Injured

"What?!" Happy and Natsu both shout out in unison. Natsu steps forward and grabs Lucy by both of her shoulders, his face deadly serious.

"Where is she, Lucy?" Natsu says, his grip unconsciously tightening.

"I'm not sure. I think she is still where I was captured…" she gets cut off as Natsu grabs her wrist and starts pulling her back towards their hometown of Magnolia. They sprint as fast as they can, hoping to find their friend safe and sound. 

Lucy tires partway back and Happy picks her up to help keep up with Natsu. They are silent during their journey, focused solely on reaching their friend. When they finally make it to town, Lucy directs them towards where she last remembered seeing the brunette.

About one street away from their destination, Natsu stops to sniff the air. Happy and a recovered Lucy rush past him at first with how sudden he stopped. They go back and watch in concern as they see Natsu's face pale. Without waiting for them to say anything, he takes off down the street even faster than before. Happy and Lucy exchange anxious glances at Natsu's odd behavior before quickly following after him.

They soon catch up to Natsu who is standing completely still as he looks down the small street, shock and horror written on his face. The other two members of Fairy Tail look and let out a shriek of horror in unison at the sight. Krysti is laying facedown on the ground with her head facing away from them. But what caused the reactions from the other three is the large puddle of blood surrounding the brunette.

Lucy sinks to her knees with both of her hands covering her mouth, barely able to suppress her sorrowful wails. Happy stands next to Lucy, trembling at the vision of their friend. This was worse than the sight of Team Shadowgear hanging from the tree in the park. Even worse than seeing the Master reduced to nothing but an old man close to death.

With them you were able to tell that they were alive. Krysti on the other hand... Natsu slowly walks over to the prone form, his head looking down so his bangs are covering his face. Standing beside the body, he kneels down uncaring about the blood staining his pants.

Reaching out a hand hesitantly, he pauses before placing it gently on her shoulder. The cold flesh causes his heart to clench. Steeling himself for the worst, he gently shakes the woman as he prays for her to be ok. A small groan that can only heard by him reaches his ears. He brightens up instantly and rolls Krysti over to try to wake her. He recoils when he sees how badly beaten up she looks.

Her nose is a bloody mess as it had been broken again, the most likely source of the blood. Bruises cover almost every part of her exposed skin and he didn't dare look elsewhere. Her clothes are completely drenched in her blood, even worse than the first time her nose was broken. Her body was cold, just as cold as the night they spent in Harujion and her normally rosy cheeks were deathly pale.

He clenches a fist that is shaking in pure rage. Another one of his precious family members has been hurt and he wasn't there to protect them. If it wasn't for the fact that she needed him to take her somewhere to heal, he would of gone back towards Phantom Lord and damn the consequences.

He reaches his arms under Krysti and in a smooth motion, lifts her up to carry her bridal style. He shivers slightly at how cold she feels and increases his body heat to help warm her. He runs at a fast pace back the way he came. He passes Lucy and Happy who still haven't recovered from their grief.

Without stopping, he blurts out, "She's alive." before taking off down the street at a blistering pace and ignoring the shouts and stares of passerby's. Lucy lets out a huge gasp of relief and shakily gets to her feet. She was so sure that the worst has happened.

All that blood. Even she can smell it from where she is at the end of the street. She closes her eyes and can't help but see the beaten up bodies of her friends, her family.

She pushes the images away and takes off after Natsu in a stumbling run before steadying herself.

Happy follows after the blonde, torn between who he should be near. Natsu's mind is numb and the only thing he can think of is to take her to the guild, to safety. Just like the last time when the brunette was injured, only this time it is much more serious. His breath is turning ragged from the almost non-stop sprinting all the way from Oak Town.

Entering the guild, he barely looks at the damage as he weaves around the obstacles to head downstairs where a huge commotion can be heard. Natsu tightens his grip on the older woman as he slowly makes his way down the stairs, careful to not to aggravate her wounds. Loud noises of people complaining and groaning from their various injuries are the loudest.

While other less injured members scramble to gather magical items or are planning their next attack against Phantom. A hush falls over the guild at the sight of a blood covered Natsu carrying in a bloody and badly beaten up brunette girl. His head is lowered and no one can make out his expression as he gently lays her on the nearest table. He tightly takes hold of Krysti's hand as he sits down beside her body, his head still bowed. Large gasps are heard as some of the members quickly realize that the person beaten up is their newest member.

