I'm back!
Finally after a very long time I'm able to give you a new chapter! I hope you haven't lost hope in this story by now. I can only say that I'm terribly sorry it took so long. As a small beg for forgiveness, I'll made this chapter slightly longer than usual.
I hope you'll enjoy it!

-:-

Chapter 9: A night in Crocus

The night settled over Crocus as the rowdy guild of Fairy Tail celebrated their first Victory in the Grand Magic Games. As everyone was happily drinking booze or otherwise celebrating, a tall figure in black clothes walked towards the entrance of the Inn the guild called home for the duration of the Games.

"It was some time since my last visit, huh?" the man smiled before he pushed the door to the building open. As soon as he entered the laughter inside died down, most of the mages alerted of the strong magic presence that suddenly had entered.

"Why so quiet?" he smiled. "Last time I visited you guys were a lot louder."

"That's...?"

"No way... You?" Master Makarov asked in a disbelieving tone before he smiled warmly. "It's good to see you again, my child."

"Thalion?" Lucy asked surprised.

"Ahh, my friends!" Thalion laughed. "That was quite the day today, huh?"

"You know him?" Makarov asked surprised.

"Yeah. We met him on our way to Crocus. He helped us against an attacker from Requiem." Lucy said.

"Someone from Requiem?" Makarov asked, clearly shocked. "Where is he? Did you capture him?"

"No, we..."

"I used Tengoku no seigi, master." Thalion interrupted with an apologetic nod towards Lucy for interrupting her. "There is nothing of him left to question." he said darkly.

"Hmm. Very well. I trust you to know what you're doing, Thalion. But now that you are here, I have an idea! Thalion, could you and Lucy come with me? Lucy, take your friends with you."

"Eh?"

"Come on Luce!"

"Ah! W-Wait!" the blonde cried out as she was dragged down the hallway by her boyfriend. "Stella!" she shouted and pointed at her shoulder. The small feline flew over to Lucy, happily munching on a fish she caught earlier. They followed Makarov into the room he used as an office. As soon as they sat down or made themselves otherwise comfortable, he locked the door and walked behind his desk.

"Listen, brats!" he said. "I called you here because I want to adjust your current jobs. Thalion, I would like to ask you to support Lucy and her friends with their job. This means that you have to stay near Crocus and observe Requiem to assist the others, should they need help."

"Very well." Thalion replied as he turned towards the members of Team Natsu and bowed slightly. "You have my word as a man of honor that I will use all my strength to protect you and keep you safe."

"Thank you, Thalion." Lucy smiled at the man. "Is there anything else, Master?" she asked towards the old man.

"No. You may leave child. Rest and be ready for tomorrow." he said smiling. "Thalion, please stay for a moment, I still have to ask you some questions."

Lucy and her friends left the room and returned to the main room where everyone was still partying with full vigor. Lucy turned towards her friends as she remembered what she had said to her newest spirit earlier.

"I think I'll go for a walk guys, ok? You come with me, Natsu?" she said with her always bright smile before she turned towards the door."

After staring lovingly after her for a few seconds Natsu sobered up and jumped after his girlfriend. "Coming Luce! Happy, Stella, you two coming?" the pink haired Dragon Slayer shouted as he quickly followed her outside, followed by the Exceeds.

The other members of the team exchanged knowing looks before they moved back to the bar.

It was warm this time of the year in Crocus so Lucy enjoyed walking down the streets hand in hand with her boyfriend. Lucy directed their walk to a quiet park near their lodge, about fifteen minutes away. As soon as they were out of sight from the lodge, Natsu put his right arm around Lucy's waist and tucked her into his side. Lucy blushed lightly at the closeness and gave her boyfriend a shy smile.

"You really did amazing today, Luce." he gently said before giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head. Lucy's cheeks grew darker but she nonetheless leaned back up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Natsu. But it bugs me a little that I had to use my slayer-magic already. I was careless, that was stupid."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. You kicked his ass and it was awesome." her boyfriend grinned. "This new spirit of you was amazing! Do you know something about him?"

"I had Crux searching for some information about him. Apparently his name is Gilgamesh, the king of heroes. The old legend says that he is a half-god, born from the union of a human king and a goddess. He was the first hero in existence in all of the worlds. He possess all treasures in the world, which he stores in his treasure chamber. You saw him use them in the fight. His attack, the "Gate of Babylon" can call upon all his treasures at any given time. Crux hasn't found out everything yet, so I don't know to which extent his powers reach. But he mentioned that Gilgamesh is by far the most powerful Celestial being that ever existed."

