Hey babes, I know this story is a day late, but something really horrible happened.

This whole chapter got deleted.

YEP. I was in the middle of writing it, minding my own business as I poured my creative juices into my story and guess what? MY COMPUTER DECIDED TO GIVE A BIG FUCK YOU TO ME AND SHUT DOWN, SAYING STUPID SHIT THAT THERE WAS PROBLEM.

LIKE I GIVE A SHIT ABOUT A VIRUS, I WANTED MY FUCKING WORK BACK!

It took me a while to calm down, and I was really frustrated because I really liked what I had originally put in and if I wrote it again, it wouldn't be the same. So I retorted to stopping, trying to calm down, and maybe think of some other detail I could write.

What I came up with is MUCH better than I originally written.

SORRY FOR THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES! D:
I THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

I do not own Fairy Tail.

Operation: Protect the Grave

"Lucy-sama, Warren-sama, we found Natsu-sama, Gray-sama, and Erza-sama!" Lucy's and Warren's eyes widen at the voice that crashed through their minds.

"Lupus! Where are they?!" The blonde asks, immediately catching the attention of the rest of the group she was a part of.

"They're each in three different places at the basement. Erza-sama is at the bottom of the stairs at the far left of the mansion, Natsu-sama is at the bottom of the stairs at the middle, and Gray-sama is at the bottom of the stairs at the far right! The top of the stairs are heavily guarded!"

The blonde spun around to face the Telepathy mage. "You heard him, Warren! It's time!"

Warren nods and placed two fingers on the side of his head as he closed his eyes.

"Everyone, it's time to get our power houses back!"

NO ONE'S POV

The reaction was instantaneous. You can imagine the startled and surprised looks the mages of the mystery guild, that became Fairy Tail's new enemy, has when they heard the battle cries echoing throughout the area as members of the rowdy guild jumped out of their respective hiding places behind the trees and bushes, attacking who their eyes landed on.

Lucy, Carla, Happy, and Makarov watched through a gap of two bushes that concealed them as the battle officially started. The first to attack was of course the fastest mage in the guild, Jet. He ran in a blinding speed towards his first victim before jumping with a cry, "Falcon Heavenward!" He landed a kick that was so quick, that even Lucy couldn't catch up with. All she saw was a flash of green light, before the mage was sent flying.

The two Exceeds couldn't help but smile at the sight of their fellow furry friend going at it as well. He was in his Battle Mode form and was taking out mages left and right with his Musica Sword. It didn't take long before every other mage of Fairy Tail had their own opponent to fight and commenced with the plan.

The Celestial Spirit mage watched in relief as the Fairy Tail members created a path big enough for Laxus, Mira, and Elfman to get through. As if on cue, the three said wizards suddenly appeared in the very middle of the ridiculously huge front yard, which was also the very middle of the battle field, with a strike of lightning. Laxus let go of the Strauss siblings's shoulders and they both sprinted towards the front doors of the Heartfilia Konzern, leaving behind a scorched-to-black patch of grass. The mages that were around them broke out of their moment of shock and lunged towards the three with an enraged cry, only to be stopped by the wizards of Fairy Tail, or to be struck with lightning by the Dragon Slayer.

If anyone other than the two guilds were there, they would have thought this was absolute chaos. Of course it was chaos, but Fairy Tail is much too use to this, and it didn't matter to them. They had one goal, and one goal only. Bring back their nakama!

They're all distracted! Now's our chance! Lucy thought as she nodded in determination. She turned to the white and blue Exceeds, "Happy, Carla! It's time!"

The two looked at her and gave a smile. "Aye!" Happy chirped with a salute while Carla simply nodded. They both activated their Aera before flying over to the blonde and taking a hold of the back of her shirt.

Lucy looked down at Makarov who watched the three of them. She gave him a warm smile and said, "Please be careful, Master."

The old man only gave a close-eyed smile and a chuckle. "Oh, child, don't worry about this old man! Just go and knock some sense into that father of your's!" He waved her off teasingly.

"Alright, good luck!" She gave a wave of farewell with the two Exceeds, before being lifted from the ground and into the air above the forest, their next destination being the roof of the mansion.

"Hey, Lushy, even with Carla's help you're pretty heavy..."

"SHUT UP! I'LL KILL YOU!"

WENDY'S POV

I couldn't help, but sweat-drop as I continued to stare at the sight presented before me. "G-Gajeel-san... Y-You're really strong." I complimented and in return I got his signature laugh as he leaned against the wall with a proud smirk. The area that you enter the mansion and the hallways were littered with unconscious bodies of their enemy.

