Chapter 40: Fairy Tail vs Sabertooth Part One: Maker Battle!

"Lucy…" Natsu mumbled plopping down next to the bed where his unmoving girlfriend laid. Erza frowned from her seat next to Wendy's bed as she watched the boy's body begin to shake. The room became several degrees warmer the longer Natsu stared at all the injuries the blonde girl had. Gajeel paid Natsu no attention, his gaze was solely fixed on Levy who was in a similar state to Lucy, her injuries weren't nearly as bad, but they still weren't good by any means. Natsu leaned his head down towards Lucy's face, a small sigh of relief came from him as he heard her let out a soft breath. He hated everything about this though, he hated seeing her broken, and covered in scrapes and bruises. He hated the beeps of the heart monitor she was hooked up to, but most importantly he hated himself. He hated the fact that he wasn't there to protect her, he hated that he was responsible for this entire situation.

"Sabertooth, this is too far….if it was revenge you wanted then why not come after me? Why her?...Why any of them?" Natsu whispered, his eyes briefly leaving Lucy's form to dance across the room and take in Yukino, Wendy, Levy and Makarov who were all in the same condition. Eventually his eyes locked with Erza who was staring at him sternly, a shiver ran up his spine as Erza's lips parted. Natsu prematurely cowered in his seat awaiting the scolding he was about to receive. Instead something surprising happened, instead of her condoning him the words that escaped Erza's mouth were:

"This isn't your fault Natsu." Natsu blinked a few times trying to process what she had just said, his eyes landed back on Lucy. How he wished her words were true, but in truth this was entirely his fault. He wasn't the only one who thought so, outside of the infirmary Gray studied Natsu closely. His eyes dark, and cold as he watched his so-called friend. An icy aura radiated off him, his fists were clenched to the point where his knuckles were white. He turned on his heels and stormed down the stairs ignoring his limp as he entered the main portion of the guild hall where he and Natsu had gotten into a scuffle a few minutes ago. He kicked a stool that had fallen over across the room, the wooden chair exploding into a cluster of splinters as it collided with a metal bar. Stuffing his fists into his pockets Gray stormed out of the guild hall emerging in the gloomy outdoors. Dark storm clouds loomed overhead signifying the start of a storm.

"You're an idiot if you really believe that bastard isn't responsible for this Erza." Gray grumbled and stared up at the cloud covered sky. Anger flooding his entire body, wanting nothing more than to march back upstairs and kick that fiery fool's ass. Gray winced and clutched the leg that was in throbbing pain, causing him to limp. Of course Gray knew that Natsu wasn't the only guilty party, but it helped him put the blame solely on Natsu's shoulders instead of admitting that he was also part of the reason Juvia was now in bad shape.

"Damnit…." Gray muttered and punched the side of the guild leaving a crack in the wood. His body began to shake in anger. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't even realize Erza was now standing behind him.

"Gray, I know you want to blame Natsu...but we can't turn against each other. We need to come together, we'll figure something out. I assure you we will not stand for Sabertooth's transgression." Gray turned to face her with a glare and huffed.

"Okay, just as long as I can get my hands on the person who hurt Juvia….I'll play nice with Natsu, but this doesn't mean I forgive him...this whole thing started because of him….I don't understand how you can say it's not his fault…." Gray moved to push past the redhead, but she gripped his shoulder and glowered up at him.

"Because it wasn't. Yes, his actions when he attacked Sabertooth may have influenced their decision to attack us, but the bottom line is that the only people to blame for this is Sabertooth themselves...they were the ones who attacked and blindsided everyone…" Gray quickly pulled away from Erza's grip and stared coldly down at her.

"I don't get why you constantly are defending his actions! This is how it's been ever since we were kids! You never reprimand him! You and Lucy both have always encouraged him! And look where that has gotten us!"

"You're treading dangerously Gray….I recommend you stop right there." Erza threatened in a dangerously low tone, but Gray ignored her.

"Ever since he has joined the guild it's been nothing but trouble! I mean for God's sake look at what he did to the Cathedral! We should've just left him in Nirvana!"

