.RAIKAN HERE.

So.. after reading all yer reviews… well… I thought you got the supposed to be confusion part.. but anyway, I'll just try and emphasize 'em here so ENJOY!

:…:

Back in chapter 9

The mage froze.

Not only because Blondie was crying blood, not only because her face was exactly the same as a certain blonde had she known, but mostly because she said "Lu-… cy"

"When will our training end?"

"Patience little grasshopper."

His fist clenched "I don't have that enough patience stored in me."

"Oro…" the boy smirked at him "Do you really doubt the awesomeness of Lucy's spirits that much?"

Triple or nothing

"You are all ready…" he told them "…for battle."

And then there they stood in the wide clearing, ready, prepared and fearless. Nothing was left in their mind but the thought of saving their nakama. Everything… for their nakama.

"What do you want little boy?!" a booming voice suddenly echoed around them but wasn't even enough to make the mages twitch. They kept their cool and let their nameless trainer handle what was in need of handling.

The said boy smirked and said back "I'm here to make a negotiation."

There was a deep mocking chuckle before a reply "And do you think I would agree?"

"Of course…" he said with words overflowing with self-confidence "You do need great magic power to accomplish your goal right?"

When the voice didn't retort back, the team knew the boy was right… they just couldn't understand how he knew.

"We're listening…"

Then without further adieu he announced "Pick any of the mages I am with, in exchange for the any of the girls you are holding captive!"

The wind blew… "Why are you making this negotiation and how do you know about our needs?"

"Well… if we take a yes then maybe I'll answer your questions…" he replied with a mocking grin.

The voice growled "Do not take us lightly little boy! Consider yourself lucky that we even answered to your request!"

"You answering is a sign that you really need what I'm offering you…"

Again silence and even before a winning smirk placed on the boy's lips, a different voice came and laughed "You really must be underestimating Lucy Heartfilia's magic capacity. She is connected to a world where magic is overflowing… I know you know that…

…Draco."

'Draco?' the question synchronized in the team's mind before their eyes fled on the supposed dead spirit of Lucy who had lost his cool soon as his name was announced to all of them.

"Fuck you Ezell! Damn you and all your minions! You dare lay a finger on my princess and I will kill you here and then I'll kill myself so I can kill you again in hell!" then they were deaf in all of the cursing that followed.

The new voice laughed at what seemed to be in victory and ridicule "There is no need for your colorful words Draco. After all… like you said, I still need magic to complete what needs completing so I am willing to take you on to your negotiation."

The spirit just glared at the forest before it suddenly burned in black flames.

Again, the voice laughed but darker and deeper "Very amusing Draco but we have already fled to another location. Now, now… I have picked my choice and it will be… that pinked-haired boy."

The spirit exhaled in concentration then after regaining his cool asked "Who of the girls?"

"Who else?! The most useless of course! If you hadn't even made this offer, I would've burned her for being quite a little source of magic." They heard him tsk "A magic circle will appear on the middle of the field, go there salamander and the girl will replace you."

Natsu started walking knowing that his questions had to be on hold. It just had to wait if he wanted one of the girls to be safe.

"Now… you're part of the bargain Mr. Dragon Spirit?"

Draco spat at the ground "Ever heard of the archive's granddad?"

The voice gasped "Don't tell me!"

Suddenly, his expression changed and the spirit grinned evilly "Damn right it is!"

A magic circle appeared below Natsu then suddenly like when Shima and Zairen, he teleported.

"You tricked me…"the voice growled.

He chuckled "Finally figured it out?"

And right after the exchange, Lisanna appeared replacing Natsu in the middle of the field, naked, bruised and tortured.

Gray and Erza ran after her before her body hit the ground.

The red-haired mage shook her "Lisanna!"

The rise and fall of her chest indicated that she was still at least alive.

They heard the spirit sigh then put his hands behind his head before starting to walk away.

Gray ran along with Erza with Lisanna on his back as they returned back to their base.

Cage

The light around him disappeared then he found himself standing inside a cage.

"Ready for torture pretty boy?" he heard a familiar voice echo through the walls. It sounded sad, flat and had no life at all. And for some reason, a pang of regret stabbed him.

When he turned around, he couldn't believe a single thing of what his eyes saw.

Retrieve

The two mages and a battered one tried running after the spirit as he headed towards their base. Upon reaching the said place…

"Yo!" the pirate's second in command greeted.

"O-Oro?!" their mouths fell. "How the hell did you get here?"

"By boat… duh…" he spoke a matter-of-fatly "I've returned to do some job a certain someone asked me to" he chuckled.

The spirit ignored them then asked the pirate "Have you done your homework?"