Back down at the basement only about ten minutes ago, was when Lupus-san sent the message before disappearing. It exposed our presence inside the mansion since we popped out, literally, of the shadows. Gajeel-san didn't waste any time and attacked with his signature roar, before I joined into the fight. As we ran back to the entrance, we took out anyone who was in our sight. Since Gajeel-san was ahead of me, he took out most of them.

I know that he's strong, but I wasn't exactly expecting him to cause so much damage. That was usually Natsu-san's, Gray-san's, and Erza-san's job. I hope those three are okay, I'll do everything in my power to save them!

A familiar voice startled me out of my thoughts. "Gajeel! Wendy! You guys are here!"

I spun around and brighten at the sight of Mira-san, Laxus-san, and Elfman-san. "Mira-san, you guys! You made it!" I ran over to them and gave Mira-san a hug that she returned as Elfman barricaded the entrance door using thick rods of iron, similar to the ones that he had pierced and destroyed the Fairy Tail guild with in the past according to the story that I heard from Lucy-san.

"The both of you made a mess in here! That's what I call being a man!" Elfman-san bellowed before laughing. Mira-san and I giggled at his antics, it was really funny! I wonder what got him to say that so often?

"No time for staring, we have three people to take back." Laxus cuts in.

In an instant, the room sunk into a solemn atmosphere. That's right, we have more important things to do than loiter around! I pulled away from Mira and dug my hand into my dress pocket before pulling out three keys with a number on each of them. They were all small and a shiny silver. "These are the keys to all of their handcuffs. We're sure that they are made to cancel out magic, other-wise they would have escaped by now. Key 1 is Erza-san's cage which is all the way down to the left of the basement, down some stairs." I give the key to Mira-san. "Key 2 is Natsu-san's cage. It's right behind the stairs and down a hatch door." I give the key to Laxus-san. "And Key 3 is Gray-san's cage. Which is all the way to the right of the basement, down some stairs. Gajeel-san and I only encountered weaker mages, but there's a possibility that there are stronger wizards now guarding them since we caused such a ruckus." I finished explaining.

"Behind the stairs, down a hatch. Got it." Laxus-san said with a nod as he put the key into his pocket.

"Alright then, let's go! Bunny should be at the rood by now!" Gajeel-san announced. Everyone gave a nod before following Gajeel-san and I as we ran down the hallway full of unconscious wizards.

Natsu-san... Erza-san... Gray-san... We're coming!

NO ONE'S POV

The voice of Warren's command and the sound of their nakama's battle cries nearly startled the two wizards out of their concentration. In a graveyard with neatly lined gravestones, both Freed and Levy were knelt beside the biggest one. This gravestone belonged to none other than Lucy's mother, Layla Heartfilia.

It has been about fifteen minutes since they started, and yet they weren't even able to write a single symbol for setting up the runes for Layla's grave. How is this possible? Levy thought, The runes we write keep disappearing as if they were being eaten away... What is going on?

"This is strange... It's as if someone or something is stopping us from writing any runes on anything." Freed muttered to Levy as he watched the runes that he written crumble back into ethernanos in the air.

"It's possibly the earth."

"Huh? Why would you think that, Levy-san?" He looked over to the said bookworm in confusion. His confusion only rose at the sight of her frozen with wide eyes looking right back at him. "What's wrong?"

"T-That... That wasn't me."

It didn't take him long at all to process her reply. The two were up on their feet in a battle stance, facing their opponent. How were they unable to hear them or sense their magical presence? If they are able to sneak up towards them like that, then it's a possibility that they may be strong.

Dull, dark green eyes stared back at them. The woman in front of them, who wore a sleeveless, grey, turtleneck sweater, a pair of jean short shorts and sandals, didn't even flinch at their sudden change of demeanor. She simply tilted her head to the side at them, causing her black hair that was pulled up into a high ponytail to flop off of her shoulder.

"Who are you?" Freed demanded, his hand clenched around the hilt of his sheathed sword.

"My name is Avani." She gave a monotone reply to him before politely giving a little bow. "It is nice to meet the both of you. Though... It is a shame that I have to kill you two. Please give up now, or else you will suffer the consequences."

Levy clenched her teeth as she narrowed her eyes at the woman. Does she really think that we're weak? she thought in anger. Before Levy could even retort to her warning, the Raijinshuu member thrust out an arm in front of her, blocking her path as he stepped forward. "Levy-san, please continue with placing the runes on Layla-san's grave. I will hold her off."

The other looked at him incredulously, "But Freed-san-"

"I trust you in applying these runes. Though I am experienced with runes, even I don't know why they keep disappearing. I feel that this is more in your league than mine. So please... Trust in me as I do to you!" He said, looking at her over his shoulder.

