T^T Before you all decide to gang bash me for taking over a month to publish this, I'd just like to say that... ( ._.) Ah, screw the excuses, just please don't be too mean to me, my writers block was phenomenal for this chapter DX It's a real transition chapter with masses of information dumped everywhere, so it took longer than normal to get out. And then there was this one part that just... arg... no matter how hard I tried would not come out properly. Many, many drafts gone by I eventually figured out it was because I was trying to write it from Erza's POV and it just wasn't working. So, you'll be getting a little bit of Lucy's POV this chapter. I hope you like it ;D

Thank you to all of you lovely people who leave lovely reviews, but thanks also to those who just type "update now damn it". You keep me going XD I still have more follows than reviews though o_O What is this?

*EspeonLove, Thunderfall, Lou.D, fxwritersblock, Hiru to Yoru, mjxecxjd, DIM-Everlasting Gaze, Celtika82, 234: Glad you are enjoying things to date :) Hopefully you enjoy this chapter too!

*Rainbows-and-Rainclouds, Hibisha, NekoMataDemon, Guest, Taintedrose, tic toc, neko, LeprechaunGreen: I have updated! *dramatic pirouette thingy* Please don't hate me!

*TheCookieMonster77: Hahaha XD I love it when characters somehow bleed over into real life people we know. I hope you don't think you were waiting too long T^T

*Raii-chan, Lightmoon54: * ^ * I'm glad you like the analogy I'm trying to make here, because I really do put in a lot of effort to convert everything over. Also glad to hear that the characters for the most part aren't that OOC. Unfortunately, because I've taken them out of their own world I find that sometimes very defining parts of their personality vanish. Virgo for example was quite hard. She's always just popping in and out whenever the hell she want to in the main series, so I have to focus hard to convert them as closely as possible. Nice to hear I'm not doing that bad a job ;D

*Raining-skye23: Of course they'll meet again ;D As for when/where/how... well that's a secret :3

*GodSlayer'sGrace: Hahaha XD Glad to hear it ;D As for the chapter thing, I don't actually count the prologue as a chapter, so for me that one was chapter four and this one is chapter five :3

This hasn't been looked over incredibly well - only about 50 times. However, even after 50 revisions I still miss the smallest of typos, so if you find any please forgive me :/

There was less than a five second pause before two soft, perfectly manicured hands grabbed her left one.

"My, my Erza-san. Your nails are lovely, as always."

Another hand on her shoulder as the owner slunk his fingers into her hair.

"You just had your hair cut, didn't you? N- Not that I was looking at it... or anything..."

Two petite hands tugging at the right side of her shirt hem.

"Arf! Just for today, I'll be your little puppy dog."

The cherry to top the already spoilt cake: the man she had hit earlier with the door appearing out of nowhere at her side and placing a hand on her thigh.

"My honey, your parfum is lovely! Ku ku~ Ku ku~!"

*twitch*

Lucy glanced at Virgo for what was probably the hundredth time in the last five minutes, brain still overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of her old friend and what had happened to her. Though she tried to make them look anywhere else, her eyes were once again pulled to Virgo's wrists where her ex-maid's cuffs stayed clasped, and she felt her nose wrinkle in slight repulsion. No... she couldn't be like that. Virgo needed her help more than ever, not someone who would look at her in disgust over something that wasn't her fault.

Her head was drawn to her immediate left as Taurus continued to try and pull himself from the rubble of the table he had been harshly thrown into, face slightly flushed as he hurried to straighten his clothes and preserve as much of his broken dignity as he could. Watching him pulled her face into a slight frown. What had been up with Erza just then? They had been close for quite some time, so naturally she had seen the red-head angry before, but her actions this time seemed completely over the top.

She... She couldn't have failed her job request... could she?

No. She shook her head slightly to clear such a ridiculous thought. Erza had never failed to complete a mission as long as she had known her, so there seemed no obvious reason why this job could have been any different. Either way, she'd be sure to catch Erza later and ask her if-

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

What!?

