In a certain part of Era, it was the Magic Council meeting once again and the council members were gathered to discuss the recent events of the Lullaby incident. After agreeing that Lullaby should be sealed away forever, they once again arrived on the topic of Fairy Tail.

"Those Fairy Tail pests! They did it again. Look at the damage they made to Clover!" Org shouted, showing his clear distaste for the guild.

Yajima stroked his beard and attempted to calm the man down. "Despite that, they did manage to defeat Lullaby and prevent the deaths of the guild masters. If it weren't for them, it probably would have been us held responsible for their death."

"Indeed. We should learn to appreciate them more," Siegrain added with an amused smirk. "It's people like them that makes this world so interesting."

Org fumed. "Stop talking nonsense! It's only because of them that we have so much work on our hands. I say that it's about time we did something to punish them."

More than half of the council members nodded in agreement. Gran Doma looked around at the predominant consent and made the decision. "Then it is decided."

000

"Welcome to Fairy Hills Lucy!" Levy, Bisca, Laki, Cana, Mirajane and Erza shouted, all of them throwing confetti at the girl. Lucy smiled as she took in the sight of the decorations hung up all over her room.

"Thank you everyone. I really appreciate this," Lucy said sincerely. Although she had technically moved in few days ago, things had been hectic, what with the Eisenwald incident so there had been no time for everyone to actually sit down and have a party. However, on this particular day, it just happened that no one in the dorm had any missions so everyone had deemed it appropriate to hold a welcome party for Lucy. Naturally, they came to the conclusion that it should be held in her room.

"You have a lot of books, Lu-chan," Levy commented, looking at the five bookshelves lining the wall opposite her bed.

Lucy laughed. "Not as much as you, Levy-san. Compared to you, these are nothing. But you might be interested to know that these are books I've collected from various different worlds. Some of them are really interesting, like the book on the History of Elflings."

Ria flew into the air. "That book's really thick you know! It contains a lot of stuff that even I don't know about."

Levy's eyes sparkled. "Ooh… it sounds so exciting. Do you think I can borrow some of these books?!"

"Of course you can." Levy wasted no further time and rushed to the first bookshelf, grabbing any book that looked remotely interesting.

Cana chugged down a bottle of sake. "Hey, have you got a collection of alcohol from different worlds as well?" she asked, her words slightly slurred due to her drunken state.

"No, I'm sorry Cana-san. I didn't think to collect alcohol," Lucy informed her regretfully.

"Don't feel bad Lucy. Cana really doesn't need any more alcohol in her system," Laki said.

"Ooh! I found a sexy yaoi doujinshi!" Levy exclaimed, holding up a book with a cover of two men stripping each other and looking into each other's eyes. Laki immediately jumped up and made a grab for the book. She snatched it out of Levy's hand and rapidly flicked through the pages with stars in her eyes.

Bisca gave Lucy a pointed look. "I didn't think you would be into this kind of thing."

"I wonder what other naughty books you possess," Mirajane teased, mirth dancing in her eyes.

Lucy shrugged. "That was just a present I received from someone."

"Who was it?" Erza asked in curiosity.

Lucy blushed slightly. "Oh, um…you," she said in a low voice. She made an effort to not look into anyone's eyes. There was a moment of silence before everyone burst out into laughter, except for Lucy and Erza who were red in the face. Trying to make the situation less embarrassing, Lucy continued, "I meant you in the other world! And you only gave it to me as a joke…I think."

She grimaced when there was another round of laughter and she realized that she had only made everything worse.

Just then, the door to her room burst open and a frog-like humanoid creature walked into the room. The creature called for everyone's attention before clearing their throat. "I am a messenger from the Magic Council and I'm here to announce the arrest of Erza Scarlet for committing eleven crimes in the Eisenwald incident including mass property damage," the messenger announced. The room fell into silence and the girls glanced at Erza to gauge her reaction.

"An amphibian…? What is this creature?" Lucy muttered. Ria winced when the messenger sent the blonde girl a fierce glare. Lucy! Think carefully before you speak!

Erza got up calmly and followed the messenger out of Lucy's room. The messenger sent Lucy one final glare before leading Erza out of Fairy Hills and to the Fiore branch headquarters. The girls sat in a sombre silence, the party mood quickly deflated due to the sudden arrest of Erza.

"Hopefully Natsu doesn't find out. He'll go on a rampage," Levy commented. Everyone nodded in agreement. Lucy abruptly got up.

