Author's note: Okay, I know I didn't update last week, and I'm so sorry :/ I've been pretty sick, and I'm still sick tbh, but I just wanted to get this uploaded whilst I'm somewhat functional, aha. Also, thank you for all the lovely reviews you all left on the last chapter! They made me really happy to read :)

And yes, Shades of Poison and Taiski, there'll be nalu moments. I'm just trying to keep it at a slow build right now and not rush too much, but I can't resist cute moments

So. The Phantom arc is starting now. Hopefully, this is okay!

Natsu hummed quietly to himself as he made his way through Magnolia's outskirts, deftly dodging people mainly by smell and sound than anything else. The sounds of the people around him washed over him like a warm blanket, melding together with the warm sun into an indistinguishable buzz. Odd scents caught his attention now and then, the scent of a bakery that nearly took him off track because holy Ishgar that cake smelled awesome, or a fruit vendor on the street, or some lovely delicious fire.

"Hey, Natsu?" came Happy's voice. Happy entered his line of sight a second later, white wings flapping away, and Natsu flicked his eyes to him, smiling lazily in response. He hummed in answer, non-verbally urging Happy to continue. "How come we're heading straight home instead of to the guild hall?"

Natsu glanced at him, the passing sign of a nearby magic shop momentarily catching his attention in his peripheral. I wonder if they sell any of those keys that Lucy likes? "We'll be going back soon," he reassured Happy, smiling and placing his hands behind his head nonchalantly.. "We just need to do something first."

There was a light flump as Happy landed on top of his hair, apparently tired of flying. Natsu continued making his way through the crowds, dodging and weaving through the masses of people until they were free of the hustle of the town. Natsu paused in his pace and breathed in the fresh air, allowing himself a moment to appreciate the silence. He smiled slightly. As a dragon slayer, there weren't many times in life when he could appreciate silence – there was always a noise in his ear, and a lot of the time, it irritated him.

No wonder Igneel had been bad tempered sometimes, he thought wryly. He paused again, heart wrenching slightly. The thought of his foster father made his heart strings tug painfully, and he swallowed down the lump in his throat, forcing himself to keep on moving forward. One day, Dad.

From the edges of town, there was a less beaten path that led to the forest, just beyond the town. Natsu hummed to himself again as he and Happy set off down that track, the wind brushing his face and the smell of the leaves and trees wrapping around him. Following the path, it didn't take long for the open area around him to turn into giant, towering trees, forcing the sunlight to filter through the canopy above them. Not that it bothered Natsu. He had spent most of his childhood in a forest. If anything, he felt more at home in the forest than he did in Magnolia, sometimes.

In the forest, he could pretend he was still with Igneel.

Shaking that thought from his head for the time being, Natsu made his way to the small cottage – it wasn't a shack, thank you Laxus – in the middle of a small clearing. The sunlight hit it with no hindrances on the way, lighting up the whole area like a beacon, and Natsu smiled. Laxus could pester him about moving into somewhere 'better' all he liked, but to Natsu, there was nowhere better than his own little home.

"Hey, Natsu?" Happy asked, still lying in his hair, not that Natsu minded.

"Yeah, bud?" Natsu replied, just as they reached the door.

"Do we have any fish in?"

Natsu paused, his hand on the wooden door as he thought about their food inventory. "Uh…" he trailed off. His mind immediately flashed back to the night before he, Happy and Laxus had set off to find Deliora, and the amount of food that they'd eaten. While some people might call it 'greed', he and Happy both agreed that it was 'food conservation'. After all, who knew when they'd get a full meal on a mission like a demon hunting one. "Probably?" he eventually answered. Gods, even to himself he sounded sceptical.

Pushing open the door, Natsu welcomed the dark of his home and the familiar smell. What he was not expecting, however, was the scent and thunderous expression of one Laxus Dreyar, standing arms crossed in the middle of his living room.

"KYAAH!" he yelled in surprise, jumping slightly and sending Happy flying. He was not proud to admit that his hair also stood up on end. Laxus's expression remained unchanged. Natsu immediately straightened his expression into a cooler one, and he moved forward into the room, closing the door behind him. Brushing past Laxus, he greeted him with a, "Hey, Laxicle."

