Leoslady here with the first chapter of the afore mentioned collaboration with Nicole4211! We're so excited about this fanfic, and we think you will be too. Without further ado, we present you with our newest tale, and trust me when I say it is unlike anything we've done before.

Captivity

By: LeosLady4ever & Nicole4211

Chapter 1: Festival of Ice

The festival was in full swing as Lucy's group made their way to the center of Hargeon, venders out selling their wares and every extra inch of the town decked with brilliant ice and snow sculptures. It was stunning to say the least, leaving Lucy, as the only one who hadn't attended the Snow Festival before, not knowing which way to turn. There was just so much to see, so much to take in.

Being the only one to live in the town, Lyon offered to play the part of tour guide for the visiting mages, promising to take them to all the best spots in town. Of course, their first stop was to be his and Gray's own contribution to the Snow Festival, an epic masterpiece of ice that Lyon felt incredibly proud of. And if that beaming smile on Gray's face was anything to go by, it was the same for him. As the most well-known ice mages in all of Fiore, they'd been commissioned along with Blue Pegasus' own Eve Team by the town to create the massive sculpture, and Lyon had been more than a little pleased to hear the mayor call it the cornerstone of the entire celebration.

Lucy and Erza seemed excited about seeing their accomplishment, both congratulating him and Gray on a job well done. It had boosted his ego to hear them going on about the whole thing, and he found himself flushing with pride. And really why shouldn't he be happy with how things had turned out? They'd worked hard on it, and getting the mayor's seal of approval was quite an honor.

Natsu however, wasn't so easily impressed. To his mind, there were far more important things to do than see an ice sculpture. "Come on guys! Do we have to go there first? I'm hungry!"

"Natsu, they worked really hard on this," Lucy scolded, and seeing Natsu stop in the middle of the street, reached back to pull him forward. "You can eat in a few minutes."

"But Luce...I'm dying here!" Natsu whined, and it was immediately followed up by an "Aye sir!" from Happy. The two offered her a pout, their lips tugging down in an appeal to her softer side.

But Lucy had tons of experience dealing with the two of them. They had pulled this on her one too many times, and she had learned her lesson. Rolling her eyes at their matching pitiful expressions, she snorted. "Yeah, I can see you're both wasting away there."

"Hey!" Natsu yelled, casting her an offended look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Gray snickered at his rival, clearly enjoying the whole thing. "She talking about that extra weight you're putting on."

"That's muscle, Frosty Cock! Something you wouldn't know anything about!"

Gray snorted. "You wish, Fire Fuck! You've clearly got a pudge going on!"

"Why you little..." Natsu growled, throwing a flaming arm back with the full intention of hitting Gray in the face, but a sudden flash had him pausing in place.

Slowly, his head turned around, and he blanched as he realized that Erza had requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor. Her face hardened, and she glared at the two men in her team, pulling a squawk of terror from Natsu as he threw his arm around Gray's shoulder.

"We're not fighting, Erza! See?"

Gray nodded shakily, wrapping his own arm around Natsu's back. "Yeah, we're best friends!"

Lucy quivered with barely repressed laughter from her spot beside Lyon, who was looking on in confusion. The sight was so common for her that she thought nothing of it anymore, but seeing it with Lyon for the first time, she could imagine how odd it must seem.

"That's much better," Erza declared, flashing out of her armor and into a cute, feminine looking outfit. "Now, I have somewhere to be..."

Lucy blinked at her redheaded friend in shock. "But Erza...what about the sculpture? I thought we were all going to see it together."

"Yes, I know," she muttered, tossing a frown at their male team mates. "But those two idiots have eaten up the rest of my time. And Jel-" She paused, her face flushing a pretty pink. "I-I mean someone is waiting for me."

Lucy knew at once who Erza was talking about, and she smiled. She was happy to hear that her friend was finally getting in some time with Jellal. She wasn't about to speculate about what the two of them intended to do with that time, though if it was her...

She shook her head at her thoughts, and then waved Erza off. "Go on...have a good time."

"Yeah, with your booty call!" Natsu laughed and then yelped as Erza leapt at him. "Happy!"

