The six mages and Exceed stopped in front of the cave entrance that led to the Sorrel Caverns, a giant oval on its side that looked like the toothless mouth of a hiding rock monster. Lucy held out two golden keys, a glow that was the same colour as the keys coming from the pieces of metal. "Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries. Open, Gate of the Crab, Cancer." Lucy said, summoning the two Celestial Spirits.

"Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry." Aries said shyly, the pink-haired spirit looking as shy as she sounded.

"Lucy, how would you like your hair done today?" Cancer said to his summoner, standing next to Lucy and snipping the air with his scissors. "Baby."

"Where did those two come from?" Adeline said in surprise, completely forgotten that the blonde key-using wizard was the one that summoned them to their world.

"Lucy summoned them." Sara reminded her extremely forgetful friend. "They're Celestial Spirits."

Lucy pulled out another golden key and pressed it against her chest, the golden glow coming from the key was also starting to come from her chest. "Star Dress: Capricorn." Lucy said as the light emitting from her chest began to surround and cover her body, like she was preforming a Requip. Lucy's clothes were changed to a black and purple sleek skirt with large slits on both of the sides, though it still covered her front and back. Lucy's hair was branded into two large bands of hair in the back with large black bows tied at the ends, two large horns like that of the goat constellation that the power is borrowed from. Lucy also had two long, white boots covering her feet and legs and two long, black detached sleeves covering her arms. The blonde also had a pair of black shades covering her brown eyes.

Gajeel's eyes had widened at the dress that Lucy wore, the Dragon Slayer almost drooling as the magical dress showed off the fine features of her body. Erza elbowed Gajeel in the side harshly, though this time the strength behind it was on purpose and not accidental. "Just because I am okay with your current friends with benefits relationship with Lucy doesn't mean that I'm okay with you ogling her." The red-haired mage whispered into Gajeel's ear.

"I sense a lot of magical energies inside the cavern, there must be a lot of dark mages in there." Jellal said, balls of light appearing in his hands. "She should be prepared for an ambush."

"A couple of dark mages are what makes the mission fun." Gajeel said, grinning as he began cracking his knuckles. "I can't wait to bash some faces in."

"Barbaric...!" Sara said quietly under her breath.

"We shouldn't waste our time any longer, if the Dark Guild gets to the mystic orb that is said to be in the caverns, who knows what will happen." Panther Lily said, transforming into his battle form, the Exceed also cracking his knuckles as he prepared for his inevitable battle with a few of the dark mages. Panther Lily unsheathed his Musica Sword, using the sword's magical abilities to make it grow bigger until it was as nearly as big as him. "If they attempt to ambush us, we'll have to retaliate against them."

The mages, Exceed and two Celestial Spirits entered the Sorrel Caverns, a giant cave with stalactites that hung from the ceiling and stood on the ground, reaching down or up, depending on where they were. They ventured through the caverns, the luminescent crystals continuing to glow and the stalactites not ceasing to appear. The mages stopped as they ventured further through the caverns that were thankfully like a gigantic tunnel, coming across a man in a black tailcoat with deep purple eyes. Gajeel turned his two forearms into iron poles, Erza Requipped into her Black Wing Armour and summoned a sword, Lucy entered a battle stance, Cancer pointed his scissors towards the man, Aries put her hands near each other and summoned a ball of pink wool the size of a football between them, Panther Lily aimed his sword towards the man, Jellal bent his legs as he prepared to cast his Meteor spell, Sara held plant seeds in her hands (most likely for a spell).

Adeline just blinked in innocent surprise and confusion.

"How do you do?" The man greeted in a condescending tone, making a spinning motion with one of his hands as he bowed down. The man looked up at the mages and Celestial Spirits looking at him, seeing them easily due to the abundance of glowing crystals. He merely smirked as most of them kept an angry face on him, knowing well enough that he is a dark mage, and he himself would never deny that he is a black wizard. "Dimitri's the name, but you can call me The Master of Shadows. Or you can call me The Overlord of Shadows. Though it won't really matter much to know my name, 'cause you'll all be dead soon."

"Do you really think you can kill us all by yourself?" Erza said as she stepped forward slightly, continuing to point her sword towards Dimitri.

"By myself? Ho, ho, no." Dimitri responded, laughing. "I know that I am a strong mage, in fact at the least I could probably kill one of you and permanently wound another before you defeat me, but even I know that my magic has its limits and quite frankly I don't have the strength to defeat magi that are comparable to a Wizard Saint in magical power."

"Then what makes you so certain that we will be dead soon?" Sara questioned.

"Because I'm not alone; because I have a battalion. Get 'em!" Dimitri yelled. Instantly, many cloaked mages appeared from behind the stalactites that were on the ground, many had magic coming out of their fingertips, though some were carrying weapons.

"Aries, Cancer, now!" Lucy yelled pointing towards the oncoming wizards.

"Wool Bomb." Aries yelled as she sent a massive stream of magical, pink wool towards the mages, the cloaked men and woman getting enveloped in the wool, becoming consumed in euphoric pleasure as the wool was infinitely more comfortable than anything else they had ever felt before.

Cancer was a red blur as he snipped and cut at the pink wool and the mages caught up in it, clumps of wool and cut mages and the tattered remains of their cloaks falling onto the ground as the crab spirit stopped. "My new pincers can get rid of nasty hair and nasty people." Cancer said. "Baby."

"Hmm, smart." Dimitri remarked. "Too bad there are still many more."

And Dimitri was right, there were indeed many more dark mages coming their way. Erza and Panther Lily both let out a battle cry as they ran forward and swung their swords at the oncoming members of Siren Fin, sending them flying, though many were still attacking, some with projectile spells. Jellal was a speeding, yellow blur that sent people flying as he used his Meteor spell, the blue-haired man careful to not accidently cause a cave in. Gajeel hit dark mages in rows with the extending iron poles that he turned his arms into, the black-haired man even letting out an Iron Dragon's Roar.

Lucy dodged the attacks sent towards her by dark mages and attacking them with powerful punches and kicks, her Capricorn Star Dress increasing her physical capabilities and giving her combat intuition.

The two members of Imp Fang weren't ones to hold back either; Adeline, despite her lack of brains, managed to recognise the Siren Fin members as bad people, the Earth Magic mage summoning pillars to shoot out of the ground beneath the cloaked mages and making stalactites from above fall down onto them (don't worry, though, none were impaled or killed). "Thorn Mine!" Sara yelled, throwing multiple seeds that glowed a green colour, the seeds quickly digging into the ground. Cloaked dark wizards of Siren Fin, armed with swords and battle-axes and scythes and whatnot, came running towards the black-haired mage. However, as soon as they stepped on the ground that the seeds dug into, thick, thorny vines came shooting out of the ground and entangled around them, leaving them unable to move.

Lucy blocked a punched aimed towards her by a big, burly man with her forearm. If it weren't for the physical empowerment given to her by her Star Dress, her forearm wouldn't have blocked the punch so effortlessly. Lucy gave the man a roundhouse kick, the surprise kick knocking him out. Lucy then saw a sapphire glow from the sides of her peripheral vision, the blonde looking to see that a cloaked mage had a magic stave aimed at her, the blue glow coming from the end as the cloaked mage prepared to blast her head off. Another cloaked mage appeared at the other's side, pushing the stave to make sure that it was no longer pointing at Lucy just before the stave shot out a powerful sphere projectile that greatly damaged the cave wall it collided with.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" The magic stave-wielding mage said to the other mage angrily. "I almost managed to blow the blonde's head off!"

"That's Lucy frickin' Heartfilia, numbskull!" The other mage yelled back. "Dimitri said that Lady Evangeline ordered that we can kill all of them except for Lucy Heartfilia, whom Lady Evangeline herself wants to kill for getting Theodora in trouble with Lord Xan. If you steal Lady Evangeline's kill, you'll have to take Lucy's place as her victim. Do want to be killed by Evangeline frickin' Selivia?!"

"So this Evangeline and Theodora know each other?" Lucy thought as she looked at the two cloaked men, memories of the last time she saw the Wendigo Skull guild master before she turned into lightning and disappeared. Despite the fact that Theodora hadn't even thought twice about killing her and Gajeel, Lucy couldn't help but feel guilty that she got someone else in trouble. And then there was a fear that hid itself in the recesses in the back on her head that these two guild-controlling dark mages might be working for someone else.

Is someone planning (and possibly succeeding) in recreating the Balam Alliance?

Lucy had to put those thoughts to the back of her head, knowing she should remain focussed on defeating the mages, maybe she can just tell Gajeel, Erza, Jellal and Panther Lily. Lucy leaped forward and gave the two mages a punch to the gut at the same time, causing them to fall down unconscious. A giant shadow suddenly came over Lucy, the blonde looking back to see a giant hand made of shadows reaching out towards her. The Celestial Spirit mage didn't know what it was, but there was something about the giant hand that made her body freeze in fear, all she could do was flinch and cover her face with her arms.

Lucy suddenly heard Gajeel yell in front of her, the blonde moving her arms and opening her eyes to see Gajeel, the woman surprised to see Gajeel's body covered completely in jet black scales and the sclera seemingly covering the entirety of his eyes. However, despite the fact that they were both pure white, Lucy could see concern in Gajeel's eyes.

"You okay, Bunny?" The Iron Dragon Slayer asked in concern, coming close to Lucy. Despite her initial shock, Lucy wasn't afraid of this seemingly new appearance of Gajeel, so she didn't take even a single step back as he came closer.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Gajeel." Lucy responded earnestly. Now that Lucy thinks about it, Levy did mention that during the final day of the Grand Magic Games (when Lucy was technically prisoner to the Fiore nobles), Gajeel consumed Rogue's shadows and achieved a new mode. When Lucy became interested and asked Levy if she could describe it, she mentioned that he was covered in jet black scales and could use some of Rogue's Dragon Slayer Magic.

Gajeel glared at Dimitri, the mage that summoned the giant hand made of shadows and tried to kidnap Lucy, the purple-eyed man unconcerned by the daggers the Dragon Slayer was sending towards him. "Seemed like that so-called 'Overlord of Shadows' was tryin' to kidnap you."

"I think that he is, in a way." Lucy responded, focusing her magical energy into Aries and Cancer's keys, therefor giving the Celestial Spirits more power as the lamb pushed and stopped the mages with her magical wool and the crab cut at them with his scissors. "According to one of those two mages, their leader, who is called Evangeline, wants me to be taken to her so she can kill me herself."

Gajeel growled, looking back at Dimitri. Four spear-wielding mages came running at the pair, however Gajeel turned one of his arms into a sword-like blade and sent them flying. "Don't worry, Bunny, I won't let them take you anywhere." Gajeel said. "I'll protect ya."

Lucy smirked at Gajeel. "I don't need protecting, Gajeel." Lucy said, kicking and punching dark mages that came towards her and Gajeel with malicious intents.

Gajeel smirked back at Lucy. "You sure seemed like you did a minute ago." Gajeel retorted.

Lucy puffed up her cheeks in annoyance at Gajeel, though she guessed he did have a point. Panther Lily's Musica Sword was three times the size of his body as he used it to take down multiple mages with one swing. Adeline made multiple rocks fly in the air and shot them towards the Siren Fin mages. Sara summoned multiple giant flowers with light blue and dark green petals, the plants shooting seed projectiles towards the dark mages. Jellal couldn't even be touched by the Siren Fin mages as he was almost too fast for the naked eye to follow, knocking away a seemingly endless array of mages with overwhelming physical attacks. Erza flew into the air with the wings given to her by her armour, pulling her sword back as she flew towards Dimitri with the intent to attack him.

