Okay, time for some brutal honesty. Yes, it's finally time to lay all the cards on the table.

From sometime late last year to early January this year, I've been putting this story on the back burner, and truthfully, I started resenting it. Like I HATED the thought of writing for this story again. Why? Because of the reviews. Now hear me out though. Please.

So when I first started writing this story, I would get quite a bit of reviews for each chapter, and for the most part they were all positive. As of recently, I'd barely get one or two reviews per chapter, and a lot of times they'd be so negative. At that point, all of the negative reviews really started to get to me and pushed me away from wanting to write. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people who say they don't like the story etc. It's just that I felt that so many of those reviews weren't very constructive. You don't like X, Y, or Z… well that's fine. Can you tell me what you think I can do to improve that?

You see, my plan from the very start of this story was to write it on FF first, and after the FF version was completed, I'd take aspects from this story that I liked, things I think I could improve on, and write my own original novel using this as the framework. The characters and settings would change along with other things, but for the most part, the gist of it would remain the same. With this long-term goal in mind, I pushed myself to pump out chapters even when it seemed like no one was reading, which, let me tell ya, felt like a LONNGGG time. A lot of the critiques shared the same sentiments. More Nalu! Less Lisanna! More romance! More action! Less "filler"!

To be fair, I probably egged on that filler one more than I should've have. Since I'm laying all the cards on the table, I wanted the story to feel like a mix between something you'd find in an action-packed fantasy and at the same time, something you'd find in a regular high school. I wanted to give the guys a break from all the plot and action and just give them a chance to be themselves in their natural habitat; high school! Also, I wanted it to be sort of like Fairy Tail, where the gang has some down time. I know for some, this must've felt pretty long, but for me personally, I felt it was necessary to give the gang at least a semi-decent reason to go through all this trouble for Juvia, cause MAVIS. The lengths that Natsu and the others go to for their friends in the anime… they'd better have a damned good reason for all that fighting lol!

Side note, I recently put my little sister onto the Fairy Tail anime, and she and I are watching it together, in my case re-watching, and let me tell you guys, she's OBSESSED. I almost feel like a proud parent.

Anyways, those reviews really got to me, because I knew in the long term what the story was going to look like and how all aspects of the plot would turn out. I guess I kind of forgot that you as readers can't see the story the same way that I do and thus it might look "derailed" or "lacking plot". It got so bad that I actually developed ANXIETY every time I'd get an email saying I got a review. Yep. And this started sometime mid last year. It saddens me a bit, because I remember when I first started on the site a couple years ago, I used to get so much joy from those kinds of emails. Now, I actually wait a day or two before opening them.

Also on this note; I believe I made an author's note a few chapters back stating something about how the pairings weren't as important as the plot or some shit like that? It's funny, I don't even remember. But anyways, fuck that lol, this IS a Nalu story!

I mean, come on, just look at my screen name, how could I not? Also, since I'm still at it, this IS also a Gruvia story! Wonder how many of you saw that one coming? Romance was planned to be woven intrusively from the very beginning anyway, I just sucked at trying to balance it with the action, which is something I'm very new at.

Alright, thanks for listening to my Ted Talk, my ranting, whatever you want to call it. As, you may or may not be able to tell, I'm in a much better place with how I feel about the story! So now, if you'd excuse me, I'll just go back to pumping out chapters that no one's going to read anyways. Or maybe you do, I can't really tell seeing that no one leaves me reviews these days anyways. Edit: Okay, so I don't mean 'no one' in a literal sense since there are people that care enough to review on my chapters, and I just want to say to you guys that do, that you literally make my entire day! Thank you!

No but seriously, please leave a review. I'm willing to beg if I have to. XD

And lastly, do NOT think you can't tell me what you're feeling chapter to chapter, I just want you all to try to add a little advice after you're done roasting me to ashes XD. It'd be greatly appreciated.


"Okay everyone, so let's go over what we've covered so far… again" Natsu started. Seated in the otherwise empty classroom in front of him, were Lucy, Lisanna, Gray and Loke. He walked to the chalkboard and wrote at the very top 'WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR'.

"We know nothing," Gray said bluntly, leaning against the desk with a cold expression on his face. "We went gallivanting through every nook and cranny in this town and we found… nothing."

"We really didn't find anything useful Natsu…" Lisanna agreed empathetically.

"Hey, that's not true, at least we found the directions to Loke's hairdresser." Natsu retorted with an eyeroll.

"Hey!" Loke sputtered in the background.

"Did we seriously get no good leads?"

"Were we seriously expecting to find any?"

Silence.

Everyone's mood simultaneously dampened. The sullen silence didn't last too long when Natsu's phone vibrated in his pocket.

"Mavis, if this is CPS…" he stopped his grumbling when he looked at the caller ID and saw it was an unknown number.

"Who is it?" Lucy perked up.

