Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 60 - The Mayor's Creepy Mansion

Lucy's POV

We found the mayor's place in no time. It was a flashy two-storey grey mansion on top of a hill overlooking the entire city. His scent reeked from the building and his last name 'Bubble' was written on the name plaque on the locked iron gate, so we were confident that the mayor lives here. I turned to look at Stella behind us. "Stella, would you like to transform into your human form so you can help us search?" I asked. "That is a marvellous idea" she replied and then smoke engulfed her body. When the smoke cleared, a pale woman in a starry patterned kimono with long dark midnight blue hair and sky blue eyes was in the dragon's place.

"What?! Dragons can transform?!" the other Dragon Slayers exclaimed. "Wait, you didn't know dragons can do that?" Carla asked as she looked up at Wendy. "No, I've never seen Grandeeney transform into a human. I never knew dragons had that ability" Wendy replied. "Wait, how did you know Blondie? You're the only who knew" Sting asked. "I've seen it" I replied which was true but not the whole truth. Igneel never showed me his human form. I honestly didn't know about this ability until Ignia found me a couple of years ago in his human form.

"What are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and find this treasure so we can finish this job" Gajeel said and then walked up to the gate. He chewed through a couple of the gate's iron bars, leaving a human-size gap for us to walk through. "Knew there was a reason we brought you along Metal Head" I joked as I walked past him and through the gap he made. "Gihi, haven't seen you use your flames yet Salamander" he chuckled. I created a flame in the palm of my hand and gave him a smirk. "How do you think we're going to see inside?" I said lightly. "Touché" he chuckled, and we walked right up the front doors.

We pushed open the doors and walked into the dark mansion. My flames lit up our surroundings. We were standing in what seemed to be a large entranceway with a wide marble staircase in the middle leading up to the second floor. "Let's start our search on the bottom floor and then work our way up" I suggested. "Sounds good to me" Kaito said. "Well, I think we should split up and search. Rogue and I will take upstairs" Sting said and lit his fit up with his white magic. His light was not as bright as my flames and barely lit his surroundings. Without waiting for a response, he walked off to climb the stairs with Rogue, Lector and Frosch following. "Suit yourself" I shrugged and then led the rest of us to the right into a hallway.

As we walked down the hallway, we checked every room we found but unfortunately, Stella's treasure wasn't in any of them. "So what exactly are we looking for?" Gajeel asked which, to be honest, was a question I had on my mind as well. It's hard to search for something if you don't know what you're looking for. Stella lightly sighed, "I believe I can trust you. My stolen treasure is my egg" she answered.

All our eyes widened at this new knowledge. It explained a lot about why she was so desperate to find it. Dragons are protective of their treasures, but they are super protective of their young. Now my thoughts of the mayor were getting worst. It's one thing to steal gold or diamonds from a dragon for wealth but stealing a dragon egg is downright wrong. Especially when the plan is to raise or sell the dragon. "Don't worry. We'll get your egg back to you safely" I reassured her. "I hope so" she smiled. I could understand her concerns. Who knows what the mayor has done to the egg by now? I pray to Mavis that nothing bad has happened to it by the time we find it.

As we were searching one of the rooms, which seems to be a library, we heard bloodcurdling screams coming from upstairs. "That sounds like Sting, Rogue, Lector and Frosch" Wendy said with concern. "Do you think a monster or something got them?" Celestia asked while her eyes scanned the room. "We've got to help them" I said and then ran out of the room with everyone following behind me. Even though Sting can be a jerk at times, I can't leave him if he needs help.

We reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the second floor when suddenly Sting bolted down the stairs and crashed into me. I groaned in pain as I tried to sit up with Sting on top of me. He pushed himself up and turned to stare up in fear towards the top of the stairs. "Are you okay Sting?" I asked. "M-M-M-M" he stuttered. "Just spit it out!" Carla shouted. "M-Monster!" he screamed as he pointed to a dark figure at the top of the stairs. We could sense powerful bloodlust coming from the dark figure. In its hand, a body laid motionless on the ground.

Celestia and Happy pulled each other into a hug, shaking. Wendy held Carla and hid slightly behind Gajeel and Pantherlily. Frosch hid behind Rogue's leg and Lector hid behind Sting. Kyan was hiding behind Kaito, who had a scared expression. Stella stood confidently as she eyed the dark figure. Everyone was either scared or prepared to fight. I slipped myself out from underneath Sting and stood up, ready to leap into action.

A deep angry growl came from the dark figure and everyone screamed in fright. Wait a minute...I know that growl. "Wait, Natsu is that you?" I asked the dark figure and everyone looked at me surprised. The dark figure walked down the stairs, dragging the body behind him. When the dark figure came into the light of my flames, it was revealed to be Natsu dragging an unconscious mayor in his hand.

Happy couldn't help but laugh. "You thought Natsu was a monster" he laughed with tears in his eyes. Sting and Rogue looked extremely embarrassed. "If you saw what we did then you would've been scared too" Lector said to Happy, defending Sting, Rogue, Frosch and himself. "It was like a scene out of a horror movie" Sting said with a shiver as he remembered what happened. Maybe I can find out later from Natsu.

Natsu gave a loud grunt, gaining everyone's attention, before throwing the unconscious mayor in the middle of the group. Stella glared down at the mayor. "This was the thief who stole my egg" she growled. "Egg?" Sting and Lector muttered confused as they looked at each other. "Is he alright?!" Wendy panicked and kneeled to check on the mayor. "I just knocked him out" Natsu said with a shrug. No surprise that Natsu doesn't think before doing anything. "You didn't need to knock him out. You could've brought him here conscious. We can't interrogate him until he wakes up" I scolded him. He looked away with an angry face that I could tell was not directed towards me. "He refused to come quietly" he growled and I sighed. It can't be helped now. We'll just have to wait until he wakes up to get some answers.