Be prepared for the longest chapter yet! I wasn't prepared, proofreading is hell. I do not own Fairy Tail.

.:Middle East:.

"Gwah!" A pink-haired man fell onto the sand.

Fairy Tail's one and only fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel, lay stranded in the middle of a hot desert. Pushing himself back onto his feet on the uneven ground, he searched for any signs of his partners.

"Happy!" The cheery blue Exceed was nowhere in sight, "Lucy! Luce!"

He distinctly remembered the horrifying feeling of seeing her disappear right in front of him. A thought popped into his mind that maybe, just maybe, she and Happy were buried under all of this sand. He began to frantically dig around him, deep enough that he found himself surrounded by cool sand that hadn't been baked for hours by the sun. No use, the rest of the sand slid back into place.

Natsu broke out into a sweat, both from the uncertainty of what was going on and the sun—the damn sun—that showed no mercy. He was almost close enough to wishing that Gray was here with some ice.

"This is hopeless!" He growled and kicked a tuft of sand in the air. The wind changed direction and the bits of earth went back into his face, stinging his eyes. "Gah!"

Trudging on in the hellish sand dunes, Natsu kept a close eye out—when the wind wasn't blowing—for any signs of Lucy, Happy, or basically any of the others that participated in those blasted S-Class trials. He was so close! Natsu cursed and looked up to the unforgiving sky, no clouds in sight. All he had to do was collect those stupid items and he would have been S-Class! Then he could move up the ranks, beating Mira and Erza, even Laxus and Gildarts!

"IS THIS A TEST?!" Natsu hollered out to no one in particular.

He wasn't expecting an answer, not a legitimate one, anyway. Natsu almost missed the girl that stood far away, but there she was! Lucy looked just about as miserable as he, probably complaining like she always did. Rent, being late, her hair, danger, those were all very Lucy-like things to complain about.

"LUCY OVER HERE!" Natsu's energy spiked and he clumsily sped over to where she was standing—or where he thought she was standing. As soon as he got close enough that she'd might notice him, her figure shimmered in waves and disappeared. "Luce?"

She was gone again, just like on the mountain.

He let out another frustrated growl; even his eyes couldn't be trusted. Natsu didn't think to use his magic, what was the point? Spitting fire wouldn't get him out of this never-ending desert that crushed hopes. Hope Crusher—yes—that must be the name of this place.

After quite some time, a cloud of sand began to billow up in the distance, as if something at high speeds disrupted the calm. Natsu looked at it longingly before turning his head away; it was probably just another illusion. But then the object travelled closer, until it was just a black speck and soon enough, the shape of a large vehicle.

"Aha, I'm not letting you fool me this time!" He begrudgingly pointed his finger at the now recognizable outline of four or five tattered black jeeps that made no move to slow down.

Soon enough, Natsu decided that these SE-plug like things were real, and were here to help. "HEY!" He walked towards them, jumping up and down with his arms waving above him. "It's me the Salamander!"

It seems that he had caught their attention; the jeeps pulled up in a cloud of dust and sand, spraying more if it into Natsu's eyes. "Gah! Hey, what's the big idea?!" As he tried to clear his vision, he didn't notice the group of men that hopped out were armed with large guns.

They grabbed him by the armpits and hauled him off into their cars, but Natsu wasn't going down without a fight. "Ohoho you chose the wrong day to pick with me. Whoever you are, get ready for my…Fire Dragon's Claw!"

Yeah, that didn't work.

Natsu didn't learn from that first failure and tried out his roar, iron fist, wing attack, and more. His flailing arms managed to hit one of the gruff men in the eye, and the force knocked that captor to his knees. "Gahaha!" Natsu reveled in this small victory, despite the fact that he was still a hostage being dragged off. "That'll teach you to mess with-"

One of the men shouted something at him. Natsu guessed that it was obscene, but the language wasn't one he understood. The man continued to slew unknown words at him though the black mask he wore before knocking the Dragon Slayer out with the butt of his gun.

Everything went black.

"I'm gonna…hit you with the…chicken." No longer in the sweltering heat of the sun, the pink-haired mage now sat half-asleep in a shabbily put together building. Made of wood and bent nails, the structure was about as big as a large closet. "Luce…that's not where you put the- gah!" He sat straight up, fully awake as the echoes of "Lucy Kick!" faded from his dream.

"Where the hell am I?" He stood quickly and had to lean against a wall after a sudden headrush hit him. Blinking away his nauseated headache, Natsu squinted in the dark room; it must have been nighttime.

