Chapter Nine: The Spell Which Holds Her Fate

Snow lightly fell, catching itself on Lucy's hair and her eyelashes. Jellal also had snow on him, but it seemed to disappear as soon as it landed on him. The crunch of snow was heard in the distance. At first, it was soft but the sound started to become louder as Lucy started to see several silhouettes. Jellal looked up and seemed to smirk. Lucy took it as a sign that he knew the people who were coming closer to them. Soon, they were in her sight. Lucy took her time to look them over.

A pale-skinned woman with dark purple hair and brown eyes sported a white dark purple hair was let go and ended near her waist. The woman had a rather voluptuous figure. She wore a tight fitting battle outfit. The battle suit was sleeveless and skin-tight, being divided into 3 sections. The main body of the suit and the legs of the suit from the thigh down were both white with black patterning, with the space between them being a deep brown. The entire suit was trimmed with gold patterns, and on her arms, the woman wore long black sleeves, with the section from her elbow down bearing chunky, gray wrist-guards, from which Lucy expected expelled some sort of Lacrima. Lucy also guessed that this woman was freezing to death, seeing as how it was snowing.

Next to this woman was yet another girl. The person was a young girl of short stature. She had short, coral pink hair ending above her shoulders and bright green eyes. She wore some kind of gold wing-like headgear around her ears. Her uniform was a tight, purple leotard with brownish thigh-high boots that had white stripes at the top. Over her uniform, she wore a red cape with a golden lining around the edges. The cape's left-shoulder portion has a white symbol of some guild unknown to Lucy.

When they were at the glass wall, they glanced over at Lucy before looking at Jellal. The three seemed to have some conversation, but Lucy was unable to hear it. The pink haired girl then turned to Lucy. She spoke, but Lucy was unable to hear it. Instead, Lucy took out her charcoal and wrote on the wall.

Hello there. I am Lucy. What are your names?

The pink haired girl looked at Jellal and pointed at the words. Jellal seemed to explain to the girl before handing her the charcoal he had. Pleased with this, the girl then wrote on the wall.

Hello, Lucy. I am Meredy. The other girl with me is Ultear. We are here to help set you free.

Reading the words, Lucy smiled and looked at Meredy. She put her charcoal against the glass and wrote back happily to the girl.

Okay! Be careful though. I would hate for you and Ultear to get hurt because of me. Make sure that Jellal doesn't hurt himself either. The stubborn man never listens to me!

Meredy read the words and smirked. Unknown to Lucy was the true intention behind her seemingly innocent smirk.

Trust me, Lucy. We'll do anything for you.

- At Fairy Tail -

"Levy! Freed! Hurry up! We need to go to Lucy immediately! Why isn't everyone ready? I knew I shouldn't have allowed you guys any sleep before this! Now we'll be late!" Erza yelled, pacing around Fairy Tail as everyone got ready to head towards the glass wall. Master and Mirajane seemed to be the only other two ready and it bugged Erza. Did this guild have no sense of urgency?

"Sorry, Erza! It took Freed and I forever to find the spell we needed. Isn't that right?" Levy said, stuffing one last book into her bag.

"Yeah. Plus, I can't even be sure if it's the right spell until I see the wall close up," Freed sighed, "That's why I'm having Levy pack up the books we used yesterday."

"Well, hurry up! Where are Natsu and Gray?" Erza yelled. The two instantly appeared along with Happy. They were 'packed' and ready to go. Really, the only thing the boys had done was change clothes and fight.

Soon enough, everyone was ready. The guild left Magnolia as a group, intent on saving their nakama. As they walked, Natsu melted the snow as they moved forward. Natsu then stopped and sniffed the air.

"Gejeel, Wendy, do you smell that?" he asked. The other two dragon slayers took a sniff of the air around them and nodded.

"Yeah," Gajeel said, "Three other people are already here besides Bunny Girl."

"It's one boy and two girls," Wendy said.

The guild ran towards the wall as fast as they could. Team Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy were the first to arrive. Next to the glass wall was Jellal, Meredy, and Ultear. On the other side was Lucy. As soon as Lucy spotted them, her eyes widened and she dropped the charcoal in her hand. It was then that Jellal and the two girls turned around.

"So the little fairies are back, huh?" Jellal joked. Soon, the two groups were fighting. It was then that the rest of the guild arrived. They watched in silence. Master had told them that his was their battle and they had no right to interfere.

Levy looked at Lucy to see her expression. Lucy seemed as if she was being torn apart on the inside. The blue haired bookworm couldn't blame her. The blonde had to watch her friends fight each other. Levy guessed that Lucy felt as if it was her fault. They were fighting over her after all.

'The spell that can release Lu-Chan… The 'Spell of Renewal and Regrets'… I hope that it isn't the right spell that we need to use… If it is, then Lexus was definitely saving the world from something…' Levy thought.