"And the blood will dry, underneath my nails.."

The battle was going on all around them, and Happy could see that things weren't going their way. Erza was just barely keeping the Sand Mage from Alvarez at bay using her Requip swords while Gray and Juvia had their hands full with ten other mages using Unison Raid. Lucy had called out Virgo and Taurus and was battling with her Aquarius star dress (and on occasion, a "Lucy Kick" was extremely effective). Gajeel was holding his own against another one of the Spriggan.

Carla was flying Wendy around who was blasting soldiers off ships with her Wind Dragon's Roar. Natsu was taking on Brandish, matching her blow after blow. Emperor Spriggan, or Zeref, was off in the distance, shouting orders and watching the battles play out, and if Happy wasn't mistaken, he was paying more attention to Natsu's fight with Lady Brandish more than anyone else's.

While they were winning their individual battles, or at least keeping them at bay, the rest of guild wasn't fairing too well. Max had been injured, as had many others. The Raijinshū had been backed up into a corner and Laxus was nowhere to be seen. The Strauss siblings had seen better days, and Bisca's sniper shots could only take out so many at a time while waiting for Jupiter to recharge from its last blast. Happy could tell that eventually they'd be overrun, just by the sheer number of mages and soldiers of Alvarez, despite all of First Master's battle strategies. They needed help, and they needed it now.

"First Master!" Happy called out, flying over to where she was directing the battle with Gramps. She looked up from the lacrima that she'd been using to observe all of the battle field. "We need more people! Did you call reinforcements?" Happy demanded in a very un-Happy like manner.

"Yes, Gildarts should be arriving anytime now and some of our ally guilds said that they'll help, however I don't know when that'll be…" she trailed off with a frown and glanced back down to check the state of the battle. Things were only getting worse.

"That's not going to be enough…" Happy admitted under his breath. Even though Gildarts was their strongest member, he couldn't take down them all. Mavis decided not to comment, only pressing her lips into a grim line.

Suddenly, Zeref called out in a booming voice for a retreat and after a few seconds the battles lulled as the Alvarez troops pulled back. First Master and Makerov looked up in surprise at the sudden development.

"Why are they pulling back?" Levy cried out, running into the partly destroyed guild hall.

"It seems they have called a retreat, although I don't know why… they were winning. Pulling back now will only allow us time to rest and gain more strength and prepare. What's Zeref thinking?" First Master answered, but added the last part to herself.

And with perfect timing, Gildarts arrived.

"Did I miss the battle?" He asked looking around, seeing the opposing force retreat. He shrugged and ran to his daughter Cana and pulled her into a tight hug, relieved that she wasn't injured.

Gajeel ran over to their steadily growing group as members headed to the masters as the fighting was dying down. He ran straight to Levy and looked over her carefully for any injuries while she seemed to be doing the same to him.

"Oi, shrimp, you okay?" he demanded, reaching out an arm to touch her shoulder.

She slapped his arm away but grabbed his hand.

"I'm fine, you were the one taking on one of the Spriggan!" she kept hold of his hand, twisting her fingers together with his. He just grunted at her comment, the ball of worry that had been growing inside his chest ever since the fighting started began to shrink. When they seemed satisfied that neither one was hurt, they took their eyes off each other and surveyed the damage around them.

Laxus had made his way over to the Raijinshū and was making sure they were all alright (and Bixlo checking on his babies) while they (mostly Freed) fussed over him.

Gray and Juvia made their way over to the two masters and Juvia stood between her beloved, Gray, and oldest friend, Gajeel, to reassure herself that two most important people in her life were ok.

Erza limped over and Wendy started her healing magic with only mild fussing over requip mage. When Wendy was done, Erza stood up straight and saw a familiar bob of blue hair across what had now turned into the battle field. She stood in shock for a moment before springing into motion, running over to him and wrapping him in a hug that was quickly returned (not one thought towards the fiancé that didn't exist).

Happy looked around trying to find Natsu. He was unable to fight alongside his best friend and was worried about him. Then Happy turned around, and there in the doorway stood Natsu. Without even thinking, Happy flew into Natsu chest and began to sob tears of joy.

"NATSU, YOU'RE OK!" the Exceed cried out. The dragon slayer put his arms around his best friend, pulling him tighter into his chest.

"We're alive, buddy, we're alive."

Listening to Natsu's steady heartbeat had a comforting effect on the Exceed and soon, Happy's crying turned into the occasional sniffle. Then Happy began to notice an evil energy coming from behind him.

Oh no, not again.

"Natsu...your arm...it's acting up" Happy whispered. The dragon slayer looked down and cursed. Letting go of Happy, Natsu gripped his arm. Looking back at his friend, he gave a weak smile.