"Natsu! What happened!?" cries out Mirajane as she rushes over to the couple with Erza and Gray close behind. Tears well up in her eyes as she gets a closer look at the injuries. Everyone holds their breath as they await for an answer from the dragon slayer. He lifts his head and the look of fury on his face causes most of the guild to recoil from its intensity.

"It was the Elemental 4. Phantom." he positively snarls at the name. A burst of heat explodes from the dragon slayer.

"They. Will. Pay." he slowly grounds out as the heat takes on the form of flames around his body. At the same time, an intense cold contrasts with the heat as Gray glares in the direction of the Phantom guild hall. His fists are clenched tightly to his sides as a white mist forms around his body. Angry and awed chatter instantly buzzes around the room at Natsu's words.

Its normal to see Natsu getting worked up, but its rare for Gray to start leaking magic like that when not in a fight with the dragon slayer. A dark aura hushes the guild just as quickly as it started when Erza spins to face the pink-haired man. The red-head steps up and looks down to meet Natsu's eyes with her unflinching ones, ignoring the stabbing cold and prickling heat of the two mages in front of her.

"Tell us everything." she commands in a low voice, the hard glare in her eyes matching the murder in the fire mage's. Normally such a look would have him cowering in terror, but the anger in his heart and the knowledge that it wasn't meant for him allows him to face her stare head on. Natsu nods and retells all that he knows, his expression hardening if that was possible.

During this, Mira and a few others who knew how to treat injuries started work on the brunette. Someone suggests taking her to the hospital to which Mira shoots down vehemently. With how increasingly hostile Phantom is becoming, Mira doesn't want the injured brunette to be moved to the hospital.

Despite the fact that she would receive better treatment for her injuries, it would be hazardous to try moving her with Phantom Lord out there ready and willing to brutalize anyone associated with Fairy Tail. It's just too risky unless the whole guild goes as one, and if they do they will have to stay at the hospital to keep guard. It's almost a sure bet that Phantom is keeping an eye on the guild's activities and the less they know, the better.

There is a chance that Phantom doesn't know that Jet, Droy, and Levy are in the hospital and that is the best protection that can be given to them. But if Krysti is moved, then there is a very high chance it would alert Phantom that there is at least one injured member within and cause the previous injured three to be in even more danger. Especially if Phantom Lord is willing to hurt people as much as Krysti has been hurt. Its a risky gamble, but Mirajane is willing to take the chance.

During this, Natsu is telling the guild what happened at Oak Town. At the mention of Lucy being kidnapped, the more mobile members start to organize a rescue party for her when the blonde herself came down the stairs surprising everyone.

A lot of other members of the guild bombard her with questions once they are over their shock. Natsu still has yet to let go of the brunette's hand and Gray stands beside Krysti, hovering protectively over her. They are like silent sentinels as they watch the proceedings with dark thoughts clouding their minds.

Happy flies over towards Natsu and lands on the table beside Krysti. His large eyes well up in tears as he silently cries. The rivaling forces of magic between the two boys has barely calmed during Natsu's telling of events.

What really doesn't help is that more injuries than just the brunette's face has been found during treatment. Besides a newly rebroken nose, she also has 2 broken ribs, and major bruising over most of her body. Mira is afraid that those bones may be fractured where the bruises are and suspects there may be some internal bleeding. There isn't much she can do and no one else currently in the guild has healing magic beyond basic first aid.

Despite the treatment, Krysti's life is still teetering on the brink, and if this war with Phantom isn't finished quickly, she may be their first casualty. The people by the plump woman all decide to keep her condition to themselves to help keep the rest of the guild's morale from sinking further.

Getting everyone who is asking her questions to settle down some, Lucy is able to tell her side of the story to the guild. She left nothing out. Everyone is in shock to learn that their friend really is a rich heiress. Most of them were able to get over their shock fairly quickly, while others needed more time to process their thoughts.

Looking down, Lucy uses her bangs to hide her face, but the unmistaken able sound of a sob is heard to the people nearby. The men look over in horror, their worst fear happening right in front of them.

A girl is crying.

They panic, unsure of what to do as Lucy stands there, crying her eyes out. The sound breaks Natsu and Gray out of their murderous thoughts and slowly their magic auras abate. Another friend of theirs needs help, even if they don't know exactly how to provide it.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Lucy wails out before covering her face with her hands again.

Between sobs, she continues, "This is all… This is all my fault! But, I still want to be in the guild…" Lucy increases her volume as she looks up to stare everyone in the eyes, "I love Fairy Tail!" Lucy starts to break down into uncontrollable sobs. The guild looks on at her with pity and sympathy before the less injured women move in to comfort the poor over-stressed blonde.

