Chapter One:

An exasperated sigh left the mouth of the blonde celestial mage as she made eye contact with her hot-headed partner. "Honestly, Natsu. I don't know what I'm going to do with you. There is absolutely no way that I am going on that mission with you." They'd been arguing for a good ten minutes about the issue of their next mission. Technically it was the mission of the entire team; Natsu, Happy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Carla, and herself, Lucy. However, Lucy and Natsu had the amazing opportunity to choose the request this time, and they just couldn't make up their minds. Or rather, Lucy declined every single job that Natsu had chosen – and with good reason!

The first job that Natsu wanted to take, first of all, didn't pay enough to split five ways (seven if you included the two exceeds) and he only wanted to take it because it called for destroying a building. The last time Lucy had to deal with construction workers was when they were rebuilding the guild hall and Erza had taken charge – she definitely did not need the red headed knight screaming in her ear to build something. And the second job that Natsu wanted to take paid enough, but it involved a long journey that Natsu probably thought they'd travel on foot for (not happening) so she was just being courteous to her teammate's disability when it came to transportation by refusing to do it – even if it would pay next month's rent as well as this month's rent.

"Awe c'mon, Luce. It pays well, it's not too far, and if we destroy stuff they will still pay us. It's perfect!" Natsu insisted, holding out the request to her while he continued his attempt at convincing his partner to go along with the job. It sounded well enough, I mean c'mon being able to destroy stuff and get paid if it happened? Yet again, the idiot was forgetting something. They needed a mage who could reverse a magical spell and none of their teammates were capable of that ability.

Another sigh escaped Lucy's lips as she turned her back on her partner and scanned the request board, looking for something that would be good. Nothing seemed to be standing out to her that they could do as a large group. Babysitter, getting rid of a Vulcan, capturing a runaway child...gosh none of these will – wait! A request caught Lucy's eye that so far looked like it would be a fairly good request. Reaching up, the celestial mage pulled the request off of the board and scanned it from top to bottom, not missing a single detail. Turning to Natsu, Lucy held it out to him.

"Here. We should do this one. It's simple enough and pays well. Says that there has been multiple threats and attacks on the city of Airedella by a band of rogue wizards. Sounds just like our kind of job and it pays enough that even if we split it with five more people I could still pay my rent!" Of course that was Lucy's favorite part, but she was slightly unnerved. Just how powerful were these mages if the reward for their capture was so high? And wasn't Airedella the city of the rich in Fiore, where everyone could pay themselves out of just about anything they had fallen into? And she heard they were a very anti-magic kind of city ever since an accident that had happened seven years ago that had frightened the town into seclusion and a life of no magic. So why would they be turning to wizards for help? It just didn't make any sense to the holder wizard.

Natsu's dark eyes scanned the request quickly and he grinned at Lucy excitedly. "This one's perfect! Beating up bad guys and having enough money to eat all the food I want has me fired up!" With his free hand, Natsu balled his fist and punched into the air above his head, a look in his eyes that Lucy knew all too well.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon fireball, let's get this back to our team." Lucy told Natsu as she takes the request from his hands before he accidentally got so excited and burnt the request on accident. She couldn't allow that to happen to such a rare and life-saving quest. Her rent was coming up soon and she really needed to pay it off.

Erza's expression didn't change as she read over the request, making Lucy fidget a little out of nerves. She had gotten quite use to the older mage, but that didn't make her any less terrifying – especially since she had a thing for snapping at people for being fools. Eventually the scarlet haired female nodded her head and met Lucy's nervous look with a calm, steady one. "This will suffice. Everyone prepare to leave for Airedella in one hour. We must get there as soon as possible." She commanded, her voice sure and challenging her team to try and complain about her decision. Of course anyone with a brain knew that was a horrible idea, so no one dared speak a word.

"Then the matter is settled." Erza said, nodding before she walked out of the guild hall, probably going to Fairy Hills in order to pack what would most likely be a wagon that was twice her size in every sense of the word. The scary wizard was never questioned even if she never even used half of what she brought.

The rest of the team went their separate ways to their own homes to pack as well, Lucy having been the second one to leave in hopes of avoiding the wrath of Erza in case she had to wash any dirty laundry before she left. She still needed to write a letter to her mother, which she would barely have time for when she got there and began to get everything together. Even as she packed though, Lucy had an uneasy feeling about the mission even if she had been the one to choose it. Something bad either had happened or was going to happen. Not knowing which one was really creeping the blonde mage out, though she tried to ignore her silly fears.

