What's the big deal? He just got kicked from the second floor to the first. He'll live.
Sure enough, Natsu ca bounding back up monts later, full of fire and fury, ready to pick a fight with Rhodes.
But Erza held him back with one hand. "Look for clues first. I don't believe Lucy would leave without saying anything."
She didn't have to say more. Happy was already rifling through drawers and cabinets.
He wouldn't dare touch anything that belonged to Mira, but Lucy's stuff? Totally fair ga. To him, it wasn't invading privacy. It was an adventure.
Still, Rhodes frowned at the chaos. "Hey Natsu, can't you just sniff out Lucy's scent and track her down?"
Natsu gave him a deadpan look. "Are you stupid? The whole place slls like Lucy."
Rhodes clenched his fists. He was just called an idiot by an idiot. "I ant outside. Lucy's not hiding inside her own house."
Natsu and Happy blinked, looked at each other, and slapped their palms together. "Right! She wouldn't hide here!"
Unbelievable, Rhodes thought. They really are idiots.
He sighed. "Then what exactly were you two doing rummaging around all this ti?"
Natsu lifted Lucy's blanket and peeked under the bed. "I thought she might be hiding under the covers or sothing. You know, waiting to pop out and scare us."
"You think she's that bored?"
"You don't get it, Rhodes," Happy said, now hovering near the trash bin. "Sotis Lucy likes to play little tricks like that."
He checked inside the bin, then zipped upward to open an overhead cabinet. "Or maybe she's hiding in here..."
Rhodes let out another long sigh. "Even if she was hiding, who hides in such obvious places?"
Natsu grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "That sounds just like sothing Lucy would say!"
Just then, Happy yelped and tumbled to the ground, buried under a sudden avalanche of envelopes.
He'd opened a cabinet, and dozens of letters spilled out.
"Huh? Letters?" Gray knelt down and picked one up. "'To Mom'... 'To Mom'... Looks like they're all addressed to her mother. Why didn't she send them?"
"How could she?" Rhodes said, examining one of the envelopes. "They're just addressed 'To Mom.' No na, no location. I don't think she ever intended to send them at all."
It was only a guess, but deep down, Rhodes feared Lucy's mother might be...
Before he could finish the thought, Natsu had already opened a letter and started reading aloud.
"'Mom, I finally joined Fairy Tail, the guild I've always dread of. The people and the things here are totally chaotic, but it's amazing. Haha, that probably sounds contradictory, but I really love it here...'"
Gray winced. "Hey, don't read other people's letters. That's private."
But Natsu ignored him completely and moved on to the next one.
This is why I kicked him out the window earlier, Rhodes thought. He never listens.
"'Mom, today I t Miss Erza. She's really cool and beautiful...'"
Erza blushed slightly, caught off guard by the unexpected complint.
"Alright, that's enough. Lucy's here." Rhodes raised a small piece of paper he'd just found on the desk. "You all searched high and low and didn't even bother to read the note in plain sight."
Lucy must have known soone would barge in eventually, so she figured it was fine to just leave a note.
Thinking about that... felt a little sad.
"Ho?!" everyone echoed in shock. "She really went back? Is she still blaming herself?"
"Not necessarily," Rhodes said after a mont of thought. "I rember her ntioning sothing before... that she wanted to speak with her father and settle things once and for all."
"You an the sa father who tried to drag her ho?" Erza asked. "Could it be dangerous?"
"Hard to say," Rhodes admitted. "If her father's the controlling type, there's a chance she'll run into trouble. Should we go check on her?"
Natsu, Happy, and Gray all answered at once, "Of course!"
...
The location of the Heartfilia estate was well known. That wasn't the problem.
Normally, they would take the train. But Natsu pointed out that waiting for the next departure would take too long. Lucy might already be in trouble by then.
And so, he insisted, it would be faster to ride a crab straight there.
Rhodes had a sneaking suspicion Natsu's real reason was avoiding the train altogether, but... he couldn't argue with the logic. Lucy had already been on the road for a while. The sooner they caught up, the better.
Erza and Gray rode one crab. Rhodes, Natsu, and Happy took the other.
As the crabs scuttled quickly out of the city, Rhodes pulled out his notebook and scribbled a short ssage explaining their departure. He handed it to a raptor and sent it flying back toward the guild.
Not long after, the raptor returned with a reply.
Rhodes grinned after reading it, jotted down another note, and sent it back.
The two raptors passed ssages back and forth mid-journey like kids exchanging notes in class. They kept going until the distance grew too wide and the response ti too slow.
Gray finally asked, "Alright, what exactly have you two been doing since we left Magnolia?"
"I've just been updating Mira about our location," Rhodes said casually. "Otherwise, Lucy disappears, then we disappear, and everyone back at the guild would go crazy with worry."
"Oh..." Erza lowered her head slightly. "I didn't think of that..."
She always reflected sincerely when she missed sothing important.
"I was so focused on chasing after Lucy, I forgot sothing so basic. The Master even asked to help take care of the guild. I'm so unqualified."
Gray frowned slightly. "Did you really need to send that many ssages?"
Happy raised a paw. "Aye, and he was smiling the whole ti like a creep."
Rhodes grabbed Happy midair and gave his squishy cat face a gentle tug. "By the way, we were discussing project assignnts. Got any complaints? If so, I can have you carry cent when we get back."
Happy imdiately panicked. "I'm sorry!"
Once Rhodes let him go, Happy zipped over to the other crab and hid behind Gray.
"Abuse of power," he grumbled. "Petty revenge. Classic retaliation."
"Oh, don't worry," Rhodes said with a grin. "I'll show you how petty I can be when we get there."
"We're gonna report you to Mira!"
"She'll help punish you."
"Gray, protect !"
"You caused the ss. Clean it up yourself."
"Natsu!"
"...,"
Natsu went completely silent, deep in thought. He appeared to be weighing sothing very serious.
Who was more important? Happy... or the crab they were riding?
Erza reached over and gently patted Happy on the head. "Don't worry, Happy."
"Erza..." Happy's eyes sparkled with gratitude. Erza really was the most dependable.
Then Erza said calmly, "We'll settle this the way we always do in Fairy Tail. You and Rhodes should have a fair duel."
"Give back my hope!" Happy wailed as tears stread down his face.
Everyone burst into laughter.
...
At that mont, outside Magnolia, Juvia had already lost track of where the others went. She wandered the outskirts for a while but couldn't catch their trail. Disappointed, she eventually turned back.
At first, her interest in Gray had drawn her here. But during those days at the Council's detainnt camp, sothing else had started to take root.
She found herself intrigued by the guild itself.
For the past two days, a bold idea had been stirring in her heart—What if I joined Fairy Tail?
But reality pulled her back.
She had been a mber of Phantom Lord, a direct enemy of Fairy Tail. She had even attacked Lucy with her own hands.
Even though she had lost that fight, and even though she heard Master Makarov's words of forgiveness, Juvia still didn't have the courage to ask.
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