Everything He's Lost

Chapter Eight

3rd POV

The next morning the small group of wizards, that had been chosen the night before, met in front of the guild hall. The group consisted of Erza, Gray, Gajeel, Wendy, Juvia, the exceeds, and of course Natsu.
They quickly gathered there things and turned to Levy who was holding the key to get to Lucy. She chanted the spell into the key as the group watched it spin all around and finally land in one spot.
Natsu turned and looked to Nashi standing close to Levy. He noticed that she was quietly shedding a few tears and had a scared look on her face. Natsu bent down and opened his arms up as a sign for Nashi. She quickly jumped into her papas arms not wanting to lose both parents. "Nashi papa has to go now baby. I have to go save mama." Natsu said standing up. Nashi nodded her head, wiping her tears. "Papa I forgot mama told me to tell you that she loves you." Nashi looked up at her father, she noticed the guild mark he showed proudly on his shoulder.
The small girl remembered something her mama had told her while they were still trapped in the cell "Nashi whenever we can't see the people we love that doesn't mean they can't see us. Hold your finger up and stick your thumb out. This was used as a symbol in the guild, it meant that I will always be watching over you." The young girl heard her mother's voice. She quickly held up her hand and extending her thumb just like how her mother had shown her.
Natsu was slightly taken aback at first but then quickly did the same thing as his daughter. Soon the rest of the group followed suit. "Alright let's go save Lucy!" Natsu cheered antsy to see his love once more. The group followed the key seeing a train station but quickly deciding it was for the best not to get on the train. They followed the key into the lush forest as Magnolia was leaving view. "Don't worry Luce I'm on my way." Natsu thought to himself. The group continued to trek on.

****With Lucy****
"DAMNIT!" The man shouted watching through a lacrima. He could see Natsu hugging his daughter and them heading this way to the base they were at. "I knew I should have just killed you and your daughter! Now that stupid Salamander is getting help from his friends once more!" The man shouted throwing several items.
Lucy watched on in amusement as she could see the man throwing a tantrum. It reminded her of when Nashi was so young and would through a fit when she wouldn't get something she wanted. Lucy kept these thoughts to herself in fear of just making the man angrier. She was unsure why the man needed Natsu all on his own but she knew it was probably not a good reason. Finally the man stopped his pacing, and turned to look at Lucy. "Hmmm.... How should I make use of you..." he pondered walking closer to the blonde. "I wonder how I can use all that magic I took from you last time." He continued stalking closer to her.
Lucy looked away from the man not wanting to look at him any longer. To this he roughly grabbed her chin forcing her to look once more at him. "Hmm we are gonna have to set a little trap for those stupid fairies, and I know exactly who to use as bait....HAHA.." the man maniacally laughed taking out some more tools. "Now let's make you look the best for your little friends.." the man stated with an evil smile. Lucy had so much fear but she wasn't about to let this man get his way.
"You may hurt me, but I'm a fairy tail wizard, my friends will stop you." Lucy said in a low tone. The man stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. "Oh dear it seems like you think you will make it out of here." The man laughed.