"I actually… don't know, hello?"

"Hello there Lucy darling!"

"Hello?! Who is this?!" Natsu said switching the phone from one ear to the next. He glanced over at Lucy, and then he gasped as he realized exactly who he was talking to.

"Your hair is so beautiful, and see, its blue like mine!"

"Say…? Why do you hide your hair?"

"Is it because you're ashamed of it?"

"I… wouldn't believe…" he said softly in disbelief, slowly turning to face Lucy, who in turn, slowly, but deliberately avoided his eye contact.

Natsu instinctively put the call on mute. "Lucy!" he called.

The guilty blonde jumped at the sound of her name, and she mechanically turned to him with a frozen terrified smile on her face. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-yes? Natsu?" She stuttered, sweating bullets.

The others looked on between an angry Natsu and a terrified Lucy in confusion.

"What's wrong? Who is it on the phone?"

"It's Levy, the girl from the Marcus'," he said to Gray. "And Lucy, how the heck did she get my number?!" he shouted.

"Hellloooooooooooooo? I'm getting pretty bored over here!"

Natsu flinched hearing her voice over his phone receiver. Somehow, he found it even more grating than the time he heard it in person. He turned to his partner again for answers.

"Lucy!" he hissed.

"Look I'm sorry okay! I used your phone yesterday after you fell asleep to call her for help!"

"Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu WHAT?!" he drawled, ready to just about rip his pink, spiky hair out. Lucy shrunk back at his displeasure, although she had already tried to prepare herself for such a reaction.

"Hold up," Loke interjected, pointing his finger in the air. "Are you two… living together?!"

"Lucy, why in the hell would you do that?!" Natsu continued, aptly ignoring the blonde womanizer.

"Because like you said, we needed all the help we can get!" Lucy said, finally defending herself.

"Okay, but her of all people?! In case you've forgotten, she was awful to Juvia the last time we saw her!"

"Natsu's got a point Luce," Gray added coolly, never opening his eyes. Natsu and Lucy both paused their shouting match to listen to him. "Besides, what happened to keeping this just between us? Her friends?" He peeked open his right eye to give her a disapproving eyebrow and Lucy withered a little under his gaze.

The blonde tried to find a source of salvation from anyone else around the room, but Lisanna gave her an empathetic look that said she agreed with the boys, and Loke's eyes acutely avoided hers, but hardened as he stared into the distance. She almost couldn't believe it.

Everyone was against her on this.

"Look," she started, narrowing her eyes at her friends. "I know you all don't like Levy, and that she probably didn't make the greatest first impression-"

"-Or just the worst." Natsu mumbled.

"But… you guys weren't there afterwards… Levy… Levy isn't all that bad! In fact, I'd even say Levy isn't bad at all!" A warm expression overtook her face at the memory of Levy saving her on Friday night. Lucy had a good feeling in her gut about this. When she looked around the room, she and Natsu were surrounded by good, caring people who were ready and willing to go above and beyond for one of their friends. She had a good gut feeling about these guys too and had convinced Natsu that they could be trusted with their secret, and now, look at where they are.

And now, she had a good gut feeling about Levy.

"I don't know about this Lucy…" Lisanna started. "I mean, she's a total stranger and…"

The rest of her argument died in her throat when a comically loud yawn was heard over the receiving end of Natsu's phone.

"Are you guys finished arguing about me yet?"

Mystified, Natsu checked his phone, because he thought for sure he had left the call on mute. After one look at his screen, his eyes widened. The call was still on mute.

Uncertainly, he took the call off of mute and put it on speaker.

"What do you want?"

"Hey, hey now! Is that anyway to greet an old friend? Geez, now my feelings are somewhat hurt…"

Natsu growled at the phone. "Stop fucking with me you-!"

He couldn't finish because Lucy quickly scrambled and snatched his white Android from him.

"Hey Levy! I am so sorry about this…"

"Hey blonde girl. I did what you asked me to from yesterday... and not that it's any of my business, but may I say, your friend has a very colorful legal record."

Natsu yanked his phone back from Lucy. "What are you talking about?!" he shouted at Levy and then he turned back to Lucy. "You had her look into Juvia?"

"Keep your panties out a knot Pinkette." There was a popping sound from Levy's mouth over the phone. "Blonde girl didn't ask me to run a background check on your friend. She just wanted help finding her, but of course, I'm a woman of science! And what's the scientific process without a little research?"

Again, another popping sound followed by a cackle.

"Hold on just a second," it was Gray. "How did you do a background check on her? Are you a cop or something?"

There was a pause. Little did they all know; but Levy was silently mocking him from the other side of the phone. Once it was out of her system, she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"On the contrary. My father was once a member on the police force before he finished his PHD and became a rocket scientist. Even though he's been off the force for years, when he was, he used to do a lot of cop work at home on our desktop, so I just hacked into his old VPN and used his network to find all the legal history on Juvia Lockser that I needed. The only thing I really required was a name."

