Replaced

Lisanna's back and Lucy feels left out. Natsu wants Lisanna back on his team. What about Lucy?

I am so sorry. There really is no excuse for this, but I am sorry. My plan was to write three chapters this last week, but I procrastinated and barely got one done. I guess that will be my New Year's resolution: Stop procrastinating! I'm pretty sure I have about a hundred reviews on just last chapter saying UPDATE! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it and thank you for being patient with me and continuing to follow me.

Chapter 35- Race Against Time

It was a nightmare, or as close to one as a Waking Dream could get. Lucy sat bolt right up and breathed in a gasp. She finally had a Waking Dream that showed her the future. Had the circumstances that surrounded it not been what they were, she would have rejoiced over it. Jose's plans had been moved forward. She had three weeks to make a months' journey back home to warn everyone of the coming battle and she had to leave today. Lucy swung her legs over the edge of her bed and was about to stand up when something protested rather loudly from her lap. Startled, she looked down and saw that Shirestone hadn't moved itself from its position when she'd first picked him up.

Still half groggy from waking up, she stared at him confusedly for a long minute until she finally remembered why he was there. Then Lucy carefully removed him from her lap before proceeding to get down on the floor and drag out her traveling bag she'd emptied at the beginning of her trip. Lucy slapped it on the bed next to Shirestone and started throwing her clothes in its general direction. As soon as she had all of her belongings on the bed, she began busily packing it all into the bag nowhere near as neatly as she had the first time.

In the middle of doing this, Shirestone whistled and the sound was followed by a familiar sound. Lucy suddenly wanted to slap herself. Shirestone hadn't eaten since his mother died. She scooped him up and went to go find something for him to eat. It was dark outside and it seemed to be late enough that no one was awake, or at least moving about that she could see. 'Wow.' she thought. 'My sleeping schedule is all messed up and backwards. I don't even know what day of the week it is anymore.' Lucy managed to find something for Shirstone that he would actually eat. He was a surprisingly picky eater and only ate white or red meat. He absolutely refused to eat dark meat. Shirestone also ate some vegetables that she hadn't meant to give him and that came as a relief to her; it meant that she didn't have to spend a lot of money on the expensive meats.

Once he was satisfied, Lucy went back to her room and finished packing her bag. In her bag she also put the geode and the gifts for Hisoka and Lila where they would be safe on the trip back home. Done packing her own things, she grabbed the Kequesix and her gale-force reading glasses and began to read the book several times over since she knew that she couldn't take the book with her. Lucy was going to memorize as much of the book as she possibly could in one hour and then she would get Lila and Hisoka up and ready to leave. Shirestone just curled up where he was set on the bed and proceeded to fall asleep watching his new mother work.

What kind of poison was it? Rayu had never had so much trouble burning out any kind of poison in his entire life; why was this one so different? It was like it had a fighting will of its own, unless it had magic mixed in with it, in which case he might not actually be able to save Gray. Rayu hadn't gotten to learning about magic poisons just yet and right now, he hated himself for not looking ahead. The boy was running out of magical power and Gray was running out of life. He needed more power if he was to even have a chance at surviving.

"Dammit." Rayu cursed. "Dammit!"

"Rayu what's wrong?" Hibiki ran into the room having heard his nakama raise his voice. When he saw the scene before him -Gray strapped to the bed, Erza looking worried sick, and Kaizoku holding tightly to the crystal looking helplessly at Rayu who was bent over Gray and pouring his magic into the ice mage's body- he stopped, frozen in shock.

It wasn't until Hibiki saw Gray open his mouth in what was supposed to be a scream that he snapped out of his shocked state. Hibiki brought up his Archive and asked again, "What is wrong with Gray, Rayu?"

Rayu was sweating from the exertion of magic he was putting out and keeping up. "He's been poisoned." He gasped, huffing. "I didn't see the bite mark before because it was set directly over his other wound." Rayu's limbs were shaking uncontrollably, strength drained.

