Author's Note: If you were wondering if I was still updating, then yup, I'm still updating. Sadly, I've been feeling a bit discouraged by this project as it hasn't been turning out the way I wanted it to (hence, I've been stuck in editing hell...), but I'm not giving up on it. A lot of good can still come from the bad.

Thank you, readers, for your comments, alerts, and favs! I'll be back in a couple of months.

I don't know how, and I don't know why, but I'm still in disbelief that someone found my letter so soon. That you have a Nikora spirit is even more of a miracle. I'm not even sure when you wrote me back, but I hope you get this soon.

Thank you for keeping my keys safe. I don't have a lot of time to write—it's hard to get time alone on this ship—but I'm grateful just to keep in correspondence with you. Even just that makes me feel less alone.

Thank you for trying to help me. Thank you, Natsu. Thank you, Yukino.

Branded by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 6

This Mission

Natsu was convinced that helping Levy with research was punishment for something. For what, he didn't know exactly, but it had to be punishment.

He hadn't been anywhere except the library in days. Normally, he'd be out and about on a mission, but when finding Lucy was his mission, he felt like he had to wholly commit himself to that. It just didn't feel right to continue on with his days like there wasn't something bigger going on. He knew there was and it had to be acknowledged. He couldn't split his focus when there was something he had to do that was clearly so much more important than everything else.

Hence, the research.

Levy had been highly focused on researching Bora and had instructed him to do so as well, but Natsu had gone rogue days ago. After finding no meaningful information at all of Bora, he decided that he was going to focus on learning more about Lucy. It was important to him that he knew who she was. Maybe she had loved ones that were looking for her, and if she didn't, then it was up to him to keep her memory alive. He wasn't sure if she'd gotten the letter he and Yukino had sent a few days ago, but if she got it—when she got it, he wanted to make sure that she knew that there was someone out there thinking about her.

He had started with Celestial Spirits and found them more interesting than he'd anticipated. After the interaction he'd had with Aquarius, he had wondered what he could find out about her in the library. There wasn't a lot, considering how elusive the golden keys were, but he did find some information about her personality and her abilities. Unfortunately, there was nothing about who had carried the key in the past which was what he'd been curious about. He thought that maybe the person who had the key before Lucy would know more about her. That, sadly, was a dead end. Research into all of her other golden keys was as well.

Since then, Natsu had been scouring public school records to see if he could find Lucy's name in one of those. After going through twelve different schools since yesterday and seeing no trace of a "Heartfilia," he was starting to feel hopeless.

"What are you looking at?"

So engrossed in her own research, Levy hadn't thought to check up on him for the last few days. It was a little unexpected when he turned around and saw her peering over his shoulder. Before he could say anything, she was already prying the documents out from under him to look at. He sat up straight and watched her as she examined the sheets in her hands.

"Public school records, hmm?" she said as she bit her lip thoughtfully. "You know, I keep thinking that we have to focus on finding Bora, but it's just as important to remember who the people he's taken. We don't even know what Lucy looks like."

Natsu crossed his arms. "I still haven't found anything on her."

"What's her name again? Lucy...Heartilly? Heartenia?" Levy wondered aloud.

"Lucy Heartfilia," he said, watching her curiously.

She straightened up, tapping her finger on her chin as she began to pace back and forth. "Hmm, Heartfilia... Heartfilia... Why does that sound so familiar?" Suddenly, she froze in place as her jaw dropped. "No way...!"

Levy darted from her spot and nearly ran into a bookshelf, but reoriented herself in time. She looked intently at across the collection before she grabbed a large, brown hardback off the shelf. Lugging it over to the table Natsu was sitting at, she set it down beside him and flipped it open with a thud. Natsu frowned at the thing. Nobody had any business reading a textbook so incredibly dull. There were just walls of text and no pictures. He liked books with pictures.

Her fingers ran across the pages rapidly, obviously searching for something. "Ah ha!" she shouted as her hand slammed against the paper. "Heartfilia! I knew it!"

Natsu leaned over to look at she was referring to. This time, there was a picture on the page, but not one that was very exciting. It was just a picture of a train in black and white. He was scratching his head trying to figure out the relevance of it.