She continued to suck and chew on her lollipop from her end of the phone, while the gang at Fairy Tail were all speechless.

"So tell us Lev!" Lucy said happily, a flicker of hope shining in her heart. "What'd you find?"

Levy shuddered on the other end of the phone at the shortening of her name. It repulsed her that the blonde girl felt comfortable enough to call her that, but Levy sucked it up regardless and even managed a smile even if they couldn't see it. Afterall, research shows that the expression on one's face could affect the tone and intonation of one's voice.

"See… I was willing to just tell you what I've learned out of the goodness of my heart, but… after my character was just so mercilessly attacked by your friends Blondie, I don't know…"

They all waited with baited breath, meanwhile, Levy started to file her nails down as a mischievous grin took over her face.

"I think I'll need something in return for my services, no? And since I know you guys are in a desperate situation, I'll start off with you pink haired one. How's about-"

"No." Natsu's voice was firm and uncompromising. It shocked everyone in the room, and it caused Levy, from her end to drop her nail file.

"What?!" she sputtered.

"Whatever it is, you're not getting it from me. I'd rather us take our chances without your help if you're going to try extort me."

"Hey, hey, wait a minute Pink! Don't be so hasty!"

"You didn't even listen to what she had to say Natsu," Lisanna agreed in exasperation. "How are we supposed to get anywhere if you're about to cut off our only good lead?"

Irritated, she fluffed some of her short, snow white hair and scoffed. "Geez Natsu, get over yourself for once!"

As soon as the words escaped her lips, she tensed up, realizing how wrong she was. One look around the room could tell her that completely messed up. "Hey, no... Natsu, you know I didn't mean it like that."

The Strauss didn't miss the look of hurt that pierced her very soul from his onyx eyes, before he finally closed them and smiled.

"When I was seven, right after my dad left and right before I lived at St. Mary's, my mom and I… were homeless. Sometimes we'd sleep in public parks, under trees, or even in alleyways. She didn't have any friends in the town and she didn't have any money. She'd usually get me the scraps that were still somewhat edible from restaurants after the day ended. It was… tough." Natsu looked down.

"After a while, the manager of a certain restaurant began to notice her, and he offered us food and a place to stay all for free. But she said no. She said even if she didn't have clothes on her back and died of starvation, she would rather die leading a free life she could believe in, than live and be indebted to someone. She always encouraged me to live that way too. To live doing what you feel and know is right no matter what the cost. So Levy, if you're listening, thanks for the offer, but I'd rather bring Juvia back the only way I feel is right. And that's with the people who genuinely want to bring her back."

There was a dense silence in the room. Nobody knew what to say. But Lucy on the other hand felt her chest swelling with a warm feeling. After the silence, Levy sighed.

"Alright then. I give. You drive a hard bargain tan one. But before I tell you anything, just answer me this. What exactly do you plan on doing when you find her?"

"Well that part should be obvious. I'm bringing her back to Magnolia!"

Levy sucked on her lollipop thoughtfully for a moment more and hummed.

"Interesting…" She trailed to herself.

"Are you people alone? Is it a private place?"

Lucy and the others looked at each other curiously.

"I'll take your silence as consent…" Levy said suckling on her lollipop a little more. "Now about your little friend, Juvia…"


Phantom Lord


The salty sea air combed through her blue locks. The warm sun coated areas of her pale skin that it hadn't touched in a long while. She took a minute to admire the scenery around her. It truly was beautiful to behold. Too bad she didn't have any time to hang around and bask in it. She grabbed hold of her dagger as she made rapid progression towards the pyramid. She was prepared for whatever – or whoever – she was going to find when she got there. Her fate was sealed from the moment that Akira woman brought her on this island. She was sure of it.

She was going to die.

However, no fear of death hindered. Her leaps were steady and strong. Her blade in the ever-ready position. Her mind was the sharpest it's ever been. If she was going to die here, all she wanted was to take Jose out with her.

She stopped stone cold in her tracks when she heard voices.

"… the master told us to be on the lookout for her."

From below.

"Well yeah, but there's no way Master Jose's serious about this. I mean, that's only one girl and there's about 30 of us."

Hiding herself behind the trunks of one of the trees above, Juvia eavesdropped on their conversation. She narrowed her eyes.

So, Jose already knows I'm coming huh? And wait a minute, there's 30 of them here?! But how'd he get so many, so soon?

Schwing!

She was abruptly yanked from her thoughts when a shuriken came flying past her head.

"It's her!" one of the voices cried.

Juvia looked down at both males below her, they were both about her age, perhaps a bit older, both dressed in jet-black, skintight body suits with a certain insignia in gray on the front.

The Phantom symbol.

