A/N the picture for this chapter was created by the incredibly talented @boredbraixen! Thank you so much for sharing this with me!! :D :D

Phaedra's POV

I did my best to ignore the groans of pain my muscles were sending up to my brain at every step I took. It had taken me way too long to recover, so I finally told Wendy and Lucy that I was better and managed to convince them it was true. We were on our way to interview the family members of the most recent kidnapping victim. From what Rogue had told us, only women had disappeared so far and the only connection they had had was that they used some form of light magic. But now in Hyacinth, there had been five reports of kidnappings and one of the women hadn't had any magical power at all.

I stood silently in the background as Wendy and Lucy spoke with the family members of the missing non-magical woman. They didn't have much information to give us though. The young woman that went missing was the daughter of the local butcher. She was seventeen years old and they claimed she was one of the most beautiful women in the whole town. The mother produced a picture and as I looked over Lucy's shoulder I had to admit that she was stunning. Her hair was cut to shoulder length and it was a beautiful strawberry red color that accented her pale brown eyes and a small spattering of freckles across her nose.

"Suzanna runs deliveries for our regular customers all the time. We sent her out for a delivery yesterday a little bit after noon, but hours went by and she didn't come back. We figured she had run into friends on the way there, and it wasn't until she didn't come home for dinner that we started getting worried," the mother said with a catch in her voice.

I couldn't keep from frowning at this news and I looked over at the back wall. What kind of kidnappers would be so brazen to snatch a woman in broad daylight? I wondered in confusion. A dull pain lanced across my chest and I bit the tip of my tongue briefly to try and divert my body's attention elsewhere. After a few more minutes Lucy thanked the family for the information and we made our way back to the Sabertooth guild.

After relaying the information to the mage they called Rogue, he gave us the address to another victim's family. For the rest of the day, we interviewed all of the victim's relatives and we began to see a disturbing pattern. All of the kidnappings had happened while the women were going about on a routine trip through town and something that I noticed, but feared to voice out loud, was that all of the women were extremely attractive. Through the cloudy sky, I could see the sun was beginning to lower to the west as we left the last Hyacinth victim's home. Lucy, Wendy, and Shararu were all folding their arms with looks of sadness and confusion and I walked silently beside them.

"Why do you think the kidnappers are doing this?" Wendy asked with a deep frown. "I thought people were only kidnapped if they could get a ransom for them."

I swallowed bitterly at Wendy's innocence and hoped that I wouldn't have to be the one to explain things to her. Lucy looked over at me and I could tell that she knew of other reasons for someone to kidnap young and beautiful women without asking for a ransom. She gave me a small, almost imperceptible nod before looking at Wendy with a sad smile.

"We won't know for sure until we find them," Lucy said gently and I was impressed with how well she had handled the situation.

"How are we supposed to find them when they steal the women in broad daylight without anyone seeing them?" Shararu asked with a frustrated sniff.

I felt my shoulders droop as well in silent frustration as I looked all around me. Most of the stores and vendor's stalls were all being shut down for the day and I couldn't help but feel useless. I had nearly depleted my accessible magic by using my lightspeed to get here because the letter Erza had read had scared me more than I could even describe. But now I was here and I felt like there was absolutely nothing I could do to help the situation. It was infuriating.

A rustle of fabric caught my ear and I turned around, peering into the alleyway we were passing. I narrowed my eyes but even as I stared at the small hallway-like space nothing moved, not even a stray dog. Hesitantly, I decided the noise must have been coming from a street vendor moving their wares from behind me. Lucy and Wendy hadn't noticed my pause so I quickened my pace to walk next to them.

"They must be magic users of some kind. Maybe it's someone like Obra who could drain a mage's power. That way they would be too weak to speak, let alone try and escape," Lucy theorized as we continued on our way to the guildhall. I frowned, not having heard of that type of magic before, but Shararu shook her head.

"Then what about Suzanna? She was a non-mage," she pointed out, causing Lucy to sigh. Another rustle sounded behind me and I whirled around, darting my eyes every which way to try and find where the noise had come from.

"What's wrong, Phaedra-san?" Wendy asked, looking over at me with concern evident in her voice.

