Star and Iron

by Frozen Silver Moonlight

Change is always a double edged sword. It can bring you good things or bad things. It just depends on how you decided to use that change. Lucy knew that and yet she still does not know what to think about Gajeel Redfox nor does he know what to think about her! Doubled edge sword indeed! (Is back on track!)

36. Something is Amiss

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Fairy Tail characters that honor belongs to Hiro Mashima!

I do own the Original Characters (Ocs) that appear in this story and the plot~

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Chapter 36: Something is Amiss

"I find this sight amusing."

"Shut up, Lily." Gajeel growled extremely annoyed. He tried to reach for the smirking Exceed sitting across from him, but he found his vision blurred and bile rising inside his throat. This all happened because of the movement of the train. "I swear once we're off this damn thing I am going to get you!"

"You're in no position to threat anyone at the moment, Gajeel." The Iron Dragon Slayer felt a semi rough pat on his head. He winced, the pat slightly causing the already aching headache attacking him to feel a little more irritating. "You can barely stand."

"You're supposed be on my side, Bunny Girl." He frowned, his fingers digging into her thigh.

"I am on your side." She smiled at him her eyes shining with amusement.

"It doesn't feel like it, Bunny." He grumbled, nuzzling his head into her stomach. That action made her giggle a little. "I feel like you are taking Lily's side."

"But Gajeel look how cute Lily is!" She cooed making little baby noises, at the Exceed, whose ears twitch. His furry cheeks blushed as the blonde continued to make cooing noises at him. "Like I said I am on your side. I'm just keeping an eye on your wellbeing by not allowing you to pick fights when you're about to throw up."

"Tch." He rolled his eyes deciding it was best not to response back to her.

"Anyways, will you care to inform me what sort of job this is?" The cat asked as his eyes focused away from the Dragon Slayer, who was sticking out his tongue at him, on the Celestial Mage. "I sort of agreed to come without knowing much of the details."

"Sure, it's a job for the town of Sida. The description given was there have been a number of odd disappearances occurring."

"Disappearances? Like kidnappings?" The cat tilted his head, his face looking disturbed.

"Yeah, most of those who have gone missing have been mages, but now there have been a number of civilians that have gone missing as well. They don't know what is going on, but they suspect it be the work of some sort of wild animal." Gajeel had brought his tongue back into his mouth as his eyes focused upward on the blonde. He was listening to what Lucy was telling his cat. "Serial kidnappings are rare, especially at such a massive scale, but that is not the horrible part.

"Horrible part?"

"It seems they recently found some severed heads placed in certain spots throughout the town. And then a few days after the heads are found the rest of the body turns up hanging around the town like decorations, in a ritualistic manner." Lucy explained further. She shivered as her words left her mouth. It reminded her too much of what happened with Yukino. "That bit of information made this job stand out to me because it is similar to what the authorities told me in the town of Zinclonis."

"Zinclonis?" Lily quickly glanced at Gajeel his orange eyes wide in understanding. Oh, he understood the importance of this job. Maybe this job would provide the trio with some clues? There was always a chance."You believe this may be related to what happened to Aguria-san, the ex-Sabertooth member?"

"Yes, I do." The red eye man felt Lucy's fingers tighten in his hair unconsciously. Her grip didn't hurt him, but it felt like an unpleasant pinch. "It is too similar to pass it up as a coincidence."

"That is why we're checking it out, Bunny Girl." Gajeel added. He too felt like the similarities between the case in Sida and the case in Zinclonis were related. He recalled the details Lucy had shared with him when she had finally gathered the courage to tell him. And even he felt that description of this job fit the bill. "We're not just going there to do this job, but to investigate too."

"I see." Lily nodded. He looked out the window to watch the blur of the passing scenery. It was a good plan and it hit two birds with one stone. "I just want to ask this, so take it as me being a pessimist, but what if we find nothing?"

"Then we keep searching." Lucy answered simply as her eyes glittered with determination. "No matter how long it takes I will find out what happened with Yukino."

The Iron Dragon Slayer inwardly smiled. He loved her determination when it came to helping others or when her mind was set on something; she was not the type to stray when she had a goal to meet. He was the same the way. Hence, why he had searched all over Fiore when he was in Phantom Lord for and now pursued her to be his mate—his very soon to be one and only woman in his life.

"And in the case that we do find something on this job?" The Exceed asked his paws crossing over his blacked fur chest. "What then?

"That's simple." The ex-heiress grinned widely. She looked down at the Dragon Slayer in her lap.

"Right, we beat the shit of whoever is doing this and make sure they don't do it again." He replied with the upmost confidence. "Short, simple and sweet."

He was not going to let anything happen to his blonde Bunny. There was no way in hell he was going to let such a dangerous person, possibly dark mage or creature, get away with a killing spree in such small towns. Something had to be done. It was already a problem that mages were being found in pieces in Zinclonis and now in this town they're heading too as well. Still he knew whoever was doing this had to either be really strong or really smart or both because mages were hard to kill. Heck, even for another mage to kill the other was a feat, unless one of them was significantly stronger than the other or caught their victim by surprise. The issue of a few missing and dead mages was not the most important thing now. No, now there were civilians involved. That meant that any one was becoming fair game for this killer. And the added fact that parts of the missing peoples' were being strung up ritualistically made this situation worse. It told him one thing.

Something truly sinister was going on.

The Iron Dragon Slayer glanced up at Lucy from the corner of his eyes. She was chewing her bottom lip in anxiety. He could feel the nervousness rolling off her in waves and he understood her feeling. She wanted to find something during this job. She really did. She wanted this job to be related to what happened with the other Celestial Mage. And that apprehension of finding something was eating her alive and thus caused her mood to darken. He hated to see her so bent out of shape like this. This made a part of him wanted them to find something, preferably the culprit who was causing the hurt in his mate's heart. And yet the other part, his instinct driven part was hoping that this was just a regular job. It wanted nothing found and his inner dragon was screaming at him to turn around and go home. They told him that they were heading towards danger. His instincts were never wrong.

Something was going to happen in this town. Good or bad, he did not know.

Something, something deep inside his him told him that they were heading into darkness.

---

The small town of Sida was lovely place.

It was surrounded by trees galore and clean streets. The air was fresh and there was not too much noise assaulting their ears. Overall, it was a very pretty town to visit, except one thing was missing. It was missing the bustling sound of people. Wherever Sida's inhabitants were it was certainly not on the town's streets or sidewalks. The streets were empty, beyond empty. Not a single soul was out. Heck, there were even no signs of animals around either. And despite Sida's welcoming atmosphere Lucy felt like something was clouding over this area in a blanket of fear and suspicion. Even though she could not see anyone physically, she could feel the burn of stares coming from the windows of the buildings when they had entered.

She ignored it and continued to walk alongside Gajeel as she cradled Lily to her chest. She was sure the other two were feeling the same thing she was feeling about this place. The Iron Dragon Slayer looked tense as he walked his eyes skimming from her to the area surrounding them. Lily was doing the same. She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt one of the Exceed's furry paws pat her cheek. She looked down to see the cat was giving her a smile that was probably meant to reassure her. She smiled back knowing he must have sense her unease. Still she continued to walk searching for the mayor's hall.

She felt unwelcomed, very unwelcomed here.

That unwelcome feeling increased when a group of men appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. They dressed in the grabs of what looked like to be some form of authority she assumed. She was about to greet them, but that idea die in a second. The men suddenly surrounded them trapping them in a circle of angry faces and pointed spears. Her brown eyes sparkled with confusion when one of the men pointed the sharp blade of the spear inches from her face. That scared her and Gajeel was noticed that. The Dragon Slayer reacted quickly snapping the offending weapon in half and he pushed the man away. The red eye man stood in front of her in a defensive stance teeth bared and snarling. This scared the shit out of some the men as they scrambled away from his vicious threat of injury. She felt safe again, but she knew if they got in a fight with these men then they would be able to do their job. So she placed a hand on his shoulder calming him down enough for her to be able to question these men. She wanted to understand why they were pointing their weapons at them.

"What's the big idea here?" She looked around the group of men with a glare on her face. "Is this how you treat the mages of Fairy Tail who have come to help you?"

"Mages!" The tallest of them spat the word like it was a curse. His tawny eyes glared her down like she was a monster. "It is the fault of mages that this town is afflicted with misfortune! Get out!"

"Sir, we're only here to help." The blonde placed Lily on the ground so she could reached into her pockets. She pulled out the job request and held the paper up like a shield against the man as she took a step in front of Gajeel. The man examined it with a critical eye. "This request was sent to our guild and we answered it."

"That piece of paper means nothing. For all I know, that's a fake and you three are not really mages!" He eyed her with so much hatred that it made her blood freeze. What was happening here that they hate mage's so much? Did the blame the kidnappings and body dumps on mages? "Shows us where you mark is!"

"As you wish." She answered turning to her two teammates. They complied and each showed off their guild stamp, but the man still did not look convinced that they were here to help.

"You're mark could be false as well!" The tall man sneered; he pointed his weapon directly in the face of the blonde. This time she was not afraid."We have heard the same shit from the other mages and that has brought us nothing but trouble. All of you mages are the same, selfish and greedy bastards."

That pissed her off.

How dare this man insult them!

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, making sure to keep her anger in check. She pulled the paper down, her eyes meeting Gajeel's. He nodded understanding. If things got to dangerous they would have no choice, but to defend themselves. It was not like she wanted to hurt these people, but team Iron Star's safety came first. "We are here to help you!"

What the hell is up with this guy? Lucy was beginning to lose her patience the more he glowered at her. Why did these people who had requested for help act so hostile towards them? Was this job some sort of hoax that tricked mages into coming here, so they could be persecuted? Nothing was making sense. This was infuriating and did she not know if she could take being insulted again.

"Why don–"

"General Jermyn, enough!" A strong male voice rang out causing everyone to look towards the source. "Drop your weapons immediately men!"

Before them stood a man, a man who looked to be in power. He looked to be in his mid thirties as he walked to them with confidence in his gait. His brown chestnut hair was slick back in a style that reminded Lucy of her father for a brief second. His suit was the color of navy blue and was neat. His harden steel green eyes were alive with embarrassment and irritation as he looked around the crowd when he reached it. The Celestial Mage saw the men around them instantly lowered their weapons going limp with slight terror as they made way for the well dressed man. They saluted the man as he stopped in front of them, well except for one.

"Mayor Hadley!" The man who had been aggressive towards them paled as the other man turned his head towards him briskly. "I was only doing what is best for our town! These mages will bring us nothing but grief!"

"General Jermyn, that is quite enough." Mayor Hadley placed a hand on the other man's shoulder. His eyes may have been reflecting sympathy for the General, but there was a hidden glint of authority that expressed he was not one to be disobeyed. "I understand that you are doing this out of your feelings of wanting to protect our town from these misfortunes, but it is as the young lady states. They are here under my request."

"But this all began because of mages! Why ask for their help?"

"General, please understand." He smiled softly at him. He had the face of someone who reminded the trio of an adult speaking to a child. "You have done all that is possible to find this villain, but we must admit we have had no success in getting any closer to discovering the culprit. We need outside help if we want to keep our town safe. Now stand down."