He heard Laxus twitch at the nickname, but he didn't rise to the bait. Instead, Laxus turned and gave him a stern, cool look. Natsu absently noticed that his arms were still crossed, and wondered if he'd gotten his muscles stuck like that. "You should know why I'm here," Laxus said seriously. Huh. Laxus taking something seriously meant something had seriously irritated him –

Natsu suddenly remembered the look that Laxus had given him on Galuna Island, after Gray had outed his small confession prior to killing Deliora. The confession that no one was meant to hear. Damnit, Gray, he silently cursed, twisting his face into a lazy, vacant smile. Maybe he could get out of an oncoming lecture.

"Should I?" Natsu asked, grinning away like anxiety was eating away at him inside. He turned briefly and dumped his light rucksack down, and winced at the clattering that sounded from the impact. Laxus's eyebrow twitched, and Natsu internally raised a fist in triumph. "I would have brought you flowers if I'd have known you were gonna be here."

"Natsu – "

"Like a broquet of broses or something."

"NATSU!" Laxus shouted, and Natsu jumped, caught off guard by the sudden noise. His smile faded as he saw how grim Laxus's expression was. "You know why I'm here, so stop avoiding the point." Natsu said nothing, and instead settled for turning to what he'd intended to do before he'd been derailed by Laxus. Sighing, he walked to a shelf full of various things – most of which had nothing in common with one another – and pulled off a crinkled looking book. Opening it, there was a list of Zeref's surviving demons. Natsu's stomach turned at how many names he'd put a strike through, and he crossed out Deliora's name.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you?" Laxus sighed, and Natsu immediately knew what he was talking about. His mind immediately flashed back to four years prior, when he was a fourteen year old who had just passed the S-Class Promotion exam. Who was still consumed with guilt and loss. Those two things didn't make for a good combination.

Natsu sat in the guild infirmary bed, silently debating whether or not to rip the bandages off of his arms and hands. The rough material was beginning to irritate him, and he was fairly sure that his own abilities – both dragon slayer and the other one – could heal him faster than the crazy purple-haired lady. In all honesty, he would have ditched the bed hours, if not days ago, if he could actually walk without staggering into a wall. Or the floor, for that matter. And without general pain across all of his body. He supposed that was what happened when a giant demon threw him into the ground as a defensive attack.

At the reminder of his brutal beating – although he had still won, so he counted it as a victory – his whole body ached again, and Natsu sighed, leaning back against the pillows. And immediately wrinkled his nose. For some reason, be it the infirmary or the hospital, pillows in medical places felt like bricks.

"You complete idiot."

Natsu jumped slightly at the voice, then growled at the shock of pain that wracked his system from the movement. Slowly, he turned his head towards the source and found Laxus leaning against the door, headphones hanging around his neck for once. His face was thunderous, though.

"Huh?" was all Natsu could manage, and Laxus's face darkened even more.

"You heard me." Laxus pushed himself off of the door and took a step forward. "What were you thinking, going after that demon by yourself? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Natsu averted his gaze to stare straight ahead. "I have to defeat them," he said quietly, resolutely.

"AT THE COST OF YOUR OWN LIFE?!" Laxus roared, his tone angered again.

"If that's what it takes!" Natsu yelled back, his throat sore from lack of use over the past few days. Laxus didn't understand, couldn't understand this. How could he? Laxus took a few more steps, casting a giant shadow across the floor of the infirmary as he stepped in the way of the sunlight.

"And what about everything you've built up here?" he asked coolly, and Natsu froze, blinking. Suddenly, all he could see was the guild hall, the people he'd unwittingly become friends with over the past couple of years. "You're gonna throw all that away for a death wish, punk?"

"I..." Natsu didn't have an answer for that, and for some reason, his heart ached in his chest.

Natsu smiled slightly as he turned back to Laxus. "At least ten more times," he admitted, slightly self-deprecatingly. "At least until they're all defeated," he amended, and he crossed his own arms in thought for a moment.

Laxus sighed. "And people say I'm obsessive," he muttered under his breath. Natsu still heard him, though, and he shot him an offended look, indicating he'd heard it. "Just – don't get yourself killed, punk," Laxus added, his tone grudging. "I've not put this much work into someone's life since Freed decided he'd be my squire." There, he rolled his eyes.