"I'm going to go for a walk," she announced. Everyone gave her a wary look.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do Lucy," Mirajane warned her.

Lucy waved away her concerns. "Don't worry, Mirajane-san. Like I said, I'm just going out to get fresh air. Right now, I'm not really in a mood to celebrate."

She walked out, leaving the girls staring after her in worry.

"You're not going to do something reckless are you?" Ria asked suspiciously, once they were out on the streets.

"Ria, I know better than to go against the council. Besides, I suspect that she'll probably be let out by the end of the day anyway," Lucy answered. "I'm just going to visit a shop."

They walked further down until they stopped at a patisserie shop. Lucy entered, ignoring the confused face of her friend. The shopkeeper looked up as the bell attached to the door chimed.

"Welcome! What can I do for you?" the man in a white apron asked. He stood behind a glass counter where many different kinds of cakes were displayed. Lucy searched the shelves for the cake she was looking for. She pointed at the white cream cake with strawberries at the top.

"I'll have one of this please," she said, taking out the appropriate amount of jewels to pay. The confusion finally cleared from Ria face.

"Oh. You're thinking of giving this to Erza, aren't you?" she asked with a smile.

Lucy nodded as she took the cake encased in a gold box and carefully placed it in her pocket dimension. "Yeah. She missed lunch to save up appetite for the party food so she must be really hungry by now."

"Are you going to give it to her after she's let out?"

"Nope. I'm going to make a visit to the council headquarters. It's not like I'm breaking the law by visiting a friend."

Ria groaned. "You are going to do something reckless. Please think about the consequences. What if they have surveillance lacrimas, which I'm certain they will? It's not just a matter of teleporting in and teleporting out."

Lucy grinned, "Don't worry, I have a plan."

"God knows how much I hate your 'plans'" Ria grumbled. "You know what? Fine. Don't say I didn't try to warn you." And with that, she disappeared into Lucy's pocket. Lucy sighed. Oh well, she would make it up to her friend later.

000

Erza closed her eyes and leaned against the prison wall. She was certain that night time had fallen outside but since she was underground anyway, she had no way of confirming her suspicions. She sincerely hoped that the news of her getting arrested hadn't reached her guild mates; at least not until she's let out. Even though it wasn't her fault, she still felt bad about ruining Lucy's welcome party, especially knowing that everyone had prepared a lot for the party. She hoped that they were at least having fun without her. Just as she was thinking that, the door to her cell opened and someone was shoved in.

"Hopefully, your time in prison will help you reflect on your actions. You'll be here till midnight. Don't cause any trouble until then," said a gruff voice before the door was slammed shut.

Erza remained silent, not sure if it was wise to say anything. That is, until she heard an all too familiar voice.

"Gosh, Lucy. That was your plan? That was the single most stupid and reckless plan ever. You're lucky that you only got off with few hours in prison."

Erza's eyes widened in shock. Lucy? What was Lucy doing in prison?

"Geez, I get it. It worked didn't it?"

There was a huff and then silence. Erza cleared her throat. "Lucy? Is that you?" she asked, squinting her eyes to make out the figure sitting opposite her.

"Um… good evening, Erza-san," Lucy said. She lit her finger with a bright silver light, illuminating the whole room.

Erza frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Before Lucy could reply, Ria beat her to it. "She crashed into the building, literally. Now there's a big hole in one of the rooms." the small girl said bluntly.

"WHAT?! Are you stupid?!" Erza hissed, glaring at Lucy who fidgeted slightly under her intense gaze.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time…" Lucy mumbled, entirely avoiding Erza's stare. The redhead sighed.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, this time in a much softer voice. At this, Lucy perked up with a small grin.

She opened up her pocket dimension and took out a gold box. "Since you didn't eat lunch, I thought you might be getting hungry so I bought you a cake." Lucy opened the box to reveal an average sized sponge cake with white cream and strawberries covering the top and the side. Erza opened and closed her mouth, lost for words until she sighed and settled into a soft smile.

"I don't know whether I should scold you for being so reckless or be touched that you thought of my well-being and did all of this just to give me something to eat," she said. Lucy grinned with a slight blush. She took out a knife and cut the cake into four sliced. She placed a slice on a plate and handed it to Erza along with a fork.

"Maybe you should decide that after eating the cake. It's really delicious," Lucy said, taking a slice for herself as well. She cut a small bit and gave it to Ria who huffed but took it anyway. The three ate their cakes in silence, revelling in the heavenly taste.