"What kind of poison is it? I don't ever remember you having a problem with poisons." Hibiki frowned.

"Yeah. I've never had a problem with natural, normal poisons. I haven't studied magically infused poisons yet." Rayu's legs were shaking so badly Hibiki was afraid they would collapse under the boy. "Hibiki, if I can't get rid of this poison soon," He huffed, "Gray will be dead by midnight."

"What!?" Erza screeched. She'd been sitting down watching the entire time and Rayu hadn't said anything to her about what was happening. He'd said nothing about the possibility of her nakama dying. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Because," Rayu grunted with exertion. "I didn't have the time to do so."

"Tell me everything that you possibly can about this poison, Rayu. I may be able to find something in my archive." Hibiki said calmly. Panicing would help nobody in this situation.

"There's not much to go on." Hibiki placed a stool behind his friend just in time to prevent him from falling on the hard floor. His legs were exhausted. "Thanks." Hibiki nodded and went over to lean on the side table ready to receive information. "Magically infused poison that prevents the victim from using their vocal chords, causes excruciating pain and it was delivered into his body by a snake bite. A big snake bite."

"Alright, let's see if I can find anything." Hibiki said grimly.

"Find what? What are you looking for?" Kaizoku asked innocently as he grabbed onto Hibiki's arm just as his fingers pressed Search Archive. The screen flashed as it started to go through the archives of knowledge it possessed. It burned his fingers, as if it were overheating and Hibiki had to yank himself back. What the heck was happening to his magic? It was like it was in hyper drive.

Kaizoku slowly let go of Hibiki's arm and backed up, thinking that whatever was happening wasn't normal and he thought it might be his fault. Magic tended to overreact whenever he was touching or in close proximity to someone who was performing magic. It hadn't happened in so long that he forgot that it happened. Big mistake.

Hibiki, meanwhile, was staring at his Archive, which seemed to have slowed down and had finally reached a result. Amplifier was the only word on the screen. Next to the word was an arrow pointing to the side. Hibiki's eyes followed it and landed on Kaizoku who looked like he had done something wrong and was backing away. Amplifier? What did a musical sound instrument have to do with magically infused poison from an oversized snake?

Then it hit him.

Hibiki wasted no time in jumping to his feet and yanking Kaizoku over to Rayu. "Put your hands on Rayu's shoulders." He commanded and when Kaizoku didn't do so, he grabbed his hand and put it where he'd instructed. That was when the boy yanked his hand back and struggled to get out of Hibiki's tight grasp. In that brief moment of contact, Rayu had felt his magic spike and for a moment, he thought he would actually be able to save Gray.

"Let go!" Kaizoku was twisting and thrashing, trying to get away. He didn't want to interrupt the healing guy who was performing magic.

Hibiki suddenly got a face full of fist, courtesy of Erza. "Let him go!" Erza grabbed Kaizoku up off the floor and stuffed him behind her. The archive mage sat up, rubbing his abused cheek. He'd been wondering when that would come.

"Ow." Hibiki leaned over and spit out a bit of blood, also noticing that his jaw was askew. "Kami, you don't hold back." He wiped a hand under his nose and it came back bloody. "Damn." Hibiki grabbed his lower jaw and popped it back into place, groaning in the process. The archive mage finally got some of his senses back and he glared at Erza, obviously still not all there because there wasn't a man alive who glared at the red head and lived to tell the tale. "Dammit Erza! Do you want to save Gray or not?" Hibiki had to us the bed beside him to stand up where he then swayed and stumbled on his feet.

"Saving Gray has nothing to do with Kaizoku! Now I demand to know why you grabbed him!" Erza was clearly angry.

"Because he can help Rayu get the power he needs to arrest the magic and burn out the poison." Hibiki explained, now able to see two of Erza instead of eight. He spit out another mouthful of blood.

Erza narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms solidly over her chest. "How is that so?"

