Mizu-chan- Hey guys! Lucy and Gray couldn't make it today, they're on a mission with Natsu and Erza at the moment. Buuuutttt... yeah. Anyways, I do not own Fairy Tail, I do own the plot and the OC's, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

P.S. I had a horrible writers block, sorry! (-_- ') I hate my brain sometimes, lol.

Lucy's P.O.V

I shivered and wrapped the coat tighter around myself as I walked. Gray caught my eye and and started to pull off his own coat. I started to protest as he held it out, but he raised his eyebrow and draped it over my shoulders.

"Do you really think that I need it? I'm an Ice Mage, Lucy." He joked, smiling at me. I flashed him a quick, grateful smile before turning away. We started moving again, and this time I was considerably warmer, but I couldn't bring myself to look Gray in the eye. There was something... something that wasn't... right. The way he was trusting me too easily. I had no choice. After what happened twelve years ago, I couldn't fully trust anyone right now.

And then... then there was Masato.

I didn't want to believe it, but all signs pointed to him. No one, no one, besides him knew about Kasumi's rare condition. All the help he'd given her, it must've just been preparation. Keeping her alive, just to use her later on. But it seemed like time was running out or something, and instead of waiting until she was a full grown woman, they took her now. She was only twelve!

My worry was clouding my thoughts, worry about so many different things. Worry about Kasumi, worry about trusting Gray, worry about Natsu, who was now under the care of Masato! He could've sent him off to that damn dark guild as well, for all we knew! And we left him...

I couldn't care less about Lisanna. That stupid... no...it wasn't her fault. It... I actually didn't know what to think. All those years to think about it-and I had thought about it-and I still didn't know what I actually did to get ignored. I knew it wasn't just Lisanna's fault though. And it wasn't just Natsu's fault either! It was all of them! Well, except for the master, but he had a duty to remember and pay attention to every member of Fairy Tail he'd ever freakin' met! But at least I'd had someone to talk to after Gray started ignoring me.

And now we were back to Gray. Great. I thought I'd forgotten about him for a moment. I didn't want to forget him, yet I did. After this whole thing was over with, I'd run away with Kasumi. And I'd forget them all for good. I didn't care what it took, even a memory spell or something, anything would work. Just thinking about how we used to be, the guild and I, I mean, all of us together, it brought tears to my eyes, caused anxiety, stress, depression, and it wasn't good for Kasumi. She was still growing, and she had an awful role model parent.

But, seeing as I was only fifteen was all of that happened, I guess I had a small excuse for my feelings. Left alone, pregnant, and rejected. At the time, I wouldn't lie, I'd considered aborting my kid. I hated her. Well, at the time I didn't know it's gender, but it wasn't important to me. My life had been "ruined", and I was determined to set it right again, or at least, I'd start a new one.

But... then I rethought and Kasumi hadn't done anything wrong. She wasn't a mistake. She was mine, and I was going to raise her.

Sure, I got a lot of strange looks, going to the hospital in labor, a fifteen year old girl. I got whispered about behind my back as I lifted up my black haired baby and fed her. I wasn't accepted for a while, but then, they started to accept me. They pitied me at first, and at that moment, I was glad I had pity. But then, when they started to talk to me, to interact, they became... well, I wouldn't call them friends, but they certainly helped me and supported me, after a while.

I remember almost every second of my life with Kasumi. From the time I cut my hair, because she'd be tugging on it, to the first time she spoke, to the first magic she showed me, and to the time when she first asked me about her father. I don't remember anything about that night, after she'd gone to bed, I'd tried to find peace in the bottom of a bottle. I hadn't found it. God I was such an awful mother! To think I-

"Lucy!"

I yelped as I was thrown to the ground, tackled into the snow by my ex-lover. I blinked and looked up. Gray was standing again, striking a protective stance in front of me against...

Nothing?

Gray snarled and his fist was surrounded by ice crystals, and frost was gathering on his bare shoulders. I sucked in a breath. We had to stop this.

I stood quickly, before he could attack the cold, mountain air, and touched his neck. He glanced over his shoulder, before turning back to the hallucinated enemy. He pushed me back gently. "Get back, Lucy. I'll protect you." I grabbed his arm and spun him around.

"What-"

"Gray, Gray you need to snap out of it! There's nothing there." I stroked his cheek, yet his eyes stayed that frighteningly piercing ice blue. They flicked back and fourth, but I noticed the rapid movements slowing. I licked my lips, nervous, before planting a small kiss on his cheek. "There's nothing there..." I murmured.

I couldn't have him break down now. I needed his help to get Kasumi back. That's all I needed him for, right? I mean, I was going to leave right after. I couldn't afford the pain, the distractions. It was just too much to handle! Why had I come back, anyways!?

"Lucy..." Gray whispered. He wrapped his arms around me, shivering. Not from cold, obviously. From fear. I felt a tiny pang of guilt and sympathy in my chest. No. I still loved him. I still wanted him to be okay. I still wanted to be with him. But I was still angry. He'd had his chance to love me back then, and even if he had been childishly embarrassed, still! You can't just do that!

I sighed and hugged him closer. I'd just make the most of this now. I'd made up my mind, I was leaving. For good.

Gray buried his face into the crook of my neck for a moment, before straightening up. He pulled back, and I missed his warmth immediately. His eyebrows were creased with worry, and he looked away.

"Come on, the sooner we get there the sooner we can put a stop to this."

I nodded and we continued walking. I grew colder and colder over time, with the combination of the freezing air and the fear that was causing Gray's magic to flare up. I touched his shoulder, ignoring the frost forming on the tips of my gloves, and he looked at me. I forced a smile.