"Dimitri!" The red-haired mage yelled as she flew towards him. The Shadow Magic mage snorted at her, rolling in his eyes in amusement.

"Dispel." Dimitri said as he faced a palm towards Erza. The Requip mage's sword and armour began to glow a golden light, like when Erza summons them, the sword and armour disappearing, leaving Erza in her regular clothes and without any weapons. Erza was surprised, not knowing what to do as Dimitri made her weapon disappear. Dimitri's shadow enlarged, turning into a giant, muscular arm and fist, that punched Erza, sending the S-Class mage flying away, the attack powerful by both nature, Erza's lack of armour and her overall surprise towards the purple-eyed man's Dispelling capabilities.

"Erza!" Jellal and Sara yelled in surprise.

Dimitri took advantage of the surprise towards his enemies, sending a horde of shadowy snakes towards Gajeel. The Dragon Slayer, however was quick to notice and react to the attack, though that didn't stop Dimitri from smirking. "Iron Shadow Dragon's Twin Blades!" Gajeel roared, his forearms transforming into jet-black blades, the Dragon Slayer spinning around and cutting the shadow snakes into pieces. Gajeel changed his right arm into a jet-black iron pole, prepared to hit Dimitri in his face, but the fucker was nowhere to be seen.

A chuckle that sounded like it came from Dimitri was heard. "Oh how foolish you were to think that that was the attack." Dimitri's voice said, coming from beneath Gajeel. The jet-black Dragon Slayer looked down, seeing Dimitri as he rose from his shadow and gave him an uppercut, sending Gajeel flying into the air. Dimitri faced a flat palm towards Gajeel, making the scales surrounding his body disappear. "You Dragon Slayers may be powerful, but a heart of darkness is stronger than a heart of light."

Lucy let out a yell as she sent a kick towards Dimitri, the man summoning many long, shadow arms to shield himself from the blonde's kick. Dimitri then made the fists connected to the shadow arms punch Lucy rapidly, causing her to fall on to her back.

"Lucy!" Aries and Cancer shouted in worry the two Celestial Spirits running towards Dimitri and their blonde master with the intention to attack the former and help the latter. Dimitri thinned his lips as he looked at the two entities from another dimension, the black-haired man trying something out as he rose his flat palm towards them. The two Zodiac spirits stopped, their eyes widening (well at least Aries' widened as it was impossible to see Cancer's eyes through his sunglasses) before they dissolved into bubbles of light, like their gates had been closed.

Dimitri laughed. "It even works on Celestial Spirits." The dark mage said, laughing at his feat. Lucy rose back to her feet, trying to punch Dimitri, only for him to dodge her and give her a swift and powerful kick to the back. Lucy made a yell of pain as she fell onto her front side, her Star Dress disappearing as Dimitri Dispelled it. "Even the greatest of spells are ultimately powerless if you negate them, that is why I specialize in not only Shadow Magic, but also Dispelling magic. The future of Dark Sect and Lord Xan's plans are secured as long as I live."

Dimitri picked Lucy up, something that got noticed by Erza and made the powerful mage very angry. "Let go of my friend right now!" Erza yelled as she summoned a sword, preparing to strike Dimitri. The black-themed man had only smirked, however, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a dagger, placing the blade in front of Lucy's neck. Erza came to a halt, the Requip mage knowing that Dimitri could easily cut Lucy's throat if he desired.

"There's a good Titania." Dimitri said, paper-flat arms that came up from his shadow crawled onto Lucy's body, wrapping tightly around her to stop the blonde from escaping, attacking or summoning any of her other Celestial Spirits. Gajeel ran towards Dimitri, swinging back an arm that was turned into a sword, preparing to hit the black-haired man with it. Dimitri had, however, saw Gajeel in his peripherals, using the rest of his shadow to cast a powerful shield to protect himself. Dimitri then proceeded to smirk at Gajeel. "When you see my parents in Inferno, tell 'em I said 'hi'."

Dimitri and Lucy were abruptly and quickly swallowed by the former's shadow, the shadow without a body running away deeper into Sorrel Caverns at high speeds. "Lucy!" Gajeel, Erza Jellal and Lily yelled in shock and worry. Without even a second thought, Gajeel immediately began running after the super quick shadow, though Erza and Lily could swear that they saw him seemingly go onto his all fours.

"Should we run after him?" Adeline asked, confused, seemingly forgetting about the dark mages surrounding and attacking her and the other mages of light.

"We'll have to take these black wizards down before we go after them." Erza said, using her Requip magic to change into her Heaven's Wheel Armour, summoning a large multitude of swords to surround and spin around her. "Gajeel is a strong mage, we must have faith in him to win. Right now we are facing against many mages that have chosen to use magic for nefarious reasons, we can't let them go scot-free for their crimes."

The other mages on Erza's side (including Adeline) all nodded in understanding and continued to defeat the attacking dark mages.


Evangeline was tapping her foot against the ground impatiently, the green-haired mage losing her patience as she waited for either for Dimitri to arrive with the blonde bitch so she can kill her or for her men to return with the Fortitude Orb. Even if she wanted both, she would be happy if one of them would just happen now.

The crystals continued to glow their luminescent light as Evangeline's presence was still close by, the woman aiming her onyx eyes up to the stalactites that hung from the cavern's ceiling, long and oddly-shaped like some deformed teeth. Evangeline pointed a hand towards one of the stalactites, shooting a powerful beam of water towards it, the hanging piece of rock breaking apart, the pieces falling to the ground and breaking into more pieces as they made a powerful impact against the ground.

Evangeline felt more relieved, she had a lot of frustration brought by her incredibly dwindling patience and she needed to release it. Luckily it was anger and pure hatred that Evangeline was planning on releasing on the Light of Fairy Tail for what she did to Theodora.

A shadow moved out from the darkness in the Sorrel Caverns, two humans appearing from the shadow. One was a black-haired and purple-eyed man wearing a black tailcoat and holding a dagger to the neck of the other person. The aforementioned other person was a blonde in a shirt and a short skirt, multiple paper-thin arms and hands made of shadows wrapped around her arms, legs and overall body, restricting her movements tremendously. The paper-thin arms receded back to the shadow that they came from, releasing the blonde from their restrictive grasp. Dimitri pushed the woman down to the ground, the woman letting out a grunt of pain as she didn't have much time to react with her returned movement before Dimitri had kicked her to the rocky surface.

"Here's the Light of Fairy Tail, Lady Evangeline." Dimitri said, his tone of voice much more respectful than any that he showed when speaking towards Lucy or the others, the man even gave Evangeline a respectful bow. Dimitri put the dagger back in his pocket, still keeping himself respectful to his master. "Shall I join the rest of the Dispelling mages, like you want?"

"Indeed, Dimitri." Evangeline responded, her hands becoming surrounded by spears of water that she summoned, looking down at Lucy with a sense of bloodlust.

Dimitri obeyed his master's command, disappearing back into his own shadow and moving past Evangeline and into the darkness deeper in the Caverns behind the woman. Evangeline didn't keep her eyes off of Lucy, the aforementioned brown-eyed woman almost surprised by the woman standing in front of her, looking down at the Celestial Spirit mage with utter contempt and hatred. The woman was admittedly beautiful, Lucy would probably rank her alongside Erza and Mirajane in beauty, with really long green hair and dazzling onyx eyes that almost reminded Lucy of Natsu, except that the woman's eyes were most hostile.

She had long, black, leather boots that reached up to her knees and long, black gloves that reached to her elbows (with fake, pink nails attached to the gloves). She wore a short, pink skirt with a black belt wrapped tight around it and a cyan-coloured tank top.

Lucy tried to get back up onto her feet, however the woman in front if her kicked her in the face, causing the blonde to fall down onto her side, a small trail of blood leaking out from the side of Lucy's nose from the kick. "Stay down, you worthless, blonde harlot!" The woman, Evangeline, hissed at Lucy. The blonde key-user looked up at Evangeline, the older, green-haired woman spitting down into the blonde's face. "I cannot believe you, you damn mage of light. Why must you light mages always ruin everything we do? It's because of you that Theodora is now on the bad side of Lord Xan! You hurt my closest and oldest friend in many ways, and now you're trying to get me in trouble by ruining everything! You will die here, your corpse will rot into a skeleton deep here in an old cavern."

Lucy quickly got up onto her feet, attempting to punch Evangeline. The dark guild master dodged the oncoming fist, giving Lucy a sharp blow to the side of her head. Lucy fell to her side, her elbow scraping against the hard rock of the ground, making a bleeding cut appear on it. Evangeline reached down for Lucy's keyring and yanked it off, keeping the key out of Lucy's grip.

"Won't be able to someone your little slaves now, won't you?" Evangeline said as she threw the keyring that held the Celestial Spirit keys away, making a clink as the keys hit against a stalagmite that was a sizeable distance away from Lucy. Evangeline kicked Lucy in the side of her stomach, making the blonde yelp in pain. Evangeline grabbed hold of Lucy's face, the fake nails of her gloves almost digging in past the skin, the green-haired woman still looking at Lucy with hatred. "I want to kill you all by myself, purely because of what you did to Theodora alone. Your friends, I don't care who kills them; I don't even care if they are killed. But you... I'll make your demise as slow and painful as possible. Your guild will learn to never again mess with the Dark Sect as I, Evangeline of the Malefic Square, snuffs you-."

Evangeline was cut off as she was kicked in the face by a foot covered with a black boot, the woman falling onto the ground and sent rolling across the cavern ground as the other foot of her attacked her gave her a swift and powerful kick to the stomach. Evangeline and Lucy looked up at the attacker, the former with eyes of fury and the latter with more thankful eyes. The attacker was Capricorn, the goat constellation spirit looking angry, even with the sunglasses covering his eyes, the spirit holding Lucy's keyring with a gloved hand.

"Capricorn!" Lucy said, looking as elated as she sounded when she rose to her feet and sprinted to him.

Capricorn handed the keyring over to his master, silent yet giving her a slight smile. "I made a solemn vow to your mother that I would protect you, Lady Lucy, and I plan to keep it. And as one of your Celestial Spirits, I am contracted to aid you whenever possible, especially when your life is in danger." Capricorn said, his voice smooth and suave as he spoke calmly to his master. The towering goat humanoid then turned to Evangeline, the green-haired mage having gotten back up onto her feet, the two glaring at each other, despite the sunglasses that Capricorn continued to wear. "You, however, are going to learn a lesson that you must never hurt, and especially never try to kill, Lady Lucy."

"It doesn't matter if you guys can summon yourselves or not, I'm still killing the Bimbo of Fairy Tail!" Evangeline shouted, facing a palm towards the Celestial Spirit mage and her goat spirit, a blue magic seal, much like the one that Juvia uses appearing in front of the flat palm before shooting a powerful beam of water at the two. Lucy and Capricorn jumped out of the way of the beam of water, the aforementioned beam destroying a stalagmite behind them and damaging a part of the cave wall. Lucy grabbed Taurus' key and held it high, the golden object glowing with Celestial Magic.

"Open, Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!" Lucy yelled as she summoned the muscular, cow-like entity into her dimension.

"Moo! I have came to protect your sexy body, Miss Lucy." Taurus said, looking at Lucy with big love hearts for eyes. However the bovine spirit's eyes turned back to normal as he saw the bleeding cut on Lucy's knee, the large spirit looking at Evangeline with extreme anger. He didn't even care that Evangeline had a body that he would absolutely jump at. "Hurting Miss Lucy and damaging her hot body is absolutely deplorable. You just mootivated me to teach you a big lesson."