"It's just a train. I don't get it," he said in confusion.

"Not the train, silly, the railway!" Levy explained with great enthusiasm. She was moving about the room animatedly and Natsu was no longer sure if she was talking to him or herself anymore. "You take the train all the time when you have to go on missions out of town! Who owns the majority of those railroads in Fiore? Heartfilia Konzern!"

She didn't wait for him to process what that even meant and continued on with her revelation, now looking horrified. "Oh my Gods! That means someone related to the owner of the Heartfilia Konzern is missing! Does he even know? Is someone already investigating?" Her expression went from horrified to enlightened. "Maybe they have leads on Bora! I have to go make some calls!"

Levy whizzed through the library door just as Yukino was making her way in, the younger girl blinking as the gust of air swept past. "Levy-sama can certainly move fast," she commented as she made her way over to where Natsu was sitting. She pulled out the chair beside him and settled herself next to him. "What are you looking at?"

"I was just looking for something about Lucy. Levy thinks she's part of the family that owns Heartfilia Konzern," he replied, still trying to figure out exactly what that was supposed to mean.

Yukino picked up the school documents he had been looking at earlier and inspected them herself. "And you thought you might find something about her in one of the student lists?"

He nodded. "I haven't found anything though."

She looked up thoughtfully, swaying in her seat. "Well, lots of people are homeschooled. Mira-neesan teaches me everything I would learn at school. If Lucy-san is part of a wealthy family, maybe she's the same way."

Natsu groaned. So that was one of the implications of her being a Heartfilia. When it came to societal hierarchy, there was a lot he didn't understand. People were people to him. Yukino was clearly seeing something that he hadn't.

"You know, I haven't checked with Shabutarou yet today. Why don't I summon him?" she suggested. It was obvious that she was trying to cheer him up after seeing their lack of progress. He knew this, but didn't stop her as she stood and selected the correct key off of her key ring.

He never got tired of watching Yukino open the gate to the Spirit World. The magical power she emitted with her arm outstretched and hair flaring out behind her always made him feel like a proud older brother. He found it endlessly impressive that she could use her magic to connect two worlds together. In the back of his mind, he wondered if watching Lucy would feel the same way.

Shabutarou crashed to the floor as he entered their world. The pink-skinned spirit was definitely not the most coordinated creature, standing up and dusting himself before stepping forward and tripping over his own feet. To Natsu's amusement, Shabutarou's drill-shaped nose left a tiny dent in the hardwood floor as he straightened once again.

"Hello, Shabutarou. Were you able to send the message we gave you?" Yukino asked as she crouched down to the spirit's level.

"Buu!" he replied happily, his sleepy eyes appearing livelier somehow. He brandished the pen they'd wrapped in parchment nearly two weeks ago and offered it to his summoner.

Yukino accepted the object and pulled the piece of paper out from under the pen clip. Natsu felt his hope rising. He had no idea whether this letter had been delivered at all since he couldn't understand Shabutarou, but the little bug thing seemed to be quite optimistic. There also looked to be writing on the outside of the paper which he was sure hadn't been that way when they'd wrapped it.

"She replied!" Yukino said in a breathless voice, then thrust the letter at him. "You should read it. You found her letter first."

He nodded and accepted the letter silently before unraveling it to read her message. It wasn't long and it only took him a few seconds to get through, but by the end of it, the burning desire of wanting to help her only strengthened.

"We have to write her back," he said as he handed the paper to Yukino, leaving it to her while he went in search of a blank one. Words. Such a small thing was giving her hope. If his words made Lucy feel less like she was alone and if that was the case, he and Yukino would write her as many letters as she wanted.

Natsu had Yukino quickly pen another short message, not giving her any specifics, but trying to give her something to hold onto. What else could he say? They couldn't find her through messages—not when Lucy herself didn't even know where she was—and Gray was no closer in getting anything out of Bora's girlfriend than he was before. Two weeks had passed and they hadn't made any progress. Makarov had told him to let Gray handle things, but Gray was... Gray was...