Lucy watched the exchanged with interested eyes. The man named Jermyn looked at the Mayor with defiance but as the words snaked in to him. His shoulders slumped downwards and moved to stand to behind the other man with his head bowed. Then he apologized for his behavior towards them. The Mayor of Sida nodded his head in acceptance before he turned to Lucy and her two companions. He bowed in respect and Lucy could not help the natural reaction she was taught to do since she was a young child, she curtsey. Her action surprised everyone around her, including herself. She rarely used the high society etiquette she was trained in since she had run away from home. It was rather unnecessary when she was living a life that did not involve so many neck restricting rules anymore. Her life was not like that anymore, but sometimes her Heartfilia heiress mind would revert to her proper and prim behavior when the situation called for it. Though she was often was stared at for her behavior.

"Oh, I know who must be. Yes, I should have noticed it sooner." The Mayor stood up, his face reflecting recognition as he looked at her."You're the last of the Heartfilia family, Lucy Heartfilia-sama."

"Please, I left that title long ago." Lucy waved her arms around in a frantic gesture as she came out from her curtsey. She did not need special treatment because of her name. At least Gajeel and her guild mates were able to look past the famed named of Heartfilia and only see her as a person, as Lucy. "I'm just Lucy, the Celestial Mage of Fairy Tail and partner of the Iron Dragon Slayer Gajeel Redfox."

He looked at her like she was crazy.

"As you wish, Heartfilia-dono."

"Thank you, Hadely-sama." She smiled, appreciating that he had accepted her request.

"Although, I find it very disrespectful to address someone of your ranking like a mere commoner I will do as you say. Please, call me Jeffery." He smiled back and he reached to grasp her hand, but was stopped by the interruption of Gajeel grabbing his wrist.

"Don't touch her." He warned.

Lucy felt a little flutter in heart at the display, but she found his current reaction to be a bad one. The General and the others were once again pointed their spears at them–well more like him. The blonde did not think that this town that already had too much to deal with did not need a possessive Dragon Slayer acting out his protective instincts. He could be rather destructive. So not wanting to cause a commotion to break loose the Celestial Mage gently placed her hand on Gajeel's. Her touch causes him to look at her, which was what he wanted.

"Gajeel, it's nothing just a greeting. He was going to greet me like they do in high society."

"This douche should still ask for your permission to touch you. You are not public property that can be touch because he feels like it." The Dragon Slayer answered in a flat tone. "He needs to ask first."

"Hmm, I guess you're right about that. I wish you could have told my dad that when made go to those social gatherings. Better yet you could have come with me."

"I would have caused so much havoc."

"I'm sure you would have." She smiled sweetly as rubbed his hand with her finger. "I got an idea."

"Oh?"

"Let's focus on the job now then later we cause chaos."

"Tch, fine." He smiled at her his eyes brightening up at the promise of causing havoc later, but he gave Mayor Hadley a silent warning glare before he released him. Once he let the man go he went to stand by the Celestial Mage and blatantly nuzzled into her neck in front of all of them. She assumed he was showing she was off limits.

It was Lily who vocalized the message.

"Sorry about that, but his reaction is normal. Gajeel doesn't like it when other people touch his girlfriend."The cat stated calmly as he eyed the men before he flew up to land on the blonde's head. "So please refrain from touching Lucy or you will get hurt."

Nice way to put it Lily.

She had expected the men to react with a nod of agreement. After all Gajeel had made a valid point about them touching her like she was public property and Lily told them that they were a couple. Instead, they all stood there dead silent with their arms hanging limply against their sides like they were lifeless dolls. Their eyes were wide and bulging as they looked at Lily sitting on her blonde head. She figured they were in shock because of the fact that she and Gajeel was a couple. They did look like total opposites, but to her surprise it was not that.

"Eeeeehhhhhh, a talking flying cat?" The group of men screeched simultaneously.

Gajeel, who sometimes lack tack, ended up straight out laughing at the men's reactions and Lucy just face-palmed herself about it.

What a way to start a job.

---

It took awhile for the initial reaction of a flying, talking cat to roll over into nothing by a fleeting memory. Well, team Iron Dragon Star did notice the suspicious yet amazed stares Lily was getting when they made their way to the Mayor's home. The walk over there was still filled with some tension in the air from the earlier misunderstanding or maybe it was just the feeling in the air from the tragedy that had struck this town. It did not take them that long to reach Mayor Hadley's home and they were soon standing inside his main office. Well, it was only Mayor Hadely, General Jermyn and team Iron Star in the room. The rest of the group left to keep patrolling Sida.

Lucy did not mind the smaller group. That meant that the information shared when remain between them, which worked to their advantage. The blonde being as observant as she was ended up looking around the Mayor's office and the first thing she saw was a picture. It was a picture of the Mayor Hadely surrounded by people that looked like to be his family frozen in time. They were all smiling like nothing was wrong in the world and in that moment in the frame it must have been like that. Everything else around the office looked to be impersonal things you would typically find. She brought her attention back to the other people in the room as she sat in the chair that was offered to her and Gajeel to sit in. The ex-heiress could still feel some hostility coming from General Jermyn, but she chose to ignore it. Heck, not even Gajeel looked to bother by it. She felt some warmth radiating from the top of her head. She was sure it was coming from Lily's fur. The cat was just content to stay perched on her head like how Happy use to do.

Oh, damn why did she have to think about Happy now?

She had not talked with the blue cat in awhile, not since the whole thing with team Natsu. She wondered how the he was doing. She had caught a glance of him eating in the corner of the guild, which was nothing new, before they left for this job. What was strange was that he was eating alone and he looked incredibly upset about something. She had wanted to go speak and comfort him, but she had not time. She did manage to get his attention and wave goodbye to him, but he did not even acknowledge her. Happy was too busy glaring at Lily. She vaguely wondered if something had happen between Lily and him. Maybe an argument?

Well, whatever it was she was sure that the two Exceeds would figure it out.

"So now that we got all our shit together can we get details about the job?" Gajeel asked bluntly as he leveled the two other men with a look that meant all business. Lucy noticed the disgusted look the Mayor shot the Dragon Slayer for his choice of words. Well, it was obvious the Mayor did not like him much. "Unless you have fucking nothing to give us and we have to investigate on own too."

That caught the attention of both of the other men.

"You dare insult us?" General Jermyn was the first to react. Maybe because it was more directed at him and his investigation skills the blonde assume. He was screaming his anger blazing in his eyes as he looked at Gajeel. "Do you know how hard we have been searching? Searching for the bastards that have been killing people night and day?"

"Maybe you didn't search for those responsible hard enough?" The red eye man replied simply.

"You bastard, how dare you?" The man looked like he wanted to tackle her partner right there and then."Every nook and cranny has been search, but nothing! We always found nothing!"

"Calm down, General." The Mayor said his face in a neutral expression, though the look in his eyes told her he was offended by what the Dragon Slayer had said. "Don't get over work. He is just stating facts."

The blonde decided to intervene before things became two out of hand.

"I'm sorry. My partner is rather straight forward with his words." The ex-Heartfilia heiress quickly apologized with a smile on her face. She hoped that would help to pacify the other two men. She was sure that Gajeel had meant no harm in his words. "Still, my partner does bring up a good point so I have to agree. I am wondering what information you have gathered?"

Her words and smile seemed to have worked.

"It is quite understandable for someone of his–uh, upbringing to have crude, foul language." He cleared his throat, trying to avoid eye contact with Gajeel. Lucy gritted her teeth in annoyance. She caught the condescending tone in the man's voice. "One cannot blame him how he was raise, but he should keep his language under control around such a beautiful lady like yourself Heartfilia-dono."

"Hadley-san, we are not here to discuss language usage. Honestly, I really don't give a fucking shit about language. We're here to help solve the situation of your poor citizens." The Celestial Mage smiled brightly, sitting all prim and proper like a noble lady. "So as my boyfriend has kindly and accurately put it let's get to the job please."

Was it so wrong to enjoy their shock faces as she freely cussed? Well, she rarely used foul language, unless she was really stressed for her life or just angry. And yet when she did she always got these stares that told her that people did not like it. She had grown use to the disapproving looks and the occasional women-swearing-is-unladylike lecture from some random stranger. She never understood why so many people believed that women should not be allowed to cuss and yet no one bats an eye when men do. Honestly, there was nothing wrong with it. So she ended up opting to inwardly laugh as the other people in the room stared at her for her use of language. Seriously, why was it so surprising to them? Her guild members never reacted like this when their female guild mates cussed.

She didn't think it was a big deal, but that was just her opinion.

"Umm…" Mayor Hadley's mouth was hanging wide opened for a few a seconds, before he recomposed himself by clearing his throat. He looked like he did not want to approach the subject of her foul language. "Yes, let's talk about the current misfortunes in Sida."

"Good." The blonde nodded, liking the fact that they were finally getting somewhere with this job. She felt Lily's tiny paws gripping her hair so he would not fall off her head. "So what do you have for us?"

"Yeah, what Bunny Girl said." Gajeel nodded his red eyes focused on her and a smirk made it to his face. "She got more sass in her than I do apparently."

"It is as the description says. There have been a number mages, who have disappeared in a sequence of days. For awhile we believed they just went somewhere else or were meeting up together in a gathering. Then a few days later the first of the many non magical citizens disappeared. At first we figured there was nothing to worry about. I had asked the General Jermyn to investigate the situation, but sadly he found nothing." The mayor explained his voice graved and tired sounding. "And then the bodies began to show up around the town. We have no idea who is behind all this slaughter."

"So you were not able to find anything?" Lily asked from the top of Lucy's head. "Not a single clue?"

"Besides the body parts strung up, there have been no other physical evidence found. My men and I have searched around in many areas, but found nothing that could lead to any definitive suspects." General Jermyn interjected his arms crossed. "But recently we have gathered some information. The only issue with this information is who provided the information."

"Who was it?" Lucy asked not bothering to hide her curiosity. Any lead was good lead, even if it ended in failure. She questioned what made the person who may have provided some useful information that could help. "Surely any information would be followed upon."

"Bunny Girl is right. Any information is useful no matter who it is from." The red eye man next to her agreed.

"I agree with you, but you will see why we have doubts when they come in." The general walked over to the door. "Mayor Hadely, if you allow me I will bring the witness now."

"Yes, please go ahead." The Mayor nodded though his face expressed worry and doubt. After the General had left Mayor Hadely glanced back at the two Fairy Tail mages. He had a grim look settled on his face as he spoke to them. "Listen, may I ask you a small favor?"

Lucy looked at Gajeel, who nodded his head in agreement.

"Sure, what is it? We will make sure to fulfill it to the best of our ability."

"Please, do not ask the informant too many harsh questions than necessary. They probably won't be able to handle answering it." He whispered his eyes looking over to the door waiting for it to open. Even though his posture was stiff the blonde could see his nervousness reflecting from his eyes. "Remember, we are not certain if their information is valid or not. It could all be hearsay that they heard and decided to repeat or just something out of their imagination."

Okay, Lucy was really starting to question why the leader of the town of Sida would doubt any possible information.

Even with her curiosity and doubt beginning to seep into her mind, she would still agree to the request and her other two guild members shared her sentiment. The three Fairy Tail mages nodded in agreement. Yes, they would keep–more like Lucy and Lily are going to try to keep Gajeel from scaring the shit out of whoever was the informant. The ex-heiress noticed the Mayor allow a little smile appear when the mages nodded in agreement to his request. Then they fell into a period of silence waiting for someone to come in. It didn't take too long for the Celestial Mage to hear the sound of more than one footsteps coming closer to the door and then she heard the small audible click of the doorknob being turned again. The three mages turned around to see the door opening. General Jermyn walked in and with him came two other people. She figured the taller one was the informant and the other person was just here because they could not be by themselves. To her surprise one of them spoke in order to introduce themselves.