"That sounds totally awesome! I have to fight him!" Natsu grinned brightly.

"You are NOT beating up my spirits!" Lucy told her boyfriend with a glare. "Or else you wont get a kiss for the rest of the week." she added with a devious smile.

"What? W-wait Luce! That's not fair!" Natsu pleaded.

Lucy only giggled to herself and continued towards a pond in the middle of the park. Natsu stopped with the two Exceeds at a tree while Lucy got a bit closer to the edge of the pond. She grabbed Gilgamesh's key from her belt and prepared to open the Gate to make a contract with him. A golden light surrounded her as she began to gather her magic power. Natsu noticed that the golden aura looked different from when he had seen it before, as now there were silver tendrils weaving together with the golden shine. He also noticed that Lucy's output on magic power was a lot higher than in the past. He smiled at that, she truly has become strong.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits! Now! O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the Gate! Gate of the Great Archer, I open thee! Gilgamesh!"

A golden light appeared before her as Natsu heard the familiar sound of a bell that told that the gate was opened. When the light dimmed down, again the young man in golden armor was standing in front of them, the lights from the city around them reflecting on his taint-less armor. His red eyes glinting with his unwavering confidence. He laid his eyes on Lucy and gave her the slightest indication of a bow.

"Princess. You require my divine intervention?" he asked her.

"Hello Gilgamesh. Thank you, but we don't have a battle going on at the moment. I called you to make an official contract with you." Lucy smiled.

"As you wish." The spirit said, bowing slightly again. "Star Keys, as the one you are holding, are able to call upon the greatest heroes spirits in existence to come to your help. We don't have special days where we can be summoned. You can call upon us any given time. If you wish to make the contract now, please give me your hand." the heroic spirit said. Lucy nodded and extended her right hand towards him. As soon as the spirit took her hand, the golden light came back, shining bright for a second. Lucy let out a surprised gasp as, for a second, she felt the true extend of the magic power the king of heroes possessed. She felt something like a slight burn on her arm and as she shifted her gaze towards it, she saw that a red-golden tribal mark had appeared on her right forearm. The light vanished again and Gilgamesh took his hand back.

"For every heroic spirit you gain, another mark will appear. Only when you gain all of us you will unlock the full magic potential of us heroic spirits. One last thing I want you to know about us spirits is, that when you face another Celestial Spirit mage who is able to use one of our keys and you defeat him in battle, the pact with the former owner will be terminated and the spirit can become yours, if it wishes to do so."

"Thank you Gilgamesh." Lucy smiled. Before she could tell him that he could return to the spirit world, a loud crash followed by the scream of a girl could be heard though the silence of the sleeping city.

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other and nodded. "Happy! Stella! Let's go!" they said as their Exceeds activated their Aera magic and picked their friends up. They began to race towards the source of the noise. "Gilgamesh! I'm sorry but I need your help after all!" Lucy shouted back to her heroic spirit.

"You are in no need to worry, my princess." the spirit said as he jumped up on a rooftop and followed them by teleporting from roof to roof, arms crossed and back to an cold and indifferent look on his face. It didn't take long for them to reach the destination of the commotion. The sight that was presented to the two dragon slayers filled them with rage. In front of them stood a man in a black suit, his guild mark visible on his neck. He was holding a girl around their age with one arm against a wall. The girl had long silver hair that almost reached down to her backside. One of her eyes was covered with a black eye-patch, the visible one shone with an angry red color. The right sleeve of her black hoodie was torn and they could see a deep bleeding gash under the destroyed clothing. Her right hand was holding a weapon, a long black spear, but it seemed that her wound made her arm useless as she made no attempt to strike that man holding her with it.

'Requiem.' Lucy thought angrily.

"Let me go, bastard." she spat, breathing heavily, it looked like the man was cutting of her air ways.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, young lady. You have something me and my friends are very interested in." the man laughed as he glanced down to the spear and her backpack that was lying in the dirt beside her. "Now if you would be so kind and hand it over to me?"

"Over... my dead... body." she choked out.

"That certainly can be arranged, my dear." he laughed evilly as magic gathered around his hand and rocks and dirt from the ground began to gather around it. Lucy looked over to Natsu and with a silent nod from him they decided to intervene. Lucy nodded up to Gilgamesh while she began to cover her body in scales. Gilgamesh acknowledged her silent question to him and he activated his magic power.

"I'll advise you to take your hand of the young lady, mongrel." he coldly stated from above. The man let go of the girl and looked up to the heroic spirit, while the girl fell to the ground coughing, her spear clattering on the ground as it fell from her grip.