As he explored the vast amounts of weapons and artillery set out on a table, Natsu vaguely wondered who took him away. If he was their prisoner, why hadn't they tied him up? Not like tying him up would do them any good; he'd always just burn through the ropes and— that's right…his Dragon Slayer magic wasn't working.

Natsu tried to light a candle-like flame with his finger, but even something as small as that didn't appear. A loud boom and frantic shouts drew his attention momentarily, and he ran outside of the hut to see what was going on. It seemed to be something of a camp where he was.

About ten other half-assed buildings boxed in a couple of campfires that blazed. Fire…Natsu grinned, maybe he couldn't produce his own, but surely he could manipulate these flames. More shouting disrupted his thoughts and he saw some of the men that had captured him earlier on their knees.

A group of what looked like soldiers had taken over, binding Natsu's foreign foes so they couldn't escape, and even taking a few into their own camouflaged vehicles. One of the army men noticed Natsu standing there and forcefully grabbed his arm.

"Hey, Sarge! I got another one over here!" The man spoke the same in language as Natsu. Finally, someone who could tell him what was going on! "Ha, get a load of this! The guy over here has pink hair!"

"My hair is not pink! It's salmon!" Natsu tried to shove away, but the man pointed a gun in his side. Natsu stopped, knowing that even he couldn't withstand a bullet, especially if it was one like Azlack and Bisca's. "Who are you? What am I doing here?"

"Looks like this one can speak English." Natsu was led to the back of the new group's jeep and thrown inside, his hands now bound in tight rope. His body slammed onto the tarped floor and his eyes adjusted to this new darkness. The soldier shut the doors of the back trunk, designed so that the top part was completely open for ventilation. "Welcome to your new life as a Prisoner of War."

.:Ashbury, CA:.

.:Lucy's POV:.

I stifled a sneeze as I walked through the main doors of Point Valley High School. It was my second day and I was slightly annoyed that yesterday hadn't been my last. After I had gathered and crammed all the information of Earth's geography, any information on Fairy Tail—all I got was that Gray's in jail, and some basic history and current events of the planet I've been stuck on, I had crashed on the bed that wasn't technically mine.

Adelaide had woken me up at the ungodly hour of six in the morning, and took it upon herself to drive me back to the school I had managed to get away from. I hear this goes on until Saturday, which means I've got three more days to go. I could have easily come up with an excuse to not go to school so I could spend some more time researching. But then I remembered that a certain someone inadvertently told me they were good with technology; I'm guessing they might be able to access the information that I couldn't.

Stepping into the now all-too-familiar main office, I asked the kind Mrs. Wilde for a map of the school. No longer will I be a helpless damsel lost in a sea of hormones. With my map and my bag, I still had another half an hour before school started at seven twenty-five.

Curses to Adelaide for getting me up far earlier than necessary. Good curses because she can make one heck of a breakfast.

I continued to walk in the halls and passed a locker bank. That reminded me, my schedule had a locker number complete with a combination, if only I could find it. That was another problem for another time; I was on a mission to map out my entire schedule so I'd know exactly where to find my next class. It did unnerve me a little, though, that Dylan had the other copy so that meant he also knew my locker combination. I shrugged, not like there was anything worth stealing in there, I think.

By seven twenty, I was able to get down the locations of all of my classes, as well as a full sweep of the building. Sitting down at one of the empty lunch tables, I proudly looked at my map, markings and all, but then the unmistakable bell rang.

School has started.

"What?!" I panicked and checked my phone.

Before going to bed last night, I played around with it enough to figure out that the passcode was my own name! The corresponding numbers to 'L-U-C-Y' were five, eight, two, and then nine. Whether that was self-conceited or genius of my non-self to think of that, I hadn't dwelled on it.

The clock displayed on the locked screen was 7:20. "But the bell? Did I get the times wrong? Shoot, I'm gonna be late!" I got up in a rush, but then a hand on my shoulder pushed me back down into the seat.

"No, you're not," Dylan Chase sat next to me, looking down at his own phone, "That's the five minute bell."

"What about the one-minute bell?"

"There's that too; you can never be too safe I guess," he shrugged, "The five-minute bell is only for the start of the day, though."

"Oh." My panic from earlier left me and I wondered what could possibly be so bad if I was late? "Oh! I know my way around the school now!" I beamed.

"Do you, now?" he smirked at me before frowning, attention on his phone.

"Yup, I've got it all mapped out here, see?" I pulled up the paper with my routes all drawn out, ensuring my survival. "That means I don't need you anymore. Oh! I need your help with something," I quickly recognized the irony of what I just said, but went on with it anyway. "You said you were a master at hacking stuff?"

Whatever was on his phone must have been really interesting and troubling at the same time because I got no reaction. Okay, whatever, I could silently brood on my phone too. I flipped out the touchscreen device and expertly typed in the code.