"Hello, I'm Hitomu." The speaker greeted their eyes shifted over the people in the room. They stopped and focused on Lucy and then they began to walk towards her with a giant smile on their face. "It is nice to meet all of you."

"It's nice to meet you too." The ex-heiress returned the smile only for it to change into a frown when Gajeel spoke.

"Why the hell would you bring a brat here?" The Dragon Slayer asked bluntly as his red eyes examined the kid. The kid with dark brown hair combed neatly and his orange eyes moved from her to Gajeel. They sparked with amusement as he looked at the Dragon Slayer. "This is not some sort of field trip."

"I would have to agree." Lily nodded in agreement.

"Ooo, a field trip would be nice. Maybe I can go on one later after all this is taken care of." He shifted his eyes away from Gajeel and refocused on the blonde. "So why don't we get down to business. I'm sure you are all wondering why I'm here."

None of the three Fairy Tail Mages said anything, but they were all wondering why a kid was here. Why would anyone bring a kid to hear some of the horrific details they would be discussing? Surely, the other adults in the room would be against a kid hearing such things. She looked over to the adult that had come along with the kid, but the man had a straight face that gave no indication what he was thinking. This was really becoming stranger and stranger.

"Seriously, how we suppose have an important conversation about our job when you bring brats along." Oh, Gajeel was becoming irritated and she would have to say so was she. "Get your shit straight already."

"Ah, well you see," Mayor Hadely decided to interject himself into the Dragon Slayer's semi rant. "I do agree with you about a child being present, but there is no choice in the matter."

"What do you mean no choice?" Lucy asked her voice filled with confusion. What did he mean there was no choice? Wasn't it simple to just ask the child wait outside?

"What the Mayor means is that I'm the witness!"

Oh! Oh!

Hitomu, the one with the information, was nothing but a little boy.

---

Gajeel Redfox was one experience mage.

During his rather successful career as a mage he had picked up many useful tips that he could apply to any situations he would run into in the future. One of those important things that he had learned was that any sort of information from anyone would be considered useful. And he had believed in that belief for a long time because it worked. Now he was beginning to question it because he had to wonder how reliable information would be coming from a little boy. He had the right to doubt things, especially when this boy, Hitomu, sitting on the giant armchair kicking his legs like a kid would do.

Yeah, he did not need his dragon instincts to tell him that he would have to take extra care analyzing the information this child would provide. After all there was only so much he could classify to be useful if it came from a child's mouth. Now, he understood why the Mayor had made them promise not to be too harsh with their questioning. They could accidently scare the brat or traumatize him. This was going to be difficult. He glanced over to Lucy and Lily and from their expressions they seem to be thinking the same thing. He definitely was not going to be the one doing the talking. He was going to let Bunny Girl do the talking for this one.

Besides, the little boy's focus had been on the Celestial Mage since he had walked in, which was good thing in his opinion.

"So you guys are here to stop the bad things from happening?" Hitomu smiled widely at the blonde mage. His orange eyes skittered around the Dragon Slayer like he wanted to avoid looking at him. Gajeel figured the brat found his appearance somewhat scary. "A pretty lady, a kitty and a scary boogey man are going to help us out?"

A scary boogey man?

Really, he had been called worse than that so it didn't bother him.

"Master Hitomu, it is not polite to call someone a boogey man." The tall man that had come in with the brat, who had been stone silent this entire time, stated. His voice was soft, almost like a whisper, even when he scolded the brat in the armchair next to him. "Please, refrain from calling the mages here to aid us bad names."

The Iron Dragon Slayer said nothing and stayed quiet. Instead, he found his red eyes shifting on the man who had just spoken his first sentences. From the brief introduction the Mayor provided earlier Gajeel only knew that this man was the little boy's body guard in the guise of a man servant. That was a good disguise if you asked him. Otherwise, the Dragon Slayer found this guy kind of odd and creepy looking.

The body guard was very tall. If Gajeel had to compare his height to someone he knew he would have to say the man was a little taller than Laxus, but he was definitely not as muscular. His skin was pale, so pale Gajeel wondered if he had ever been out in the sun before. It sure as hell did not look like he had. His hair was spiky, but the spike went towards the left side looking a flame and his right side two long strands billowed out. On the left there were also three other strands, but were much shorter. The hair growing on the back of his neck was longer pulled to lay against his chest on the left side. The hair color itself was the color of inky black that made his green eyes almost glow. Yeah, he creep Gajeel out.

"Oh, really then I'm sorry about that." The child turned towards the tall man his orange eyes sparkling in admiration. "You really do know everything don't you, Seirios!"

"No, not really Master Hitomu. It is just common sense not to be rude to others." The man Seirios replied monotone. "You should never insult people, especially those trying to help you out of the kindness of their heart."

"I guess you have a good point." The kid grinned.

"Why don't we get to the matter that has brought these people from home to help us?" The body guard stated in an authoritative voice as he gestured with his head towards team Iron Star. "Now please tell these fine mages and cat what you saw the other night."

"Okay, I guess I have been distracted from the main reason of why we're here." The boy's eyes went back to them, his eyes lit up brightly as he began to tell them his information. "It was really scary. What I saw the other night, you wouldn't believe me. No one has since I saw it."

"Don't worry, we'll believe you." The Celestial Mage had a friendly smile on her face. It was one that was both welcoming and soothing.

"Really? Even the Mayor and the General don't exactly believe me either."

"Hey, if you say you saw something scary than I believe that you saw it. I mean I saw dragons in Crocus and everyone thinks I'm crazy." The blonde laughed as her admission made everyone, except for her teammates. "I saw so many dragons, my friend even called one of them his uncle. Its entire body was covered in flames and he called it uncle, even rode on him as they fought another dragon together."

Gajeel knew that the blonde was speaking about Salamander. He heard about the Fire Dragon Slayer mention once before about meeting a dragon that knew his father Igneel and that had helped him fight. So he knew what Bunny Girl was saying was true. He just did not understand why she would mention something like this in the first place. What was she trying to do?

"Really, you saw a real live dragon?" The excitement in the boy's voice was undeniable, but everyone else had a doubtful expression on their faces. "And your friend rode one and called him uncle?"

"Yeah, it's true." She nodded confirming the words she had stated.

"That's so cool!"

"It was." The ex-heiress grinned as she kept her gaze on the brat. "Sadly, not everyone believes me."

"I believe you! I mean who would lie about seeing a dragon?" The boy was shaking with excitement. "No, one lies about that!"

"Thanks, it means a lot to me." The Celestial Mage voice was sincere and that was obvious to everyone in the room. Gajeel found himself staring at her as she continued to speak. "So why don't you go ahead and tell me what you saw?"

"Okay, since you told me something I'll tell you what I saw. Just give a second to make sure I remember everything right." The young boy bit his lips as he closed his eyes and sat there in silence. Gajeel assume that the brat was thinking. It didn't last long before the boy opened his eyes again and began to speak. "The other night I saw something strange, really strange."

"What was strange?" Bunny girl asked.

"I saw a weird man standing on the roof of the neighbor's house one night. That was weird. What kind of person stands on a roof?" He sounded really confused and amazed at the same time. "Anyways, he was wearing a long coat and I think he was saying something, but I am not really sure. Then the next day the nice lady, who live in that house went missing."

"Your neighbor just disappeared into thin air? Someone doesn't go missing just like that." Lucy murmured quietly, but Gajeel heard her clearly. "Could that man have something to do with it?"

"Yeah, she just went poof. Uh, I really don't know if that weird man had anything to do with it."

"I guess that would be one of things we will have to find out about in our investigation." The blonde stated her eyes glancing at him. "Is there anything else you like to tell us?"

"Hmm, let me think."

He was quiet for a moment before his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands like he had recalled an important detail.

"Oh, the really, really odd thing about that man was for a second he became see through and then when he completely disappeared in a sparkle of light!" The boy made gestures with his tiny hands as he explained what he had recalled. "It was really pretty. It sort of reminded me of stars."

Like stars? Gajeel was now sure that the kid had definitely seen something out there that night. He was sure of this because he had seen something similar many times before. He looked over to his blonde partner knowing that she would have made the same connection as him. He was sure she would because she experienced this every time she used her magic.

"Like stars?" Lucy whispered back her brown eyes suddenly lit up with recognition of the description. Oh, she had come to the same conclusion. "Can I show you something? That is if it is all right with everyone in here?"

The blonde looked around and received nods of approval, but Gajeel took note of the defensive stance the Seirios took as Lucy stood up reaching for her keys.

"Sure!" The little boy nodded not paying attention to the other adults around him. His eyes were on his Bunny. "Is it going to be cool?"

"Yeah, it is going to be really cool." The ex-heiress picked out a silver key from her key ring. She pointed the key outwards and took her summoning stance. "Open Gate of the Canis Minor! Nikora!"

A golden rain of sparkles appeared and it morphed into the shape of a little white snowman with a carrot-shaped nose appeared, his little body trembling in excitement.

"Cool, a doggy!" Hitomu was smiling widely as he eyed the thing Gajeel was sure wasn't a dog. Seriously, to him it looked nothing like a dog. Maybe a snowman bug? Whatever it was it caught the boy's attention so much that he jumped out from his chair and went towards Plue. "He has the same sparkles as that man!"

"Just what I thought, that was what he saw that night then." Bunny Girl spoke catching the attention of the General.

"What do you mean?" General Jermyn voiced probably the same question that was on the Mayor's and the man servant's mind. "Did you figure something out?"

"The person this boy saw was not really a human, but a Celestial spirit." She pointed towards the keys in her pouch then to Plue. "Like these and Plue they enter and leave the human realm pretty similarly."

"A spirit, so then a spirit is responsible for all these disappearances and murders?"

"No, a spirit may be involved, but they are not at fault. The fault lies with the mage who is forcing the spirit to commit crimes." The Iron Dragon Slayer heard the anger bubbling up in his girlfriend's voice as she said that. This job was becoming a much more personal for her than just the dead ex-Sabertooth Celestial Mage. She hated it when spirits were mistreated. "Never blame the spirit. They have no choice, but to obey the orders of the person they are contracted with."

"So they are like slaves or servants?" General Jermyn stated and in the Dragon Slayer's opinion he made a mistake. The blonde instantly glared at the man not bothering to hide her anger and Gajeel swore the atmosphere dropped down to freezing. The sudden change in his girlfriend's demeanor did not get unnoticed by the others in the room. "What did I say something wrong?"

"Celestial Spirits are neither of those things. They are like us. They have feelings and dreams. They are sentient beings like us and should be treated equally."

"Oh, then I am sorry about my words." For some odd reason the Iron Dragon Slayer did not believe his apology was genuine.

"I'm sure General Jermyn did not mean any ill-will. He is just ignorant about magic types." The Mayor stated, probably trying to placate Bunny Girl. "So you are saying that there is one culprit who uses a spirit to help them?"

"Yes, she is." Gajeel decided to answer for his blonde partner. He could tell that she was still pretty peeved and she may say something out of that anger. She gave him a grateful smile as she continued to speak. "That means that our culprit uses Celestial Spirit Magic, like my girlfriend here. The only difference is my Bunny is a better one."

"We can't be sure of that." The douche General had the audacity to doubt his words. The red eye man fought the urge to punch him for doubting his Lucy's skills as a mage. "For all we know this person is much stronger than she is."