Levy watched him, surprised. A surge of determination then went through her. She nods confidently at him, "Alright, I trust you. We're nakama after all! Just be careful, I brought some books about runes before we got on the train just in case something like this happened." She told him with a smile as she knelt back down beside the grave, pulling off her backpack.

Freed gave her a nod, dropping his arm before facing his opponent who was looking back at him with her still emotionless expression. The bookworm put on her reading glasses before taking out her magic pen, You can do this Levy! For Lu-chan!

The woman's eyes intrigued him. They were dull and held absolutely no emotion at all. They were just overall blank and clouded over. Her eyes... It's as if they were- His eyes widen in realization. "Are you blind?"

Avani stared at him for a moment longer before giving a nod. "Yes. I am. Even though I am blind, please do not underestimate me." She said as she finally got into a stance with her feet slightly spread apart with a fist placed in the palm of her hand as if she were praying. "I can tell that you refuse to let me kill you with no further problems. Then so be it. Terra Firma: Rock Bullets!" She shouted.

At the sight of pieces of the earth shooting up from the ground and forming bullets, Freed unsheathed his sword as a purple beam of magic followed the tip of his sword from out of the sheath. "Dark Écriture: Reflect!" He casts just as the bullets shot forward. The runes that displayed in front of him, as the spell's name entails, reflected the bullets and shot right back to Avani, who easily dodged them all as if it were all second nature to her. He watched in disbelief, "W-What?!"

"I told you not to underestimate me!" Avani shouted as she put her hands back into position after all of the bullets had passed.

"Tch." His glare hardened, deciding that projectiles won't work on her. With his sword in hand, he charged towards her before slashing it down. He grits his teeth in frustration as his sword made contact with something equally as sturdy and strong as his sword.

"Terra Firma: Earth Blade." The blind woman said as she pressed against the blade with the same force with a rock spike that connected to her forearm and all the way up to her hand, concealing it. They continued their exchanges of blows, dodging and blocking the slashes and hits that came their way. "Being blind doesn't mean I can't see." Avani began to explain. "I learned Earth Magic as a child. With Earth Magic, it allowed me to 'see' people who stand on it. I can 'see' the graves. I can 'see' that girl looking through books. I can 'see' the battle between your guild and mine. I can 'see' you."

Levy gasped quietly when she heard this explanation and whispered, "That's it!" She flipped through the pages of a book frantically. I should have known! It all makes sense now! She thought before stopping at a specific page. She turned her head towards Freed, who was struggling with the battle. "Freed-san! I figured it out! She's the one keeping the runes from being written! Everything around us is made from the earth, so her magic is stopping me from placing the runes!" she shouted.

Avani merely glanced towards the bookworm's direction as both she and the green-haired man jumped away from each other. "Oh? You finally figured it out? I see... I suppose that I have no choice, but to kill you first. I don't have any idea why you want to place runes here, nor do I care, I cannot allow you to do so whatsoever." She said before momentarily releasing her arm from the rock's confinement. She went back to her stance and casts, "Terra Firma: Rock-Cicles!"

Spikes of earth and rock rose from the ground, having the similar shape of an icicle. Freed brought his hand up with his fore and middle finger pointed up, getting ready to swipe it in front of him. "Dark Écriture: Re-" His eyes widen in fear at the sight of the spikes bolt towards both Freed and Levy. Being forced to not finish his spell, he jumped to the side as he narrowly dodged one. The next one that hurtled towards him grazed his leg, causing him to wince and grit his teeth as it tore through his red coat and pants. He gave no thought to the throbbing pain on his thigh and the feeling of something warm and wet soaking the clothing around his wound.

Light green eyes snap towards Fairy Tail's bookworm at the sound of her painful shriek. "Levy-san!" He shouted with panic clear in his voice. Levy had clearly been dodging the spikes that had came her way, but she was unable to dodge the last ones. It nearly pierced right through her arm, and it was luckily one of the smaller and more narrow spikes. The problem was that even with the spike still lodged into her upper arm, it was bleeding heavily and her face was slowly draining from color. If she were to take the spike out without proper first-aid, then she would die from blood loss.

Freed was about to rush to her aid, but her shout halted him in his tracks. "Don't! I'm fine!" She shakily sat up using her uninjured arm.

"But Levy-san-"

"I said I'm fine!" Levy shouted again, though this time she shot him a glare before beginning to crawl back to the grave that she got separated from. "You're the only one out of the two of us who can stop her! Right now I'm not really capable of fighting, but our main goal was to protect Layla-san's grave! We can't do that if you're distracted by me just because I'm injured! We need to concentrate on our own battles and have no time to worry about each other. Somewhere out there Lu-chan and everyone is fighting just as hard, or even harder than we are! So we fight right now, and then worry later!"