She just finished stuffing one last t-shirt into the suitcase when a loud voice from behind her caused her to jump in her skin and spin around, almost falling back from the force of her turn. "Natsu! What are you doing in my room!" Lucy shrieked, instantly glaring at him for having scared the daylights out of her. Of course, she'd die before she admitted that to the mischievous dragon slayer who absolutely adored sneaking into her room through the window. She had bought a lock for it once. The idiot melted the lock and just slipped right on in as if it were a small rock in his path. Needless to say Lucy had been shocked and furious when she found him in her bed that next morning.

"Just coming to check on you, Luce. Don't kick me!" Natsu replied, holding his hands up in a defensive position and interrupting Lucy's memory of the time she'd bought a lock for her window like a naïve girl believing that it would work. Without a moment of awkward silence there was none other than the little blue furball of annoyance right by his side, sitting on his head.

"Aye. Natsu was worried because you were taking so long." The blue cat informed the blonde, and then giggled behind a paw. "He liiiiiiikes you." He chanted, resulting in Natsu's hands reaching up to swat at the cat who was already in the air while Natsu's frantic hands slapped down on his own head, causing Lucy to burst into laughter at how idiotic the two were being.

"Why are you laughing? You're so weird, Luce." Natsu sounded extremely confused by Lucy's laughter, as did the flying blue exceed who was slowly making his way over to Lucy as if he were more safe with her than he would be by his best friend. Rolling her brown eyes, Lucy pushed Happy away from her and just shook her head with a sigh, turning her back to her pink haired friend in order to zip up her suitcase and head to their usual meeting place at the train station. Without another interruption from Natsu, she was able to change into a more comfortable outfit – something just short of sweats and a t-shirt – for travel and finish writing her letter to her mother. She'd long stopped caring if Natsu was around when she wrote the letter and stuffed it in a box full of all of her other letters. He knew about her mother. He knew about how she wrote to her on a daily basis to tell her what was going on in her life currently. It was no secret anymore and she had slowly begun to accept that her nakama knew what had once been a huge secret of her life.

"Geez Luce, you take forever." Natsu complained, his body sprawled out across her bed, hands laced behind his head in a comfortable position. He had been waiting for her to get ready for half an hour and they needed to be at the train station as soon as possible. Happy hadn't been kidding during the Grand Magic Games when he said it was a lie and that women always took forever to get ready. His comment on how long she was taking didn't go unnoticed and in turn he had one of Lucy's flip flops thrown at him, which hit him square in the face since his eyes were closed and he hadn't really been paying attention to what Lucy was doing. He only knew she was taking forever because they were still at her house and he could hear her mumbling to herself about what she needed to get done before she left. It was kind of adorable, if he were being honest.

With a roll of her eyes, Lucy put up the last item to ensure that her house would be clean and orderly when she came back to it before she turned her attention to the impatient boy. Happy had left a while ago to meet with Wendy and Carla – a habit that hadn't gone unnoticed by either teenager – so it was only the two of them. "I'm done, Natsu. Do you even have all of your things together?" Lucy accused the boy who had been complaining non-stop about how long she was taking to get ready for their job.

"'Course I do!" Natsu defended himself, peeling his eyes open and standing up, stretching out his sleepy muscles dramatically as if to show Lucy that she had indeed taken forever. "Now let's go, Luce!" Natsu begged, pleading with her and obviously not going to go ahead without her. Why would he do something like that? It'd be no fun!

Lucy let out an audible sigh and grabbed her suitcase before making her way towards the door, not even bothering to glance behind her and knowing Natsu and Happy more likely than not already jumped out of her window like the idiots they were. "Honestly, I don't know what I am going to do with those two." She mumbled under her breath as she locked her door behind her and then made her way to where Natsu and Happy were waiting a little ways ahead. The two were being laid back though, and Lucy smiled to herself a little. After the Grand Magic Games and the seven year gap she knew it was hard for everyone to adjust back to their old lives. Some of their friends had aged seven years older than them. Lucy herself should be about twenty-five but she was only eighteen in appearance. And the Grand Magic Games had been a way of making all of those long years of being away up to those who had been stuck back in Magnolia. Natsu sure had fought hard. And if Lucy hadn't been taken by the royal palace she would have loved to see how Natsu would have fought in the team battle. No one would have beaten him. She was sure of it, because she believed in Natsu. Her faith in Natsu and his ability to win was as sure and unwavering as Natsu's loyalty to his nakama.

