Hello to the readers of this story! It took me a while, but I managed to put together this latest chapter! It took some brainstorming to do so, but I feel as if it does this story justice. Music helped out a lot and fueled my creativity, so enjoy the adventure about to unfold!

Chapter 6: The Trip to Sabertooth

The next morning, I woke up to a bouncing kitten who was yowling excitedly about the trip. She pounced on my face, batting one of her paws against my forehead before moving to bite my ear. I hissed in pain when her teeth pinched the skin too tightly, but she accomplished her goal when I sat up and caught her before she tumbled down to the bed. She looked as if she was about to jump from my hands to attack a sleeping Natsu next but I kept a tight grip on her so she couldn't try it.

"Don't be a naughty kitten," I scolded her lightly, only making her giggle and smack her paws against my hands while kicking her legs.

"Aww, you're no fun, Mara!" she laughed, smiling brightly up at me. I hugged her to me tightly with a smile of my own and then set her down on the bed.

I turned over to Natsu, about to wake him up myself before Tyger tried, but he tightened his hold on me and pinned me against him. "So warm…" he mumbled in his sleep as he rested his chin on the top of my head.

Even though it was just Natsu, I began to feel trapped and claustrophobic, which caused panic to creep along the edges of my mind. When I started to shiver in fear that I couldn't control, it caused for Natsu to wake and then sleepily look down at me. Since I couldn't really move away from him, I just closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his collarbones, the shivering from fear getting worse no matter what I did to try and stop it.

"Are you ok?" he asked me and I could feel his concern for me as it washed over me in waves.

"You've got me pinned and I can't move," I whimpered, fighting a sudden onslaught of tears that caught me off-guard.

He seemed confused at first since he was still half asleep, but when he saw that what I said was true, a jolt of shock went through his body and he immediately let me go. I rolled over onto my other side and curled into a ball, keeping enough distance between us for me to try and calm down. Once the shaking stopped, I hopped out of bed as if nothing had happened and packed clothes in a suitcase before placing it within my own shadow where it would stay until I needed it. I grabbed a blue halter dress and ran into the bathroom to change, adjusting the gladiator boots and then undoing the braid in my long black hair before brushing it out to fall in loose waves down my back. I mussed up my bangs and the hair framing my face a little and then walked outside to where Natsu and the cats were waiting.

"Wow, pretty Mara!" I heard Tyger say as she launched herself off the bed towards me, flapping her one wing that was free furiously as flew and I caught her with a laugh.

"Thanks, Ty," I said as I placed her on my shoulder where she played with my hair. Natsu and Happy both looked surprised at my appearance. "What?" I asked them.

"Nothing!" they both said simultaneously. I chuckled at their behavior and motioned for them to follow me as I headed to the door. Walking out of it revealed Zeref, who was waiting patiently for me to come out and we all began to walk to the stairs. Practically taking them two at a time, we reached the front door and I locked it behind us.

"How are you going to handle being around a city full of people?" I quietly asked Zeref as Natsu and Happy walked ahead of us. Tyger peeked her head out of the mass of my hair and listened in on us.

"I should be ok," he said with a smile. "And if anything goes wrong, you'll be there to stop my Death Magic from accidentally killing any innocent people."

"That's right!" I said, walking closer to him to give him a brief hug before pushing away. He laughed and we continued on with the walking, although for some reason I thought Natsu was walking a little too rigidly as if he was upset or angry about something.

When we reached the gate leading into the city, I unlocked it from our side, letting everyone pass through before locking it behind us. I saw the man who gave me the keys and ran over to him. I explained that I would be going on a trip and would be out of town for a while and then asked that he watch over the place for me while I was gone. He gave me a bright smile and told me not to worry for he'd keep it safe. I waved as I ran in the direction of my friends for they were already walking towards the guild. Once I'd caught up, we ran on the rest of the way and I kept my eye on Zeref in case he needed my help to keep his magic under control. Once we'd made it to the courtyard, we saw everyone that was going with and also the magic vehicle waiting for us.

