A/N: Alright, here it is! To be honest I felt a little off with this chapter, like I wasn't making it really flow like I could have. But then I've never really been naturally good with conveying heavy emotions with the written word, so, I guess it's up to you all to decide just how well I faired. The song I was listening to as I wrote this chapter out was OneRepublic's 'Say (All I Need)'.

As for my readers who commented:

AzNx: First off, Thank you for being the first to review my story! And as for their relationship, right now they're more friends than anything else. As for anything deeper, well, we'll just have to see where I go with that.

xXNamelessAngelXx: And I hope you stay curious. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it steady with the chapters on this story.

SaturnWolf3: I'm glad you do!

Shana: Thank you!

Kaze-chan: Thank you for the compliment!

DarkFlameLee: There will be, I just haven't decided which ones it will be yet.

Also, one more thing, the name of the series and author I based this story off of is down at the bottom. I'm kind of forced to really, since besides some terminology I used a couple quotes in this chapter that I thought were too good to pass up.

Disclaimor: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. The story and additional characters i toss in on the other hand are all mine.

Enjoy!

Chp.2

As the sun set beyond the horizon the creeping shroud of darkness that trailed after it was made all the more absolute this night as brooding rain clouds, threatening an imminent release, rolled about the heavens, blocking out the moon and stars. The streets of Magnolia were virtually empty, the few nondescript individuals still roaming them quickening their pace home as the winds started to pick up. One by one, as the hour grew late, the lights shining from the people's houses winked out of existence until virtually only the streetlights held off the all consuming shadows.

Trotting down the streets with Happy weaving through the air above him a certain pink haired Fire-User complained irritably up to his companion.

"I can't believe the old man actually made me stay out this late to patch up the guild." He said huffily. "I mean sure the place got pretty trashed and all but still, I wasn't the only one who was fighting, yet the Master singled me out! I mean come on! Gray's the one that started it!"

"But Natsu, you were the one who started lobbing icy fire balls all over the place." Happy reminded him, remembering how the simple fist fight that had started out between him and the Ice Maker had escalated into an all out brawl involving just about everybody there. Such fights within the guild weren't uncommon; heck, sometimes they were practically even welcomed when things started getting a little boring. But when Gray used his magic to incase most of Natsu's body in a shell of ice, effectively stopping him in his tracks, his fiery friend had instantly turned up the heat until he literally exploded, throwing out chunks of flaming ice that rained down all over the room…

…Smashing into the table where Elfman had been conversing with his recently returned sister, Lisanna…

…hitting Gazille in the back of the head as he was trying once again to convince Panther Lily to be his cat exclusively(seems Lily had been taking on missions with other people besides Gazille)…

…And even knocking the barrel of booze Cana had been holding right out of her hand. That's about the time all hell broke loose

"A minor detail" Natsu replied, shrugging it off. "Point was, I don't see why I was the only one that had to be punished. Some of the other's could have helped at least. Tch! Did you see? Lucy didn't even stick around long enough for me to ask her. Some friend she is," He grumbled.

"Ah, that's not right!" Happy exclaimed, alighting atop Natsu's crown. "I was sitting with Lucy and Levi at the time and right about when you and Gray started arguing Mira walked over and handed each of them a letter. Actually, they started acting pretty funny when they got them." Happy paused as he tried recalling that brief moment before the fight had erupted. It wasn't made any easier considering most of his attention at the time had been taken up by the salted mackerel he'd been relishing. "I don't know why but as soon as they touched them they both suddenly got real quiet. Then after that a chair went flying over our heads and Mira and me turned to see that you guys were fighting again. When we looked back the both of them were bolting out the door."

Natsu had stopped in the middle of the road to listen to Happy's account. When Happy finished his gaze was lingering down another street, following the line of lights that led in a direction different from his original destination.

"A letter, you say…"Said Natsu, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Aye!"

It was all he needed. In a moment Natsu was marching down the cobbled street, his curiosity piqued, as he made his way to Lucy's house. Something was going down and he intended to find out what.

The only light in the entire apartment came from a single candle set on the living room table which did little to stave off the darkened shadows.