"Tch, you just keep proving and proving that you're an idiot. Well, a bigger idiot than I originally thought."

"You bast—"

"Can we concentrate at the task of hand, pleas?" The Celestial Mage asked with a plea in her voice, but the anger was still there. "Besides, we both know that team Iron Star will get the job completed because each member is strong and together we're stronger."

Gajeel only nodded.

"So do you, by any chance, know which spirit it is?" Mayor Hadley asked his eyes on the ex-heiress. "Since you use the same magic then you must have some sort of idea."

"I don't know. There are so many that it would be hard to narrow it down." Lucy replied truthfully with her eyes downcast. Ah, that would be a problem.

"Can't you just ask one of your spirits?"

"No, I can't Mayor. There is a code that we Celestial Mages and Celestial Spirits follow and it would go against it. We cannot ask a spirit who their Celestial Mage is. And even if I was able to ask who it is I still will not do it, since it is against my personal code." She responded.

"And I won't let anyone make you do something that is against your code or makes you uncomfortable." The Dragon Slayer added in a steely tone as he glared at the Mayor. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Thanks Gajeel, I appreciate the support." She said and then she smirked. "Either way, I would never listen to anyone who suggests hurting the friendship I have with my spirits. I would have knocked them down a peg or two."

"Then how are you going to figure out which spirit it is?" The other douche known as General Jermyn questioned.

"Well, since we don't really have any specific clues about this spirit's powers it would be very hard to thin down the list." She flicked some of her blonde hair out of her face. "Still, it will be doable to figure out the identity of the spirit. It will just take some good old fashion detective work."

"Well, that sounds good." Mayor-Jackass stated.

After that was said no one said anything more. Gajeel assume everyone was absorbing the situation they were all in. And the Dragon Slayer had to admit that team Iron Star had picked a job that required some serious detective work on their end. The long haired man's red didn't mind that no one was talking. Maybe someone would come up with a good idea or maybe their brains could use some time to relax.

The only noise in the quiet room was the laughter of Hitomu playing with Plue. Ah, he really did not know what to say at a time like this. If there was a Celestial Spirit involved then he would not be much help in that department. He knew nothing about spirits, besides the basis of the magic itself and from what Lucy had told him. So this fell upon his Bunny's knowledge of her own magic. Not that he doubted she would be able to figure it out. Lucy was intelligent and had the determination to solve this. He was sure that they would finish the job.

He was sure.

"If I may be allowed to make an inquiry?" Seirios suddenly spoke, breaking the silence that had surrounded the office. His voice calm as his green eyes traveled over each of them.

Gajeel was beginning to find the way this guy spoke annoying. The body guard spoke with a condescending tone that made him think that the saw him as beneath him. And then there was the fact that his green eyes had never strayed from Lucy since she had summoned her spirit. There was nothing perverted about the stare. No, he was just staring at her. Either way it was beginning to bother him. So the Iron Dragon Slayer glared at the male, which the other caught. Normally, when he glared at someone they would immediately duck their eyes away and back off, but that didn't happen. The body guard only grinned widely grating his nerves even more. The guy was just asking to get the polite smile beaten out of him. And he was going to get his ass beaten if he did not stop looking at Lucy.

"Anything would be useful at this point." Lily, who had been quiet, interrupted his unfriendly thoughts. Gajeel expected the boy and the man servant to freak out like the other two. Nothing, they didn't even blink. Okay, that was weird. Maybe they had seen an Exceed before. "So please tell us."

"I don't know why, but this came to my mind as I listened to your conversation. Have any of you heard of the tale of the Star's Road?" He asked them. The three Fairy Tail Mages all shook their heads no, but the two douche bags nodded their heads yes. "Well then let me explain to our esteem guests."

"Star's Road is a rather old tale told among the elders, like Master Hitomu's grandmother. The tale tells the story of a young couple. The young woman was so fascinated with the stars that she would go out every night to gaze upon them. She never went alone. Her lover accompanied her, but one day he was too busy with work to go with her. And that night the woman saw something unearthly."

Seirios took a breath and continued speaking.

"She had met a spirit of a star and they became friends. When she went home she told her lover, but he did not believe her. Although, her lover had forbidden her to ever go back to that place. He believed she was losing her mind. Although, she had been forbidden she still went back in secret. Her friendship with the Celestial being grew and her relationship with her lover became disastrous. It had become so bad that eventually the woman left with the star to his home."

"Don't tell me the two fell in love?" Lucy's voice whispered. The Dragon Slayer could tell that the story had piqued her interest.

"Yes, the star and the woman did indeed fall in love at least not instantly, but they did. She was happy and hoped her ex-lover had found some sort of joy too. Sadly, her jilted lover was not one to accept rejection easily. He had turned to an evil path." The body guard's lips stretched into a grim smile as he continued. "He began to lure many unlucky victims to his clutches and devour them. This happened for about a year, until the woman and the spirit of the star learned of his wrong doings. They decided to stop it. This were the tale becomes darker than from what I have told you."

"Darker?" Gajeel heard Lily ask the man.

"Yes, quite dark. It is dark enough that the tale was banned because of it."

"It was ban?" Lucy voice did not hide the surprise she had in her voice. "Then it must be really bad."

"Now, I will just give a summary of it since I do not think the young master should hear this."

Everyone nodded silently saying that did not mind the omission.

"Basically, the ex-lover ended up taking the woman's life and the spirit of the star was devastated. He lost it and became evil himself after he got rid of the murder of his love." The body guard looked out towards the window. "His actions although were done for justice for his dead lover had consequences. He was casted out from his home and lost his name. He took the name of Fallen. Fallen wandered around searching for the soul of his lost love. He ended up stealing the souls of people because of his search. This is what is known as spirited away."

The Dragon Slayer of team Iron Star what the significance this story was, but then he saw expression on the blonde's face.

She had figured something out.

"Wait, you think this story relates to what is happening right now?" Lucy asked her eyes reflecting with curiosity and interest. The body was about to answer her, but she interrupted him before he could. "No, I'm sure that this story is related to what is happening here. There are too many coincidences."

"You are very intelligent young miss. That is what was trying to say. I believe the culprit is using some sort of spirit then perhaps it has a power similar to lure people out of their homes towards their mage?"

"That actually makes some sense." Gajeel decided to put his own input. The connection of this case and the story was clear to him now.

"Yeah and now the only thing we need to figure out is which spirit has abilities that are similar to those." Lily added. Everyone in the room looked towards Lucy, who was nervously biting her lips. "I'm sure Lucy will be able to learn something since she is a very reliable person."

"That doesn't go against the code since most Celestial Spirits have common knowledge of the abilities of their fellow spirits. I can try to ask my spirits about it, but I cannot guarantee anything."

"That is all we ask for." The Mayor stood up and pulled a folder out from his desk he handed it to Lucy. "This is a list of the missing people and of the bodies that have been identified as of today. Please, I beg of you to stop this."

"We'll do our best. You can count on team Iron Star!"

After their lengthy meeting in the Mayor's office team Iron Star decided to get straight to work instead of sleeping. They still had some daylight left to use to their advantage. So they had spent the rest of the daylight checking out the areas where the victims disappeared. They hoped they could find anything that could have possibly been missed by the authorities here. It was a slim chance, but it was a chance worth taking.

As Lucy and Lily were left with searching for any sort of physical clue left behind, Gajeel was left with another task. The Dragon Slayer was busy sniffing around the area to see if there was any strange, lingering scent around. They had hoped he would have smelled something that gave off the red flag of being the culprit. Sadly, he found nothing that seemed out if the ordinary. Team Iron Star considered that was bound to happen since Gajeel did not know this area well so there was no way for him to know what was ordinary and what was strange. He had no way of picking out which scents were the best to follow. Overall, they had found nothing, making a rather uneventful expedition. This was all they could do tonight and decided it was time for them to call it quits and get some much needed rest.

So the trio left the area making their way down the brightly lit streets towards their hotel. There was no one out this time of night save for a few of the town's guards who were patrolling. It was quiet and for a moment they enjoyed this peace. Once at the hotel, checking in was pretty easy since the reception desk was told ahead of time by the mayor that they were here to help, but the only problem they had was they were given two rooms. One was for Gajeel and the other was for Lucy. Yeah, that was happening. It took some time to convince the receptionist that they wanted a single room to share, but they were able to get their request met. They walked to their room feeling exhausted and once they saw the soft looking beds a sigh of relief left their lips. And yet they did not end up going straight to bed because their stomachs growled reminding them that they had no food since they had arrived here.

And thus sleep became the least of their worries for that moment.

The trio ended up order room service to their room and as they waited Gajeel had gone to shower and Lucy decided to go over the documents given to them after her own shower. Once the Dragon Slayer had finished up he was greeted with a sight and smell of delicious food waiting to be eaten and then there was his blonde partner sitting down and not eating any of it. No, that was not good at all. His Bunny needed to eat. The man voiced his opinion and did not seem to hear him. It took some time, but eventually they came up with an agreement. Lucy ended up sitting in his lap, awhile Gajeel attempted to feed her, as she went through all the names of the missing people. She was going through the folders quickly and efficiently going through all the paper in the folders handed to them using her Gale-Force reading glasses.

Nearby, the Celestial mage found a small distraction in the form of Lily. The cat was being entranced by a single swinging piece of string in the curtain. She tried to concentrate and avoid being stabbed in the face with the spoon that the Dragon Slayer was shoving in her face, but it was proving difficult. The blonde found the cat's antics adorable. It proved to her that the tough little Exceed was well indeed a cat and sometimes acted like a cat. She shook her head, taking a bite from whatever Gajeel had put in front of her, as she tried to make sense of just who was missing. Despite having a large reservoir of patience the Celestial Mage ended up feeling frustrated with the list in front of her. All the names really told her was who was a mage and who was a civilian otherwise there was nothing else to go off on.

It was just a list of possible dead.

"Ugh, all these papers are telling me is that most of these people just vanished at night without a trace!" She tossed the stack onto the nearby table, but not strong enough to scatter them all over. She leaned into Gajeel's chest enjoying his arms around her waist. She could hear that he was chewing on something, probably more food. "The only thing I could really gather is that the M.O. is definitely the same as the events that happened in Zinclonis."

"Is it now?" She felt his voice rumble against her back when he spoke.

"Yes, whoever is doing this is the same person that got Yukino."

"How are you so sure, Lucy?" Lily was able to move his eyes away from the distracting string and looked at the blonde. She could see his orange eyes twitching back towards the string. "Is there something that tells you this?"

"Besides, the way these people go missing the other clue is the way the bodies were found. The authorities in Zincloinis, it took me awhile to pressure them, told me what they had found." She gulped as her mind filled with the horrible images she had seen. "They had taken pictures of some of the other victims in Zincloinis or some found near the area as well. The way the bodies are arranged are the exactly the same as these images here."

"So it could be the same culprit." The cat nodded.

"Yeah, that is what I am thinking Lily." Lucy stated grimly. "I am stating to think that we may possibly have a serial killer on our hands."

"Was it not first believed to be the work of a dark guild?" The Dragon Slayer added to the conversation. He placed his plate on the table and wiped his face clean of food.

"I was thinking that at first too, but from what Yukino's spirits have told me and combine with what Hitomu-san has told us I doubt it. I'm almost positive that we're not dealing with any dark guild related issue, but rather a single person. We know it's a single person that is able to use Celestial Spirit magic as well and is using their key to commit these crimes."

