Lucy and Natsu were searching for the Mayor, when they ran into a very disgruntled Erza.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"Well, the bastard who I was trying to charm annoyed me, so I might've punched him. And no," She quickly added, seeing the looks on their faces, "I didn't blow our cover. I knocked him out and hid him under the Sushi table. What were you two up to?"

"Classic snooping. Have you seen Mr.Raymond? We know where the hostages are," Lucy said quickly, avoiding Erza's gaze.

They split up and started looking. Natsu found me, and I abandoned the dude I was spying on, and followed him.

"Where's Happy?" He asked. "He could be of help right now."

We found the blue cat surrounded by a bunch of little children. He was trembling, and Natsu had to comfort him after we took him away from the kids.

Lucy had managed to locate the Mayor.

"Mr. Raymond! MR. RAYMOND!" She said, frantically waving.

He walked up to her. "Yes? Did you find anything?" He whispered, while taking a sip from his glass.

"We know where the hostages are, but before we could find out anything else, they took us away. No, we managed to keep our cover," She said.

He nodded in approval. "Have you gone through the negotiations yet?" Erza asked, suddenly appearing behind Lucy.

"No, I haven't seen him yet. I just came a few minutes ag- ah there he is." He was looking at something behind the girls.

They turned around to see a man- a very attractive man, in fact, standing on one of the counters where drinks were served. He had a glass of champagne in one hand, and a spoon in another. The mark of his guild was clearly visible on his face.

His eyes met Lucy's for a moment, and he grinned at her. Then he looked at the rest of the crowd, and tapped his glass with the spoon. Everyone, even Natsu, shut up. He had their undivided attention.

"Hey, there! I didn't expect to see all of you here, and this is a pretty great surprise! For those who may not know me, I'm Hunter, the master of the guild 'Shadow Claw'. It's a pretty cool name, eh?"

He looked around at the crowd, waiting for someone to agree with him.

"Yeah!" Natsu called out. Lucy facepalmed.

"We may be known as a dark guild, but that's only cause we don't work under the Council. We're pretty chill people, ya know. Yes, we did some people with us, as hostages, but that's because we want to negotiate with your Mayor. They're all safe, and we treat them well. All we need is a little part of your town."

"And our mines!" Someone called out.

"Well, yes, but we won't hog them. Anyways, have fun, guys, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet, and there's alcohol too! What more would you want? Oh yes, the rooms in the West corridor - take the stairs on your left, are free to use," He added. He was definitely looking at Lucy. She turned red.

"Enjoy, peeps! This is just a fun getting-to-know-each-other party."

With that, he jumped off the table, and headed for the Mayor. Lucy and Erza got out of the way quickly, and found Natsu and I.

The crowd had spread across the room once more, and the mood seemed to have lightened a little.

"Okay, so Lucy found the hostages- we have to free them, and Mr. Raymond has gone with that creep to talk things out. We still don't know why they target the town specifically, so we need to buck up and investiga- why are you so red?" Erza asked, just noticing that she was blushing furiously.

"Nothing, nothing," She dismissed it.

"So yeah, Gray, I want you to find out where the surveillance lacrimas' strong room is. Take out anyone standing in your way, but discreetly, and go over the footage- you ought to find something, and try and find out where the mayor and that Hunter dude is. And when you're done, give us a signal to show that the coast is clear, so that we could go upstairs."

"Um, Erza is it fine if I take over the surveillance?" Natsu asked. Both he and Lucy seemed to be uncomfortable, all of a sudden.

"No, Natsu, I need you. They might have increased the security upstairs, and we could use your nose for the search, as well. Happy, why don't you go with Gray?" Erza said, her eyes darting around.

"No!" Lucy yelped. "I mean, we'd need him to help search for their big secret. The more people we have, the better."

I narrowed my eyes, but Erza was oblivious to how strangely those two were acting.

"That's good, Lucy. Now, I want you to lead us upstairs to the hostages. Natsu and I'll cover you."

Lucy looked at me weirdly. It was like she was....pleading. I turned around to go find the strong room. Happy, Lucy, and Erza walked away - Lucy looking a little worried.

That's when Natsu pulled me aside.