"Gray. I'm warning you." Erza seethed.

"If he had ended up losing his powers none of this would be happening right now, Hell maybe that Daphne woman would still be alive! The point is-AGH!" Gray's tirade was interrupted by a fist buried deep inside his gut. He hacked and fell to his knees at a fuming Erza's feet.

"Listen here, and listen well Gray….I get being angry about what has happened to our guild, but I will not stand by and let you insult our friend like that….I haven't the slightest clue as to when your feelings for each other changed, but I remember you two being as close as possible when we were kids…..it honestly pains me to see you two constantly bickering nowadays….." Erza turned and stormed back inside the guild hall leaving Gray alone on his knees, clutching his midsection. Erza let out a sigh once she was back inside and sadly looked out the window where she could see Gray still kneeling on the ground, her face formed into a frown. What happened? As long as she knew Natsu and Gray they were like siblings, sure they bickered a lot, but in the past two or three years they had started going at each other's throats. She still recalled the day where they first met in the third grade. After the orphanage had been shut down, Makarov took her in and practically raised her and Laxus as his own kids. So naturally he made sure she got a good education.

"Alright class, let's settle down…." A female voice from the front of the classroom spoke over the loud ruckus of young children. The kids slowly began to quiet down and find their seats.

"Good, now before we get started I would like to introduce you to our newest friend. Erza, would you like to introduce yourself?…." The class turned their heads to the door where a small redheaded child was standing awkwardly she nodded her head and stepped forward.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER FACE?!" A kid shouted and Erza's face turned bright red and she quickly swept her red hair in front of her right eye that had a white bandage over it. The rest of the class broke into chatter. The teacher cleared her throat, but that didn't stop the class from muttering about the strange new kid. Erza just frowned and sat in the empty seat in the corner while the class continued muttering about her. Unbeknownst one of the many kids in the room was not talking about her, while the teacher was trying to hush to students he was just watching the girl closely with a frown.

The day went on and Erza had tried her hardest to stay relatively secluded, and it was now lunch time. It was a really nice day so the teacher's had let the kids eat outside and run around on the playground. Erza had found a nice shady spot under a large oak tree to eat her sandwich in peace. She frowned and moved her hand up to the bandage that was covering her right eye with the bandaging covering it.

"Hey there…mind if I join ya?" A voice caused Erza to look up to see a boy with unruly salmon hair. He gave her a toothy grin and scratched the back of his neck. The girl frowned and looked down at the ground.

"Why would you want to sit with me?" Erza asked quietly, the boy just continued grinning.

"Because, Lucy is out of town with her parents for a business trip and she said I needed to make new friends!...I'm Natsu!" The boy grinned and stretched out his hand for her to take, Erza looked at him cautiously.

"Okayyyy? But why me? I'm sure there are other kids you would rather hang out with…" Natsu shook his head and sat down next to her.

"Nope, besides Lucy nobody else wants to be around me….they call me a freak." Natsu explained with a smile and shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn't actually bothered by it. Erza gave him a confused pity glance. She instinctively moved to cover her right eye with her bangs.

"Are you okay by the way?" Natsu asked quietly and sincerely. Erza grimaced and turned her head to try and hide her eye. Natsu frowned and realized that it was an uncomfortable subject for the redhead, looking at her lunch that only consisted of a sandwich and a bottle of water. With a frown he fished into his brown lunch sack and pulled out a ziplock bag of cookies. He reached them towards her with a friendly smile on his face.

"Here….I noticed you don't have that much to eat, and Igneel always packs extra food for me...I hope you like strawberry." Erza studied his face closely, she was still unsure about the boy, but her stomach growled causing her to blush and reach for the cookies he was offering.

"Thanks…" Erza took a cookie out of the bag and nimbled a piece off it. Her lips turned up into a smile briefly at the taste of the strawberry cookie.