"I won't," he said, hoping his tone came out reassuringly. His mind suddenly flitted back to why he'd come back home in the first place, and he asked, trying to keep his tone innocent, "Do you know anything about a Tower of Heaven?"

Meanwhile, a few miles away in Magnolia, Gray, Erza and Lucy were slowly making their way through the streets, Gray scowling the whole time. Lucy, on the other hand, had never been happier – except, perhaps, when she'd joined Fairy Tail. Nothing at all could beat the happiness of that day.

"Cheer up, Gray!" Lucy said happily, all but bouncing along, unable to contain her joy. Finally, she had a new zodiac key! She couldn't wait to form a new contact with Sagittarius! "Everything went great on the mission!"

"For you, maybe," Gray groused, glaring at her and shoving his hands in his pockets. His mouth pressed into a thin line. "You actually got a reward. I got nothing!"

"Have you both forgotten," Erza's voice rang out over them, from where she was walking slightly ahead of them, "that you're both still being punished for your breaking of guild rules?" She paused in her step to glare at them over her shoulder.

Lucy stopped dead in her tracks. Punishment? In all the chaos that had happened since Erza had arrived – on a pirate ship, no less! – Lucy had completely forgotten about Erza's threat of punishment. She felt the blood drain from her face. "Punishment? That's still happening?" she squeaked out, suddenly afraid for her life.

Erza regarded her coolly. "You didn't think I'd forgotten, did you?" The question might have been teasing from anyone else, but the way Erza delivered it made it sound like a death sentence. Lucy wanted to run away and hide in the nearest cave, where Erza couldn't find her. Or maybe Virgo could dig her a hole for her to hide in. Turning, Erza began to walk forward again and, with worried looks at one another, Gray and Lucy followed her in silence, not daring to speak.

When they reached one of the busiest streets in the town, where the market was usually set up, Lucy paused and looked around. She felt eyes on her from all directions, from the townspeople and, upon meeting their gazes, saw that they looked… sympathetic? Erza frowned at the looks that they were receiving.

"Are those Fairy Tail wizards?"

"I feel so bad for them."

Lucy could only hear snatches of conversation through the hushed whispers that surrounded them. "Why is everyone staring at us?" she eventually asked, not wanting to know the answer. Did they know about whatever punishment Erza had in store for them? Part of her wished it was that, because whatever garnered these looks from the townsfolk…

"I don't know, but it feels like pity," Erza replied, glancing around at the people as well, and confirming Lucy's suspicions. Another few steps forward, and the three of them gasped at the sight that awaited them.

Towering over the buildings was the guild hall, as it normally did. Except – it didn't look right. There were beams sticking out of the building, glinting menacingly in the mid-morning sunshine, and all at odd angles. Lucy's mind went blank as she stared at it, trying to figure out how it could have ended up like that.

"Why does the guild look so bizarre?" Erza questioned, staring at the building with narrowed eyes, looking prepared to cut down anyone she may suspect of vandalising the building.

"No way," Gray breathed, sounding like he was in shock. Lucy couldn't blame him.

Slowly, they made their way through the throngs of people, who were slowly beginning to disperse, towards the guild hall. Lucy didn't know how the others felt, but she felt numb as they approached it and, standing in front of it, she wasn't sure what to feel. It seemed that both shock and anger were warring for dominance on Gray and Erza's faces – Lucy remembered that they'd been practically raised in that guild hall. She just felt grateful that Natsu wasn't there to see the damage.

"Who would do this?" Erza questioned, her voice shaking in barely restrained anger.

"It was Phantom," came a voice from behind them. The three of them turned, and saw Mirajane standing behind them, looking tired and harried.

"Phantom did this?" Gray questioned, and Mira nodded, letting out a sigh.

"We couldn't do anything to stop them," she began to explain, starting to lead them inside the wrecked building. Lucy looked around and felt a painful pang in her chest. "They got us good."

She lead them through the hall and to a door that Lucy had never been through at the very end, near the bar, and opened it, leading them down some stairs. It lead to some sort of storage basement, and Lucy saw that the rest of Fairy Tail were all gathered down there as well, having moved all the chairs and tables down there with them. Most were drinking, it seemed.

As they passed them, Lucy overhead Levy trying to keep her team mates, Jet and Droy, from doing anything rash like going after Phantom. She sighed.

