DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL.

Date Uploaded: September 11, 2017- Friday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

WARNING! Slight raise to M! Beware! Beware! Please don't ignore my warning!

OOC WARNING! OOC's everyone I already put a warning but still you gotta be aware!

CHAPTER 006: THE PHANTOM LORD'S FIRST MOVE

"Master, are we really just going to be quiet about this?" Erza asked after following Makarov all the way to the second floor.

"We won't be quiet about this Erza. We are just going to let the government take notice of them and report them. That way our hands will be clean and they'll be punished." Makarov explains to her. "It's a hard wait but we have to bear with it. Can I count on you on this one?"

"Of course. I just don't think Natsu will be able to hold his anger in." Erza says, expressing her worries.

"I'll handle Natsu, I need you to make sure everyone heads home safe tonight." Makarov instructs her. "I'll prepare reports to the government to back us up."

"I will do so."

Meanwhile, Lucy was already at her apartment, continuing her studies but she couldn't focus after what she had just witnessed. She's glad that Natsu is here but she's bothered that now even Gray was here, saying he just wanted to make sure she was safe since she's a real beauty she'd be a target. Lucy blushed at Gray's excuse but she was thankful for such consideration.

The two refrained from fighting so far which is good. She doesn't want to spend much jewels to renovate the apartment when she could barely pay the rent.

Lucy headed for the bathroom to relax, glaring at the two boys if they dare peek at her. She succumbed to the hot water in the tub to think. It's been a fun few weeks but now she's getting really nervous. Mother, I really love this place... I wish everything wil be alright.

She doesn't know how long it's been but when she got out, she sees Gray reading the unfinished draft of her story, Natsu and Happy eating her food and Erza drinking tea in her bed. Wait whaaaat?! Even Erza was here now?!

"W- Why all of the sudden everyone's here?!" she shouts in surprise.

"Oh hey Lucy. These biscuits are so good. Even Happy likes it!" Natsu tells her as he chewed on the crunchy biscuits she had imported from a foreign city. Happy smiled at her also eating.

"So when's the next chapter? I actually like this." Gray said as he peeked at the empty blank pages in the bottom.

"Lucy, I hope its okay that I stay here for a while." Erza says and Lucy knew she couldn't even say 'no'.

'Well, I feel at ease knowing they're all here... maybe it's not so bad after all.' she thought with a smile.

"Ah right Erza, Lucy is studying for the exams. She wants to be an official Celestial Contractor." Natsu spilled and Lucy diving beside him to cover his mouth was too late. She shivered when she realized she was wearing a towel when she jumped on him.

Natsu blushed but Lucy blushed more than he did, she jumps away and ran to the bathroom, grabbing some clothes on the way.

"I- I never knew Lucy would be so bold to make the first move..." Erza said almost speechless.

"And in front of everyone." Gray added, also surprised to what Lucy had done.

Natsu on the other hand froze with steam coming out of his ears. Happy tried licking on his face but he wouldn't respond out of shock. Lucy on the other hand hugged herself in the bathroom, screaming internally to how embarrassing it was to be misunderstood like that. Although worse case scenario would be her towel falling off, she'd rather keep it this way than that.

She wore her clothes and took courage to exit the bathroom to face them again, seeing that they didn't move from their positions since she left.

"It was a misunderstanding." Lucy tells them as calmly as she could. Then Gray strips all of the sudden and Erza's eyes widened. "That's not it either!"

At the hideout, Mira was closing up and Elfman was helping her out, making sure she's alright.

"Think they'd attack again?" Elfman asked.

"If they're desperate enough to provoke us then yes. I think they'd make another move again soon." Mira answers with a serious tone with a hint of sadness. It won't be safe for anyone for a while. She was stuck in thought for a moment there, thinking of possible attacks from them but she shook her head to erase those terrible thoughts. "Let's just hurry up with this."

"Of course nee-san." he says.

But was it really going to be that easy?

Jet, Droy and Levy were walking on their way home together that night.

"I can't believe this is happening." Droy muttered. "Those cowards sure know how to fight against the walls."

"Let's just head home already. Master said to be home early." Levy tells him but Jet gives her a reassuring smile.

"We took a different route from before. It's a secret route that not everyone knows. We're perfectly safe!" he says and gives her a pat in the head. Droy glared at him shortly before putting an arm over Levy's shoulders to get her attention.

"Shouldn't you be with Laki though? Isn't it safer to be at the girls' dormitory?" he suggested.

But Levy was the one who smiled at him. "It's alright. We're a team aren't we? So we'll stay together." she tells him and the two boys smiled at her with sparkling eyes as they wrapped their arms around her, almost crushing her in between them.

"Levy-chan!" the two said in unison.

"O- Okay let's go it's getting late." she tells her two friends.

"Don't worry, I will protect you no matter what!" Jet declared.

"Nah, I'll be the one to protect her!" Droy declared as well and the two glared at each other shortly, making Levy chuckle before breaking them apart.

"Okay, we're all protecting each other. Now let's go." she tells them and they followed her lead.

These three didn't notice that someone was actually following them.