"Listen, man, when you go through the recordings, you might see something....weird Lucy and I did. I need you to do me a favour, and destroy the footage. And please, don't tell anyone about it." He seemed serious.

"What, did you make out?" I scoffed.

He didn't say anything.

"WHAT?!"

"It's not what you think it is. Anyways, do it for me, okay?"

He ran off into the crowd.

_______________________________________________________________

I had no idea where the strong room was, so I punched one of the solitary guards near the back entrance, and he gave me directions. After knocking him out and locking him in a closet, I followed the directions he gave me.

There was no one in the hallway, so I tip-toed to the third door, as I was told. The door was ajar. I sneaked a peek, and saw that only two guild members were looking at the live footage from the lacrimas. They had their backs turned to me, so I walked in, and shut the door.

"Ice make lance!"

It hit their heads, and they fell to the floor. After knocking them unconscious, I opened the window of the room, and blasted ice into the sky. It exploded, glittering like fireworks.

I settled down in front of the screens. I could see the East staircase, the top of the stairs, and the hallway. I counted thirteen guards in all - talk about overkill.

Looking at the controls, I hit the rewind button. I saw the guards moving out, and then a group of people walking into the hallway- wait, was that Natsu with them?

The images sped by in reverse. Natsu was... undressing Lucy in front of all those guards? Oh yeah, it was in reverse...but why was he zipping her up?! The guards moved out, and Natsu moved to Lucy. The gap between them closed.

"What the hell."

Some 'best friends'. I got that they were trying to come up with a cover, but I could totally think of a dozen other ways to pretend being innocent.

I couldn't help but grin. Shaking my head, I watched as the footage went back in time - two hours, five, ten.

A familiar  flashed by. I paused it, then played it at normal speed.

"What the absolute fricking hell."

_______________________________________________________________

Erza looked at the burst of ice outside. The crowd oooh -ed.

"That's Gray's signal. Natsu, base of the staircase," She said.

Natsu sauntered up to the guard standing near the stairs and engaged him in conversation. He looked around to see if he was being watched, and then kneed the guard in the stomach. He bent over, groaning, and Natsu knocked him out. Lucy dragged him under the stairs.

"Luce, you go fi- hey, that's the mayor!"

They hurried towards Mr. Raymond, who seemed to be searching for something.

"Sir, how did the negotiations go?" Lucy asked.

"Bad, I suppose. Hunter still wants a part of the town. In fact, we didn't discuss it all that much. We barely talked for five minutes, and seeing that I wasn't ready to compromise, he left. He seemed to be in a rush. I've been here for a good fifteen minutes, or so. I say, have you seen Valerie?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Valerie, my wife."

"No, sir, we haven't seen Mrs. Raymond. We were going upstairs, actually."

The mayor nodded, lost in thought.

"Okay, we're going, then. Lucy, lead," Erza said.

Lucy ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. She was followed by Erza, and Natsu covered them from the back.

The guards were lazing around, when they saw Lucy running towards them at full speed. They tensed.

"Ma'am, what is it?!" One of them asked.

Lucy pointed her whip at him in response.

"Requip! Light Armour!" Erza whisper-shouted. Natsu charged, his hands ablaze.

Erza zoomed around, almost a blur, and incapacitated all thirteen of the guards.

"Oh c'mon," Natsu complained, standing still, his hands still on fire. "How come you get to have all the fun?"

"We need to be sneaky, and quiet, Natsu. You're neither," Erza said, and smirked at him.

"Hey! I was plenty sneaky downstairs when I knocked that dude out!" He turned red.

"Keep yelling, and you'll draw attention," Lucy hissed. She was on her knees, picking the lock of the room where the hostages were held.

"That's not how you do it," Natsu said, pulling her up. He kicked the door down.

"Real sneaky, pyro."

A bunch of faces peered out at them, shocked.

"They're...children? They took children?" Natsu looked mad.

The kids cowered in fear. There were about a dozen of them in all - ranging from early teens to the youngest being a toddler.

"Hey guys," Lucy said, moving forward. "We're here to take you back, okay? Please calm yourselves. We're here now."

"I know your voice! You were outside the door!" One of the smaller children said. "But you were breathing faster then, so you sounded different. You are her! Did you get my note?" His shirt was shabby and a little torn, but his eyes were large, and he was grinning. Lucy's heart warmed.