There was a split second pause before everyone in the guildhall turned to look at the large oak doors just as they came crashing inwards, Erza's fiery rage almost a palpable halo of fire as she stormed back into the building, some sort of fat white bundle dragging behind her. It was only as she got within a few metres that Lucy realised that it wasn't a bundle at all, rather a man.

A man with slick orange hair, a cleft chin and a smooth voice.

Oh no.

However... if that man was here, then that probably meant that-

"Good day, Miss Lucy"

She started slightly as her left hand was suddenly grabbed from the tabletop where it was resting, Hibiki leaning in to press a chaste kiss to her knuckles.

"H-Hibiki!"

"Heh". The hazelnut blonde flashed her a glorious smile that she couldn't help but return before his two partners in crime flanked both of his sides.

"Lucy-chan! Come play with me!"

"Your sense of style is just unbelievable." Ren paused for what seemed like a practised amount of time before he blushed and quickly turned his eyes away. "N-Not that I was looking you... or anything..."

A nervous sort of laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it. There were many, many things wrong with the men of the Blue Pegasus team known as the Trimen, but she couldn't deny that she didn't somewhat enjoy their over the top theatrics and flirtatious tendencies. She had just opened her mouth to ask what they were doing in the guild when a different cry cut her off.

"M-Meeeeeen!"

Turning around she once again spotted Erza, who had reached the bottom of the steps and was proceeding to try and kick Ichiya up them one by one.

"Erza! What are you-"

The second Erza's name slipped from her mouth the red-head flicked her gaze in their direction, both Lucy and the three young Blue Pegasus members jumping back a few good steps at her ferocious expression.

"He. Wants. To. See. The. Master." Erza ground out, trying to appear composed and relaxed even though it was completely obvious she was anything but. "I. Am. Merely. Helping. Him. Get. There."

Glancing around quickly and trying to find someone from the second floor to help her with her predicament, Lucy sighed when she realised she was the only one around. Turning and leaning in slightly to the other Trimen, she whispered a quick "you might want to get over there and help and just get out of here as soon as you can," before she remembered that Virgo was still sitting at the nearby table, waiting to be taken to Porlyusica. Deciding that she didn't really want to be around as long as both Erza and the Trimen were all under one roof, she was about to grab the chained girl and make a run for it when Hibiki suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

"Actually Miss Lucy, we didn't just come here to talk to Makarov. We actually need to speak to you, Miss Erza, and as many other... um..." His voice dipped lower. "As many other second floor members as we can."

If his words themselves -so serious and insistent- hadn't already convinced her that she needed to stay, merely the expression on Hibiki's face would have done it. His usual charming demeanour was gone, replaced by something far more disturbed, and, if such a word could be used with Hibiki, uncertain.

"What is it?"

His hand came up to give a little shake. "Hush. Not here." Placing a hand on her waist he proceeded to guide her to the second floor, his friends in tow.

She reached the landing just in time to see Ichiya crawling away from Erza on all fours towards Natsu and Gray, who were seated on one of the tables with both of their right elbows propping their arms up so they could arm wrestle. At the sight of Ichiya coming towards them both pulled a slightly disgusted face and tried to move to the far side of the table without actually stopping their game. Sighing at the situation that seemed to be getting so out of hand, Lucy decided to take control, and moved forward to grab Natsu by his ear, twisting hard.

"Arrrggg! Lucy!" Natsu cried out and then cursed when Gray took the advantage and slammed his arm down.

"Hah. See that? I'm stronger than you flame brain!"

"That's bullshit Glass Queen! You obviously paid Lucy to help you."

"Sore loser."

"Cheater."

"WILL YOU TWO..." Lucy paused as she realised the ferocity of her voice, and quickly moved to calm herself. "please stop this for a few moments. The Trimen have come quite a long way to talk to us, and I think it would be nice if we all agreed to hear them out." Trying to key the two clueless men in on the situation, she jutted her head sideways towards Erza, who was standing in the middle of the room practically spitting fire at anyone stupid enough to be within a five metre radius of her.