"Who the fuck are you? This is none of your business, freak." he insulted him as before turning his attention back to the girl. He smiled evilly as he saw the spear lying on the ground. Before he could make an attempt to get it though, Gilgamesh spoke up again.

"You dare to insult me? You dare to look up to me without permission? Execrable dog, you have chosen your own death. O no Zaiho: Geto obu Babiron (King's Treasure: Gate of Babylon)" the King of Heroes declared as the golden orbs appeared around him, weapons ready to attack.

"To the ground where you belong, mongrel."

The man didn't even have the time to react after turning around before the first weapons reached him. Her tried to put up a shield from the stones in the wall in front of him but he wasn't fast enough as a sword pierced his left shoulder while a spear pinned his right foot to the ground and a mace collided with his upper body, breaking a few rips on impact.

"GAH!" he cried out in pain." FUCK! Who do you think you are, bastard?"

"His name is Gilgamesh. strongest of all celestial spirits, the Great Archer, Oldest King, the King of Heroes." Lucy said as she and Natsu entered to dark alley. "I advise you to get away from here before I let him attack you again. He wont miss this time."

"You are giving me commands? You goddamn bitch!" the man roared. "Stone Spear!" he shouted while quickly forming a long spear out of the ground.

Lucy didn't even blink as the spear hit her chest. It shattered on impact, not even leaving a crack in her dragon scales.

"W-What? Stone Catapult!" he shouted, this time sending a large rock flying towards them. Lucy knew she couldn't block this attack with her scales, but before she could make an attempt to evade the incoming projectile, it shattered into pieces as multiple explosions from Gilgamesh's attacks as well as Natsu's Dragon Roar hit it dead in the center.

"I think we've had enough." Lucy said, covering her right fist with light, Natsu covering his left in fire.

"I think we are only getting started." a voice behind them stated. Lucy whirled around to come face to face with the same Requiem agent that had attacked Fuyu and Tsuki. A sadistic smirk stretched over his face as he activated his Shadow Magic.

"Oh I will have much fun fighting you. You wont beat me a second time you little slut." he spat towards Lucy as he aimed a stream of shadows on Lucy. Before the black stream could even reach her a burst of fire interrupted it followed by a flaming fist to the mans skull.

Lucy smiled at her pink-haired boyfriend who looked ready to murder the man who tried to attack her.

"Don't you even dare to call her such a name again, bastard." Natsu seethed before he kicked the man down the alley. He cracked his knuckles and grinned back at his girlfriend. "You take care of the other one, Luce. I've got to teach this one how to talk to a lady."

"Ever the gentleman, Natsu." Lucy laughed as she turned back again to face her opponent. As she had turned back she saw that the enemy was blocked from her by her heroic spirit. Gilgamesh was keeping the mage at bay through a constant barrage from his Gate of Babylon. The golden shine of his magic illuminated the alley and Lucy could see the attacked girl still lying on the ground, seemingly still to weak from the previous lack of oxygen. Her eyes were frantically looking around as if she was searching for something. Lucy dismissed her for the moment to focus on her opponent who had a shield of hardened stone in one hand and his stone spear in the other.

'The stone must be reinforced with his magic somehow.'Lucy observed as the attacks of her spirit, even though they were preventing enemy mage from advancing, weren't able to destroy the defense of the shield.

"Gilgamesh, make an opening for me!" she shouted while concentrating her magic in her right hand. "Seishinryu no Kagizume (Star Dragon's Claw)!"

The Requiem mage had just enough time to rise his shield against Lucy's attack before a sword from Gilgamesh Gate hit his knee. Lucy had already jumped out of his range to ready her second attack. "Seishinryu no Hoko (Star Dragon's Roar)!"

The attack proved to be too much for her opponents shield as it shattered on impact, throwing the man against the wall behind him. Before he could recover, the golden-haired Dragon Slayer was upon him, her hands both glowing with a golden light. "Seishinryu no Agito (Star Dragon's Jaw)!" she bellowed as her fists crashed into the mans skull, knocking him into the ground and judging from the sound, breaking his jaw. Lucy took a deep breath and turned around to the other. Natsu was beating him up badly, the guys shadow magic proving to match to her boyfriends Fire. Just as she was about the help Natsu she heard a muffled cry of pain. She turned around quickly to see that the Stone mage was somehow conscious and knocked Gilgamesh away with a stone sword.

"You will pay for this, you goddamn bitch!" he shouted as he let the sword crash down towards her head.