"It's ok, it's under control now..." But in all honesty, Happy could tell that Natsu was just saying that to calm himself. Happy nodded his head and flew over to Lucy, who was currently looking for them. Happy noticed the celestial mage wasn't doing too well, her clothes were ripped and caked with dry blood. On further inspection, most of blood wasn't hers, thank goodness. But Happy knew who Lucy needed to see and so Happy pointed her to Natsu and flew away to where he had placed the Dragon Slayer's bag earlier.

Happy knew that if Natsu were to continue the way he was, then the secret of his arm was going to be revealed. He was clueless on how to help his friend, and no one else could know about the arm's secret. That only left one person in the entire world that could help

"Happy, what are you doing?" The blue cat looked up at the white Exceed.

"Getting help,"

"How are you going to get help from a backpack?"

Happy didn't answer.

Happy took something out and walked over to where Natsu and Lucy were standing, arguing about something. He waited for a second and interrupted them.

"Natsu, I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no choice."

They both looked down at the Exceed. Lucy's eyes widened in surprise and Natsu's in horror. Happy had pulled out…

A key.

This key looked like one of Lucy's celestial spirit keys, but it was bronze, and the symbol was one that Lucy had never seen before. But instead of summoning the spirit the usual way, Happy pressed the center and it began to glow.

"Happy...what's go-"

Then suddenly, a bright light filled the guild hall, causing the members to force their eyes close. When it cleared, they opened their eyes. Automatically, all eyes shifted to the center of the broken guild.

A purple haired mage appeared, the key shattering once it had been used. Lucy was taken back to her last memories of Aquarius in Tartarus before she shook her head to focus. The woman appeared to be in her late twenties, sitting in a beach chair, sunglasses covering her eye and headphones in her ears. She was wearing a green bikini, less revealing than anything any of the current members of Fairy Tail ever wore, but it was still revealing enough to show huge scars, no, claw marks going from her left hip across her torso, ending at her right shoulder. Besides the claw marks, her most striking feature was a light blue guild mark over her heart, but unlike any other there was another tattoo in the center, the same mark that was on the hilt of the broken key in Happy's hands. Around her neck hung a crystal that looked like a small lacrama, dangled from a simple silver chain.

She looked up from the book in her hands, pulling the earbuds out and took off her sunglasses, putting them on top of her head. Her dark blue eyes were filled with bewilderment, only then seeming to notice where she was, or rather, where she wasn't. "I'm guessing this isn't Bora Bora," she said with a slight accent, and looked around her surroundings. Her eyes widened as she saw the battlefield with scorch marks and frozen chunks of ground torn up. She then looked to the flying blue cat holding a broken key and her eyes widened even more in recognition.

"Happy?! Wha...?" she began to ask asked, obviously confused. But before the woman could finish, Happy had begun to cry and flew straight into her arms "Natsu needs your help! His arm is acting up again."

Everyone shared an incredulous look. How the hell did Happy know this woman? "Who're you?" Lucy demanded. The stranger either ignored Lucy or just didn't hear her. The woman quickly stood up, still holding on to the sobbing cat and turned to look at Natsu.

"What's going on? Why do you need my help?" she crossed her arms and studied him carefully, taking in his weary expression and all the scrapes and bruises littering his body. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. He reached back and scratched his head guiltily.

"Yeah, it's time.." he trailed off and winced at her glare, shrinking back. She glanced around her taking in the full implications of the battle field around her.

She shook her head. "You, sir, have a lot of explaining to do."

Everyone stared in shock at the purple mage who had shown up out of the blue, mouths agape. She talked to Natsu in a language not known to anyone and Natsu began to talk back to her in what they assumed was the same language. Occasionally, Natsu would slip back into everyone else's native tongue, but then they would go right back to speaking gibberish.

While Natsu explained the situation everyone else in the guild studied her, (Lucy with narrowed, suspicious eyes) and noticed it wasn't just any guild mark; it was the Fairy Tail guild mark.

"When did she join Fairy Tail?" Levy whispered to Lucy.
"I don't know…" she trailed off, and if she was being honest with herself she couldn't deny the feelings of jealousy the sight of her talking so comfortably with Natsu brought up.

All the previous guild masters looked at each other, seeing if maybe one of them knew who she was. When none of them came up with an answer, Makarov sighed and took charge of his other "brats". He assigned most of them to help with the healing of others, but he assigned the Thunder-God tribe to see if they could spot any of the reinforcements coming. Now there was only the guild masters, Team Natsu, The Exceeds, Levy, Gajeel, and Cana at the table.

As Natsu finished, the woman's face turned stormy and she began to mumble a series of what Lucy believed to be curse words.

"Do you understand what you are asking me to do?" The woman asked Natsu, finally in everyone's native tongue.

Natsu shifted but then looked her right in the eyes. "After what you told me, I understand if you don't want…"

The woman put her hand up and Natsu immediately stopped talking, the rest of the guild's eyes widened, surprised. Usually only Erza or maybe Lucy could get Natsu to listen, but here was someone else who could do the same thing without even saying anything.

