Always in the dark ( NaLu ) <3

Chapter 28

HELLO LITTLE IZUNI'S! HERE'S A PRETTY PRODUCTIVE UPDATE, AT LEAST I'M FINALLY GETTING SOMEWHERE! REMEMBER TO VOTE/COMMENT IF YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER, HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND! <3
-Izuni
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LUCY* p.o.v.

"Lucy!" Somebody called in my ear.

"Woa-AHH!" I screamed as I woke up and ungracefully fell from my bed. I landed on the floor and yawned.

"Sorry." The voice said. I screamed again, I'd thought the voice was in my dream! I looked up and saw Natsu standing above me, holding his hand out to me. I took it and stood up lazily.

"What- yawn- what's up?" I said, rubbing my eye with one hand. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and immediately felt self-conscious. My hair was a terror of which cannot be expressed in words, my eyes were uneven and dazed, and there were drool marks from my mouth.

"Well, there's a slight problem at the guild. It's Wendy." He said.

"Is she okay?" I asked instinctively. I wondered how many times people asked that about me. Natsu didn't nod, I took that as a bad sign.

"She's missing." He admitted. I nodded.

"Okay, just give me a minute to change and... Stuff." I said. He frowned.

"There's no time for that. You look fine, really. Don't worry about it." I gave him a questioning look.

"Uh, maybe just brush your hair." He said nervously. I nodded and quickly ran a brush through my hair.

Still in my pyjamas, I opened the door and stepped out, followed by Natsu. We were about to take off in the direction of the guild (me, tripping over my oversized, bunny pants) when it occurred to me.

"Wait," I said.

"What?" He asked in a concerned voice.

"How did you get in my apartment?"

ERZA* p.o.v.

"Levy, you and Laxus are going to check the East end." I ordered. The search for Wendy was just starting this morning. We'd thought she'd gone home last night, but with her not here yet, and Natsu seeing her strange actions with an outsider, we had to start looking before it was too late. "Macao, take Romeo and Wakaba to check West." Macao nodded. Natsu and Lucy barged in through the door. Lucy still looked half asleep.

"Lucy, Natsu!" I yelled to get their attention. "You're coming with me to check South." I said.

"Gray, Juvia, and the raijinshuu team, go North. Everybody have their teams?" I asked. Everybody nodded.

"Erza!" Cried Jet and Droy. "Can we go with Levy's team?!" They cried.

"We'll need you here in case Wendy shows up."

"Oh," they sighed. "But master is still here! And we can protect her." They exclaimed. I grunted, we didn't have long to find Wendy if something bad had happened to her. When Lucy disappeared, it had taken mere hours for her to disappear.

"Okay, okay. Go!" I said. Each team took off to their assigned areas. "Come on." I yelled to Natsu and Lucy. We ran through the streets, checking buildings and shops on our way.

"I'm not sure what's going on." Lucy said as we looked through an empty bakery.

"Wendy's gone missing. We normally wouldn't think much of it, she could've just gone out somewhere. But Natsu said he saw a strange character at the guild yesterday, that plus the fact that Mira and Lisanna saw her "die" at your captors building? It doesn't add up. Hopefully we find her and nothing's wrong." Lucy nodded.

"Yeah. Hopefully." She said with a spaced out expression. I was going to ask if she was okay when Natsu barged in through the door.

"You guys, I found it!" He called.

"It?" I asked, sharing a glance with Lucy.

"It's in the woods, I can't believe I didn't see it yesterday, come on, hurry!" He said, running towards the woods as we followed behind.

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"Up there." Natsu pointed. Erza and Lucy looked up, not noticing the difference at first. From the bottom, above them it only looked like an unmoving dark cloud. But if you looked closely, you'd notice the slightly translucent look of it. The way it wasn't moving, even though it was a windy day. It wasn't a cloud. It was a shadow.

"Is- is that a... Shadow?" Lucy asked in surprise. I nodded.

"But," I said, "what's casting it?"

"I don't know, that's why it's suspicious. This is where the scent of the figure and 'Wendy' disappeared." Natsu answered. Lucy gave him a look.

"Why'd you say 'Wendy' like that?" She asked. Natsu just shrugged.

"So... What now?" She asked.

"Stop asking questions." Natsu said in an annoyed voice. "Now, my brilliant plan, is to wait." I rolled my eyes. Because he's just so good at that.

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5 minutes later
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"I can't take it anymore!" Natsu yelled, coming out from behind a tree.

"Natsu, maybe you shouldn't-" Lucy was cut off by a sudden shadow appearing from the large one above, creating a dark form of somebody beneath a cloak.

"Hello, Natsu." The dark man looked up, revealing long black hair and a tanned, pierced face. "Gee-hee."