A/N: Hey guys, it's me again. Thanks for the reviews I got! Not as many as I would have hoped, but more people added me to their story alert or favorites, so that makes me happy too! :)

Here's the next chapter for you!

Please review… if you feel like it. :P

Introduction to Dollhouse

"Midnight… Sun?" Now that she looked, each of them had a guild mark on them somewhere… Shredder had it on his neck in black, barely visible behind equally dark hood; Wish's was on his left bicep in dark blue; Kiba had the mark stitched to the front of his white jacket in gold.

A circle, half of it formed by a crescent moon and the other half carrying triangles that were obviously supposed to represent rays of light.

"That's right," the one they called Kiba answered, "Midnight Sun, the mercenary guild from the south."

"You… bastards!" Natsu roared, charging forward. Shredder got up off the floor to meet the dragon slayer's challenge, drawing a second knife from somewhere inside his hooded coat, licking the edge to test the sharpness.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu bellowed, spewing flames.

"Knife magic! Guardian of the Crossed Blades!" Shredder called in answer, crossing the knives in front him. The fire split around his body in two waves, slamming the wall behind him. "How do ya like that?" the knife wielder cried with a maniacal laugh. He stopped as he saw Natsu charging at him again, and quickly ducked the blow, stumbling slightly. "Hoo, you're fast!"

Natsu simply replied by shoot more flames at the offending person.

"AHHH!" A woman screamed, fire wooshing over her as soon as she walked into the guild. Everyone who was still mobile looked in her direction. Surprisingly, she wasn't at all burnt. Having flinched in a manner that caused her arms to cover her face, she had accidentally used Juvia as a shield in water form.

A water mage…? Lucy thought in surprise.

Her tanned ocher-toned skin was set off by dark blonde hair and gray eyes that were currently sparking in fury. Her blue halter top was pulled over jean shorts, leather sandals adorning her feet.

She looked around quickly, craning around Lucy to glare at Kiba.

"You lot… are the biggest idiots I have ever had the misfortune to meet!" She yelled, startling her fellow blonde and nearly treading in the puddle that was Juvia.

"Of all the stupid people in the world, you had to get stuck with me and Shredder." Wish yawned.

"Are you implying that I'm stupid?" Shredder asked curiously.

"Shredder! Sit!" the newcomer barked. To Lucy's great shock, the possibly insane blade wielder complied.

"Yes Finny…" He said meekly, sitting right there on the floor where he had stood, folding his legs beneath himself, now ignoring Natsu. Finny turned away from Shredder and now glared at Kiba and Wish.

"Kiba, call off your mutts…"

"They're wolves…" the lupine man muttered with frustration, "Glacier, Avalanche, Blizzard, heel!" The wolves pricked their ears before trotting back to their master's side, still snarling at Pantherlily and Charle. Happy, now able to reach Charle without encountering a mass of white fur and porcelain colored fangs, rushed to her side.

"… and Wish, remove the bonds you set." The woman finished.

"Yeah yeah… Sluggard's magic… Time Halt Release…" the boy's voice was muffled by the fact that his head was buried in his arms as he slumped over onto the bar. Never the less, everyone began to move again. Even if they were immobile, it seemed that they had been able to see and hear everything that transpired.

Mira, who had been polishing a glass, turned around, and in an unwonted display of anger, threw the mug at Wish. The time mage raised his hand in lazily, making a shooing motion at the cup, which froze in mid air before zooming back at her hand with double the force it had flown with as if it were on rewind. The glass smacked into Mira's hand, causing her to yelp with pain.

Juvia reformed her body woozily, helped by Lucy. Cana completed her leap from the bar stool and Levy hastily shoved her pen in her pocket, rushing over to Gajeel who still lay motionless aside from his eyes.

"Gajeel?" the blue haired girl cried, trying and failing to lift his limp body from the floor. "What did you do to him?" she yelled at Shredder.