Water surrounded Evangeline's feet, the water surrounding her in a circle. The water began to form behind the mage that summoned it, creating a giant monster made of water that looked like an eyeless Leviathan, the monster letting out a roar that sounded like it came from underneath water. "Rip those freaks back to their home dimension, leave the slut to me." Evangeline ordered of her water monster, stretching an arm out towards the two Celestial Spirits protecting Lucy. The Leviathan-like monster obeyed its creator/master's order, rushing towards Capricorn and Taurus at fast speeds.

"Moo!" Taurus yelled as he ran towards the monster, the cow-like entity jumping high into the air and slashing clean through the Leviathan, only for the entity to repair itself almost instantly due to being made of water. Capricorn jumped out of the way as the monster tried to eat him, the two animal-like Celestial Spirits evading and trying to destroy the seemingly indestructible Leviathan monster. Lucy bit her bottom lip in anticipation, knowing that she has no spirits that can use Ice Magic to freeze and break the monster. Maybe she should close their gates, it would save all of their energy.

Lucy narrowly avoided a blast of extremely scalding hot water that she saw in her peripherals, the water actually touching the side of her upper left arm, leaving a red mark. Lucy let out a sharp hiss of pain through her teeth, grabbing hold of the burnt red piece of her arm. Lucy looked at Evangeline, the green-haired woman glaring at her. Lucy growled, knowing that she had no other option outside of fighting the woman. Though she did insult Lucy's Celestial Spirits, so the blonde was definitely eager to hit the bitch.

Lucy reached into a small pouch that was connected to her belt, much like her keyring, pulling out the broken remains of a destroyed key. "Star Dress: Aquarius!" Lucy yelled, her clothes being changed and swapped with the Star Dress that she uses for the water bearer constellation. Evangeline had raised an eyebrow for a second before she began smirking. Lucy didn't care much for the woman's smirk, thrusting her arms towards the green-haired woman and shooting a beam of water at Evangeline, much like how she did to Capricorn and Lucy. Evangeline laughed, raising a finger and wagging it from side to side. The beam of water being sent towards Evangeline made a zig to the left, then a zig back to its old direction when it could no longer touch Evangeline, a zig to the right until it passed by Evangeline from behind and then zigged towards Lucy, hitting the blonde as she became nonplussed towards the odd behaviour of her own spell.

Evangeline laughed as Lucy let out a yell of pain, returning to smirking at Lucy. "I'm a master at Water Magic, you idiot. I can even control water that is conjured and controlled by other mages." Evangeline said. "I can most likely even control water that is brought forth by Juvia of the Great Sea. I believe that she is also a member of your two-bit guild, isn't she?"

Lucy growled at Evangeline. "Fairy Tail isn't a two-bit guild, don't you dare say that in front of me!" Lucy yelled, shooting another beam of water at the green-haired dark mage. "And Juvia is a far stronger Water mage then you will ever be!"

Evangeline huffed, once again effortlessly zigging the beam of water to her right with a single thought, though this time the beam kept on going until it hit the cavern wall. "I am a true master of water. Even if I can't transform into water like your fellow Fairy Whore, I can still control all water - with the exception of blood, sadly - with ease. Honestly, you think you can win just because you're part of the so-called strongest guild in Fiore; Dark Sect is something far more than any guild can ever become; you were just lucky against Theodora. Aqua Anchor!" The green-haired woman said, raising her right hand into the air, the gloved hand becoming surrounded by a sphere of water that turned into a giant anchor of water connected to a chain of the same element. Evangeline swung the Aqua Anchor towards Lucy, the blonde rolling out of the way as the anchor managed to break the ground it slammed against. "I am Evangeline Selivia, The Siren of Dread that Doesn't Sing, The Aqua Terror, The Queen of the Sea. And you will drown in my sea, Light of Fairy Tail!"

Lucy closed her eyes and dispelled her Aquarius Star Dress, ultimately knowing that she would have no chance at defeating Evangeline as long as she used the woman's own element. Lucy then grabbed hold of Scorpio's key, pouring her Celestial Magic into it. "Open, Gate of the Scorpion, Scorpio!" Lucy yelled, a glow of light appearing beside her, the glow of light creating a flash and a doorbell ring, the glow of light being replaced by a dark-skinned, shirtless constellation spirit. Lucy then pressed the golden key to her chest. "Star Dress: Scorpio!"

"Wicked!" Scorpio said as his summoner changed into her Star Dress of his constellation, making a rock star hand gesture of his index and little finger and thumb pointing out while his middle and ring finger pressed against his gloved palm. "Hey, Miss Lucy, let's show this woman what our sand is made of!"

"He's half-naked; they're not just her slaves, but they're also her sex slaves." Evangeline mumbled under her breath, unintimidated by the Celestial Spirit mage and the spirit that she summoned.

"Sand Buster!" Lucy and Scorpio yelled, the former slamming her hands together and firing sand out of her open palms in the form of a sand tornado, the latter on his hands and feet and firing his sand tornado from his metal stinger. Evangeline didn't move a muscle, standing still as she surrounded and protected herself with a dome of water.


It was her scent that he followed, using his eyes only to not crash into an rock, stalagmites or crystals. Finding her was all that was on his mind, he didn't even care nor take notice that he was running like a quadruped. He didn't care nor notice that iron scales were beginning to grow from beneath his skin, around his arms and around his eyes, his canines becoming even more elongated, and his hands completely changing like when he activated his Iron Dragon Scales spell.

He didn't notice at all, his mind more like a primal animal; searching for what is his.

These were the primal instincts of a dragon, one that even the most intelligent and civilized of them have deep down, no matter how much they would try to repress them. These primal instincts would be passed onto the Dragon Slayers, as their magic brings the aspects of dragons into them. And those instincts that were imbued in him recognised what was taken and what danger it was.

Those instincts of his... they would never let anything happen to her. He will not let that Evangeline or Dimitri kill what is theirs.

He stopped, almost in a skid; the iron scales around his hands protecting the prehensible organ and the boots he wore protecting his feet. There was another scent in the Cavern's air, it was hers... but there was a more metallic smell in it. He could smell... her blood! His inner dragon was roaring and snarling in anger and he continued to run at tenfold of his past speed; they would dare to make her bleed! She was bleeding, they cut her flesh!

There was nothing that would stop him from releasing the fury of a dragon upon them.


Capricorn hastily jumped out of the way of the water monster as it tried to clamp its mighty jaws down on him and crush him back to the Celestial Spirit World, the same water monster crushing pieces of rock and a stalagmite between its teeth, the aforementioned teeth having powerful crushing power despite being made of water. Capricorn began to slowly run out of breath, the goat-like spirit almost beginning to sweat. He was not summoned out of the Celestial Spirit World by Lady Lucy; he was in Earth Land purely by his own power. Just staying outside of the Celestial Spirit World alone was draining him of his energy, and all of the physical effort that he was doing in dodging and leaping out of the Leviathan-like monster's way was even more draining.

Capricorn truly hasn't given Sir Leo enough accolades for keeping himself out of the Celestial Spirit World for multiple years.

"Hey, Capri, you look like you're reaching your limits. Moo!" Taurus said, recognising his fellow Zodiac Celestial Spirit's exhaustion, the muscular spirit swinging his giant axe at a stalagmite, sending its pieces flying towards the water monster, the aforementioned monster opening its watery mouth wide and swallowing the flying pieces sent towards it whole, though those pieces would have probably not damaged nor hurt it anyways. "You need to go back to the Spirit World, you can barely even stand."

"If I go back to the Celestial Spirit World, it would be easier for the water monster to attack you or Lady Lucy." Capricorn responded, the goat-like spirit ducking and rolling out of the way while Taurus jumped away as the Leviathan-like monster swung its large tail of water towards them. The Caverns shook as the water monster hit an area that kept it supported, rocks and stalactites falling from the ceiling and onto the water monster. Capricorn dropped to his knees, taking deep breaths, beginning to feel light-headed from the energy that he was using up.

Evangeline watched the two Celestial Spirits and the water monster that she conjured into existence from inside her water dome, completely protected by the two sand attacks being constantly used against her by the aforementioned dome. "Hmm, it seems that it is only using up valuable energy." Evangeline mumbled to herself, raising a hand towards the water monster from behind her dome. The monster let out a roar before its water body suddenly began to turn into regular water. "There, now I can focus more of my energy on disposing this star-summoning bitch."

"This woman is totally not wicked." Scorpio said, his arms crossed over his chest with his hands in their signature positions as he glowed a golden light before disappearing back into the Celestial Spirit World. Lucy deactivated her Star Dress, turning back to normal, the blonde feeling Capricorn's key glow and heat up as he closed his gate and returned to the same dimension. Taurus appeared next to Lucy, having a regretful and guilty expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lucy, but our time is up and I'm forced to vamoose." Taurus said, dissolving into bubbles of light as he returned to his home dimension. Lucy's own breaths were coming shallow and her own head feeling a little light, she had already used up a lot of her magic by keeping the gates of two Zodiac Spirits open simultaneously, twice and not that far apart from each other, not to mention that she just used up two Star Dresses. The blonde was starting to get low on magical energy, and yet it seems like the woman that is trying to kill her still has some to spare.

"Ha, your slaves are abandoning you, even they know that you have no hope in this." Evangeline laughed, sending four Aqua Anchor's out from her water dome and commanding them to aim for Lucy. The blonde dodged the anchors by the skin of her teeth, grabbing hold of her Fleuve d'étoiles.

"They are not my slaves, they are my friends!" Lucy yelled angrily at Evangeline, the green-haired woman's seeming insistence that Lucy's Celestial Spirits were slaves making the blonde's stomach turn in disgust.

"Does it really look like I care?" Evangeline retorted.

With a yell, Lucy swung her Fleuve d'étoiles towards Evangeline, the celestial whip wrapping around the water dome that the onyx-eyed woman protected herself with, the magical whip proving to be useless, because no matter how much Lucy pulled, the Fleuve d'étoiles didn't do anything to the barrier protecting Evangeline. Lucy grabbed one of her golden keys, something that was noticed but not cared for by the woman she was fighting.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" Lucy commanded as she focussed her magic into the key in her hand.

"Princess." Virgo said in a monotone voice, her face was the same emotionless mask it usually was. "You have used up a lot of magic within the last ten minutes, if you keep this up then you might pass out."

"I... I don't care." Lucy said as she continued to attack Evangeline, this time she was trying to swing it at the woman, but her barrier made of water was still too strong for the celestial weapon to ever pass through or break. "If we don't take her down soon, I'll be dead. Besides, she insulted Fairy Tail, I won't stop until she's defeated."

Virgo was silent as she was quickly thinking what she has to do next, the maid's thoughts unreadable as she continued to display absolutely no emotion whatsoever. The pink-haired mage nodded. "As you wish, Princess." Virgo said respectfully, however the spirit was quickly kneeling down next to Lucy's side and touching one of her Celestial Spirit keys, the pink-haired woman saying something incomprehensible at speeds that were too fast for Lucy to understand. Virgo stood back up on both feet, her two hands folded in front of her before she disappeared into the ground, via her Diver Magic.

Horologium's key suddenly shined brightly, the light coming from the silver key engulfing Lucy. The Celestial Spirit mage closed her eyes as the light almost blinded her, the blonde opening her eyes to see the familiar inside of The Clock constellation spirit. "'What happened? Why am I suddenly in Horologium?' She asks in confusion." Horologium said. "I apologise, Lady Lucy, but Virgo had quickly informed me about what was happening and told me that I should guard you. Do not worry, I am here purely through my own power; your magical energy won't be drained any further."