"Because I just felt it." All three people in the room looked at the healer who looked about to collapse. "That boy is an Amplifier. His magic is not meant for offense or defense, it's for increasing power in those mages' magic. And that's exactly what I need right now." Tiredly, Rayu looked over his shoulder at Kaizoku and tried to smile. "Could you please help me? I'm getting low on magic and I could really use a boost."

"Amplifying magic?" Erza looked to be searching through her memory for something. She finally remembered and plunked her fist into her open palm in enlightenment. "Of course." She turned to her little puppy. "You have similar magic to Wendy. Hurry and go help him." With that, she urged him forward towards Rayu. Nervously, Kaizoku placed his hands on the other boy's shoulders, ready to snatch them back at a moments notice.

"That's more like it. Thank you Kaizoku. This is just what I needed." Rayu said as he felt the remains of his magic growing stronger and stronger.

"Don't thank me yet. You still haven't saved that guy. Thank me after you've done so." Kaizoku then hung his head, hiding his tears. This was the first time anyone had ever needed his help and they were counting on him to help this guy Rayu to save Erza's nakama. He would do his best because his best was all he had to give.

Eyes tired, head pounding, Lucy set down the Kequesix for the last time and took in a deep meditative breath. When she finished exhaling, she opened her eyes again and got up. Lucy headed straight for Lila's room and started packing the few things the girl had taken out of her bag. Happy, who had taken to sleeping with the small girl, woke up as she was doing so.

"Lucy?" He asked tiredly, rubbing one tired eyes with a tiny blue paw. "What are you doing?"

Lucy didn't stop what she was doing, but she smiled at Happy and said. "I'm packing. We have to leave as soon as possible Happy, or else every one of our nakama will be in serious danger. Do you remember the guy who kidnapped me when I was still new to Fairy Tail?"

Happy stretched his cute little cat stretch as he thought about it and plopped back down onto his bum next to Lila who was still sleeping soundly. "Um. . . ."

Lucy sweat dropped. It was so Happy to forget something that had caused such a big commotion. "Nevermind. The only thing you really need to know is that Fairy Tail is in danger and I want to be there in time to help. Now pack whatever you need." Lucy packed the last of Lila's things that she could find and then remembered one more thing that she had to do before she left. "Happy?"

"Yes?" He asked innocently.

"Could you wake Lila up when you're done? I'll get Hisoka." Lucy stood up from her spot on the floor and set Lila's bag upright.

"Sure." Happy was acting his namesake, as usual.

Smiling, Lucy left the room. She had missed Happy so much, but having Happy here constantly reminded her of the person she had left for. Thinking these thoughts, she went to Hisoka's room and started packing his things.

"Lucy? What are you doing?" Lucy turned towards Hisoka's bed. The poor boy looked half asleep, probably because he was, and confused.

She smiled again as she folded his clothes up. "Packing your things. We need to leave as soon as possible. I'm sorry that it's such short notice, but my nakama are in a lot of danger."

"I'll take care of it." He mumbled, literally rolling off his bed.

"Are you sure? You don't look quite awake just yet." Lucy asked, tilting her head to the side.

Hisoka scowled and scratched the back of his head as he sat up. "I'm fine. I can do it."

"Alright, but please keep in mind that we probably aren't coming back here for a long time." Hisoka met Lucy's eyes as she turned to leave and she nodded to him. Sighing, Hisoka hoisted himself up onto his feet and started packing.

Meanwhile, Lucy was now standing in front of Uma's door, trying to gather up the courage to go in. She didn't know how long she stood in front of that door, but when she finally laid her hand on the door latch, it seemed as if her hand weighed a thousand pounds. Lucy undid the latch and the door creaked slowly open into a dark room. It hadn't been touched since Uma had been moved out. The celestial mage quietly stepped into the room, jaw taut, and closed the door behind her. It was silent. Not even a draft.