Oro nodded and with a snap of his fingers, golden window like things surrounded them and before they knew it, they were standing in what seemed to be a white room filled with monitors.

Images and symbols which the team could not understand at all filled the transparent monitors until one showed something like a map, then another showed a group of 5 people, and then another portrayed a large magic circle above the sky over the island that they were standing on.

"What is this?" they could only mutter.

"This is Archive's granddad as what you have heard from Draco here. You see, the older the archive, the better data collection, processing and other words that you may not understand. It tells me everything I want from just by knowing an image of the person, place or thing, or having anything from it or that person like a hair sample or something. This magic also carries every information from any kind of literary from what was written on the first paper ever used to the latest made until now. Now…" just by typing and moving monitors he clicked one button then a wide screen replaced all of them.

A large picture covered every inch of it. It was 5 people of which two they recognized "These are your enemies: Shima, the fire alchemist, Asehi, the re-equipper-slash-stealer, Hesper, unknown, Terra, unknown, and lastly, the head of all of them, Ezell, the beast. All of which cap'n had already encountered."

Beside the smirking Shima was a golden-highlighted red hair that was also in red that had her arms wrapped around Shima's. While the one beside the poker-faced Asehi was a gothic Lolita with black eyes and black hair; she wore a sadistic grin. But, the one on the middle was cloaked and was large. They couldn't see him.

"Based on the magic they used, the background sounds, and the magic concentration during your negotiation." He typed and what replaced the monitor was a wide clearing with nothing but grass, it was where they did the negotiation. "This is where they are…"

The ice alchemist who had laid the unconscious mage down as Erza treated her, scoffed "Where exactly?"

But the archive didn't even bother to bother "Looks can be deceiving can it?" he spread his arms and the room changed exactly into the clearing. "Let me give you a little tour."

The pirate walked but as he did, they followed even without moving "Don't worry, this is just what the archive told me and it's what I'm just showing you. Since I'm the one using the magic, when I walk, it's as if you are all tied to me. That's why the surrounding is moving." He walked to the east part of the clearing where they saw a large tree. Oro jumped from root to root until they saw a human-sized hole.

They entered and deep down they went like being Alice going to Wonderland but where they were was not even close to wonderland. It was dark and spooky.

Suddenly, Oro screamed and clutched his head. Then, before they knew it, the room they were in shattered like glass and disappeared. They found themselves back in the camp.

Draco ran to Oro and removed the necklace around his neck. The pirate puke blood and rashly breathed air.

"What's the matter?" Erza asked after treating Lisanna and going to them.

Draco only shook his head "His systems overloaded. His magic is as deadly as it is great at information gathering. That's why Lucy never wanted him to use it as much as possible. After all, the greater the magic, the greater side effect it has on the body. Unfortunately for Oro, it's his health."

"I'm- all right- Draco." The pirate coughed then inhaled "Someone seemed to cut me off."

The spirit grimaced and growled "Ezell. You did well Oro. Now rest and wait for the princess since I know she'll give you a word or two… or maybe some slapping or probably worse hitting." He helped the Archive lay down.

Oro only rolled his eyes "Not helping Draco…" he yawned "…please… save her… before- aaah! –it's done…" with his voice slowly withering, he went to sleep.

"Now Draco…" Erza started rather in a demanding tone "Care to explain why you're alive and a 6-year-old? And what does this pirate mean by 'before it's done'?"

Draco only looked at her solemnly then at his hands. "I was able to fuse a piece of myself to Lucy-hime from the scale I left before I got transported. When she fused with Gemini, something happened and Mini was thrown out of her body including me. Realizing this, Mini transformed and thus concluding to me. It was rather a gamble, but I was powerful enough to supply the needed magic. Mini gave me a body that I control using my magic. That's all there is to it. And, it's a 6-year-old's since Gemi isn't with him."

"So you're saying a spirit fused with another spirit?" she asked.

"Yes and to be more specific. A powerful spirit fused another spirit who had the ability to transform into a body." With that, he walked outside.

"Where do you think you're going?" Erza demanded clearly seeing his intentions of leaving them.

"Isn't it obvious?" he smirked at her "Someone feels like murdering tonight…"

GamBle

"L-lucy?" Natsu's eyes gleamed with joy soon as he saw the busty blond standing infront of him, ignoring the fact that her eyes were quite a deadly shade of red and gold.

He stood up and ran after her but something suddenly threw him off making him hit the dungeon wall. Sitting up, he complained "What the hell?" then he felt something go on top on his body.

When he looked up, it was Lucy sitting on his belly.

And before you get any thoughts, she punched him on the face, so strong it made the floor crack.

