Natsu woke up from his nightmare, panting. It had been about Lucy again. He'd been dreaming if Lucy lately but this time she had been taken away and locked up in a tower. He couldn't save her in time and she fell to her death after jumping out.

He shuddered just thinking about the nightmare. Natsu looked around to see if anyone was in the guildhall but it seemed like no one was back yet. The pinky walked to the infirmary in search of the two girls he grew fond of.

He peeked inside to see Mira and Wendy happily talking but there was no Lucy. After getting the groceries and putting them away, Natsu fell asleep so he had thought that Lucy would've been back by now.

"Where's Lucy?" Natsu asked as he walked in.

"Lucy? She never came back. I thought you went to check up on her after we got back." Wendy replied.

"Lucy isn't here. I couldn't smell her when I woke up earlier." He began to worry. She was somewhat like his support pillar even though they've only known each other for about a month.

"She's probably in our house taking a bath or cooking. You wouldn't be able to smell her because of... the... rain." Wendy's eyes grew as she realized what happened.

"What is it, Wendy?" Mira asked, noting the child's behavior.

"Doesn't Phantom Lord have a member that can make rain...?" Her two guildmates' eyes grew, realizing what she was implying.

"Where're the two cats?" Natsu asked hurriedly.

"They're checking up on the guild. Why?" Natsu sat down in despair.

As if on cue, their guildmates came bursting through the door. Makarov was taken to the infirmary while others were getting bandaged up.

"Wendy! Help master!" Happy shouted with tears in his eyes. Wendy nodded and moved to his side while Alzack and Bisca went to get Porlyusica.

"Happy! Let's go! Lucy needs us!" Natsu shouted. The exceed nodded in understanding and the duo ran out of the door.

They headed towards the Phantom Lord Guildhall to find that their guild had blasted a huge hole on the side, probably with Makarov's magic.

"She's not here," Natsu stated. He couldn't pick up her scent and he never doubted his nose.

"Maybe that guy can help." Happy suggested as he pointed to a bruised up member of Phantom Lord.

Natsu turned towards him immediately, took one look at him, and decided that he was their target. The duo approached their target who seemed to finally notice they were walking towards him and tried to crawl away.

"Where's Lucy?" Natsu asked as he stepped on the man's hand. His voice was stone cold and he had a murderous look in his eyes.

"I- I don't know!" The pinky added pressure on the arm he was stepping on causing the man to shout out in pain.

"You better start giving me answers or there won't be anything left of you but a pile of ashes." The man gasped as he saw Natsu's black flames erupt from his fingertips.

"L- Look, I don't know who Lucy is! All I know is that the master is at our base!" Natsu removed his leg and squatted down to the man's eye level.

"Where's your base?" The man protested but as he saw the flames he immediately closed his mouth.

"West! Go west of here!" Natsu and Happy looked at each other and started walking hopefully towards where Lucy lay trapped.

Lucy finally woke up to see that she was in a dimly lit room with nothing but a door at the front and a small bucket.

"So you've finally awoken, princess." A man with a weird mask appeared out of thin air.

"Who are you?" The man chuckled.

"The question is who are you." Lucy's eyes widened. This all made sense now.

"What does he want from me?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I don't know. We just do what the client wants." The man shrugged but Lucy knew he was grinning with delight at the thought of her father being his client.

"What if I need to use the bathroom...?" Lucy asked as she squirmed.

"There's a reason there's a bucket here." The man replied.

"How am I supposed to use it if I have ropes?" The man shook his head and Lucy sighed in defeat.

"Now I'll turn away and be the gentleman I am." The man replied as he turned the other way.

Lucy grinned and kicked him where it would hurt most. She ran towards the door and jerked it open.

"I forgot to tell you. We can only enter this tower with wind magic." The man groaned from his place on the floor.

Suddenly, Lucy caught a scent. It smelled like home to her. Even though she was that high up, she knew he would rescue her.

"Now come here and stop making trouble." The man ordered as he recovered from the kick.

Lucy looked back at the man with a dead look in her eyes, making him back up a few steps away from her.

"What are you doing?" With no warnings, Lucy let herself fall. She didn't know if Natsu would make it on time but she trusted him.

"Natsu!"

"Lucy!"

Lucy opened her eyes in shock. He was there. He was there with her.

"Are you okay?" Lucy nodded and he gave her a rare smile.

"Luigi!" Happy exclaimed in delight.

"Let's go home." Natsu burned off her ropes and helped her get on her feet.

Lucy looked at the two and before she knew it she had started crying. It wasn't something she could control. The oncoming tears had caught the boys' attention and they faced her again.

"What's wrong Lushie?" Happy asked as he flew to her side.

"Nothing." Lucy choked out as she wiped her tears.

"Everything is okay now. Are you hurt? Do you want a piggyback?" Lucy shook her head at the questions but Natsu still carried her anyways.

"Lushie let's go home." Happy said with a smile.

The blonde looked at the exceed and broke down into tears again.

"Happy you made her cry again!" Natsu exclaimed as he panicked. He didn't know how to calm someone down when they started crying.

Natsu sat down on a rock he found and cradled Lucy in his arms until she fell asleep. The exceed and pinky eventually relocated Lucy onto Natsu's back and started walking to their home again.

Author's note:

Sorry for the slow updates! I'm trying to find the best way to fit the actual plot into the original timeline so that everything matches up!!!

Thank you guys for your patience with me! ❤

~Arebudsbue