"Hurry up, Lucy! You're so slow!" Natsu complained as he waited on her.

"Shuddup, Natsu!" She yelled back, walking a little faster anyways. The three made their way towards the train station, Natsu mumbling complaints about having to ride on a train the entire way there. They were the last ones to arrive as per usual but no one seemed to be upset. Instead, Erza went right into a lecture about their plan once they reached the city. By now she had started to give her plans before they got onto the train so that she didn't have to yell at Natsu for being confused when they arrived since he always got motion sickness. They all boarded the train – not without Erza scaring some sense into and arguing Natsu and Gray – and took their seats. Wendy and Erza sat together, chatting amongst themselves, while Gray sat a little ways off, staring out of the window. Lucy was seated with Natsu's head on her lap, her fingers running through his hair to help soothe the sickness that he felt. She had learned it seemed to help him when she played with his soft pink hair. When she first did it, she had been surprised at how soft his spiky pink hair actually was. Now though, she sought comfort in running her fingers through the soft tendrils of Natsu's pink hair. She stared out of the window, taking in the scenery and thinking about their journey. It just doesn't make any sense. Airedella isn't the type of city to ask wizards for help. And Mirajane said they specifically asked Fairy Tail and we're not known for leaving things intact. These guys we're facing must be pretty dangerous then. She looked around at her teammates before smiling a bit to herself. But nothing can stop us. We're Fairy Tail's strongest team!

Before she knew it, Lucy was waking up because of a yelling Natsu and a metal grip on her shoulder shaking her awake. She blinked back sleep and realized the train had stopped, and the yelling was Natsu's cry of joy for the motion having stopped. A smile formed on her lips for a moment, but one look at Erza's face and it disappeared. "We don't have time to wait. We must hurry. The town is under attack!" Erza spoke and Lucy immediately jumped to her feet and nodded, expression serious. "We will split up. Natsu and Lucy, you two go handle the mages. Gray and I will go see if we can find any survivors and take down whoever we can along the way. Wendy and Carla, you two stay here at the station. We will send the survivors your way." The metal clad wizard ordered, an arm slicing through the air and silently telling everyone to head out. Everyone nodded and then headed in different directions.

Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. The entire city was falling apart. Fires everywhere, buildings all around them collapsing and crumbling. "Mages did this?" She wondered aloud as she walked next to Natsu, who was eating the fires as they passed them by. "This is terrible.." She murmured to herself as she continued on through the city. Happy was flying high above them scouting for any mages who might still be attacking the defenseless city.

"Yeah..." Natsu replied, not laughing either. They had passed several bodies already of all different types; women, men, teenagers, children, even babies and toddlers. This was the work of true monsters and Natsu was going to make them pay.

Meanwhile, Gray and Erza were scouting out the city looking for any survivors. They passed plenty of fallen bodies, but none of them seemed to be alive. Countless bodies were found in the ruins of buildings and houses, but there weren't any people who were breathing – not even the slightest. Most of them looked to have been killed by magic attacks or from bleeding out, others were crushed underneath the ruins of homes and shops. At her sides, Erza's hands clenched into fists. Monsters. Whoever did this were true monsters. The red haired wizard spotted a collapsed building nearby and saw a lifeless form. "Gray over here!" She headed in that direction, Gray following behind her. Erza removed the debris from the fallen girl who looked to be only a few years younger than her in appearance, but she was older than Wendy. About fifteen or sixteen. Erza reached down and put her armor next to her nose. "She's breathing!" She exclaimed. One survivor. "Gray help me lift her." She demanded, and the ice-make wizard was at her side, gently lifting up the girl and getting her comfortable in Erza's arms before they gasped in shock. Underneath the teenager was a little girl, who was awake and trembling, staring up at the two with wide eyes.

"Don't hurt her!" She whimpered out, body shaking.

