No matter how he thought of it, he just didn't get it.

Gray ran into Juvia, the Rain Woman of the Element 4 on the roof and they soon engaged in battle. What he really didn't get was the woman's odd behavior. He was sure he spotted her blushing as he started casting another spell. Were his eyes playing tricks on him or something?

Now Gray wasn't usually thick when it came to things like this but he had no way of knowing then that Juvia was actually falling for him. They were enemies in war after all.

"There's no point in this." Juvia said as Gray's ice lance hit her, making parts of her body fade out. "Juvia's body is made from water so you can't stop me. Just hand over Lucy Heartfilia and Juvia will convince Master to stop the battle. Juvia promises."

"No way." responded Gray. "This has gone too far to just stop and Lucy's my comrade. I won't hand her over to you lot even if it costs me my life."

That statement, concise as it was, had quite the effect on Juvia.

Gray was surprised when the place was her next attack struck left steam, it took him a few moments to realize that this was boiling water. Juvia was enraged now, thinking that Gray was in love with Lucy which is why he was going so far for her.

She would not take this.

Lucy watched the proceeding battle with a frown. Taurus had reacted earlier when the mud golems emerged to catch her and stopped them but they left with Mirajane before anyone could stop them. The only comfort was that Makarov and the others were in the Giant Mage now and they would save her.

The problem was that those shades were relentless. Whatever they did just didn't work. She was at a loss at what to do. The celestial mage even considered handing herself over to stop this but she was quickly stopped by Cana and Reedus, who assured that her that they would all fight with all they had.

The fact was, even if she had surrendered, there was no way Phantom Lord would let the battle end at that. It didn't matter though, as all of Fairy Tail was determined to ensure one thing.

They would not let Phantom win.

"It's the end!"

Gray grimaced as he took the jet of boiling water and slowly began to froze it, much to Juvia's shock. But he also ended up freezing Juvia herself and with that position his hand was on her breast!

He freaked out, his eyes almost bugging out of their skull for a moment as he yelped "Sorry, my bad!"

Juvia just blushed, blinking in surprise when he released her from the ice. "...You are so kind."

"Ah...er, let's start over, yeah?"

"...I can't hurt you."

"You mean you got no shot here?"

"I'm stronger than Lucy. I can protect you."

"Wait, what?"

Seeing the ice mage's confusion, Juvia decided to admit the truth. "I...love..."

Gray frowned as he looked up "...The rain's getting stronger...it's starting to become depressing."

Something in Juvia snapped then as memories of her childhood surfaced. Kids wouldn't play with her and called her gloomy because she brought rain with her. She couldn't even have a loving relationship and broke up with her boy friend because of that. Phantom Lord just took her in, faults and all. It was this thought that hardened her determination once more.

"I'm a Phantom Mage!" She declared. "Juvia of the Element 4!" She broke out of the ice and charged at Gray with boiling water.

"Yeah, I know." Gray prepared himself. "So I'm not losing here! Ice Make: Geyser!"

Even if she was caught in the attack, Juvia couldn't help but be in awe of the result. Gray had even frozen the rain!

She began to fall as the ground underneath fell apart, thinking it was a fitting end. Gray surprised her by catching her hand and pulling her up.

"You, why...?"

"So, cooled down now?" He asked calmly.

The sun began to shine then, and Juvia began to cry. "The rain...it's gone. Juvia can feel the sunlight...its been so long..."

Gray blinked "For real? Pretty good, isn't it?" He stood. "Feel like going another round?"

Juvia promptly fainted then, confusing him.

Natsu and Happy had ran into Aria and promptly the first and the last got into battle. But Natsu was losing badly, he couldn't even see Aria's magic and it was completely blocking him off.

The two momentarily stopped when the wall crashed to their right and Erza came out, facing the massive shade trooper.

"What is that?!" A freaked out Happy said.

"Hey, it kinda looks like those things outside..." Natsu observed.

"That's because it is. Whatever we hit them with, they just reform. I'm stopping this one and Master's gone to face Jose, what's going on here?" Erza inquired.

"Just dealing with this guy..." Natsu said as they stood with their backs behind each other as they faced their enemies. "You getting tired yet, Erza?"

