Thank you, Nashi

Chapter 21

The guildhall was deathly silent. Guild members helped anyone who was injured, though, there weren't many. Many people were surrounding the resident Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu held his head in his large hands. He hadn't spoken since he discovered Nashi's kidnapping. He thought it was bad that Lucy was take, but now he felt worse.

He felt like a failure.

Gray walked up to the crestfallen man. He felt awful fro him. He tried putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, only for it to be swatted away by Natsu. Gray's dark eyes landed on the wooden floor below them.

"Natsu I'm sorry. She was more powerful than I thought."

Everyone was shocked when Natsu rose from his seat and threw a flaming fist at the Ice Maker. Juvia rushed to Gray's side.

"Natsu, what was that for?" Erza yelled. Tears sprouted from Natsu's eyes.

"She wasn't more powerful than you!" he yelled at Gray accusingly, "You just underestimated her. You let your guard down, thinking it was an easy win but you lost! You didn't take her seriously, and now N-Nashi's gone," Natsu fell on the floor. Mira and Wendy rushed to his side, trying to comfort him. Onlookers watched in pity. They couldn't even comprehend how he felt. Mira held the boy close to her, rubbing his shoulder tenderly as he whimpered. She glanced at the guild master who was rubbing his chin in deep thought.

"What now Master," she asked softly. The old man did not respond. Happy sat in Wendy's lap, the young woman rubbing his ears as he too cried.

"W-Why do they want Lucy's keys?" he stuttered. Erza folded her armored arms over her chest.

"I don't know, but now we know that that's what they wanted, and if they want to use them…"

"They need a Celestial Spirit wizard to do it," Natsu finished the redheads thought from where he kneeled on the floor.

"Which means Lu-Chan is still alive," said Levy. That piece of news made the group feel a little bit better, but not by much. It didn't change the fact that she was still gone, and now so was her daughter.

"Now it is even more imperative that we find them," Makarov finally spoke. All the people in the room nodded. They just had to find them.

They just had to.

A laugh alarmed all the mages in the room. Everyone followed the sound up to the second floor of the building. Up by the railing was a large blonde haired man with a coat on his shoulders and a scar over his eye. The people gawked at him, finding his attitude strange.

"I can't believe you guys." He chuckled. Natsu stood from his spot, glaring at the blonde haired man.

"What are you laughing about Laxus? This isn't funny," hurt evident on his features. Laxus just continued laughing.

"I can't believe you all are so blind! It's so obvious, even someone as dumb as happy could have thought of it." A soft "Hey!" could be heard. Anger radiated off of Natsu and a few others.

"What the heck are you talking about Laxus?" Gray yelled. Laxus shook his head, finding his family ridiculous.

"Just a few hours ago, you were all complaining about how there was no chance in finding a member of their guild, then POOF, three of them come waltzing up to our door." Some people were starting to catch on.

"We have four dragon slayer in our guild, and now, we have three scents we can track," he concluded.

"But, they vanished," said Lisanna up to the Lightning Dragon Slayer, "We can't track their scents through the floorboards."