'You're first, Solid Scripter!' he shouted in his inmost thoughts as he charged fast towards the group, aiming for the little girl in between the two boys.

His fist was about to hit her head but then someone had blocked his path. Jet was sent flying instead while Levy and Droy were caught in surprise to see him crash in the corner, knocked unconscious. They turned to the person who attacked them, seeing he had a lot of piercings everywhere in his face and arms. He grinned cruelly at them.

"Well what do you know, he did protect you." Gajeel complimented.

"Jet!" Levy ran towards Jet to see if he was okay but with a blink of an eye, Gajeel was right in front of her, ready to bash her next but Droy pulled her behind him and blocked his punch with his arm.

Gajeel's punch was so strong that even if Droy had blocked it, his arm ached in pain as they stumbled backwards together.

Droy held on his left arm, it was bleeding and swelling with just one hit. Levy sat up to check his arm, seeing it was serious. "Droy..."

"I'm alright Levy. I need you to get out of here as fast as you can." Droy tells her but she shook her head. "Please go."

"I'm not leaving you or Jet here." she tells him but Droy spoke again, shouting a bit this time.

"I need you to run darn it! I won't be able to beat him but if you escape that's good enough for me. It makes both of us worth this beating." Droy tells her with a forced smile to assure her everything would be alright.

Levy was angry at herself and at the same time this situation, she was powerless. She clenched her fists, wanting to fight but she followed as Droy said and ran, she ran as far and as fast as she could. Gajeel said nothing as he stared at her with an evil smirk.

"Run my prey." he muttered, ignoring the fact that Droy dashed towards him after swallowing a pill to give him extra strength to beat this guy. There was hope he was clinging to despite the obvious feeling that he'd lost.

It didn't really take long for Gajeel to knock him out and chase after his target.

Levy ran back to where she knew the hideout was located. Mira and Elfman should be there but even after running as far as her short legs can go, Gajeel caught up with her. He dashed to her front to grab her by the neck to choke her, his strong and muscular arm was wrapped around her neck, her foot couldn't reach the ground as she struggled to fight him.

"Remember my name." he whispered in her ear. "The one who will scar you for life with a never-ending horror wherever you go."

When he releases her, she coughed as she gasped for air, crawling away from him but with an effortless pull, he pulled on one leg to reel her back to him, catching her other foot that aimed for a kick and and hitting her over and over until her face earned enough for dark bruises.

"Tell Fairy Tail not to recruit members like you next time and save them the suffering." he teased as he grabbed her by her hair preparing another strike in the face.

"What did Fairy Tail ever do to you people?!" she shouts at him and he did not proceed with his bunch, instead, he pulled her closer and she tried to keep a brave face as their eyes met. His eyes was filled with nothing but darkness while her eyes showed that she was afraid.

"Fairy Tail has someone we want."

"Why use all this violence?" she asked and he threw her on the ground with a laugh.

"I barely started having fun!" he shouts at her and began to kick and stomp on her fragile body. "This is just a warm up!" he tells her without holding back on his kicks. The bluenette grunts in pain before casting a spell and a shield appeared in between her and him. He laughed when he saw it and cracked his knuckles. "Oh so you do have tricks up your sleeve."

He sounded happy that she defended herself. For him it was no fun if she wasn't going to put up a fight after all.

Casting another spell would drain her strength. Solid Scripters are not for combat as she was told in the test. Using it against him for battle will only tire herself out. But what other choices does she have?

Jet and Droy's sacrifice would be in vain... she can't let that happen.

She forced herself to stand and began to write in midair and in a matter of seconds, fire appeared out of nothing and flew towards Gajeel with great speed. He swats the fire away but more came. He began to laugh as one of those attempted fireballs hit him in his chest.

"What else do you have there?" he asked and walked towards her. Levy tried again to write whatever she can but Gajeel caught her arm and stared at her small arm. "So what happens if you lost your arm?" he said with a grin.

Without waiting for her to fight, he twisted her arm before breaking it. He lifted her like paper and threw her hard on the cold ground, stepping on her broken arm, causing her to cry and shout in pain. The clouds began to form as thunders roared, a hint of rain about to pour down soon. Gajeel merely laughed at her struggle and used his other leg to kick the rest of her.

"Trash shouldn't be joining gangs. Trash should stay trash." he tells her as he stepped on her other arm next.

He got sick of it and stopped, when he stepped away she curled into a ball to hug every part of her that ached. But he smirked and kicked her again, sending her flying towards one cement wall nearby. He followed her and began to continue his kicks as finally the rain poured down on them.

When she no longer responded or resisted, he stopped and picked her up by her hair, her headband falling on the floor. Her eyes were half open and she wasn't unconscious yet. "Don't you dare fall asleep on me." he tells her and smashed her back at the wall. "Not so smart now are you?!" he shouts and smashed her head again. "Are you?!" he asks again. "Hey talk to me!" then he felt something in his hand, a red liquid flowing from her head. "Tsk."

He dropped her on the ground and stretched his arms. He was bored. They weren't even interesting.

But either way he let out a smirk of victory. "I hope Fairy Tail gets the message."