Lucy sat in one of the chairs surrounding the table, arms wrapped tightly around her legs and her knees tucked under her chin. It was quite dark in the room yet her eyes had already adjusted to the weak light. Not that she needed it. Her eyes were trained on the empty pit of her furnace. Although it was impossible to tell in this light, it was barren of ashes; both the kindling and the letters had burned away, cleanly, leaving nothing behind. Not even a single sign or trace of evidence that could prove that the furnace had ever even seen a fire. Nothing that could suggest that things were more than they appeared- that they were more than what they appeared.

Levi had left Lucy's home hours ago.

Of course. Given the enormity of what they'd both been told, of what they were expected to do, Levi needed some time to be by herself. To prepare for tonight. For tomorrow…

Her gaze stayed dead centered on the furnace but her mind was sliding back to a moment that had occurred just a few hours ago. The moment when her current life- and the precious future she'd prayed would eventually become her reality, her forever after- had been forced spiraling down a path towards an irreparable end.

How could this have happened?

For a moment there was silence.

They didn't move, they didn't speak, they all just stood there looking back at one another, their eyes traveling up and down in quiet assessment. Sisters. The similarities between the two newcomers left no doubt of that… not that that fact hadn't already been known. The women in front of her looked to be somewhere in their mid twenties but Lucy knew that for women such as them the perception of their age based upon their outward appearance was deceptive. A yard length of hair sprawled down both of their backs and an abundant amount of skin peeked through what little clothing they seemed to wear; clothing that seemed specifically designed to greatly accentuate their already rather generous figures. It was a style unlike any she'd seen anywhere else in the world.

It was difficult for her to pick out any finer details, however. Save for a grayish white the pair had not a speck of color to them. Their bodies were like mist, riddled through with various densities that helped to define the people before them, subtle differences in shade allowing an observer only enough to almost imagine what their true colorings were. And just like mist she could see through them, faintly picking out the outline of her furnace and an ethereal glow from the still burning fire as the flickering light it threw off passed through their transparent forms… as if she were facing ghosts.

Not that the actual women whom they were looking at were really there, of course. Lucy couldn't quite wrap her mind around the intricacies behind the spell, but what she did understand was that the two before her were a form of astral projection. They were visual manifestations of the women's essence. Shards of their consciousness, capable of communicating the originals intentions and reacting accordingly to whatever questions were put to it. Once the spell was released those shards would instantly return to their respective wholes, taking with them the memories from the encounter. It was as if part of you were having a conversation the rest of you didn't become aware of until after the fact.

As the seconds ticked by the air itself began to feel heavy with expectation, the tension becoming almost palpable. Whatever the reason, these two were here for something important. It certainly wasn't to talk about the weather.

The woman directly across from Lucy, Trivia, suddenly smiled.

"Hello, my dears. Lovely day we've been having, no?"

And in that single instant the air between them seemed to lighten considerably, the tightness Lucy hadn't realized that'd been building up in her body coming almost completely undone as she fought against the sudden urge to laugh. The news must be important, yes, but that didn't mean it was bad. Right?

"Honored Metis, Honored Trivia" Levi spoke up, keeping her words strictly respectful, perhaps stiffly so, as she nodded her head to both in turn. "We thank you both for the time and energies you've spent on our behalf's to relay your messages, but- if you may forgive my bluntness, why exactly are we here?"

A handful of emotions flashed across the women's faces: a brief flicker of annoyance (due perhaps to Levi's brisk manner of moving the conversation along to get to the point of the matter, pleasantries be damned) which was quickly followed by less comforting expressions such as worry, grief, and regret before giving way at last to a steely determination. Lucy quickly felt her insides tighten up again. Had she hoped too soon?

"Very well" the other woman, Metis, spoke out. "If we must cut to the chase then here it is- the Unity in its entirety has been ordered to gather."

In the deafening silence following this astounding declaration Lucy turned her dazed eyes over to Levi, who stared back at her, both of them silently questioning the other as to whether they'd heard correctly.

Turning back to the women Lucy tried to find words. None came.

Trivia cut in before they did. "This is not a request. It is an order. Recent revelations have been uncovered that have made this decision… and one other with it… unequivocally necessary."

"But… Why?" Lucy finally managed.