"I'm going to take that as a joke and ask you the same thing." She replied with a smirk.

Natsu grinned back and used Fire Dragon's Roar on Aria who blocked with Airspace.

"Well, since Titania's here it's time I got serious." Aria said. "...It's sad that both your heads are going to roll."

"This is bad...everyone's getting tired..." Bisca muttered.

Alzack stepped next to her. "I don't blame them. Nothing we ever do works, they're losing spirit and that's the problem."

"We can't lose here. Natsu and the others are fighting the main forces." Cana reminded.

"Yeah, if they think we'll lose here than they have another thing coming." Macao nodded.

And the fight continued, the fairy tail mages were well matched here but the shades just came back again and again.

Loke inwardly growled, it's like things just got worse and worse. If all this wasn't bad enough than Gajeel coming to take Lucy was definitely a big problem.

The dragon slayer grinned as he knocked Taurus aside with a metal club "That all you got?"

Lucy scowled back and called him back before summoning Capricorn, who stood protectively before her.

The sounds of the battle were resounding in the currently empty guild. Hope opened his eyes to find himself lying propped against a wall, confused. Why was he so tired?

Oh, yeah...he remembered casting Guardian Field. Wait, by the sound of it, his friends were still fighting. He cringed as he tried to stand soon, realizing that he couldn't just yet. Hope scowled, he could see a shade reform through the window after an attack hit. There was no way he would watch them fight without doing anything.

Then an idea came to him. That could work, at least it could help until he could move properly. With the thought in mind and Endymion's support, he used his remaining power to cast a spell. He had an idea on how to deal with the shades and so imbued his memoria magic in it. It was lucky the templars knew methods to mix their magic with that of the elements. He had used those to come up with a spell of his own.

"Saint Air."

Gajeel stopped when he saw something flash in the guild. That looked a lot like a magic circle. So they had someone hiding in there?

He didn't get to think about it because then numerous silver tinted spheres of light came out of the building and struck all the shades, making them freeze up and then disappear. It didn't stop at that. The spheres then merged together to form two birds of pure light, one flew to the giant mage while the other let out three beams of light that hit Gajeel and his guildmates, making them lose consciousness and the dragon slayer grunt as he jumped back.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, she noticed that her guildmates were smiling.

"...As reliable as ever." Loke said.

Macao grinned "You said it."

Elfman and Mirajane noticed the bird approaching the mage and the second smiled.

"Nee-chan, is that...?"

"Yup, we got all the help we need here. Look."

They could see that the shade troopers were gone. Elfman grinned "Awesome!"

Makarov was dealing with a number of shades himself when the bird sailed past him and flew through them, it instantly obliterated them into nothing.

The guildmaster smiled, count on Hope to help even now.

The bird's last stop was at the place where Natsu and Erza were fighting Aria and the shade, the bird tackled the mage first before taking the shade out.

"That's..." Erza began, she, Natsu and Happy then smiled.

"What is this magic? It even got through my barrier!" Aria exclaiimed

"I told you he was getting stronger, didn't I?" Erza smirked at the pink haired dragon slayer, who grinned back

"I figured that one out on my own, Erza."

"Huh, so this is the one that did it..."

Loke whirled around at that, alarmed. Through the commotion, Gajeel had entered the guild and come across Hope, who was trying to remain conscious.

"So, a kid did all that? Guess Fairy tail picks some decent people..." Gajeel muttered.

"Leave him alone!" Lucy shouted.

"Fine by me. He looks like he'll be troublesome for now." The iron dragon slayer could sense a powerful aura surrounding the boy even now. A part of him was wondering who the heck the kid was but he knew he had to get to business "You're the one I'm here for anyway."

Erza had no problems defeating Aria after that. The real trouble started when Jose arrived. She knew the man was a wizard saint after all and she doubted that anyone besides their Master stood a chance against him. Jose likely knew that too, why else would he avoid a battle between wizard saints?

Natsu growled when he took down Gray and Elfman quickly, preparing to attack himself. But Erza stopped him "Natsu, remember what Aria said. Gajeel's going after Lucy, so he'll likely be fighting against our friends now. You need to get there. I know you can beat him and protect her. I have no doubts that you will surpass me one day. So I know you can handle him."