"Someone is following us," I hissed under my breath. Just as I was about to give up a flicker a black that looked like the edge of a long cape snaked around a corner of an alleyway. "Wait here," I growled before dashing towards the alleyway.

My legs and arms screamed in pain after their morning of abuse, but I pushed through the pain and ran. I didn't dare try and use my magic at this point. If whoever I was chasing was actually a kidnapper, I would need my strength to fight them.

As I turned a corner, this time I saw a full leg and a part of a cape as the person running from me ducked around another corner of an alley up ahead. I jumped over a tipped over garbage can as I ran after the mystery person. Before I reached the corner though a small metallic thud caught my attention and I glanced over my shoulder and cursed under my breath.

"I told you to wait!" I yelled at Lucy, Wendy, and Shararu, who were all right on my heels.

"You don't leave your friends!" Wendy responded. I growled frustratedly, almost slipping as I turned sharply around the corner of the alley. Flicking my eyes forward I gasped and desperately tried to stop my forward movement.

"Mizza Zante!" I growled lividly as my feet slid into a blue-ish gray pile of goo. As soon as they made contact the goo burst up, engulfing my legs and racing up my body.

"Don't come!" I shouted, panic making my voice crack. I watched in horror as Lucy rounded the corner and also slammed into a glob of goo that began encasing her lower body. Using all of the strength that I had left I pushed myself forward. One of my hands reached out past the goo that was swiftly coming up to encase my chest.

Slamming through the constant barrier that surrounded my magic I ripped out enough magic to bring to life a large light barrier from end to end of the alleyway. Wendy and Shararu slammed into the light barrier, bouncing back from the unexpected force of the impact. A tear slid from one of my eyes as the goo began to slow as it bubbled up around my neck. Lucy was yelling in anger and frustration beside me in her own gooey trap and I watched as Wendy scrambled up to her feet and began pounding her little fists against my light barrier.

"No! Phaedra-san! Lucy-san! Let me help you!" Wendy cried out, panic making her voice waver. I tilted my head back, trying to keep my mouth away from the goo while meeting Shararu's wide eyes.

"Get her out of here!" I yelled, using all of my concentration and power to keep up my light barrier. A large wad of the same bluish-gray goo that had trapped Lucy and I suddenly zoomed towards my light barrier, aimed directly for Wendy. It splatted with a "whumpf" against the barrier before it made a strange suctioning sound and began to dribble down towards the ground.

"NOW!" I yelled. Shararu's face twisted into a look of anger but she released her wings and flew up, grabbing Wendy's clothes and lifting her up.

"NO!!" Wendy cried as Shararu flew as quickly as she could in the direction of the sabertooth guildhall. Another silent tear slipped down my cheek just as the goo slipped over my mouth and extended hand and then seemed to solidify. My light barrier vanished and I looked over at Lucy to see that the goo had also risen up around her mouth but had not gone any further than that. I tried to apologize to her with my eyes and she moved her eyes back and forth slowly as if she were trying to say that she didn't blame me.

"Well, well, well," a simpering female voice quipped from behind me. I listened as footsteps came from behind me and then came to stand in front of me. I was looking at a woman with a hooked nose, pale skin, and dressed in a billowing black cloak that obscured most of her body.

"I think that I may have just stumbled on what the boss has been looking for," she said with a wicked grin. I glared at her, wishing I could move so I could kick her in her stupid nose. 

Laxus's POV

"Ergh."

I reached out and grabbed Mest under his shoulder before he fell on his face. Looking around me, I was surprised by how regal the sabertooth guildhall was decorated. There were signs of wear and tare as if just recently the guild had gotten more lively, but it still felt way too stuffy for my taste.

"Welcome to Sabertooth," a deep voice said. My eyes moved to the staircase that led to the upper levels of the guild and watched as the Shadow Dragon Slayer walked down the steps wearing a simple kimono.  

"Where is everyone?" Gray asked, taking Mest's other arm and helping me lower him to the ground where he sprawled out, looking as if he were going to throw up any minute.

"Everyone has been sent on assignments to either search for clues to the kidnappings or to search for Yukino," Rogue explained as he descended the last stair and headed to the kitchen area of the guildhall, reaching into the freezer for what looked like an ice pack.

