Chapter 9

Our heroes watched until Santa was out of sight. Once he was gone something seemed to occur to Mr. Beaver.

"Oh no," he muttered to himself.

"What?" asked Erza.

"He said the Witch's power is fading, that means it'll be spring soon," said Mr. Beaver worriedly.

"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Happy. "I thought you guys wanted winter to end,"

Mr. Beaver continued to look flustered. "Well yes, but there is a river between here and the Stone Table, frozen we could walk right across, but if it melts we'd have to take the long way around."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Did you forget who you're dealing with?" he asked, holding is hands in his Maker Stance, frozen air forming around it.

Upon seeing that and remembering the ice wagon he'd made for Lucy, as well as all the havoc he helped wreck on the Witch's castle, Mr. Beaver scratched his head sheepishly. "Right, forgot about that, mate."

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By the time they reached the river the ice was already cracking and thin. Undeterred Gray walked to the edge of the river and said, "Ice Make: Floor!"

With that the ice became solid and stable for them to walk across. Halfway across Natsu paused and sniffed the air.

"I smell something coming," he said.

No sooner had he said that when they heard the howl of a wolf behind them, which was answered by more howls coming closer, and closer.

Loke started walking faster. "Come on, we can't risk a fight with Lucy in this condition."

"Are you saying we can't protect her?" asked Natsu sounding peeved.

"There's no guarantee that while fighting that the enemy won't slip past us and smash her," said Erza, hurrying to match Loke's pace.

Natsu wasn't happy at having to walk away from a chance to get revenge for Lucy and Happy, but he followed, not wanting to risk his Nakama's safety (Or tick off Erza, either one was possible).

Gray, however, looked back to where the howls were coming from, and smirked. "Who says we have to fight."

The team then found themselves hiding in the trees on the far side of the river just out of sight. They listened and watched as the Wolves drew nearer and nearer, until they came into sight.

"Now?" asked Happy.

"Not yet," said Gray.

More and more Wolves came out of the trees and paused at the river's edge. One of them gingerly stepped out on the ice to test if it was safe.

"Now?" asked Happy.

"Wait for it," said Gray.

Seeing that the ice was solid the whole pack rushed forward to cross the river. When they were in the middle of the river Gray yelled, "Now!" and dispelled all the ice on the river.

There were several loud yelps as the ice suddenly turned into a rushing river that swept all the wolves away in one fell swoop.

"I'm the man!" Gray congratulated himself with a pump of his fist.

"Impressive," agreed Erza.

"Aye," agree Happy.

"I coulda done that," Natsu sulked at not being able to fight.

"Yeah right," Gray snorted.

"I could! I'd just need to throw some fire to melt the ice," snapped Natsu.

"There's no way you could have done it quick enough," Gray argued back. From there the argument quickly dissolved into a fist fight, that for once Erza ignored, in favor of looking at Loke, who had a peculiar look on his face.

"What's wrong? Is being away from the Spirit World affecting you?" she asked.

"Huh? No, its just- I know North said that the winter was fading, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. It's already significantly warmer than this morning," he replied.

Natsu and Gray paused their fight as they all considered that.

"Hey you're right, it is warmer," said Natsu.

"And look," said Erza pointing at the ground a few feet away.

They looked and saw a few flowers poking out of the snow.

As they continued on their journey the arrival of spring became more and more pronounced with each passing minute. At first it was a novelty to watch, like being in those documentaries that showed the passage of time at a rapid pace. But the novelty wore off when all the melted snow turned the ground into mud. They more than once had to stop and have a tug-a-war with Lucy's wagon when it's wheels got stuck in the muck. Eventually they just left pulling it to Erza, as her great strength and the desire to avoid getting muddy helped it get stuck far less often.

"Are we there yet?" whined Happy a few hours later, while sitting next to Lucy in the wagon.

"Almost, almost," said Mr. Beaver, as they climbed a hill.

When they reached the top they had a great view of their surroundings.

"Hey look, the ocean!" called Natsu, spotting it in the distance.

"And I'm guessing that's the Stone Table," said Loke spotting it at the top of a nearby hill.

"Then that must be where we need to go," said Erza, spotting a camp flying a red and yellow flag in a clearing off to the side of the Stone Table's hill.