"Don't mention it!" Natsu grinned and dug into his own lunch, Erza had to sit there stunned at the way the boy sloppily ate. Her eye widened at the speed in which he stuffed a whole PB&J sandwich into his mouth and inhaled a bag of potato chips. After a few minutes he noticed that Erza had stopped eating her cookies and was watching him in amazement. His cheeks turned the same color as his hair and he let out a burp. Reaching his hand behind his head he began scratching his neck.

"Sorry...I just like food…." Natsu apologized sheepishly with a bit of peanut butter on his face, causing a giggle to escape Erza's mouth. An action that surprised even herself.

"I can tell." Erza chuckled softly and grabbed a napkin from her lunchbox before handing it over to him. Natsu gratefully took it and wiped off his face.

"How are the cookies? Lucy's mom made them before they left." He motioned his head in the direction of the bag of strawberry flavored cookies that was still in Erza's hand. She looked at them briefly and grabbed one before taking a bite from it. She then smiled her first true smile in what felt like forever.

"They're delicious! I haven't tasted anything like this before! Plus I love strawberries!" The young girl seemed to throw away her caution about the boy sitting by her and was actually enjoying his presence. There was something….warm about him? It reminded her of her friends from the orphanage she didn't feel like she had to be on edge. As an added plus he wasn't acting like the other kids who kept staring and muttering about her eye.

"That's good to hear! I'm happy you like them!"

"Hey Natsu?"

"Yeah what's up Erza?"

"Why do the other kids call you a freak?" Erza watched as Natsu frowned slightly before he shrugged.

"Dunno...the only person who has ever tried being nice to me is Lucy, everyone else is just mean to me….they like to make fun of the fact that I don't actually have a mom and a dad." Erza frowned at this.

"You're an orphan too?" She asked, causing Natsu to nod his head slightly.

"Yeah, but it's okay I got Igneel and that's all I need." He said happily, but there was still a hint of sorrow in his voice, it was faint but it was still there in disguise.

"Oh, I see…."

"Hey! Let's go play! I'm done eating!" Natsu shot up and held out his hand for Erza to cautiously take.

"What do you mean?

"I mean we can go play some soccer or something!" He pulled the redhead up to her feet and ran off leaving Erza to slowly walk after him. She watched as Natsu ran over to a bucket that was next to their teacher and grabbed a soccer ball. He ran back over to her with a large grin, he dropped the ball onto the ground and kicked towards her Erza watched on in confusion.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Erza asked and poked at the soccer ball with her toes. Natsu just looked at her like she was insane.

"You kick it silly, here like this…." Natsu walked over to the soccer ball and kicked it up into the air he then bounced it on his knee once it came down. Erza looked puzzled at his actions. He once again bounced it over to her, she watched as it flew through the air at her and reacted quickly by extending her hands and catching it.

"No, no, no! That's not how you play soccer, you can't use your hands!" Natsu explained and Erza bashfully looked at the ball in her hands before dropping it back onto the ground.

"Oh okay, so I just kick around like this?" Erza asked as she began kicking the ball around, Natsu nodded his head at her with a grin. She smiled softly and kicked it over into his direction. Natsu took the ball and did a little trick with it before kicking it up into the air to headbutt it over to her. She laughed as she used her knee to settle the ball down before kicking it again, except Natsu wasn't able to reach it in time as it sailed past him and hit another kid in the back of the head. Erza's eye widened as she realized that the boy she had hit with the ball looked furious.

"Uh oh! That's Dash….we need to make a break for it before-"

"Before what Dragneel?!" Natsu was interrupted by nasally voice that Erza recognized as the same voice who had asked about her face when she was about to introduce herself earlier, coming from the ugly looking butch kid that Erza had hit with the ball. He was stomping over to them with his posse following behind him. Erza watched cautiously as Natsu cowered slightly. Dash held up the soccer ball that had hit him in the back of the head with a glare.

"Which one of you two hit me with this?" He asked before whipping it hard at Natsu who let out a huff as he caught it.

"I'm sorry…." Erza began but Natsu glared and chucked the ball back at Dash who was so surprised by the action that he wasn't able to react in time, the ball bounced off his stomach causing him to cough and glower at Natsu, Erza watched him in shock.