Lucy felt cold fear filling her veins. The scales didn't protect her from a blow to the skull and there wasn't enough time to raise her arms above her head or for any other defensive maneuver. Natsu had noticed the danger and swiftly knocked his enemy out, but he wasn't fast enough to reach her or stop the attack. True Fear gripped his heart for the first time. Even Gilgamesh couldn't recover fast enough from the blow to his head. Just as she thought that her stupid mistake of not making sure her enemy was indeed out cold was going to cost her her life, a weakened but determined cry echoed from behind the man.

"Ten Ransu: Gungnir (Heavenly Lance: Gungnir)!"

A golden light filled the alley before a golden lance surrounded with pure energy pierced through the shoulder of Lucy's attacker. The impact was strong enough to rip the man away and pin him to the ground a few feet behind Lucy, finally knocking him out from the heavy damage inflicted on him. The blonde could only blink in surprise, she was sure that the attack was going to hit. She looked behind the now immobile and unconscious man and saw the silver-haired girl standing barely upright, the spear in her hand and panting heavily. The golden light diminished and the spear became fully black again. The girl smiled weakly at Lucy before she fell to the ground, unconscious. Before Lucy could make a move, Natsu was at her side, grabbing her face and looking her in the eyes for a few seconds before kissing her fully on the lips. Before Lucy could return the kiss though, Natsu drew back and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Never, Never pull something like that again, Luce. I- I could have lost you here." he chocked out.

"LUCY!" came the shout from the two Exceeds before they crashed into them and tried to get as close as possible to her. Happy just tried to hold back his tears of shock while Stella proceeded to throw a barrage of light punches against Lucy's head.

"You dummy! You could have died! I... I..." she chocked, her sobs preventing her from finishing the sentence.

Lucy smiled sadly at them and gave the two flying cats a hug before giving her boyfriend a quick peck on the lips. "Its okay. I'm here. I'm save. Nothing happened. This girl saved me." the blonde said as she got up and walked over to the unconscious girl. "I think we should take her back to the lodge, we should treat her wounds. It's the least I can do after she saved my life."

"Yeah, you're right. Would like to know what these guys wanted from her, though." Natsu said, picking the wounded girl bridal style. He looked down at her arm and frowned. "The gash on her arm looks pretty bad. We should have Porlyusca have a look at that."

The Celestial mage looked at their Exceeds. "I guess we three are too heavy for you two to carry?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry Lucy." Happy said.

"No biggie. I don't think it would be wise to split up at the moment so we better go on foot."

"We need to move quickly then." Natsu said. "I don't like her wound. She looks a bit feverish and the wound isn't acting like it should."

Lucy nodded. "Let's go then. Gilgamesh, please watch out for more enemies. You can return to the Spirit World when we're back at the inn."

"As you wish, my princess."

After calling the guards, the two mages and their Exceeds arrived back at the inn ten minutes later without running into anymore trouble. Gilgamesh closed his gate as they reached the door, which Lucy promptly kicked open. All conversations fell silent at their entrance and before anyone could say anything, Lucy was already inside and looking frantically for Master Makarov. Her eyes finally fell on him as she rushed over to him.

"MASTER!" she screamed. "We need help, quick! She's burning up!"

That was the moment everyone noticed the girl in Natsu's arms. Makarov kept calm and after a quick glance at the girl he looked at Wendy. "We need to get her to the infirmary. Wendy, please come with us. We will need your magic."

Natsu ran upstairs, followed by Lucy, Wendy, Makarov and their Exceeds, as well as Gray, Juvia and Erza. Natsu quickly kicked the door to the room they had chosen to serve as an infirmary for the time of their stay in Crocus open. He quickly laid the wounded girl down on one of the beds so Wendy could work on her arm. The blue haired girl frowned while she worked her magic.

"There is something wrong with the wound. It doesn't stop bleeding. I can restore some of her energy but I can't do anything against her wound." Tears began to appear in her eyes. "I... I can feel poison running through her system. If- if we don't get the wound to heal soon..." She shook her head, willing her tears to disappear. Determination filled her eyes and she put more power into her spell. While she moved her hands over the body of the silver-haired girl to prevent the poison from causing more damage, she threw a quick glance at her Exceed.

"Charle, can you please go and find Shelia? I remember when we met her some time ago on that mission, that she said she also has healing abilities. We need her help with this wound."

"Of course." the white cat said before she activated her Aera magic and flew out of the window that Natsu quickly opened before she vanished in the darkness of the night.

While the rest of Fairy Tail were waiting for Carla to return, every passing minute felt like an hour. Wendy was worried sick for the girl, even though she didn't knew her. Her condition seemed to get worse with every passing second and the girl's soft skin around her wound was turning deadly black.

