Hello, everyone! Thank you for all your kind feedback on the last chapter! They all made me feel a lot better about posting that chapter because I was actually very nervous about it before, aha. Anyway, I'm going to use this author's note for an announcement. I'm going to be going on a vacation to Greece with my family at the beginning of August. While I'll have internet in some places, I am not bringing my laptop, so I won't be able to update for the majority of the month of August (because once I get back, I'm heading up to college. I'm already a junior; oh God it's going by too fast! I feel so old). I'm so so so so very sorry about that! I will try to get some of my writing done on my phone during the long plane rides and stuff, but it's very unlikely that any updates will actually go up. I have a lot more planned for this story, so I do hope you don't give up on me just yet.

Being in a bad place mentally has really been a cockblock on my writing, it seems. It feels like I haven't written in such a long time.

I apologize for any mistakes as I tried to get this done as soon as I could because I didn't want to leave without giving you all at least one update ^.^

Anyway, please enjoy this chapter as well!

Also, please note that all the "history" on dragons in this chapter is completely made up by me. The fable in this story is also very much made up by me. I did not reference any fables of dragons and it has absolutely nothing to do with how the dragons are in Fairy Tail. It all came from in my head, so any similarities to anything you've seen before is merely coincidence.

And thank you again. Hearing that my story can make peoples' hearts race is what I've always aimed to do, so you have to idea how happy it makes me to hear people telling me that. Seriously, I always grin like an idiot!

Lucy didn't know how long she slept for. When she opened her eyes, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining through the window, but something was definitely missing.

She sat up so quickly that she felt lightheaded. Once her vision was no longer spinning, she looked around the room for the familiar head of pink hair, but he wasn't there anymore.

Tossing her legs over the side of the bed, Lucy stood up and threw on her pink bath robe before leaving the room. "Natsu?" she called. The first thought that came into her mind was checking the kitchen, but he wasn't there, either. He must have left before she woke up. She hugged her arms to her chest, pressing her lips together. Did what happen last night...freak him out? Lucy wondered if he woke up next to her, got freaked out because it was her, and left. Lucy had never had a crush on anyone before. She was so sheltered that the only males she knew were related to her and then there were the sons of other wealthy business men. There was also Gray, but she never once thought of him as anything other than a friend. So the pain she felt in her chest was so new and so very painful.

Sighing, she went to prepare some breakfast for herself. She was still a little shaken; thinking about what happened last night was enough to make her blush. Natsu stayed for dinner and when he was about to leave, he suddenly got extremely tired. That was when she saw his arm transformed into that of a dragon's. Lucy didn't understand why, but she vaguely remembered wanting to go to the library to read up on it. Then Natsu told her he loved her.

Lucy reached up to touch her cheeks only to find that they were burning. She didn't say those words back to him. How was she supposed to know what love was? She knew she had feelings for him, but she had nothing to compare those feelings to.

After she finished nibbling at the toast she made for herself, Lucy went to change her clothes. Before she could reach her bedroom, however, there was a loud knock at the door. Her mind immediately went to Natsu and she found herself smiling at the thought of him coming back to see her again. She ran to the door and opened it. "Natsu!" Her smile turned into a frown when she saw it wasn't Natsu but Gray. "Oh," she said, deflated.

Gray cocked an eyebrow at her, leaning his arm on the doorframe. "Don't look so happy to see me," he said sarcastically. Lucy had to crane her neck in order to look him in the eyes. It was honestly tiring. She prefered Natsu's height because she didn't have to look up too far to look at his eyes. The thought of Natsu caused heat to rise to her cheeks. "How could you mistake me for that pyro?" He paused for a moment, his eyes landing on what she was wearing. "Is that what you should be wearing when answering the door? Though you don't seem to care if it's Natsu."

Lucy was sure her face was as red as a tomato. She forgot she was only wearing her bathrobe and she hugged her chest in order to cover it. "What are you doing here?"