Evangeline heard everything that was said from inside her water dome, squinting her eyes as she looked at the grandfather clock and the girl inside of it. "What does that maid think she's playing at?" Evangeline muttered to herself. The ground beneath Evangeline's leather boots began to break beneath her before the rubble shot up with a fist that socked the green-haired woman under the jaw, sending her flying into the air, the water dome that she used as a shield dispersing into tiny droplets.

Evangeline let out a yell at the sudden pain. She looked up at the cavern ceiling and the stalactites that hung from it, and Virgo suddenly appeared in front of her. Before the Water mage could hit Virgo with a spell, the pink-haired Celestial Spirit kicked her in her stomach, causing her to land harshly on her back. Evangeline growled angrily as she got back up onto her feet, Virgo landed in front of her, the maid keeping her impassive expression and folded hands in front of herself.

"My Princess is running low on magic, so I must stop you quickly." Virgo said, her stoic expression changing. Lucy had seen Virgo happy at times, Lucy had also seen Virgo sad at times, but that was usually the only emotions she ever saw on Virgo when the spirit was being poker faced. But this emotion wasn't happiness nor sadness, she was frowning and a fire was lighting up in her sapphire blue eyes. Virgo was determined, and she was going to defeat Evangeline before she would be sent back to the Celestial Spirit World. "We'll sort out your punishment later."

Evangeline scoffed at Virgo and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, like a Celestial Spirit will ever be as strong as a human." The green-haired woman said, surrounding her hands in spheres. "And didn't you say that Lucy, the one that summoned you into this world, is running low on magical energy? I'll admit that I don't know the best or the most about Celestial Spirit Magic, but I'm pretty sure that the Celestial Spirit's power is dependant on that of their summoner. Especially in the fact that they get more sluggish and tired when their summoner is low on magic."

"That is exactly why I must be quick." Virgo said before disappearing into the ground. Evangeline smirked, already having an idea about what Virgo might attempt, water surrounding her feet, a giant blob of water appearing and growing beneath her, elevating Evangeline to a great distance above the ground.

"If she thinks she can just dig underground and attack me from beneath, she's dead wrong." Evangeline thought smugly, sitting down on the giant blob of water she summoned beneath her. Evangeline sat atop with her arms crossed over her chest smugly, her onyx eyes focussing on the grandfather clock and the tired blonde inside, on the verge of unconsciousness from the energy she was using up by keeping the Zodiac spirit in Earth Land. Evangeline made a snort of haughty amusement towards the feeble woman before her. "That pink-haired spirit of hers will be caught and trapped in my Aqua Blob. She should just yield, it would make killing her much quicker and easier for both of us."

Evangeline could suddenly hear a drilling sound coming up the walls and coming from on top of the ceiling. Virgo shot out from the ceiling, the Celestial Spirit kicking the surprised green-haired woman in the face, causing her to drop off her Aqua Blob and landed harshly on the ground. Evangeline got back up, blood dripping from her nose from the attack the Celestial Spirit gave her.

Evangeline growled at Virgo as the pink-haired humanoid landed in front of her, the blue-eyed maid remaining silent, even though she kept her determined face. Evangeline moved a flat palm in front of herself, a blue magic circle appearing in front of her palm, scythe-like blades of water shooting out of the magic circle towards Virgo. The pupils of Virgo's eyes glowed red, the maid spirit running towards the water blades at higher speeds than most humans can compare to, swiftly dodging the scythe-like blades as she ran towards Evangeline. Evangeline let out a gasp of surprise as Virgo appeared before her, the aforementioned Celestial Spirit kicking her across her face.

A grunt of pain escaped from the green-haired woman as she hit the ground, her eyes and mouth open in shock. "What is going on? How is she managing to defeat me?" Evangeline thought, almost fearfully. Virgo willed the chains connected to the cuffs around her wrists to wrap around Evangeline's own wrists. With a powerful pull, but not a single sound of effort, Virgo swung Evangeline into the air and slammed her down onto the ground.

Evangeline growled, grabbing the chains that were still wrapped around her wrists, yanking at them and leaving Virgo stumbling towards her, kicking the surprised Celestial Spirit in the chest. Evangeline socked Virgo under the jaw, the maid spirit giving Evangeline a right hook against the shoulder. Virgo willed her chains to unwrap from the water mage's wrists, kneeing her in the stomach. Evangeline spat out blood, the woman growling at the Celestial Spirit.

"You shouldn't be able to defeat me! You shouldn't even be able to land a finger on me; you're the weakling spirit of a weakling mage!" Evangeline yelled, hitting Virgo with a powerful beam of water at point-blank range, the Celestial Spirit unable to dodge such a powerful and large attack at such a close proximity. "Do you hear me?! I'm stronger than you! I'm superior to your summoner and thus superior to you. You shouldn't stand a chance against me! Do you hear me? Not. A. Single. Chance!"

Virgo, now drenched by the water that she was hit with, got back onto her feet, using her chains as whips against Evangeline. The dark mage growled as she used her arms to protect herself from the Celestial Spirits chains, the guild master of Siren Fin protecting herself with another Water Barrier. Virgo stopped using her chains as whips against Evangeline as all they were doing was making ripples in her Water Barrier. The pink-haired maiden went on her knees and slammed her palms down on the ground.

"Spica Rupture!" Virgo yelled as she put her magic into the ground, causing rocks to burst upwards from beneath Evangeline, inside her dome of water, hitting the dark mage.

Evangeline was flung into the air by the rock attack, the woman wailing in pain as her body spun in the air, before finally landing on her back. Evangeline sat up, seeing Virgo running towards her with one of her arms pulled back with her hands in the shape of a fist. Evangeline couldn't think as the maiden ran towards her, the woman flinching, expectant of the pain she would feel across her face. However, Evangeline didn't feel even a single touch. Tentatively, Evangeline slid one of her eyes open, seeing Virgo standing right in front of her, her fist outstretched towards Evangeline's face. In fact, the maid spirit's fist was only a few inches away from her face.

Virgo was frozen, obviously trying to move to finish her attack against Evangeline. Virgo's body began to glow a golden light, the pink-haired woman disappearing in a glow of light. Evangeline blinked at what happened in confusion, a wide smirk growing and stretching across her face as she realised what happened.

Evangeline looked at Horologium, the grandfather clock-like spirit disappearing in a puff of smoke, causing Lucy's limp body to flop to the ground like a ragdoll. Evangeline got back on her feet and walked towards Lucy arrogantly, a smug and malicious smirk plastered on her face. Lucy had stayed limp on the ground, one of her eyes was closed and the other was only open halfway; and even then she was constantly blinking to keep the eye open. And despite how little of Lucy's eyes that she could see, Evangeline could tell that the Celestial Spirit mage's eyes had lost their light and that she was completely depleted of energy. She was in a state that was so sad that Evangeline would probably feel sorry for her. But this bitch had hurt Theodora and gotten her hurt even further by Lord Xan, Evangeline doubted that she could or would ever feel empathy or sympathy towards this blonde wench.

"Look at yourself now, Lucy Heartfilia." Evangeline said, walking towards the aforementioned blonde mage. "Thought you could beat me, huh? You were lucky against Theodora, you can't hold a candle against her. Oh how I'm sure that Dora will be happy to know that I, her closest and oldest friend, had killed the blonde bimbo that got her in trouble."

Lucy made a low humming sound, like she was trying to say something, but didn't have the strength to day something. Lucy's lips then opened slightly, a whistle of air blowing out of the robust woman's mouth. Evangeline noticed this, the woman stopping as she was in front of Lucy. The green-haired woman bent down, picking Lucy up by her long blonde hair, the star summoner too exhausted to scream in pain from the feeling that is akin to her scalp being ripped off.

"Don't... hurt them..." The exhausted Lucy mumbled, taking low, deep breaths. "My... keys. They mean... so much to me. Don't hurt... them... you can take... my life... but don't do anything... to my spirits."

Evangeline snorted in amusement, letting go of Lucy's hair, causing the blonde to fall against the hard ground. "My, my, you must really care for your slaves." Evangeline said, kicking Lucy in the stomach, causing the blonde to roll across the hard cavern grounds. "It's a shame that someone as sexy as yourself has to die, but you can blame yourself and the choices you made for that. I won't do anything to your spirits, what happens to them is up to the people that find what remains of your corpse. If they can even find you."

Evangeline walked towards Lucy, smirking and admiring both the red mark on Lucy's upper left arm, brought by Evangeline scalding, and the scrape with dry blood on Lucy's right elbow. Those would be just the first of the injuries that she would bring upon this blonde bitch. Evangeline stopped as she heard no sounds coming from Lucy, the woman putting her foot underneath the limp blonde before pushing it up, turning Lucy around. The Celestial Spirit mage's eyes were closed and she was clearly not conscious, however her chest was still rising and falling and Evangeline could hear faint breathing sounds coming from her.

Evangeline was actually happy that the blonde was still alive, she wanted her death to be more brutal and painful.

"No water, scalding hot water will wake her up in no time." Evangeline said, putting one of her hands on her hips and having the other face flat up towards the Sorrel Cavern's ceiling, a large sphere of hot water that could burn someone with immense intensity appearing and floating above the palm. The Siren Fin guild master was just about ready to pour it over Lucy, where it will hopefully wake her up so she can suffer more, however she heard the sound of something approaching, approaching at high speeds. Evangeline quickly turned around, sending one of her scalding spheres towards the darkness of the Caverns. The approaching sounds had been stopped, Evangeline was almost certain that she hit the creature and was ready to turn around and finish her personal business with Lucy.

But then she saw them, two red eyes without a body that looked at her from the darkness; the feral look of a savage animal living inside those eyes. Evangeline couldn't turn her body around, she was almost paralyzed in her fear. Evangeline stepped back, the heel of her boot pressing down on a part of the unconscious Lucy. An angry growl came from the unknown creature hiding in the darkness, the violent anger in its red slits increasing as the heel made contact with the blonde. Evangeline looked back, seeing the heel of her black boot pressing down on one of Lucy's arms. Evangeline's breath was caught in her throat, she was realising that whatever it was that was mad at her, it was violently angry because of what she did to Lucy.

The unknown creature let out a roar, running towards Evangeline at high speeds. The green-haired woman screamed in fear, running out of the way. Evangeline made a quick run to one of the stalagmites, gripping it as her heart was racing at high speeds in uncontrollable fear. As Evangeline gripped the stalagmite with one hand, the other was on her chest. Evangeline looked back at the Whore of Fairy Tail and the unknown creature, horrified of what she saw.

It was Gajeel 'Black Steel' Redfox, kneeling down with one arm wrapped around the blonde bimbo's body and looking at her with a look of worry in his eyes. This usually wouldn't scare Evangeline, she would even go on to attack the Dragon Slayer and the key user in his arms. Except he looked different, his canines were slightly more elongated, iron scales had grown beneath the skin underneath the upper side of his face, his eyes looking like they weren't even human and more like that of a reptile, the iron scales had ran along the sides of his arms and his hands looked like they were already covered in iron scales and were about to turn into claws.

Gajeel turned his head towards Evangeline, his lips curling as he growled and snarled at her like a rabid beast.

Evangeline couldn't move, the woman feeling an overwhelming sensation of a massive dragon with iron scales and protruding iron horns towering above her, its large mouth - large enough to swallow her whole - wide open and ready to shoot a powerful tornado of sharp metal shards that'll dice her in seconds. A whimper of pain escaped from Lucy's lips, causing Gajeel to stop growling and look back at the blonde worriedly. The Iron Dragon Slayer's hands turned back to normal, the scales disappearing underneath his skin, his canines becoming less elongated and his eyes becoming more human.

"Bunny, are you okay?" Gajeel asked as softly as his gruff voice would allow, holding the blonde carefully in his arms.

