Unpredictable

Chapter 6

Gajeel woke up the next morning thinking that he would visit the princess to see if she was okay from last night. He realized that some of his good childhood friends would be staying at the palace for a while just to help prepare for the wedding and just to visit. The pink haired boy he had seen with Levy's handmaiden was named Natsu. He could be an idiot sometimes but he was a jokester. He looked to corner of his room and saw Pantherlily sleeping peaceful on a large rug and he smiled. While he was getting ready for his training, he heard an ear piercing scream come from down the corridor. That came from the shrimps room!! Pantherlily jumped awake and followed Gajeel as he ran to the room and threw  the door open.

Sitting in the middle of the ground was Lucy. She looked like she had just seen the worst possible thing and was sobbing with her head in her hands and there was a note in the floor. He looked around but didn't see any blue haired princess. Gajeel cautiously walked towards her as Gray and Natsu stumbled through the door way. "Luce what happened?!" Natsu asked running to her and trying to find an answer on her panic stricken face. Lucy didn't say anything but gestured towards the note and started sobbing again in Natsu's chest. He didn't know what to do so he just hugged her and gently soothed her. Gray started looking around the room for any sign of a struggle and Pantherlily followed him. Erza, Gajeel's captain of the guard, ran inside and seeing the state of everyone in the room immediately went to inform the King. Gajeel picked up the note and anger rose up within him as he saw what it said. He stormed out of the room with Pantherlily hot on his trail as he went to pack his things. Jellal, Levy's personal tutor, made his way into the room quite distressed, as soon as he read the note he quickly made his way to the head mistress Mirajane and tell her what happened.

Wendy, another one of Levy's servant girls ran into the room and read a loud the note as more of the palace staff came into the small room.

Your "precious princess" has been has been taken as a payment for all the damage you have done to our land. If you want her back than a ransom of $50,000 should be left in front of the red tent next to the potter shop in the West wing of the town. The more time you wait, the more innocent people will go missing. Your choice.

After Wendy finished reading, Lucy took it out of her hand and read it over once more as fresh tears made their way down her cheeks. "Who could have done this?" She could barely get the words out between her sobs. "Lord Jose has been trying to get a hold of our land for a long time. He only wants to use it for his own selfish purposes and doesn't care about the people." Gray stated. "He seems the most likely to do something this despicable." Lucy just nodded quietly as she hoped and prayed that that princess would be alright.

Drip. Drop.

Levy barely opened her eyes to find complete darkness envelope her sight. She realized that there was a bag over here head because she could see light through the fabric. There was big pain in her stomach and she felt her shoulder was really sore. She moved slightly but winced when she remembered that someone had punched her in the stomach. She wanted to scream but realized that there was a gag in her mouth as well. She remembered what had happened the night before and quickly filled with rage and disgust. I can't believe I let him do that. When I find him, he'll wish he was dead. She reminded herself that she would probably have to train more once she got home. If I get home. I don't even know where I am or how long I've been out or how many people are around me. She tried to figure out where she was by using her senses.

Her arms were above her head so she assumed that they were chained to the wall by the cold metal around her wrists. She couldn't see much through the bag on her head but assumed it was daytime because of the brightness she could sense. The ground was wood, probably floor boards and since Levy kept falling from side to side then she guessed she was in some kind of wagon. There were still clothes on her skin and she knew from the feel of it that it was the same formal attire from the previous night. There was a slight breeze that blew against the mage's body and she could feel it was pretty hot and humid. There were voices that could be heard and the sound of horses and other livestock. The small blunette concluded that she was probably on some market traveling caravan going through some kind of sandy, dry area. She tried to move and realized that all her muscles were sore. Levy sighed and tried to use a little of her magic but at no avail, soon realized the they were magic binding chains. As soon as she tried to move again she felt the wagon stop and the door open.

Levy froze and her breath caught in her throat. She didn't move but all she saw were large figures in the room. The voices she heard were deep and soon the bag was taken off her head. She jumped in surprise at the sudden movement and scanned all of her captors to see if there was any clue to their identity. Her questions were soon answered when one of the bulky men lifted her head up by her hair and made her face a more smaller looking man before her. She winced in pain and recognized the tattoo that was in different places on all of the people in the room.

There was about eight people in the wagon room and most of them were the same size or larger than Gajeel. Levy gulped at how scary they looked and she could feel an evil aura around all the men and it made the small blunette feel uneasy. She had read about the tattoo symbol in one of her books and she found herself to be in the company of one of the darkest black market guild in the country. Phantom Lord. They were known to be ruthless and terrifying and the only thing Levy could think of was why she had been taken. The evil smirks on all of the faces made the mage's hair stand up and a shiver run down her spine.

Someone took the gag off of Levy's mouth and she took a few deep breaths to get oxygen back in her lungs. The smaller man spoke up first, "So princess, we can do this the easy way if the hard way. Where is it?" "I don't know what your talking about." Levy was trying to figure out what he was talking about but genuinely had no idea. "I guess it's gonna be the hard way." All of a sudden Levy's right cheek started to burn at the result of the hand the just slapped her face. She winced and closed her eyes trying to endure the pain. This time his voice was more demanding and the small blunette could tell his patience was running thin. "I will ask you one more time where is it?!" He yanked on her hair causing her head to fall back and her neck to hurt. She yelled out in pain and all the jeers around the room made Levy more uncomfortable than she already was and her shoulders were starting to ache from her arms being above her head for so long. "I said I don't know I swear!" Nothing seemed to be working as the man still looked unconvinced.

"Fine then you will stay with us until you decide to tell us. You hold a valuable price over your head and I'm sure anyone would be willing to pay a big sum for such a pretty princess." He licked his lips and Levy wanted to kick him across the room. He let go of her hair, put the cloth back in her mouth and put the bag back on her head. As the princess tried to free her self from the chains all she could hear was the thugs exiting the carriage and still laughing to themselves. Levy was still shocked at what had just happened but she knew she had to get out of there and fast. She tried to look around the room through the small spaces in the sack but she couldn't see much and she remembered that nothing around the room seemed to be of use.

She remember what the leader looked like and had heard that his name went by Acnologia. There were terrifying story's about him and the way he looked into Levy's souls made her skin crawl. The had some feeling in the back of her head the José was related to this but she didn't have any proof so she just brushed off the idea. She was hoping that someone at the castle was aware that she was missing and hopefully alerted people but she wasn't too sure that would happen. A part of her wanted to be rescued by someone and she couldn't quite figure out why.
__________________________
ikkk. i'm busy and writers block sucks but i also have too many ideas. my apologies.