"Any luck?" Erza asked, walking over to Rogue and grabbing a small loaf of bread from the basket on the counter to bring over to Mest.

"Lucy's team has been visiting all of the most recent victims and they have found that all of the young women who have gone missing disappear during the day without anyone witnessing what happened," Rogue explained as he placed the ice pack in a small dish towel before placing it on Mest's forehead.

"Who was with Lucy?" Gray asked as I scanned the room one more time. I could see that the sun was just about to set through the west window and I was impressed at the speed that Mest had been able to transport all of us here with.

"Wendy, Shararu, and an odd woman wearing all black. Natsu and Sting went looking for Yukino and I haven't heard back from them since this morning." My eyes snapped to Rogue as he described Phaedra and I couldn't help but wonder what had made her join in with this search. Did she know Yukino somehow? A familiar charred smell met my nostrils and I looked towards the door.

"Oy, Rogue! Any news?" Natsu's brash voice crashed through the door as his fist smashed it open. He and Sting stopped briefly when they saw us and then Natsu grinned widely.

"Laxus! You came to help?" he asked excitedly. I nodded silently since it seemed pretty obvious just by me being here.

"Did you find anything?" Rogue asked the two, ignoring Natsu's question.

"We tracked Yukino's scent all over the city but we couldn't figure out where she was exactly. It almost smelled like she was underneath us at some points, but what could be underneath a city?" Sting asked with obvious frustration. Rogue frowned at this comment and brought up one hand to rest his fingers against his chin in the picture of contemplation.

"Rogue, do you have any fish? I'm so hungry," Happy complained as he slouched through the open door behind Natsu, his tail dragging along on the ground behind him.

"How can you think of food when Yukino-san is missing? Yes." Lector scolded from behind Happy, but he looked pretty exhausted as well.

"So hungry!" Happy complained loudly before falling onto his stomach dramatically. I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Happy to only think of his stomach when dozens of women had gone missing.

Rogue and Sting had begun talking between themselves when a smell entered my nostrils that sent me on edge. It was the smell of a crisp fall breeze mingled with salt and fear. Almost as one Natsu, Sting, Rogue, and I all turned to look out the doorway. A speck in the distance slowly began to get bigger and my muscles tensed as the sound of crying began to reach me.

Everyone rushed out of the guildhall and watched as Shararu flew her and Wendy up to us, depositing Wendy on the ground. Tears were dripping down both of their faces as they stood in front of us, trying to gather themselves enough to speak.

"Wendy, Shararu, what happened?" Erza asked, coming over and placing a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Where are Lucy and Phaedra?"

Wendy's lip trembled but she bravely swiped at the tear tracks on her cheeks and met our eyes.

"They were captured by the kidnappers," Wendy declared in a shaking voice. I blinked in shock but Wendy hadn't finished. "Phaedra saw someone following us. She told us not to follow her, but we did. Phaedra and Lucy turned a corner and when I followed Phaedra used her light barrier to keep me from going to them. They were stuck in some kind of magic bubblegum that covered their bodies and kept them from moving. I wanted to help them but Phaedra wouldn't let me. Please. We need to save them!"

"Where are they?" Natsu asked, his voice dangerously hard. I glanced over at him and nodded approvingly as I saw the fury seeming to leak through his pores as he glared in the direction Wendy had come from. THIS was the Natsu that had been able to defeat me. When Natsu was fighting to save his friends there was no power on earth that could stop him.

"The alley was just over there!" Wendy said, pointing in the direction she had just come from. Shararu immediately flew up, holding onto Wendy and, without waiting to see what we would do, zoomed back the way they had come.

Without discussion, all of us ran full tilt after them. Lector, Frosch, and Happy picked up their respective dragon slayers and followed after Wendy while Erza, Gray, and I followed on foot. I briefly felt bad for leaving Mest behind, but that thought was gone as soon as it came. Instead, I focused on getting to the idiots who dared to hurt any of my guildmates, present, and future.

A/N Sorry this chapter was kind of short :S Hopefully you still enjoyed it though! And if you are still confused I named the Sabertooth's hometown Hyacinth :P