They take her to a more secluded corner to let her express her emotions more privately. When the majority of her grief has been let out, Lucy moves over to rejoin her team as they watch over Krysti after she has been treated. Looking at the extent of injuries her friend suffered while trying protect her, Lucy starts feeling extremely guilty again at the pain she has caused her friends.

She lowers her head with a depressed look about her and feels the prickle of tears getting ready to form. Noticing something is wrong, Gray turns to look at Lucy.

"What's the matter? Still uneasy?" the ice mage asks softly. Lucy's head lowers until she is looking at her feet, and Gray's words catches the attention of other nearby members. After a pause, Lucy decides to answer without lifting her head.

"No, it's not that." She pauses again, as if to gather her thoughts. "It's just… I'm sorry." she finishes weakly.

"Well, it's the fate of rich heiress' to get chased. And the ones who protect them are Men." says Elfman as he walks over towards the group.

"Don't say things like that!" Gray snaps. All the stress and frustration adding up is making him much more irritable than usual. Elfman looks slightly taken aback at the unusual amount of bite in Gray's words.

Hopping to the floor, Happy looks up at Lucy with a worried and confused face as he says, "But I'm really surprised. Why did you keep it a secret, Lucy?" Unmoving from her position, she starts to speak at a low volume.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything. After I ran away from home, I didn't really want to talk about it. For a full year, he never showed any interest in his runaway daughter. And now he wants me back? My father went to such terrible lengths to take me back…" she pauses from her explanation to clench her eyes shut to hold back her tears.

"He's the worst!" she cries out in a louder voice and pauses again. The guys can only watch her, not knowing exactly how to approach. Lucy opens her eyes again and lowers her voice to where it was before her outburst.

"But when you get down to it, it's originally my fault for running away from home, right?" she asks more to herself than the others.

"That's not true! Your father's the bad guy here!" Elfman protests.

"You idiot!" Gray hisses out. Elfman realizes his blunder and quickly tries to make up for it.

"I mean, Phantom!" he says lamely while striking an odd pose.

The sad blonde ignores them and continues speaking, "Thanks to my selfish actions, I've caused all this trouble for everyone. I'm really, truly sorry. I guess if I went home, it would end this, right?"

Natsu speaks up before Lucy can continue down that path of thinking, "I wonder about that." Hearing his voice, Lucy pulls her gaze away from the floor to look up at the dragon slayer.

"But "rich heiress" just doesn't strike the right tone." he says with the first true smile on his face since he saw Team Shadowgear in that tree. As Lucy watches him, his voice grows more cheerful as he continues, "Laughing in this dirty old beer hall, and making a ruckus while on some adventure… That's the Lucy I know." She looks down as she mulls over his words.

Turning serious, Natsu lets go of Krysti's hand as he stands up to take a step towards the blonde and calmly asks, "You said you wanted to stay here, right? What's the point of returning to someplace you don't want to go?"

Lucy jerks upright as Natsu's words strikes a chord in her. Encouraged, he continues, "You're Lucy of Fairy Tail!" She looks up at Natsu to see a bigger smile on his face. He hooks a thumb over his shoulder to point at the guild.

"This is your home to return to." Moved by the sentiments, tears well up in Lucy's eyes yet again. Only this time they weren't tears of sadness, but tears of love and hope. Gray looks annoyed by the waterworks and Elfman starts shaking in fear, tears of women being his weakness.

"Don't cry, sheesh… You're stronger than that!" Grays tells the overwrought blonde in hopes of stopping her crying. He scratches his head out of frustration, too unsettled about the whole affair to even strip. During this, a make shift bed upstairs has been made and Mira directs the guys to carefully carry Krysti over to it. The brunette should have an easier time to rest with fresher air and removed from the ruckus below.

Mira has a hard time convincing the ice and fire mage to stay away and let Krysti rest without them hovering over her after she has been placed down. Both boys feels particularly guilty about leaving the girls alone which let Lucy get kidnapped and still might cost the brunette her life. They aren't the only ones filled with guilt. Erza feels that the guilt should be placed on her since she insisted on leaving the two alone in their grief at the hospital.

Lucy feels it is all her fault for running away even though she is perfectly justified in doing so. Even Mirajane feels guilty about it since she was the one who let Krysti go off on her own with Lucy. If she just insisted that they stay in the guildhall with her, or if she went with them, things would of been different.

They all stew in guilt, believing that they each are to blame for their injured friend when by all rights, it is completely Phantom Lord's fault.