Gray easily slipped around Lucy into her apartment. Letting out a heavy breath, she closed the door behind her, now extremely conscious of the fact that she was hardly wearing any clothing. For a long time, Gray didn't say a word, nor did he turn to look at Lucy.

Worried, Lucy stepped around him, catching his gaze from under him. Though he quickly averted it to above her head. "Gray?" she asked, her voice soft. "Is something wrong?" He seemed off. Lucy spent enough time with him back in Heartfilia mansion to see that he was troubled by something.

When he finally spoke up, it felt like ages went by. "You were home all night, right? Last night, I mean."

Lucy blinked. "Er, yeah. I got home at around sunset and I stayed in. Why?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Gray let out a breath of relief. "Good."

Lucy cocked her head to the side. "Gray, seriously, what's going on?"

"Sabertooth attacked again last night," he said. Lucy's brown eyes immediately went wide, but before she could say a single word, Gray spoke again, "Orga attacked Juvia. It was a one against one thing, but Mira found her by the pool. She was really beaten up and Orga was nowhere to be found. Porlyusica and Wendy are looking after her now and they said she'll be fine with rest. I just..." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I needed to come by here and make sure no one attacked you, too. They're after Natsu, but they know you and him are..." His eyes traveled down her body, something in his face deflating. "Close. By the way, have you seen Natsu?"

Heat rose to Lucy's face once again as she stumbled over her words, "Wh-What? Why would I have seen Natsu?" she laughed.

Gray rolled his eyes.

"Natsu isn't here right now. He..." Lucy cut herself off. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk about this with Gray, even if they were close friends. It was her own business, so she decided to go with the bare minimum. She couldn't keep quiet, especially if Sabertooth was actively pursuing him again. "He was here last night. And he slept here, I'm pretty sure. But when I woke up around an hour ago, he had left." She tried not to sound as disappointed as she felt.

"No one else has seen him since yesterday afternoon. Happy's not around, either."

"Maybe they just went out."

"Natsu isn't the type to just go out in his current state." Gray sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Lucy could see how tense his shoulders were. She wondered if it was because he was worried about Juvia. "Let us know if you find them, okay? And please be careful. Don't go anywhere without your keys."

Lucy put her hand to her head in a salute. "You got it, captain."

Gray chuckled. He reached out and ruffled Lucy's hair, making her puff out her cheeks. "I'll get going now. I just came to make sure you were okay." He stepped towards the door, opening it. But before he stepped out, he turned back to face her and smiled. "If that pyro makes you cry, I'll kick his ass."

Lucy smiled widely, a smile bright enough to light up the entire room. "Noted."

After saying goodbye to Lucy, Gray let the door shut behind him. He made it three feet from her door before he stopped short, leaning his shoulder against the wall, his eyes wide. "Damn it," he groaned, clenching his hands into fists until his nails dug into the skin.

Gray knew very well that Natsu had feelings for Lucy. It was so obvious; whenever the pinkette spoke about her, his eyes would always go wide and light up. He was always smiling when she was around and was always sitting close enough to her that their shoulders touched. And the stunt he pulled yesterday when he went around the entire guild hall asking for her only proved it even more. Gray was ready to support them because, while Natsu was an idiot most of the time who didn't think before he did anything, he was dependable and strong, and Gray knew that he would be able to protect Lucy if it came down to it. And it seemed he truly did care about her. However, when Lucy answered the door wearing basically nothing and expecting him to be Natsu, it angered Gray.

Gritting his teeth, Gray pulled himself off the wall and quickly left the apartment complex. He started towards the guild almost subconsciously, his mind racing. He didn't understand this intense anger he was feeling at the idea of Lucy having sex with Natsu. He thought he was okay with the two of them. He wasn't someone who wanted to be in a relationship with anyone right now, so he didn't understand why he felt the need to punch Natsu in the face.

"This is my daughter, Lucy. She's twelve years old. She is the one you will both be looking after."