"Mm…this cake really is good." Erza admitted as she took another bite. Lucy smiled. She had long finished her own slice but she was content in simply watching the other girl enjoy the food. Seeing Erza happily eating the cake Lucy had bought definitely made the few hours in prison worth it.

Once the cake was completely finished, Erza handed back the plate and the fork to Lucy. "Thank you, Lucy. I must admit, I was getting a bit hungry. As much as I don't approve of your method, I'm happy that you went out of your way to do this for me."

"I'm glad you liked it," Lucy said, smiling widely. Lucy decided that there was something very addictive about seeing Erza's smile and looking into those honest and expressive eyes. It was in these small moments that Lucy once again truly realised just how beautiful Erza was, both inside and outside. For the nth time, she vowed to herself that she would protect that smile.

And this time, she would not fail.

000

The night had quickly progressed and both Erza and Lucy had been let out after midnight. They had returned to Fairy Hills together where they were greeted by Bisca, Levy, Mirajane and Laki who had all stayed up and waited for them. They had quickly had a small continuation of Lucy's welcoming party before heading back to their own rooms to finally get some rest.

The next day, Lucy entered the guild and found that luckily, Natsu had been on a job with Happy the previous day so the news of Erza's arrest did not reach him. Anyone who knew was wise enough to keep it to themselves. Lucy was subjected to a brief lecture from Makarov regarding her property damage. Despite the chiding tone, Makarov expressed no real anger towards Lucy's action and she was let off with only a 'don't do it next time'. Of course, the content of her little exchange with Erza inside the prison also remained a secret between the two of them. Currently, the recently formed Team Natsu sat around a table, each minding their own business.

"I'm so booored..." grumbled Natsu. Lucy paused in her reading and looked up at the boy.

"We could go on another job," she mused. "It's been a long time since I've been on an S-class one." At this, Gray, Natsu and Erza's heads simultaneously snapped to stare at her in surprise. Lucy blinked at the strange reaction until she realized with a groan that technically, she wasn't really an S-class wizard anymore now that she was in Earthland. "Great. Now I have to take the exam all over again," she grumbled with a displeased frown. The exam was unpredictable each year and Lucy really didn't want to go through the effort again.

"You're an S-class wizard?" Natsu asked. He had a certain gleam in his eyes that Lucy carefully identified as admiration and excitement.

Before Lucy could say anything, her small companion quipped in, "Only in the other world. Now she has to take the exam allllll oooover agaaaaain."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at Ria. "Watch what comes out of your mouth or I'm not going to take you along on my next job." This got the Elfling to shut up immediately. "But yes. I became an S-class mage in the other world two years after Erza-san," Lucy informed.

"Since I'm two years older than you, does that mean that you and I passed the exam at the same age?" Erza asked, mild curiosity lacing her voice.

Despite having been warned, Ria smirked as she approached Erza. "Trust me, it wasn't an accident. Lucy refused to take part in the exam until she was ten. The age when you became an S-class wizard," Ria mock-whispered. Erza's eyes widened as she caught the implication and stared at Lucy, who was blushing hotly.

"I refused because I wasn't ready and accepted because I was ready!" Lucy hissed through clenched teeth whilst avoiding Erza's stare. She really was speaking the truth. When master had offered her an opportunity to take the exam in previous years, she had refused because she had felt that she was nowhere near the skill level of an S-class mage. She had wanted to train and hone her skills further before trying out for the exam. She glared at Ria, her eyes promising all sorts of revenge for the false accusation. The silver haired girl swallowed and looked away.

"Still, becoming S-class at the age of ten is pretty awesome!" Natsu enthused, immediately breaking the slightly tense mood surrounding the table. "Right, Happy?"

"Aye!"

"What were the tasks in your exam? It changes every year, doesn't it?" Gray asked in interest. He knew that he had a high chance of being selected for the exam this year so he wanted to be prepared for anything.

"For our first task, we had to collect eight items and bring it with us to the finishing line within the set amount of time. We weren't told what the items were or where they were placed but they made it clear that there weren't enough items for all of us. Only the first two to arrive at the finishing line were allowed to continue. You can probably guess that this caused a lot of fights amongst us. I came second because three people were right behind me and it took me some time to defeat all of them before reaching the line. With only two of us left, we had to fight with our items but we weren't allowed to use magic at all. The last one standing became an S-class wizard which, as you all know, was me."

