Oh my god, it's been so long since I updated this. I'm really so sorry, I am the worst. I wanted to finish this story by the end of this year but wow okay the progress is slow. I'm gonna try updating this story at least once every two weeks. My schedule has been crazyyyy this past few months, blame it on the hectic school life.

I actually had written this chapter beforehand, but my old computer, well, went bonkers and all the data on my comp was destroyed. Being the idiot that I am, i didn't save a copy of this (and a few other updates to my other stories) to my thumb drive, so I had to rewrite ALL OF THEM.

I was having some Naruto manga marathon, cause well, the series was gonna end and I was rushing to finish it on time. Damn how happy I am that [SPOILER DONT READ FURTHER] SasuSaku is finally canon yasssssssss

Okay sorry i was rambling anyway enjoy the chapter lol

Chapter 10: The Night Before

Lucy sat on a bench, one leg crossed over the other, as Happy sat next to her. She sighed, checking the time on her watch. The train must be late, she thought. Happy turned over to her.

"When is the train coming? It was supposed to be here half an hour ago," he said, yawning.

It well into midnight, and the both of them had not caught any sleep for the entire day. There was barely anyone at the train station, and the only sound Lucy could here was the chirping of crickets and Happy shuffling around in his seat.

"I don't know... maybe-" she was interrupted when a voice came over the intercom.

"TRAIN 5081 ARRIVING SOON IN 4 MINUTES."

Happy let out a sigh. "Finally! Lucy can we go eat afterwards?"

"No Happy, it's too late. You woudn't be able to sleep."

"Please?"

"No Happy."

"PLEASEEEE," Happy said, trying on his best sad face. However, Lucy was used to it.

"God Happy, if you really want we could order room ser-" The train sped past, arriving at the station. She gasped at the sight before her.

The train was battered, dented in some places and missing a roof in some carriages. Lucy could have sworn she saw a carriage the was completely frozen in ice.

"No guessing who could have done that, huh?" Lucy said, smacking her face with her palm, thinking of the bill that was going to come on Fairy Tail's doorstep in a few days.

"Uh oh, Gray," Happy simply said.

"So you're telling me the train got ambushed?"

"Yeah. Bunch of thugs decided to hold everyone hostage, but unluckily for them Juvia and I were on the train. They were magicians though, so we there was a fight. I swear, they busted the train, not us," Gray explained.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "That explains why one carriage was totally frozen over, right?" causing Gray to scratch his head sheepishly.

"I'm pretty much used to Natsu and you busting every place you have a job at," she said, sighing. At the mention of Natsu, she could feel the whole group tense.

"Lucy, Natsu...how is he?" Juvia asked, concern laced in her tone. Lucy's shoulders drooped, as she thought of what happened earlier.

"He is on the brink. Your power in the only thing that can save him."

"I can't heal."

"You can. But it is not what you think it is. Hurry for if you don't quicken..."

"...he is going to die."

The words of the dragon that spoke to her circled in her head, taunting her.

"There is great danger ahead, something that is his greatest weakness."

"Lucy?" Juvia asked. Lucy snapped out of her thoughts.

"Sorry it's just that... it's been really rough...for the both of us, these two days. He hasn't spoken to me since...what happened. I don't know why."

"That flamebrain managed to screw himself up real good," Gray said, sighing. Gray's words might have sounded harsh, but Lucy knew that deep inside, Gray was very scared for Natsu. The two had been friends for a very long time, longer than Lucy had ever known them. Even though they fought alot, through their brawls they had managed to build an unbreakable bond between the both of them.

"This is the lodge we're staying at," Happy said, stopping. They all went in.

"So this is what we propose for when we set out tomorrow," Sting said, as everyone gathered around the table. Sting pointed to the map of the area laid out on the table.

"We start at the outskirts of this forest here," he said, pointing to a section of the map labeled Cerebro Forest. "From here we set out to the middle of the forest, where the village was supposedly located. What we can't understand is that this village was called 'The Village Of The Red Sands', so there is supposedly a desert in the middle of that area. How it has disappeared we don't know but Rogue and I have concluded one thing," he said.