Lucy made a little moan as she opened her eyes, blinking as she found the world to be blurry, her vision clearing to see Gajeel looking down at her in concern, his red eyes almost shining from the glowing of the crystals. "Gajeel...?" Lucy mumbled, quickly recollecting what happened and why she is here.

"Don't worry, Bunny, I promised ya that I'll protect ya and I'll live by it." Gajeel said. The Dragon Slayer looked at the scald mark on Lucy's forearm and the cut along her elbow that was protected by a fresh scab, a growl escaping from him as he knew that the evil bitch behind him did this to his bunny. Gajeel's eyes widened, the black-haired man shaking his head from side to side rapidly to get such a preposterous thought out of his head; he wasn't going to fall in love. Gajeel glared back at Evangeline, holding Lucy protectively in his arms, bridal style, the Iron Dragon Slayer turning around to properly face Evangeline as he held his teammate in his arms, his red eyes keeping focussed on the green-haired bitch. "Lady, you're in a world of pain for hurtin' Bunny Girl."

Evangeline regained her wits, surrounding her hands in spheres of water, shooting beams of the same element towards Gajeel and Lucy. Gajeel jumped out of the way, still holding tightly onto Lucy. Gajeel then quickly aimed a foot towards Evangeline, transforming it into a iron pole that stretched towards her at fast speeds. Evangeline shifted out of the way of the iron pole, slamming her gloved hands together, protecting herself once again in a dome of water.

"You are quite the troublesome Dragon Slayer, you know. And the blonde bitch that I want to kill for getting my close friend in danger is still alive, with you protecting her, even." Evangeline said from inside her Water Barrier. "I'll get rid of both of you for good, for my good, with the strongest spell in my arsenal. Luckily, this Water Barrier is required for my strongest spell. Hydra Formation!"

Evangeline put one of her palms flat in front of herself, slamming the fist of her other hand down on the flat palm with the exception of her index and middle finger. Ripples began to appear inexplicably on the Water Barrier protecting the green-haired mage, seven dragon-like heads with really long necks, completely made of water, came form the water dome. The hydra heads roared, Evangeline smirked at the two Fairy Tail mages in front of her. Lucy was scared, her low energy affecting her mood. Gajeel, however, didn't look scared in the slightest, glaring back at the water dragons.

One of the hydra heads dove towards Gajeel and Lucy, its neck made of water stretching with seemingly no limit as it came towards them at fast speeds. Keeping his tight grip on the blonde in his arms, Gajeel ran out of the way as the hydra tried to clamp it jaws down on them, the woman in control of the hydras smirking arrogantly. Gajeel growled, turning one of his arms into a long and powerful blade, swinging it down towards Evangeline, his anger growing as the Water Barrier continuing to surround the woman had protected her perfectly from his attack. Gajeel jumped into the air, tightening his hold on the tired blonde in his arms as his body spun around vertically, landing down on his feet perfectly, due to a long history of landing from high heights.

"Ga...jeel…" Lucy mumbled weakly as the Iron Dragon Slayer continued to run and jump out of the way of the constant hydra heads. Gajeel looked down at Lucy, whilst trying to also look out for the hydra heads and rocks, trying to stop himself from growling from right down in his core as he saw the tears coming from her brown eyes.

"It's okay, Bunny, I can handle this." Gajeel said, pushing Lucy's face against his chest. Gajeel bounded along the ground and off the walls as he avoid the persistent hydra heads that were trying to hurt him and his close friend, the Dragon Slayer skidding to a stop and turning around to face towards Evangeline, the dark mage smirking as her Water Barrier and the seven water hydras continued to surround her, breathing in as much air and magical particles as he could. "Iron Dragon's Roar!"

Evangeline shook her head from side to side, tutting as the metal shards that Gajeel sent towards her kept on bouncing off of her protective dome. "Try as much as you wish, my Hydra Formation will end with you turning the water red." The green-haired woman mocked. "My waters can cut and burst through steel, you're fighting an uphill battle."

"Clearly you've never tried your water against a dragon's iron, Lady." Gajeel said, turning his hand into a lance and firing multiple iron lances towards the hydra heads as four of them began diving towards him and Lucy. The spears managed to rip the dragon-like heads, but they would quickly repair themselves, though the spears still managed to slow them down at least slightly. Gajeel rolled out of the way, the Dragon Slayer using his arms to protect Lucy from the ground that they rolled against. Gajeel was quickly back on his feet, barely even allowed to take a breath as two more of the dragon heads were trying to eat him and Lucy and ripping them apart. Gajeel had to somersault out of the way, the Dragon Slayer quickly running away and hiding behind a stalagmite as soon as he landed on his feet.

Gajeel's back was against the stalagmite as he took deep breaths, trying to regain air as he had little time to breath whilst he was trying to dodge the Hydra Formation. Gajeel hated that he was having to run away and hide from this dark guild bitch; it made him feel like a damn, dirty coward, and he hated feeling like a damn, dirty coward! However he really needed to regain his air and calm his damn heart down, besides there was very little chance that the Hydra Formation could hurt him without hurting Lucy, and she looked like she was in a very bad condition to get hurt in.

And Gajeel can no longer bear the thought of Lucy getting hurt... God, how he hates and regrets the man he used to be back in Phantom Lord.

"Gajeel..." Lucy whispered, reaching up to touch the side of the man's face. Gajeel looked at Lucy's arm, shaking as she held it up weakly, her eyes looking like the life was taken out of it from her rapid use of her magic. She was far from the risk of Magic Deficiency Disease, but the magic that she used up is still enough to leave her in an exhausted state. And yet she was still one of Fairy Tail's more level-headed members. "Just leave me... here and... run. You can't... beat her... while also protecting... me. Get Erza or... Jellal... they should... be able to defeat her."

"No way in Hell, Bunny...!" Gajeel said. "I ain't leaving you here for this bitch to kill you, I'm stayin' here until I get her back for what she did to you."

"But what... can you..." Lucy breathed. An idea struck Gajeel's head, the black-haired man gently placing the blonde in his arms down onto the ground, careful because of her weak condition. "Gajeel...?"

"Sorry, Bun, but I don't think you will be comfortable in my arms with these around me. Iron Dragon's Scales." Gajeel responded, a magic circle appearing beneath him as his body became covered by iron scales that, if his plan works out the way he wanted it to, will help him finally beat this water-controlling bitch. Gajeel bent down, trying to pat Lucy as gently as he could on this head with his immense strength and the tough iron scales covering his body. "Just stay here and be safe while I beat this Evangeline woman."

Gajeel peeked from behind the stalagmite, looking out for the Evangeline bitch, checking to see that she or her hydra heads weren't looking; he can't risk her finding where Bunny Girl was hiding and kill his blonde teammate. Luckily, Evangeline and her hydra heads were looking away from the stalagmite that the two Fairy Tail mages were hiding behind, and from what Gajeel could see from the movements of her head, she was looking for them. Gajeel couldn't help but smirk, he has a perfect opportunity to attack her by surprise.

Gajeel jumped out from behind the stalagmite, the Iron Dragon Slayer running a distance away from the stalagmite to ensure that Evangeline won't find Lucy. When Gajeel was sure that he was far enough from Lucy, he began running towards Evangeline.

Evangeline searched the area of the caverns, looking for Black Steel and the Bimbo of Fairy Tail. She then heard the sound of running from somewhere to her side, from outside her Water Barrier, the green-haired woman looking to see Gajeel running towards her, covered in iron scales. Evangeline was scared for a second, remembering that image of what Gajeel looked like only a few minutes ago, however that fear went away as she realised that, unlike the iron scales that covered him from earlier, these were more like an armour that was put around him. Not iron scales that grew beneath the skin and flesh.

Evangeline focussed on Gajeel, commanding the hydras to attack him. "That barrier of yours ain't gonna protect ya forever!" Gajeel yelled, transforming his left forearm into a giant and powerful sword, slashing away at the hydra heads as they tried to eat him, usually cutting them by the mouth. Gajeel grinned like a mad maniac as he got close to Evangeline, the woman not looking even slightly worried as she was so sure that she was secured in her water dome. Gajeel swung the large sword that he turned his forearm into down on Evangeline's Water Barrier, the powerful blade sinking slightly into the dome before being pushed back above the dome's surface.

A smug, wide grin appeared on Evangeline's face, honestly making her face a lot more punchable towards Gajeel. "Ha! Thought that could work against me, didn't you, you cocky Dragon Slayer. My Water Barrier can take brutal punishment and stand strong. Now, my hydras will eat you up. And then they'll eat that blonde bitch up." Evangeline sneered at Gajeel, silently commanding two of her dragon-like heads to bite down on Gajeel. The Dragon Slayer rolled out of the way, trying to think of another attack that could break past the barrier. He can't use Karma Demon: Iron God Sword, 'cause even though it will definitely break past the barrier and hit Evangeline, it would also cause a cave in that would most likely kill Gajeel, Evangeline and Lucy. Gajeel duck and cartwheeled, trying to stay close to the green-haired woman so she was still in his range. An idea came to his head, sure it was a longshot, but he had little other choices. Gajeel stood in front of Evangeline's Water Barrier, pulling his arm back. Evangeline merely snickered. "I already told you that you can't-"

"Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!" Gajeel yelled, slamming his fist against the powerful dome of water. A ripple came on the barrier from where the fist hit, before the dome had burst open. Evangeline had gasped in surprise, nonplussed that Gajeel could actually break her barrier. Gajeel was quick to move, quickly moving a foot to her abdomen to kick her. "Iron Dragon's Hard Foot!"

Evangeline made a sharp yell of pain as she was sent flying across the cavern area, her Hydra Formation spell becoming undone. Evangeline made a gruff grunt of pain as her back hit against the ground forcefully, the woman instantly sitting up to look at Gajeel, still trying to fathom what the Dragon Slayer managed to do.

"How did you... How?" Evangeline said to Gajeel, the iron scales-covered Dragon Slayer walking towards her. Gajeel made a yell of effort as he turned on of his arms into an iron pole, the long-haired man sending the pole towards Evangeline. The guild master flinched and covered herself with her arms in an attempt to protect herself. Even though her eyes were closed, Evangeline knew that the area around her darkened. She heard the sound of metal slamming against something, the sound being muffled slightly. Evangeline opened her eyes, seeing that she was now in a dark dome-like sphere. Evangeline smirked, knowing exactly what had happened.

Gajeel looked at the sight in front of him in surprise, the iron pole that he sent towards Evangeline being blocked by a dome of paper-thin shadow arms, the paper-thin arms being somehow strong enough to block his attacks, even when his offensive power has been enhanced by the Iron Dragon's Scales. The paper-thin arms receded back onto Evangeline's shadow, an extra shadow appearing from the guild master's. Dimitri appeared from the second shadow, wrapping one of his arms across his body and bowing down towards Evangeline respectfully.

"Lady Evangeline, we have successfully Dispelled the barrier and now have the Fortitude Orb." The shadow manipulator said, reaching into his tailcoat and pulling out an orange orb that was small enough to just about fit in his hand, the shines of the crystals that surrounded the two mages reflecting off of the orb. Gajeel felt his heart clench, his body refusing to move as he looked at the black-themed mage and the ancient orb he held; it felt like, for the first time in a long time, Gajeel had failed a mission. Of course he could still stop them if he acts now and acts fast, but his body just didn't seem to move. "Shall we leave, or shall we finish off the dragon spawn?"

"Finish him off, we'll make sure that Lucy Heartfilia suffers the same fate when we find her." Evangeline said, creating a scythe made of water that can cut clean through flesh and bone, despite the blade being made purely of water. The green-haired woman grinned towards Gajeel, while Dimitri smiled at him sinisterly. Gajeel turned both of his forearms into iron poles, if he had to beat the shit out of these two fuckers then he was more than willing to do.