"I think you got a bit of a twitch there Luce," Natsu began, before Gray quickly shoved him in the back.

"Ow! What the hell was that-"

"Just get into Gramps' office."

Taking a deep breath, Lucy watched as the others all knocked on Makarov's door and let themselves in. Being the last she could have actually just turned and tried to slip away, but decided that she would stay, be it only for Hibiki's sake. He had seemed genuinely stressed before.

But what about?

Erza was not happy.

Not. Happy.

Her trip home had been ruined, she had been basically assaulted by the most annoying man on the face of the planet, and now this: being stuck in a small, cramped office with her friends and the four stooges. Heaven help her, there had better be a pretty darn good reason she was still here.

She was surprised then when there actually was.

Hibiki -the only member of his group who hadn't already taken a seat- moved to the centre of the tiny room and quietly cleared his throat. "I know you'll have a lot of questions, but I'm just going to tell you straight out: The Oracion Seis have come out of hiding. They're on the move."

To an outside observer the reaction of the Fairy Tail members could have been almost comical: Lucy gave a little squeal that she hastily tried to pass off as a cough, whilst beside her Gray actually began coughing when he choked on his own spit. Makarov's eyes went as big as saucers, in competition with Erza's, whose were just as large as she leant over and whacked Gray across the back a few time. Only Natsu didn't react, rather titled his to the side ever so slightly with a small mutter of "who?".

Giving them a moment to compose themselves, Hibiki continued.

"Do any of you remember Karen?"

Erza nodded, vaguely recalling the green-haired woman she had only met a few times before at annual guild meetings. She had a similar hobby to Lucy; was gifted with locks and security systems and the like. The black arts section of the Blue Pegasus guild was more known for promoting teamwork though, so in the few instances she had met her all Karen seemed to be able to do was brag about incredibly tough missions she had taken on with "nobody important" and managed to complete.

"Well." Hibiki's hands shook slightly at his sides. "She's dead."

What? Erza glanced around at the other Blue Pegasus members, all of them doing their best to look at the walls or the floor; anywhere but into the faces of the people around them. She opened her mouth just as the others did, joining in their chorus of "how?".

The host swallowed harshly. "She took on a job a few days ago to transport a group of citizens trying to travel from one side of Fiore to the other. There had been a warning in the news about a certain town that had been having trouble with a group of bandits, so the people wanted a bodyguard of sorts just in case. Naturally Karen took Loke with her-", Erza didn't miss Lucy's sudden twitch at the mentioning of her friends name, "-and everything was going smoothly until they came near the Worth Woodsea."

The Worth Woodsea? Erza squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to remember that part of the Kingdom. Was there even anything out there? No... there was that strange six-legged tower, but it was a ruin that had been untouched for years.

"When they got there the cart was suddenly attacked by two people. Loke tried to protect Karen, but one of the attackers hit him with something - some sort of dart. He apparently started seeing things and began screaming like he was in pain. Meanwhile the other - a woman in white apparently- h-hit Karen from behind... and..." Hibiki trailed off with a choked voice.

Seeing his friend struggle, Ren finally spoke. "You can guess the rest. The two then took the passengers Karen and Loke had been protecting and left. That sums up everything we knew two days ago."

Erza leant forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "This came from Loke yes? Did he wake up and return to the guild?"

A nod. "Yes. He's still... Well, we've been forced to keep him confined to the infirmary because whatever he was injected with still seems to be affecting him. Poor man keeps claiming that Karen's ghost is following him around blaming him for her death." Ren pulled a face. "However, Loke did provide us with all of the information we needed to search the area they were attacked."

"And that turned up the Oracion Seis?" Gray's voice sounded slightly disbelieving.

"Not immediately, no. At first we found nothing, though then out of desperation we moved surveillance to the old six-legged ruin, and that's where we found them. All six Generals were there; it seemed as if they were looking for something, though we couldn't really get close enough to be sure."

