who was it that was powerful enough to stop some of the best of the fighters?" he demanded.
The servant paused his irritating tears for the briefest of moments, while choking out one name.
"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel."
**********************
Later that night, the Lord could be found in his chambers, his hands behind his back and staring out the window. The rain pelted onto it, creating waves of water that streamed down to the levels below. What had had become of the servant? He had brought his whole family in, and had the son watch as he tortured and killed his whole family in front of his eyes. He smirked at the thought of it.
So, Dragneel was the one causing the trouble. Again. The Lord himself knew the mage fairly well himself and despised his very being. Earlier, when he was weaker- he curled his lip in disgust- and not quite in his right mind, when his thoughts had been of nothing but how he just didn't want to harm anything else, he had hoped- ew- that Dragneel would be powerful enough to kill him before he forgot the meaning of life, or whatever the hell it was. He hadn't been, and the Lord had been enraged by a battle that took place where he was-- well, whatever it had been that he hoped, it had been futile. Now Dragneel just annoyed him. And thwarted his plans at times, conciously or unconciously he really had no clue. There had to be a way to get him out of the way, if only-!
"Ah." He muttered.
The lord started pacing back and forth in front of the window. He he ran it through his mind several times over, and came to the conclusion that it had to be his most diabolical plan yet.
Throwing open the doors to his chamber, he bellowed "servant!"
The dead servant's son scurried to his chambers and bowed before him.
"My Lord?" He whispered.
"I have a mission you must carry out." The lord had a maniacal glint in his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.O.V. Natsu Dragneel
Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragonslayer, stared up into the darkening sky as he breathed a contented sigh. His teams' most recent mission had gone quite well; they had completed it in almost no time at all, and they had little trouble-a giant leap from what usually happened on most missions. The dragonslayer suppressed a snort, remembering just how many of them had gone haywire. Pretty much all of them.
Currently, he Lucy, Gray, Happy, and Erza were making their way back to the guild, and Lucy had already retreated into Horologium, the grandfather clock spirit of hers, claiming that it was freezing out. He huffed a breath into the air, watching as a cloud of steam formed and dissipated within moments. Well, it wasn't as if he could feel it too much (being a fire mage and all), but he supposed that if he could see his breath, it must have been cold to some degree.
Heh, degree.
Happy shifted from his place atop Natsu's head. "Aye, Natsu," he squeaked sleepily, "Are we there yet?"
Natsu pouted. "Were you napping and letting me do all the walking for you, again?" He glared half-heartedly at the cat face peeking over his forehead.
"Aye, sir!" The blue cat grinned.
Natsu rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Yeah, we're nearly at the guild, you can get your fish there. Go back to sleep, Happy."
"Fish!" exclaimed Happy, who then promptly fell back into dreamland.
Smiling slightly at the cat's cheerfulness, Natsu continued forward. It was natural that they should feel at ease after completing a mission... The smile turned downwards. But he couldn't help but feel that something... something was about to go terribly wrong.
Natsu wasn't one to ignore his instincts. He kept his guard. After all, if something did happen, he would protect his nakama, no matter what the cost.
Unseen by the Fairy Tail mages, an individual, or rather, individuals, were tailing them.
******************
The team was nearly at the guild when Natsu took notice that Lucy had fallen asleep, her head leaning forward so much that it pressed into the glass door on Horologium.
"Oi," Natsu grinned, "Happy, it looks like you aren't the only one who was tired!"
"Huh?" Happy was confused for a moment until he caught sight of Lucy. "Ohhh, Lushy's napping too!" he giggled.
Erza smiled. "Well, I suppose that we're all weary after walking all that way."
Gray put up a hand. "But she didn't even wal-"
Erza hummed in affirmative, interrupting the ice mage. "Yes, we are all weary from walking such a long way."
Gray muttered something incoherent.
"Well, then, I could take her down to her apartment..." She trailed off, looking hungrily at the guild. "But the strawberry cake is in there..."
Natsu laughed. "Ah, Erza, it's okay, I'll take her!"
"Natsu, can I stay here for my fish?" Happy asked, twirling up in the air around Natsu's head.
"What, there's none at Lucy's house?"
The blue cat giggled. "Nope, I ate it all last time we visited."
"Oh, yeah..." Natsu rubbed the back of his head as he remembered their last trip to Lucy's house-the same spot that Lucy had punched after they walked in on her coming out of the shower. Again. "Well, that's okay, but you shouldn't leave until I come back. Or ask Mira or Lisanna to walk you home if you wanna return before I do, okay?"