Dimitri's sinister grin became more smug as he raised a hand towards the Iron Dragon Slayer. "Shadow Bound." Dimitri said, a dark magic circle appearing beneath Gajeel, tentacle-like tendrils appearing from the magic circle and wrapping around Gajeel, completely restraining his movements. Gajeel grunted as he tried to fight against the tendrils, however he was completely unable to move.

"What the fuck?!" Gajeel outburst.

"Struggle as much as you want, you won't escape and quite honestly I love seeing my victims squirm." Dimitri said in schadenfreude before looking at Evangeline respectfully. "You are allowed the first hit, Lady Evangeline."

"With pleasure." Evangeline responded, walking towards the restrained Gajeel.

Lucy had laid on her back behind the stalagmite, obeying Gajeel's order before the Dragon Slayer ran off to fight Evangeline. Despite the immense exhaustion she was in, Lucy couldn't fall asleep. The sounds of the fight, the worry for her friend, and the adrenaline that was running through her veins (even though it wasn't doing anything to help her), kept her awake, and thus she listened to everything that happened. She knew that Gajeel was restrained and that Evangeline and Dimitri were planning on killing Gajeel. Despite the Iron Dragon Slayer's orders and her still prevalent exhaustion, Lucy got to her feet as she prepared to come out from behind the stalagmite and help Gajeel. She knew that Gajeel will probably be angry at her, because she will be putting her life in danger - especially since Evangeline is already adamant about giving her a painful and brutal death - but she knows that they'll find and kill her shortly after killing Gajeel anyways.

Besides, she just can't lay down when one of her friends. especially one as close as Gajeel, is about to be murdered. It was a principle of Lucy Heartfilia.

Lucy peered from the side of the stalagmite, the blonde having to keep her hold on the mound to support her own weight; she hasn't even regained enough energy to stand up on her own. She saw Evangeline standing in front of Gajeel, the latter covered in tendrils that wrapped tightly around his body. Gajeel's lips were curled as he growled at Evangeline, his body still armoured in iron scales, the woman nearly pressing the blade of her water-made scythe against his neck.

"Stop...!" Lucy said, gaining the attention of Gajeel, Evangeline and Dimitri.

"What the hell, Bunny, I told you to stay behind there!" Gajeel yelled in protective anger towards Lucy.

"I'm not hiding when I should be saving my friends!" Lucy yelled back.

Evangeline smirked at Lucy, the woman moving her scythe away from Gajeel's neck and pointing it towards Lucy as she walked towards the blonde. "Well, well, well. Finally shown yourself, huh? I'd tell you that I hope you have finally accepted your fate, but I would prefer it tremendously more if you suffered before you die." Evangeline said. Lucy gave Evangeline a determined glare, even as she gripped the stalagmite for support, grabbing a random golden key, she didn't see who's key it was and recognised it as a Zodiac key because of the colour of the key, pointing the key towards Evangeline like she would have a spike in magic power and summon a Celestial Spirit that would quickly defeat Evangeline and Dimitri. But both female mages knew that it wouldn't work like that. Evangeline laughed in amusement towards Lucy. "Talk about clutching at straws, I'm sure that you would pass out even by summoning one of those silver key spirits of yours."

Lucy noticed something red behind Evangeline and Dimitri, something that only she could see. It was a red gem, a ruby. It looked broken slightly, like someone had chiselled its sides. And yet there was also the most peculiar of sights, as it looked like the smaller pieces were moving towards the bigger piece, like it was a magnet to them, the smaller pieces attaching to the facets of the ruby. A pile of white boulders rolled silently towards the ruby as it was becoming restored, the gem glowing slightly as it was repairing itself.

Evangeline leaned her head to the side and raised an eyebrow as she noticed that Lucy was seemingly looking more at her side than at her. "What are you...?" Evangeline said, looking behind both herself and Diitri, her onyx-coloured eyes widening as she saw the Ruby Cyclops repairing its body. "Oh crap."

The Ruby Cyclops let out a loud roar, like a large monster that just ate and has a mouth full of gravel. The Ruby Cyclops aimed a fist down towards Dimitri, the dark mage disappearing into his shadow and moving out of the way just before the rock fist caused the ground to crack and almost shatter. "GIVE BACK THE FORTITUDE ORB AT ONCE, MAGES OF DARKNESS!" The stone golem roared in a booming voice that echoed in Gajeel's skull because of both his sensitive hearing and his close proximity to the giant, even though the one-eyed golem hadn't even acknowledged his existence. "THE FORTITUDE ORB MUST NEVER BE IN THE GRASP OF THOSE THAT WALK THE PATH OF EVIL! IT IS MY DUTY TO PROTECT THE ORB, GIVE IT BACK AND I WILL SPARE YOUR LIVES!"

"That thing doesn't even know of the concept of silence, doesn't it?" Dimitri said as he appeared from a disembodied shadow, right next to Evangeline. What Dimitri was unaware of was that, as he escaped from the attacking stone giant, he ceased his focus on the Shadow Bound he was using to restrain Gajeel, making the shadow tendrils lose their strength and power, allowing the Dragon Slayer to destroy the tendrils and ultimately free himself. Dimitri looked at Gajeel, his purple eyes widening as he saw that the iron-eater was now free. "Damn it."

The Ruby Cyclops fired a red laser beam towards Dimitri from its ruby eye, the Shadow Magic mage rolling out of the way. Dimitri was on his knees and one hand, the black-haired man raised his other hand, shadows surrounding it as he prepared an offensive Shadow Magic spell to attack the Ruby Cyclops with, however in his peripherals he saw Gajeel running towards him, the man unable to dodge the Dragon Slayer. Gajeel hit Dimitri in the face with an Iron Dragon's Club, the dark mage making a yell of pain as he was flung back by the force of the impact.

"Ha, that felt good!" Gajeel said, turning the iron pole back into his hand and forearm, flexing the hand into a fist. Gajeel then felt an eye on him, the long-haired Dragon Slayer looking to see the cause of the sensation, looking to see the Ruby Cyclops looking down at him. Gajeel couldn't read the look on the one-eyed stone being's face, the Dragon Slayer may like a good fight, but he's not sure that he wants to fight the golem when he's meant to be focussing on the two dark mages that are in front of him. "You're not thinkin' of fighting me, right?"

"DO NOT FRIGHT, CHILD OF DRAGONS!" The Ruby Cyclops said as gently as it could with its booming and gravely voice, Gajeel had to cover most of his ears as the voice was still unbearable to his ears; it was to his ears like mobile transport to his stomach. "EVEN THOUGH I SEE THAT YOU ONCE TEETERED ON THE EDGE OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS, YOU HAVE NOW ULTIMATELY WALKED ON THE PATH OF LIGHT. I ALSO SEE THAT NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR FRIEND WISH TO TAKE THE FORTITUDE ORB FOR EVIL PURPOSES, I HAVE NO REASON TO DESTROY OR ATTACK EITHER OF YOU!"

"So what if we have to fight both of you? I still have the other members of Siren Fin in my shadow, and I can easily summon them for battle whenever I want to." Dimitri said, the man using his magic to make his shadow grow as a large circle, with him being its centre, wherein other mages of Evangeline's guild would most likely appear. "And I can Dispel other people's spells, just like so."

Dimitri raised his hand towards Gajeel, using his Dispel Magic to make the iron scales that armoured the Dragon Slayer disappear. "You're only a slight setback in our plans, like an annoying little cockroach that won't get out of my way." Evangeline said, surrounding her hands in spheres of water. "When your friends find you and Lucy here, all that they can do is just mourn your deaths."

A large sphere of light suddenly shot out from the darkness behind the two dark mages, hitting Dimitri in the back and sending him flying across the area of the cavern, the black-themed man spinning around, his back slamming against the hard wall on the opposite side of the cavern area. Dimitri made a loud and painful grunt as he dropped to the ground. Dimitri pushed himself off the ground, hissing as he felt a stinging pain where his back was hit by the sphere, the man looking at the area of darkness that the sphere was fired from.

Erza Scarlet and Jellal Fernandes appeared from the darkness, looking serious and enraged. Erza was in her Heaven's Wheel Armour, a circle of ten swords spinning behind her as she held two more swords in her hands, outstretched as she was ready to start swinging and slashing them towards the dark mages that hurt her friends. Jellal was surrounded by a heavenly light, his coat and hair was like he was in a small updraft, magical energy coming off of him in waves. Evangeline faced a palm towards the two mages, a blue magic circle appeared in front of the palm, scythe-like blades of water shooting out of the magic circle. Erza ran towards the green-haired woman, the scarlet-haired mage eventually using her armour's magic to fly towards her, keeping hold of the two swords in her hands, the circle of swords that she commanded over following after her as she flew closer to the water-using mage. Evangeline's eyes widened as she realised that this was the great Titania of Fairy Tail that she was facing against; and in the blink of an eye the powerful Requip mage had swiped and slashed her with her swords.

Evangeline was sent tumbling towards Dimitri, the latter catching the former as she neared him. Evangeline and Dimitri looked at their enemies, seeing Erza 'Titania' Scarlet, Jellal Fernandes, The Ruby Cyclops and Gajeel Redfox. "Dimitri, we have the Fortitude Orb, that's what Lord Xan sent us here for. We should leave, now." Evangeline said to Dimitri, not looking towards the Shadow Magic mage; her eyes were fixed on the three mages and the golem that looked more than ready and willing to beat her to a pulp. "Even we don't really stand a chance against this, we should just leave right now."

"I concur, Lady Evangeline." Dimitri said, the man and his guild master disappearing into his shadow. The shadow was, at first, in the shape of a circle. However, when Evangeline and Dimitri were absorbed into it, it took a shape that could be compared to a tadpole. The shadow tadpole quickly began 'swimming', moving under the feet of Erza, Jellal, Gajeel and the Ruby Cyclops in the blink of an eye; and before anyone could do anything, it had disappeared into the darkness, where it was impossible to even catch.

Erza looked at the darkness with wide eyes of shock, the woman falling to her knees and unconsciously Requiping into her regular armour, the swords that she summoned disappearing. "We... we failed." Erza muttered, her voice sounding like it had broken slightly. Gajeel wondered how long it had been since Erza had last failed a request she was given, if she ever had in the first place. "We promised them that we would save the Fortitude Orb... and we failed them."

Panther Lily appeared from the same darkness that the shadow tadpole came from, the entrance to the area of Sorrel Caverns. The Exceed was shortly followed after by Adeline and then Sara, the latter of the two looking exhausted. "Damn... stamina... so out of... breath." Sara said as she leaned against one of the cavern walls, taking deep breaths and gasps of air in her pauses. "I need... to work on... my stamina...!"

Adeline looked at the distraught Erza in confusion, noticing that there are no evil-looking mages present. "What happened? Did we win?" The Rock Magic mage asked in confusion, not taking notice of the giant stone golem that was basically standing right next to her.

"THE FORTITUDE ORB HAS BEEN TAKEN!" The Ruby Cyclops said, sounding distraught in its ear-splitting and nigh-unbearable rough voice. "MY ANCIENT DUTY, TO PROTECT THE ORB FROM THE HANDS OF EVIL, HAS BEEN FAILED!"