"I have a few questions." The sudden gruff of Makarov's voice made them all jump slightly as they remembered his presence. "This gang, the Oracion Seis... Aren't they notorious for attacking churches?"

Ren opened his mouth to speak, though Hibiki finally seemed to find his voice again and replied first. "Yes, that's them... the one and only."

Makarov rubbed at his chin. "Why then would they choose to show themselves and potentially blow their cover to attack a cart merely passing by?"

"We're still trying to figure that out too. The only plausible theory we have at the moment is that perhaps one of the citizens being transported is connected to a church in some way, though we don't have enough details on them to confirm this."

"Hmmm." Erza caught up to the Master's train of thought in time to predict his next question. "Could you tell us who the passengers were?"

There was a slight pause as Hibiki glanced at his fellow guild mates. "Well, usually we swear an oath of costumer confidentiality, but considering the circumstances I believe we can overlook it." He turned to look at Eve. "You were the one looking at the job with Loke and Karen, right Eve?"

The short blonde nodded. "Yeah. There were four passengers that were travelling and I don't think any of them were related in any way. One was a man by the name of Scorpio, another a woman called Aries, and then there were two twin children... Umm... Gemi and Mini if I remember correctly."

Erza frowned at the normal sounding nature of the people. Her head was still aching somewhat, so she decided to cut straight to the point. "You've come here to request our help in taking down the Oracion Seis and finding your lost customers, am I correct?"

The eyes of the Trimen all flew to her.

"My honey!" She blanched at Ichiya's disgusting tone, but resisted the incredibly strong urge to punch him. "The parfum of teamwork calls to us for this mission! We also hope to gain the help of Lamia Scale, and the power parfum known as Jura."

They were going to get Jura's help too?

"If it's a tracker you need, it would be best to seek Jura's assistance." Makarov rested his face in his hands and nodded. "However before I commit my members to your team I'd like to know who was responsible for the sighting at the ruin. Forgive me, but people sometimes aren't the most reliable of sources."

Hibiki nodded. "That's understandable, but you have nothing to worry about. It was Christina we sent; she was the one who saw them."

"Christina?" A curt nod. "Very well then, you have my permission to ask as many of my members to assist as you like. Natsu, Gray... I take it you will happily volunteer?"

"Sure thing Gramps!" Gray jumped up from his position in the corner and clenched an excited fist.

"Who're we fighting?" Natsu began, though seemed to suddenly realise mid-sentence that the term 'fight' was included and grinned widely. "Ah who cares... I'm all fired up!" Mind made up, he bolted for the door before anyone could stop him.

Watching Natsu disappear and sighing, Lucy spoke up. "I- Well... I'd like to help but I don't think you'll have any use for me. I also have a friend that I... That I need to be with at the moment. Sorry."

The Trimen had already begun to shake their heads before she had finished her sentence. "Actually, we would like you to come along just in case," Eve stated, "From what little information we gathered about the ruin from archaeological texts it would seem the six-legged tower has a number of different floors and rooms rigged with traps. You never know when your talents could come in handy."

"Besides," Hibiki flicked the blonde a smile, "You've been training with that whip of yours, right?

Lucy blushed every so slightly. "Okay then. If that's so, then of course I'll help. Just give me a little while to get ready. I suppose I'm going to have to ask Mira to take Virgo to see Porlyusica." Nodding to the master and then Erza, she stood and walked from the office.

And that left them all to look at her.

"I'm not going."

The plain shocked sadness of all four Trimen's reactions almost made her feel bad about it, but she was over everything right now and didn't need anything else added to her pile of crap to deal with.

"We... Uhh..." Hibiki seemed almost nervous. "We wouldn't be going straight away Miss Erza. You would come stay with us at our guild for a few days whilst we talked strategy and got Jura to come over from Lamia Scale."

She was already shaking her head before he finished, but when she opened her mouth to refuse more forcefully, was interrupted by Makarov.

"If you would be so kind as to give myself and Erza some time alone please." The Master motioned to the door and Erza watched with slightly confused eyes as the four men quickly caught on and hustled out of the study. When the door had been quickly slammed behind them, Makarov sighed.