'Even if we manage to save her life, this wound could cost her her arm.' the blue-haired Dragon Slayer thought. She was broken out of her thoughts as after ten agonizing minutes Shelia finally burst through the door, breathing heavily.

"Wendy? What's wrong?" the girl asked after she took a deep breath.

"This girl was wounded by a poisoned weapon. I need your help with closing the wound. And where is Carla?"

"She stayed behind at the street, there was a tall man passing, he asked why we were racing through the city at break neck speed. She stayed behind to explain while I kept running. She knew him apparently."

Wendy gave her a curious look but dismissed it for the moment. If Carla knew the man, she was hopefully safe. The Sky Dragon Slayer returned her attention to the wounded girl and but more power in her healing spells, while Shelia began to treat the wound with her wound-healing magic. Time passed seemingly very slow again as the young mages were trying to save the life of the unknown girl. After torturing long thirty minutes, both girls fell back in exhaustion. Tears were streaming down Wendy's eyes as she took deep breaths.

"We could stop the bleeding but... W-We... we can not close the wound, the poison is too strong." she sobbed. All present in the room looked down in sadness at this news. Makarov was just getting up to speak as the door burst open again to reveal Carla followed by no other then Thalion.

"I'm sorry for arriving so late. I needed to get some things before coming here. Carla has me filled in on everything. Poison wound, eh?" the powerful mage asked quickly as he entered the room, his long black coat streaming behind him. He got his answer from a quick nod from the two Sky mages.

"I can help. I need a bowl, hot water, a cup and place to work."

Juvia immediately filled a bowl with water from her magic powers while Natsu held a small flame underneath it to warm it up quickly. They sat the bowl down on the bedside where Thalion was already examining the wound. As soon as the bowl was placed beside him he got a few leaves from his pockets, pulverizing them between his hands before adding them to the water. As he mixed the herbs with the water a fresh smell like a field of flowers in the spring began to fill the room and the air felt much cleaner and pure, almost like they were up in the mountains, away from all human settlements.

"What is this?" Wendy asked. "Alone smelling it makes me feel refreshed."

Thalion gave her a quick glance while he stirred the water. "It's a very rare herb called Queens Rue. I was lucky to have some. Even though its not very fresh anymore it will hopefully do the work."

The tall mage dipped a rag into the water and began to clean the wound. The minutes seemed to last forever again as he worked, alternately cleaning the girls wound and making her drink some of the water from a cup he filled earlier. After a seemingly endless hour, he fell back with a sigh, a small and tired smile grazing his face.

"I've done what I could, the rest is up to her. I could clean most of the poison, she should be able to fight the remaining amount naturally. She isn't completely in the clear yet, but she should make it." he said while he began to stand up. Everyone gave a relieved sigh at the news. Some eyes shining with happiness.

"I would advise to keep a close watch on her over the night and see if she is able to wake up in the morning."

"I'll watch over her." Lucy said. "I'm not tired anyway."

"I'll stay with you, Luce." the Fire Dragon Slayer said with a grin. "Might be easier with some company."

Thalion looked at them before he pulled out a small flask from his coat. "Take this and give some to her every hour. It should help her fighting the poison and quicken the recovery. I must take my leave now." he said as he went for the door. Before he left he turned around to Shelia, who was still standing in the room, unsure of what to do. "Young lady, should I escort you back to your guild?"

The pink haired girl smiled at him. "Thank you very much, sir. I would like that."

She walked over to Thalion and gave Wendy a quick hug on the way. "I'm clad I could help you guys. See you tomorrow, Wendy!"

"Bye Shelia!"

Shortly after they had left, Makarov turned around to Lucy and Natsu, who had already made themselves comfortable in one of the room corners, using blankets and pillows from the other beds.

"We'll leave you be." he said before gesturing everyone out of the room.

The room fell silent soon afterwards, the only sound that could be heard was the breathing of the three occupants. Lucy cuddled herself close to her boyfriend before she looked over to the bed with the wounded girl.

"I hope we weren't to late."

"Yeah, me too Luce. Me too."

-:-

And that marks the end of Chapter 9! I hope you enjoyed it ;)
I'll leave a short A/N here while I have the chance: Some of the older chapters are being partly rewritten, so it could be that small story changes appear. If you do something like this, I will inform you about it in the next chapter (most of the edited things are plot fixes and changing illogical sentences anyway^^

As always, please like, fav and most of all: Review!

So long,

Slayer-kun