Happy gave a little exclamation of joy. "Aye, sir!" He happened to glance at Gray. "Graaaay~" Sang the small cat.
"What?"
"Your clooooothes~"
"Huh-?" Gray's eyes shot down towards his body, which was now missing one coat, shirt, and pair of pants. "What the-! Shit!" He ran off. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder.
Good old Gray and his quirks. Natsu couldn't help but smirk. He didn't have any weird habits.
"Yes, you do," Happy stared at him seriously. "Many, many."
"What?"
"Nothing!"
Erza huffed a smile and grabbed Happy by the tail. "Let's go, Happy." She pushed her way into the guild.
"Charle~!" The dragonslayer heard Happy call for the female cat before the doors swung shut, effectively blocking the jabber and ruckus from the outside world.
Natsu beamed. That was Fairy Tail, alright.
Still smiling widely he crouched down next to Horologium. "Open up," he commanded.
The clock complied. "The time was up, just now. I won't have the need to drop her, now." He said, before giving the pink, er, salmon haired teen a wink and disappearing back to the Celestial World, allowing Lucy to fall neatly into his arms.
Natsu nearly dropped her in shock. Geez, she was freezing.
The blonde smiled in her sleep, snuggling closer to Natsu. "My personal heater..." She mumbled, causing Natsu to burst out in a violent flush, easily out-pinking his hair.
"D-don't say stuff like that!" he stammered. It wasn't as if she could hear him, anyways; she was deep in the grasp of sleep.
Cheeks still colored, Natsu walked the several blocks back to Lucy's apartment, and by the time he had arrived, the sun was just brushing the horizon. Natsu stared at it for a moment. It was so pretty. Hey, just because he was a guy didn't mean he couldn't appreciate beauty. He glanced down at Lucy, then strode up the steps leading into her apartment.
"Where did she leave the key...?" He wondered. Then he shrugged. Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't kicked in the door before. He lifted a leg, making sure not to jostle Lucy. There would be no regrets when Lucy punched his face in tomorrow; he recovered every time. For the most part. He was sure there were some brain cells that he would not recover.
Oh, well. Natsu kicked, but stumbled slightly when his foot met no resistance, the door having swung open at the barest touch.
"What...?"
It should not have been like that, unless Lucy had forgotten to close the door when she left her apartment, to which Natsu was pretty much one hundred percent certain she would never do. This was Lucy he was talking about, the perfectionist.
No, she wouldn't have left the door unlocked, much less open.
Very concerned now, the teen glared into the unlit entryway of the home. Whoever had broken in... They could still be in there. As he took a deep breath and caught no unfamiliar scents, though, he began to doubt that it was true. He was a dragonslayer; he had stronger senses than any normal mage or human. So, he should have been able to catch a whiff of whoever had been --or was-- in the house, even if it had been a few days old. No one that he knew of could hide their scent that thoroughly.
Still tense, Natsu crept into the apartment, Lucy in his arms. When he reached the lightswitch, he flicked it on, only relaxing after he had done a thorough sweep throughout the rooms, (making sure not to cause a mess, because last time he had done that... He shivered. Lucy could be even scarier than Erza sometimes). Letting out a huff of air, Natsu finally placed Lucy into her bed, tucking her in as gently as he could so he wouldn't wake her.
He was turning to leave when a hand caught him by the wrist. Surprised, he turned to Lucy to find her staring at him with sleepy eyes. "Don' leave yet.." Her voice was slurred drowsily.
Natsu looked at the sun outside the window, which was now nearly engulfed by the distant horizon. His plan had been to go back to the guild to tell Gramps about his discovery, but now, looking at this sleepy Lucy... The teen felt something inside of him give.
Whoever it had been could come back, and it wouldn't be smart to leave Lucy alone. He could just stay a bit, just to make sure everything was a-okay, and then run down to the guild to inform the elderly man.
He gave Lucy a small smile and nodded, seating himself on the floor next to the bed. Lucy grinned tiredly at him and held his hand tighter.
~~~
He must have dozed off at some point, because when he woke up it was definitely well past midnight. Natsu rolled his eyes at his own carelessness. Seriously, he could be such a dope sometimes, and he himself admitted it. Well, not to anyone else.
As he lightly placed Lucy's hand under the covers and pulled them up higher over her, he remembered about Happy.
Damn it.
He could absolutely be a dope sometimes. The litle guy was probably worried about him. Natsu could only hope that Happy had done as he asked and had Lisanna or Mira to walk him home.
Well, what was done was done. He would just get home quickly and apologise to him by catching him the biggest fish ever later. Natsu gave Lucy one last, warm look. "Bye, Luce," he whispered, giveng her a smile.