Panther Lily covered his ears with his hands, the giant golem's voice feeling like it could break his skull into tiny pieces. When the stone being stopped talking, Panther Lily uncovered his ears, deducing the stone giant as being the Ruby Cyclops that Claudia had spoke of. The panther-like entity then directed his orange-coloured eyes towards Lucy, the blonde sitting down, her back pressing against one of the many stalagmites that pointed up to the ceiling. The Exceed walked towards Lucy, turning back into his usual small form as his time for his Battle Mode form had ran out.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Lily asked as he approached the exhausted blonde, concerned for his teammate. The small, cat-like entity noticed the cut along the blonde's elbow. "You got hurt...!"

"I'm okay, Lily. I have gotten hurt far worse ever since I joined Fairy Tail; this is but a little scratch in comparison." Lucy said, gently and slowly wrapping her hands around Lily's little body and placing him on her lap, petting him on the head, making him purr because of his cat-like existence. "And besides, I can get this healed easily by Wendy when we come back to Fairy Tail. Of course I don't think I need to get this healed by Wendy, it should heal fast enough and well enough on its own, without the need of her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic."

"And what if the little Sky Maiden wants to heal ya an' insists on it?" Gajeel said as he approached Lucy and Lily, the Dragon Slayer looking down at the former seriously with his hands on his hips. Lucy could see Erza, Jellal, Sara and Adeline talking with each other about something, and they were seemingly also talking with the Ruby Cyclops. "Yer the light of our guild, Bunny. Wendy may still be a kid, but even she's a little protective of ya."

"Well if Wendy insists on it then I'll let her heal me. I can never say no to her anyways." Lucy responded. The blonde pressed her palms against the ground, intending to get back up, however as she pressed against the ground she found that she wasn't getting up in even the slightest. Lucy looked back up at Gajeel as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, the blonde smiling meekly towards the black-haired man. "Do you think you can carry me? I don't think I have enough energy left to stand up on my own."

Gajeel smirked down at Lucy. "You just want me to hold you, don't you?" The Iron Dragon Slayer said, continuing to smirk at the blonde with his hands of his hips.

"Well I will admit that I like feeling those large muscles of yours." Lucy said, smirking back at Gajeel. "Sure, you can't hold a candle to Laxus or Elfman in that category, but you're sexy enough with your current muscles."

Gajeel made a snort of amusement towards his blonde friend (with benefits), flexing one of his arms, making a small scent of arousal come from Lucy as she saw the flex of Gajeel's bicep. "I can become as big as Elfman at anytime whenever I want."

It was Lucy's turn to make a snort of amusement, rolling her brown eyes. "I may like Elfman and all, but I prefer it if you didn't look like a bodybuilder that ate another bodybuilder." The blonde responded, petting Panther Lily as the little Exceed continued to lay down on her creamy legs. Gajeel was almost jealous of Panther Lily, the Iron Dragon Slayer remembering when he got to lay down on those smooth limbs when he was on his first mission with her. Lucy then outstretched her arms towards Gajeel, almost like a little kid that wanted to be picked up by their parent. Gajeel couldn't deny that she looked kinda cute. "So will you now pick me up and carry me, O Gajeel the Great?"

"You're lucky that you nearly got me wrapped around your fingers, Bunny." Gajeel said as he picked Lucy up and held her bridal style. Panther Lily remained on Lucy's legs, still too low on magic to use his Aera to grow angelic wings.

Lucy let out a little laugh, one that Gajeel had secretly enjoyed the sound of. "I already have Laxus and Freed wrapped around my fingers, and that is to say the least. I don't know how many other people I can wrap around my little fingers." Lucy said, the Celestial Spirit summoner nuzzling her head into Gajeel's muscular chest, making him blush slightly. "Thanks, Gaj. If you didn't come just in time, I would have been dead. I know that we started off on more than just the wrong foot, but I don't regret meeting you; I'm happy to have you as a friend."

Gajeel's happy smile faded, his face becoming more serious and stern. "Bunny, I don't want you to risk your life for my own." The Dragon Slayer said to the blonde, causing her to look up at him with one open eye. "I can't risk losing ya, you're one of my closest friends."

"I already told you, I can't just stand back when one of my friends is in danger." Lucy said, glaring up at Gajeel with both of her eyes, wrapping her arms over her chest. "If you want to be not only my friend, but a close friend of mine, then you have to accept and be prepared for when I risk my life because you are in danger."

"Lucy, are you okay?" Erza said worriedly as she ran towards Gajeel, Lucy and Lily, the scarlet-haired knight-like mage stopping in front of the three. "You look hurt, and your magic level is low."

"Yeah, I got hurt and used up my reserves of magical energy. But I am overall okay and I managed to land a few hits on Evangeline." Lucy said in an attempt to calm down her protective friend.

"Don't worry, Bunny. The next time I see Evangeline, I'll kick her ass so hard that she'll be sent flyin' outta Fiore." Gajeel said, smiling as he saw Lucy's face light up as the sorceress laughed.

"What I don't get is why you were kidnap and fought against the leader of this operation." Panther Lily said as he layed down on Lucy's body, his little body making him light and taking up little room on the blonde's body.

"I don't get it either." Erza agreed.

"She spoke to me, about why she personally wanted to kill me." Lucy said causing Erza and Lily to focus on her. Jellal had approached his comrades, the former Wizard Saint having heard Lucy mentioning that she knows some information about the guild master that was behind the cavern invasion. "Apparently, she and Theodora are members of some guild or organization called Dark Sect. She also mentioned a Malefic Square and a Lord Xan. Jellal, do you know about any of these."

The blue-haired man shook his head from side to side. "No." Jellal answered, looking ashamed for his lack of knowledge. "Throughout the years, I have picked up knowledge of many dark guilds, black magic cults, mages that were experimenting in illegal spells and potions, dark organisations and many others. But I have never once heard of Dark Sect, Malefic Square or even a so-called Lord Xan."

"Damn, does this mean we have to fight against someone to save the world, again, for the hundredth time?" Gajeel said, incredulous that there might be some underground cult or guild or whatever that is going to threaten everything he knows and loves. Its like he could never catch a break since joining Fairy Tail.

"Don't tell me that you are getting lazy, Gajeel." Erza said, her tone almost playful as she crossed her arms over her armoured chest, smiling at the Iron Dragon Slayer. "After all, you're one of the many adrenaline junkies of our guild. In fact, you're on par with Natsu and Gray as one of our biggest adrenaline junkies."

"It's not that I hate the excitement an' all, hell I fucking live for those moments." Gajeel said, continuing to hold Lucy in his arms. She wasn't at all heavy, not only was Gajeel phenomenally strong but Lucy felt light. "But I'm so damn tired of always having to save the world an' every month and so. I mean, can't someone else just stop the bad guys for once?"

"I have been taking down dark guilds and evil cults that have been trying to use forbidden magic to take over the world on a weekly basis for years." Jellal said, almost looking a little smug towards Gajeel. "You are getting lazy."

"Call me lazy again and your foot is goin' deep up your ass!" Gajeel threatened angrily. Jellal didn't fear Gajeel, they had sparred many times since the former has joined Fairy Tail and he always went easy on the Dragon Slayer. And Jellal is also fast, he could easily escape Gajeel if he ever tried something like that.

"While Master Boris is still greatly new at the whole thing about being the one in charge of an entire guild, even if it is one that he himself had created, I'm sure that Imp Fang would be willing to help Fairy Tail with this whole Dark Sect ordeal. Of course, Master Boris and Makarov would have to talk to each other first and make an agreement or something like that first, but I'm sure that Imp Fang, as an up-and-coming guild, would be more than willing to help the strongest guild in Fiore." Sara said, the black-haired woman having seemingly snuck up on them, startling them all.

"Fairy Tail is open to the aid of others, however we don't wish to bring any trouble on any of the other legal guilds." Erza responded calmly. "If Imp Fang is already being targeted by the Dark Sect, then Fairy Tail will accept your help. I am sorry if I sound rude, but I cannot sleep well at night knowing that I put others in danger because we took their offer for help."

"I understand." Sara said calmly, the plant-based mage looking towards Lucy. "I too am happy that you're okay... but d-don't think that means that you're special, 'kay?"

"Frickin' tsundere." Gajeel thought, seeing the blush on Sara's face as she looked away at Lucy. It was clear that the woman may have an interest in Lucy, and for some reason it made Gajeel feel angry. Maybe it was because of the close and protective friendship they had built over time, but the thought of Lucy going out or falling in love with anyone made him feel kind of angry. Maybe he just didn't want Bunny Girl to get her heart broken again, or to go on another date that was like a disaster. Nevertheless, Gajeel just knew that if Sara ever wanted to date Lucy, she would have to get past him before she can even so much as ask Lucy out.

"So do we go back to the request lady or...?" Adeline started, forgetting the rest of her words.

"I'm afraid that we will have to return to Claudia and tell her of our failure. We can only hope that she will be understand." Jellal answered. The blue-haired S-Class mage looked at the Ruby Cyclops, the one-eyed stone golem looking at the passageway that the shadow that Dimitri and Evangeline disappeared through. "I apologise that we were unable to help you protect the Fortitude Orb. Do you wish to go after them?"

"EVEN THOUGH I WISH TO RETRIEVE THE ORB, I CANNOT LEAVE THE CAVERNS! I WAS MADE TO ALWAYS PROTECT THE ORB AND STAY IN THE CAVERNS, THUS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO LEAVE THE CAVERNS!" The Ruby Cyclops responded, the mages could hear vibrations coming from his voice bouncing off in their skulls. "CHILDREN OF LIGHT, I BEG OF YOU TO RETRIEVE THE FORTITUDE ORB AND BRING IT BACK TO THESE CAVERNS, WHERE IT BELONGS!"

"We shall do that, Ruby Cyclops." Erza swore adamantly and earnestly.


Claudia was weeping into her palms as they covered her face, the autumn-haired woman's arms against her desk. Lucy (who was now leaning against Gajeel), Panther Lily, Erza, Jellal, Sara and Adeline felt uncomfortable as the mayor was crying in front of them. Gajeel had his arms crossed over his chest, an unamused expression on his face; he could understand getting distraught over losing something that was important and precious to you and your town (especially if you technically own the town), but it felt like the middle-aged woman had been crying forever. Gajeel's patience has always been finite at best, and he doesn't know how much more of it that he has left.

Claudia moved her head up, her face no longer covered by her hands, revealing dry tears stains that trailed down to the ends of her face from her eyes. "You failed to protect and save the Fortitude Orb?" Claudia asked, the woman having seemingly forgotten that she had asked the same question and got the same answer multiple times by now. Maybe she was just having major difficulties processing the mage's failure.

There was a pregnant silence in the office, the mages (sans Gajeel) and Panther Lily looking at each other in the eyes without moving their bodies, uncertain of who should break the news to Claudia... again (though Adeline was uncertain because she can't fully what happened nevertheless). Eventually, Lucy let out an audible gulp as she had decided to take the plunged. "Yes." The blonde spirit summoner said.

Claudia let out a wail, the woman almost certain to start crying into her hands again for who knows how long. "Sorrel Town's biggest pride... gone!" The woman said as she sobbed into her arms, not caring that she was ruining her expensive green suit. "I have failed as a mayor!"

"Mrs. Claudia, I will take all of the blame for what happened to the Fortitude Orb." Erza said solemnly, stepping forward slightly, bowing her head down and putting her hand on her chest. "I promise you, on my word as a Fairy Tail mage, we will get the Fortitude Orb back."

Claudia's crying had stopped, the woman remaining still and soundless before she straightened her back and folded her hands, looking at the mages in front of her with an impassive expression, the drying stains of her tears being the only sign that even hinted that she was crying earlier. "See that you do." Claudia said, her voice had lacked all hostility but it also lacked her earlier hospitality. Lucy chewed the inside of her mouth in nervousness, fearing that the woman may now be mad at them. It was a mystic orb that was considered to be a part of the town's most famous area, of course she would be mad at them for letting a dark guild take it. "Since you technically failed the mission, I should deduct your reward completely. However you did take out half of a Dark Guild, which the Magic Council has now arrested, so I will give you ten percent of the reward. Goodbye."

