Chapter Eleven:

I do not won Fairy Tail.

Enjoy!

It has been three days. Three days since Aaron died. His family had come to get his body for the funeral. Erza had been the representative for Fairy Tail, explaining everything to the last detail.

She could see how much the parents loved him, and she was sad that they thought Fairy Tail responsible. Over the loss of their son, they wanted to accuse somebody and it had been Erza.

The pair had, however, been comforting Lucy and talking with her for a while. She didn't know what they had said, but it ended well. The Junelle Corporation wouldn't take action against them. It was one worry less in the pile of trouble.

As for Lucy, the blonde had mostly been in her room. She wanted to be alone, something that worried Erza even more. It wasn't like Lucy to avoid company. She was invited to the funeral, and was going there. In fact, she could be back any minute.

Lucy hadn't reacted all that well about Erza's story. She didn't want to believe Aaron was sick and dying, she hadn't wanted to believe they had tried everything, she hadn't wanted to believe Aaron didn't blame her.

Standing outside her apartment, pacing around, she wasn't sure if this was a great idea. But Lucy needed someone now, she had spent too much time alone.

"Erza? What are you doing here?" the questioning voice made her turn around, to see a tired Lucy, entirely dressed in black.

"I was worried about you. How are you?" Erza said uncomfortable.

"I'm okay, I'm just back. Do you want to come in?" The half-hearted offer made her fists clench.

"No, thanks. Lucy, are you sure you're okay? You've been avoiding everyone since Aaron passed away."

Lucy even smiled, much to Erza's dismay. "I'm fine now, I really am. Sorry for worrying everyone. Please, come in." she said and unlocked the front door.

Erza could hardly believe it. Was this the same Lucy she knew?

Lucy was already in the kitchen, putting water on the fire to make some tea.

"It's not your fault, you know that. He wanted it to be like this." Erza said, still trying to poke some reaction out of Lucy. And she got one. The blonde faced her, finally looking in her eyes, accusing.

"He did want this, I know that. Do you know why? He wanted it because I didn't have to marry him! He sacrificed himself for my happiness with you!"

Erza sighed and sat down. "I know. But that's just the kind of person he was. He never intended to make you feel guilty about it, and it was going to happen anyway…" she immediately knew she'd said the wrong thing.

Lucy looked at her as if she turned into a winged horse. "Did you really just say that? How can you be so heartless?" the blonde was upset, letting all that pent-up frustration out, it seemed.

Really, Era didn't know why she had said such a thing in front of Lucy. She was over all this stupid stuff. All she wanted, for three days more than ever, was just to curl up with Lucy's arms around her.

"I'm sorry. Lucy, I talked to him before he died and he confirmed that he wanted no one to be sad over him. It might have been foolish to think that, but shouldn't you try to do that? Be happy, and be sad, but don't linger in the past because that's not living. Please, Lucy." She was desperate now, and felt lonely.

"I'm just…it's that he…" Lucy tried to find words, but none would come out. She just walked to Erza and hugged the life out of her.

"Don't be sad anymore." She mumbled against the blonde's hair. Tears soaked her shirt, but she didn't even notice it. She just stroked Lucy's back and her hair until the blonde pulled away.

"Sorry. I know I haven't been myself lately." She smiled, a little embarrassed. Erza shrugged her shoulders and pointed at the boiling water.

"Oh, shoot!" Erza laughed and watched Lucy tenderly when she made the tea. It was endearing, the way she frowned and concentrated.

Lucy noticed her staring and smiled. "Why are you staring?"

Erza waved her hands apologetic. "Nothing, nothing. I just thought you were cute."

The blonde blushed heavily, nothing like her normal attitude. "Uhm, Erza, there's a pigeon trying to break my window. It's got a message attached to its leg."

Indeed, through the window, she could see a bird frantically tapping against the glass. It must be Jellal. She opened the window, caught the pigeon and pulled off the message. Lucy curiously stood next to her to read.

Erza,

I heard of Aaron's death and am very sorry for his loss. He was a good man after all and I hope Lucy is okay. You're both strong enough to get through this.

But his death caused another problem, an urgent one. The magic power he possessed was instantaneously released and dwelled over the Akane Resort.

It's not normal magic. It's got an own will and is looking for Lucy. We don't knw how you can stop it or even run for it.

I hope this message reaches you before the magic does. Be careful – it's one of the most dangerous phenomenon I've ever met. Be careful.

Yours sincerely,

Jellal

"What are we going to do?" Lucy said as soon as she finished.

"I don't know. Damn it! We can't fight it, we can't run from it… I don't know!"

Erza said, pacing around. "We could contact Doranbolt. Ask him to help, if he wants to. Probably not, but it is worth a try." She said.

"Erza", Lucy said alarmed. "I think it's already here."

Erza looked up. Oh no. The pigeon. The pigeon where Jellal had sent the message with. The magic must have hid. If there were a message from Jellal after all.

