The Calm Before

As Alex was getting ready to go to sleep, he started going over what might be Phantoms next move.

He knew they would be starting to get curious as to why Fairytail hasn't attacked yet.

Enough time hadn't passed for Jose to be concerned about his plans being thwarted but it wouldn't be much longer.

Enough time has passed that the guild could have easily made their way to Phantoms main Guildhall.

It was while he was considering this that he remembered 2 members of the 'Element Four' kidnapping Lucy in the anime.

They had used the original absence of Fairytail's main force being outside the city to confront her.

'Though they couldn't do it this time, as she was having a pool party with the rest of those hooligans at the time she should have been taken. Also, no matter how cocky the Earth dude and Rain lady might be, I'm not sure they are dumb enough to confront her in the open with the Master still in town'. Alex pondered.

'Probably wouldn't stop them from hitting her house and taking her out quietly though'. Sitting up with a start as he came to that realization, he quickly got dressed and headed out.

He wasn't the biggest fan of Lucy from the show, but he was now a member of Fairytail so he shouldn't let her get hurt for no reason.

He also didn't have any personal reason to dislike her. She wasn't on his team and didn't try to get close to him, it was also unfair to judge her based off his opinion from the anime.

'Besides, this should annoy Jose. She is his target after all.' he thought with a small laugh.

While he was heading for Lucy's apartment he started searching for her scent, she had been at his house not too long ago so it wasn't very hard to find it.

When he did find it though, he stopped dead in his tracks. She was not in the direction of her house and was currently moving rapidly towards the edge of town.

"Damnit! I might be too late!" he cursed aloud. Leaping to the sky and spreading his wing, Alex took off in the direction he was detecting Lucy's presence.

He could tell he was close when he flew into a very artificial downpour. Alex used {Mana Manipulation} with {Stealth} to keep himself dry and unseen.

When he caught up to the 2 people that were carrying an unconscious Lucy, they had just reached the edge of the forest outside the city's boundary.

As they stopped to catch their breath from the sprint out of the city, Alex got a good look at them.

The first was a slender, teenage girl with azure blue hair and midnight blue eyes. She looked as though she would be very attractive if she didn't have such a depressing air around her.

Alex could also tell she was the one causing the rain, though he knew she couldn't control it.

Her partner is a slim man of average height with a tiny, pointy, mustache and green hair pointing upwards. He also wore a monocle on his right eye. He didn't have a depressing air about him, but did have a habit of moving in very weird patterns and speaking with a French accent.

It didn't take Alex long to come to the conclusion he didn't want to have a conversation with these two. He wasn't going to attack them, but he wouldn't let them take Lucy either.

He figured it would be much more fun for him and annoying for them if they thought they had gotten away scot free, before their quarry simply disappeared under third noses.

Chuckling darkly to himself, he got closer before wrapping Lucy up with his {Stealth} domain, while using {Mana Manipulation} to lift her and make the rain 'Miss' them both. This was in case these 2 could use their respective elements to locate him.

While {Stealth} could remove their presence, it couldn't make the rain pass through them, so he had to 'trick' the rain and stay off the ground.

The looks of shock and alarm on the 2 wizards face almost made Alex loose focus and drop his {Stealth} because of trying to contain his laughter.

The 2 wizards frantically searched the area with their magics. The man, Sol, scanned the ground while yelling out to whomever took there target, that they were a coward for not facing them directly.

Alex wouldn't rise to his baiting though, he was having a blast seeing their looks of annoyance at not being able to sense him, much less knowing how he took the girl.

The two Phantom Wizards scoured the entire area before deciding to head back into town. Whoever took their target obviously hadn't raised an alarm or called for back up.

It could also have been a magic Item, they hadn't noticed, that teleported the girl back home or to the guild.

It was still the middle of they night so they had some time to look, they could not go report their failure without exhausting all the options before them. Master Jose was not known for his kindness and hated for his plans to fail.

After checking Fairytail's guildhall and Lucy's house with no success, Juvia and Sol had to reluctantly leave.

Neither was looking forward to explaining their failure to the master, but the punishment would be worse the longer they waited to report.

Alex hadn't taken Lucy back to her house, but his. He needed to tell her not to tell anyone about the attempted kidnapping until Phantom did something stupid.

It was more self serving than that though, he still wanted to annoy Jose. Even though he wouldn't get to see it personally, just the thought of Jose having a temper tantrum like a toddler amused him.

He would tell her that she needed to stay with her team when ever possible or just not leave the guild for a while.