"Hey, guys, good of you to finally show up!" Lucy called to us before finally noticing the wizard beside me. "Wait, who's he?"

"He's a friend of mine!" I said with a smile, hoping that no one would recognize him for what he really was. I thought that I had convinced everyone, but I saw as Erza's face when from acceptance to shock and then straight to rage. She had a sword in her hand within seconds and rushed at Zeref with a battle cry. I created a shadowy sword of my own and was between the two with seconds to spare, blocking her slash and pushing back at her with every ounce of strength I had.

"Why are you defending him?!" she screamed, her eyes radiating the fury she felt as they lit up. "Don't you know that he is The Black Wizard, Zeref?"

This was exactly what I was secretly worried about by letting Zeref come along and I bared my fangs at her in frustration, making her flinch slightly and snapping her from her rage for a few seconds before she strengthened her resolve. "Yes, I do realize who he is," I told her, my voice low. "And yes, I do realize that is what people call him. But he has changed. He saved my life during my S-Class Trial. He no longer kills unless it is absolutely necessary and you need to accept the fact that you're still angry over what happened to you and Jellal, so you want to take it out on Zeref."

"Timara, I wish you hadn't done that," Zeref quietly said to me and I knew without looking that he had that melancholy expression again.

"Shut up, Zeref," I growled. "I'm not going to let anyone kill you just because you feel like you need to atone for your sins from your past."

"I don't understand you sometimes," Zeref whispered. "Why do you insist on keeping me alive? I've done such terrible things."

I pushed Erza away while she was in shock at my words before and she walked away towards the others with the sword she held in her hand disappearing. I whipped around to face the former Dark Wizard and made the sword I had wink out of existence as I stepped closer to him to look him in the eyes, glaring at him in my fury. "I keep you alive because you shouldn't squander the new life you've been given," I said. "I've killed people, too, and I'm still living. Your misguided attempts at death are an insult to my attempts to survive."

"Survive…?" He looked puzzled as he watched me, but he took a step back after observing my dangerous attitude.

"Yes, survive. I have accepted my past because it's not something I can change. I can't go back to stop those men from attacking me and almost killing me. I especially can't protect my past self from them so that I never needed to unleash my demons upon them. What I can do is live every day to the fullest and protect as many helpless people as I possibly can so that another person never has to go through what I did again."

"So no dying anytime soon?" he asked me.

"That's right," I told him.

I grabbed him by the arm and led him over to the magic vehicle, taking the seat behind the controls and Zeref sat beside me. Erza explained that the control stick was how the vehicle was steered and then slipped a band around my wrist that hooked with a tube that was attached to the vehicle, saying that it took my magic energy and made it move. I could make it stop or go depending on how much magic energy I expended. Everyone piled in except for Natsu, who walked up to me with a strange expression that was akin to jealousy.

"Want me to sit up here with you?" he asked me.

I barely had any time to open my mouth to answer when he climbed up next to me and sat down. I was now squished between two people who seemed keen on getting as close to me as possible as they shifted in the seat that wasn't meant to have this many people sitting on it. Thankfully, there were guard rails on either side that would keep them from falling out. Lucy and Happy pulled open the curtain to ask me something, saw that Natsu wasn't going to go inside the cab with them, then turned back to tell Gray to just shut the door.

With just a little bit of magic released into the vehicle until I got the hang of it, it rolled forth at a leisurely pace. I heard a groan of misery as Natsu slumped against me and laid his head on my left shoulder. We were barely moving and he was already getting motion sickness. I wanted to laugh until I felt my own stomach begin to churn uncomfortably and remembered that I sometimes got motion sickness as well. I gritted my teeth and kept the vehicle moving despite Natsu's pitiful noises from being sick. We reached the west gate that led out of the city as the guards opened it for us and I pushed the magic vehicle to a pace that was quick but would allow me to keep it going all day and night. Natsu groaned again as I turned the vehicle into a northwesterly direction.