"It was me….my bad." Natsu spat with a smug smirk on his face, Erza looked at him confused as to why he was taking the fall for her. She watched as Dash straightened back up and smacked his fist against his palm.

"I am going to get back at you for that one Dragneel! I'll tell my dad that you attacked me and you will be kicked out faster than your parents left you!" Dash snapped back and his group of lackeys broke out into laughter, a growl sound escaped Natsu's throat.

"Hey leave him alone you jerks!" Erza snapped, causing the group to stop laughing and turn to face her along with Natsu who was giving her his best. What do you think you are doing? Look.

"Oh? And who are you? A pirate?...Why don't you get lost cyclops before I decide to take out your other eye!" Dash's gang chuckled but Natsu, and Erza both glared at the boy who was taller than them. Erza's hands clenched into fists.

"I gotta say Dragneel! I'm impressed you managed to downgrade from that stuck up prude little princess to a one-eyed freak! You have the worst taste in friends ever!...Then again what can I expect? Who would want to be friends with a loser like you?" As the words left Dash's mouth Natsu surged towards the boy, but Dash just grinned and raised his fist preparing to punch Natsu. Before that happened though Dash was hit in the head with a baseball causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Everyone turned to look over in the direction the ball had come from, a boy with raven hair and a black jacket was walking over.

"Go away Dash." He spoke cooly, the boy on the ground glared at him.

"This doesn't concern you Fullbuster!" He snapped, but the boy just shoved his hands into his pockets and stalked over, totally ignoring him.

"Just because someone is smaller than you doesn't give you the right to look down on them. Haven't your parents ever taught you that?"

"Pfft, whatever….I don't need to be lectured by yet another parent-less loser...I'm out of here." Dash rolled his eyes and walked away leaving Gray, Erza, and Natsu behind. Little did the three of them do it at the time, but from that moment a bond formed between them. They would forever become each other's family, as the years went on the closer they became to being real siblings.

Erza sighed, her face feeling wet on one side, she wiped away the tear that had trickled down her cheek. The other side of her face was completely dry, afterall a glass eye couldn't actually shed tears. While she was in the filthy orphanage she had developed a disease that eventually caused her to lose an eye. A permanent reminder for the horrors of the place she grew up in.

"Oi! Red, what are you waiting for? It's time to go!" Gajeel's voice shook her from her thoughts, she turned to face the entrance where Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel were all standing. They all had a look of determination spread across their faces. Erza blinked, trying to register what was going on, and how long she had been lost in her memory.

"Go where?" She asked, causing Gray to roll his eyes but smirk slightly. He threw his arm over Natsu's shoulders.

"While you were spaced out the three of us talked things over….and we all came to an agreement."

"There's no point staying here wallowing in self-pity, Sabertooth needs to pay for what they did!" Natsu grinned, finishing Gray's sentence. The two grinned at each other and fist bumped. Sure they didn't see eye to eye, but that didn't change the fact that they had a bond that wasn't so easily broken, no matter how much they fought. Erza stood there stunned for a minute before smirking. A bright flash of light encased her body and a second later she was clad in her go to armor.

"I see….I must apologize for being caught up in my thoughts, but you are right….this was an act of war against Fairy Tail, and we are the only ones left to defend our guild's honor!" A sword formed in her hand and soon the other three were grinning.

"So let's teach these tigers that you don't mess with our family!"

"AYE!"

Two Hours Later…

"Ugh….why did we have to take the bus?" Natsu gurgled, and stumbled off the bus with the help of Erza.

"For once Salamander….I agree with ya…." Gajeel groaned as he was being supported up by Gray. The four Fairy Tail members had arrived in the capital city of Crocus. The two dragons were dropped onto a nearby bench to recover from their bad case of motion sickness.

"Well we are here, I suppose all that's left is to find out where they are hiding." Erza stated, but Natsu's green face suddenly paled as did Gajeel's. The two sniffed the air.