He was secretly hoping her presence being constantly in the guild and not offering any opportunities for easy capture would force Jose to act early so they could just get this farce over with.

When Lucy woke up, she was in a panic. She remembered perfectly getting attacked in her house and not being able to even offer a fight.

Looking around the familiar house she calmed down. Alex had left her on the couch and went to prepare some tea for when she came too.

"You're awake" He said, startling the poor girl.

"Uh, yeah... How did I get here? I remember being attacked by some guy I've never seen before, then just blackness" she replied, still a little jumpy and confused.

"I was out for a midnight walk when I saw 2 incredibly suspicious people sprinting out of the city. The guy had something over his shoulder and the entire situation made them seem like bandits so I followed them" Alex lied, making it seem like he was all coincidental and he was just trying to be a good Samaritan.

"Imagine my surprise when I confronted them and found it was a body not an item. They must have panicked knowing they could not get away without causing a scene, because they dropped you and fled. When I saw who the victim was, I rushed back here to make sure you had no injuries. I would have gone back to the guildhall but it is closed for the night." Alex explained as they slowly drank some calming tea.

Lucy took some time to digest his words before building up the courage to ask "Did you happen to see who it was? Or find out why they targeted me?". Her voice was shaky and she seemed unsure if she even wanted the answer.

"Sorry, I didn't" Alex lied again. It seemed easier to keep the guild from trying to get revenge if they didn't even know who was at fault. "They were dressed in dark clothes and fled quickly when a confrontation was inevitable" he continued.

He felt bad lying to her, but it was short lived in the end. She would actually be in less danger not knowing who attacked and would probably be more inclined to stay around the guild or her team to keep it from happening again.

Lucy seemed frustrated that she had been so helpless against her abductors and angered that they almost got away with it.

Alex let her stew in her thoughts as he sent a small bird made of his magic to go get Erza, he knew it would do Lucy some good to have a member of her team right now as Alex couldn't really provide the comfort someone in her position probably needed.

Erza showed up in record time and in full Armor with swords drawn. "Damn, Red. The enemy is already gone" Alex said seeing her gear.

"Who would attack Lucy in the city? And where is she?" Erza asked, not even getting upset that Alex called her 'red'.

"I don't know who it was, and she is inside. Come" Alex replied, while inviting her inside. She reluctantly put her weapons and armor away before walking inside.

"It's Erza and thankyou" she said quietly as she passed him. Alex simply chuckled lightly.

Alex let Erza and Lucy catch up and make plans to move forward. He got another tea cup for Erza and even some snacks for the 2 women.

He didn't know how long they would need to get sorted out but had no intention of being a poor host in his own home.

He told them they were welcome to stay the night if they needed, before heading to his own bed.

It was late and he didn't feel like he was required for their conversation.

He wanted to figure out what he was going to do after this whole Phantom thing was over and even decide if he himself was going to participate in the fight its self.

'With Natsu and Gray much stronger than they were during the original, I shouldn't really be required. Besides, the master is still perfectly healthy.' These thoughts played through his head as he drifted off to sleep.

Erza and Lucy talked for a while until all the tea and snacks were gone, before making their way back to Lucy's apartment. Erza stayed the night with the still distraught blonde, just in case her kidnappers came back. Nothing happened for the rest of the night, and the sun brought with it a new day.

Phantom Guildhall Jose Porla PoV

'This doesn't make any sense!! We had the girl, and she just vanished! How?! Did she have some sort of family relic that her father didn't mention to us?! The Heartfilia's are certainly wealthy enough to afford something like that, but he should have mentioned it! I would charge him double for this if I wasn't already going to bleed him dry!' Jose had a dark look on his face.

The shadows gathered around him, dark and oppressive. He had just gotten word that the operation to kidnap the Heartfilia girl was a failure.

To make matters worse they had her and almost gotten away from the city clean when she just disappeared without a trace. He wasn't too annoyed that the girl had escaped, it was the unknown that ignited his anger!

'If she could do it once, she could do I again! I need to figure out what is happening. Those pathetic Fairies also haven't made any moves yet, that is also concerning, I was hoping they would have already attacked so I could wipe them off the face of the world!

I could always just go attack them. With the Phantom Giant, there wouldn't be anything they could do to stop me! ...Yes, yes. That seems like a good way to blow off some steam as well.

I can deal with the girl and her relic later.' With a plan in mind Jose summoned the Element 4 and Gajeel to the throne room.

He ordered them to prepare the guild for an all out attack on Fairy Tail and to awaken the Giant. "It is time we finally wipe out those fairies once and for all!" Jose shouted, to the cheers of his guild members.