Hey guys! Thank you all so much for reading/reviewing/favoriting! It lifts my spirits so much to see you all are enjoying this story, and remember, the more love you show, the more chapters I publish! Also, check the bottom for some important information! Apologies for the chapter being a little bit more filler, but I promise, I've got a real showdown coming soon!

Chapter 9: The Others

Lucy woke, reaching for her sore arm. "Who did this?" Sitting up, she looked down at her clothes. "Second question, who changed my clothes?"

"I thought garments from the Celestial world would suit you." Virgo stood over her wizard. "As for who changed you, that would be me."

Lucy looked at her. "Virgo?!"

Natsu groaned. "Great, now where am I?"

Virgo gestured to Natsu's clothes. "I also provided Sir Natsu with a matching set."

Lucy looked around. "Wait, Guildless!" She saw the dark and coppery form of her by the river bank. Gently touching her arm, Lucy asked, "Are you okay?"

Guildless muffledly growled, "If your spirit undressed me, I'm going to be ticked."

Lucy smiled. "No, she spared you." She hesitated. "Well, almost."

Virgo admitted, "Her mask was damaged, so a found a replacement." Now, Guildless had black circles around her eyes on a white mask, mouthless and eyeholes as dark as ever.

Guildless softly touched it. "... It works. Forget anything under the mask, but thanks, Pinkie."

Natsu suddenly interrupted as Guildless stood. "We're wasting time here! Where's that weird light thingy?"

Lucy observed, "We're closer, but it looks different from before."

Virgo confirmed, "Yes, the light changed from black to white while the three of you were unconscious."

Guildless crossed her arms. "And we're still going to discuss the blowtorch I got to the face, pyro." Natsu could tell he was getting a hell of a glare from under that mask.

Natsu quickly changed the subject. "Uh, thanks a lot for saving my butt back there, guys."

Guildless shook her head as Lucy blushed and stammered, "Uh... yeah, sure, don't mention it."

Virgo taunted, "She loves you!"

Lucy growled, "Don't copy that stupid cat again!"

Natsu added, "Speaking of which, where is Happy?"

Virgo supplied, "I haven't seen him."

"And now that I think about it, wasn't a certain blonde supposed to stay with Erza?"

Lucy whined, "I was, but we got split up!"

Guildless explained, "Happy was frozen by Gemini; he's still above those falls somewhere with Hebiki. As for Erza, I'd assume she's running as fast as she can toward Nirvana."

Natsu asked, "Then why are we standing around wasting time when we should be running toward the light?!"

Virgo bowed. "I'm happy I could serve you, princess. Until next time." Virgo disappeared into glimmering gold light.

Lucy protested, "Wait!" But when she saw Virgo was gone, she looked thoughtfully at her hands until a rustling in the bushes startled her back. Guildless quickly formed daggers in her hands, standing ready for an attack.

Sherri stepped out of the brush, looking lost and grief-stricken.

Lucy greeted, "Sherri! I'm glad you're alright, but did you have to scare me?" Yet Guildless' daggers didn't go away. She seemed strangely on edge, despite seeing it was Sherri.

Natsu studied her. "Hey, I know you! Weren't you on McTuna Island? What ever happened to that dog and the dude with the eyebrows?"

Lucy chided, "Galuna Island, and you've seen her since then!"

Sherri murmured angrily, 'It's all your fault. You Fairy Tail members are to blame."

Lucy frowned. "E-Excuse me?"

Guildless warned, "Stay back. She's turned!"

Sherri laughed coldly as wooden hands reached for the wizards, Guildless in action. She sliced the branches in two, then tackled Sherri down. Knee on Sherri's chest, she pinned her arms down with her own just as Grey ran into the clearing.

She screamed, "Get off of me! You'll pay for what you did to my love! You'll never leave this forest!"

Guildless turned her mask to Grey. "What, kiss her boyfriend?"

Grey said, "He's been acting strange since that light showed up."

Guildless explained, "Nirvana. Its power is to exchange light and dark, or vice versa."

Grey blinked. "Anything else weird?"

Natsu growled, "I owe you a kick in the teeth for that little trick you pulled!"

Lucy tried to say, "Natsu, that wasn't really Grey back there-"

"You won't escape me!" Sherri still had a wild look in her eyes. "I swear on my life I'll avenge him!"

"Avenge me for what exactly?"

Guildless spared a hand to form another dagger in her hands, though she didn't hold it long. She could see Lyon was perfectly normal.

He continued, "I would've thought you'd have more faith in me than that."

Guildless allowed Sherri up, standing next to Grey as Sherri asked, "Is it really you?"

Grey assured, "Of course, he's a whole lot tougher than he looks."

Lyon confessed, "It was a lot closer than I'd care to admit. Even after I'd put some distance between us and the bomb, I spent everything I had keeping the blast at bay. It took me awhile to recover."

Lucy commented, "Sounds like you had as rough a time as we did."

Lyon suddenly smirked. "Wow, Natsu, where'd you find that getup?"

Natsu defended, "Why, ya' jealous?!"

Lucy sighed. "I seriously doubt that."

Sherri's eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh, my love." Dark vapour rose from her body, dissipating into the sky.

Natsu asked, "Whoa, what's that?"

Grey reminded, "I told you guys she seemed like she was possessed."

