Inner Demons || Sting Eucliffe Love Story (Book 2)

Chapter 14: Captured

Fairy Tail was bustling with their usual excitement - Cana drinking barrels of alcohol, Erza eating her strawberry cake, Gray and Natsu arguing, etc. However, the noise they produced was silenced as the door slammed open to reveal two familiar figures.

"Help!" Lector yelled. "Akiko and Shiro have been kidnapped! And Sting's been poisoned by something that's going to kill him soon!"

"What?"

---

Natsu and the gang stood around the bed that the unconscious Sting laid in, being healed by Wendy. She sighs as she stops, wiping away her sweat.

The maroon cat asks, "Well, how is he? He's going to be ok, right?"

"Yep!" Wendy said. "He'll be just fine, with enough rest, he'll be ok."

"Yay!" Lector cheered, only to feel saddened again as he realised something important.

Makarov and Mira arrived.

Makarov asks, "Lector, now that has been settled, would you tell us what's going on?"

"Yeah..." he said sadly, sitting down. "We were going on a job with Akiko and Shiro before those two got kidnap by this lady."

"What was the job?" Gray asks.

Erza said, "Yes, please go into more detail. Tell us the whole story."

Lector said, "It was to take down a dark guild that had completely taken over one of the towns, it was called Hooligan or something like that. We were heading there ourselves, though Sting was leading us for awhile so it took longer than it should, if Akiko wasn't there, we wouldn't have ever gotten there," he chuckled slightly. "On the way there, we were attacked by a bunch of thugs. We took down lots of them, but they kept getting back up. We had to run or we would've been overwhelmed."

"What?" Lucy said. "A case where Akiko decides to run from battle? There must of been a lot of them."

Natsu said "Yeah, how many were they?"

"There weren't too many, but no matter how many times we attacked them, they just kept getting up like they didn't get hurt at all!" Lector stated. "I don't think Akiko wanted us to use so much magic before the big battle, so we decided to fly away from the battle and towards the town instead."

Wendy said, "Well, that's a bit odd. With the power Akiko has, they should've been knocked out in one attack, let alone multiple."

"Yeah!" Happy agreed.

Carla said, "I agree. Akiko's too strong to get overwhelmed by a large quantity of thugs."

"That's true..." Erza said. "Very strange. Continue on, Lector."

"When we arrived at the town, it wasn't anything like we expected," he said. "People were chained up, all beaten and being forced to pull these heavy looking things! It was terrible! I don't know which guild it was, but we snuck around for a bit. The funny thing was they knew that we were there but they acted like that they didn't know. It was like they knew this whole time and were waiting for us to show. Then Akiko collapsed out of nowhere while we were running away, and this lady appeared, I think her name was Nori or something, she made that cut on Sting. Akiko told us to run before she went completely unconscious, she told us that we were too weak to defeat someone like Nori and that we should leave her!" tears rolled down Lector's face.

"Sting collapsed too and I had no choice but to fly away with Sting before Nori could capture us too! I came to Magnolia because it was the closest guild that I knew well enough!" he exclaimed.

Gray said, "They just took her like that? Wait, why did she collapse?"

"I don't know! She was alright a few seconds ago then she went down like she got knocked out or something!" Lector said.

Erza thought about the options, confused on a few things. However, she snapped out of her thoughts as she heard a groan. Everyone looked over to see Sting sitting up. 

Wendy said, "Wait Sting! You're not in any shape to move like that!"

Sting blinked a few times, before realising that it was Wendy. "What are you doing here? Wait, where am I?"

"You're at Fairy Tail Sting," Erza said.

It only took him a second to process everything before he said, "Akiko! Where is she? I have to get her back!"

He tried to get up, but ended up feeling more pain than he did before and was forced back into the bed by Wendy.

Gray said, "Idiot. You can't go anywhere in your state."

"But I have to..." he coughed as he sat up. "Get Akiko back. She's my mate, and I promised that I would protect her," he clenched his fist in frustration.

Lucy said, "That's sweet in all, but you can't help her if you don't rest. Besides, there are still a few things that we are unclear of."

Mira agreed, "True. We can't just charge into battle without a proper idea of who we're dealing with," Sting stayed silent, looking at his lap.

It was silent for a few minutes, before Sting broke it. "Yeah, but... It's really important that we get her back as soon as possible... If we don't... A lot of things are going to happen, and they won't be good."

"What do you mean, Sting?" Lector asks.

Sting looked over to the Master, who had been quiet for a very long time.

Makarov sighs, before saying, "I suppose it's about time for everyone to know. Gather everyone at the guildhall, tell them that this is important."

Mira nodded, before walking out of the room.

---

Sting sat in the infirmary, his fist clenched as he glared at his lap. Lector seated beside him in worry for his partner. Outside, Master Makarov was explaining to everyone about Akiko's past, loud gasps could be heard but there was no insults thrown at her in the least. Just cheers and determined words to get her back from the guild that took her.

Lector asks, "Sting? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just worried," he admitted, trying to be calm for his buddy's sake.

Please be alright, Akiko. I promise I'll come and get you as soon as possible.