"Yo! Wassup, kids!" Master Makarov greeted, his breath smelling strongly of wine. Lucy had to hold back a gag, whilst Erza gave him a disapproving look.

Lucy could only watch as Erza attempted to lecture the master, Gray attempted to persuade them to storm Phantom in revenge and, finally, the master ordered them to stay down in the basement. It was like she was having some sort of strange dream. One that she hoped that she'd wake up from soon.

Eventually, when Lucy finally managed to leave the guild hall, walking through the emptying streets, Plue plodding along by her side, she relished the fresh air and couldn't help but smile down at him. "You know," she said to him, walking along the river's edge and balancing precariously for a moment, not a care in the world, "I had no idea that the rivalry between Fairy Tail and Phantom ran so deeply." Plue made a small noise of agreement. "I mean, Phantom's one of the other top guilds in the country. I even thought about joining them once." Thinking back on her decision, though, she knew that there was no way that there would ever go back in time and choose otherwise.

She grinned. "There's no way I regret joining Fairy Tail, though," she told her little spirit friend, her own spirits lifting as she saw her apartment within running distance. She sped her pace up to reach it, the urge to flop down into her comfy bed overwhelming. "They're like my family." She unlocked the door, only to find Gray and Erza sat around her table, drinking cups of tea, and she involuntarily screamed, "THEY LIKE TO SHOW UP WITHOUT ASKING FIRST!" She threw her bag at Gray, shouting, "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

Erza slowly took a sip of her tea, regarding her with a cool expression. Lucy noticed that she'd removed her armour and was sitting in casual clothes. Which meant making herself comfortable. Which meant staying. Great. "Since the guild's been attacked, we can assume that there are Phantom members in town."

Gray nodded, rubbing the spot on his cheek where Lucy's bag had hit him. "They've probably found out where everyone in the guild lives by now," he agreed, grunting in slight pain. "So Mira said it would be safer if we hold up together. You know, strength in numbers?"

"I guess that's true," Lucy acquiesced, but then frowned again. "But why does it have to be my place?!"

Gray shrugged. "Why not?"

After what was possibly the strangest night of Lucy's existence, which included details of Erza, Gray, and Natsu's childhood that she never wanted to know about, Erza going through one of her drawers and Gray attempting to sleep on her bed, Lucy felt the greatest relief in being able to escape to guild hall the next morning. Away from her crazy friends.

On the way to the guild, however, they heard whispers from the townsfolk they passed. Whispers of an incident involving some of their guild mates down in the South Gate Park. Lucy felt her stomach drop into the ground beneath her as Erza steered them in the direction of the park, her mind wondering what could have happened during the night. Had Phantom Lord done something to some of their members? Was it something minor, like a scuffle amongst themselves? Lucy bit her lip as they walked in silence, their footsteps quick and heavy.

"Please, let us through. We're in their guild," Erza said, once they'd reached the park. People were crowding around one of the largest trees in the centre, obscuring the thick trunk from view. Lucy suddenly felt a deep pit of dread form in her stomach as they walked to the head of the crowd, and as they stood before the tree, she knew she hadn't been wrong to feel that way. Instantly, she covered her mouth in horror, and tears sprung to her eyes. She heard sharp intakes of breaths beside her, angered hisses and snarls.

"Oh no," she murmured, staring up and unable to look away. Above her were Team Shadow Gear, each attached to the trunk by their arms – they seemed to have been put into place by way of some kind of magic and metal, judging by the way that the metal strips were holding the three in place like they were being crucified. Various cuts and bruises littered their bodies and there, in the middle of Levy's stomach, was the Phantom guild mark, stamped like a badge of honour.

Lucy felt like being sick.

"Why has nobody gotten them down yet?"

Lucy jumped. Natsu was suddenly standing beside them, staring up at Levy, Jet and Droy with a dark expression that she'd never seen before. Wordlessly and without waiting for an answer, he cast a jet of fire up at the metal strips holding Levy in place, watched them melt, and caught her when she fell. Once she was safely lowered to the ground, and out of sight of nosy townsfolk, he repeated the actions with Jet and Droy, expression dark and almost terrifying the entire time. Just looking at it gave Lucy shivers.

"Natsu, Phantom Lord – " Erza began to explain, but Natsu cut her off with a sharp snarl and a wave of his hand.