"She's just a kid." Gray said, amazed. He looked over at the teenage girl and mentally applauded her. Not many people who didn't use magic would sacrifice their own life for that of someone else, but whatever she had done had certainly saved this little girl. She was badly beaten and the child looked fairly torn up herself, but they were both alive somehow. "We need to get them to Wendy and Carla." Gray said to Erza before looking at the little girl. He wasn't like Natsu. He wasn't the best with kids but he had to try. The black haired male looked down at her and smiled gently. "Hey, we're here to help you. I'm Gray and this is my guildmate Erza." The little girl wasn't looking at his face though. She was staring at his chest. He looked down and realized he was shirtless. Great! He lost his clothes in front of a little girl!

"You're from Fairy Tail!" The little girl exclaimed, eyes wide and a smile forming on her lips. There was a scarf on her body that was covered in ash, and Gray assumed she had used it to take cover from all of the smoke. But it was too big to fit her. The older one must have given it to her.

"Yeah. We're wizards from the gui-" He got cut off when the little girl threw herself at him and wrapped her small arms around his neck. She wasn't as beaten up as the older girl. Actually, aside form the dirt, she didn't look to be injured at all. So how the heck was the older girl still alive? She didn't have any magical energy coming from her body, so she wasn't a wizard. Right now wasn't the time to wonder about them though. He made eye contact with Erza and she nodded, to which he returned the nod knowing what she meant. They silently made their way back to the train station where Wendy and Carla were waiting.

"Is this it?" Wendy asked, eyes wide in horror.

Erza nodded, "I'm afraid so. We are going back out to look for any more survivors, but it's not looking promising."

Gray tried to detach the little girl from him so she could get checked out, but she wouldn't let go. "Gray-sama! I'm scared!" The little girl reminded him of Juvia in a way, but a lot more adorable and less easy to say no to. He looked at Erza who simply chuckled a little.

"Very well. Gray, you stay here and help Wendy. Carla, come with me. If you look at the city from the sky you could see better than I could if there are survivors." Erza said and the little girl giggled happily.

Carla and Erza both left, leaving Gray with a clingy child and Wendy with a passed out teenager. The young dragon slayer was putting all of her focus on healing the wounds of the girl, but she wasn't waking up. Gray ended up sitting down with the child on his lap, poking his guildmark and then counting his abs before grinning up at him and giggling. He couldn't help but smile back. Even with all of the dirt covering her, she was rather adorable. "Gray-sama, is she gonna help my sissy feel better?" The child asked hopefully.

"She'll do her best." Gray replied with a nod.

"Thank you, Gray-sama! You saved my sissy!" She cried and threw her arms around the ice-make mage again. She then settled herself onto his lap once more, looking up at him. "Will you show me your magic, Gray-sama? Magic isn't allowed here so I don't get to see it often." She pleaded, her light blue eyes staring into Gray's darker ones.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Gray said a little awkwardly before he held out his hands, one hand flat and facing the sky while the other sat on top in a fist. He concentrated his magic and created a small Fairy Tail guildmark, much like he had when he was on the train and showed Lucy his magic. The small child reacted similarly as his blonde guildmate, but much more excited. She gasped in awe and her tiny hands reached out to take the ice guildmark in her hands. It was just about the right size to fill both of her small hands. She giggled and smiled up at Gray with a joy that surprised him. Even though she was excited, Gray noticed how careful she was with the mark, clutching onto it gently and pulling it close to her chest in excitement. The rumors had been true, then. Magic really had been outcast from Airedella. And that was why they had no defense against the mages who attacked them.

"It's so pretty!" The little girl exclaimed happily, laughing.

"H-Harley... I-Is that you?" The girl Wendy was treating slowly opened her eyes, trying to sit up and gasping from the pain, falling back down into a laying position. Immediately the small girl stopped giggling and went wide-eyed, quickly crawling off of Gray's lap and over to the injured girl.

"Sissy! You're awake! Gray-sama saved us, sissy!" She cheered happily and then she hugged her sister only for the girl to inhale sharply from the pain. Gray saw how pure the child's intentions were, but she was hurting her sister. He quickly moved forward to gently pry her off of the girl.

"C'mon, we gotta let her rest. Harley, is it?" He said reassuringly, gently pulling the girl back into his lap but staying close to her sister so that she wouldn't worry about her. The two certainly shared a bond. It reminded him of his guild. If they knew magic they would fit right in. The younger one could certainly learn, as could the girl, but it would take years for them to practice magic and get good enough to support themselves, and without any survivors other than them, who would be able to take care of them?