Freed clenched his free hand into a fist as he watched Levy put her glasses back on before continuing with her work with shaky hands. Damn it, she's right! I need to fight harder! Levy-san has only been working on the runes, but because of me I wasn't able to protect her and she got injured, yet she isn't giving up even when she's close to passing out... Meanwhile, I haven't even landed a scratch on Avani! He faced his opponent once again with a glare, whom merely stood there, waiting. She said she can 'see' people who stand on the earth... How is that even possible? What is her weakness? I'll just have to continue fighting her to figure that out. With that settled on his mind he then swiped his sword in the air followed by a purple beam of magic. Runes appeared in front of him as he inscribed them onto himself, "Dark Écriture: Absolute Shadow!"

His eyes snapped open to reveal that the white part of his right eye turned a pitch black, while his iris and pupil became a glowing yellow. A purple aura consumed him into darkness, before revealing his transformation in only a span of a few seconds. Freed's upper body became covered in dark armor, with shoulder pads and a helmet that gave a menacing and sinister appearance. His hair became slicked back and came out of the opening in the back of his helmet.

With a speed that a normal eye can't see, he dart towards her and landed a solid punch into her stomach. Avani was flung back into a nearby tree, causing it to give out and split in half due to the impact. The cloud of dust concealed Freed's line of view of the woman. He thought for a moment that he had defeated her, but he tossed that thought out knowing that that was too easy. As if to show that his thoughts were right a fist made out of purely earth and rock, that was nearly as big as Jura's, slammed into him.

He flipped through the air and landed by kneeling down, skidding back. He mentally cursed at the feeling of a bruise forming on his stomach. Even with the armor he had, the punch was incredibly painful. Even though I managed to hit her using speed, I can tell it's not enough. Speed isn't her weakness, so what is it? The green-haired man's thoughts were interrupted by Avani flying out of the cloud of dust to engage in hand-to-hand with Freed. Even though he had the upper hand with speed, she was able to dodge most of them. They were equally matched.

Levy wiped a bead of sweat off of her forehead before glancing over to the battle. She felt her admiration for Freed rise at the sight of the battle becoming much more intense than before. She remembered when he was defeated by Mira, but she didn't know he was this strong. No wonder the fight between the two in the Battle of Fairy Tail took so long from what Gajeel had told her.

Hang in there Freed-san! She thought as she continued to write and flip the pages of her book. I'm nearly there!

"You are stronger than I had originally thought."Avani said as she caught Freed's fist before attempting to stab him by using her trusty Earth Blade, but he easily dodged it and disappeared from view. "You're fast, but no matter where you go, I can still see you." She said, smoothly dodging the kick that was aimed at her from behind before sending a kick herself that managed to send Freed flying.

As if he was just slapped in the face, it finally came to him. That's it! Freed grunted as he fell back to the ground and stumbled back to his feet. He pants, feeling the drain of his magic included with his injuries take a tole on him. I should have known it from the start when she had told me... She can 'see' using her Earth Magic for crying out loud! he thought to himself. But if I cancel this form, I won't be as strong or as fast as I need to be. The only way I can defeat her is to... Damn, I was hoping not to use it again, but I have no choice!

"I get it now..." He began as he brought his hand up, preparing to cast a spell again. "You said that you can 'see' if someone is on the earth, correct? Then what would happen if someone wasn't on the earth?" He questioned.

Avani's dark green eyes remained emotionless, but by her facial expression it was clear that she was startled by the question. Before she could even reply to this though, he shouted as he swiped his two fingers in front of him with runes appearing in front of him, "Dark Écriture: Darkness!" The Earth mage shivered as she sensed the dark magic pulse through the air and at the feeling of his feet on the earth enlarging, which could only mean that he was becoming bigger as well.

Freed, who didn't exactly look like Freed anymore, became something else. He grew twice his original size, taking on a demonic form with fur covering his body and a strange white symbol on his chest. His ears became larger and pointed, including his teeth which had prominent canines that looked sharp enough to tear through flesh. His fists were clenched, but it could easily be seen that his fingers held sharp and long nails that represented claws. His long green hair was wild and untamed as well, with long, violet horns protruding out of his forehead. One of his eyes was covered with strange scales while the other was normal. To finish off his transformation, on his back were his Dark Écriture: Wings that fit to his new size.