Juvia used the tree branch as a rod to swing herself around on once before pouncing on the two boys below her, knocking them out with her two feet. She swiped one of the boys' sheathed Katanas around his waist before she heard more foot soldiers approaching her. She quickly unsheathed the long blade, the sunlight reflecting on the steel.

When nobody came in her area, she quickly went back to the unconscious boys, scrounging around their persons to hurriedly snatch anything useful. When she was finished, she expertly ricocheted again from tree to tree to get off the ground.

They saw her, so now, she didn't have much time.

At the entrance of the hideout, where two more Phantom members standing guard. Juvia observed them carefully from the nearby bushes. Just as she was preparing to get the jump on them by pulling out her sword, she witnessed the giant metal door cranking upwards to let a small moving vehicle carrying a brick of some white substance inside. She suddenly had a much better idea.


"Get these to the top of the roof. Master's orders."

The large white block was now on a cart being rolled down the metallic futuristic hallways of the Phantom hideout. The lights made joined semi-circles on the ground, illuminating them on their path.

"Are these… the goods?"

The first foot soldier looked at the other one like he an extra appendage sticking out of his chest.

"ArE tHeSe ThE gOoDs?" he mocked. "Of course they are you idiot!"

"Jeez, I get it alright!"

The first masked Phantom member, who was beefier and a bit shorter in stature rolled his eyes and turned away, leaving the second member, who was taller and lankier to pull along the crate to a nearby elevator.

"I'm going back to the gate to keep watch. The Master's required us to be extra vigilant for intruders today."

And with that he was gone.

The lankier one started to hum after he pressed the elevator button and started to roll the contraband inside. Slowly, the elevator doors slid shut with the sealing being marked by a ding. Inside the elevator, the Phantom soldier stared at the walls spacing out.

Juvia, who was hiding underneath the cart, used this as an opportunity to roll from underneath and attack. The soldier, who was caught off guard, sputtered in surprise, however he quickly took a fighting stance.

Juvia lunged at him with her sword, which he aptly avoided with a hard swerve to the left. He quickly unsheathed his own twin Katana causing Juvia's eyes to widen. He took two slashes at her simultaneously, one at her legs with his right arm and the other at her neck. Juvia avoided both, the one at her knees she avoided by taking a suicide dive backwards and protected her neck by using the still sheathed sword. Before the phantom soldier was able to regain his composure, Juvia clamped on the sword he was swinging toward her legs with her right foot, causing it to slip out of his grasp and slam against the ground. Within the split second he took to look at his currently unarmed weapon, Juvia pushed back against his sword at her neck with a mighty battle cry. He slammed against the elevator wall.

Now seemingly with the upper hand, Juvia tried to yank his other sword out of his hand with her free one. However, the boy took that as an opening and grabbed hold of the wrist that was going for his sword and twisted it behind her back, quickly pinning her to the ground. She was pushed face first into the ground with a 'oof'.

He wasn't able to keep her down for long though, even though his knees were digging into her thighs in order to keep her legs from moving, she used her thigh muscles and hoisted him off of her lower body. Since his hands were still twisting her arm and digging into her shoulder blades, she kicked backwards, with her right foot making direct contact with his cheek, and then, she wrapped her ankles around his neck and pulled him forward and towards the ground over her; effectively switching their positions.

Now it was Juvia kneeling above him, using her knees to dig into his thighs and her sheathed sword to help her distribute her upper body strength and hold up both his arms. Before he could wriggle out the position, Juvia slammed her forehead against his in a headbutt, severely disorienting him.

All of this… while the elevator was slowly climbing to the rooftop.

"Who… who are you?" he questioned woozily. "You didn't even uncover your blade... you disrespect me..." Then, the Phantom lackey gasped, and his eyes widened as he got a good look at the uniform wearing blunette. "You're-"

"You poor scrub…" she said giving him a blank stare. "You never stood a chance. And for the record, I didn't uncover my blade because I didn't need to for the likes of you."

He glared daggers at her while he struggled to get free, however the sharp bulging pain in his head was preventing his body from moving in coordination as it did before. Juvia stole a glance at the elevator level above the door. They were on the fifth floor.

"Answer me this lackey," Juvia demanded applying more pressure on her sword with the intent of potentially breaking his wrists. "Where's the weapons room in this place?!" He began to wince in pain. A small hiss slipped past his lips.

"The… third… floor," he groaned out amidst the pain.

Juvia looked back at their current level and cursed underneath her breath. She would have to get up to press the button for the third floor, but she really didn't want to turn her back on this guy for a second.

No matter. She needed to quickly redirect this elevator to get to the weapons room in order to properly suit up to fight. Besides, someone could hop on this elevator at any second.

"Quincey! Quincey have you given the goods to Master Jose yet?!"