"Natsu, I understand your concern with all of this, but this is..how do you say..." She sighed trying to come up with the words. She groaned in frustration and continued "...mea culpa… and I need to fix this… for everyone."

Natsu nodded in understanding.

"I really don't want this either, but if it comes down to it, I'll have to…" Natsu trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"...for the sake of the world..." she finished for him.

A moment of silence as the rest of the group tried to decode what exactly they two were referring to. Then it was broken by the person least likely to shout out.

"LATIN!" Levy McGarden exclaimed.

The group looked at the script mage in surprise, not use to her being so loud. Gajeel, who was seated next to her, turned to look at his bookworm.

"Excuse me, shrimp, what the hell does that mean?"

Levy, ignoring the Iron Dragon Slayer, got out of her seat and quickly walked up to the woman.

"You're speaking fluent Latin so it has to be your native language. I picked it up a few years back, it was the hardest language I've ever had to learn."

The woman blinked, taken aback. She shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to answer her.

Levy continued. "Now the real question is, how in the heck did Natsu learn Latin in such a short period of time? Are you some kind of amazing teacher?"

The woman tilted her head a little. "Of sorts," She answered vaguely.

Before Levy could pry any deeper, Natsu gave a small cough, trying to get them back on the main topic. Levy, turned to Natsu and gave him the death glare, pissed off at not getting information. Lucy couldn't help but giggle at the scene playing in front of her. Then, she stopped giggling when she saw the other woman's gaze on her. The new woman's eyes widened in surprise. Then she turned around the room, her eyes settling on the first master. Her mouth fell open and she quickly covered it, trying to suppress her laughter.

Turning back to the pink haired boy, she removed her hand from her face, but her ginormous grin still stayed. She said something quickly in her native tongue, causing Natsu's face to turn almost the same shade of scarlet that the requip mage had. The only words Levy caught were "Father", "Brothers", and "Blondes" before the Dragon slayer put his un-wrapped hand over the woman's mouth.

"Don't even…" Natsu began. But then, he quickly removed it and grabbed his bandaged arm. The group could see Natsu wince in pain, and the woman swore once again.

"Sorry, I got carried away..."

She sprinted to where her beach chair sat and grabbed a small messenger's bag that had been besides it. The woman ran back to the table and dumped the contents. Papers, quills, books, journals, a half-eaten sandwich, a white bed sheet, and a first aid kit. Lucy marveled at how much stuff the bag actually held and wondered if later she could ask to borrow it for Erza.

The woman shifted through the stuff and picked up the sandwich, debating whether to eat it or not. She shrugged, quickly shoving the sandwich into her mouth and carefully pulled out the first aid kit, and began looking through it. She finally found what she had been looking for. Pulling out a cloth bandage, she gently grabbed Natsu's arm. Placing her thumb to hold the new cloth in place, the woman began to carefully unwrap the old cloth, a portion at a time, then before anyone could see the arm, she wrapped it with the new cloth… Finally, after what seemed like eternity, she finished. The woman quickly picked up the old wrapping and handed it to Natsu.

"Burn it now!" The woman ordered and Natsu grinned, obeyed immediately as the bandage burned into ash.

The group realized they had been holding their breaths for no reason. They quickly began to breathe normally and the dragon slayer sat down in relief.

"Thank y…"

"Save it, Dragneel;" The woman interrupted, her face now completely serious.

"Be grateful I had some of that magic cloth left. Do you have any idea how much magical energy it takes to make those?! That one piece you just burned? It took me so many years and you just had to ruin it."

"Well, you were the one who who wanted me too!"

Lucy raised her hand and the two looked at her.

"Alright, I think I'm speaking for everyone here, so can I just ask, who the hell are you?"

The woman blinked and smacked her head. "I am sorry, I'm being rude! My name is Zara, Zara D. Valli." She put out her hand and Lucy looked at it for a second before shaking it. "I'm guessing you're Lucy. Natsu told me a lot about you. But before I get started on beating people up, can I get a different outfit? I don't want to wear this two piece out on a battlefield."

(Author's notes:

Uh so hi, guys, Hestia here, thanks for picking this up. This story came to me about a month ago and with A LOT of help from my best friends, (THANK YOU PEOPLE FOR EDITING) we managed to put it all down here. Be aware this is my first fanfic, and I honestly don't know what I'm doing half the time and I suck at spelling. I'm thinking it's going to be more than 15 chapters, I'll let you know

Vesta: Hey, everyone! More chapters to come, so if you liked it we'll be updating soon (hopefully).

Hestia: So..Also, we sadly don't own Fairy Tail. That belongs to Hiro Mashima. BUT WE DO OWN ZARA….Zara is my precious cinnamon roll...mine...

Anyways, R&R!)

Edit: If we missed something please tell us. Thats all we ask