Welcome to the Mafia Family

Chapter 44 - Furious Natsu

Natsu's POV

My whole body hurt, and a foul scent crossed my nose. My eyes cracked open and I was instantly blinded by the sun. I lifted my hand to block the sunlight from my eyes. The horrible stench caught my attention again and I looked down to see I was lying in an alleyway dumpster, shirtless and injured. Bruises and bleeding cuts covered most of my body.

I crawled out of the dumpster and lent against the alleyway wall. "What happened?" I asked myself as I held my head. The events that happened before I was knocked out came back to me. "Oh yeah, Lucy joined Raven Tail to save me" I muttered angrily before punching the wall. "I'm going to make Raven Tail pay" I growled. A deadly glare crossed my face. They are going to regret taking Lucy away from me. Especially when I FINALLY found out she loves me!

I limped urgently towards the entrance of the alleyway. 'I'm coming for you Lucy' I thought. When I made it to the entrance, people passing by were alarmed by the state I was in. Before anyone made an attempt to 'try' and help me, a black car I recognised passed by and rushed into a nearby parking spot. The driver quickly got out of the car which turned out to be Gray. 'Ugh, why did it have to be him who found me' I inwardly grumbled.

"Woah, you look like shit" he said as he reached me. "Good to see you too" I replied sarcastically while rolling my eyes. He moved to my side and threw my arm over his shoulder. His arm snaked around my waist, taking some of my weight. "Everyone's been looking everywhere for you" he said as he helped me walk to his car. "What happened to Lucy?" he asked when we reached the car and I growled. He immediately understood and kept quiet before opening the passenger door. After he helped me get in, he rang the rest of the Mafia to let them know he found me and then got into the car.

We sat in the car in silence for a moment, looking ahead. I was wondering why he was taking so long to start the car until he spoke. "We'll get her back" he said trying to comfort me before starting the car. "Just drive" I replied and then turned to look out the window, trying to figure out a plan to save Lucy. My fists clenched in my lap and stayed like that for the whole drive back to Dragneel Inc.

When we walked into the lobby of Dragneel Inc., everyone who had made it back before us was relieved to see me but worry immediately crossed their faces. They notice Lucy not with us and expected the worst-case scenario had come to pass. Gray helped me to the elevator and was about to press the level where the infirmary is located but I stopped him. "No. Take me to my office" I ordered. "But you need Wendy to heal you" he argued. "Take me to my office. Send Wendy up afterwards" I ordered with a growl and he reluctantly obeyed, pressing the button for my office. At the moment, I will not allow anyone to defy my orders. Not until I get Lucy back.

Once the elevator doors opened to my office, I pushed Gray off me and limped toward my desk. He pressed the elevator button and then the doors closed again. Leaving me alone in my office while he went to get our Mafia healer, Wendy. When I reached my desk, I pulled opened the bottom drawer and grabbed my packet of cigarettes and my gold antique lighter with a dragon design on it. The lighter was a gift from Igneel.

With both items in hand, I limped over and collapsed onto the lounge. I took a cigarette out of its packet and put it in my mouth. With a flick of my lighter, I lit my cigarette. Smoke blew out of my mouth like a fire dragon. Smoking always used to calm me down.

As I took another puff of my cigarette and blew it into the air, the elevator opened with Gray, Wendy and Erza inside. "Shit he's smoking" Gray muttered quietly to the others as they walked out, but I still heard him with my heightened hearing. Erza immediately covered Wendy's innocent ears, but it was far too late for that. "I've told you not to swear in front of Wendy" Erza glared at him. "Sorry!" Gray exclaimed in fear and then Erza released Wendy's ears.

Their attention then turned back to me. Wendy gasped as she saw all of my injuries and then pulled out her Sky Dragon healing gloves from her small handbag. She rushed to sit next to me and held her gloved hands close to my side. Blue magic flowed from her gloves to my body and the pain began to lessen. "I'll heal you up in no time" she said while she focused on healing me. I took another puff and blew it away from her.

"I thought you quit smoking?" Gray asked but I didn't bother to entertain him with an answer. I quit smoking years ago but right now with Lucy gone, it's the only thing I can think of to calm me down right now. "I did" I replied and then blew another puff to his face. He coughed while fanning my smoke away. "Jerk" he coughed but I wasn't in the mood to fight. Plus, I needed him in tip-top condition for when we take down Raven Tail.

"Tell us what happened to Lucy" Erza asked, getting straight to the point. That's Erza for ya. I brushed my hair back with my hand and groaned in frustration before explaining everything that happened. After my explanation, a loud bang sounded across the office as I slammed my fist onto the coffee table. "If I had noticed Ivan and been stronger, I could've protected her!" I shouted and then shot up to my feet. Looks like the smoking didn't help much. My emotions were going into overdrive with anger, guilt and sadness.

"Calm down Natsu. We'll get Lucy back" Erza said, trying to calm me down. "She's right. You need a level head if you want to come up with a good plan to save Lucy" Gray said, and he was right. There's a reason he's my right-hand man.

I flopped back down in my seat and Wendy continued healing me. I leaned forward to crush my cigarette in the glass ashtray on my coffee table and then leaned back to take a few deep breaths. If I want to get Lucy back, I need to keep a level head. "Ok, I'm calmer" I announced once I got my emotions under control. Everyone around me breathed out in relief. My emotions were still running high, but at least they were under control.

Now that I was calmer, I noticed Gajeel didn't come with them. "Where's Gajeel?" I asked. Usually he would come with them knowing we were going to have a meeting. "He's busy fixing Laxus and the Thunder Legion's cars in his workshop. After you and Lucy went missing, a few Raven Tail members found and chased Laxus' car" Gray replied. I put a hand to my chin in thought. "They must've been trying to keep Laxus away from Lucy" I said my thought out loud.

Our conversation was interrupted when the elevator dinged. The doors opened and Laxus burst into the room. "WHERE'S LUCY?! WHERE IS SHE?!" he shouted while looking around the room frantically. 'Oh no' I thought, scared about what's going to happen next. I knew this was going to happen, but I hoped I would be able to live a little bit longer.