The sound was coming from a walkie talkie of the boy, apparently named Quincey, that he stuck in between the bricks of the giant load of contraband on the cart. Juvia gasped looking in the direction of the sound and Quincey took the opportunity to quickly shirk Juvia off of him and run for his walkie talkie.

Juvia took that as an chance to press the button for the third floor, but not before Quincey alerted every current and active Phantom Lord member that Juvia had infiltrated their fortress.

"Hello, can anybody hear me?! I'm here with the former S-Class member that Master Jose's been trying to hunt down! The former S-class assassin, Juvia Lockser!"

When the elevator opened up on the third floor, all that could be seen was a giant crate of smuggled goods, a knocked-out Quincey and a broken walkie-talkie. Juvia took a cautious glance of both sides of the hallway to see if anybody was around, and surprisingly the floor was empty. She shouldn't have been too surprised. It was a very large building after all, with a small number of people to use it. The foot soldiers were all more than likely headed to the roof because that's where Quincey was supposed to be headed. Thankfully, she was able to stop him before he told them where she was actually planning on going, although she knew that wasn't going to stop them for long.

They were on her scent, so she wasn't safe.

She ran down to the end of the hall and was faced with a door that had a keypad to type in a password. She didn't know it, but luckily the keypad had a slot to slide a card, so taking Quincey's ID card that she stole she slid it in the slot and the screen lit up bright green.

'ACCESS GRANTED'

The door slowly slid upwards, smoke pouring out from underneath the doors. Once she was safely inside and the door closed behind her, she looked around the weapons room and was suddenly transported back to the past.

When she had to learn how to master every... single… weapon… inside this room.

In a circular room with similar lighting as the hallways, were weapons wall to wall from the top to the very bottom. It ranged from up-close, hand to hand weapons like Sai and Nunchakus, to mid-range weapons like the Bo and Tanto sword to range weapons like the ever-popular shuriken. They was even a section to different kinds of machine based weapons, like various guns and grenades.

The centerpiece of the room in a glass case illuminated by a big, bright light, was a white body suit. This uniform was similar to the ones that the other foot soldiers were wearing except of the obvious detail put forth in this one. The white body suit had gold trimmings and gold imprints of cherry blossom silhouettes and there was also a flowy skirt apart of this uniform. It had gold along the edges and a single cherry blossom pattern stemming from a vine silhouette on the body. The sleeves of the suit went all the way to the knuckles, leaving the fingers exposed. Finally, on the very back in giant gold print was the Phantom insignia.

"Could this… be the uniform of the White Phantom?" she mused to herself.

She quickly sealed her eyes shut after touching the glass case in awe.

Back in her earliest days training in Phantom Lord she'd always heard about the Legend of the White Phantom. The White Phantom, a legendary warrior who surpassed all other existing Phantom ranks and created a rank of their own. The White Phantom was said to be on par with the skills of Master Jose and the Master considered this person his equal. The very first and only White Phantom there was, fought alongside Jose before Phantom Lord officially started. Jose respected the White Phantom greatly, but after White Phantom's disappearance all those years ago, Jose' became bitter, and actively started searching for a replacement.

In Phantom Lord, everyone including the other teachers, all had rankings. When a student is first inducted into the school and starts their training, they're considered a Level D. Once, and only when, they pass training successfully, are they promoted to C class. If a new recruit can't successfully complete the basic levels of training, they're either killed off or die trying. Since level C is the beginner's rank, these are the foot soldiers. Level B's are intermediate students and level A's are the advanced students and some teachers.

Finally, there is the S-class.

There were only four S-class members in all of Phantom Lord during in its prime, which at the time, housed hundreds of students. Juvia of course, being one of them, and the only female to reach a level higher than A.

The rank of White Phantom, exceeds the rank of S-class however, being that S-class is still not on equal footing with the Master. It was rumored amongst the students that Jose was considering one of the four S-class to fill the position.

After copious amounts of staring, Juvia opened the door of the glass case and started taking the suit off the mannequin. Once it was on her, she noticed a small hair clip that had gold cherry blossoms on it, which she thought was mighty convenient as it just so happened that Juvia's bun became undone thanks to her little elevator scuffle.

The femininity of the uniform… the way it fit her so perfectly… could she perhaps have been the next…

Juvia clenched her fists, turning away in disgust.

This was just Jose messing with her.

He predicted this would happen. All of it. And he knew the first place Juvia would go to would be the weapons room, so he had a specially-made-for-her version of the sacred White Phantom uniform on proud display in the middle of the room.

He was dressing her for their final showdown.

Her fist smashed into the glass case putting a spider-web like pattern of cracks in it. "Damnit!"

When she opened her eyes again, she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the glass. She gasped, not believing what she saw.

The gold trimmings and blossom designs shimmered under the dim room lights. The stretchy fabric clung to every curve of her body outlining her chest, her contoured waist, her hips, her thighs, even her upper arm muscles. The flared skirt part bounced with every small movement she made and the gold patterns on it danced. Finally, with her hair tied up in a full hair bun, accentuated by the golden cherry blossom hair clip, the daintiness of her face was brought out.