Thirteen-year-old Gray Fullbuster stood beside Erza. A small girl with short blonde hair was standing beside her father, a smile on her face and her hands behind her back. There were tons of people around Gray's age at Fairy Tail, but there was something different about this girl. She wasn't rowdy or loud, and she spoke using a formal Japanese that Gray never once heard since Ur. "Nice to meet you. Please take care of me from now on."

"Now, Lucy, these two are mages. They are not your friends," Jude said, tilting his nose up as he looked down at his daughter.

But that smile never once left her face and Gray wondered if she had to practice it. "I know, Otousan. They are here for a job, not to play."

Gray didn't understand it at the time, but as the years went by, he realized that that little girl was lonely. Wherever she went, she brought a doll with her. Even when she turned fifteen, she was still carrying that doll into the gardens with her, having tea parties with it while Erza was off handling hers and Gray's pay with Jude. Nothing happened in the three years he and Erza were working here. They came three times a week, and the pay was good, but since that first day they met, Lucy hadn't exchanged a single word with them. She would share a smile whenever she saw them following her, but she always kept her whispers for that doll.

"Gray, I'm going to talk to Heartfilia-sama," Erza said one spring afternoon as they sat in the gardens with Lucy. They were all having lunch, but Lucy sat at a separate table. "I'm going to try to find out if he still wants us here. There hasn't been a single attack in three years."

Gray nodded once. "Okay."

He watched Erza walk off before turning to look back at Lucy. Her hair was longer now, but it was still straight and it was still pulled back with a half-up side ponytail. She wore a dress fancier than Gray had ever seen, pink in color. The skirt was long and he wondered if she was feeling hot in it. Gray was feeling extremely hot in his clothes, his fingers itching to just take them off. But he knew from how many times he was scolded in the past that he needed to keep the stripping at a bare minimum around here.

Lucy's eyes met his in the moment and, while she smiled at him, the smile was not real. He could see the loneliness behind her eyes and he wondered if she was alone the other four days he and Erza weren't here.

Pushing himself up from his chair, he slowly walked towards Lucy. When she looked up at him, she gave him a confused look. "May I join you?"

She looked around as if to make sure no one else was watching. When she turned back, however, she nodded, pointing to the empty seat across from her. "Go ahead, Gray-kun."

"You can just call me Gray," he said as he sat down.

"I'm more comfortable with the honorific," she admitted, looking down at her small plate. "You know you don't have to sit with me, Gray-kun. My father isn't paying you to be my friend."

"Do you have any friends?" The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it. It seemed to take her off guard, making her tense her shoulders. "Er, sorry, I don't mean to sound so rude. I've just never seen you around anyone else before. So I wondering if you had any friends."

Lucy shook her head once, not saying anything on the matter.

"What are Erza and I to you?" he asked, leaning across the table.

Lucy backed away, leaning back fully against her chair and no longer touching what was left of her food. "Mages of Fairy Tail that my father hired."

"Would you like us to be your friends?"

Lucy blinked. "Well, I mean, I wouldn't not like it," she mumbled, looking down at her lap. "Listen, you don't have to be so nice to me. I'm used to playing by myself. I wouldn't be very good at being friends with other people."

Gray wasn't sure how to respond to that. Friends came easily to him. Once he got into Fairy Tail, he was able to make friends with people like Cana and even Erza, though it took a long time to win Erza over. He didn't know what it was like to have absolutely no one to call a friend. "Let me show you something," he said after a long pause. He held his left hand out flat, moving his right in a quick pattern. Hovering over his left hand formed a small rose made of ice. "You haven't had a chance to see my magic, have you?" He grinned, handing the small rose to Lucy.

She took it reluctantly. "Oh, it's cold," she said with a small giggle. "It's really beautiful." She looked up at Gray and smiled, this time for real. "Your magic is the most beautiful I've ever seen, Gray-kun."

As another year went by, Lucy started to warm up to Gray and Erza. She was calling Erza by her first name without any honorifics, though Gray was sure that was because Erza was terrifying and she hated being called Erza-chan. She didn't drop the honorific around Gray's name, however. He wondered if he would be Gray-kun forever.