****With Natsu****
The group had walked about three days through rough forests and a few small towns many miles apart. Taking a few small breaks every now and then so they would be ready to fight. "This is insane. Nashi walked through all of this by herself. That poor girl." Wendy said staring at the start sky above. Natsu sat starring into the fire in front of him. He was feeling an enormous amount of guilt for his young daughter and the wife he thought he lost so long ago.
He was upset that he hadn't been able to tell that they were still alive. He was disappointed in himself for so carelessly trying to throw his life away. Natsu was broken out of his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned seeing Gray standing holding a glass he had made out of ice with some fresh water in it. "Figured you needed someone to talk to." Gray said handing the glass to Natsu.
Natsu chuckled grabbing the glass "You know I'll probably just end up melting this on accident, right." Gray gave a smug laugh as he sat down in front of his fiery friend. "Yeah I figured so I made the glass extra thick. Anyway what are you thinking about buddy?" Gray questioned looking at his friend with a hint of concern. Natsu sighed deeply, he knew he wouldn't have been able to hide this from his family. He also knew it was a good idea to let his companions help him. "Gray I'm a terrible father and husband. My family the one I was supposed to protect was taken from me... I thought they died and I completely gave up on life, I didn't care what happened to me. How can I hope to get it all back after everything I've done?" Natsu questioned his friend. Gray could tell Natsu had been really going through it.
"Listen Natsu. You aren't a bad father or husband. You are human and you made a mistake. You are at least trying to right your mistakes. There is no shame in what you are doing right now." Gray said giving Natsu a reassuring pat on the back. Natsu looked up feeling a little better "Gray I have a bad feeling. I'm worried about Lucy..." Gray looked around at the others noticing them packing up so they could keep moving he looked back at Natsu giving him a slight grin "I am too flamebrain but Lucy is so strong. She's a fairy tail wizard she'll be ok."
The group finished packing and got back to walking. About two days later the key stopped glowing and fell into hands of Wendy who had been leading the group. They looked around and saw an open field with nothing around which surprised them. The only thing they could see was a river that was flowing pretty rapidly through the middle of the small clearing. Natsu was the first to break out of his trance walking toward the clearing. He took a deep breath in and started to walk around the clearing trying to catch a whiff of Lucy's scent.
The other dragon slayers also got to work doing the same thing Natsu was. Natsu walked around for about ten minutes when he caught something. The soft faint smell that he was so familiar with. But it was tainted. He could smell the metallic blood coming from right below him. He quickly called the group over so they could formulate a plan to get to what they assumed was an underground dungeon. They couldn't dig straight down because they were right next to the river and if they weren't careful the river would flow right into the hole they created and would drown them.
Suddenly Wendy found a small hole that was a good distance away from the river. It looked like this was the entrance people used to get to whatever was down there. Seeing no other option they climbed down the hole. They walked a little further now starting to notice how damp and cold the cave was. The group didn't see any lights, so they had to strain their eyes just so they didn't hit the walls. Natsu raised his fist and lit it on fire trying to find something to use so they could see better. Gray picked up a piece of a branch nearby, and handed it to the fire mage. Now able to see better the group continued walking forward.
Natsu once more started sniffing around trying to pick up her scent trail, and quickly catching a small whiff. "This way you guys I can smell her scent." Natsu said as he went down a dark hallway. He could hear shuffling around in a few of the cells along the walls but his main concern was Lucy. They kept walking getting farther into the cave, wondering where in this labyrinth could Lucy be.
Natsu stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a loud high pitched scream. He knew that scream anywhere it was Lucy and she was being hurt. He took off in a sprint to try and find her. He stopped in front of one cell that had a huge metal door with no windows so he couldn't see inside. He didn't need to see through the door he could smell Lucy just on the other side. He grabbed hold of the handle and quickly melted it so he could pull it open.
The first thing he noticed when he opened the door was the man he remembered so vividly three years ago when he kidnapped his wife and daughter. The man was holding an object that looked like a leather whip that had barbed wire on the end so it did more damage. The man looked up confused as to who would be disrupting his torture time, and saw the pink haired man standing there. "No you aren't supposed to be here yet salamander!! My trap hasn't been set yet!'" As soon as the word salamander left the man's mouth Lucy's head shot up. Across her face she had many bloody slashes and one of her beautiful eyes was shut because of a gash on her forehead that was steadily streaming blood down her face. "Na-Natsu..." Lucy said as tears started to well up in her eyes.
Natsu was quick to action and carefully punched the man away from Lucy. He walked over to the girl still chained to the wall and found a key to free her from her shackles. He quickly picked Lucy up and took her outside the cell, and ran to the others. Natsu looked down at her she was worse than Nashi. She had several scars that had haphazardly healed and countless more that looked like they would never heal. One in particular caught his eye for it looked the oldest of all of them, it was the cut she had received whenever the man had captured them the first time. The one that had been so deep it had made him think she was completely gone. It had somewhat healed but he could easily tell that it hadn't been healed by any professional or wizard with healing abilities. More than likely she had to heal it herself by wrapping it in whatever she could find.
He sat the girl down on the floor next to the wall so she could be propped up and quickly called Wendy over so she could heal her. Natsu turned from Lucy once she was safe with Wendy before he went back toward the cell the man was in.
Once there he bent down and picked the man up and quickly tied him up and added some seal stone cuffs as an extra precaution. The man was utterly confused as Natsu did this wondering why he wasn't being beaten to a pulp. "The mighty salamander to scared to fight me is it.." the man trailed off. Natsu turned glaring so hard that could kill if looks could.
"Unlike you I let do justice take place. It isn't my decision whether you live or die it's the councils." Natsu whispered "I'll be dammed if I get thrown in jail and have to miss my wife and child because I ended your sorry life." The man just sat in shock unaware that the person standing in front of him was only doing this so his friends didn't think he was a monster.
Once the man had been taken in by the council Natsu walked up to the sleeping (or rather unconscious Lucy) and Wendy, who was healing her. "Natsu she's badly beaten. I don't think she's had any food or water the last couple of days. If we were any later she might not have made it...." Wendy trailed off still using her healing magic. Natsu bent down and hugged Lucy so tightly. He cried holding his wife, finally being able to see her again. He was so happy to be able to just see her and smell her scent.
He felt her two small arms wrap around him and rub his back. He pulled away looking at the blonde beauty who was now awake smiling at him with tears in her eyes. "Lucy.... I missed you so much...I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner... I'm so sorry." Natsu cried as Lucy reached her hand up to his face. She gently wiped the tears away and gently turned his face to look at her. "Hey, I'm ok. Sure I'm a little bruised and battered but I'm a Fairy tail wizard and a Dragneel. I'm tough. You may not have found me right away but you still found me. I'm just happy you are here now..." Lucy said as she stared directly into his eyes. "Let's go home.." Lucy continued as she gave Natsu a quick hug.
"I'd like that..." Natsu said picking Lucy up and walking out of the cave.
Sure she may have been scared but she was getting to go home and that's all that mattered to her. She would continue to live and be happy with her family and forget all this nonsense ever happened.
And that's exactly what they did.... They went home to their wonderful daughter and enjoyed much needed family time.

The end