The grey animal was changing and shifting into an unclear, blue shape. It was concentrated magic. What could you do against that? it could even speak, for Hiro's sake! It reminded her of Aaron's voice.

"Lucy…Heartfilia." It said, croaking. It isn't used to speaking yet, Erza thought. She needed to win time and hold this thing off Lucy.

"What do you want with Lucy?"

"Destroy her…happiness." Maybe that was too obvious. So the magic thought Lucy was at fault, too. She was getting pissed at this.

"You won't. I won't let you." She said.

Lucy, in the meanwhile, was stepping backwards, trying to reach the door.

"Lucy, go!" the girl ran for it, trusting Erza completely. The magic didn't seem interested in Lucy for now.

"You're…Lucy's happiness." It said. Now it was going to destroy her! She immediately knew the only armour that would be able to do something. It was a drastic measure.

"Requip: Nakagami Armour!" the magical energy was taken aback, seemingly knowing what this was.

"Leave her alone." The magic didn't only know what it was, it was also afraid of it! Quickly, it began to run away, as fast as the wind. Erza didn't stand a chance to keep up in this armour.

"Requip: Soaring Armour!" she sped up, barely managing to keep up with it. At this rate, she wasn't going to make it. It was flying towards the guild, where Lucy was. She couldn't let this happen, she had to attack.

She quickly requipped Benisakura and sliced through it. It didn't even stop for a second. But the magic seemed to have changed its mind on what to do and stopped. Then it attacked Erza without a warning;

During the fight, it was taking a physical shape! She could strike now. And she did, successfully dodging the hits. What would happen when you destroyed magic? She didn't know, nor care what would happen to her. She had to protect Lucy, no matter what!

She hit the target, and it wasn't half as successful as she had hoped. But then a blue column of light raised up to the sky and she didn't know a thing.

XoXoXoXo

She woke up, to a gentle tug on her shoulder. All she could feel was pain in her entire body, but it wasn't too much to handle.

"What is it? Where's the magic? I need to protect Lucy…"

"Lucy's safe. The fight is over." A masculine, cool voice woke her up.

"Gray? What happened? Where am I?" she asked, still a little dizzy. Moving wasn't such a great idea, although she strangely felt like she had a lot more energy. Like she'd gotten a boost of magic power.

Then it dawned on her. She looked at Gray, from behind bars. He was looking unhappy.

"Gray?" she asked, knowing the answer.

He sighed. "Apparently, the magic needed a host body to properly take action. First that pigeon Lucy told us about, but after you fought with it and we did, too, the pigeon was destroyed. So it needed another body. You."

It hit hard. She had absorbed the magic power? Even so, why was she locked up?

Gray seemed to know the answer. "It was only temporary, nobody knew what could happen if you were taken over by the magic during your sleep."

"Release me." She demanded. Gray seemed to object, but just sighed as he unlocked the door. She walked straight out and upstairs, to Lucy.

The blonde was arguing with Master, and not lightly. They seemed to have a fight, with Natsu along Lucy. The blonde must've sensed her presence, because she turned around and smiled broadly.

Before she knew it, Erza was almost tackled to the floor. Warm, loving arms wrapped around her and the scent of Lucy's hair made her light-headed.

"You're safe." She mumbled.

"…" Lucy said nothing. Oops. Erza might have been hugging her a little too tightly. She regretfully let go.

"Jii-chan, it's Erza we're talking about. She can handle it." Gray said as a matter of fact.

"And Erza can't become more monstrous than she already is!" Natsu stated.

"Fine. But we need to get to the bottom of this." Master said.

"What do you mean?" Erza asked confused.

"This magic isn't normal, Erza. When Aaron died, it loosened from him, right?" Gray continued to take the word with a look on Lucy, who tightly held Erza's hand. They quickly let go.

"First that dude, then the pigeon, now you. It smells odd by the way." Natsu added.

"Don't interrupt when people are talking, toddler!"

"Then explain faster, Mr. mature." Natsu said glaring.

Well, predictable enough, that left Natsu and Gray fighting and only Lucy, Erza and Master were discussing.

"The magic is like a parasite. We hope that Crime Sorcière has found something. They've taken contact and will help us if they arrive. Until then you should probably not use magic and be cautious. If there's anything unusual, come report." Master ordered.

Not using magic? That would be a pain in the ass. Lucy looked at her sympathetically and a little insecure.

"You want to go home?" she asked. Erza nodded.

"Go get some sleep. I'll stuff out the library to find something. Hey – watch out!" she warned, but it was too late.

An ice cube hit the back of her head. She slowly turned around. Natsu and Gray, as well as half the guild were looking frightened at her. Damn right they were.

She didn't need magic to take care of them.

End of chapter eleven!

Geez, eleven chapters already?

Thanks for the reviews, with all the tips and plausible plot stuff! Please send me more? ;)