The highly coveted uniform looked gorgeous on her.

She didn't have too much time to process her feelings on the uniform when she heard footsteps coming from outside.

"Let's check the weapons room!"

They found her. She knew it wouldn't be long.

She raced to arm herself with weapons settling upon a pair of Tessen fans, a tanto blade, and Sai. Her pursuers were at the door, so Juvia jumped over to the mechanical weapons wall. There were beeping sounds from outside the door.

"Hurry up Quincey! If she's in there stocking up, Master Jose will have our heads!"

"I'm trying alright, but she stole my ID pass!"

Juvia, who was now climbing up a grappling hooked rope into the air vents, heard this and paused to pull the trigger off of one of the grenades on her utility belt and dropped it into the now empty glass case.

When the foot soldiers finally entered the room, Juvia was safely in the air vents shimmying away as fast as she could to safety. Before they could shout that Juvia was in the room and that the White Phantom uniform was gone, the grenade detonated.


Meanwhile, on the seventh floor…

"Master Jose," a voice with a thick French accent started. Stepping out of the shadows and into the light, was a pale, slim man in his late twenties about average height, with slicked back green hair. He adorned an dirty orange suit with a black tie and a monocle on his left eye. On the right chest of his suit jacket was a Phantom symbol in black print.

"What is it Sol?"

"Monsieur Murch has confirmed zat he is on his way here with ze helicopter. In about an hour or two, monsieur."

"Well that's good."

"Oui monsieur. And Madaam Akira had sent ze products from ze mainland and we've confirmed they've arrived..."

"Good."

"Oui monsieur…" Sol trailed off. He was on bended knee with his head bowed, but his arm on his knee began to tremble the way he looked at it so hard.

"Is there something that I can help you with, Sol?"

Sol grit his teeth and balled his fists in his hand. "Master Jose, I know zat you know zat ze traitor is in our midst, in zis hideout!"

"…Indeed."

"Why?! Master Jose, is it true zat you asked Madaam Akira to bring her here?!"

"Yes Sol. I did."

"But Monsieur! After everything she's done to you… to us! She violated Phantom's most sacred rule! She cost you everything! Your dream, your vision, your empire! And, after she got you locked up, you lost your ability to walk!"

Coming out of his corner in the shadows and into the dim white light, was Jose, pushing himself forward in a wheelchair. His dark red hair tied into a low bun, his heavy legs rested comfortably in the rests of the wheelchair. He had on black boots, white tan bottoms with a long-sleeved, white ruffled top. On top of all of that, he wore a long purple coat that had the Phantom Lord insignia in bold print on the very back. His long mustached face held a smug smile when it finally hit the light.

"You're right Sol," he started, wheeling closer to him, which made the man's heart start beating faster. "She did take everything away from me… from us. She selfishly betrayed her family all because she wasn't satisfied. Do you know what happened to her fellow Phantom members when she betrayed me?! Some were taken away in incarceration. Some, were tortured for months in prison as retaliation until they perished. Others had to endure extreme mental torture, such as myself."

The end of every sentence Jose emphasized with a smug look at his subordinate. Sol dared not to look up, lest he be able to tell if his Master was angry with him or otherwise.

"Despite all that, she got away Scott free, leaving the rest of us in SHAMBLES!"

Sol flinched.

"But yet, here she comes, waltzing back in here like coming back here isn't a sort of death wish. Now Sol, you know firsthand just how invaluable Miss Akira has been in helping the rebirth of Phantom."

Sol nodded.

"As such… why don't you go out there and deal with Jezebel? Go and put those new powers Akira gave you to good use."

Sol froze in surprise, but he closed his eyes and graciously accepted.

"Yes, Master Jose…" he said, slowly lifting his head, dogged vengeance in his eyes.

Jose smiled, ultimately pleased with the look on the man's face.

"Good..."


Staring at the large, brightly lit screen that contrasted with her darkly lit room, Levy suckled on the red candy in her mouth as the seconds continued to add up on her call with Natsu.

"Phantom Lord started off as a karate dojo in urban Paris. According to the business license of the owner, Jose Ramos, it was his first and only business. Jose, who is currently 40, is a born and bred Parisian with no other known information on him other than what's associated with Phantom Lord."

"Okay… but how does any of this help us find Juvia?" Natsu asked impatiently over the phone.

Levy rolled her eyes. "I'm getting to that… if you would let me finish."

She used her mouse to click away from the pop up of Jose's business license on the screen and opened another pop up, which she quickly tapped away on the keyboard and exited the additional pop up.

"Alright Pinkette, I've connected our screens, which means your phone should be showing what I'm looking at right now." Levy said as she watched a loading bar on her screen.

