I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS : )

The trip into town had been uneventful. The two children had hung onto Levy's hands the whole way, smiling and giggling as they went. Gajeel stomped behind them, still upset at having been not so graciously dropped just a few moments prior in the house by Starla. He was silently plotting out all the different ways he could punish the two brats if he was ever allowed to discipline. Most of his plottings revolved around Kyle, seeing as he was the instigator of the twins. Levy could sense the glare Gajeel was sending the twins and shot him a quick reminder glance that this was a mission and he was to behave.

Once they got to the main road of town, the twins let go of Levy's hands and bounded for the nearest shop window, distracted by the objects that lit up, moved, and made noise.

"Oi!" Gajeel snapped, marching over to them and picking them up by the scruffs of their shirts. They dangled in shock as they stared at the very pissed off mage. "The rule was you were to stay with us. Not disappear on us." Gajeel berated. Starla immediately burst into tears while Kyle glared at him.

"You made Starla cry again! You're a meanie!" Kyle immediately teleported himself and his sister away from Gajeel and appeared at the fountain in the middle of the road.

"Gajeel, please let me handle this. Go take a breather." Levy pleaded as she ran off to the kids. Gajeel huffed and ran his hand through his hair, really regretting the day. He just wanted to leave the mission and forget about the reward. It wasn't even his mission so why was he the one getting in trouble.

Meanwhile Levy had approached the children at the fountain. Kyle was consoling Starla who was still hysterically sobbing and bringing attention to themselves from the nearby shoppers. Levy hoped she could calm her down enough to avoid drawing more attention to themselves. "Kyle, Starla, it's okay. I know you were excited by the things you saw and you didn't mean to run off. But you have to remember that your parents want us to take good care of you and make sure you're safe. That means you have to stay by us."

"We don't want to go with that meanie. He's scary and is always yelling!" Kyle shouted at Levy. "He made Starla cry and I don't like him."

"He doesn't mean to make Starla cry and he isn't mean. He just wants to do his job and make sure you're safe. Remember he was upset because you left us. He shouldn't have yelled at you and Starla, but he needs to know that you can follow the rules we gave you." Levy explained as she ran her hand on Starla's back, rubbing soothing circles to help the child calm down.

"Well, I still don't like him." Kyle replied, huffing as he stomped his foot.

"It's only for a few hours. Let's go get a drink and then go look at the stores. Isn't that why we came to town?" Levy asked, switching tactics hoping to distract the children.

"Can we get a soda?" Starla whispered as she looked at Levy with tear-filled eyes.

"Sure. But you have to stay with me and Gajeel okay? And I'll talk to him about being nicer. How does that sound?" The twins slowly nodded their heads and stood up, walking with Levy as they returned to Gajeel's side.

"We're grabbing sodas, do you want anything?" Levy asked him.

"No. Let's go." Gajeel walked ahead of the trio, hoping that he could keep his cool for the remaining few hours. They stopped at a vendor's cart, ordered the sodas for the twins and then took them window shopping as they walked by each store front. Everything was going well and an hour had passed before they reached the toy shop. The twins decided to split up to look at different toys, Kyle wanted to look at the new play sets for soldiers and Starla wanted to look at the stuffed cats. One of the cats had caught Gajeel's eye because it looked like Lily so he walked with Starla to examine it closer. He was debating if he could prank the sly cat by pretending the stuffed animal was the real Lily.

Levy went with Kyle because she saw some children's books next to the play sets he was examining. Sensing she could have a few minutes of peace while the child was distracted, she grabbed one of the books off the shelf and sat down in a nearby chair, reading the story and taking occasional glances in Kyle's direction.

About fifteen minutes had passed when Levy looked up and noticed Kyle was no longer where she had left him. Quickly glancing around, she couldn't see him and returned the book to the shelf before wandering around the store looking for him. She ran into Gajeel and Starla along the search. "Have you seen Kyle, he wandered away from me?" Levy asked. Both shook their heads and joined the search, asking the store clerk if he has seen the child. The whole store was in a frenzy looking for him and had to admit he was no longer in the store.