"Hey," he said as he rounded the corner in the Heartfilia library. Lucy was flipping through a book, but she smiled when she saw Gray.

"Good morning. I didn't know you and Erza were coming today. It's Sunday, is it not? You never come on Sundays."

"I'm here on my own this time. Just visiting as a friend, not a worker."

Something passed over Lucy's face that day. Gray didn't know what it was, but he did know that he felt happy that he was able to make it happen. It could have been relief or, maybe, admiration. So Gray spent the entire day with her, asking her about her favorite books and listening as she spoke highly of her celestial spirits. Being the one who could make her make those expressions made Gray feel warm inside. He was able to make her really smile and he was her first friend. He hoped he would always have a special place in her heart because her smiling face would always have a place in his, he knew that much.

She was no longer carrying her doll with her. At least, she wasn't when Gray was around. Instead, she would wave him over and they would have lunch together every day. Erza would join in occasionally, but she mostly let Gray do whatever he wanted. She wasn't interested in making friends.

"Gray-kun," Lucy whined one night as Gray was carrying her on his back to her room. She had fallen asleep in the library. "I wasn't finished reading, Gray-kun, bring me back to the library." She was too tired to fight him, so she settled on just whining.

"Lucy, you were drooling all over the pages. I think you're done for the night."

She groaned. "But I was just getting to the good part! Gray-kun is a party pooper."

Gray rolled his eyes as he made the familiar trip to her room. He would always see her back at the end of the night while Erza brought the car around. She always insisted on using her magic to power the car, denying every time Gray offered. He didn't understand why, but he also wasn't going to insist.

"Gray-kun's back is cold."

Gray looked back at her for a moment. He was about to retort when he saw that she had fallen asleep again. He let out a breath. He didn't know how she could sleep in any place at any time. He, at least, needed a futon in order to fall asleep, though he preferred a bed.

When he got to her room, he placed her on the bed gently, covering her with the silk blanket. She was a sound sleeper and he found his fingers lingering by her hair after he covered her. "Are you ever going to drop the honorific with me?" he mused out loud, his voice barely above a whisper.

He made his way out of her room, but not before turning back to look at her. She turned onto her side, her back to him. Her blonde hair was draped over the pillow behind her and Gray found himself smiling. Never in a million years did he think he would still be at this job four years later. At seventeen, he still found himself looking forward to coming to this mansion to see her.

Gray sat at the bar in Fairy Tail. He barely remembered getting there, too into his memories. He had many more, but there was something about that night when he carried her on his back that resonated with him. It was one of the stronger memories of being with her he had. He didn't ever think Lucy would become a member of Fairy Tail, too. And even though she was right here, Gray felt farther away from her than ever before. Because now he and Erza weren't her only friends. He was happy that she was getting along so well with everyone in the guild, but he missed when he had her all to himself and she relied only on his friendship.

He nodded a thanks to Mirajane when she brought him a beer. He wasn't one to drink so early in the morning, but he needed something to calm his nerves down. It had been six years since he met Lucy. Six years and it seemed like she forgot all about him. Now that she had Natsu, there wasn't room for Gray anymore.

He frowned at his reflection in his beer. Lucy never once used an honorific when she spoke to Natsu. He was always just Natsu, even after he almost killed her. It took five years for her to stop calling him Gray-kun. He didn't understand: what was so special about that pyro? Why was she so much more comfortable around him?

"Gray, there you are."

Gray snapped out of his thoughts, looking over to his left only to see Erza sit down next to him. "Oh, hey, Erza." He didn't know why a part of him hoped it was Lucy.

"So Lucy's all right, then?"

He nodded once.

"Have you seen Natsu?"

"Nope. He was last at Lucy's apartment, but he left before she woke up, she said." He didn't notice the venom in his tone before it was too late and Erza was shooting him a knowing look. "Shut up," Gray grumbled despite the fact that Erza hadn't said anything. He looked down at his drink, swirling it around in his hand.