My phone instantly opened up to a game I had grown slightly addicted to, Piano Tiles. Tapping the screen faster than Laxus' lightning ever could have gone, the one-minute bell brought me out of my zone. With a sigh, I clicked off my phone, slid it back into my bag, and looked over to Dylan. I had expected him to still be glued to the screen, but instead he was looking at me.

"What, was the music too distracting for you?" I smirked.

"No…" his eyes drifted back to my tattooed hand and I noticed how his brows ever so slightly knitted closer together. "I mean— get some earbuds or I'm throwing that thing in the water." He grinned annoyingly, but still seemed slightly off.

I hid my hand behind my back and stood, his eyes flicked to mine. I stared into those pale, green and calculating eyes, wondering what exactly had him on edge. Something was definitely bothering him.

"Well, I'll leave you to it!" I hiked my backpack up on my shoulders, waving goodbye when my back was to him. I made sure to use my left hand. "See ya later."

I'd let him figure whatever was on his mind out on his own. I wouldn't push on it.

"Um, excuse you," an unsavory voice from behind me piqued up a little after I had left the lunchroom. "I don't appreciate slow walkers."

I turned and was not delighted to find that it was Leslie. She wore a slightly less inappropriate attire than from the day before, but her analyzing gaze was still the same. Her hazel eyes squinted back at me, flipping her dark hair out of her face, she cast an annoyed glance at one of her friends. They traveled in a pack.

"Is this the girl you were telling us about?" One of them looked me over.

"Yeah, she-"

"Oh gosh would you look at the time!" I had no desire to be late, nor did I feel like dealing with Leslie and her crew. "Wouldn't want to be late! Talktoyoulater, bye!"

And with that, I took my opportunity to duck out of a mess before it started. I pulled out my map again and followed the path that led me to the auxiliary gym, first period: physical education.

.:Denver, CO:.

Levy groggily shifted into a sitting position as she heard someone jiggling the door handle. Once the library had closed, she discovered that the keys to the Starbucks she supposedly worked at were sitting in her pocket. Using that to her advantage, she waited until she was sure the store was closed, and then slipped in to stay for the night.

Now realizing she was about to be discovered, Levy jumped up and tried to make herself look presentable enough, like she hadn't been sleeping on three hardwood chairs for the past seven hours. The person from the outside managed to get in, and she recognized their Starbucks uniform.

"Holy cheesecakes!" The older woman jumped when she saw Levy half-hiding. "Levy, why are you here so early?"

"Oh, uh, I felt bad about leaving so early yesterday so I thought I'd come in early today and…prepare."

"Yeah, well, I've got bad news for you." The woman took a white envelope out of her bag and slapped it on the counter. "Here's your monthly pay, you preferred cash, right?"

She was giving Levy money? "Oh, thanks!" The bluette gingerly took the thick envelope, "I'm sorry about yesterday! I was sure I'd get into trouble or something but-"

"Oh, you're in trouble alright." The woman got behind the counter and started up some machines. "I'm letting you go."

"Y-You're what?"

"Fired. Late on many occasions, early to leave for an equal amount of times, customer complaints, I just don't think you're cut out for this kind of work, Levy." The woman, whom Levy now assumed to be a manager of some sorts, shrugged. "It is what it is, tough world. Don't look so sad, here, have a complimentary drink for the morning!"

Levy slid onto one of the tall stools at the counter and took a peek into the envelope, there was a wad of green bills that would surely be enough to live off of, for now. Levy sighed in relief and looked out the window, the pretty pink sky meant that the sun was just about ready to come up.

"W-Wait," Levy called out. She'd just remembered that the library opens at ten in the morning. If the sun was just rising, how was she supposed to hide from the goons that were after her before? "How about I work here, for just a little while longer?"

"Levy," the manager frowned, "I told you-"

"I don't care if I don't get paid or anything!" she interrupted. "I just…I'll miss this place and it'll be my final way of saying sorry. I can leave at ten if you want."

The manager stared at her for a moment before sighing, "Fine, there's no harm in that…I don't see why not." She slid a capped drink down the counter to where Levy was, the manager had been very generous with the whipped cream. "Enjoy your drink."

Once the manager had left Levy to fend for herself—as a "final test" of her abilities—she felt very awake after her drink, and started her job. What Levy was doing, she had no idea. There were so many beans and cups, machines and flavors, Levy couldn't decide what was what or how it created something so flavorful. Not to mention energizing.

Thankfully, not that many people came around until seven o'clock, and her co-worker from before started the shift then too. "Oh," the other barista had greeted Levy. "I thought you'd be fired by now."