The little Exceed took to the air immediately, grabbing onto the fire mage and lifting him out of Erza's reach, just barely saving him from her vicious attack. Natsu whooped in victory as they sailed away, but Lucy knew he'd only escaped because Erza wanted to see Jellal more than she wanted to whip the fire mage's ass. His win was going to be very short-lived.

He'd best live it up now, because come tonight, he was going to be very very sorry. She giggled at the thought and turned back to the other woman in their group. "Ignore him, Erza. Just go enjoy yourself."

Behind her, Gray stifled a laugh, choking the sound into a cough at the last minute, and it was all Lucy could do keep her own amusement at bay. Erza however was too preoccupied to notice as she walked off toward wherever it was she was meeting Jellal, leaving Lucy and Gray to hold themselves together until she was out of earshot.

The instant she disappeared, their hard-fought smiles cracked, and the two friends burst out laughing.

"Oh my God! That was hilarious!" Lucy howled, tears springing to her eyes.

"Did you see her face when Natsu said it was a booty call?!" Gray doubled over, clutching his stomach as he choked out, "She's gonna kill him!"

Lyon watched them both in silence, his lips twitching just a bit at their exuberance. He could see they were a close group, able to tease and pick on one another without it interfering with the dynamic of their team. He did wonder about this mysterious person Erza was meeting with. Did the mighty Titania have a secret lover?

The silver-haired man found himself curious about this strange group of Gray's. He knew each of them only marginally from fighting beside them against the Oracion Seis and the time he'd spent with them at the Grand Magic Games. And while he considered them all friends, he realized there was still so much he hadn't discovered yet. Maybe it was time to change that.

Seeing the arching of Lyon's eyebrow, Lucy struggled to pull herself together. She felt like her team was always causing a scene, and she hadn't intended for that to happen in front of Lyon. Though, now that she thought about it, she probably should have expected such a thing. They couldn't seem to go anywhere without acting like a bunch of lunatics.

Sighing in acceptance, Lucy coughed and was just about to suggest they move on when a loud cry caught their attention.

"Gray-sama!"

Instantly, Gray's mirth fell away, and a look of horror crossed his face as he realized that Juvia was barreling right at him with no intention of stopping. With an undignified shriek, he took off running, glancing back every now and then to see just how much ground Juvia had covered.

"Oh jeez..." Lucy pressed a hand to her forehead, then decided to shrug it off. "I suppose I should have seen that coming."

She glanced up at the last member of the group still with her, expecting to see a frown on his face, some sign that he was bothered by the spectacle they'd just seen, but there was nothing. His expression was calm, if not slightly amused. And then she remembered what Gray had told her about his conversation with Lyon. They'd both been frank with Juvia, Gray saying he wasn't interested and Lyon deciding to abandon his pursuit of her. Obviously, he had kept to his choice, and she was happy to see that Juvia's obsession with Gray no longer bothered him. He'd moved on, just like he'd wanted to.

A smile lit her face, and she angled her head in the direction they'd been going before things had gone off course. "Well, I guess it's just us. Want to show me what you and Gray have been working on?"

Lyon tipped his head down at the blonde woman and smiled. At least one person was still interested in seeing his work. "Sure."

The two started moving again, and before long Lucy began talking, her voice laced with equal parts amusement and chagrin. "I feel like I should apologize for them. We don't really make the best impressions."

A laugh burst from his mouth at her understatement. "It's okay. I figured it would get a little crazy."

And he had. The moment he'd learned that Gray and he would be working together again, he'd suspected it would most likely end in disaster. The two of them had never really been able to be around each other for too long without it turning into a competition of sorts. However, Gray had surprised him. Or rather, they'd both surprised him. Somehow, they'd managed to make the entire sculpture, literally hours of work without even once getting into an argument. It had to be some kind of record, he was sure.

Still, knowing Team Natsu was coming into town, he'd been fairly sure things would go awry. It seemed that was always the case with them. They were from Fairy Tail, after all, and from all accounts, they were all a little nuts.

Beside him, Lucy sighed laboriously. "How sad is it that people always equate us with insanity? I swear I'm a normal girl!"