"Is something wrong Erza?"

"N-No!" Why did she feel like a little kid being weeded out?

"Are you sure? You always come straight to my office when you return from a mission yet if I heard correctly from the loud clamour downstairs you tried to go home?"

"I'm just... tired I guess. I did a lot of travelling."

She tried to look the Master straight in the eye to convince him that her lie was a truth, but he stared right back just as intensely and it began to unnerve her a bit. She was about to pull her gaze away when-

"Erza, it's okay to not complete a mission."

"NO IT'S NOT!" She startled herself somewhat with the sudden loudness of her voice. "I- I fucking screwed up. Me. Me. I screwed up. Erza Scarlet doesn't 'screw up'!"

"You are too critical on yourself Erza. Sometimes it is good to fail. It teaches us humility and makes us stronger."

"No, it means that poor women like the ones in Shirotsume continue to be taken!"

"So you didn't find the man responsible or the women?"

"No, they're fine," she quickly mumbled, before realising exactly what question that was prompting.

"Fine? I don't understand then. That was the briefing for the mission and you completed it. What went wrong?"

"I didn't get the Duke, that's what!" she spat. "If it wasn't for that stuck-up, good for nothing son of a bitc-"

"Who?"

"-h whogoinmawah... Who?"

Makarov's stare became more intense. "Was there someone else in the Duke's house Erza?"

Like hell she was going to admit that some man had bested her. "No. Who said that?"

A sigh. "Well, lies or not Erza, if the women are safe you have nothing to be so angry about. That being said, I would like you to accompany your friends on this mission."

"But Master, I-"

"Erza. I didn't want to admit this in front of the others, but this entire situation scares me. This gang do not just turn up every other week. The fact that they attacked guild workers knowing it would draw attention to them, as well as the fact that they let someone like Christina -as amazing as she is- find their location tells me two things. Either one, they are so desperate to find whatever they are looking for in the Woodsea that they have become sloppy, or two, that this entire thing is a set up to draw someone in. Quite frankly, I don't know which I'd prefer, though I do know that everyone will be fifty times safer if you are there."

Erza sighed, knowing she couldn't possibly refuse now.

"Fine then. I'll go."

"Thank you. I am truly grateful Erza."

"Yeah, yeah." She sighed and gathered herself up, heading to the door. She expected her friends to be gone and the Trimen all quietly waiting in the room outside, so was rather shocked to leave the Master's office and find everyone all huddled around the table in the middle of the floor.

"Erza!" Natsu screeched as soon as he spotted her. "Teriyaki's cloned himself!"

Hibiki, from behind Natsu, gave her a tired look. "It's Hibiki, and for the fiftieth time Natsu, I haven't cloned myself. It's all just me."

Erza sighed. "What's going on?"

"It's amazing Erza!" Walking around from the far side of the table Lucy reached over and handed Erza a small palm-sized black device with a stick pointing out of it. "Hibiki made it. It's a box that allows you to talk to people you can't see! He's called it a- Ummm... A-" She glanced at Hibiki for help.

"A walkie talkie Miss Lucy." Erza yelped and jumped back as Hibiki's voice resonated from the device in her hand rather than from his place near the table.

"Ho-How did you do that?"

The host smiled. "A little invention I perfected last month. Each box is charged with Lacrima, and you use them to talk over long distances. Well," He paused to look at his own device resting in his hand, "They work over some distance. You can't be too far away though."

"It's incredible..." Completely absorbed, Erza lifted the device closer to study it. "You truly are smarter than you look Hibiki."

Hibiki smiled for a short moment before suddenly stopping when he realised he may have just been insulted. "Well, you will have more time to play with them back at our guild. I think it would be smart if we all carried them during the mission in case something goes wrong."

Erza nodded along. "I agree. This could really give us an edge in a ruin so large. Speaking of which though, do you have an entire plan for this mission already, or were you looking for our assistance?"