After standing there for what she knew to be a long time, Lucy drew in a deep, calming breath, and stepped forward in the dark. There was some moonlight coming in through the window, but not much of it due to the dense canopy. However, it was enough for Lucy to find what she had come here for. Uma's walking stick that apparently wasn't a walking stick was leaning against the wall next to the bed, waiting to be used. Lucy couldn't tough it. She left it alone for now and went to the study where the family gypsy book was. She had yet to finish reading it and figure out why no one in her past family had used the ivory keys.

While she searched for the book, Lucy came across a small, leather bound, very worn, pocket sized book. It was a soft leather with a polished metal lock on the side, preventing prying eyes from seeing its contents. The design of the lock was very intricate and smooth, though there was no visible key hole. Curious, Lucy flipped to the spine; no title or author. There was nothing on the back either, save for one word, well, more accurately, name:

Umaharra Lucilliad Lunaris

Lucy stared. It belonged to Uma. Was it her diary? The blonde couldn't imagine the old lady sitting down and writing about her day in such a small book; it just seemed an impossible picture in Lucy's mind, and yet here was a book that had Uma's full name impressed upon its leather cover.

"Umaharra Lucilliad Lunaris." Lucy said aloud, running a hand over the soft cover. She heard a 'click' and the lock on the book unfolded. Unable to resist, Lucy opened the book and read the first page. The date printed was over fifty years ago and it said:

My mother passed away today. I was with her when she went on. She told me to go behind the waterfall in the pond, she'd left something there for me. She told only to use them in a time of great need. A last resort item only. I've done what she asked me and I understand why she said to me what she did. These spirits are only a legend to the world, and they should remain that way, if only to keep them safe. More powerful than even the twelve golden keys of the zodiac, these seven spirits must not be used at all costs. Mother entrusted them to me not to be used, but to guard and keep safe from the world.

Lucy frowned. That didn't tell her much, though it was somewhat the answer she had been looking for. The blonde snapped the book shut and the lock slipped back into place as soon as she did so. She stuffed it into her sash and grabbed the family book of gypsies and left the study. Whether the ivory keys were to be used or not, she had a job to do and she would do anything to achieve it. Her nakama came before the world and right now, they were in trouble. Without any hesitation this time, Lucy grabbed up the walking stick in her hand and opened the door.

Lila was standing there fully dressed and ready to go, Happy sitting on her shoulder. Hisoka was leaning against the wall, yawning but not asking any questions. One of them had gotten her bag of which Shirestone was perched upon and gazing at her with big ice eyes. Lucy nodded to them before she grabbed her bag and started toward the door. They reached the stable where they each saddled up a horse and grabbed another for packing food.

"I hope you both packed everything you wanted because we aren't coming back here for a long time." Lucy looked at both of them and they nodded. Without saying another word, Lucy mounted and urged her horse out of the tree onto the path they took to get here. It was all foliage. "Reopen the path from my grandmother's tree, let these new warriors become free." She didn't know how she knew the words to open up the path, but the trees started moving out of the way and Lucy urged her horse forward at a trot, Lila following behind her and Hisoka taking up the rear leading the pack horse.

With the parting of the canopy came the flood of moonlight onto the path and her company behind her only noticed it when that pale light hit the mark on the back of Lucy's right hand.

Yay. . . next chapter! that's probably what you are all thinking right now. I need to figure out a way to get my school work done and my church functions done and still have time to write. Schedules are things that I love to plan but half the time never follow unless it's a really big event. Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope that you all liked it and please don't forget to review. I'm sorry it's so late I'll try to get the next one in sooner.

P.S. : A random fact about dating: I've had three boyfriends, but I've never dated any of them. Dating is called dating because you've gone out on dates. Same with 'Going out' it implies that you've gone out with somebody. I've never been anywhere with any of my 'boyfriends' so would that still count as me being in a relationship with a guy that says we're supposedly more than friends?

If you don't understand the question, then don't answer it, OH! You guys were a lot of help on my sociology project. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. Please don't forget to REVIEW and THANK YOU ^/ _ \^