"Huh? Wait... but how?!"

"Oh please, that's child's play. All I did was triangulate your phone's signal to… you know what?" Levy said, after a moment's thought. "Never mind."

She pulled up another pop up on her large screen with Jose's name plastered all over it.

"As you can see, Jose brought his business ventures overseas to Fiore, specifically to Gallows Town. From what I could tell from his balance sheets and tax filings, he had moderate business coming through, nothing too impressive but it kept him stable. Well, at least on the legitimate side of things. Police reports show that after further investigation into his earnings, that this man was actually making millions!"

Meanwhile on the other side of the phone, Lisanna and Gray were carrying on a secret conversation.

"That name… Jose… it sounds familiar, but I can't exactly put my finger on it…" Gray mumbled.

"Oh, I know what you mean!" Lisanna said rubbing her temple. "From the second she said the name Gallows Town, I felt like I was missing something important."

Fiore, while it was a small country, it was also a prosperous one. Almost every city and town there, its citizens lived middle-class lives or better, with crime rates being impressively low, and the nation ruled by a noncorrupt government. However, in all its apparent perfection, there was one huge stain in this picture: that being Gallows Town. Gallows Town is where all the backwater of Fiore ended up. It's a town littered with crime, poverty and death.

Loke, while listening to Levy, was also listening very intently to Lisanna and Gray, who unbeknownst to them, shared the exact feeling of Deja vu that he was.

"Jose's dojo students grew more and more," Levy continued. "But they weren't exactly documented properly. You see, apparently this Jose guy abducted homeless children from the streets of Gallows Town to enroll them in his school. Looking at the missing reports of all these children, matches the enrollment rate of his dojo. After he took them, he changed their names, and these kids are literally never seen nor heard from again."

Lucy gasped.

"And I'm sure that this wasn't a coincidence, but all his abducted students were orphaned so there weren't exactly a plethora of concerned parents looking for them."

"So, tell me Levy… is that what happened to Juvia?"Natsu asked.

"Interestingly enough, I think Juvia was actually apart of Phantom Lord from its early beginnings in France. Did you all know that your friend has a French passport?"

"She does?"

"Wow, seriously?"

"JUVIA'S FRENCH?!" Loke screeched above everyone else. Natsu and the others all turned to glare at him, and he sheepishly shrunk back in his seat. "Sorry. Heh heh."

"For whatever reason, I believe that her connection to Jose Ramos runs very deep. I couldn't find any birth certificates for her in my database, but that could just be that my hypothesis is right, and she really was born in France like Jose. My system can only find in on documentation that's relevant to Fiore after all."

Natsu turned and cast a secret glance at Lucy before focusing his attention back on the phone. He was already starting to feel bad about yelling at her earlier about Levy, because it was only early in the conversation, but Levy's data was proving to be a precious asset. Also, as much as he couldn't stand the condescending blunette, he was impressed with the wealth of information she had at her fingertips.

"But here's the thing, Phantom Lord wasn't just some militant martial arts school with captive students," Levy let off a cackle. "Oh no kiddies. That was just his cover up!"

"The true nature of Phantom Lord was that it was actually an assassin's guild. And Jose used his underage mercenaries to run a trap house of all things, striking fear into the hearts of his customers and competitors alike."

"No way…" Lucy started. "You mean… his students killed people for money?!" Lucy stumbled backwards a bit, her hand covering her mouth. There was no way. She just couldn't fathom her introverted friend being a murderer.

"Oh yeah. And it would appear that your friend was a master at it."

Levy didn't hear a single pin drop from the other side of the phone after she dropped the bombshell. She only wished she was there in person to relish the looks on their faces.

Everyone's faces in the room exhibited varying degrees of shock and/or terror. Lucy appeared to be the one taking it the worst. She stumbled backwards some more, putting her other hand over her mouth.

"Luce… you okay?"

She didn't answer.

Loke made his way over to her on the ground as they all looked in worry. From the very start of this phone call, there had been a feeling of dread building up in Loke's stomach about all of this. Levy's bombshell and now Lucy's mini break down was the final nail in the coffin for him.

"Phantom Lord has an extensive, dare I say impressive, hit list of people and organizations that they're responsible for taking down. Almost all of them have political power or were just wallowing around in more money than they knew what to do with. Jose's ultimate goals, it seemed, was to get rich by taking money from the wealthy and by gaining power by taking out people in power."

"Do you have a list?" Gray asked, not taking his focus away from the conversation.

Levy chuckled at his question, but after another eerie silence, there was a plopping sound from the phone, then a soft 'oh my God', which made it clear that the lollipop was out of her mouth.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

"Umm… I don't… I don't think… I can't-"

"Never mind all of that!" Natsu shouted. "What can you tell us about where Juvia is right now?!"