"Natsu, you better not throw up on me," I said sternly. "If you do, I will toss you off this seat and beat you senseless."

"I'm not going to," he croaked and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Being next to you makes it a little better."

"Why is it that he's sick and you're not?" Zeref asked me curiously. "I thought it was a Dragon Slayer weakness to get motion sickness."

"I am feeling sick, it's just not nearly as bad as Natsu's," I told him as my stomach gurgled painfully.

I concentrated on driving so that I wouldn't pay attention to my stomach anymore, barely even noticing as Tyger crawled down to my lap to take a nap. I watched our familiar surroundings go past us and we delved into unknown territory for me. I followed the road that led to the northwest and kept driving at my grueling pace. I listened to the group in the back chattering on about something they found interesting and I watched the trees go by along the road. After half the day was gone and I was still keeping the same pace from before, Lucy popped her head out of the curtain.

"Erza wants to know if you need to switch with someone for a while," she said, waving at Tyger, who had peeked her head out from my hair to give Lucy a smile.

"I can keep going until nightfall," I told her confidently. "If need be, I'll eat a few shadows and be fine again."

"Alright, Timara!" she said cheerily. "Oh, and how is Natsu doing?"

With his head still on my shoulder, he made a grumbly noise and weakly waved his hand to acknowledge her words. "He's not in the best condition," I said with a small smile. "I think he'll be ok though. Just looks a bit green around the edges."

We watched as a river wound next to the road and water birds swam on the water's surface, the water sparkling in the sunlight. A few minutes later, we finally saw our first sign of mankind as a carriage with a huge boar pulling it drove by, the driver giving us a funny look as we went by. I guess they weren't used to seeing anything like this vehicle before. The irrational part of me that never left since that fateful day dearly hoped that the people around here were used to magic.

I slowed down when I saw a village approaching and Natsu sat up a little to look around. The vehicle moved at a leisurely pace as it reached the outskirts of the village and we saw people looking at us through the windows. I thought they looked almost… afraid as their curtains fluttered closed. Children ran back inside as fast as their little legs could once we came into view and I knew something had been going on.

"Why do you think they're just leaving like that?" Zeref asked me quietly.

"I don't know and that's what bothers me," I said, my voice low so that outsiders couldn't hear me. "They distrust new faces, which means something went awry here."

When we made it over to the main square of the village, a man with fancy looking clothes that almost seemed out of place for this small outcropping of people came over to block our way. He had a permanent scowl on his face and he glared up at the three of us behind the controls. A few more people swarmed out of the building with him, seeming equally as stern as the first man.

"Stop right there!" the first guy yelled as I pulled up in front of them. "I want you all to turn back! We don't like your kind here!"

"Our kind?" I asked as I looked down at the man.

"Yes, wizards!" he shouted. "We've had enough troubles with them for longer than we'd like!"

"These wizards… do you know who they are?" I questioned the man and he looked awfully suspicious.

"They said they were from Dark Unicorn," he told me. "They show up at night and attack the village, taking all our money and valuables."

"Why don't you allow for us to stay here for a few hours until they attack again? Then, we can take care of the problem for you and you'll never have to deal with them anymore."

"Why would you want to do that?" another man asked me, glaring at me as if I was taunting them with false hope.

"Because we're from Fairy Tail and we don't just ignore people in need of help," I explained.

The leader watched me warily before nodding, so I pulled the magic vehicle over to the side and we all hopped out. Natsu looked much better now that he was on solid ground and was back to his usual eccentric self. The leader of the village, a man by the name of Goemon, let us stay in the large building for now until nightfall. He got us some food and I ate with Tyger, giving her little bits of chicken that she gobbled up greedily. I giggled as I almost lost a finger or two a few times before she finally fell over onto her back and slept, her belly swollen from all the food she'd eaten. I watched as Goemon came over to sit across from me in a chair on the other side of the table.