"Technically, I am," Levy smiled. "I decided to stay until ten, for old times' sake."

"I don't get it," her fellow employee expertly knew how to work the grinders and everything. "You've always complained on how much you hate this job, now you want to stay? And for no pay on top of that."

After Levy simply brushed it off by saying she liked the company, the two of them worked—well, Levy tried to—as waves of customers came in. When it was ten o'clock, Levy bid her farewell to her temporary friend and tried to draw as little attention as possible when heading back towards the library.

Once back into the computer lab, Levy had a new objective: finding a place to stay while she was here. However, as soon as she opened up the browser, the homepage displayed today's news and it was very eye catching.

BREAKING NEWS: The Naked Man that emerged out of Lake Michigan in Chicago as seen on live television yesterday afternoon, is suspected to be affiliated with the SISI terrorist group of the Middle East. Earlier today, reports form the US Army have released this photo of one of their suspected members, found in an enemy camp.

The picture that showed up was grainy, but undeniably Natsu; she could spot that pink—sorry, salmon— hair from a mile away. What also could be seen was his red Fairy Tail insignia by his right shoulder, uh oh.

This symbol had originally been assumed to belong to a gang of some sort, as the Naked Man had not provided any information on that matter. Now as we see this mark on another criminal, there is no coincidence that these two cases are indeed connected. If you or anyone else sees someone with this tattoo, please call the hotline below.

A clearer sketch of Fairy Tail's insignia was posted onto the website, along with a phone number. Levy's throat went dry, terrorist? This had to be cleared up before someone got hurt, or even killed. With this new information, Levy ditched her plans to look for housing and further investigated the SISI group that the news page had mentioned. What she found out didn't help her situation at all, she would have to be a lot more careful from now on.

Speaking of careful, a set of alarms went off, making her jump in her seat. What was going on now?

"This is a hard lockdown." The intercom went off, the woman's voice on the other line sounded slightly shaken up. "There are armed men in the building, police are on way. Be on high alert, lock all doors and stay out of sight."

Armed men. Levy's blood rushed in her veins and she frantically looked for something to protect herself with, but there were only books. The men from the street yesterday, it was surely them now. Knowledge is power, but not in this situation, Levy paled and even more so when she realized there was no door to lock. She would have to make an escape.

.:Chicago, IL:.

"Looks like they're not quite done with you yet, Naked Man." Gray inwardly cringed at the nickname people had given him during his time in jail.

The bars to his temporary holding cell swung open as the guard unlocked the door and moved so Gray could step out. What did they want this time? His first and last interrogation had been relatively straightforward. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why was he naked? What did his tattoo mean? To all of these he responded as "None of your business." Which earned him more solidarity.

The guard walked him over to the interrogation room, sat him down at the table, and cuffed Gray to one of the legs. As the door shut behind the guard, Gray lazily turned his head towards the mirror that was undoubtedly two-way.

"What do you want this time?" He sighed and rolled his neck. "I was takin' a nap."

The door buzzed and the man that came through it was different from his last interrogator. This one seemed more…official. With a crisp suit & tie, the man pulled off his dark sunglasses and tucked them into an inner pocket. He had brought a manila folder with him and began removing the contents.

"Ah," Gray tipped his chair forward and leaned on the table with his elbows. "So you've decided that I'm worth more looking into. I am a pretty popular guy."

"Do you know this man?" He slid a slightly blurry picture forward, but Gray had no interest.

With an aggravated scoff, Gray looked away. "I don't have time for this. Look, you've made a mistake and I've got places to be." Though, curiosity eventually got to him and the ice-mage reluctantly took the photo in his hands.

Flame Brain.

"Never seen the guy." Gray flipped the picture back onto the steel table and leaned back. "Why, did he hurt your feelings?"

Slipping out another picture, Gray could tell that is was himself as he was being arrested. His open shirt flashed his Fairy Tail insignia; now he dons a plain prison outfit that he disliked very, very much. "The two of you share the same tattoo," the official commented, "We have reason to believe that you and this man are working with the SISI group of terrorists."

"Terrorists?" Gray scoffed. He'd been called many things, but a terrorist was a new one. "I have no idea what you're talkin' about. I don't do that stuff."

"Then what do you do?" The man inquired, pressing on. "I cooperate with both the FBI and CIA, not necessarily a part of them, but the US government has enough to reason to believe that you are a threat to the American people as well as citizens residing in other countries."

"I told you, I don't-"

"We will be transporting you to a different, higher facility that will ensure the safety of those around you." The man stood, collecting his things. "It is suggested that you harbor no information from us; it will be discovered one way or another, however painful it may be. Same goes for your accomplice and any other of your followers that show up."