The now demonic Freed took a deep breath, throwing his head back to let out a thundering beastly roar. This of course alarmed Levy and causing her to look at the fight that was happening in front of her. She gasped in shock at the sight of the demon. When she caught sight of the familiar clothes that was on the demon, she couldn't hold herself back from whispering, "F-Freed-san?..."

This roar made Avani fear him much more than she first did when he had asked her that question before he became... whatever he was! This fear didn't stop her though. She had a goal too, and it was to kill both him and the girl. She slammed her fist into her palm and shouts, "Terra Firma: Rock Pillar Crush!"

Without time for Freed to react, many stones of various shapes and sizes along with parts of the earth rushed towards him and connected to his body. The rocks concealed his body as he rose from the ground as it built up into a tall and wide pillar. Avani separated her hands and readied herself to clap her hands together as an illusion of larger hands of her own appeared on both sides of the rock pillar that she had created.

She had no time to even move a single muscle, before the pillar suddenly exploded. Her eyes widen in shock when she felt her spell being forcefully cancelled out and no longer knowing where her opponent was. Freed roared after escaping the confinements of the pillar before using his wings to fly towards his enemy, and punched her square on her chest.

Avani soared back, knocking into a row of gravestones until she landed back on the ground roughly. She shakily knelt onto one knee as she wheezed and cough with her hand placed on where Freed had punched her on the chest. M-My ribs!... W-What the hell is he?! She thought almost hysterically.

Freed gave her no time to catch her breath and stand up. He kicked her with the same force he had used with his punch, sending her skidding on the ground. He was showing absolutely no mercy.

Levy had long since stopped watching Freed and Avani's fight. She didn't know what spell he had cast on himself, but she knew that he wasn't completely Freed anymore. The bookworm silently prayed for his safety as she frantically wrote with her Magic Pen. Just a little longer... I'm so close!

"I-Impossible!" The blind woman exclaimed, dumbfounded. When she had felt Freed land back on the earth, she did not hesitate with making her move. With a strong spell of Terra Firma: Rock Bullets, she attempted to injure the demonic mage, but the spell was useless. The rock bullets merely shattered on impact. I have no choice, but to use the spell. It'll drain me from the rest of my magic, but it will be enough to kill both of them. Especially if he's in the air.

With her hands back in position she yelled, "Terra Firma: Supreme Rock Spikes!" A dark green magic circle appeared beneath her as a cloudy light green magical aura surrounded her. The ground began to rumble as she separated her hands before lifting her foot up and stomping it on the ground. The ground cracked beneath her foot and only lead to more cracks throughout the area.

It happened so fast that even Freed in his demonic form was surprised by it. Long and humongous spikes of earth and stone shot from the ground, reaching the height of the very top of the mansion. They all broke through the surface randomly around the area, impaling anything that was in their path. First there were a couple of spikes, but it turned into several spikes, and then into over twenty spikes. They were all pointed in various directions. Curved, upwards, downward, even sideways. And one of them went straight towards Levy and Layla's grave.

All around Avani were clouds of dust and debris. She fell onto her knees and winced when she began to pant heavily due to her nearly shattered ribs. The Earth mage felt relief. Absolute relief after casting that spell.

Of course, that relief disappeared merely a few seconds afterwards. Her eyes widen in horror when she registered that she felt that all of the spikes had not a single spec of blood.

"Darkness Flare Bomb!" A malicious voice cried out followed by a searing pain that went through out her body. The Earth mage screamed bloody murder from the impact of the blast. The magic bomb didn't even send her away like it's intended to do, it crushed her into the ground, doubling the pain. It felt like hours that could have only been seconds when the pain had stopped. The aftermath was just as painful though.

Her throat was too raw to scream anymore. She felt burns scattered all across her body and the throbbing pain of her chest. She was in pure agony.

She said one last thing before she lost consciousness. "I accept... defeat..."

Levy sighed in relief from behind the purple runes at the sight of Avani finally passing out from the pain. She had managed to break through what was eating away the runes and write them around her and the grave in time for the spike to crash into them and disintegrate on impact. If she hadn't had done that in time, both her and the grave would have been pierced right through.

The bookworm smiled as she fell on the side of her that wasn't injured, the aftermath of the adrenaline rush and the blood loss finally getting to her. Before her eyes closed, she saw a blurry Freed go back to normal, falling onto the ground and thought:

Good luck... Lu-chan...

WOOO! Doooone!

Sorry for the little delay, I made the chapter a bit longer than usual to try to make it up for it! I thank you all for reading my story, rating and reviews are very much appreciated! ^_^

I'm not sure when I will finish the next chapter, so stay tuned! We still have more battles!

See ya later babes!

~Sugoi! Sugoi! (~•3•)~