What exactly was that bastard doing?

He abruptly took the pen that had been left on the table they were working at and wrapped his letter around it in the same manner as he before. "Here," he said, passing it to Yukino, "take it."

The girl looked a little puzzled at his sudden change in attitude, but there was no time for an explanation as he stormed out of the library. He held the door when he almost ran straight into Happy, who had been following Mira around while she'd been in the kitchen.

"Did something happen?" the cat asked. "Levy came into the kitchen to ask Mira what she knew about Heartfilia Konzern."

"Not really." Natsu shrugged and let go of the door, looking around distractedly until his eyes landed on Gray down on the ground floor. He was speaking to Erza about something, but both of them knew that they'd be in each other's face the moment they met eyes. "We gotta talk to Gray though."

He was down the stairs in an instant, barely even acknowledging Erza's presence. "You find him yet?"

However, it was Erza who answered. "Not quite, but soon."

Yeah, that was what he thought. His hands curled into fists, leveling his gaze at Erza. Right now she didn't seem so scary to him. "It's always 'not quite' or 'soon'! This is taking too long!" he shouted, turning his attention to the intended recipient. He pointed angrily at Gray. "You didn't want to do this mission in the first place! I should've gone instead of getting stuck on research duty with Levy!"

"Seriously?" Gray scoffed. Natsu let his arm be pushed aside. "I'm helping you, 'cause you couldn't pull off this mission if you tried. You could be a little more grateful, lizard face."

He was on the brink of losing his temper. The fire on his skin started to rise, the air feeling hot as it flowed through his nostrils and into his lungs. His teeth gnashed together and his fingers twitched in anticipation of action. Gray's claim was unconvincing. He'd been dragging his feet ever since Makarov brought him in on this mission and now he had the audacity to say that he was helping. After two weeks with no results and no change from "soon," Natsu was absolutely fed up with Gray's careless attitude. It wasn't money on the line here; actual human lives hung in the balance of whether or not they got results and Gray just continued to act like that was no big deal.

But them fighting amongst themselves would not help Lucy. Both he and Gray had proven often enough that a fist to the face wasn't going to change the other's mind or attitude, and though Gray might not be very concerned about the mission, he was as much a member of Fairy Tail as everyone else. They had each other's back despite how much they disagreed. Gray was doing his job; that much was probably true. Doing it well? That was up for debate.

Erza, on the other hand, had done nothing but hold him back. He turned to her with a hard expression. "You know what? I'm sick of waiting. I did what you and Master told me to and we aren't any closer to finding Lucy. I'm going to look for her myself! Let's go, Happy!"

The cat was agreeable as Natsu set off on a mission of his own. If Gray was already doing the best he could, the only thing Natsu could do was be better. He might not have access to Bora's girlfriend, but he was just as competent at finding information as any of the mages in his guild. He knew that Bora was on a ship and he knew exactly what kind of place would have information about ships at sea. But first, he needed to have a big meal.

Dusty ceilings and dirty tables surrounded him as he walked into the bar. Happy's face immediately crumpled in disgust at the smell of alcohol in the air and Natsu ignored the several shady characters he passed on his way to the counter. There was one in the corner closest to the door who seemed to be watching them with his one eye (the other being covered by a patch) and was frowning at their presence. With the way he was flexing his arm, Natsu felt that this guy might be the one he had to be really wary of. They'd been to three bars today already and there was always one who started the fight.

Happy, of course, pointed out that Natsu was usually the one starting fights back at the guild, but that was irrelevant.

Choosing a stool right in the middle of the counter, Natsu sat down and pretended to peruse the menu. It was important to take a moment to see what kind of people he was dealing with. After encounters at every one of the numerous bars they'd been to, it was obvious that Bora's name was some kind of trigger word. Natsu's only setting was straightforward, which was why he'd marched straight up to the all the bartenders and asked them if they knew a man named Bora. Most of them hadn't taken it well and each of those visits had ended up with him being tossed outside on his ass. He knew he could've gone barging back inside, but the response to his inquiry seemed to be a clue in itself.