Gray smirked, "Sounds fun," he said with no little amount of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, it really was! I had so much fun that day. Plus it gave me a decent exercise," Lucy agreed happily, completely missing Gray's sarcastic tone.

The ice wizard looked at her in disbelief. "You call that a decent exercise? From what you described, it sounds like total labour. And I thought Erza had a nasty training regime."

"What was that?" Erza asked sharply, without missing a beat.

"Nothing!" Gray squeaked, cold sweat running down his face. Lucy smiled as she basked in the familiar atmosphere of her team. She remembered a similar scene from over four years ago when the four of them were just talking and laughing without a care in the world. She hadn't realized just how much she missed this until in that moment. All of a sudden, a wave of drowsiness swept over her and her eyes started dropping. She desperately tried to keep awake, internally cursing herself for letting her guard down too much. She noticed that everyone else had all but fallen asleep, their bodies limp on the floor. Other than her, only Erza and Makarov seemed to be still conscious but even the requip mage seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open. With trembling hands, she just about managed to keep upright. Through her heavily lidded eyes, she spotted a mysterious man walking into the guild and taking a request off the board. She had never seen the man before, not even in the other world but something about his presence bugged her. There was a strong sense of familiarity that she couldn't shake off, as if she had met the man countless of times before.

The master watched the man as he approached. "I'll be back," he said, his voice muffled by the cloth he wore over his mouth and nose.

The sleeping spell was apparently not completely ineffective on the master because he looked up a bit sluggishly, his slow movements for once actually suggesting his old age. "Hold it! Lift the sleeping spell first."

The mysterious man wordlessly turned around and headed for the door. "Five. Four. Three. Two." He stepped out into the open air and Lucy's head turned to follow his movement with some difficulty. "One." The sleeping spell lifted and everyone jolted awake. Lucy finally felt the weight on her eyelids lifting itself and her strength returned to her body.

"Who was that man? His face was almost completely covered so I couldn't really see what he looked like," Lucy asked. Deep inside, she felt that she knew the man. Not from the guild but from somewhere else.

"You were able to stay awake?" Gray asked in surprise. "That's pretty impressive considering that his spells are pretty strong."

"Indeed. Even I found myself slipping into unconsciousness," Erza agreed.

Lucy shrugged, "I was just barely conscious. But who is he? He's not in the guild in the other world."

"That's Mystogan. He's one of the strongest members of Fairy Tail along with Laxus and Erza. He puts a sleeping spell on everyone each time he comes to collect a job so only the master knows what he looks like," explained Gray.

"I know what he looks like." The voice came from above them. Lucy turned to see Laxus leaning against the rail on the second floor with his head casually resting on his hand. "Mystogan's shy. Don't bother him so much."

Natsu's eyes snapped open at the voice and he jumped up with his fists clenched. "Laxus! Fight me!"

Laxus sneered. "You think you can take down me, the strongest member of Fairy Tail?"

"Come down you coward!"

"Why don't you come up?" Laxus taunted, unaffected by Natsu's menacing glare.

"Fine by me!" Natsu made a dash for the stairs. The master sighed, enlarging his arm and pinning the pink haired boy to the ground. Natus grunted from the force.

"You're not allowed on the second floor! Not yet," said the master. Lucy glanced at his large hand warily, wondering if that was the treatment she was going to get if she somehow forgets once again that she's not an S-class wizard anymore.

From the second floor, Laxus laughed. "Looks like you got yourself into trouble."

"Laxus! That's enough out of you," Makarov snapped. Laxus ignored him and faced the rest of the guild.

"I won't let anyone take the title of Fairy Tail's strongest! Not even Mystogan or Erza. I'm the strongest!" he shouted. He then walked away with his large fur coat swooshing behind him.

"Looks like Laxus is as egotistical as ever," mused Lucy. She decided not to mention that one time she had beaten the guy, although it was before she had most of her power sealed and when they were very young. To be fair, she also suspected that Laxus had been easy on her. She absentmindedly fiddled with her headphone. I guess I won't be beating him again anytime soon. As long as she wore the headphone, her full power was sealed away and in all honesty, Lucy preferred to keep things that way. After all, the last time she had unleashed her full power, she almost became permanently insane. She'd rather be beaten a million times than go through the experience again.

She snapped out of her thoughts in time to see Natsu walking back to their table with a scowl. He plopped down onto the seat opposite Lucy. They were alone on the table with Ria and Happy. Seeing that Natsu was uncharacteristically in a brooding mood, Lucy was rightfully concerned.