"I already know," he said sharply, sniffing the air and snarling again. "Their stench is all over the place. Especially him."

They were interrupted once again by the sound of more footsteps coming towards them, and Lucy turned to see who they were coming from. The master was walking through the crowds of people, who parted respectfully for him, and he stopped with their little group, where more members of their guild had started to gather. His face, which was normally so relaxed with drunkenness or general lunacy, immediately darkened as he took in the states of Team Shadow Gear.

"I can take our headquarters being reduced to rubble," the master said slowly, his voice steady. His grip suddenly tightened on his staff. "But I will not let harm come to my children without taking revenge!" Lucy could only stare in growing fear and trepidation as a golden light suddenly surrounded him. "We have no choice but to go to war." He turned to the stony faced guild members that surrounded them, face stormy like lightning. "We'll meet back at the guild hall in two hours. We have a meeting with Phantom to attend."

Two hours later, Lucy was sitting alone in the Magnolia hospital by Levy's bed, a weight in her chest anchoring her down. While she had felt the pain and anger of all her comrades, a larger part of her wanted to be there just in case Levy woke up. And besides, what use would she be when there were wizards like Erza and Gray there fighting in the fray? She sighed, rubbing her palms against her eyes in pure exhaustion. The last couple of days seemed like a nightmare.

Natsu hadn't gone with the guild to see Phantom Lord, either. He'd walked Lucy to the hospital, expression still scarily dark and eyes darting around every so often and, once there, had departed with a simple, "Be careful, Luigi." She wasn't sure entirely what he was doing in town – he had said something about 'evicting unwanted squatters' from the town, whatever that meant. The small, slightly savage smile he'd given her when he said that certainly didn't calm her down.

Lucy sighed again, and looked at Levy. She remembered the first time that Levy had officially introduced herself to Lucy at the guild, a few days after she and the rest of her team had completed their mission against Eisenwald. Levy had been so ecstatic to meet another book lover, and had coaxed Lucy into letting her be the first to read her novel once it was finished. Lucy had played it off as being exasperated, but inside she was thrilled that someone wanted to read it so badly. From that day on, she and Levy had gotten on like a house on fire, often swapping book recommendations and team horror stories.

Just thinking about it made her well up.

"Phantom Lord is heartless," she murmured, glancing out of the window behind her, where she could see the deformed guild hall off in the distance, the ugly metal poles still glinting horrendously like badges of their shame. "How could they do something like this?" Her thoughts drifted to the others, the ones who had gone over to see Phantom. "I hope they're all okay…"

Slowly, she reached into the bag that she'd brought for her three injured team mates and pulled out a giant card. Before the others had left for Oak Town – where Phantom Lord's main branch resided – she'd managed to get them to sign it. Maybe it was a silly and childish idea, giving three unconscious people a card when what they really needed was medicine, but Lucy just wanted to feel like she was helping somehow. To feel like that when they woke up, they'd know that the others were thinking of them. With trembling fingers, she placed the card by Levy's bedside, where the sunlight hit it the best, and slowly stood up.

"I'll come back as soon as I can," she told them. They remained unresponsive, unaware of her presence, and Lucy sighed, murmuring, "Like talking to an empty room." Her hate for Phantom grew exponentially in that moment.

Slowly, she turned and left their room, and then the hospital, choosing to slowly walk down the abandoned streets. It seemed that news of Phantom's attack had spread like wildfire amongst the townsfolk, and they were preferring to stay indoors, lest they get attacked as well. Honestly, Lucy couldn't blame them. Would Phantom even bother differentiating between bystander and supposed foe, or would they just attack with careless abandon? She clenched her fist.

No. Probably not.

Suddenly, Lucy became aware of cold, wet droplets hitting her skin, and she looked up towards the sky in confusion. The sky had shown no change in weather, and the sun was still shining as brightly as ever, so why was it raining as heavily as though it was storming?

"It's raining whilst the run's still out?" she asked herself, holding out a hand to catch a few droplets in bafflement. She distantly became aware of another sound – footsteps coming towards her through the sudden rain, and a voice.

"Drip, drip, drop," said the voice – a melancholic woman's voice – ominously.

Then, nothing.

Author's note: Alright, so that was the opening for the Phantom arc. Hopefully, that was okay. Please let me know your thoughts on it!