"Oh?" Harley stopped moving and looked up at Gray curiously before breaking out into a smile again. "Yeah! I'm Harley!" She giggled once more. "That's my big sissy, Kay! There were these mean wizards. They were trying to hurt us.. so sissy fought them and hid me. Mommy wouldn't wake up and sissy said we had to leave her behind.. and then the building fell on us... It was scary.." Harley trembled a little, her smile having left her face. A single tear slipped down her cheek and Gray almost panicked, not knowing how to handle a crying child. But then she looked up at him and smiled. "But then you saved us, Gray-sama! Thank you so much!"

Footsteps approached, and Gray looked up to see the rest of their team. Erza, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy. Erza had five men in her arms and Natsu had three whilst Lucy had another two and was dragging them by her whip. Natsu looked pleased, smiling and grinning like a maniac, only a few scratches here and there, and Lucy looked more beaten up than the rest of them. Gray could only assume the men got perverted with her and Natsu took them all out. It was obvious for the guild that Lucy was someone Natsu got protective over. "That is all of them. An entire Dark Guild had attacked this city. We didn't find anymore survivors. They are the only ones. Wendy, we'll need you to continue to heal her on the train ride home. Natsu and Lucy, you two tie them up and contact the guild. Gray -" Erza looked to the ice-make wizard about to order him to do something when she saw the little girl sitting atop his shoulders and giggling whilst playing with his hair. She sighed a little, "Keep her distracted."

"So does this mean we don't get paid?" Lucy's tone took on a hybrid of a whine and a complain all in one. It wasn't a bad assumption though. If the only two left alive were the two children, that meant those who could actually pay them were dead. Had it all happening this morning? They had taken the request too late. Hundreds of innocent people were wiped out. But Lucy's rent was coming up soon. And she didn't know if she had the energy to go on another job soon enough to pay it.

"Awe c'mon, Luce. Lighten up. We'll just take another job when we get back and pay your rent." Natsu said cheerfully as he dropped the guys in his arms carelessly.

One of the wizards that Erza had dropped awoke, looking around tiredly. He moaned a little, holding his head a bit. Immediately the red haired wizard glared at him, a sword at his throat. "Tell me why you attacked this city." She demanded, causing the guy to cry out in fear.

"W-we were p-paid to destroy the city. T-they wanted the head of the Reaper. They told us we could find them in the city and paid us a lot to burn it down to make sure the Reaper was dead." He sputtered out, wide eyed. He was scared, but it mainly had to deal with the knife to his throat. Once the knife was put away he let out a relieved breath of air. But his eyes settled on the body of the girl being healed and he let out a cry, jumping to his feet and into the arms of the warrior-like mage, starting to cry like a baby. "I-it's her! The Reaper! S-She's alive! Oh God save us all!" Erza raised a brow when she looked at the source of his fear. She sighed and dropped him before knocking him out and looking at her guildmates.

"Wait a minute... I've heard of the Reaper before.." Lucy murmured. "A few months before we went to Tenrou Island. When Airedella stopped allowing magic. It was because of a wizard called The Reaper, or more widely known as The Angel of Death. Most brushed it aside as a folktale that was told to draw people in, trying to find the mysterious mage in Airedella. But then one day the mage snapped and destroyed half of the town. But no one ever knew their identity and after the attack they couldn't sense their magic energy. Even the Magic Council looked into it. There is no way this little girl is that mage." Lucy declared. "But then why was he so afraid?" She wondered, looking at the passed out girl on the ground. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, if she had been that mage then she had only been nine or eight when that attack happened. There is no way she could be who the mage claimed her to be.

"Let's get home, and you can tell us more about this history or Airedella when we get back to the guild." Erza said.

"What is going to happen to them?" Lucy asked, looking at the two girls.

"They'll be coming with us. One is severely wounded, and the other is her little sister, no more than a child." Erza replied. No one questioned her, and everyone nodded a little.

"Oh! I get to go to Fairy Tail! Yay!" Harley squealed from Gray's shoulders, leaning forward to look into his face. "Did you hear that Gray-sama? I get to go with you!" She smiled happily at the mage she had instantly attached herself to.