"Well, we definitely have a draft - let's just say that. However a lot of it relies on Jura being available and tracking the Oracion Seis' hideout for us."

"Hideout...? What?" Perhaps she has heard incorrectly.

The blonde man scuffled a foot. "Well, you see, the Oracion Seis appear to not be staying in the ruin, merely searching it. We believe they have a temporary camp hidden somewhere in the forest, but have no way of finding it quickly. That's why we were going to get Jura's help. No one knows the Earth or can track as well as he can."

She nodded, resisting the urge to sigh at how over the top the whole development was becoming. "Okay then. You planned to head to Lamia Scale today?" A nod in response. "Then let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get to the Woodsea, the sooner we get this over with and get home."

Nobody was willing to argue with her over that.

Jellal lay on his back in the wet grass, not caring that he could already feel the moisture from it seeping through his thin shirt. He was exhausted to say the least, but more than that, he was just plain annoyed. Annoyed because after all of his hard work; after breaking into that forsaken mansion, finding those underground passages, after hurting her, the Duke had turned up nothing at all.

A dead lead.

He let out an annoyed yell and ran his hands over his face. Months of finding people to interrogate and time spent making plans for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And now, to make matters worse, he didn't seem to know where to look next. It had taken him weeks alone to even trace a story to the Duke, and that had been a long an arduous process within itself. No, he didn't feel like repeating that again.

So what do we do?

"Jellal?"

He couldn't be bothered getting up, so instead arched his back to look at Meredy from the ground, the upside-down-ness making him feel slightly sick, though he ignored it.

A sigh. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Actually, this is serious. We just got back from the meeting."

Fuck! He had completely forgotten about that. Rolling over and quickly getting to his knees he gave Meredy his full attention.

"Yes?"

"Well, I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but..." Meredy paused for a second. "The Oracion Seis are on the move."

Her words hit him like a hammer to the head.

"No!"

"Yeah. For some reason they've just started appearing in the Worth Woodsea at the six-legged tower, looking for something."

Of this was perfect. A better lead couldn't have been presented to him on a platter. Grinning slightly, he stood.

"Do you have any idea what they are looking for?"

Meredy shook her head. "We weren't told. Though if a gang that usually attacks churches because they don't worship Zeref suddenly begins searching an abandoned ruin... Well, I'd bet your new girlfriend it's related to Zeref."

He ignored her attempt at a joke due to the seriousness of everything else she had said. He was right, it was simply perfect. Too perfect to let slide by.

"I think it's time we were properly introduced to the Oracion Seis, don't you?"

"Ummm, well." Meredy paused to kick at a small section of the ground at her feet. "Ultear and I have been called back."

"Called back? What do you mean called back?"

"Unfortunately this event -whilst good for you- isn't good for us." Ultear's voice echoed out over the hillside as she joined Meredy on his left. "We won't be able to join you because the Seven Kin have all been called together. We can't refuse Jellal. I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No way... No fucking way. Why now?"

Ultear sighed. "I don't know, he won't tell us anything until we return, but he's serious. More serious than I've seen him in a long time."

There was silence for a while as they all tried to think it through. "Could he just be concerned about the Oracion Seis?"

Meredy shook her head, sending her pink curls bouncing. "He didn't seem upset today, did he Ul? In fact, he almost seemed happy about it."

Ultear nodded in agreement. "We'll try and get to the bottom of this and return as soon as we can Jellal, but for now be on your guard." Turning from him, she began to walk back towards their camp.

"Whether we like it or not, Grimoire Heart is officially on the move too."

- 3 Days Later -

The dry soil cracked and crunched under her boots as they marched along the cliff-side overhanging the beginning of the woods. If they weren't here for what they were actually here for, Erza may have considered the Worth Woodsea a beautiful place. There was a quaintness to it, definitely, but knowing that somewhere in there a gang of six crazed murderers were wandering around didn't do much to help this appeal. Then there was the six-legged ruin that stood tall above the entire forest. She had tried not to look at it too directly: every time she did this sort of shiver overcame her, and she couldn't help but picture the deserted corridors and barren rooms that would be inside. Such things made her uncomfortable.