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's go," said Natsu, grabbing Lucy's wagon from Erza and rushing towards the camp.

"Natsu, wait up you idiot," Gray called after him, as he and the rest of the group hurried to catch up with the Dragon Slayer.

Upon entering the camp it's occupants fell into a hush, and stared at the new arrivals. The team slowed down, unsure of what to make of the odd stares.

Never one to dwell on such things, Natsu called out. "We were told we could meet a guy called Aslan here. Where is he?"

Some of the camp's occupants were a bit miffed at his brash way of speaking about their ruler, but they parted until a large tent was visible for them to see.

The wizards, Exceed, spirit, and two beavers moved towards it. As they reached it all the camp's occupants and the Beavers bowed low in respect. The Fairy Tail group, however, remained standing. Respect from them had to be earned.

Out of the tent stepped a huge golden lion that had a presence that screamed great power.

"Welcome, Erza, Daughter of Eve. Welcome, Gray and Natsu, Sons of Adam, Welcome Happy the Exceed and Leo of the Zodiac Spirits. Welcome He-Beaver and She-Beaver," said the Lion looking at them each in turn. "But where is the fourth?"

"That's why we've come," said Erza, giving a polite bow as Loke, Natsu and Happy lifted Lucy from the wagon, and placed her before the Lion.

The sight of the stone girl sent ripples of dismay and fear through the assembled crowd. Whispers broke out in fear that the Witch may have already won with the fourth human in that state.

"We were told that you could reverse this spell," Erza continued, paying no heed to the whispers.

Aslan examined the girl before him. "How did this happen?" he asked.

"We tried to take on the Witch ourselves," said Gray. "But we were split up, and the Witch took a cheap shot and ran away before we could beat her."

This sent an even bigger shockwave through the camp. Even with the girl turned to stone, no forces who had gone against the Witch had ever caused her to flee in defeat before.

Natsu soon grew impatient. "So can you turn her back or what?" he asked rudely.

"Aye," said Happy just as impatiently.

"Peace," said Aslan, quieting all the noise. He moved forward to Lucy's statue and breathed on it.

Natsu was about to ask what that was supposed to do, but stopped when he saw color return to Lucy's figure. Soon enough she was free of the stone, and looking around in surprise.

"LUCY!" shouted all her friends in joy, as Natsu, Happy, and Loke all tackled her in a hug making her fall over, while Erza, Gray and the Beavers crowded around. Erza wrenched Lucy free of the pile (though the three continued to cling to her, Happy around her neck, Natsu on her arm, and Loke around her legs) and hugged her roughly against her armor, while Gray patted her on the back. All the while Lucy blushed, and laughed at the attention.

"We were so worried," Happy sobbed from his position around her neck.

"I know," she said, patting him on the head awkwardly with her free hand. "I could hear everything that happened, I don't blame you for any of this."

They continued to hug her until Lucy got impatient. "Um, you guys are crushing me."

They finally move back (though Erza had to drag Natsu away) until it was only Happy, who moved to sit on her head and could not be persuaded to leave.

Loke stepped forward and bowed low to her with the bow, arrows, and vial spread in his hands. "I have kept your gifts safe for you, my Princess," he said eloquently.

Lucy accepted them with a smile. "I heard what they do, though I'm disappointed at missing meeting Father Christmas. Thank you Loke, you should return to the Spirit World to recover your strength."

"It was recovered the moment you were revived," said Loke cheesily with a bow as he faded back to his own world.

Lucy then turned to the Great Lion, and gave a deep formal curtsy as she had been taught to do during her time as an heiress (though it looked kinda silly with a blue cat on her head). "My deepest thanks for freeing me from that spell," she said in a polite and formal tone that matched the curtsy.

"Rise Lucy, Daughter of Eve. You are welcome," said Aslan in reply. "I welcome you all to my camp. Now the preparations for the final battle- begin."

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A/N No Wolves were harmed in the making of this fanfic. While I've mostly been focusing on the book to write this, this chapter had a lot more of the movie in it. Yay Lucy's okay again. Erza was able to hear what was going on when she was under Evergreen's spell, so I think the same thing applies here.

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