"Yeah! That was smart of you!"

The little boy beamed, clearly proud of himself. Lucy turned to the rest of the group.

"Now guys, we'll be taking you home. But we need to be sneaky, okay? Can all of you stand in a line?" Her words came out in a rush. There was shuffling as the children, except for the smallest, stood in order.

"You two," She pointed at the oldest children -a boy and a girl, "take two of the smaller ones, and walk down the stairs, quickly, okay? Do not say a word, there's a lot of people downstairs, so blend into the crowd. Your clothes seem fine, so you'll fit right in. Never leave the children you're holding. Can you do that for me?"

They nodded, and taking two of the younger kids, rushed out of the room.

"Natsu, just see that they're safe, please?"

He went after them. Erza was at the door, looking out, in case any reinforcements came by. Lucy bent down and picked up the toddler. She held the child with one arm, and with her other hand, grabbed the hand of the boy who'd slipped the note.

"You'll all see your parents, okay? Don't worry."

The frightened, wide-eyed children stared at her curiously. There were five of them, now.

"Erza, can you take them downstairs, and help them find their mothers?" Lucy asked, gesturing to two of the girls.

"Um...I'm her sister," The taller one of the two said.

"That's great!" Erza went downstairs, taking them with her.

"What's your name?" Lucy asked the small boy whose hand she was holding.

"Robin!" He answered.

Natsu came back. "They're safe, and I even found their parents. Always trust the nose, my friend. Guess what, Luce, two of those small ones were the Mayor's. Darn, how many does he have? Must've been bu-"

"Natsu! There are kids here!"

"Yeah, sorry. Four more, huh?" He stared the child she was carrying.

Suddenly, one of the children in front of them started crying. Letting go of Robin's hand, Lucy turned to Natsu.

"Hold her," She said, giving him the small child. Surprised, he took her, and watched as Lucy comforted the crying boy.

"I wanna see Daddy now!" He wailed. She held him, muttering words of comfort. The wails turned into sobs, and she wiped his tears. Holding his hand firmly, Lucy nodded to Natsu. Robin clung onto her other hand.

"We're gonna go downstairs, now."

"Wait should I hold her? I can't hold her!" Natsu yelped.

"Don't worry, girls like boys who are good with kids," She said, winking.

"But I'm not good with kids!"

"Oh, shut up."

They managed to find the parents of all the children, except Robin's. They spent a good fifteen minutes searching for his mother, and Erza was starting to get fidgety.

"We still haven't found why they want to stay here! Tch!"

"Maybe, I'll stick with you?" Robin looked hopefully at Lucy.

"No. But we'll leave you with Happy, for now," Natsu said.

"Yeah where is he?" Erza asked.

_______________________________________________________________

The three of them combed through the rest of the house, opening every single room and doing a quick sweep of the things inside. They did meet a few members of Shadow Claw on the way, but they took them down easily.

"Agh, this is boring!" Natsu said, looking at another one of the fallen guards.

Lucy opened a door. "Empty."

Erza tried another. "Another bathroom."

"That's the sixth one! I want action!" Natsu demanded, and kicked down a door.

Someone screamed inside.

Natsu stood, framed in the doorway, staring at the sight before him. Lucy walked up to him. He quickly wrapped an arm around her head, his fingers covering her eyes. She protested in vain.

Erza rushed towards them, peeked over Natsu's shoulder, and wished she hasn't. She averted her eyes, recoiling.

It was a pretty large bedroom that they'd found. And before them was Hunter on all fours on the bed , frozen in place, and buck-naked. A smaller figure cowered under the sheets. Clearly, they'd interrupted something.

The smaller person shifted, and the light from the hallway hit her face. Natsu and Erza gasped- Lucy was still struggling.

"Mrs. Raymond?!"

_______________________________________________________________

Oh this is weird, isn't it?
Is it good? Bad? I dunno. I'm sleep-deprived, and I'm ready to kill someone right now.
I love y'all.
Also I bought a stuffed turtle pillow thingy, and I named it NaLu.
Wheeeeeeeeeee.
Okay.

~T.