"Listen, I just wanted to apologize for how you all were treated when you first arrived," he said, his words sounding sincere. "We've just had a lot of bad luck here and everyone is skittish of newcomers."

"I understand where you're coming from," I told him calmly. "When I was a child, I had a difficult time around large groups of people that were bigger than I was. The only thing is that I learned the hard way that hiding won't help the situation."

Goemon nodded as he listened to me. "I've been the village manager for about two years when they showed up a few months ago. They had magic weapons and took the children playing in the streets as hostages until we gave them everything they wanted. Now they take a cut of our money every night and almost eat us out of house and home."

"Don't worry," I said. "We'll put an end to this. Depending on if you want the violent or nonviolent way, we'll keep them from coming back."

"I'd prefer if we did this without violence," Goemon said to me. "Violence has a tendency to escalate whereas fear lasts for a long time. What exactly do you have in mind for that option?"

"Oh, you'll see," I told him with a grin. "My magic is plenty scary as is."

I asked for Zeref to keep an eye on Ty as I left the building of the village manager, heading back down the road we entered the village from. I heard shouting from behind me as Natsu ran out of the building after me. He ran to me and stopped once he was by my side and we walked along the road until we reached the outskirts of the village. Finding a big stick on the side of the road, I picked it up and poured my magic into it before digging it into the earth.

"What are you doing?" he asked me curiously.

"I'm warding the village against Dark Guilds," I told him. "The village manager asked for a nonviolent solution and I have the perfect idea for it."

I dragged the stick along behind me, leaving a deep black groove in the ground as I walked along the outside of the village. It took about half an hour to go full circle, the sun falling down below the horizon as the sky turned orange. There was now a large black circle surrounding the village and a few people had gathered outside their homes to watch what I was doing. I inscribed a few symbols on the inside of the circle, crouching down to dig the stick even deeper into the earth. I placed my palm over them and they started to glow a blue black color, a dome of shadows forming over the town for the briefest of seconds before blinking out of sight. Content with my work, I got up and snapped the stick, tossing it out of the circle before walking back into the village.

"So what's your plan?" he called to me as he ran to catch up.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" I yelled back with a grin.

A few hours after dusk, there was a howling noise off in the distance, whoops and cries that were loud enough to carry to the village. It was time for the Dark Guild to arrive and we all gathered at the edge of the village to wait. I stood outside the circle with Tyger sitting on my shoulder, gently kicking her legs out and the heels of her feet smacked into my collarbone. I could hear the villagers nervous chattering as I could see a swarm of people running in our direction. They all had a spike in their hair that looked like a unicorn's horn and they hooted and hollered once they caught sight of me. They slid to a halt about fifty feet away and the leader took a step forward, slamming his huge glaive into the ground and making the earth rumble threateningly.

"Look at this pretty little thing, men!" he laughed, turning his head towards the large group behind him and giving them an arrogant grin. "I think she's a good prize for this night's pillaging!"

I gave them a blank look as the wind picked up, which seemed to unnerve a few of them before saying, "I am the great demon, Wyvernia. I have been contracted by this village to drive you away and ensure that you never return. Leave this place now or else."

"Or else what, honey? I don't think you're strong enough to beat me," he said as he looked me up and down. I contained my disgust and continued my blank stare.

"Or else my demon horde will attack you and chase you off," I said with a hiss.

I lifted my fist straight into the air quickly, my shadowy wings seeming to rip from my back as the circle surrounding the village lit up with that same blue black light. A cascading wall of shadows shot up from the circle as demons of all shapes and sizes crawled out from it, the wall rippling like water as they pulled themselves free. Hisses and growls could be heard ripping from their throats as they walked up to me. Dropping my arm down to my side with a maniacal grin and spreading my wings, the demons roared and shrieked as they rushed at the Dark Guild. All of them immediately turned around and ran with screams of fear, the leader taking off soon after when he realized that he no longer had any allies to stand up with him. The shadow demons raced after them, some of them snapping at their heels while the winged ones swooped down to swipe at their heads, missing them by inches and only frightening them more.

