Dragon's child

•Nighteen•

A/N: Lil' doodle of mine: Ryuchi dressed as her 'parents' mascots.

The train rattled and thunked along, Gray was half-naked, Erza was staring out the window, Lucy and Happy were holding barf bags for Natsu, who was collapsed onto the seat, all per usual. But no one spoke. Even after disembarking from the train, the silence was still spread over them like a dark cloud. As they walked, people respectively cleared a path for them, but the crowd gathered in the town square didn't notice them. Standing on their toes, or flying upwards, the Fairies were able to see a Wanted Poster that had been placed on the notice board. The writing wasn't visible, but the familiar stern face surrounded by long blond hair needed no description. Natsu and Gray growled while Erza and Lucy stiffened. Before the boys could start forward, Erza grabbed them both and hauled them away, back towards the guildhouse. More and more notices began appearing, plastered on pretty much every possible surface, and Gray ripped one off as they went, crumpling it in his hand.

Upon entering the guild, over which the same oppressive silence hung, Gray stalked up to the bar. "Yo Mira, what's up with this?" He slammed the notice onto the bar surface.

She gently unfolded the paper and gave a heavy sigh when she recognized the face on it. "So you noticed them too, huh?"

"It would be difficult not to." Erza chimed in. "They're all over town."

"Those Council big shots put 'em up this morning." Macao grunted. "Apparently they'll be sending 'em to the big guilds next."

"Won't Sabertooth be surprised..." Gray muttered, throwing himself onto a seat.

"Yes, I expect they'll be calling Master demanding an explanation." Mira murmured, stroking her hand across the poster over and over to smooth it out.

"She is the Council's only link to a powerful dark organization that they didn't even know existed. They haven't seen a single trace of her in a week and the sooner they find her, the sooner they can take down the person who killed one of their own. Juvia...isn't surprised that they would choose this route." Juvia chimed in.

"That doesn't make it right, dammit!" Gray snapped. There was a moment of silence and then he sighed. "Sorry Juvia. It's not your fault."

"Juvia understands. She is worried too."

"Where're you going, Lu-chan?" Levy asked.

"Oh, just stocking my fridge back up now that I've got the reward money."

"We're not supposed to go alone, take Natsu and Happy with you." Mira said, a faint glimmer of her Matchmaker shining through.

"Yay! Lushee, can you buy me some fish?" Happy asked.

"Sure..."

"Wait, really? No complaining or anything?"

"I'm not feeling it right now, sorry..."

"Man, that's no fun..." Happy sighed. Natsu didn't comment, staring at the crowd around them fiercely.

"How're you so positive Happy? I'd like to take a leaf from your book."

"I'm just living up to my name~! Besides, since there's a reward out for her, we can earn money and save Ryuchi!"

"Um, we'd have to turn her over to the Council to get paid..."

"What?!" Happy gasped. "That's not fair!"

Lucy gave a small chuckle. "Well, that's how-"

"RYUCHI!!" Natsu hollered suddenly, taking off into the crowd.

"Wait, really?! Hold up!!" But he had already disappeared. "Happy, can you spot Ryuchi?!" Lucy called.

"It's not her, I can tell even from up here." Happy answered quietly. "It's just another blond little girl. He's been doing this ever we did the Council thing."