"I guess you finally realized it," Erza said after she ordered a drink for herself.

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

"The reason why you could never give Juvia a real answer to her many confessions." Erza was looking at him from the corner of her eyes, but Gray stared at her head on, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. "You wanted to reject her, but you didn't know how to because you didn't really know why you didn't return her feelings for you. I knew. When I saw you sitting with Lucy in the gardens all those years ago. She was always kind...frail. You always wanted to go back to the Heartfilia mansion to protect her because you genuinely cared for her. It's different now, though. She's independent and she can fight on her own. She is no longer that little girl having lunch by herself. She even extinguished Natsu's bad attitude. You're not the only man she sees anymore. Her heart's been won over by someone else."

"You're not making sense," Gray muttered, turning away from her. However, he knew very well what she was talking about without her actually saying the words. He was jealous and just knowing that fact pissed him off even more.

"Do you understand now?" Erza looked over at him, taking a sip of her drink. "Go give Juvia the answer she needs to move on."

Lucy was about ready to give up. She spent the entire afternoon in the library trying to find information on dragons. She knew the creatures were rare, but she had yet to find more than a paragraph on them in any of the dozens of books surrounding her. She took off her glasses that helped her read quickly and sighed. She had rejected a lunch invitation from Levy around two hours ago, so her stomach was rumbling quite a bit. She thought of going back home and making something quickly, but part of her wondered if Natsu was in the guild hall. She still couldn't find him anywhere. She even went to his and Happy's house before coming to the library, but neither of them was there when she checked.

"Might as well just put these books back and get something for dinner," she said to herself. Lucy stood up and stretched her arms over her head before she started gathering the books in bulk and returning them to their correct spots on the shelf. As she was putting the final book away, her eye caught on something buried deep within the shelf. Reaching out, she grabbed the pocket-sized book and stared wide eyed at the picture on the front; a Chinese-style dragon was drawn below the title.

The Reflection of Lin Haru.

Lucy hadn't the slightest clue as to who Lin Haru was, but seeing the dragon drawn on the front made her feel hopeful. She opened up the first page as she started to walk back to the table she had previously occupied. It reminded her of the stories and fables her mother read to her when she was a child about princesses and glass slippers. Her mother once told her that those stories were all true once and that those princesses really did exist long before they were born. Even though Lucy was grown now and she knew better, she couldn't help but hold onto that sliver of hope that this Lin Haru who seemed to have something to do with dragons also existed once before.

One night, a crimson moon ascended into the sky. The abnormal color set the townsfolk into a frenzy. People ran around the streets, warning their loved ones and neighbors, "It's coming! Just as the tale said. Once the red moon ascends into the sky, the dragon of the earth will rise from its slumber. Lock your doors!"

Everyone in town locked his door and shut his windows. Children were tucked away safely with their parents right beside them. This moon the color of blood left people shaking as they prayed to the gods to keep them safe.

However, somewhere on the outskirts of the town, a young man known as Lin Haru was smiling.

The crimson moon was what he spent his entire life waiting for. He lived in this cave alone for thirteen years and the day finally came that he would be able to see the outside world.

Lin Haru rejoiced that night. He rejoiced his savior, the dragon of the earth.

"Where are you, dragon? Why are you not rising?"

The voice rang through Lin Haru's head, a deep voice that sent tingles down his spine. "You have been patient, my boy. But I have always been alive. I have always been residing right inside of you."

"But the crimson moon has ascended! You are supposed to rise from your slumber and save me! That's what you're supposed to do!"

Lin Haru was desperate to free himself from the chains that held him to the cave. He no longer wanted to live an isolated existence.

"Set me free!" he begged the dragon of the earth. "I want to be like the humans."

"Lin Haru, you are not a human. You were never a human. You have always been, and always will be, a dragon."

Lin Haru saw his reflection for the first time that night. He had been watching humans for so many years now that he thought he was just the same as they were. He didn't expect to see scales instead of skin and claws instead of fingers.