"...You bet. They're not going to win after all this." He said at last. "Come on, Happy!"

"Aye sir!" Happy held the back of his shirt before flying off.

"This guy's a monster!" Alzack growled. Gajeel seemed to be able to block his bullets without even blinking. He was even giving Capricorn a run for his money as he continued to wear the spirit down.

"I'm impressed you're actually standing." He commented casually. "But how about this? Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon logs!"

The group fighting him was struck with a number of spears that sent them crashing to the ground. Gajeel was about to attack again when someone stepped in front of him and grabbed his fist before giving him a kick that had him reeling.

Gajeel grinned when he saw who it was as the Fairy tail members smiled "You made it in time, Salamander."

"...I've never seen Natsu like this." Lucy commented. He was battling more fiercely than ever.

"Yeah...he's gotta be going out more than ever. This is the first time he's been up against another dragon slayer." Happy said.

Cana turned to him. "Whoa, hold up, what do you mean? That guy's another one?"

"Yeah, Natsu says that guy's scent told him he has similar magic."

"That clears up a few things. And he looks just as strong as Natsu."

Natsu dodged a blow from Gajeel's blade and heard his enemy say "Time to end this, Salamander."

"Yeah? Ain't that too bad, I'm just gettin' started!"

Gajeel's skin turned a bluish silver color and he aimed a punch at Natsu, who dodged it but the spectators could feel the wind the attack caused from their place.

"He just powered up again! This is nuts..." Macao grunted.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!"

This struck Gajeel but Natsu had to bite a yelp as he stepped back. Capricorn noticed this and said "The attack actually hurt him too. He's powered up his defenses as well..."

The battle continued with Gajeel dodging most of Natsu's attacks, till he was hit by a Brilliant Flame, followed by a fire powered punch.

"Give it a rest, Salamander. You may be able to burn things to ash but it won't matter because you won't affect my steel." Gajeel said.

"Oh, yeah?"

A crack slowly appeared on Gajeel's face then, shocking everyone to silence.

"My flames are dragon flames, you know? They'll burn anything." Natsu said. "Time to get serious."

"...Yeah, there ain't enough room for two dragons in the sky."

The two engaged in close combat again as they jumped in mid-air. For a few minutes, they were all evened out.

When the two separated, the spectators noted that both dragon slayers must be getting worn down. They'd even given up using magic and went all physical. It looked like the rematch would come to an end soon.

"So Dragon slayers can power up by eating their own element?! You have got to be kidding me!" Lucy said once Gajeel ate an axe that must have belonged to one of the fighters.

"Well, this just keeps getting better..." Bisca grumbled sarcastically.

Natsu stopped "Man, I didn't think it would come in handy now." He took a piece of a fiery red rock from his pocket and ate it, grinning as he felt power come back to him. "Perfect!"

"Was that just..." Happy began.

"A piece of the fire crystal from back then? Glad he listened to us." Lucy smiled a bit. So it came in handy after all.

Natsu's hands lit up with flames "Gotta thank Hope for this later." He really thought the templar was worrying too much when he said Natsu might need the item for later. (The scientists didn't want anything to have to do with that item so they let them take it. The rest of Natsu's team decided that he would be the one to make the most use of it). Lucy had advised him to at least keep a piece with him just in case. Man, was he glad he heeded their words after all!

And the battle resumed once more. Gajeel grinned "So, you had something like that up your sleeve? Guess you're not as stupid as I heard."

"Say what now!?" Natsu snarled as the two separated.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

The combined spells caused quite the shock wave in the surroundings but they seemed even out. Natsu growled and concentrated his power. He found that it came surprisingly easy. His fury at Gajeel seemed to power him up, making him recall what he knew about the flames of emotion.

The iron dragon slayer had wrecked their guild, hurt his friends and to top it off, he was enjoying it all with that ridiculous expression. Well, Natsu wouldn't let him get away with it. He blocked Gajeel's Hard Fist barehanded, somehow causing cracks with his enemy's scales and shocking him.

They had gotten a fair distance away from the spectators now and were nearing Phantom's HQ again when Natsu attacked again.

"Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon Fist!"

The move ended the battle, defeating Gajeel and wrecking the HQ in the process.

"Whew..."