"Why don't you pick a job Natsu-san and we can go together tomorrow along with Gray-san and Erza-san," Lucy suggested, trying to break the boy away from his sombre mood. At her suggestion, Natsu got a gleam in his eyes which only made Lucy even more worried. He looked at her thoughtfully. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Natsu slowly nodded, a grin forming on his face.

"Sure."

000

Lucy closed her book with a sigh as she heard her bedroom window sliding open. It was well into night time and everyone else in the dorm had retreated into their rooms. She set the book onto the table and turned, fully expecting to see Natsu climbing through the window. And she was right. The pink haired boy seemed perfectly fine with climbing into a girl's room in the middle of the night without any warning.

"Natsu-san. You do realize that this is a girls' dormitory." It was more of a statement than a question. "Boys aren't allowed in. Erza-san would have your head if she spotted you."

Natsu seemed unconcerned by her warning. He plopped down onto her bed without a care in the world and Happy followed suit, bringing out a fish and nibbling on it. Without her invitation, they had made themselves perfectly at home. Lucy resigned to the fact that this was probably going to become a regular occurrence. She hoped that Natsu would at least have the sense to be discreet.

"Look Lucy, I got us a job!" he said, practically pushing the sheet into her face. She calmly took hold of the sheet and read it over. It was a request to save the cursed island of Galuna and the reward was a hefty 7 million jewels along with a gold zodiac key. That wasn't the problem though.

"Natsu-san," she started slowly. "This is an S-class job."

"Yeah, I took the job off the board on the second floor," Happy said.

"Neither of us are S-class so it's forbidden for us to take this job. Please tell me that you realize this could get us kicked out of the guild."

"You're an S-class wizard," Natsu argued. Lucy sighed and reminded him that she wasn't in Earthland. Natsu shrugged. "Yeah, but if we complete this job, gramps will acknowledge us. If you're not going, I'm going to go alone."

"Why don't you ask Erza-san to come along? Then we'd be allowed," Lucy suggested. Natsu stared at her as if she had grown two heads.

"No way. If we take her, then we wouldn't be proving anything. Besides, she would be really mad that I went to the second floor."

Lucy sighed as she realized that there was no changing Natsu's mind. As much as she didn't want to break the rules, she also couldn't let Natsu go alone in her good conscience. The job was S-class for a reason and at least she had experience taking such jobs whereas this would be Natsu's first time. She knew that she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she let her friend jump into the unknown without her there to keep him out of danger.

"Fine, I'll go. Only because I don't want you to go alone," Lucy relented. Natsu and Happy cheered.

"Great! Meet us in front of the guild first thing tomorrow morning."

000

"Master!" Mirajane shouted as she ran down the stairs. "A job is missing on the second floor!"

Makarov sipped his morning coffee. He breathed in the bitter scent and sighed. He put the cup to his mouth for another sip. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he promptly spat out the mouthful of coffee in his mouth.

"What?!" he yelled hysterically as Mirajane patted his back to sooth his violent coughing.

Macao and Wakaba observed the scene.

"Must have been an S-class job since it was on the second floor," Macao commented.

"Who the hell's stupid enough to take an S-class job without permission?" Wakaba asked.

Laxus, who had been watching the whole ordeal from the second floor, smirked. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the annoying flame brat.

"A cat," he said, drawing everyone's attention. His smirk widened when he saw realization dawning on Makarov. "I saw a cat with wings take off with it."

Mirajane gasped, "Happy?!"

"Meaning Natsu and Lucy? What were they thinking?"

"Yeah, you would think Lucy would know better."

"Gramps! This is obviously a breach of rules. You're kicking them out as soon as they come back right?" Laxus shouted, his smirk still in place. Makarov said nothing. Mirajane stomped up the stairs and confronted Laxus.

She put her hands on her hips in a scolding manner. "Laxus! If you saw, why didn't you stop them?"

"I just saw a cat run off with a piece of paper. I never imagined that it would be Happy," he replied. It was obvious that he was lying and Laxus himself knew this but he didn't care.

Makarov looked up. "Wait, which request did they take?"

"The cursed Galuna island," Mirajane answered.

Everyone's eyes widened. They had heard stories of the cursed island, about how the place was crawling with monsters and that anyone who got close enough would turn into one themselves.

"Laxus! Bring them back!" Makarov shouted, panic evident in his voice.

Laxus shrugged noncommittally. "No way. I have my own job to do. Besides, members of this guild are supposed to be able to take care of themselves, right?"