"I paralyzed him with my knife magic. It'll wear off in a while… I think… actually, no one I used that on survived long enough for me to find out if the effect wears off at all… ha ha…" he answered in bemused tones.

Full on fighting was going on now. Wish had set up a time barrier so that anyone who came within five feet of him froze and had to be pulled out by their comrades. He was now snoring openly with his arms acting as a pillow.

Shredder was agilely dodging Levy's Solid Script magic by mere centimeters, every few seconds glancing at Finny as if hoping she would give permission for him to attack.

Pantherlilly was on his feet again and now in his large form, engaging Kiba and his wolf pack.

Lucy looked around wildly. She wasn't sure whether she should help or not. Those people had said they weren't here to fight, but at this point, she wasn't sure there was anything she could do to stop the brawl. Maybe if she brought out Loke then he could help subdue the crowd…? Lucy drew her keys, but it seemed her talents would be unnecessary.

"Wish! Freeze the room again!" Finny shouted across the room. Wish gave a lazy wave in her direction, and everyone stopped moving. "Thanks, Wish."

"No prob'm…." he muttered sleepily.

"Okay, look people. Things kind of got off on the wrong foot, but I assure you we're not here to start a war. Please stop fighting and listen to what I have to say. Wish?" She glanced over at him again, and with a sigh he waved his hand again, counter clockwise this time, contrary to the first.

"Sluggard's Magic… Time Halt Release… stop using me Finny, I'm tired…" he complained.

"Sorry!" the water mage apologized sincerely as the rest of the people in the room regained their mobility.

"Alright, spit it out!" Gray snarled, "Why the hell are you people here?"

"Actually, how did the fighting start? I need to know so I report to the master who needs to be punished." Finny added the last words with a delicate stress while gazing hard at Shredder.

"Hey, they started it. We came in, Blizzard started barking at the white cat, and the black cat started fighting. Blizzard beat the tar outta the black cat and that dragon slayer got all pissy on us, so Shredder replied in kind… Wish paused the room 'cause everyone was being loud and he was trying to sleep." Kiba answered.

"We started it?" Jet cried, dodging Wendy as she ran to heal Gajeel, "You barged in here like you owned the place!"

"Yeah? Well maybe if you guys weren't so vulnerable, we wouldn't have been able to walk in like that!" Kiba snapped.

"Say that again!" Droy dared.

"What, couldn't hear the first time? Okay, let me repeat that for ya. Maybe if your guild wasn't so-"

"SHUT UP!" Finny howled over the noise, "Never mind, I don't care who started it! We brought a letter from the Master for Master Makarov! Urgent business, we need to see him now."

"Why should we trust you to be alone with the Master? You might be assassins!" someone in the crowd yelled.

"And anyway, the Master isn't here just now." Wakaba put in as Macao nodded beside him.

"Ohh… but… our Master told us to give this only to Master Makarov!" Finny fretted.

"Anything your guild master has to say can be heard by the rest of us in the Master's stead. Read the letter." Mirajane told the other girl.

"Well… I… I guess so. Just don't do anything rash when you hear what the Master says." Finny opened the letter and began to read.

"Dear Macky,

How are you, you old geezer? You haven't been to see us for a while!

I heard about Lauxus by the way, I can't imagine expelling him was easy… but because you did expel him, we now have great neighbors! Lauxus has started a guild called Strom Break not too far from our own Midnight Sun!

Ugh! Blabbering on and on and on… isn't that just like the Master…" Finny scanned the page, turned it over, and then stopped. "Here we are something significant…"

"I would have come to see you myself but there is a bit of trouble on my end. See, this dark guild by the name of Dollhouse has popped up nearby. I'm not sure 'guild' is the proper term for it, seeing as it only has one true member, but it's been causing problems.

Let me explain. Dollhouse consists of one girl of perhaps fourteen, and a cursed doll. The magic the girl uses turns people it snares into her personal puppets. Thus, Dollhouse is a guild full of mindless drones.