"Well at least we know what type of magic our target uses. That is useful to know, but it's the locating part we're going to have trouble with." Gajeel snuggled into her hair, hopefully not leaving any food crumbs in her hair. "This person is good at covering their tracks, really good."

"Yes, they are." Lily nodded his furry head in agreement. "And there is this whole thing of spirited away."

"Spirited away, I have never heard of something like that before." The ex-heiress glanced out the window watching the stars twinkle in the night sky. That was something new and it was nothing she had ever encountered in a book. "Maybe it's nothing, but a part of a story, but it still be something."

"It sounds obscured, in my opinion." Lily voiced.

"We've stumbled across crazier things."

"Yeah, I guess you are right, but I still want to investigate it. I will just have a nice talk with Loke tomorrow. He has to know something."

"I'm sure that lion of yours will know something." Gajeel stated trying to reassure her though he sounded confused for a moment. "Uh, isn't he like the leader or something?"

"Yes, he is the leader of the Zodiacs."

"Acts more like a flirt than a leader." The Dragon Slayer grumbled.

"Loke and Crux can help us to try to locate which spirit it is." The ex-heiress was already reaching over for her keys, but she was held back by Gajeel. "Hmm?"

"Do it tomorrow, Bunny Girl." He pulled his face out from her hair so he would avoid accidentally chewing on her hair. "There is no point in doing it now when it is dark out."

"But–"

"He's right Lucy. Even if we do get some sort of lead on this spirit we would not be able to do much. The chance of finding them is slim, unless something happens or it is wandering around in the dark. We cannot do anything without having a plan first." The Exceed stated calmly. He flew her lap so he could snuggle in her chest affectionately. "If we could go in without a plan then it could end in disaster. One of us could be targeted and disappear like the others? We won't be able to do anything. We need more information before we try to capture this person."

"I guess you have a point." Lucy sighed petting the cat' head. She could hear Gajeel growling softly into her ear. "What's wrong now Gajeel?"

"Why is Lily getting all the petting action and not me?"

"Gajeel, you're not jealous of your own cat are you?"

"No." He definitely was not.

"Seriously, sometimes I think Gajeel is more feline than dragon."Lily rolled his eyes. Sometimes he loved and disliked his cat. "Don't you think so Lucy?"

"Yeah, I think that too. Did you know he purrs if I scratch him behind his ears?" The blonde added with a mischievous grinned as she spoke. "Really loud too."

"I do not!"

"Oh does he?" The cat grinned widely his orange eyes shining with amusement and tease. "You should show me, Lucy."

"You two would not dare!" The Dragon Slayer suddenly stood up from his seat causing the Lucy to fall from his lap and in turn Lily fell with her. Gajeel didn't even look at them and he moved away quickly from them though he could feel their eyes on him. "I swear you two will regret it if you do!"

"Tag team Lily?"

"Yes."

Poor, Gajeel spent the rest of the night fighting off the pair.

---

Lucy was back in the sewers where she had found Yukino.

She was running in the dirty water trying not fall down. She could feel the some unspeakable things slithering across the skin of her legs as she ran, but she did not stop to think about it. As she ran she could hear her footsteps echoing off in the empty darkness. She briefly wondered if her other would show up in the sewers with her, but that thought was quickly replaced when she came to the end of the sewer tunnel. Outside of the tunnel she found herself standing in the spot where she had found poor Yukino dead. Her body parts were still scattered everywhere, but her focused was on her head. Yukino's head was just staring at her with unblinking eyes.

"Oh Mavis,Yukino." She whispered quietly her eyes filling up with sadness as she looked at it.

She closed her eyes to give a moment of silence, but then much to her surprise she got a reply back.

"Lucy-sama." The head replied.

The blonde Celestial Mage was frozen in shock as her eyes shot open. She blinked once then twice and a third time just to be sure she was not hearing things. Then as she was still processing what had just happened something else occurred. Her scattered body parts began to suddenly shake and flew to where her head was. They began to rearrange themselves to their proper place like a puzzle being put together. Before Lucy knew it Yukino's body had completed it's reassembly except it was nude and covered in blood. The headless body reached for it head and carefully held it in its hands.

Okay, that was damn creepy.

"Lucy-sama, I thank you for finding me." The head smiled in gratitude. "But I insist that you stop looking for my murderer."

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous. I don't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to you."

"No, I will find the person who did this to you!"

"Please don't. The evil that did this to me will do the same to you. It has been waiting a long time to feast on the fear of others. And it has a taste for causing pain as well." Yukino eyes began to tear, but instead of water it was blood coming out of her eyes. "Lucy-sama this evil is grand. Please—"

"No, don't worry about me! I just can't just stand and watch others suffer like you are even after you died. I will give your spirit peace." Lucy yelled determination in her eyes. "If this evil is going to do the same to others then I will not allow this to continue!"

"Lucy-sama…"

"I am a mage of Fairy Tail and I don't back down from anything!"

"How could I forget? You and your guild mates all share the same stubbornness." Yukino smiled ruefully. She almost looked like she had some life in her expression. "I wish in my life that I had such a strong heart."

"Yukino."

"Lucy-sama if you must continue to seek out the one who did this. Please remember not to allow the fear to consume you. Once fear has a hold of you nothing will stop your death." The head stated in a factual tone. "Please don't do this alone and remain strong. You are loved by the stars themselves, so you always have some form of light always near you."

The headless woman looked down at the keys resting beside her hip.

"And now you have all twelve Zodiac and the 13th key as your friends. Even the Celestial King loves you. I am sure the spirits will protect you from the darkness. I too will also protect you Lucy-sama. I may be dead, but as a spirit I can still protect you and I will."

"You don—"

"This is my way of protecting you. Heed my warning to you. The evil is near. Even with the Dragon Slayer near you it will be hard to fight it. This evil can kill you from the inside. It attacks your heart and leaves nothing but fear slithering around. It will not be kind."

"When is evil ever nice?"

"You're right." The girl laughed. "I promise to make sure you don't end up like me Lucy-sama."

"And I promise to avenge you, Yukino."

And then her world turned into light.

Lucy Heartfilia woke with a start as her dream ended. It was a dream she told herself, but it had felt like she was really speaking with the deceased Yukino. It was just a dream wasn't it? She placed a hand near her heart. It was pounding harshly against the inside of her chest. For an instant she felt a chill run down her spine and she looked towards the window because she felt like she was being watched. There was nothing there. She shook her head. Her eyes refocused on the pair sleeping next to her. Lily and Gajeel still sleeping peacefully on the bed and she was glad she had not woken them up. She readjusted herself next to the Iron Dragon Slayer and closed her eyes.

The blonde did not want to bother them with her dream, especially with what they had to deal with on this job. So she decided the best thing to do was to not ponder too much on it. Her main focus was going to be on the job and what she needed to get done in order for this job to be successful. If she wanted to successful then she needed her sleep. Sleep came to her momentarily and she was dreaming again, except these were nice dreams.

Still she would take any warning of evil heading towards her even if it was from a dream.

The next day came too quickly in the Celestial Mage's opinion.

It was like she had only closed her eyes for a few minutes and then the next time she opened them it was the morning sun that greeted her. She felt like she had gotten no chance to sleep at all and yet she did not feel an ounce of tiredness in her body. Maybe she was just not ready to begin this job? Maybe she was afraid of what she would find here? Whatever the reason was she had to do this. So she got ready for the day and shook off the uneasiness in her mind. She did not need to feel this anxious just yet.

Too bad that bad feeling was not making it any easier.

The trio was standing outside in the morning sun and well Lucy felt like she was in a middle of circle. She was feeling slightly nervous with Gajeel and Lily watching her closely as she reached out for Loke's key. All their hopes were riding on her spirit and his knowledge. She fingered the golden key in hopes to kill down some of the bad feeling settling in her stomach. Mavis, why did this feel like it was the hardest thing to do? It was really simple. All she had to do was summon her friend, ask a couple of questions and go off of that. Now, that sounded simple when you said it in your head, but there was one problem, maybe two.

The first problem being the fact that there was no guarantee that Loke knew anything about the subject being spirited away or anything about a spirit with abilities that did such a thing. Then there was the other problem and was related to Loke himself. The blonde had no idea if the lion was going to actually come out when she called for him. She recalled the other times she had tried to contact her friend, but he either never showed up or Virgo show up in his place delivering the Leo's words of apology. She vaguely wondered if the Leader of the Zodiac was avoided her.

Well, it was not the only key that was giving her issues.

The same occurrence was happening with her newest silver key as well. The only difference was no spirit ever showed up nor did she ever feel any other magical energy surging through it when she called for the gate to open. It was like the key she had received was just an ordinary key. She knew that was false though. It was definitely a Celestial Key. She had been tempted to ask one of her other spirits about it, but she expected them to have the same reaction as Loke did. Still her issue with the key from Aeterna Caelestis was another matter for another day. Right now, she had to deal with Loke. The blonde gritted her teeth and used all her magical will power to summon the lion as she pushed his key out forward.

This was a gamble, but it was one she was willing to take.

"Open the Gate of the Lion! Leo!" She shouted loudly. She waited and watched with curious eyes as the golden light shimmered in front of her, but it prove pointless to look. She already could feel that it was not Loke that had come through the gate. "Virgo."

"Good morning Hime." The maid bowed in greetings.

"This is getting ridiculous." Lucy sighed exasperated with this situation. Just what in the world was the Loke doing that he had been ignoring her calls. "Loke is being so fucking ridiculous!"

"Hime is angry. Please punish me."

"No, I'm not angry with you Virgo. I'm mad at Loke." The ex-heiress stated in a heated voice. She was upset that the Leo did not show up when she needed him most. She needed all the help she could get. Well, maybe she could get some answers from Virgo. "So why is Loke not showing up when I call for him Virgo?"

"Leo-nii-sama truly sends his apologies Hime. He does feel bad that he has not showed up when you call for him, but it is not his fault. He has other things to attend to." The maid sounded truly apologetic as she explained. Still Celestial Mage felt like something was being kept from her. "He will not be available for some time, but I am here—"

"Not to be rude Virgo, but I really need to speak with Loke. Go back and tell him I need to speak to him." Lucy frowned, her eyes hard with anger. She was tired of this. She was tired of Loke always sending Virgo. "It's urgent, really urgent. Lives are at stake here."

"I could do that, but he will not listen. He will send me back to you with the same results. "

"Then I will go to the Celestial realm and drag his ass here to get my answers." The blonde released an animalistic growl from her lips as her brown eyes shone with the menace of her threat. There was no time to discuss this. She wondered how many people were losing their lives as spoke these words.

"You will not be able to find him. He is in a place that allows limited accessed." The maid replied her voice holding truth in it. The spirit paused and Lucy noticed when her blue eyes brighten like she had gotten an idea. "Perhaps there is another way, but it would require my services."

Oh, the Celestial Mage liked what her spirit friend was suggesting.

Yes, this would work perfectly.

"Virgo would you like to do me a favor?" The ex-heiress asked although she already knew the answer would be yes.

"Anything you wish to be done Hime." The loyalist of all the spirits nodded her eyes twinkling with anticipation. "Nothing is not within my power when it comes to you."

"Tell Loke that I need to talk him immediately. It's urgent he comes."

"And if he refuses?"

She could not stop the devilish smile appear across her face.

"Drag Loke here by any means necessary, Virgo. Just don't hurt him too much." She stated calmly eyes her eyes narrowing into slits, but the expression was quickly gone as it appeared. She pouted using her puppy eyes that always worked, even on Gajeel. "I would really appreciate it."