Lyon could see she wasn't offended. She'd obviously had a lot of experience being lumped in with the rest of her team as being just as wild, but from what he'd seen of her so far, she didn't deserve it. She hadn't done anything to suggest she was anything other than what she said she was...normal. Though, she had to be at least a little crazy to willingly join a team like hers, right?

The thought had him chuckling, and Lucy peered up at him suspiciously. "What are you thinking?"

Lyon burst out laughing at her observant question. "Nothing bad, I assure you."

The blonde pursed her lips in consideration, then folded her arms across her chest. "Now, why don't I believe that?"

Lucy fought to keep her face straight as Lyon once again laughed and shook his head. She'd worried things would be a bit awkward with just the two of them, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn't the case. She was thoroughly enjoying her conversation with him. He was nowhere near as serious as she'd expected him to be.

He was actually a lot of fun, and before she could zip her lips, she was telling him that. "You know...you're a lot of fun." She bit her lip in consternation as he glanced down at her with a question in his eyes. "I don't mean to sound so surprised."

"Might want to work on that a little more," he mused, his interest piqued at the quick flush of her cheeks.

"Sorry," she apologized, wincing up at him in chagrin. "I guess I thought you'd be a little on the serious side."

Lyon shook his head in amusement and teased, "Who says I'm not?"

The Fairy Tail mage opened her mouth to respond, then snapped her mouth closed. She paused in place, causing Lyon to move several steps ahead, and then she called out. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

The ice mage chuckled as he turned back to look at her, and was just about to answer when a soft whirring sound shot past him. He watched as Lucy's eyes went wide, and then her face went lax and she dropped.

"Lucy!" He started toward her, but came to an abrupt halt as a man stepped out of the shadows to stand over her prone body.

The masked man glanced down at her, then turned his attention back to Lyon. "You have two choices here. Come willingly, and no harm will come to her. Or do this the hard way and risk her getting killed."

Lyon growled as the creep surreptitiously drew out a knife, keeping it out of sight of the few people that scuttled down the road behind them as he knelt to the ground beside the blonde. The man had chosen a perfect place and time to attack. It was just turning dusk, and this quiet side of town had yet to install any street lamps.

But even if others had been able to see what was going on, it could only make things worse. He couldn't imagine what this man would do if anyone else interfered. Someone could get hurt or killed, and he didn't want that. He was sure Lucy would feel the same way.

But that meant he was on his own. Somehow he had to get the attacker away from Lucy. He wasn't sure what she'd been hit with, but it was obviously some sort of paralytic, though whether it had already knocked her out, he had no idea.

In the end, it made no difference. He wasn't about to follow along blindly, like some lamb to the slaughter. He knew the moment they were out of public view, there was no telling where they'd be taken or what would be done to them. He couldn't let that happen. With Lucy's team gone, he was all that stood between her and whatever this bastard wanted with her.

Taking a fighting stance, he quickly set a fist over his open palm. "If you think you're taking her without a fight, you're crazy as hell."

He didn't wait for an answer. He called out his attack and sent a blast of ice straight at the man's head. His aim was true, smacking the criminal back several feet and knocking him out cold. Lyon wasted no time and shot forward towards Lucy, scooping her up in his arms and fleeing in the direction they'd come.

Some time ago, Lyon had worked it all out and realized that the vile man could never have hit Lucy with that dart and gotten down to her so quickly. There had to be another one, and that meant they still weren't safe.

No sooner did the thought occur to him when he felt something zing into the back of his neck. He stumbled as a tingly sensation swept out from the site, and then his knees buckled. He watched in horror as Lucy's body tumbled out of his arms and then he came down on top of her. He tried to catch himself, but his arms wouldn't cooperate. Nothing would.

He was frozen, ironically, horribly frozen, and he had doomed them both. He had no idea what would happen to them, no clue who was trying to take them, and it scared the hell out of him.

He'd never felt so useless, and it sent a wave of fury through his body. There was nothing he could do, no way he could save them. He was impotent, wholly and completely pathetic with this drug running through his veins. And before long, he knew it would take him.

He lay there for several seconds as his mouth fought to call out for help, and then he heard it, the sound of footsteps crunching over the snow. And then everything went dark.

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