This bar, a seedy shack at the edge of Magnolia's southern border, he decided he would be a little more careful with. Tussles with drunkards were not particularly challenging or taxing, but Erza probably hadn't been too far off when she'd made those comments about subtlety. It hadn't been a good idea to draw that much attention to himself because he was getting to the point where the bartenders were immediately directing him to the door. Clearly Bora didn't have a very good reputation around these parts, but it was possible he might've gotten more information if he just stopped charging in so carelessly. Making quiet conversation with the last bartender had led him to the place he was currently in after hearing that most of the sailors around these parts hung out in this particular tavern. This time, he was going to take a page out of Gray's book. That guy thought he was so much better at being undercover? Well, Natsu was about to prove him wrong.

Out of his periphery, he saw an overweight brunette practically passed out on the bar a few seats over. She was in a pair of jeans and didn't really look like a sailor, but Natsu wasn't sure what kind of people Bora was employing. The eyepatch guy looked promising, and there was another lanky man in the seat behind him wearing a bandana.

The bartender approached him looking bored. "Know what ya want?"

"Asahi," Natsu replied immediately. This didn't really seem like the place to go to have sake and he'd already had enough of it today. Alcohol didn't affect him quite the same as other people because of his naturally raised body temperature, but he wasn't much of a fan. At least this beer was pretty light.

The man's already scary-looking eyes narrowed as he leaned over the counter. "...Aren't you a bit young to be in here?"

Yup, he was definitely underage, but frankly, it came as a bit of a surprise that someone would even call him out on that after all the bars he'd been in over the last few days. Nobody else seemed to care. Why would this guy?

"I'm older than I look," Natsu said, hoping the bartender would just drop it. He really didn't want to get kicked out of this particular establishment, but he certainly wasn't going to take fighting off the table if he really had to. "Do you really wanna get into this? It's been a tough week for me and my..." He gestured at a very self-satisfied Happy who had managed to get onto the stool beside him using the footrest. "...my friend."

The bartender regarded Happy with something between confusion and disgust before grabbing a glass to fill, muttering something under his breath about weirdos and felines. Natsu let his eyes wander over to the corkboard at the back of the bar.

A pint was smacked down on a coaster in front of him. "You lookin' for work?"

Natsu lifted the glass to his lips and took a generous gulp. "I heard this was the place to be if I'm looking to join a crew."

"Well, you came on a good day. A recruiter always comes around this time on Thursdays. He's good at finding people the right position," the bartender said as he scratched at his mustache. He nodded his head towards Happy. "Not sure how much luck you'll have if you're tryin'a bring a cat on board, though."

"I'm a lucky charm!" Happy insisted. "Do you have any catnip wine?"

The bartender looked mildly repulsed to have even been asked such a question, but Natsu quickly pounced on the direction of the conversation before he could answer. "What kind of jobs is he usually offering?"

"Ask him yourself. He just walked in," the man said as he walked off to see to another customer.

Natsu's head turned towards the door just as a short, plump man in a business suit came waltzing in. He paused a few steps in, his nostrils flaring and face crinkling in disgust.

"Micah, how do you expect to maintain a respectable establishment when you allow your guests to urinate near the front door?" he asked rather pompously.

The bartender, apparently named Micah, was tidying the shelves behind the bar but still managed to flip off his patron without so much as a look. "There's a kid looking for work. Pink hair. He's got a cat."

Natsu mentally paused, eyes upturned. Was his hair really pink...?

The plump man seated himself on the stool on Natsu's other side. He looked the Natsu up and down as if he were an agent assessing a model. "Ah, young blood. With good, strong arms. You'll have your pick of the flock."

"I'm looking for something specific," Natsu replied as all thoughts of his hair colour went flying out the window. He was suddenly burning with impatience but managed to remember the reactions he'd gotten the last time he'd immediately led with "Bora." Still, he wasn't quite sure what Bora actually told people he did and there was really no way to end up drawing the right information if he didn't get more of it. "I want to work with a good crew, but I don't really know what's out here.'