There was no hesitation in Virgo's answer. It seemed that the blonde's words meant more to her than Loke's own. Then again the ex-heiress was pretty sure there was some sort of contest going on between Loke and Virgo. Either way she did not spend more brain power on thinking about it because pink haired spirit smiled broadly her eyes shining. She bowed again before she disappeared completely from the human realm. Now all she had to do was wait now. Lucy smiled as she turned back towards her partner in this job. The two were eyeing her with curiosity.

Oh right, she had not told them anything.

"Lucy, you are having trouble with Loke?" Lily flew towards her landing on her shoulder. He looked up at her his eyes filled with curiosity. "Has something occurred that he is not appearing before you?"

"Honestly, I am not sure." She shrugged. Really, the only strange thing was him ignoring her every time she tried. What could she really tell the Exceed? Her spirit friends had a mind of their own, but she the Leo had never stayed away from seeing her this long. "Loke usually shows up all the time, even when I don't call for him. Out of all my spirits he is probably the one who is most in-tuned with my feelings. So he knows when I am in need of him."

"Ah, so he is very social with you then?"

"Yes, that's why I find this so weird. I just can't figure out what would keep that silly lion from showing up."

"Maybe he finally found some chick to keep him busy." The Iron Dragon Slayer provided his own answer. The blonde knew that many people knew of that the Lion was a notorious playboy even after he had sworn loyalty to Lucy he still held that trait. Still he had never been gone this long. "He does play the battlefield."

"Just field, Gajeel." Lily corrected.

"Psh, same damn thing in my opinion." Gajeel scoffed. "Finding a suitable woman to be yours is like a battle, Lily."

"I would have to agree with Gajeel." Lucy smiled place her hand on his arm her eyes sparkling with humor. He did have a good point. "Finding a suitable pair—no finding love is like a battle. You have to get through all the enemies to get a chance at the one you love."

"I think Gajeel may be rubbing off on you." Lily rolled his eyes looking away from the smirk on the Dragon Slayers face.

"Like that is a bad thing."

"It could be." The ex-Heartfilia heiress teased. She giggled when he gave her a sour look. She was ready to enter a nice and fun teasing banter with him, but she reined it in when she felt two magical energies reappearing in the human world. "Looks like Virgo is back and she brought a friend along."

"That was quick."

The trio of Fairy Tail Mages turned to where the sparkled of light appeared in their world. It did not take long for them to make out the outline of two figures inside the starlight. One was standing proudly and the other was struggling in the grip of the first. Soon the glowing lights disperse and the trio was vision was filled up with a grinning Virgo and a not so happy Loke. And boy, the blonde could tell that her lion friend was not happy. The leader of the Zodiacs was not looking like his regal, confident self as he was trying to pry loose the hold on his suit. In fact he resembled a man who was trying to escape with his life.

Then his eyes fell onto the blonde and she swore his face colored with embarrassment.

"Hime, I have returned. Loke-Ni-sama had refused to come by nice means, so I used brute forced." Virgo explained as she successfully ignored the struggling lion. There was not a hair out of place on her. "It took awhile to subdue him, but I prevailed in my effort for you Hime."

"Thanks Virgo."

"Virgo you have to let me go back! You know I can't leave it alone, even with that damn Aquarius!" Loke screamed his hands reaching behind him, but he could not break her grasp. "Release me!"

"Punishment Hime?" Virgo kept her gaze on the Celestial Mage.

"Maybe for Loke there will be." The blonde replied, but she didn't mean it. The most the Leo would get was a scolding and the look of disappointed from her. "Can you turn him around so I can talk to him?"

Virgo did what she was told and easily turned the Leo around.

"Lucy, why did you send Virgo after me?"

"You've been ignoring my calls ever since that whole incident in Aeterna." Lucy placed her hands her hip her foot tapping impatiently. "And now when I need your help you either ignore me or send out Virgo."

She noticed how his face covered itself with guilt.

"Lucy, I know your upset, but I had no choice. I had to ignore those summons because I have to take care of something in the Celestial World." The Leader of the Zodiac replied his eyes casted down. "You know I would do anything for you Lucy."

"Then tell me why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm sorry, but that's confidential."Loke paused his face paling as he spoke.

"I see."Her voice was filled with hurt. She really thought Loke would tell her what was happening with him, but she guessed he did not trust her that much. She felt her eyes watering at the thought. The two spirits looked flabbergasted as their Hime's eyes filled with tears. "I guess you don't trust me that much."

The Celestial Mage regretted saying those words the minute she saw the expression on Loke's face. She knew she had something that had hurt his feelings immensely. Then, like he had received some divine strength he was able to break free from the grip holding him. He made it to her side in an instant. He took a hold of her hands as he spoke to her.

"Lucy you know I trust you with my life! I would never ever not trust you." Loke brought his hands to her face and stroked her cheeks. His voice filled with sincerity. "You are everything to me, everything. Death itself cannot stop me from being with you."

"Then why are you so insistent in hiding things from me?"

"I would never hide anything from you unless I have no power to overrule it." The Leo explained his face expressing pain. "I want to tell you, but I can't. The king—"

"The Celestial King? Is there trouble?" Lucy instantly went into defensive mode. Was there something going on that she did not know about? Were her friends in trouble? "I can do anything to help—"

"No nothing is happening in the Celestial World. The King just doesn't want some information getting out to you, until the time is right." The orange haired man whispered calmly. It looked he was trying to keep himself calm than her. "Trust me nothing is wrong."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now please dry your tears." Loke wiped the sparkling tears in the corner of her brown eyes. She allowed him. She was use to his tenderness when it came to her and she offered him a small smile. "Lucy—"

"I don't mind you comforting her because from what I understand you have been a douche recently to her." The Iron Dragon Slayer interjected and stopping whatever Loke was going to say. "Like I said I don't mind much since you are her spirit, but I have limits. And this right now and you making he upset is enough to make me want to rip out your arm out."

"Gajeel, don't threaten Loke! He's my friend!" Lucy glowered at the Iron Dragon Slayer. "He was just trying to comfort me."

"Like I said there is only so much I can tolerate."

"Gajee—"

"It's okay Lucy. I can understand Gajeel's possessiveness. After all, lions are quite possessive as well, but that is a matter for another time." The leader of Zodiac answered with a small smile on his face. He looked at the Dragon Slayer. "And besides, he made a valid point. I have been acting rather rude lately towards you."

"Damn straight."

"This is that rare moment when Gajeel actually pointed out some else's asshole-ness. Now if only he would do the same thing with himself every once in awhile."

"Lily you have a mean streak in ya that is starting to annoy me."

"Well, it's a bad habit I picked up from you and I know Lucy may gain it was well."

"You guys are lively." Loke laughed at the two bickering mages.

"They keep me on my toes at least and it's entertaining." The blonde responded a fond smile appeared on her face. "You tend to do the same thing sometimes Loke."

"I guess I have some apologizing to do. I mean I could have handle this situation with better, but I acted rashly. I'm sorry for making you worry about me."

"It's okay Loke, just let me know next you decide to pull a disappearing act on me."

"I'll keep that in mind." He took a deep breath and released a huge sigh. "Now what is you need to ask me?"

---

They seem to be lacking some luck today.

Gajeel could practically feel the disappointment rolling off of his lovely Bunny in large waves from her. If it were possible the other people around them would notice it as well. He figured getting some food would bring her spirits up a bit. So here they were sitting in a café waiting for their order to be delivered to them. Waiting for their food did not help his good intentions because it gave the blonde time to think about what had happened earlier with her spirit.

The Lion had known nothing about a Celestial Spirit who had the powers to hypnotize victims to come towards them, but he said he would ask around. Crux also provided them with no information, thus his blonde was feeling quite useless at the moment. And that meant that their biggest clue had proven not to be as useful as they first believed it to be. Basically, they were still at square one and the job had not moved forward enough to say they had made any progress. Even he could say his mood was down like her was.

Thank Mavis Lily was here because he was not sure if he had enough optimism to make both him and Lucy to feel better.

"Lucy it's not your fault. Perhaps this spirit we are looking for has just recently discovered this power that not even the Loke-san knows about it. Or it has been kept well hidden because the spirit was ordered to keep silent by its owner." Lily was sitting in front of her patting her hand reassuringly. He was always better at lifting people's mood up, almost as good as Lucy is. "It is just a minor setback and it will not hinder our job in the slightest. Do not worry we will find the perpetrator and put an end to this madness."

"I know Lily, but I was hoping it would be this difficult." The ex-heiress replied dejectedly, but the corner of her lips quirked up a little. "The longer we take to figure this out the more lives that could be lost."

"No job is clear cut easy Lucy." He finally got over his negative feelings about their lack of progress. The red eye man reached over and patted her head in order to comfort her. "No matter how hard it's going to be we'll solve it and like Lily said the ass will be put down."

"Yeah, you're both right. How could I forget the first rule of jobs? Nothing is that easy." She shook her head causing her blonde hair to swish around her like a golden shower. "I need to stay focus."

"Glad you better Bunny. It makes me feel better too."

"So why don't we go over what we know already?" The Exceed suggested his orange eyes focused on the pair as his tail twitched around. "It is always better to review known knowledge to see if we have missed anything important."

"Lily is right." He agreed with his cat. It was a good move for them to make during a time like this. Still not all of his attention was focused on the conversation that was about to happen because he was listening for footsteps. He was listening for the footsteps of their server, but heard nothing but the idle talk of the few people around them. He really paid no heed to them, except to the group of young males a few tables away from them. "We could have misread something."

"Maybe." Lucy chewed her lip as she petted Lily with a smile on her face. "Hmm?"

"That chick is so damn hot!"

"Do you think those two are dating?"

"No way, she is way out of her league. She looks like she has been around though with her clothes."

"Shit maybe she'll show us her tits if ask nicely."

"I bet she'll show more than her tits. She's dressed like a slut so yeah."

The son of Metalicana snarled hearing the comments being made about his Lucy. He unconsciously looked over to the blonde and found his annoyance at the brats increasing. She wore her usual dark blue—almost black looking skirt minus the shirt she often paired with it. Today she wore a shirt the color of jade that showed case her eyes and her lovely skin tone. Heck, she was not even showing that much cleavage off. The shirt looked tight, but he knew that happened because of her chest, which was out of her control. In his opinion, there was nothing wrong with what she was wearing. It was nothing slutly or overly sexualized, so he did not understand why those idiots were thinking she was easy. Hell, there was nothing wrong with her dressing in a mini skirt or showing off her cleavage because damn anyone could wear whatever the hell they wanted. And they should not be judge or labeled for it.

It pissed him off to no end.

She was not some sort of display for them.

Maybe he should teach those idiots a lesson.

"Gajeel are you listening?" Lucy's voice brought him out of his anger. Her face was set in concern as she eyed him, probably trying to figure out what was wrong with him. "I have been calling you for awhile now. You were so out of it."

"No, I was listening."

"No you weren't. Even when Lily was making funny impression of you, you didn't pay attention."

"What, Lily was mocking me?" Gajeel glared at the smiling Exceed. He would not put it past the cat do such a thing. "You're just asking for your lovely tree to meet with an unfortunate accident aren't you Lily?"

That got the Exceed.

"Lucy, tell Gajeel to leave my tree out of this!" The tiny cat looked up at the blonde with huge twinkling eyes and a trembling lip. Oh, he was using his pouting face. "My tree, he wants to hurt my tree!"