The cool demeanor of Trivia's face suddenly wavered and a look of agonizing grief passed through her eyes, almost making Lucy wish she could take back her question. Almost. Eyeing her ghostly sister quietly for a second, Metis turned her gaze back onto them and answered Lucy's question in three catastrophic words.

"We're being hunted."

Her body was trembling when she pulled back out of her memories. So much so that Lucy forced herself to take deep steady breaths, trying to center herself and reclaim a state of calm. A calm she no longer truly possessed. Really, all she really wanted to do was curl up into an even tighter ball and cry. Everything- everything- was happening way to fast and Lucy was finding herself unable to adapt.

In that single awful meeting the Sisters had told them everything that they knew. A few weeks ago, just days before she and Natsu had departed for their mission, somebody had staged an attack on the descendants of Trivia's Line. Of Lucy's line.

The victims had been Trivia's own daughters. She'd only ever had four of them in her long lifetime and all four of them had been gathered together for a rare reunion when an unknown assailant had struck. In the ensuing battle two of the sisters had died before a decisive blow made by one of the remaining two brought their attacker down. In his final moment before he died the other sister had used telepathic magic to tear through the attackers' mind, his very memories, to scavenge as much information as she could. The need to know why this monster had dared to intrude upon their lives and commit this tragic, devastating act had been all consuming. Fury for her fallen sisters had, understandably, made her search less than gentle. The bastard perished all too quickly but what was salvaged from the fading sparks within the shadowy recesses of his dying mind was a staggering revelation.

Somebody knew about the Unity.

Somebody powerful, wicked, and who would stop at nothing to get their hands on them.

Even, apparently, if that meant killing them off, one at a time.

And that was something Mother could never allow.

As the chosen leader of their Unity, Mother, as she was more commonly referred to amongst all members of their people, had immediately taken action by calling in her entire flock. Theirs was a people who had scattered to every conceivable corner of the globe but by her single command every one of them was expected to extricate themselves from whatever personal or professional entanglements they were in- as quickly if not discretely as possible- and gather at the hidden location the original Mother and the Nine had spent their lifetimes creating for the Unity. But not all were so willing to comply. As with any people, there were some who could never be convinced to leave their lives behind so abruptly or who preferred to fight for what they had rather than retreat. The number of those who would have expressed these sentiments was also encompassed with the rare percentage who simply wanted little to nothing at all to do with the Unity in itself.

That is when the missives were sent out- attached with a Geis.

Mothers' was not a love that tolerated any argument.

At first both she and Levi had been stunned with utter disbelief when they'd learned about this. Then their incredulity had quickly transformed into a blazing fury.

'This is a dictatorship!' she remembered crying out.

Trivia had laughed bitterly. 'Of course it is, my dear. Who has time for democracy?'

The thought that there was something inside her, a foreign power invading her body, waiting to push at her mind and force her to comply with the orders that had been relayed to her caused bile to rise. Lucy nearly gagged as the burning acid flooded her throat and then her mouth, filling it with its bitter taste. She managed to swallow her gorge back down and then spent several moments breathing deep breaths and then knuckling her watery eyes.

Lucy hadn't believed their lives could get any worse. How could they? They were being forced to leave their homes, their friends, abandon Fairy Tail… they were being deprived of any choice they could have had in the matter. Truly, she'd thought, what more could be done that already hadn't?

The Fates must have taken her thoughts as a personal challenge.

As if being told that her life was no longer her own wasn't enough, she… and Levi… and every other girl in the Unity over the age of sixteen had been given one additional order.

Awaken.

Which meant that she'd have to… she'd have to-

A sound from the other room suddenly broke the silence enfolding her apartment, startling Lucy back into the present. She sat frozen in her seat, staring towards the darkened doorway as she waited, her ears straining into the returning silence until she heard it again- a rattling noise coming from the bedroom. Leaping up from the chair she practically glided across the living room as she raced into her room, her footsteps falling so softly they didn't even make a sound. Standing on the threshold she waited, holding her breath, until the rattling came again- from her window. Fingering the keys by her side she quietly crept closer, stopping when she was only a step away from standing almost directly in front of it. On the other side of the shutters she suddenly heard a hiss of frustration.

"Damn it!" she heard a muffled voice, unmistakably familiar, swear on the other side. "I can't get it open. Did she go and change her locks or something?"