And so, Lin Haru cried for the first time that night and didn't stop until that crimson moon was no longer in the sky.

After reading that tale, Lucy wasn't sure what to think. It was short and, well, extremely weird in her opinion. At first, it seemed to just be some story about a lonely dragon who wished to be human. But as she thought more about the story and what was written between the lines, she saw one similarity between Natsu and Lin Haru. They both wanted to be set free.

Lucy then decided to start a different search. Dragons was no longer her target genre. She was now searching for the name Lin Haru.

"I figured you would still be here, Lu-chan, so I brought you back something to eat."

Lucy looked up from the small book after rereading the fable for the third time only to see Levy smiling down at her. "Thanks," she said softly, smiling. She was actually glad to have something to eat. She reached into the bag and smiled when she saw that it was a muffin.

Levy sat down in a seat across from Lucy. "What are you researching, anyway?"

Lucy waited until she finished the top of her muffin to speak. And when she did speak, she completely ignored Levy's question and asked her own, "Have you ever heard the name Lin Haru before?"

Levy thought for a moment, tapping her index finger on her chin. "Lin Haru?" she repeated. She was silent for a moment before she snapped her fingers, leaning over on the wooden table, a sparkle in her brown eyes. "I think I read that name in a book once. I can't remember what book it was, but it was something brief. He seemed to be a boy who was half dragon and half human. There was some sort of fable about him, but some people claimed he actually existed and would torment people of the village for sport."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. "Do you think he was real?"

Levy shrugged, twisting a strand of her blue hair on her finger. "I don't know anything about dragons aside from dragon slayer stuff Gajeel's told me. It seemed he lived sometime in the era before the current one, if he lived at all. It was before magic was the way it is now. Even before Zeref's time. So it had to have been five hundred years ago or more."

Sighing, Lucy scratched her temple. "None of this is making sense. All I know is that dragons are rare creatures only seen by a handful of people. None of it has helped me get at all closer to learning how to break the curse on Natsu."

"So you're researching dragons for Natsu's sake?"

Lucy nodded.

Levy let out a breath. "I'm happy that you're trying to help him, Lu-chan, but I think you're overworking yourself. It's already dark outside and I worry that that muffin is the only thing you had to eat all day. Can you call it a night? I'm worried about you."

Lucy wanted to say no; she wanted to try to find out more. She was incredibly worried that if she didn't move quickly that something really terrible would happen to Natsu. And the fact that Natsu was nowhere to be found was worrying her even more. "Fine," she mumbled reluctantly. "I'm just going to head home, then."

"I'll walk you back."

"You can keep an eye out for Natsu, right?"

"We can. I'll call back to let you know if we see him."

Erza nodded once. "Thanks, Jellal." She wasn't looking at the lacrima in front of her because it was projecting Jellal's face at her and she knew that if she saw him, she would break down again. She didn't want to cry anymore. She didn't like how incredibly weak he seemed to make her.

"Yeah," he said. "Erza, I want to apologize for what happened a few weeks ago. When I told you to tell me to stay."

Erza tensed at his words, the scene playing back in her mind and making her chest ache all over again. She didn't want to relive that horrible day anymore. She told him to leave when her heart begged her to tell him to stay. She wondered what would have happened if she did tell him not to leave. She wondered if he would have been standing in this room right now with her and talking to her in person instead of through the lacrima. "Don't," she said, her eyes glued to the wood floor of her apartment.

Erza heard Jellal sigh. "Just be careful. Sabertooth is gathering its strength. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm Fairy Tail's strongest female mage. I'll be fine."

Jellal didn't say anything for a long time and Erza wondered if he hung up. When she looked up and saw his sad amber eyes still staring at her, she regretted it immediately. "I'm going to hang up now," he said after what felt like a year of complete silence.

"Okay." Erza wanted to say so much more than that. So many words that she wanted to say to him ran through her mind, but not a single one of them left her lips. In ache in her chest, however, only got more painful with each passing second.