"Uh… right…" she said, obviously still shaken up. "Well, I can tell you that recently Jose Ramos has gotten out of his prison in Gallows Town."

Lisanna snapped her fingers. "That's it! My aunt and I were watching the news one morning before school and they were making a big deal about some guy who broke out of prison in Gallows Town. Jose Ramos… I'm sure now that he's the guy. He's currently number one on Fiore's Most Wanted!"

"What?! Then why didn't you start with this information?!"

"Oh, u-um sorry…" she stuttered. She was still somewhat out of it.

"Judging by what I know so far, I made some calculations and educated guesses. One, being that Jose's most likely the one responsible for your friend's disappearance. Two, he's now looking to disappear, so if you don't catch him soon, you'll never get the chance again."

A satellite image popped up on Natsu's phone screen.

"Using the satellite map from my dad's home computer, I've narrowed it down to this particular uncharted island. That, coupled with the recent on seas activity to and from this place, I'd say that Jose is here, and that's more than likely where your friend is now."

As they all gathered around Natsu's phone to view the island that Levy predicted Juvia was, Levy started to frown from the other side of the phone.

"N-natsu…?" Levy's voice came meekly from the phone, completely the opposite from how she started in all her cynicism.

Natsu paused, her change in demeanor not going unnoticed by him. "Yeah Levy?"

"Please just… just remember I'm watching you!"

She abruptly hung up the phone after that, but Natsu had a strong feeling that's not what she really wanted to say.


"Gajeel Redfox," Levy said with a half-smile, turning her chair around slowly.

Gajeel was grinning maniacally back at her, iron sword pointed at her face. "So you knew I was here all that time? And you know who I am." He was partly surprised that she didn't act more panicked at the sight of an armed intruder in her house.

"Of course I do. It would be remiss of me to do all that research and not know about you and your goldmine of a record."

Gajeel, who was standing in the middle of Levy's personal research room, in her house, in the middle of Clover Town, took a survey of the place. Her room was tripped out with gadgets and technology of all kinds. There were even rows of wooden cabinets lining the room with glass beakers of all shapes and sizes displayed on them. In front of Levy, a wall to wall computer screen with an intricate and advanced keyboard, filled with the standard keys and then a surplus of other symbols Gajeel didn't recognize. It was about as long as Levy's two arms extended at full length. Maybe a little longer.

"Are you supposed to be some kind of mad scientist or something?"

"If that's what you want to call it."

Gajeel's eyes followed his nose as they wandered over to the left side of the room where there was a strand of pink hair clamped under a metal clips and brightly lit under a microscope.

"There," he said. "That strand of hair belongs to Pinky doesn't it?"

Levy's eyebrows furrowed in surprise and disbelief. "But how did you-"

"Dragon Slayer's nose," he said, tapping his own pierced nose with his spare hand. "Now tell me, where did you send him? I know that was him you were talking to on the phone."

Levy, however, was still reeling over his admission of being a dragon slayer. "Wait a minute, what do you mean by dragon slayer?!" Then, she paused for a few seconds. Finally she gasped, her brown eyes as wide as saucers. "Don't tell me… the pink haired one is like you too?!"

He scoffed, not feeling inclined to answer the question, instead, quickly losing his patience, he yanked Levy by her tiny frame out of her rolling chair and shoved her roughly into the jumbo computer screen. It caused a giant crack and sparks began to fly from the damage. Levy let out a shocked gasp as all the air was forced out of her lungs.

"I don't think you realize just how much danger you're in," he said with low voice. With every word he made, the bass in his voice caused Levy's stomach to vibrate.

"Come to think of it, I should probably just kill you right here," he said with carnivorous eyes. Levy's hands clawed their way to Gajeel's, which were strangling her neck, blocking her airways. In comparison to Gajeel's tan beefy knuckles, Levy's smaller paler ones looked like those of a child. A stray dribble slipped past Levy's mouth as her face began to turn redder and redder by the second. He leaned in close to a struggling Levy and with a calming smile, put his lips by her ear.

"You've learnt too much."

Incoherent sounds started slipping past Levy's lips as Gajeel moved her from the computer screen by her neck, and with both hands started suffocating her midair. She choked on her own words as her legs started dangling desperately. She managed to look down at Gajeel's eyes, and there wasn't an ounce of sympathy in them.

Cold. Numb. Lifeless.

Her cry for someone to help stayed trapped in her throat, and she felt her vision start to blur with hot tears.

"Hope you felt good, helping that flame-retardant bastard out, cause now, it's going to be last thing you'll ever do."


Okay, so kind of a dark note to leave it on, but I feel like I haven't left a chapter with a good cliffhanger in a while. So anyways, how's yall quarantine going? So far, I despise the way a lot of my online classes are going.

Edit: So, I just found out that Jose's canon last name is actually Porla, ha ha ha… oh well.

Be safe! Oh, and don't forget to review!