Guildless spoke, "Nirvana's power turned her grief at Lyon's disappearance to darkness and rage. Now she's fine, but we can't waste any more time. Nirvana's growing even closer to being activated."

Yet just after her words, Nirvana's light suddenly exploded into a pillar too bright to look at.

Lyon murmured, "So our mission was a failure."

Natsu exclaimed, "No way!"

Grey offered, "Hopefully that's not as bad as it looks."

Lucy denied, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is!"

Guildless cursed loudly, about to form her wings, but she realised there was nothing she could do if she went to the light now. I should've left before! The Celestial wizard could've handled Angel! I'm such a fool...

Grey added, "And once again, Erza's right in the middle of it."

Lucy cried, "Seriously?!"

Natsu agreed, "This is the most dangerous thing I've ever smelled!"

The ground began to shake, Natsu complaining, "Aw great, now what's going on?!"

Grey answered, "I dunno what it is, but it's everywhere!"

Lucy asked timidly, "Do you think this is Nirvana?"

Lyon said, "It doesn't seem like magic to me."

Guildless tensed, looking down, then barked, "Something's moving under us!"

Natsu yelled, "I don't like it shaking!"

Grey ordered, "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

Suddenly, the ground rocketed upward from underneath them, pulling them up as an arced column of stone lifted them hundreds of feet in the air. Guildless gripped Grey by the waist, keeping him from falling from... the leg of Nirvana. Nirvana was a massive, moving island of rock on six legs.

As the leg they were on stopped moving, Guildless pulled Grey up onto his feet. The ice wizard wouldn't look at her face, embarrassedly saying, "Thanks."

Guildless gave a curt nod. "If there's any chance left of stopping Nirvana, its at the top of this monstrosity."

Natsu grinned. "Then let's go!" He was sprinting up the leg milliseconds later, Grey, Lucy, and Guildless close behind. "Once I get to the top of this thing, I'll punch it into a million pieces!"

Grey asked Lucy while running, "So what's the deal with the matching outfits?"

Lucy responded, "Now is not the time!"

But they ran into trouble not long after. The legs started moving, slowly taking Nirvana forward. Guildless had to grab Natsu by the ankle to keep him from falling off. Sick to his stomach, he groaned as Guildless threatened, "Spit fire in my face again for saving your damn life, and I'll drop you on purpose this time!"

Grey chided, "You've gotta be kidding me, man!"

Lucy rebuked, "What's with you? You can't get sick right now!"

Natsu choked out, "I'm sorry... I can't help it..."

Lucy encouraged, "Just try!"

Guildless pulled him up, letting him grip the leg himself, but she still had to steady him. "This thing... keeps moving... from one place to another..." He slumped against the stone.

Grey tried, "It may be moving, but it's not like it's a vehicle! Don't think of it that way!"

Natsu closed his eyes in determination, managing to take a few measly steps before staggering to a stop. "My tummy hurts..."

Lucy desperately attempted, "Think of it like a giant octopus! Being on the back of an animal doesn't bother you, does it?"

Natsu garbled, "An octopus in the woods is all kinds of wrong."

"Don't sweat the weird details!"

Natsu slapped his face, building, "Your right, I've just got to get my mind at ease!"

Their leg took a step, Natsu sliding to the side.

Lucy warned, "Watch out!

Grey scolded, "You idiot! Stay alert, man!"

Natsu growled, "I know what I'm doing! This is a piece of cake."

Guildless yelled in frustration, "Screw this!" She slammed her fists together. "Shadow Form!" Her wings grew once again, the wizard letting go of the stone and nosediving in an arc, skimming the stone with her leather toes as she grasped Natsu's shirt only moments after he'd fallen.

She switched arms so her grip was around his chest, Natsu grinning. "Thanks, Guildless!"

Her voice wasn't quite as angry or scathing as usual. "You have a knack for falling."

"Hey!" Happy soared closer from the treetops, frowning. "I feel like I'm being replaced."

Guildless reassured, "Don't worry, I'm not carting your buddy around, cat. That's your job."

Happy glided over, grabbing Natsu by the back and Guildless released. Giving a sharp nod to Natsu, a single, massive beat of her wings was all it took to send her spiralling back upward toward Lucy and Grey. Landing next to them, her wings fell away.

Lucy couldn't see her face, but she could tell Guildless was struggling. Her chest rose and fell quickly, her side no longer bleeding but it still seemed to pain her.

Before Lucy could mention this, Grey called, "Take it all the way to the top, guys! We're going to head through there and check out what things are like on the inside!"

Guildless added, "And don't you dare get killed!"

Natsu beamed. "Getting to like us?"

"No, your master would have my ass if all I brought back was dorky pink hair and matching clothes. Now go!"

"Right!"

"Aye, sir!"

Happy and Natsu were quickly ascending up Nirvana's side as Guildless turned to the others. "You two seem to find more trouble, so I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Grey could've sworn she was smiling under that mask. "Nice to know you have our backs."

With that, they plunged into the doorway together.

Please stick with me- I've got an important question: from what you've seen of Guildless so far, do you think she would be better friends (and possibly more) with Natsu or Grey? If Natsu, then I'll have Gruvia, and if Grey, I'll include NaLu (which I'm definitely leaning towards). But I write for you guys, so you can choose! The poll will be on my FF account for you to vote on until the end of October/mid- November! Thanks so much!