"Look at me, Erza."

Erza shook her head. She wanted to look at him, but she glued her eyes to her own feet. Her slippers were oddly cold.

"I love you, Erza."

Erza's head snapped up, but when she looked at the lacrima, Jellal's face was already gone. She gritted her teeth; how was that fair? Saying that to her was him being incredibly selfish. It wasn't the first time she heard those words leave his lips. The first time was in the tower of heaven right before all went to hell. He had told her he loved her. She didn't know if it was Ultear's influence or if it was when he broke it, but it hurt just the same.

Erza was about to retire for the night when a loud banging sounded on her front door. "Erza," the panicked voice called. She recognized that voice from anywhere: Wendy.

Concerned, Erza ran to the door and pulled it open. Staring up at her with wide eyes was a very disheveled Wendy. Her long pig-tails were coming apart and she was out of breath. She was wearing her nurse's uniform. "What's going on, Wendy? Did something happen?" Erza was going to have to push Jellal out of her mind. Her guild was the most important thing to her. She didn't want anymore distractions.

"Erza," Wendy breathed as she tried to catch her breath. "I'm so sorry to bother you at home, but it's an emergency."

"Skip the apologies and just tell me what's happening," Erza shouted.

Wendy didn't flinch at Erza's shouting. In fact, she stood up straighter. "Lisanna is missing! Mirajane and Elfman were admitted into our care. They were badly injured and they both said that woman from Sabertooth attacked them all and then kidnapped Lisanna. The one called Minerva!"

Erza's dark purple eyes widened at the information, her heart twisting in her chest to the point where she thought she would be sick. Her heart had gone through enough turmoil talking to Jellal and now both Lisanna and Natsu were missing. "But isn't Natsu the one they want?" she asked, running out of her apartment.

Wendy ran beside her, huffing. "It seems Natsu is missing as well. No one's seen him since yesterday."

"But what business would they have with Lisanna?" Erza wondered out loud. She thought for sure that they would go after Lucy first. After all, it was obvious that there was something between them. So Erza didn't understand why they took Lisanna. "Wendy, do me a favor and go find Gray. Tell him what happened and tell him to keep an eye on Lucy."

Wendy nodded. "Got it."

At the end of the cobblestone street, Erza and Wendy went separate ways. She knew she was acting completely on impulse, but she had to save her nakama. And in order to do that, she would have to go to the Sabertooth guild. Juvia, Mirajane, and Elfman were all too injured to accompany her. They were the first people she would have gone to excluding Gray because the three of them were extremely powerful. So Erza had to try the next best thing and hope they would help her.

Her feet carried her outside of Magnolia. She only stopped when she realized she didn't actually know where she was going. Out of breath, she swore. Why was she here? Why was she looking for him when she could have gone to the guild and asked Gajeel or Laxus? Why did her feet always bring her back to him?

"Help me," she called out into the darkness, hoping he would hear her. But Erza didn't know if he was still here. He and the others could have gone to another town entirely. "Help me, Jellal."

Levy sighed after she watched Lucy go inside her apartment building. She was worried about the celestial mage. She was obsessing over dragons and now also this Lin Haru character. Levy didn't believe that he existed. He was a character in a fable, after all. None of those things were in any way, shape, or form true. It was nice, though, to see how much Lucy truly cared for Natsu. Levy wondered if Lucy even realized her own feelings for the fire dragon slayer.

Levy stopped walking when she saw someone running by her at full speed. She stared after him wide-eyed. "Gray?" she called, but he didn't turn around. Instead, he ran right for Lucy's building, letting himself in. Did something happen?

Sighing, Levy continued to head back to her own home. There didn't seem to be any attacks from Sabertooth that she knew of, so she dismissed Gray's frantic running with a swift shake of her head.

A cold hand wrapped around her arm as she turned onto her street and she gasped. "It's just me, relax."