Being Natsu, his brain couldn't figure out what was going on. And then before another punch landed on his face, some screamed "Enough Lucy 3!"

Too many Lucys

"Did you think that we'll let you have all the fun?" Gray crossed his arms on his bare chest.

The spirit just let out a cold smile "No… I'm just expecting you to get other people to enjoy the party…"

Real Her

Natsu woke up (again) from his unconscious state and (again) saw Lucy standing across the fire. But this time, he was more cautious.

"You're awake…" she sounded a little happy. That relieved a part of him.

Sitting up, he looked at her suspiciously. "Weren't you just beating me up a while ago?"

The Lucy he was talking to now, was Lucy that looked a lot more of the Lucy he first met laughed "Why? Do you want me to do that again?"

"N-no thanks…" he shivered at the thought. He had never seen that side of Lucy before. It was as if she hated him so much that she'd make him dead meat without any hesitations whatsoever.

"You know Natsu…" that snapped him out of his thoughts.

He looked at her.

"You might not understand this… but… I'm not the one who beat you up."

Natsu's mouth just went down the ground.

The girl giggled and smiled at him warmly. It melted his insides. When was the last time that he ever felt this way before? Back in the days when she smiled at him?

"You never change? Do you?" she sighed "Did you know that emotions affect our magic in a level we never thought existed? And that when you increase that state of emotion, imagine how much magic power can you release from within you?"

"My name is Natsu…" he declared "And I don't know what you are talking about."

She smiled again "Of course you are. But Natsu, please don't abuse your rights to be stupid and understand for once. The one who beat you up wasn't me. It was a different me. A 'me' that's bent to killing you…"

Waaaaaatttt?

And so, after the two called for reinforcements, they marched towards what Oro convinced them as their enemy's hiding place. What awaited them was a very bored Shima.

Gray stepped forward "I'll take him…"

His other two companions nodded at him and jumped down the hole.

They ran for about hours when they reached a large hall. Asehi welcomed them.

"His mine Draco." Erza glared menacingly at the person leaning down the center pillar.

The spirit didn't even wait for her say it and went on his way to find the princess. But, what awaited next… ruined his plans.

"I'm sorry Draco. But we aren't allowed to let go any further than this." A forced voice spoke up and from the emerged… a pained Leo and Capricorn.

Find and Kill

Natsu didn't want to think about anything right now, he never did. But right now, the girl's statement forced him to do so.

"I still don't get it…" he groaned and gave up.

"I'm not expecting you to-"

"Lucy 2!" someone screamed in a quite a pirate-y accent.

Natsu looked up.

There standing in her pirate glory was a pirate Lucy. With the eye patch, boots that reached her knees, long sleeved white blouse with a brown vest on top and pirate hat.

'Brain overload. Shut down.' And with that, he fell to the ground unconscious again.

"That pink sea urchin ain't got no strength to do any work. We should've let'em be killed by Lucy 3." The pirate Lucy sat down beside the normal Lucy and sighed.

"We're taking too much time. We have to find the main body." The normal Lucy muttered.

All of a sudden… Natsu sat up. "OKAY!" he screamed "My brain's ready to understand your explanation."

"Oh Natsu… you're awake." The normal Lucy smiled went infront of the boy "Listen Natsu, I want your brain to understand every word I am about to tell you. Okay?"

He nodded.

"Me… the normal Lucy and her…" she pointed at pirate Lucy "is a pirate version of Lucy. We-" she waved her pointing finger at both of them "-are parts of the original Lucy."

His face was still blank.

She sighed but continued "The 'original' Lucy is our main body. We are different parts of her. Ezell wanted on part of her but couldn't risk that part of her to be influenced by the other parts, so, he decided to extract each one of us and separate as to different bodies. I am the Lucy which you met in Hargeon. She is the Lucy that became a pirate captain."

"All in all, there are 4 bodies right now, excluding the main body. The weak one, the pirate-slash-amazon-slash-monster princess, me, and the one who was beating you hard a while back."

"Wait! What do you mean, 'the weak one' and which part of Lucy would torture?" he asked. "I kinda understood some, at least the part where there are different Lucy's"

"Good. That intel is enough." Suddenly, her face became solemn "Natsu, there are many things that Lucy fears. You, of all people, made it exist. And because of that, a Lucy-who-could-kill existed…"

"W-what did I do?"

"You don't know?" she smiled bitterly "You left her alone Natsu…"

4(ti's a number) da(ti's a child's word) next(ti's I do not know) chapter(ti's something you must expect)

"… defeat us Draco…"

"This is what you did to her Natsu…"

"Have you ever lost someone so important to you, you'd die if they disappear?!"