Makarov fumed, "Out of everyone here, who else can bring Natsu back by force?!"

At this, a chair scraped back and Gray stood up. The comment obviously ticked him off. "Gramps. Don't be so insulting. I'll bring that flame-brain back." He strode out of the door and disappeared into the distance.

000

"A boat?" Natsu paled, his face already turning green from just looking at the swaying motion of the vehicle. Up, down, up, down, up, down. He nearly threw up then and there.

Lucy looked at him with an amused expression. "We are going to an island after all," she replied.

Natsu averted his gaze from the boat. "Can't we swim there?" He followed Lucy gaze to the sea and saw that there was absolutely no sign of the island, not even a tiny speck. "Okay, so it's a bit far away."

They approached the nearest free boat. A man was untying the knot anchoring the boat to the port. He looked up as a shadow cast over him.

"Hello, could you take us to the Galuna island?" Lucy asked. The man startled at the question and reeled back as if they were some kind of infectious disease.

"Galuna island?! You people must be out of your minds! I'm not going anywhere near that place!" They were immediately shooed away. This continued with several boats until they came across a lone man setting up his boat. They asked the same question and unlike the others, he did not deny it straight away but calmly explained that no sailors would willingly go there.

Natsu smiled smugly. A little too smugly, in Lucy's opinion.

"See? No one's going to take us there. Why don't you just teleport us to the island?" Lucy ingored his question. In theory, she could in fact simply teleport them to the shore but she wanted to stall the quest even for a bit so that she could try and convince Natsu to pull out. She was almost ready to give up and just take Natsu's advice when she spotted Gray walking towards them from her peripheral vision.

"Gray-san's here," she informed Natsu. They both turned to face the ice wizard who smirked at them.

"Found ya."

Natsu clenched his fists. "Gray, what are you doing here?"

"Gramps asked me to bring you back." Lucy mentally thanked Gray over and over again. She really preferred not to be kicked out of Fairy Tail after recently re-joining. "Let's go," he said.

"Don't screw with me! I'm going on the quest no matter what!" Natsu shouted.

"You directly broke a rule, Natsu! Besides, imagine what would happen if Erza found out," he said the last part with a shudder. This got Natsu to momentarily falter. Happy cried in terror as he flew around. Ria snickered as she watched all the blood drain from Lucy's face. However, it didn't take a second for Natsu to regain his determination in tenfold.

"I'm gonna show Erza what I can do!"

"I'm gonna bring you back no matter what!"

They butted heads and glared at each other. Lucy stepped to the side. Gray encased his fist in sharp bits of ice and Natsu followed by igniting his on fire. This seemed to draw the boatman's attention.

"Wait, you guys are wizards? Are you going to break the island's curse?!" he asked, his voice going up a few volume.

"Yup!" Natsu answered immediately, ignoring Gray's glare.

The boatman stared at them for a while. He quickly gestured them to the boat. "Get in!" Natsu grinned and without a word, he knocked Gray out with a swift kick to his mid-section. He hoisted the ice wizard onto his shoulder and climbed aboard. Lucy followed silently with a sigh, disappointed that Gray proved to be completely useless. She knew that if they didn't hurry, Erza would come after them next and that was a thought she really didn't want to entertain.

The boat journey took them a whole day and it was only towards night time that they could see land in the distance. Gray was tied up tightly with thick ropes and Natsu was leaning over the boat, heaving and mildly throwing up into the sea. Gray glared at the boatman who was looking into the distance.

"You! Why did you agree to take us there?" he asked with a scowl. His voice was laced with frustration and he was obviously beating himself up for not completing master's order.

The man turned to face them. "My name is Bobo and I used to live on the island. I fled from the island because bad things happen to people there. Can you people really lift the curse?" Bobo swept away his cape and showed them his left arm. The arm certainly couldn't be called a human's arm. It was purple and scaly and instead of fingers, he had sharp claws. "This demon's curse…" Bobo trailed off with a dark look. He turned back to the sea. "There it is, the Galuna island."

Lucy and Gray followed his gaze and spotted a lump of land with tall mountains. At the peak of one of the mountains, there was a bright yellow glow. Lucy whirled back around when she suddenly felt the presence of Bobo disappearing. Sure enough, the man was no longer with them on the boat.

"He disappeared…" Lucy muttered. Gray and Happy looked around but there was no sign of the man anywhere.

Ria gulped. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Lucy stared at the island and the glow at the top of the mountain. "Me too, Ria. Me too."