Author's Note: School has started and holy crap I'm taking tough classes. I would much rather be finishing this story but, delegation ya know? This is kind of an explanation chapter leading up to so major action. I know, the last one was a bit of a cliff hanger. I've always wanted to write one of those. I regret nothing!

Tears and Tea

She was treacherous. She was a lier. She was everything that was wrong with the world. She had been behind Igneel's disappearance, she had threatened and plotted against Fairy Tail, she destroyed the guild hall, she had toyed with Erza's emotions and made her cry like it was a game, she killed Grey's teacher, she had betrayed the guild and the master even though they had taken her in and treated her like family. Worst of all, she pranced around fooling everyone that she was some innocent beauty but Natsu wasn't fooled. He hated Lucy Heartfilia for everything that she had done and he would make sure she paid with the full force of Fairy Tail behind him.

When Lucy came to, she was suspended in someone's arms and she almost couldn't breath beneath some force that was crushing her chest.

"Leo," she gasped, "why do . . . I feel like-" The celestial spirit climbed over piles of rubble under a dark ruddy sky with a fallen angel in his arms.

"I still can't believe it. I hesitated to protect you because I sensed that Natsu was the one threatening you, but that's impossible. He would die before hurting you. Right?" When she didn't answer she felt him tense. Her friends's voice was swimming in trepidation. "Lucy, what happened?"

The blond closed her eyes wishing desperately that she would pass out again, "I have no idea." She grateful that she didn't have to walk because she could only concentrate on riding out the pain, physical and otherwise. Breath in. Breath out. Try to ignore the sharp pain shredding its way through her heart. She was placed on the floor of a small room that was still more or less in tact and saw an old silvery haired woman sitting cross-legged and lightly out of breath in front of her. It was Tomoko. Lucy gave Leo, who was now leaning against a wall behind the old woman, a questioning look.

He smirked in response, "She called out to me. You should really listen to her."

Tomoko's face was solemn, "Leo, would you be a dear and get me and get a cup of tea?"

"Of corse obasan," he left the room after a small bow. They were silent, Lucy stared at the dusty floor.

"I know your pain." One glance at the woman's heavy gray eyes was enough confirmation. Suddenly everything came rushing back and the image of Natsu's face burned in front of her. That look was reserved for the evil scum he planned to grind under his heal, one she had never believed would ever be directed at her. She had been terrified of him, his rage and disgust. She began to hyperventilate and rock back and forth. He really hated her, Lucy was dirt to him. Then Tomoko was kneeling in front of her with a hand on her shoulder but she threw it off, "No!"

"Stop holding it in child," she said firmly. Lucy collapsed into violent sobs with her face buried in Tomoko's robe gripped in her fist. Her shoulders heaved and her body trembled while the petite woman stroked her hair. She wanted to apologize for getting snot all over the woman's clothing but she was so hysterical that her mouth couldn't bring itself to form words. Tears rolled down her cheeks hot and fast. The celestial spirit mage felt like she was crying for losing her best friend and every other bad thing that had ever happened in her life.

Leo was the leader of the zodiacs. He was as powerful as a lion in hand to hand combat, a smooth socialite, a rather intelligent and capable spirit, and yet he felt utterly helpless standing outside the door listening to his master- no, his nakama- break down in grief. It was heart wrenching.

He sighed leaning against the door, "Hang in there Lucy." He waited until her fits subsided into hiccups.

By the time she had calmed down Leo was walking back into the room with two steaming cups of tea. He crouched in front of her and swiped away her tears with a thumb, kissed her on the forehead, then disappeared back into the spirit world. It was the first time Lucy had appreciated his physical affection, mostly because he wasn't trying to make advances on her. She sniffled a while trying to regain some composure.

Tomoko was gazing at the spot where Leo disappeared, "Leo is a pure spirit. He would not be so loving toward anyone with a tainted heart, even if they were his master." She looked back at Lucy, "You're partner didn't suddenly start hating you because you're a bad person. Ivan used an ancient and terrible magic on Natsu. I believe that dark little creature tagging along with him has granted Ivan some powers reminiscent of Zeref himself. His magic created a condensed nebular web from particles of dark matter, which enters the the chest, travels to the brain, and absorbs memories of light, then distorts memories of darkness from the hippocampus." She animated her tale by with her hands, "Basically, his magic overshadowed his good memories of you and then manipulated all of his bad memories so that he thinks you caused all of them. The conversion probably took so long because you shared a remarkably strong bond, but now Natsu thinks you're the root of all evil. Ivan wants to use him to hurt Fairy Tail, but he doesn't know that he got more than he bargained for."

Now it all made sense. The blond put her head in her hands trying to think of a way to fix it.

"Unfortunately there's more." Tomoko took her hand, "If you don't do something soon the darkness planted in Natsu will over run him. He will become a creature of Zeref with hatred and chaos in his heart."

Natsu was destructive at the best of times, so she doubted being evil would change that, but she couldn't let the best parts of him die. He would not become jaded and cruel on her watch.

She stood, stumbling a little, "I won't let that happen." Lucy limped out the door.

"Wait, where are you going? They were heading the other way, toward what was the first guild hall," the old woman croaked.

Lucy limped faster, "This is bigger than me. I'm going to need all of my nakama to take down those Ravens down and bring Natsu back."

"There's no time-" but Lucy had eased into jog ignoring the cricks and creeks. Then she ran toward Fairy Tail as fast as her ailing body would allow her.

When the celestial spirit mage finally arrived, her vision was tunneling and she almost collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. She passed Roku and Ben who were just coming up to the entrance. They called after her so she took them by the hand and rushed them into the guild. Everyone was still dancing and drinking, completely unaware of what was happening to their city while they partied. She pushed their way through the crowed ignoring indignant cries and climbed onto the stage with the boys in tow.

Lucy snatched up a microphone and cried loudly, "HEYYY!" The band screeched to a halt and everyone's attention turned to her. There was a cat call and a few sniggers from people who probably though she was drunk.

"This is not a joke." She paused for emphasis. "The city is burning." There was an uproar from the crowd, but she didn't have time to let them be in shock. "LISTEN." The crowd quieted down and she handed Roku the mic. He looked like he didn't quite know what to do with it and he held it too close to his mouth. Lucy nodded encouragement, so he spoke his piece holding his little brother's hand.

"It's true. There was this weird dude with his pet that just started destroying everything with magic." The crowd started buzzing again so Lucy took the mic back.

"It's Ivan and his dark guild that are trying to bring us down, but we're not going to let that happen because there are some things that brute force can't overcome. Fairy Tail, I'm asking for you're help. He's worked some magic on Natsu to make him think that I'm the enemy. If it stays that way his heart will be corrupted and fall into darkness. Please, I can't do this alone. You have to help me bring down Raven Tail and save our nakama."

Happy came speeding up to the front with his fist pumped into the air, "For Natsu!"

Lucy did the same, "For Natsu! And for Fairy Tail!"

All of the mages in the crowd cried, "FOR FAIRY TAIL!"