"Damn." Natsu blinked and looked up to be met with a grinning Macao. "You just keep getting stronger, don't you? That was crazy."

Natsu grinned "You know it!"

"...You went overboard as always but you were pretty cool." Lucy beamed when Natsu gave her a thumbs up in response.

Mean while...

Erza was the only one standing against Jose, who had defeated the rest. But she was having some trouble too. The man was strong, she'd give him that.

He jumped back to dodge her slash and smirked "I planned to get rid of Makarov's power and make him suffer but I didn't think that White Paladin would ruin that plan so easily. I think I'll make sure to get him as we go for Lucy. He seems to be an interesting boy. There's clearly more to him than meets the eye."

Erza growled, like she'd like that happen!

"But it matters not. It won't change much in my plan." Erza made a disgusted face and wasted no time in verbalizing those feelings when her enemy continued. "My guild was always the one on top but Fairy tail suddenly rose in the ranks pretty quickly. People even call you lot our rivals. You were once such a weak guild."

Erza attacked again "So, this war was to soothe your petty jealousy?"

He captured her with a spell called Shade Entangle "Oh, now who said anything like that? I needed to prove which was the superior guild. You were getting on my nerves for a long time but then Jude Heartfilia came and hired to get his daughter back. How great do you have to be to become satisfied? Fairy tail now can use the Heartfilia's money to become even stronger and I won't allow that!"

"You must be joking! Lucy ran away from home. She lives in a rented apartment, one which she works very hard to get the money for. She doesn't want a single coin of her family's money. We worked, laughed and cried together! She's our comrade! What do you know about her tears?"

"Not much but I'll know soon enough. I plan to return her after I make sure to bleed her family dry." Jose answered calmly.

A blast of light struck Erza's binds and disintegrated them. As her armor reformed, the mage turned to the source to find "Master..."

"Good, you're all awake." He said as the following exclamations. "You need to leave this place."

"Wait, what?..." Gray began.

"Gray, don't." Erza interjected. "We'd just get in his way."

"It's been over six years since we last met now, isn't that right?" Jose said, preparing to fight. "I'm so glad I get to prove my superiority over you, Makarov."

"My children, thank you all for the hard work. You should all be very proud to be in Fairy tail." Makarov muttered, their opposing magic began to clash with the sky rumbling at the sheer force that caused. "You have earned your place with the Wizard Saints but if you had used for power for good, the world would have benefited from you."

"Are you trying to preach me?"

"It's my guild custom system, I'll give you three counts to kneel." Makarov changed to Titan form.

"One."

Jose laughed, noticing the light in his enemy's hands "You must be joking. You're the one who should bow to me! Fairy tail should vanish off the face of face of the earth."

"...Three."

A great golden circle appeared in the sky as Makarov was surrounded by an aura of light. Bright light then shot out, Jose stepped back, looking very afraid.

"What is that?" asked Lucy, they could see the light all the way from their side.

"...Fairy Law." She looked at Erza. "It's a righteous light that slays the darkness, only the ones the caster's heart see as the enemies are affected."

"...Amazing."

Jose fell. Makarov didn't even turn as his fist extended to punch Aria who had appeared behind him. "It's about time you cut your losses. Get your master and leave before I change my mind."

Natsu was placed inside the guild, he was entirely too tired to move. He could see the effect of Fairy law through the window. "...Damn, leave it to Gramps to blow us away."

"Yeah."

He blinked and turned to Hope, who was now awake and watching the sight with a smile. The templar looked at him. "You did great back there."

Natsu grinned "Back at ya. You were watching?"

"The whole thing."

"Those shields you put up held up pretty well, you know."

"You noticed that?"

He hadn't till his fight with Gajeel but the golden glow around the guild and a bit of their surroundings tipped him off and the magic felt like Hope's.

"They were supposed to last longer than that. It was the first time I tried it."

"Ah, don't sweat the details. It all worked out and whatever you did to get those creepy things was great. It was all about team work, that's what got us this far."

Hope smiled "Yeah." Natsu held up his fist and Hope did the same before bumping them together.

And we're done!

Next up is the arc's epilogue. I'm not so good with fight scenes so whoever feels like it, can you give me advice on how to improve them? I've got some fights planned out but the ones in this arc...not so much.