It was clear how experienced the recruiter was at his job. He immediately launched into a description of some of the biggest fishing companies around-probably because these companies paid him the most for recruiting-but that was far from what Natsu wanted. When that failed to get a reaction, he presented import/export companies as an option. That seemed closer to what Bora might call his nefarious business, but all the companies discussed were still way too conspicuous. Only when Natsu mentioned wanting to work with a smaller crew did things start to get more interesting.

"I see. You're looking for a position of less...shall we say legitimate means," the recruiter said as inspected the glass of whiskey the bartender had brought him earlier.

"Why d'you think that?" Natsu asked.

He took a sip of his drink, unfazed. "I've presented you with multiple wonderful opportunities already, yet you've rebuffed them as though they're trivial. That is the simple conclusion."

Natsu's hand closed tightly around his glass, a small crack appearing beneath his fingertips. "And what kind of opportunities would you have for me there?"

The corner of the man's lip curled up into a haughty smirk. "My apologies, sir, but I am an honest businessman, though perhaps I could be persuaded to look for what you're asking. It would open up a door of excellent opportunities, a possibility where perhaps one would hold the most precious gems in the world, or see beautiful young women on a daily basis, or—"

No more words came out of the man's mouth because Natsu had thrown him against the counter and was now pressing his forearm tightly against the recruiter's throat. A glass shattered, probably the one he'd been drinking from, as his victim's hand slid across the table. Shouts broke out around them, but they were easy to ignore when Natsu knew what he wanted was within his grasp.

"You know Bora," he said, his voice low and menacing. "Where is he?"

The plump man let out a sort of strangled noise. He wheezed as Natsu lightened the pressure to let him answer.

"I—"

Happy barreled into Natsu just before a bottle came crashing down where his head had been, courtesy of the bartender. "I knew I shouldn't have let some goddamn kid into my bar!" he thundered as he approached from behind the counter.

Cursing inwardly, Natsu glanced at his surroundings quickly. The woman had already made her escape and the man wearing the bandana was on his feet, looking ready to help Micah if he needed it. It was the man with the eyepatch's reaction that struck him as peculiar, because he was still in his seat and was observing Natsu with mild interest. However, Natsu didn't have time to spare on that train of thought because he saw the recruiter stumbling discreetly towards the door. He was not about to lose his only lead.

Deciding he didn't have time for this, Natsu sent Happy a signal in the form of a tiny head nudge and they both flew into action. He lunged forward to grab Micah by the wrist and tossed him against the door, right at the feet of the wide-eyed recruiter. The eyepatch guy was slipping toward the entrance, but Natsu's attention was drawn to the shouts of a different customer, whose bandana had been pulled over his eyes and was actively been held there by a flying cat. Though not much of a fighter, Happy's skills were always useful in some way or another.

Wanting to get back to his questioning, Natsu shoved his hand against the man's face and sent him tumbling into various pieces of furniture. Once Natsu was sure the guy wasn't getting back up, he moved back to his original prey, grabbing the recruiter by the lapels and pushing him up against the wall.

"Where's Bora?" he asked again, glaring into terrified eyes.

The recruiter's hands wrapped around Natsu's forearms as his feet wiggled above the ground helplessly. "T-there's no way of knowing!" The voice that came from his mouth was high and squeaky, completely void of the confidence he'd displayed earlier.

That he had injected fear into a lowlife was good; the answer itself, however, was unacceptable. "Not good enough."

The recruiter whimpered. "I don't know where he is! I swear! B-but I know he'll be d-docking around here next week! Ce-cedar Town, I think...!"

It was all he needed. Natsu released the man from his grasp, leaving him on the floor next to the unconscious bartender. Finally, he had his lead and he didn't even need to go undercover for more than half an hour. He'd gotten results in just a few days while Gray was still working on his own fruitless project. Maybe now Erza and Master would realize that he didn't need to be babysat or put off the frontlines. They would recognize that he was getting Lucy the help she needed.

"Let's get out of here, Happy," he said, stepping over Micah's figure to make his way out the door. His companion agreed and followed him out as Natsu marched forward with fire in his veins.

Soon, he would be face to face with Bora. Soon, he would be face to face with Lucy.