Without further ado, Natsu exited the apartment, double checking that he had securely locked the door behind him. The dragonslayer sighed and glanced up at the moon, frowning slightly when a looming cloud passed over it, blocking the already dim glow.
A shiver crept down Natsu's spine, raising his hair on end. Natsu was never one to ignore his instincts, and right then they were screaming bloody murder.
With a glare at the surrounding darkness, Natsu stepped away from the home, challenging whatever was hiding to come out. "Oi, bastard, you've been following us, haven't you?" he growled.
Nothing but the whispers of the chilling breeze answered him.
"Are you gonna come out yourself, or am I gonna have to force you?" he asked, cracking his knuckles.
Natsu's eyes snapped to the nearest lacrima post* as a small ping emenated from its direction.
'So he's over there, huh?'
Natsu sprinted to the structure, flames licking up to his elbow as he prepared his attack. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" His eyes widened when his fist met nothing but solid pavement, cracking it upon impact.
There was a sudden cracking sound and a flash of blinding pain.
Cool breath tickled the back of his neck. "You missed, Dragneel," A voice told him mockingly.
That was the last Natsu heard before he fell to darkness.
___________________
P.O.V. Lucy Heartfilia
Lucy swore she was going to throttle the cat someday. She had been jerked awake by the sound of shattering glass, only to open her eyes and find one broken window and one sheepish looking Happy. Yes, one day she would definitely get her revenge.
“Did you really need to break in through my window?” she asked, annoyed. Well, it wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before.
The blue cat gave her an innocent look. “Well, I was knocking on the door a lot and you never came! So I decided to take the emergency route.”
The blonde’s eye twitched and she raised her fist to pound him over the head when she stopped. Something… something was off. Where was the other obnoxious one? “Hey, Happy, where’s Natsu?”
Happy’s expression changed immediately; now he looked perturbed. He fiddled with his tail. “Well, that’s exactly what I came here about! But Natsu’s not here, is he?!” he cried.
Lucy’s brow creased. Natsu was missing? “No…” she said.
Happy threw his paws into the air. “I don’t know where he is, then! I’ve looked everywhere! He said he would come back yesterday, but he didn’t! And Natsu never goes back on his word unless something really bad happens!”
Lucy could feel her stomach tighten with worry. That was true; Natsu never went back on his promises. She gnawed on her lip. “Well, are you sure you’ve checked everywhere?”
“Aye!”
“So you’ve checked the guild?”
Happy colored.
Lucy sighed, then gave the cat a smile and a pat on the head. “See? He’s probably there.” She got up, stretching her arms over her head. “Why don’t we go check now?” The mage gave the cat a look. “You’re paying for my window, though.”
“It’s not my fault you didn’t answer the door.”
“Cat!”
“O-okay!”
Lucy grinned, but as she prepared for the day, she couldn’t let go of the biting feeling that everything was going to terribly wrong. She rolled her eyes. Just like most of their missions…
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“W-what?! He’s not here?!”
Makarov shook his head, now looking rather serious. “No, he isn’t.”
“He hasn’t taken any jobs, either, so he’s not out of Magnolia as far as I know.” Mira added in.
Happy looked on the verge of tears. “B-but I’ve looked everywhere! He wasn’t at home, in the restaurants, in the shops, at the park, the training fields,” he rambled on for nearly a minute. “Or even at Lucy’s! And now I know he hasn’t been here!”
Makarov crossed his arms, and let out a frustrated sigh. “It seems you have looked in many places...”
“Could we perhaps hold an organized search for Natsu, Master?” Erza offered. “One person can only do so much searching on their own.”
“What, for that flame-brain? He always gets into trouble, doesn’t he?” Gray whined. “I should have figured he would do something like this.”
“You get into as much trouble as he does, Gray.” Lucy pointed out.
Gray blushed, embarrassed at being caught. “Oh, and Gray, you might want to find your jacket before anything else goes missing.” Lucy added.
The ice mage slouched and shuffled away, face burning in shame, with a barely audible “Not again…”
Mira blinked. “But anyways, I think it would make all of us feel better if we found Natsu. I’m all for a search.”
There was a chorus of approval throughout the guild, and Makarov nodded in approval. “Alright, it’s settled then. Everyone, get into teams of two; we’re going to go and find a certain troublesome brat!”
Lucy grinned. “Happy, let’s go find Natsu!”
Happy twirled in the air, brought out of his state of depression by his friends. “Aye, sir!” he saluted.