Gray thought to Natsu and what that hot-headed idiot was up to. By the looks of this, he'd probably be in no better situation than himself. Natsu couldn't have been the only other one who had shown up in this place, there's got to be others and Gray couldn't risk their safety. He'd either be confined by the government—tortured and prodded—no doubt would they discover that he wasn't your average person.

He wouldn't let that happen; he was a Fairy Tail mage.

"I'll leave you to think about that," the man cast one more look at the cuffed prisoner. "I'd be smart about this, if I were you."

Oh, he'd be smart about this alright. Gray's lips curled and he stared directly at the mirror, through the glass to the other side. "You can't hold me forever."

.:Ashbury, CA:.

.:Lucy's POV:.

Dylan wasn't in my sixth period AP Language and Composition class. I stared at the empty desk in front of me as the teacher droned on about how to properly structure an essay.

Gym was unexpectedly not that bad; I normally dreaded physical exertion when it wasn't magical training. Today, we had something called a 'Fitnessgram Pacer Test', basically all we had to do was run back and forth a bunch of times whenever a bell dinged. After a while, people started to heave and wheeze, looking like they were about to pass out with their faces all red and muddled. I, on the other hand, felt great. Barely breaking a sweat, I made it to something up in the hundreds when the bell had rang—to say the least—the gym teacher was very impressed.

Next, I had what was 'Honors Physics', which was completely ridiculous if you ask me; magic could have easily wiped out for the necessity of such mundane classes! I heard that in this world, nothing could be created or destroyed and I thought back to the countless times when Fairy Tail and other mages would casually create and destroy like it was nothing. Then I was met with an equally unnecessary class called 'Calculus', arithmetic was never my forte, and I've never found its use back on Earthland.

Fourth period was, to my delight, a pastry class. Not to my delight, I may have tripped the fire alarm. After that little scare, I had fifth period lunch. I wasn't really that hungry, due to the excitement of my first real day of school, which was stupid; I had more important things to worry about for my real life. I spent that time in the library, not on the computer, but exploring the wonderful books that weren't back on Earthland.

And now here I was in sixth period, no Dylan Chase in sight. I distinctly remembered him here before school this morning, when he was partially ignoring me. Maybe whatever business he had to take care of got him out of school? Lucky bastard.

I was just walking through my Spanish class' doors when I realized that I had not done any of the worksheets the teacher had given me yesterday, and made sure to make myself appear as small as possible so she wouldn't notice. Miraculously, I managed to slip past her eye by the time the bell had rung, but I still had that upcoming quiz on Friday.

For my last period of the day, AP US History is I found was probably my favorite. Not because of what looked like a heavy workload or the academic conversations, but how I could learn so much more of this new world, even if it was just a single country. By the looks of it, America seemed pretty important all on its own.

I hadn't expected to see Dylan; he wasn't in English after all. And sure enough, he wasn't there by the time class had started. Maybe he was off fraternizing with Leslie, I hadn't seen her for the rest of the day either. No matter, I could learn on my own, in undisrupted peace.

Or so I thought.

Halfway through the class, a grim looking Dylan walked into class with a pass in his hand. He set it on the teacher's desk and walked to his seat. I beckoned for him to make eye contact, but when he did, he was even more distant than this morning.

What on Earth could have possibly gotten him this…different? Maybe this was just how he always was, maybe the Dylan from yesterday was all just an act— which I highly doubted. I snook occasional glances every now and then, just to see if he was okay. But I guess he didn't need any reassuring as he was goofing off with one of his neighbors. It was me then, well that was stupid, what could I have done?

My slight irritation with this situation was at its peak when the bell rang and students prepared to go home. Before I could march over to his desk and fume, he'd already gotten to where I was. Looks like he had something to say; too bad because so did I.

"Mr. Chase, I would like to have a few words with you." I glowered at him and he sat backwards in the desk in front of me.

"No, you don't deserve that." He responded in a colder-than-usual tone.

"I don't- what are you talking about?"

"Explanation. Now."

He held out his phone and I took it, scrolling through a news article he had pulled up. What I came across was not what I was expecting. Natsu and Gray as terrorists? And the guild mark, everyone was keeping their eyes out. My mouth ran dry as I looked at my own pink insignia and then to Dylan's unforgiving glare.

He thought I was a terrorist too.

Ooh, suspense.

Noticed what I did there with the "SISI"? Yeah, I'm just taking full precaution measures; wouldn't want any government interference on a harmless fanfiction, am I right? Leave your thoughts in the reviews, every one of them makes me grin stupidly!

8XxAnimexX8, out.