I whipped around to face the villagers as the circle died down, making my wings disappear as I clapped my hands together once and held them. "Now you won't have to worry about them anymore!" I told them as I walked in their direction. A few of them looked a bit scared of my magic but I just shook my head slightly. Still more people that feared me and my comfort with shadows, I thought to myself. I felt my irrational side stir in wait for their reaction.

"Thank you so much," the village manager told me, bowing his head in respect as his subordinates followed suit. The rest of the village saw them and did the same, their fear disappearing as they realized that there was nothing to be afraid of.

"You're very welcome," I said, nodding in acknowledgement.

The village manager asked the innkeeper to allow us to stay the night before we headed out in the morning. There were enough rooms for us to each have our own and I made my way up to mine. I locked my door behind me and noticed the rustic look about the room. Crawling under the scarlet covers, I picked up the sleepy kitten and set her down beside me. I looked out at the sky outside the window from my position and watched as clouds began to cover up the stars. I saw lightning flicker from cloud to cloud before I closed my eyes and was pulled into unconsciousness.

I heard a sinister laugh as I opened my eyes, a sharp feeling of dread making me gasp as I saw the column of darkness surrounding me. Before I could be sent to the ground like all the other times before this, I screamed in rage and rushed at the wall, slamming my fists into it as hard as I could. The laugh carried on as I continued to hit it with all I had, my knuckles splitting open with the force of my punches and the blood seemed to be absorbed into the dark wall.

For such a lowly human, you sure are persistent. I can't wait to crush you again.

I felt a blast of wind send me flying against the opposite side, making me gasp as the air rushed from my lungs. Before I could hit the ground, two black spikes ripped through the wall and slid between the bones of my arms just below my wrists. Blood poured forth at a rapid speed and I bit my lip hard enough that my fangs pierced the skin. I kicked my feet and tried to rock forward far enough to slide along the spikes to get free, but that only made the bleeding worse. I knew I wasn't going to stay alive in this nightmare long enough to get my revenge and I hissed out a breath.

I can reach out and kill you at any time, whether it's during your waking moments or your sleeping ones. Stop protecting The Black Wizard and I will allow you to live before I raze the world to the ground and start anew.

I allowed my head to slump down against my chest as I laughed weakly. "If you think I'm just going to let you do this, then you're dead wrong," I said with a wan smile. "I'm never going to give up until you're defeated. I'd rather die than let you do this."

You're going to be the first one I'll need to take care of then. I can't have you getting in my way.

I heard the same sinister laughter again as I saw the wall ripple and shift, then heard a noise that sounded like something was whistling. I looked up to see a large spike like the other two heading straight towards me. There was nothing I could do to avoid it, not since I wasn't able to move to dodge incoming attacks. The only thing I could do was watch in slow motion as the spike came closer and pierced through my heart to the other side of the column of darkness. I looked down in horror as I saw the spike sticking out of my chest and slumped forward, my life leaving me as the blood drained out of me.

I woke with a start, clutching at my chest groggily before realizing that I no longer had the spike stabbed through me anymore. I shook in exhaustion and distress, still feeling the pain from the nightmare and looking down at my arms to see dark bruises where the spikes kept me pinned to the wall. I looked outside the window to see that it was thankfully morning and I took a sleeping Ty in my arms as I walked out to the magic vehicle where everyone was waiting. I was a few steps away from the bench behind the controls when my legs gave way and I fell to the ground before feeling someone's arms around me. Once again, there was Natsu to catch me before I fell and for a few seconds I took comfort in the simple contact then got back onto my feet. I pulled myself up onto the bench beside Zeref and Natsu grabbed my hand to make me look at him.

"Are you ok?" he asked me, concern practically written on his face.

"I had another nightmare," I sighed before turning back to pull the band around my wrist and started up the vehicle.