I would take care of this on my own, but there is a problem. The only way to get a person out of the control of Lacie (the 'guild master' of Dollhouse) is to get them out of range. Several of my members have been taken. Stitches Merone, Daisy Evermore, and Galice Halt have all been abducted, as well as your own Alzack Connell, Bisca Mulan, and…." Finny paused, biting her lip and looking around before she finished, "Erza Scarlet."

Lucy gasped and everyone else seemed stunned to silence.

"Wait…. You mean to tell us that Erza is working for another guild?" Lucy said at length as Gray trembled with rage beside her.

"Unfortunately, yes." Finny replied.

"Yeah right!" Natsu butted in, "Erza would rather die before betraying us!"

"Are you calling our Master a liar?" Kiba yelled, balling his hands into fists.

"It's not a matter of betrayal, it's a matter of mind control! Now shut up, I wasn't finished.

We recovered Stitches and Connell with great risk. I have sent your guild member with these escorts who should be giving you this letter. We patched him up best we could, but he is still in critical condition due to the fact that our primary healer, Galice, is still trapped in the Dollhouse.

I trust these escorts completely. I have sent you the groups Red Tide (Finny Ellis, Wish Moore, Shredder Jax) and Wild Soul (Kiba Hunt, Kova Ward, Kazin Ward). I am sending this letter to plead with you to join our guilds temporarily to take out comrades back. Please reply ASAP, things are looking grim.

Love, S & S"

"Hold up." Natsu said, seeming more calm now… at least he's not attacking the other guild now… Lucy sighed inwardly. Rather, the news of Erza's capture seemed to have shocked him to stillness. "The letter said six people plus Alzack. I see four. Where are the rest of them?"

"Good question… I left Connell with Kova and Kazin, but I don't know where they are…" Finny answered. Gajeel finally began to stir slowly.

"Why did your master send a letter in written form when it would be easier to record his message via lacrima?" the metal dragon slayer grunted, sitting up, "And you, you're on my list." He snarled at Shredder, who replied with a smile as he glanced up from cleaning under his nails with the tip of a knife.

"The Master wanted to keep this a secret from the rest of the guild so that Master Makarov could tell you in his own words… but he's not here, and our guild doesn't have a lot of time at this point, so-"

"Fiiiiiiny!" The door slammed open for the second time that day to reveal two small figures supporting a larger figure. "Look otouto-kun, we made it!"

"Yes onii-san, we're here!"

"Kova! Kazin! Here, put Connell down… gently…" Finny said as she rushed over. The two boys laid Alzack on the floor. One boy appeared to be of about fourteen. He had wild blonde hair that fell to the base of his neck. His eyes were deep amber, underplayed with dark gold.

The other was only half the age of the first, but aside from the age difference, could have been twins. This boy's eyes were amber as well, but his were underplayed with crimson rather than ocher.

Both wore black, spiked collars with round, silver dog tags hanging from them. Their clothes were rough and basic, consisting of ripped, knee length black shorts and shredded t-shirts of crimson. Both lacked shoes, their feet blackened with dirt.

"Is anyone here a healer?" Finny called fearfully. Alzack was roughly bandaged around the head, his arm splinted and yet more gauze wound around his torso, visible beneath his clothing. He was staring straight ahead with a vacant look in his eyes and his mouth moved without sound.

Wendy ran over, crouching at Alzack's side and began to work her magic, his wounds and contusions closing as the rest of Fairy Tail watched.

"Bisca…" Alzack mumbled, his voice finally working in time to his mouth, "Don't… Don't… I'll die…." He seemed to be hallucinating, seeing things that weren't there. "Bisca… why did you do this to me?"

"Bisca did this to him?" Lucy asked, aghast.

"Yes," Kiba said grimly, stepping up next to his teammates as they grinned at him, exposing long canine teeth, "That is the power of Dollhouse. That is the power of Shadow Puppet, the cursed doll."