"And that this disappearance and the recent...ambush at the carnival a few days ago, are linked," Rogue said, stepping forward, with his arms crossed. "Someone is trying to stop us from getting to this village. The fact that this village and some secret to it, and that people are willing to kill one of us to get to it, makes this quest very dangerous, hence we've called for reinforcements," he said, nodding at Gray and Juvia's direction.

Gray originally felt a little pissed that Sting and Rogue were calling the shots when it was originally Fairy Tail's quest. But after discovering that they had recieved the same job too, Gray felt that something was a little off.

"Sting, Rogue, did you contact the people who originally put the job up?" Gray asked.

Sting and Rogue exchanged looks. "No, we tried contacting them, but when we went to the house listed today, it was vacated..." Sting said, shaking his head.

Gray frowned. His suspicions were confirmed. "Usually if someone puts up a job, they would only offer it to one guild, not multiple ones. I think whoever who put this up, is trying to mess with us, for some reason we don't know," he said. "This supposed 'job' could be some ploy. But for what, I can't understand."

The entire group was in silence, as they processed what he just said. Finally, someone spoke up.

"The fact that they're this dangerous with some unknown scheme...we need to find out and crush them," Natsu said, his first words for the entire day. Lucy's eyes widened at Natsu's words. Gray nodded.

"We're going to have to be careful on this one, there's more to this job than what we think," he warned.

"Gray-san is right. I suggest we all get some sleep before we set out later in the morning?" Sting asked.

"Aye...I want to get some sleep," Happy said, his voice drowsy.

"Fro thinks...so...too," Frosch murmured, before falling asleep on Rogue's shoulder.

Sting and Rogue left soon afterwards with Lector and Frosch, leaving the Fairy Tail members to crash. Gray and Juvia left to sleep at their respective rooms, but Natsu went to the mini kitchen. Lucy could here something be crashed. She hurried to the kitchen, only to find that he had broken of the fridge door.

"God dammit, there's no food," he said, most likely to himself as the broken door lay at his feet, the cool air flowing out of the fridge. Lucy sighed.

"We could call room service..." she said hopefully.

Natsu looked up at Lucy, their eyes meeting for a second before he looked away.

Lucy felt like someone just inserted a shard of glass in her heart. "Natsu, why have you been ignoring me, this whole while?" she asked, hurt.

"I...I can't face you Lucy," he said, still looking away.

He can't face me? she thought, frowning. "Why not? What have I done?"

"It's not you, it's me. I couldn't protect you Lucy. I've always sworn to protect you but...I fucked up. You had to heal me, when I got injured...burnt. I feel so damn weak."

Lucy gaped at Natsu, reeling in what he had just said.

"Natsu, we're friends. We protect each other. It shouldn't be a one way thing. You don't have to feel ashamed of that. We all have weaknesses. But we overcome them and become stronger people. This strange power...you have to overcome it. You can overcome it. Believe in yourself," she said firmly. Natsu looked up at her, as he drank in every word she said.

Lucy suddenly felt tired. Her muscles were aching and her face was sagging from tiredness. "Listen, I'm really tired now, so I'm gonna get some sleep. You should rest up too. Goodnight Natsu," she said, turning around and leaving. Before she could go, Natsu grabbed her hand.

"Wait," he said, turning her around, before enveloping her in a hug. Lucy felt shocked, but her hands slowly found it's way to his back. "Thank you Lucy," he murmured in her ear. She smiled. "What are friends for huh?" she said. Natsu nodded before he slumped against her.

"Eh?!" Lucy gasped, before she realised Natsu had fallen asleep against her.

That idiot, she thought. But she was smiling as she said it.

So any Sinagporean readers? how many of you guys are going to the AFA next week, coz i'm gonna be there too, on the 5th most likely. If you're going we could totally spot each other and say hi and all, haha i'm so excited

Anyway most probably updating this story next week so do stay tuned!