It was minutes later that Lucy, Gajeel, Panther Lily, Erza and Jellal were standing in front of the train station (though Lucy still needed some support by Gajeel), Sara and Adeline were standing nearby. "Well, I guess this is so long, for now. I guess it was good to fight alongside you guys, even though I didn't get to fight alongside Gajeel or Lucy. Maybe if we take another job together or something else that requires us to spend time together, we can do it again. But who knows what the future holds?" Sara said. The black-haired mage looked at the sun, just starting to set below the horizon and creating a beautiful orange and yellow glow. The pink-eyed mage looked mesmerized by the sight before she looked back at the Fairy Tail mages. "Adeline and I don't live far from here, so we can walk the way home. Farewell."

"Goodbye." Adeline said as she waved at the Fairy Tail mages, the female mage and her friend then proceeding to walk down one of the roads and disappearing in the distance, where they were no doubt returning to their home town. Lucy frowned as the two mages disappeared, something that Gajeel had easily noticed.

"What's with the big frown, Bunny?" Gajeel asked, looking at the woman that was basically leaning on him because of her rapid usage of magic.

"It's nothing special, really, Gajeel." Lucy responded, not putting a single effort in trying to remove her frown. "It's just that I was looking forward to becoming friends with them, but I don't think that I really bonded with either of them that well."

Gajeel snorted in amusement. "Knowing you, Bunny, the next time you see them you'll probably be best friends with them."

Lucy let out a laugh in response to what Gajeel said, finding it equally funny and heartwarming. The Fairy Tail members sat down at the train station, the last few orange rays of the lowering sun making the place look beautiful, waiting for their train back to Magnolia. After a few minutes of waiting for the train, luckily in warm weather so none of them had felt cold, the giant, mechanical vehicle finally arrived, stopping in front of them as they sat on their bench.

The train doors opened, many passengers coming off and coming on, our Fairy Tail members being a part of the latter. The train had began moving, Gajeel, Lucy and Panther Lily sat on one side of seats while Erza and Jellal sat on the other side, the two aforementioned S-Class mages happily holding hands as a couple. Lucy suddenly started to look excited, causing her friends to look at her like she just grew another head or two.

"It's still just so exciting, you know." The blonde mage said, fidgeting slightly from her excitement, giving Jellal and Erza a wide smile. "I'm so excited that you two are going to move in together, I don't know if I can keep the secret."

Erza had suddenly gotten onto both of her feet, the Requip mage changing into her Heaven's Wheel Armour, summoning a sharp sword and pointing it at Lucy, the tip of the blade just inches from her neck, the red-haired mage also using the magic of her armour to make multiple swords appear and float in the air, also pointing at Lucy. All done within the span of a second. Everyone in the train carriage, even Gajeel and Jellal, looked at the scarlet-haired mage in surprise. This especially went to Lucy, who was on the worst side of the swords that someone can be.

"Do not say anything to anyone, especially Mirajane." Erza warned, her own eyes were wide like she was doing this as something in the moment. Actually, it is most likely something that she is doing in the heat of the moment. Or at least something like that. "This is a very intimate part of the relationship between me and Jellal, and I don't want everyone to throw a big party to celebrate it before it has happened. So please, Lucy, don't tell a single soul."

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, I won't tell anyone!" Lucy responded hurriedly and quickly, waving her hands from side to side as she was scared of all the swords that were pointing at her and can pierce straight through her and chop her into bite-sized pieces in the blink of an eye.

"Thank you." Erza responded calmly, giving her close friend a calm smile. Erza suddenly summoned another sword in her free hand, the scarlet-haired woman pointing a sword in each of her hands at Gajeel and Panther Lily respectively, commanding the other swords that floated around her to point at the two other members of Team Iron Star respectively. "And you two better not tell anyone either."

"I promise you that I won't tell anyone." Panther Lily said calmly, despite having about ten swords pointed at his tiny body.

"I don't give a crap about you an' Oberon moving in with each other, Titania." Gajeel said, the Iron Dragon Slayer suddenly biting into the blade pointed at him, his magic allowing him to break the tip off and eat it without getting even a single cut. "Don't you remember the ride here? I don't care about this whole moving in thing."

Erza had decided to ignore Gajeel's comment about not caring about her and Jelllal's relationship, after all even though she didn't want her friends and guildmates to make a big deal out of it, she didn't want people to dismiss it; she's in a happy relationship, like in those fairy tales that she read as a little girl shortly after moving into Fairy Hills. Except that she would be more like the Knight in Shining Armour than the Princess in Distress. However she was happy enough knowing that her and Jellal's plans won't be announced to the guild before she is fully reading, sitting back down on her seat and using her Requip to change back into her regular armour, leaning against her blue-haired boyfriend and hugging his arm.

Jellal had cleared his throat, the Heavenly Body mage knowing that not only did the conversation needed to be changed but what he was about to talk about was something that needed to be talked about. "We'll have to do broad research on the Dark Guild we came across and everything we have assumed to be connected to it." Jellal said, his guildmates looking at him silently. "We don't know what Siren Fin is planning to do with the Fortitude Orb, nor do we know anything about a Dark Sect, a Malefic Square or anyone named Xan that has connections to dark magic. It is always best to know your enemy, especially if they are a Dark Guild that could be catastrophic. We have to inform Makarov when we get back to Fairy Tail."

"Agreed." Panther Lily responded, his little arms crossed over his chest, the Exceed nodding.

Lucy had almost balled her fists, remembering that Evangeline was close to killing her and Gajeel. But the blonde had also remembered Evangeline's words about Theodora. All that Lucy knows of the Lightning Magic user was that she disappeared shortly after Lucy took her out with Urano Metria, never having heard of or seen her again. Apparently Theodora got in trouble with this Lord Xan person, that was the reason why Evangeline had her animus to kill Lucy. It scared Lucy, and made her feel worried for this Theodora. Yes, she tried to kill both her and Gajeel and didn't even bat an eye, but the thought of someone being mistreated by their superior, even if they are someone who is evil, just sickened Lucy. It was the reason why Lucy felt worried for Flare when she saw that she was being abused by Ivan.

And it seemed that this Lord Xan fellow is superior to both Theodora and Evangeline. That thought, in and of itself, was quite terrifying. Both woman seemed to be strong enough to not only command their own Dark Guilds, and fight on an even ground with Lucy and Gajeel. If Xan is meant to be their superior, then he must be even stronger. And usually the higher up in rank someone is in a Dark Guild, the more merciless and sadistic they could be. Theodora and Evangeline seem to be quite merciless and sadistic themselves; Lucy was certain that she wouldn't enjoy meeting this Lord Xan person.

And considering her luck when it comes to these Dark Guilds, the Celestial Spirit mage is certain that she will be meeting him in person.

Lucy let out a tired sigh, one of both physical and mental exhaustion. She had long ago decided to bring her fate into her own hands and control it, probably as far back as when she first ran away from the Heartfilia Konzern. However it seems as though fate has escaped her hands and is deciding to take revenge for her originally catching it. It seems like she is going to just accept that fate has most likely determined that she'll inevitably come across other members of this Dark Sect and meet with this Lord Xan who has a high chance of being the one in charge of it.

Doesn't mean she'll be happy about it in the slightest.

Lucy let out another sigh, feeling her physical exhaustion come back to her with a vengeance. The blonde looked to her side, seeing Gajeel sitting at the edge near a window, the effects of the Stillness Elixir that he drank a few days ago still being in effect, leaning his elbow against the side and looking out of the window in boredom. Lucy leaned down against Gajeel tiredly, her sleepy brown eyes - half covered by her eyelids - looked up at the Dragon Slayer's confused crimson eyes. It was clear that Gajeel was confused and would probably try to get her off him, and she didn't have the nerve nor the energy to fight.

"I'm tired, you're the most comfy thing here to sleep on." Lucy said, giving Gajeel a little glare as she just wanted to sleep. "I'm a woman, don't bother arguing with me."

Before Gajeel could say a word, Lucy had already closed and fallen asleep on his muscular body. Gajeel opened his mouth, ready to say something before rolling Lucy onto the floor, however he had stopped and merely closed his mouth. Erza, Jellal and Panther Lily watched intently, especially the last of the three, wondering what the usually rude Dragon Slayer would do. After all, if it was basically anyone else that decided to sleep on top of him then he would just shove them off in a second.

Gajeel had shifted and turned his body around, gentle to not wake up the blonde with grace that no one would expect from someone like him - given his physique and rough personality - and continued to do so until his back was against the same wall that his elbow was pressed against earlier, lying down on his seat with Lucy asleep on top of him and using his chest as a pillow. Gajeel had secured his arms around Lucy, his hold of her body was strong enough to keep her from rolling off in case the train would bump or make an abrupt stop, but not so strong that it would cause her to become uncomfortable and wake up.

Jellal was thoroughly astounded by the sight, knowing that Gajeel is one who not only greatly enjoys fighting but tends to be indifferent to those around him. Hell, Jellal has seen and heard moments where Gajeel has growled at children and scared them away because of one reason or another. And from what he has heard, of Gajeel beating Lucy up for his entertainment when they had first met, it seems as though their relationship has gone a long way since then. Though Jellal wasn't one to judge of people coming close together despite everything bad that has happened to them in the past. After all, when he believed he was possessed by Zeref, Jellal had hurt Erza, separated her from her friends in the Tower of Heaven, caused many of them to die during the construction of the tower, killed one of their closest friends in front of Erza's eyes (something that Jellal still deeply regrets). And yet now, now that he has changed and redeemed himself, he and Erza are now a couple, one that is planning on taking further steps in their relationship.

A thought then occurred to Jellal; if he and Erza could go so far despite everything that has happened in the past, who's to say that Gajeel and Lucy couldn't develop their friendship to higher levels despite what happened in the past.

The future can be so unpredictable.

Gajeel looked at the two mages and Exceed (as Panther Lily moved onto the other side of seats), almost glaring as he saw how starry-eyed they looked as they watched Bunny Girl sleep on him, not helped that he had moved his body to make it more comfortable for her to sleep. As long as they didn't say anything about how they thought of him and Bunny Girl as a couple, he guessed he could let it slide.

As much as he loved Lucy as a friend, he doesn't want to ever fall in love again. After falling in love with Levy and thinking that she was his mate, only for that love of theirs to go away, he had found himself falling into a darkness that was hard to escape. Gajeel really didn't like that darkness, and if he were to once again fall in love, this time with Lucy, and think of her as his mate only for him to lose his feelings for her, he knows he would not only fall into that darkness again but he would never get out.

So no, Gajeel wasn't going to fall in love with Lucy.

Strange, Gajeel briefly heard a voice in his head that disagreed with him.


Author's Note: Aaaand I'm ending this chapter here 'cause this chapter is already 19,000+ words long (which even I think is a ridiculously long chapter), so some of the other stuff that I originally planned for this chapter will just have to appear at a latter time. Didn't expect that battle between Evangeline and Gajeel and Lucy to be so long, I even had to scrap the sex scene that I was originally planning for this chapter, but like I said, 19,000+ words (and it has been nearly two weeks since the last chapter... then again the second chapter came out a month or so after the first one, and that was prior to when I became more quick in my writing).

I really hope that people are enjoying the story and I hope that you can leave a lovely little review about your thoughts, what you think went wrong and what went right. It could be fuel that will make me want to write more, as well as to know what people would like to see more of in the future.

Adieu.