Gajeel watched as the blonde instantly fell for the cat's ploy and pulled the trembling traitor to her chest as she cuddle with him.

"Don't worry Lily." Lucy cooed rubbing her face against the fur on the top of his head. "Your tree will be just fine."

She shot him a pointed look and he got the silent warning.

"Tch, one day that tree will pay."He frowned, but he was not really that disappointed. Okay, maybe he was a little. "So are we going to go through this shit again?"

"Yes, so what do we know?"Lucy asked out loud.

"Besides the fact that people have turned up in pieces, we only know what information has been given to us."

"Gajeel is correct. We only have the information given to us, but like I said before sometimes things are missed the first time around." Lily leaned against Lucy's chest finding them very comfortable. "It began with mages disappearing, but then citizens started to disappear as well, only to find the missing again as torn up corpses again after several days."

"Adding to that nothing of any value was never found at the scene of the crime. No evidence making seem like a perfect crime." She sighed rubbing her forehead. "There is no such thing as perfection."

"True, but this target is using a spirit to help commit these killings. Is possible for a spirit to leave no evidence behind?"

"There have been incidents according to Loke when Spirits have wrecked havoc in the human world due to their master, but they were not caught until the master made a bundler or if one of other spirits broke the contract and reported the wrong doings." The Celestial Mage explained her face expressing only focus and seriousness. "Still the King is always on top of things so I don't know if such behavior would have not caught his eye. The spirit must be good at avoiding suspicion and hiding."

"Spirit or not it still feels and thinks doesn't it? So therefore it is capable of making mistakes." Gajeel leaned back into his chair. There just has to be something that stands out. It has to something that is so trivial that they would not even think it as a clue. "What did all the murders have in common?"

"Well they disappeared the same way, but no one can really be sure how they disappeared. No witnesses have seen a disappearance happen." Lily answered back. "No witness no chance of being caught.

"At first it was only mages but then the citizens of these towns began to go missing as well. Gender or age does not matter apparently since on the list there were people of various age." Lucy added. He was glad that she had such a good memory for the fine details of things. "I was thinking maybe the killer had a grudge against mages since it was only mages disappearing in the beginning, but now the non-magical people are also became targets."

Oh, how did he miss that!

"No I think that became an alternate." Gajeel voiced his fingers drumming against the table. Damn, it made sense now, so much sense! "Think about, there is no guild here so the number of mages in this area is limited to those who travel in by chance or on a job from another guild. Basically, there were not that many mages here for this person to pick and murder so they went to taking civilians."

"So you're saying this killer was aiming for the mages here, but ran out of prey." Lucy stared at him wide eyed. "Meaning the only reason the citizens were target was because of the lack of mages."

"It makes sense. Lack of the main prey then predator either moves on to another prey source or moves to a different area." Lily chimed in. "Tell me Lucy was there any guilds in the town where Aguria-san was found?"

"Now that I think about it there wasn't one there."

"Could it mean this perpetrator only targets areas with no guilds?" Lucy tilted her head in thought. "If they did that then it would take them some time to find a victim so why not just target areas where a guild is?"

"That's easy to answer. It would be less likely their actions would be found out, since a guild has plenty of mages who are very protective of their town." Gajeel said. His looked to the side. He finally heard the server coming back their way with their order. "Mages tend to notice things going on around their town, especially if it is their members that go missing under their turf."

"Guess you're right. So a guild-less area, but still close to a guild would be a good place to go unnoticed, but what reason could they have to kill these people."

"You said that the Saber's body was placed in a certain way right?"

"Yes, she was. Her head was in the center and there was just blood everywhere. It was—Oh, their heads!"

"Lucy?" The Iron Dragon Slayer and Lily looked at the blonde curiously. He knew that she had figured something out.

"I just realized that they only found their body parts, but none of the bodies found ever had their head found. If I remember the report right, no head was ever retrieved."

Dismembered body parts, placed ritualistically missing heads, possible mass murder…

"Shit, I don't like this one bit." Gajeel cursed feeling his bad feeling increasing when the realization hit him. "This is giving the vibe of some dark magic at work. Some really dark magic is happening here. "

"Dark magic? That is never good. Should we tell Master of what is happening?" The cat's tail twitched back and forth in nervousness.

"No. We don't have enough evidence to support the theory that dark magic is involved." The red eyed man stated. He knew that the other two wanted to warn the Master, but they needed more information before they could do that. "We should wait and see what else we find, but this mean we need to be extra vigilant."

"You're right." Lucy nodded in agreement. "We became prime targets the moment we enter this town."

He had realized that too.

"Don't worry Lucy," Gajeel smile at her "I won't anything happen to you."

"Same to you Gajeel."

The trio all stayed silent for a bit mulling over what they have gone over, until finally the young lady who had taken their order arrived carrying their food.

"So sorry about the lateness, darlings! Here's your food!" The freckled face girl apologized as she placed their orders in front of them. Lily went instantly for his slice kiwis and began munching on them. "I hope you guys love the food! The crepe is especially yummy! And oh the steak is absolutely—"

"Ah, so where you two have been." A familiar male voice interrupted the girl in her speech. They all turned to see Hitomu's body guard Seirios standing there with a pleasant smile on his face. "I have been searching for you."

Oh great, not this guy. Gajeel mentally scoffed. He really did not like this man and he had really bad timing.

"Oh, Seirios-san!" Lucy being the polite person she was quickly greeted the tall man. "How are you this lovely afternoon?"

"It has been quite pleasant. Thank you for asking fair Lady Heartfilia." Seirios bowed respectfully before her. Seriously, this guy had his manservant disguise down. "I hope your stay in our small town has been most enjoyable to you and your companions."

"Yes, this place is quite lovely. I do rather enjoy the quietness here."

Gajeel could see that a something was switched inside his blonde Bunny. All the teachings of how to be a proper heiress spilling into her face as she spoke with this man. She rarely acted like this only when she found her those skills useful or it just happened depending on the situation. All he really knew was he did not like this side of her. He did not like how in control she was when she used those skills. She looked like a robot, a robot that could not make a choice or against their programming. He would rather have her being care free and random. There were a couple of times when their conversations ventured to her life when she was the heiress to the Heartfilia family. He remembered the grim smile she had given him before she spilled everything to him. She told him that the best words to describe her life was control and choiceless. She had to complete so many studies she had to take in order to be considered as proper woman. He did not understand what she exactly meant about studies so she acted it out for him. She gave him a glimpse into what her life would have been like if she had never run away.

That was when he was given a different insight into what made his blonde Bunny hate being rich and privileged. Boy, he felt like his eyes had been opened to another perspective. After she had demonstrated to him, Gajeel was glad he was not born in the high society, especially not as a woman, with all this rigid rules. From what Lucy had told him the women were treated as property. They were treated as another way for fathers to gain more wealth or political alliances. In Lucy's women were meant to be seen, voiceless and had no rights. Their only role was to be pretty, docile and submissively obedient. Their most important job was to provide sons to their husbands.

He could still recall what she told him about how marriage worked.

"So weren't allowed to choose anything?" He asked. He was extremely interested in what she was saying. "Not even in one thing."

"Basically yes, everything was chosen for us."

"Damn, that just sucks."

"Tell me about it. Heck we woman didn't have a choice in love or we a choice in who we married either." Lucy explained as she laid in his arms her fingers playing with his hair. Her choice held a tinge of anger as she spoke to home about how bad her life could have been."I would have been sold off to the highest bidder, to the person who would prove to be more advantageous to the family."

"That sounds awful."

"Yeah, especially when most of those buyers were dirty perverts." The blonde shivered like she had remembered something. "Like the man who my father was going to force me to marry."

"Who?"

"Duke Sawarr Junelle." She replied with disgust. "He was a pig."

"A duke?" The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyes widen when he heard the name of the man his Bunny was suppose to marry. She had the chance to become the wife of a Duke; Lucy must have been very popular. "You were going to marry a duke?"

"He may have the status of a Duke, but he was the lowest scumbag I have ever met. The only reason he had set his sight on me was because of my looks. My wealth was an added bonus." Lucy clenched her fist. "Every time he looked at me I saw what was in his eyes. I was nothing but some pretty little trinket that he wanted to add to his wall. He did not see me."

"Little shit, doesn't know how to use his eyes properly then. You're not just another pretty face. You're smart and a spitfire, but you are also kind and forgiving." Gajeel wrapped his arms around her trying to offer some comfort to her.

"Thanks Gajeel. I'm so glad that I met you."

"Gajeel." Lily's voice brought his thought back to focus on the present. "Oi Gajeel!"

"What?"

"There seems to have been something that has occurred regarding our job." The Exceed said his mouth half filled with kiwis.

"Another clue?" His gaze fell upon Lucy, whose eyes were glittering in nothing but pure worry. "Lucy?"

"Gajeel it seems we have gotten a break on this job, but I don't like what it is."

The Iron Dragon Slayer turned towards the body guard.

"It is about my young master." Seirios replied with worry. "He is hearing a voice."

Shit, right when they were about to eat.

---

Lily did not know what to think.

Mere minutes ago he, Lucy and Gajeel were struggling to make any sort of progress in the job they had taken. Gajeel himself had brought up a wonderful point that escaped both his and Lucy's attention and he thought that more discoveries would be made if they were given time to think on it. He was doing just that when their server had arrived with their order. Yet when he chewed on the delicious treat know as kiwis he could not help but think there was not enough time for them to spend. He felt the anxiety twisting inside his stomach and he wanted to continue the conversation, but the man servant from yesterday had arrived interrupting that plan before it even began.

And now they were on the way to Hitomu-san's house following another possible lead.

As they followed behind the pale man the Exceed noticed that there were a few people walking around the town of Sida, besides the guards. And those few people out and about were avoiding eye contact with them as they walked by. He understood their aversion of them and he was sure that blamed mages for their predicament as much as the General and his men did. Still the cat did not let that bother him because he had a job to complete. During his slight distraction of the surroundings he failed to notice that they had arrived at their destination.

The house was quaint and was a nice shade of blue that reminded him of the ocean with a trim of white around the windows. There was a white gate surrounding the house protecting it from intruders and there was a small row of rose bushes in the front. He noticed the red roses intermixed with white and lavender ones. It was a nice house, a nice house that gave off a warm welcoming aura when you walked up its steps. The man servant did not even bother to knock on the door and entered it without much thought. So the trio kept walking behind him.

Once inside, the first thought that went through Lily's mind was the inside of the home reminded him of a museum. Everything, from the furniture to the carpets to the paintings on the wall looked like they were antiques from the same era. Everything was in pristine condition and looked like the passing years had not affected them at all. He was so entranced with the decorations and furniture that he did not notice the maid standing in front of them, until she greeted them. Seirios only acknowledge her with a nod of his head before she walked away. The man servant whispered to them that she would lead them to where Hitomu-san was was and so they followed behind her quietly, until they reached a room with similar decorations.

Then he heard the little boy speaking.

"And then she promised never to betray him. No matter what would happen they would protect each other even if it meant going to the dark side."

Okay, that was something unexpected. Those were some dark words that being spoken out loud, especially by a child. That was not something he wanted to hear at all and despite the fact those words disturbed him said nothing. What he did was look over to the area where the sound of his voice was coming from. The trio of Fairy Tail Mage's spotted the boy sitting in a big arm chair reading a book. Said little boy did not greet them or made any sort of indication that he had noticed them when they walked in. No, his orange eyes were fixated on the book in his hands. He had a look on his face that Lily recognized very well since it was a look he knew very well. It was the look of total concentration.