"Nirvana." She jumped ever so slightly as one of Jura's humongous hands came down on her shoulder, his eyes too locked onto the tower above the trees. Luckily, it had hardly taken any effort at all to convince the man to join them, rather, it had been harder when the other members of his guild had tried to come along too. She blanched just remembering the two hours they had all stood around watching Gray and Lyon go at each other, only for Gray to eventually give in under the condition that Lyon not be within ten metres of him at all times.

Wait... Jura was speaking.

"I'm sorry, what?" she mumbled, looking up at his towering figure.

"The old texts say that the six-legged statute was once called Nirvana." Jura smiled ever so slightly. "An interesting name, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I would." she muttered, gaze now forced back to the tower despite her want to not look at it.

Perhaps it was the shape that bothered her? It did kind of resemble a bug in some way. No... that didn't seem to be it. It wasn't the form that irked her, rather the feeling she got when she looked at it, but that within itself wasn't something she seemed to be able to describe. Repulsion? No... not that, because whilst she wanted to run she felt drawn to it at the same time.

Almost as if she knew something was waiting for her there, but couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing.

With a pant he dropped the pack he was carrying to the ground and fell to his knees. He had been hiking for most of the day to reach this stupid forest, and now that he was here all he wanted to do was sleep.

With half-lidded eyes he looked out over the forest in front of him, quite admiring it's simplistic beauty before his gaze was naturally drawn to the gigantic building that dominated the area. How could you miss such a thing?

It was strange, but looking at his destination caused an odd feeling to skirt through his body. He couldn't put a finger on it - couldn't identify it. It was unnerving though because he couldn't decide whether he liked it or not, and his intuition before a mission was usually right on the money. If this feeling had been a bad one he actually would have stopped to reconsider going.

But this was different: like a pulling sensation mixed with another that seemed to be pushing. Heh, like that was even possible. He was just contradicting himself.

Out of everything though, only one fact seemed to be clear:

He knew, just knew, that someone was waiting for him there.

Whoo *sighs* To be continued~

Man, oh man, oh man. I seriously hope this was okay for you guys. I did dump a lot of crap onto you in one tiny chapter, so let me just really briefly run through a few small things that may have not been cleaned up as nicely as I hoped:

-Christina: Yep, she's real here. If you remember, in the real FT series Christina is Blue Pegasus' massive flying ship that does all of BP's tracking and magical tracing. In my world, she's a real-life woman who does the same thing... Basically, she finds people the guild needs to find. However, her talents are more based on going through facts and such to find her target - like the FT Christina that holds all of that data. That's why she can't track off-road as well as Jura, who is known for tracking animals and people in the wild.

-Lacrima: It exists here too for a similar purpose as in the main series: basically powers things. Electricity and the like doesn't exist, but Lacrima may be brought up every now and again to sub in as a power source, though I want it to be kind of special, so it won't be used for common items. Here it substitutes a battery of sorts.

-Hibiki: Hibiki's magic from the main series converted over here through his inventions. Obviously the walkie talkies are a play on his ability to transfer information between minds, and also his telepathy. He does has some fighting prowess, but this is limited, just as in the main series.

-The Oracion Seis: Their destroying of churches comes from the Key of the Starry Sky arc (the anime-only arc). Hopefully you got that reference or at least understood it. If not, sorry, but that's how they converted over into my story.

-Loke: Finally, before you all think Loke is a member of Blue Pegasus, he really isn't. Kind of like Taurus he's more of a travelling sell-sword, and also like Taurus (with Lucy) he was quite attached to Karen and would go do jobs with her. Blue Pegasus merely knows him and treats him like family.

Yeah, I think those were the only points from this chapter. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I'll try to answer, but please be aware that anything outside what I've just explained will likely be explained at some point in the story. Hence why I haven't mentioned it here ;D

Sooooooo, please read and review and look forward to chapter 6!

Goddess out~! *spins in a circle and vanishes*