"Calm down, Gray. We don't know what's going on, but I know that Kasumi isn't... she isn't dead. I would be able to sense that with my, uh, my magic." I wasn't sure if it was my magic or not, but I could tell when Kasumi was in danger. It had only happened twice. Once, when her fever was horrifically high, when she was a baby, and the second time when she had eaten a mushroom out of the front yard. Turns out it had been extremely poisonous. But yeah, I could tell when she was in a terrible situation.

Gray took a breath and nodded. He took my hand and squeezed it. I blushed a bit. He'd never held my hand. I mean, this wasn't really the situation to be blushing and thinking about that small fact, but I couldn't help it.

"You're right. It's just... too much has gone on the past two days." He answered finally. I looked up at the darkening sky. The white snowflakes, that were just starting to fall, stood out against the grayish blue vastness. It was getting late. We needed to move.

"We should hurry and get to the next town. said that it would be a quicker walk than you'd expect, and that there was a train to Bellum from there, although, it would take two days to get there. And then... I don't know. Since we'd been so far away from Bellum when I'd used my magic to locate Kasumi, I wasn't able to pinpoint her exact position. Well, it wouldn't be too hard to find a dark guild, they tended to be quite braggy and showy.

Something was bothering me, though. Our trip from the same exact place, my house in Magnolia, to Bellum, would take four days, five tops, depending on where in Bellum we needed to go. So how the hell did Kasumi get from the town to another county in less than an hour?! I ruled out teleportation magic, as that had been prohibited by the Council after a major crime that happened years ago. But I wouldn't put it past a dark guild. But still, that didn't... it didn't feel right to me. I don't think that's what had happened.

I bumped my head on Gray's back and yelped. I frowned and glared up at the back of his head. We may be in a tough situation, but he could still tell me when he stops walking!? I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off before I began to speak.

"Hey Lucy, we've got company."

I blinked and looked around. I gasped. Shimmering runes surrounded us, and three people were walking towards us through the now heavily falling snow. Gray struck a defensive pose and I grabbed at my keys, which I had reattached at my hip. Eventually, the three figures became clear as they stepped right up to the runes.

It was a man and two women. The man was short, only around four feet and two inches, but he emitted this... aura, that made him frightening. He had skin that was literally as white as the snow behind him, and his eyes were a piercing green. His spiky silver hair framed his face, extenuating his cold smirk. The two women were obviously sisters, tall, light pink hair, and golden eyes. They had identical thorny vine tattoos curling around their eyes, neck, arms, bare stomachs and legs, as if they'd been bound with the plants.

"Well, well, well," The shorter haired woman started with a grin, showing off her sharp canines. "It looks like we've caught a couple of fairies, Quince." She said, speaking to her sister all the while staring at us with those bright gold eyes. The longer haired woman, Quince, I guess, giggled.

"Shall we pluck their wings off, Rose?" She jeered. The man chuckled.

"I don't think she has to answer you to give you an answer, Quin-chan." He said. He sounded like... a child. Maybe only a little older than Kasumi.

I scowled. It didn't matter. We couldn't waste our time here. I stepped out from behind Gray and walked up to the rune wall, so I was face to face with our captors. I heard Gray protest, but I punched the wall. I knew nothing would happen. These runes would only contain you, not harm you. The silver haired boy flinched, but didn't step away. "What the hell are you doing!?" I snarled. The woman named Rose answered instantly, as if she'd rehearsed this conversation.

"We're here to stop you from getting in our way. We don't want to kill you," She trailed off, letting her eyes drift to Gray. She smirked. "seeing as we fully intended to give you what was left of your daughter after we were done with her."

My breath hitched in my throat. These people were with that dark guild! I bared my teeth and punched the wall again, just to take out my anger on something. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew by that minty smell that it was Gray. He leaned down to my ear and whispered, "Sh, Lucy, I've got this. Calm down." I nodded, took a breath, and backed off. Gray straightened up, stared hard at our enemies, and murmured, "Let us out, or we'll fucking kill you."

The silence was broken by the wind. It might sound silly, right after telling me to calm down, but the way he had said it, the dangerous tone, the cold-no, freezing bite, that obvious sense that he wasn't bluffing and that he would, in fact, kill them if he had to. Never the less, Quince and Rose laughed. The kid looked on nervously, his bravado gone.

"Listen here, sexy." Rose started, addressing Gray. I bristled, but stopped myself from snapping at her. That was her aim, to get me angry. I wouldn't let her. No.

"The rules are simple. You get out of there one way, and then, you have to fight us. Only one of you. But don't worry," she smiled sweetly, too sweetly for her character. "We'll fight you one on one, one after the other. We're not so unfair as to have a three on one fight! Anyways," She looked at her nails, as if there was something wrong with the flawlessly painted crescents. "The rules are, you have to fight each other, and the one who wins is the one who fights us and goes on. You don't have to kill the other person, but you have to make sure that they're disabled enough to stay down." Quince laughed at her sisters speech.

"Rose does love a good game, don't you, Rose?" She joked. Rose grinned, but didn't say anything. She allowed it to sink in.

I was shocked. I needed to save Kasumi, but I couldn't hurt Gray! I needed his help to save her! These people, they were twisted, making me choose. I hated Gray, but I loved him too, I couldn't...

I couldn't...

"You-" Gray started to say something, but I interrupted him.

"Gray, I'm sorry."

Gray looked at me, dumbfounded. He blinked and watched as I looked up, tears streaming from my eyes.

"I need to save Kasumi, Gray. She's everything to me. She..." I took a shuddering breath and finished as I reached for one of two new keys in my skirt pocket.

"She's more important to me than you've ever been."