Heart thumping, Levy puffed her cheeks and smacked Gajeel's chest. "Don't scare me like that, you idiot!" When Gajeel didn't throw a clever retort back at her for calling him an idiot, Levy stopped hitting his chest and looked up at him with concern. "Gajeel..?"

Gajeel held onto her shoulders and pushed her away from him so she was an arm's length away. Levy blinked, not at all sure what was wrong with him. He was silent for a long time and Levy was about to say something else when he finally spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper. Levy had to lean in closer in order to hear him. "Don't leave my side, alright? At least not until this whole thing with Sabertooth is settled. My friend...Juvia got attacked last night and while I know you can handle yourself, I don't wanna see you get hurt too."

Levy's eyes were wide as she didn't know what to say to that. She wasn't expecting him to say that whatsoever. She let out a breath and settled with just one word that she hoped would put his mind a little at lease, "Okay."

Drip...Drip...

"How's that dragon doing?"

"S'been trying to fight 'is way outta there for hours now. 'e's strong, I'll give 'him that."

"You were sure to cover up that good eye of his, right?"

"Mmhm. We put an eyepatch over it."

The voices were alien to him.

Natsu pulled on the chains tying his arms behind his back, groaning when the rusted metal cut through the skin on his right wrist. Whatever kind of metal this was, it was strong. His dragon arm couldn't even break through it. His feet were tied, too, and he was kneeling on a cold, wet floor. He didn't know where he was or how he got there. All he knew was that he had an extreme sense of deja vu.

The room was illuminated only by a small candle, and what Natsu could see of the room was starting to spin. He gritted his teeth until he was sure they would break, closing his eyes. He knew that he would lose all of his self control if he looked out of only the dragon's eye for too long.

Something else; he had to think of something else.

Lucy was the first thing that popped into his head. He could still feel the gentle touch of her fingers on his skin. He remembered that her skin was smooth, the complete opposite of his own. Natsu dug his nails into his palms until he felt hot liquid run down one of them. If he was captured, he hated to think of what might have happened to Lucy. The idea of her being in the same position was enough to send his blood on fire.

He tried to break through the chains with his fire magic, but they wouldn't budge. "Fuck," he swore, out of breath from all the struggling.

When he heard the click of the lock on the door, Natsu didn't open his eyes. The voice that spoke, however, was one of the men he heard just a few minutes ago. "Closing your eyes won't help you. You're going to have to open them eventually."

Natsu growled in response.

The man chuckled, the sound enough to send a shiver down Natsu's spine. "We have a little surprise here for you. Open your eyes and see what it is."

When Natsu shook his head, he heard the sound of a girl trying to say something. Her mouth must have been gagged because Natsu didn't understand a word. Though he shot his eyes open at the sound of it, thinking it was Lucy. But it wasn't Lucy. It was Lisanna. She was standing beside the man who was wearing a cloak and her arms were tied behind her back. "Lisanna," Natsu called.

Lisanna's blue eyes were full of tears. She said something, but Natsu didn't understand.

"Let her go," he roared. Seeing her being treated so poorly and seeing how sad she looked pissed him off. While part of him was a little relieved it wasn't Lucy, he was seething at the sight of Lisanna. His guild members were his family. "Let her go," he repeated, louder this time, "or I'll burn you to ash!"

The man chuckled again, throwing Lisanna into the same room as Natsu. She landed hard on her knees and the metallic smell of blood filled the air. She must have cut her knees upon impact. "You have try to burn me all you want, but you won't use any of your magic as long as she's in front of you."

Natsu gritted his teeth, knowing this man was right. He wouldn't do anything that would bring harm to Lisanna.

"Now it's just a matter of waiting to see what happens. We want to see if you'll kill her. Looking through that eye of yours for too long seems to make your temper much worse."

Natsu closed his eye again. He wished he could have been confident that he wouldn't, but he knew that if he ever switched over, he would kill anyone regardless of whether he was friends with them or not.

"There will be no food or water for you. That might speed up the process." The man snickered. "Good luck, Natsu Dragneel."