Once everyone was finally settled in, we thanked Goemon for the hospitality and we were on our way. Natsu was once again slumped against me with his head on my shoulder as he groaned from being sick and I didn't once feel my motion sickness make its presence known through the haze of exhaustion. I pushed myself hard enough that I had to eat a few shadows along the way to keep my magic energy at manageable levels. Zeref kept sneaking worried looks at me when he thought I wasn't looking but I ignored it, instead concentrating on the fact that the meeting place my brother chose was slowly drawing nearer.

After about ten denied requests to take the driver's seat to give me a rest, it was sunset again and I saw the large forest drawing nearer, lights from within lighting a path through the tunnel of trees. I slowed the vehicle down as the forest swallowed us whole and took the dying light of the sun with it. I saw a tiny town drawing closer and finally we saw the town square with a large fire pit in the middle. Standing before the fire was a familiar figure and a green cat in a pink frog suit. I stopped the vehicle and practically hopped over Natsu, setting Tyger down on the hood and walking towards my brother.

He looked almost the same as I had remembered him as a child, only his hair's now much longer and messier as it covered up his right eye entirely. He watched me with the one blood red eye that could see past his hair, a look that seemed to be prepared for anything I might throw at him as he kept his body covered with a long black cape trimmed with gold. He tensed up when I rushed at him faster than he could see, appearing before him and punching him in the left eye as hard as I could. I heard Tyger squeak in shock as she leapt off the hood and flew with the wing that wasn't splinted, making it pretty far before she had to land and run the rest of the way towards us.

"Rogue, no!" my brother's cat squealed as it tried to rush to us but Tyger intercepted it. She hissed fiercely and took threatening steps towards the cat, making it back off in fright.

"So, this is how you treat someone you haven't seen in a decade?" Rogue asked me with a grin while he was on his back on the ground, rubbing his eye for it must have stung.

"No, just you," I growled at him.

He hopped to his feet and launched himself at me, throwing punches that I could easily block. I was always the speedy one during Skiadrum's training while he was the powerhouse, so we were always evenly matched back in the day. I dodged between punches and hit him as hard as I could in the stomach, making the breath whoosh from his lungs as he fell backwards. With an evil grin, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me with him, using his feet to kick me hard over him as he hit the ground. I flipped and smacked into the earth before scrambling to my feet as my ribs creaked. I looked over at my group of friends to see them holding back a struggling Natsu before rushing at Rogue again, who grabbed hold of my arm and twisted it painfully. I swept my leg out to swipe him in the back of the knees, sending us both into a heap on the ground. I smacked a fist into the shadows below us and pushed us both through.

To the others, we were our own extended shadows pushed back by the fire, black figures punching and kicking at each other with the eyes lit up against the grass. One of the shadows silently roared before tackling the other, both of us sent flying back into the air and into the light. As I landed on top of Rogue and lifted my fist to punch him again, I was sent flying as he bucked beneath me. We were breathing heavily for a few seconds, standing there without saying a word before we ran at each other with a scream. We were about to clash again when someone grabbed us by the collar and lifted us into the air.

"That's enough!" a voice I didn't recognize said as I looked down to see a man with spiky blonde hair glaring at us. "You're both evenly matched. I'd rather not have to watch you both die in a foolhardy attempt at beating the other. By the way, Rogue, you didn't tell me that your sister's hot."

"Shut up!" we both said simultaneously before thrashing in his grip.

He laughed and then tossed us to the ground, making us smack our heads together on accident. I clutched my skull in pain as I looked up at the man who was now grinning down at me. "It's nice to finally meet you, Timara," he said as a red and pink cat with a blue vest appeared from behind him. "My name is Sting Eucliffe and this little guy is Lector. I've heard so much about you that I feel as if I know you personally. Rogue never stops talking about you."

I looked at Sting, then at Rogue, then back at Sting again, puzzled at this turn of events. It couldn't be possible that Rogue actually cared enough about me to tell someone else… could it?