"Gajeel, we have to find him! I'm going to alert the authorities. Can you see if he's in one of the nearby shops? He might have tried exploring on his own." Levy suggested as she ran to a nearby officer.

"Come on midget. Let's find your brother." Gajeel sighed as he walked to the next three stores on his left. None of the clerks had seen the child. Returning to the toy store, Levy reported she had checked the three stores on the right. Levy began to panic, sensing not only the loss of her mission reward, but the dread of explaining to the twins' parents how they had lost Kyle. She shouldn't have been reading, she should have been watching him!

"Oi, Shrimp!" Gajeel yelled, having tried getting her attention several times with no response, finally distracting the bluenette from her thoughts. "I think I see him!" Gajeel pointed. They both saw a little boy turn the corner of the street, but all they caught was a glimpse. They couldn't be a hundred percent sure it was him, but it was worth checking out at this point. They ran down the street, turned the corner and froze as they watched three men throw Kyle into a wagon, his hands bound behind his back.

"Gajeel, stop them!" Levy yelled as she swung Starla onto her back. "Starla, hang onto me and don't let go." Levy said.

Gajeel immediately began chasing the wagon, jumping onto the roof and throwing one of the men off that tried to punch him. Levy quickly used her magic to create a lasso and tied the man up, alerting the authorities before following Gajeel. She was small, but she could run quickly and had good endurance from all the training Gajeel had put her through. The only problem was Starla. She was heavy for Levy, and it was slowing them down. The fearful child could only cling on to the mage for dear life as they weaved their way through the crowds.

"Starla, listen to me. Can you use your magic to lift the wagon? We might be able to help your brother quicker if it's not moving on the road?" Levy huffed as she saw the wagon getting away. Gajeel was still occupied with one of the men as the driver tried to knock him off by swerving all over the road, causing other drivers to dash out of the way.

"I-I'll try." Starla said, releasing her hands from Levy as Levy swung her to the front of her body and carried her bridal style. The little girl raised her hands at the wagon and released her magic. The back wheels of the wagon began to lift from the ground, tipping Gajeel and the man off the wagon. With the two men still fighting, it was now up to Levy and Starla to save Kyle. Starla strained herself to lift the entire wagon off the ground, but it was too heavy and she was too young and inexperienced with her magic to hold the spell for long. Spent of energy, Starla had to release the wagon and watch as her brother was whisked away. She began to sob as Levy finally had to stop running and catch her breath.

"KYLE! KYLE COME BACK" She sobbed as she pushed herself away from Levy and tried to chase the wagon herself.

"STARLA, DON'T GO!" Levy cried, chasing after the child. Starla continued to run, ignoring Levy as she turned down the road she had seen the wagon turn onto. Levy continued to chase the child, afraid that Starla would also be taken.

Meanwhile Gajeel had managed to hit the guy he was up against with a few solid punches to the face. The man had begged for mercy, pleading for Gajeel to stop. Gajeel was too frustrated to listen or care and continued to punch the man until he was almost unconscious.

"Who are you? Why do you want the child? TALK!" Gajeel demanded raising his fist again.

"We…were hired." The man replied as blood gushed from his nose. "Our boss wanted them for ransom against their parents. We were supposed to get a cut. That's all I know!" The man replied.

"Who's your boss? I want his name!" Gajeel demanded, shaking the man in the air by the collar of his shirt.

"I…don't…know." The man answered as he began to turn blue in the face!"
"If you don't start talking, things are going to start breaking. Your nose was only the beginning!"

"I really don't know. My partner was the one who spoke with the boss. He was the one driving the wagon." Gajeel yelled and threw the man against the nearby brick wall. "You're going to regret messing with me." Gajeel said as he pulled back his fist. The man flinched and Gajeel simply went "tch" before throwing the man to the ground. "Coward."

The police arrived and arrested the man, putting him in the same wagon as his colleague before being carted off to headquarters. Gajeel began to take off down the road again, searching for Levy and Starla. He had no idea where they were and he needed to help them if they were going to find Kyle before it was too late.