As a matter of fact, Lucy had. Given the disturbing fact that Mira had a tendency to hand out keys to her apartment to just about anybody that came a asking, coupled with the irritating habit of some people who refused to use the door, she'd been left with no other option. The shutters were jerked back and forth as the person outside pointlessly attempted to shake them open.

"Grrrr… no choice, I'll just have to-"

Lucy reached up and undoing the latch jerked the window shutter open, which sent a very frustrated Natsu suddenly tumbling into the room. He had only a split second to cry out in surprise before he fell flat on his face.

"Have to what, Mr. Dragoneel?" Lucy said looking crossly down at the shadowy form sprawled across her bedroom floor. The fact that she was referring to him by his surname clearly signified that she was more than just a little ticked off at him.

'Gods' she thought irritably 'of all the nights he had to act up, why-'

Lucy's mind came to a halt as she realized the direction her thoughts were headed. As Natsu jumped to his feet she quickly turned away so that her back was to him, not wanting him to see her face. Not that it mattered in this gloom. Still- if he could have seen the look she'd had on it… Moving to the side of her bed Lucy fumbled around in the dark for a bit until she finally managed to locate the lamp sitting on her nightstand. Clicking it on the room was flooded with bright light which blinded her for a second.

Blinking away the pain, Lucy kept her back to him as she asked him what he was doing there.

"Honestly, do you not realize what time it is?" she spoke, trying to keep her voice level. She paused as something else came to her attention. "Where's Happy?"

"Oh, him? He remembered that he had dinner with Charle and a couple of other cats he knows so he took off as we were coming here," Said Natsu, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture, as if it didn't really matter at the moment.

"And you were coming here because…?"

"I heard you got a letter." Natsu declared instantly, cutting straight to the point.

Lucy felt her heart seize up and for a moment she couldn't breathe.

"L-letter?" she barely managed to whisper.

"Don't try to deny It." he said, and beside her she heard the springs in her mattress suddenly creak as he jumped onto her bed. She deliberately kept her eyes focused away from him. "Mira gave you a letter and Happy saw it."

'Damn it Happy!' You could never trust a cat to keep its mouth shut.

"So spill it!" He said, turning his attention back to her. "What was it about? Something bad, maybe?"

And then he chuckled. The trepidation she'd felt moments ago when Natsu had first asked about the letter drained away with the blood in her face. Lucy couldn't believe it.

'So the reason you were attempting to break into my house was because- what? You just felt like sticking your nose into my business? To pry into my affairs so you could satisfy your own curiosity? Was that all?' It was irrational, she knew, but for that single instant Lucy felt as if she'd been slapped in the face. From here, her thoughts turned more critical. 'Did you even once think about me or what I was going through? If it wasn't interesting, would you have even cared? You- you…!'

In all fairness Natsu couldn't know that he'd intruded on what was possibly the most hellish episode of her life- he just simply couldn't- and yet she didn't care. As negative thoughts continued to swirl about her mind the hollowness she'd felt vanished as a burning heat suddenly swelled up within her.

"None of your damn business!" She snapped angrily, savagely, the intensity of her feelings making her words bitingly sharp.

For a moment, the silence seemed impossibly loud. There was an awkward pause before Lucy's face suddenly flushed with shame as she realized she'd let her emotions get away from her. She was being unreasonable. His brass behavior notwithstanding, Natsu didn't deserve to have her bite his head off. Well, no, he did deserve it but…not like that. Not for this.

She just… Gods, Lucy wasn't even entirely sure what she wanted-

-Except for him to go. Her body was already beginning to tremble with the effort to keep herself together and she wished that, just this once, Natsu would just pick up on the vibes she was giving off and just leave.

But Natsu persisted in remaining tactlessly oblivious.

"C'mon, tell me!" He whined, breaking the unusual silence (where the heck had it even come from?), sitting up cross legged on her bed. Why was she being so difficult? Hands on his ankles he started rocking back and forth, making disgruntled faces at her and acting altogether like a petulant child. "I'm not leaving until you do!"

The last of her restraint snapped like a twig and without it Lucy's frustration came surging back with as little warning as the first time. Whirling around, she started screaming at him.