Hope raged in Lucy’s chest, and for the first time that morning she felt the worry wash away. They would definitely find Natsu… because, well, Natsu was Natsu and Fairy Tail would not be the same without him. And if Natsu wasn’t okay…she felt a sharp tug at her heart, and firmly put the thought away. She would not be allowed to think that way. Her and her friends would find Natsu, no matter how long it took.
*******
Lucy was getting desperate. She glanced at the sun, which was now just disappearing behind the horizon, and the lone star that had just peeked through the cloak of new darkness. Everyone had been searching all day to no avail; Natsu remained unfound and there was no information on his well-being. It had gotten to the point where the groups had split up only to try and improve the chances of the dragonslayer being located. Magnolia was a large city, but not that large. They should have found him already—that was, unless he had been hiding or had been hidden. Lucy shivered, and repressed the thought. When the time came to bring that forth, she would, but not until then. It was better to focus on the task at hand.
Perhaps the others had found something. She could ask—everyone in the guild had been linked telepathically by Warren—but they would said something. The celestial mage opened her mouth to ask anyways, when Happy interrupted her.
“WENDY!” the shriek the cat omitted was horrible. “WENDY! GET OVER HERE, NOW!”
Lucy felt a wave of fear hit her like a train.
“Happy, what happened?!” Gray’s voice sounded in her head.
Those next words, the ones she now dreaded—because there was no way Happy would have screamed like that if there hadn’t been anything wrong—Happy almost couldn’t answer through his sobs.
“Natsu. I found Natsu.”
_______________
P.O.V. Lucy Heartfilia
No. The last she had heard before the communication gave out were Happy’s desperate sobs. Dang it… Warren must have panicked and let his magic go out of whack. Lucy bit her lip. Whatever state Happy had found Natsu in… it wasn’t good.
She took off as fast as she could; she had to find them and help.
As Lucy rounded the alleyway where Happy had said he was, her heart leapt to her throat, and she brought a hand to her mouth as she fell to her knees in shock.
Natsu.
He was sprawled on the ground, crimson staining his clothing and dying his already pink hair a deeper hue, the red liquid even going as far as to pool in a large puddle around him. His normally tan skin was now such a deathly pale, he already seemed… No.
Lucy crawled towards his immobile body, barely noticing the sobbing Happy who clutched at Natsu’s hand. Her hands fumbled over his neck as she searched for his pulse, something, anything to ensure that he was still alive, and not… not gone. Gone like her mother. Gone like her father. She couldn’t lose someone else. Especially not him. Natsu… he was special.
She didn’t even register until then that his skin was icy cold—no, Gray was cold, not Natsu! He was supposed to warm! He was a fire mage, for crying out loud!
Lucy sighed in relief when she felt the weak flutter of Natsu’s heart. Gently, she raised his head and hugged him, trying to share some of her warmth. She didn’t even mind that she was getting blood all over herself, too; it wasn’t the time to be picky about stuff like that.
Natsu’s eyelids flitted, and opened halfway, showing emerald eyes dulled over with pain. “Lucy…” his eyes focused on her for the briefest of moments, but then screwed shut again as he drew in a sharp gasp and faded back into unconsciousness.
Tears slid down Lucy’s cheeks as she choked back a sob. Who… who could have done this? Natsu couldn’t have been beaten like this; he was easily one of the strongest mages in the guild. Looking at him now though, he just seemed so fragile…
She looked up sharply as footsteps echoed, drawing closer, revealing the owners when the bulk of the guild skidded to a stop before the alleyway. Some gaped in shock at seeing Natsu, others began crying, some screaming, others vowing revenge on the assailant.
Erza and Gray shoved their way through their guild mates, not having seen how Natsu was yet. Lucy looked helplessly at them when they stooped in their tracks as they caught sight of their teammate.
Gray punched the wall in rage, cracking the brick. “Who… who did this?!” he growled. He shouted in frustration. “Damn it!”
Next Wendy rushed into the scene, immediately making her way towards her friend after the initial shock. She began working her healing magic on him as soon as she got to him. After a few minutes of the nonstop healing, his eyes flickered open for the second time.
The crowd hushed at the sight.
“Lucy…” he breathed. The blonde could tell he was trying to say something, but the dragonslayer couldn’t seem to be able to muster the energy to speak louder. She leaned in, growing more saddened by the moment as she saw the pain in her friend’s eyes.
The next thing he said made her pale, and her blood run cold.
“What did he say?” Erza demanded. “Lucy!”
The one person that we, the whole of Fairy Tail probably had no chance against. The one name that brought chills to the air. The one who had killed millions in the past, for the mere joy of it. The one who had hurt Natsu.
“Zeref…” she whispered.