The maid, who they had followed, tried to gain the attention of the little boy, but it proved to be futile. Oh, Hitomu-san was very into the book. Seirios seemed to have noticed this and he stepped forward. The Exceed of the Iron Dragon Slayer almost felt bad when the boy's man servant called his name in order to gain his attention. He could tell from small and deliberately slow movement of the boy's head that he was reluctant to look away from the book he was reading. There was a pout on his face, but that changed into a large earsplitting smile when he saw Seirios.

"Seirios!" Lily watched the child placed the book on the armchair then run up to his body guard and hug his leg. "I missed you! You were gone for such a long time and I wanted to look for you, but I stayed like you told me."

"Very good young Master." The body guard looked over to the book he was reading. "I see you found your copy of the story I told you about the other day. Were you enjoying the tale?"

"Yes, it is very interesting." The boy grinned, but he seemed to forget about the book when he saw there was other company. "Oh it's the pretty lady and her friends!"

"Hello Hitomu," Lucy smiled sweetly at the child. Lily could tell the boy was very fond of Lucy even though he had only spoken with her once. Maybe Lucy just had that instant likable personality? "I heard that you wanted to talk to me and my friends."

"Yeah!" The boy removed himself from Seirios's leg. He walked towards the blonde with his hands behind his back. His eyes shining in curiosity as he looked up to her. "It is a really scary story. You won't be scared if I tell you right?"

"No, I won't be scared." The Celestial Mage assured the child. "So why don't you go ahead and tell me all about it?"

"Okay." The boy straightened his posture as turned to look at the maid he ignored earlier. He signaled at her and she bowed before she took her leave from the room. "The maid doesn't need to hear this."

"A very wise move Master Hitomu."

"Thanks." The little boy walked towards where he last left his book and sat crossed legged. He motioned for the others to sit with as well. At first Lily thought chairs were going to be provided, but to his surprise the body guard sat on the floor crossed legged as well. His eyes silently telling them to do the same and so they did the same. "Oh, it's like story time and I'm the story teller."

"Master Hitomu is already an excellent storyteller so please show them your talent."

This seemed like a normal occurrence between the boy and the body guard.

"It happened last night after I had my dinner and went to bed. I was planning on sneaking in some cookies because I wanted some dessert and I almost made it, but then something caught my eye. At first I thought it was nothing. You know like the lights playing tricks on me, but then I saw it again."

"Saw what?

"Some scary, glowing eyes were looking at me through the window and then I heard it." Hitomu lowered his voice, probably to trying to sound creepy.

"Heard it?" The ex-heiress asked tilting her head.

"A voice, I heard voice speaking to me. It sounded like a man, but then it didn't sound like a man either." The boy said his eyes darted towards the window, like he was expecting something to be there the cat thought. He continued with his tale. "He asked me to let him in. He wanted to go inside the house because it wanted to show me something. I didn't do it Seirios taught me never to listen to strangers."

"That's some good advice to follow." Lily added.

"Yeah, so I was going to tell him to go away, but then the man did something funny. I don't really know what it was. He was talking to me again and then it went black. After that I don't remember much."

"This when I came in for my nightly check up on Master Hitomu and found he was not sleeping in his bedroom. I searched for him then I heard something break in the kitchen. By the time I reached there he was trying to open the window to get out." Seirios explained the rest of the story. The man had a flash of worry pass through his green eyes. "I managed to pull him away from there in time, but then he walked towards the front door and walk out of it. I pulled him away and he still tried to leave the house. I had to shake him a few times until whatever spell had fallen upon him had lost its power over him."

"Oh, that does sound scary." Lucy stated with a slight shiver in her voice. "It's a good thing that nothing bad had happen to you."

"Mmhmm, but I'm still scared that it will come and take me away. I mean saw it on my neighbor's roof and then they went poof the next day." Hitomu asked, his large eyes looking straight at Lucy. His eyes were filled with fear. "Does this mean I am going to disappear next? Am I going to die?"

"Master Hitomu I will not allow any harm to come to you. You are my charge and I will protect you until I no longer breathe." Seirios announced his voice calm and collected. "Nothing will happen to you."

Lily could not help but feel respect for the body guard. He should an amazing amount of loyalty and protectiveness the man showed for the child. It reminded him of how the guild and how they were with each other. And it reminded him of how Gajeel was with Lucy and vice versa. They both shared this burning fire that lit up whenever something dangerous threatened what they held dear. It was the look of a feral beast willing to do anything to keep safe what they were defending, but there was something glinting in the body guard's eyes.

He had the look of a man who had lost something dear once before.

Perhaps this Seirios man had seen his fair share of misfortunes to have developed such a strong protective instinct.

"And we will also not allow anything to happen to you as well. We'll take care of this problem so no one else has to lose their lives." The Celestial Mage added as she smiled at the little boy. "Don't worry we'll protect you."

"We need a plan first." Gajeel interjected his eyes were focused on the blonde woman when he talked. "A solid plan that would lower the risk of injury to all those involved and will increase the chance of catching the bad guy."

"We shouldn't talk about things like plans in front of Hitomu-san." Lucy turned to Gajeel a small frown on her face. "He's too young to hear these things."

"Oh, it's nothing new to me. Seirios and I always made plans together when some trouble shows up. We're pretty good at it." Hitomu stated surprising the Fairy Tail Mages. "Since I'm the target I should be allowed to help out too.

"Those are some brave words you are saying, but you're just a brat." Lily silently agreed with Gajeel. This boy was just a child and making him a part if the plan would prove to be very dangerous for him. It was a possibility that he could get hurt in the process. "It's too dangerous for you and you would be considered a weakness."

"Gajeel is right. We can't afford to put you in such danger." The ex-heiress nodded agreeing with the Dragon Slayer. Her fingers were twiddling with the hem of her skirt. "What would your parents think of us if we put their child in danger?"

Parents, where are this child parents? Shouldn't they be here if their child was in danger?

"My parents are dead, so they won't mind." Hitomu answered in a plain voice like it was nothing shocking to revealing. "What can they do from the grave?"

The trio stared at the child, who looked unaffected by what he had said.

"Master Hitomu's parents died years ago, so there is no need to worry about them." The guard explained. His own face was impassive when he spoke. "I am his guardian, but Master Hitomu words I must always follow."

"See Seirios thinks I should help!"

"You won't be much help, except in acting as bait. That will help us track down where the culprit is hiding, Master Hitomu." The tall guard replied a thoughtful expression was on his face. "The only drawback I can is if we lose sight of you it can become difficult to find you in the dark."

"We are not seriously going to allow this!" Lucy's posture shot up straight as the gasp of horror left her lips. He too was surprised at how calmly the body guard stated those words. "He is just a child."

"He may look like a child, but master Seirios has been trained to defend himself during dire situations and he is very intelligent."

"Still he is a brat."

Lily listened to the conversation and he already knew that this was going to end up in an argument. He was very against adding a child into the equation, especially with the risk of danger being so high. He didn't want to take the chance and neither did the other two. As the disagreement continued his mind wandered to something else, specifically to a conversation he had with Carla. It was one they had the day when he and Happy had the little disagreement. He could still recall how nervous the white cat was that day. Even when they flew to their own little secret area away from listening ears. Her eyes kept reflecting something horrible was coming. Her words were shaky as she spoke to him.

"My vision as I said before was not clear as they usually are, but what I saw was still terrible indeed." The white cat sat on the tree branch her voice quivering with fear. "There was darkness in the sky. No ray of the sun was breaking through it. There were people screaming as they ran something was after them. What it was I am not too sure."

"Do you think it has something to do with Zeref?"

"No, I don't think so Lily. The thought did cross my mind, but my inner feelings are telling me it has absolutely nothing to do with Zeref."

"Are you positive?" Lily sat across from her.

"Yes, I am. The laughter I hear. Mavis, that laughter is so filled with insane malice. It does not sound like Zeref's at all. No, this person, who is planning this, is not Zeref or has any relation to him." Carla shivered the fear evident in her eyes. "I think this person may be related to what Lucy saw in Zinclonis."

"You mean the Saber's murder?" Lily's eyes widen in shock. "Why?"

"In my visions I see heads. Decapitated heads all lined up in a room facing the same direction just like what happen to the Sabertooth Celestial Mage. There were bodies nowhere." Carla hugged herself her eyes reflecting fear as she continued to speak. "And the worst part was…"

"Carla ,what did you see?" Lily urged the white cat to continue. Something in her eyes was causing his gut to twist in worry.

"I saw Lucy and Gajeel. They were fighting against this mass of darkness. They were fighting so hard. They were trying not to get swallowed by it, but I can't tell if they were winning or losing. Then I remember hearing a scream and my vision goes black from there." The white cat whispered softly. "Soon after that I see this mass of darkness spreading as the world dies out."

"Where did this happen?"

"I don't know. All I remember was that it was not in Magnolia."

"So this vision must happen outside on a job." Lily deduced.

"Possibly, but like I said this vision is too unclear." Carla touched her head with her paw. "It's like something is blocking it."

"Is that even possible?"

"It could be. Dark magic is capable of almost anything." She sighed, her face drawn in worry. "That is why I don't want you to tell anyone just yet. I don't want to cause a massive panic, especially when I am not too sure of what I am seeing."

"I understand your sentiment of not wanting to worry anyone."

"I just will like more information on this vision before I tell the others." She bit her lips. The only thing I am quite positive about is that something evil is going to be coming our way. I can feel it in the air."

"Don't worry Carla. If any trouble comes our way I am sure we will be able to handle I together as a family." He reassured the trembling Exceed. He hated seeing her like this and wanted to comfort her. "And if I see anything resembling like what you saw in your vision I will tell you."

"Thank you Lily."

"No problem Carla."

Lily shook his head. He had been keeping an eye out for anything that spelled trouble and when he had been told about this job he knew it was related to the vision. And the moment he had stepped foot into this town. Something in the air surrounding Sida was very unsettling. Still no matter how hard he tried to shake off the feeling of dread. Something was here and it was waiting to ensnare them like a snake waiting in the darkness. Maybe it was because his years as a soldier in Edolas that had heighten his sixth sense to such things. It had been going haywire in the town of Sida and yet he kept his thoughts to himself, especially about the vision.

He did not want to cause any more anxiety than they needed.

Besides, there was no reason for him to do such a thing. There was no point because he knew Gajeel had sense the danger too if his behavior was anything to go by. The Dragon Slayer had been tense, extremely tense even for him. He could see it in how rigid his stance was and how his eyes darted around every area they went to more than once. It was like he was waiting for something to pop out and attack them. Whatever was here it was biding its time.

But what could be here?

So far all he knew about this situation that they were in was that a Celestial Spirit was involved and that the evil aura he felt in the air belong to the villain they were after. And then there were the missing heads. Carla had mention heads with no bodies were in her vision. Could their target be invoking some form of dark magic? Why would they only keep the heads and everything else away? Then there was the whole thing with the ex-saber, if this was the same person who killed her why did they not take her head as well? Why leave hers behind? There were so many missing elements that Lily still had no idea about what they could possibly be facing.

Lily just hoped he would be able to figure this out before anything bad happened.

He hoped Carla vision would not come true.

He hoped that the darkness would not swallow them whole.

---

Updated Dec, 27,2015