The Princess and the Commoner

Chapter 23: Found Again

Lucy and the rest of the mages waited a few hours until they knew that everyone in the castle was sleeping. Erza slowly sat up and motioned for everybody to sit up, they walked to the door and opened it slowly. They looked out the door and saw nobody in the hall, Gray stepped out of the room and walked to where Zeref's room was. 

"Where are you going Gray?" Gray didn't stop moving but smiled slightly, 

"I'm thinking that Zeref will keep Natsu somewhere that he thinks we can't get to. So he's probably in his room somewhere." Gajeel suddenly stopped and frowned slightly, 

"I can smell Salamander..." He pointed to where Gray was walking and the mages ran forward. Levy looked back to Gajeel and smiled at him. He looked at her with slight confusion, 

"What are you smiling about Shrimp?" Levy blushed and looked away from him, 

"Nothing..." The mages kept running until they came to Zeref's chambers. Gajeel stopped again and looked around, smelling the air. He looked towards the door and opened it. They all looked inside and saw nobody inside. He walked into the middle of the room and looked to Erza in frustration. 

"I can smell him in here but I don't know where it's coming from." Erza frowned and started looking around, 

"What are you looking for Erza?" Lucy looked at the mage with a confused face, 

"I'm looking for some kind of secret passage. Because he's obviously nowhere in the room." Lucy nodded and started looking around for some way into a secret room. They had been looking for what seemed like forever when Levy found a crooked lamp. She frowned and straightened it. Right when it was straightened Levy and the other mages heard something like concrete scraping against concrete. Gajeel pulled a painting away from the wall and they all saw a large opening with stairs leading down. Lucy stood there for a few seconds before she heard someone screaming. She frowned and started running down the stairs, she could faintly hear the others running down the stairs after her. Lucy smiled and ran faster. The mages ran until they got to a large room, there was a post in the middle and there was a salmon haired boy chained to it, 

"Natsu..." Lucy ran up to Natsu and picked up his face. He was out cold and he looked pretty beat up. She put her head to his chest and and sighed when she heard his heartbeat. Erza walked up to Lucy and smiled slightly, 

"At least we found him..." Lucy nodded and smiled. She was about to stand up when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, Lucy looked around and saw a large figure in the corner. But before she could do anything, a yellow band on Natsu's wrist glowed and shocked them both. Lucy and Natsu cried out in pain, when the shock went away Natsu slumped further to the ground and Lucy struggled to stay conscious. She looked in the corner again and saw the person walking towards them, she slowly sat up and frowned at the approaching figure, 

"Who's there?!" Erza was now sitting by Lucy, trying to help her sit up and she looked over to where Lucy was looking. They heard someone laugh and the man stepped into the light. Erza gasped and slightly covered Lucy with her own body, 

"I see miss Titania remembers me..." Erza frowned and stood up, equipping a sword, 

"Of course I remember you. You harmed our master and our guild. Aria of the great sky." Aria smiled evilly and looked to Natsu and Lucy who were behind Erza, 

"So the Salamander is here as well..." He pointed his hand to Natsu and some of his magic shot towards Natsu. Lucy got the same feeling as before and looked  towards Natsu, the band on his arm glowed again and he got shocked. He cried out and Lucy could feel the power of the electric shock even though it wasn't touching her. When it went away Natsu went limp and quiet again. Lucy looked over to Aria with a glare, 

"Why are you hurting Natsu, what do you have to gain from this?! And why isn't he awake?" Aria grinned and pointed to Natsu, 

"I do this because my master wishes it to be. I also do it because I have some unfinished business with the Salamander. As to why he won't wake up..." He shrugged as if he didn't care, "I have no idea. He hasn't woken up at all since he got here." Lucy looked over to Natsu with concern in her eyes. She crawled over to him and put her mouth to his ear and whispered as quiet as she could, 

"Natsu, if you can hear me show me without anyone else seeing..." Lucy waited for a few seconds before she felt Natsu blow on her face she looked down and saw that he was grinning ever so slightly. Lucy covered a smile and hugged Natsu close. Then she said louder, 

"Please...wake up Natsu..." Erza looked at Lucy with sadness in her eyes. Lucy whispered in Natsu's ear again, 

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here..." Lucy pulled away from Natsu with tears of happiness running down her face. She looked at Aria with pure hatred in her eyes, "Give Natsu back!" Aria grinned and took a stance, 

"I'll never let you take him from my master." Erza grinned slightly and ran forward. She sliced her swords towards Aria, he barely managed to dodge and threw a wind spell at her, she took a deep breath and sliced through the wind. Aira recoiled in shock as Erza got closer to him. She was able to get close to him and sliced her sword down and struck him down. Aria fell to the ground, beaten. Erza looked down on Aria, 

"I've beaten you before and I will do it a hundred times more." She turned and helped Lucy get the chains off Natsu. When they got them off, Natsu fell forward onto the ground in a heap. Lucy sat him up slightly and put his head on her lap, 

"Natsu, are you ok?" Natsu groaned and opened his eyes slightly. He saw Lucy's face and closed his eyes again with a sigh and a smile, 

"Y-yeah. I'm f-fine...just tired." Lucy looked up to the rest of her friends, 

"Now we just need to find Happy, Carla, and Lily then get out of here." Everyone nodded. Lucy was getting ready to sit up but Natsu grabbed her arm and caused her to sit back down and look at him, 

"They're in the c-castle dungeon..." Lucy was shocked but she nodded her head and stood up, supporting Natsu. Erza walked up to Lucy and took Natsu. She looked over to Natsu who was now on Erza's back. She smiled slightly, 

"Alright, let's go." Everyone nodded and they all ran to the stairs and out of Zeref's room. Lucy ran forward towards the dungeon. She kept running until she came to a set of stairs, she took a deep breath and ran down the stairs. When the mages got to the bottom of the stairs, Lucy yelled as loud as she could, 

"Happy, Carla, Lily! Are you down here?!" Lucy waited for a moment before she heard a faint, 

"Aye sir!" Lucy smiled and ran in the direction she heard the voice. She stopped and yelled again, 

"Keep talking so I can find you!"

"We're this way!" Carla that time and they were closer. Lucy knew exactly where they were. She walked to a cell door and saw Happy with tears running down his face. They were all stuck to the wall with magic sealing chains. When Happy saw Lucy, more tears ran down his face, 

"Luce! They took Natsu somewhere!" Lucy smiled and gestured to Erza. Happy looked at her and saw a salmon head of hair on her shoulder. Happy smiled broadly, 

"Natzu!" Natsu looked up slightly and grinned at Happy, 

"H-hey pal..." Happy sniffed and smiled at Lucy. She smiled back, 

"Gajeel..." Gajeel walked forward and broke the bars and was able to free the three exceeds. Happy flew straight to Natsu crying the whole way. Wendy ran up to Carla and hugged her close. But Lily and Gajeel just grunted and grinned at each other. Lucy looked over to Happy who was hugging Natsu's head. She smiled slightly knowing that he had probably passed out. 

"Let's get out of here." Everyone smiled and nodded, they ran back up the stairs and went outside. She took a deep breath in, taking in the feeling of freedom. She looked back at her friends and smiled, 

"We got out. Now it's time to go home..."