"God Damn it Natsu, why can't you just-"the rest of Lucy's words caught in her throat as their eyes locked on to one another- and felt a jolt deep in her gut as the Geas shifted into full awareness. Her breathing hitched as she felt a tightness form within her body at the same time an odd tickling sensation ran across- no, beneath her skin, causing the hairs on top to prickle. Her head throbbed and something, a dull weight, pressed behind her eyes making the world swim temporarily as her vision blurred.

For a timeless second she stood there, overcome with incomprehension. Then the pieces fell into place and Lucy's eyes widened with horror. With a small gasp she tore her eyes from Natsus' and turned away, panic coursing through her body, and rushed to the far side of the room, putting as much distance as she could between them.

'No! No! Not him!'

Natsu sat on the bed staring at Lucy's back in opened mouth shock. He'd been expecting the anger- in fact he'd been betting on it, assuming that, if she didn't immediately kick him out, he'd eventually be able to wheedle the truth out of her sooner or later- but the look she'd given after, the unconcealed terror falling upon her face before she'd turned away… that had blown him away. All the amusement within him died. Something was seriously wrong. Quickly sliding off the bed he stumbled up behind her. He reached out to touch her but then let his hand fall back as he thought better about doing it.

'Lucy?" he said her name nervously. "Hey Luce, what's the matter?'

She stayed silent.

"Luce, c'mon" he pleaded, "We're Nakama, aren't we? You can tell me what's wrong."

A pain lanced through her heart as she heard those words. Her lip trembled.

'Do you mean that? Truly?' she asked, her voice nearly breaking on the last word.

"Of course I do! We're still members of Fairy Tail, aren't we?" Natsu couldn't believe it. 'Why is she even asking about something that has such an obvious answer? How could she not know? Huh. It looks like I have no choice but to set her straight once and for all.' "Listen here Luce, even when we fight one another, we're all still a part of the same guild, and the guild looks out for its own. Do you understand? We're not just a group of people who occasionally pair up to take on missions. Everybody there's a friend. We're friends." He said, stressing that last we're to make his point absolutely clear to her. "So no matter what happens, no matter what trouble you land yourself into, you can always count on me to be there for you. I promise."

Lucy didn't realize she'd started crying until she felt the first tear run down her cheek. Choking back a sob she hastily wiped it away. In that moment, despite anything else, she knew what she had to do. She willed herself to turn back around. And as she did she saw his mouth lift into a grin, that rare grin of his, which lit up his face from the inside. It was the kind of smile that drew people in and made them respond in kind. She'd seen it herself. She'd done it herself. It was a smile unmarred by deception. It was a beacon of light in an otherwise dark and empty world, an expression that, hard as it was to believe, brought with it the promise of hope and possibility to even the most confused souls. And that was no lie. In her mind, she thought, it was a truly beautiful thing.

And she was going to destroy it.

'Natsu…" She spoke his name quietly as she drank in the purity of that smile one last time. Closing her eyes she delved into herself, reaching down with her mind for the tightness that had formed within her, a quivering bundle of raw power that was the geas itself. She touched it. Power exploded throughout her, a greater portion channeling upwards into the weight behind her eyes. Within the flow came a stream of knowledge- the words for the spell she needed. She read them off silently in her head, stringing the words together and feeling the power build up and reform itself behind her eyes until stopping just one word short of completing it.

"…Thank you." She whispered, her voice laced with regret.

And then she opened her eyes, stared straight into Natsu's heart achingly innocent expression, uttered the final word and unleashed the power from her eyes.

A/N: wow. Even I was surprised with how I decided to pull off the ending here. The inspiration for this story comes from Katherine Forrest's 'Daughters of a Coral Dawn' Series. The series reads more like a journal from the perspective of several key characters, and truthfully probably isn't the greatest read out there. Greatest in its exclusive genre, perhaps, but definitely not for everybody. Unless you're a major Feminist whose ok with a story containing futuristic Lesbians venturing into outer space and where men are portrayed as dirty condescending pigs, the lowest scum of the planet, I'd suggest looking elsewhere. In all honesty, if I hadn't been determined to try new things when I'd come across this, I may have never given it a second look.

Tell me what you think and TaTa for now.