"What are you two up too?" Gray asked with a raised eyebrow, but the dragons didn't get a chance to answer. A glowing purple, green, and blue light shone around all of them and in a split second they were all teleported away from each other. No longer were they at the bench they were all hovering around, but were in four different locations. Natsu winced as he had been thrown through the air, he slid across the rough cement of a random rooftop. Gajeel tried to find his footing only to find himself in a building that was still under construction. Erza landed gracefully at a courtyard near a park.

"Damn." Gray muttered, sitting up from the rubble of the smashed bookshelf he had been teleported into. He had been teleported into an old library.

"How did I end up here? One second I was with the others, and the next I am...wherever I am…." Gray questioned out loud. He got up causing all the books that were sprawled over him to slide off him. They all landed on the wooden ground with a thud.

"Why that's simple….you fell for the ladies trap. And that has brought you here to me." An elegant voice caused Gray's eyes to snap open. He turned to the source of the voice to find a blonde haired male sitting at a table reading a book with his legs crossed. He wore a strange red outfit that was reminiscent of an old musketter's outfit. Gray's eyes darkened in recognition.

"YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ATTACKED ME AND JUVIA THIS MORNING!" He snapped pointing his finger at the man who smirked slightly. Gray sneered looking at the man who was responsible for putting Juvia in the infirmary, and caused him to have a limp.

"Indeed, I don't believe I had the chance to introduce myself at the time…." He closed his book before placing it back onto the table and standing up. He removed his hat, and bowed flamboyantly.

"The name is Rufus Lore...the memory maker. And you are Gray Fullbuster, AKA: Ice Demon." Rufus grinned and stood back up, placing his hat back on top of his head.

"How do you know who I am? I don't recall giving you my name or alias this morning!" Gray hissed. Rufus just grinned which only served to anger Gray more.

"You don't think we could have constructed a full blown assault on your guild without knowing it's members….truth be told Master Jiemma had put me in charge of researching all the competition in this country."

"So let me get this straight….you have been gathering information on the other guilds? For what purpose?!" Gray snapped, once again Rufus just grinned at him.

"Why isn't it obvious? So that we would be able to take them out and cement Sabertooth as the top guild in the country!" Gray sneered at this.

"Yeah right buddy, you should've done more research, because you would have found that if you mess with Fairy Tail!" The room grew chilly as he slapped his fist against his open palm. Frost began building around in his hands.

"Then there is nothing we won't stop at to make sure you regret ever messing with our guild!" Gray slapped his hands against the floor causing ice spikes to shoot up from the ground, Rufus just smirked and held his index finger against his forehead.

"Forget." He spoke softly and the ice instantly melted into water that splashed against the floor. Gray looked stunned at this before Rufus held up his arms outspread.

"How primitive, you see you and I are quite alike Ice Demon, both of our powers revolve around the premise of creation…" He then snapped his fingers and at once the water on the ground shot up and morphed into a sharp spear. It shot towards Gray who had to react quickly in order to freeze the water to cause it to shatter. While he was distracted by this though Rufus had snapped his fingers and a large gust of wind threw Gray into a bookshelf causing it to fall over.

"We're nothing alike….I would never align myself with a guld like Sabertooth." Gray snapped as he stood to his feet and tugged his long-sleeved shirt off. Rufus just chuckled at this.

"Oh don't flatter yourself, we would never even accept you as a member...you see despite our similarities, your creation power uses ice….but there is only so much you can do with ice. That's why I am superior to you, my power uses my own memory...meaning as long as I can remember it I can create it!" At once a large fireball shot out from his hand and at Gray, obviously a technique he had stolen from when Natsu attacked Sabertooth. Gray tried to roll out of the way, but the ball of fire exploded sending him backwards again.

"Tonight. Is the end of your pathetic guild! After all, we are in every way superior!"

Chapter 41: Fairy Tail vs Sabertooth Part Two: The Iron Dragon's Lament!

I'm sorry for the late update! Hit a bit of writer's block, but don't worry I still enjoy making this story for you and hope to get back to updating more consistently again! Can you believe it has already been 40 chapters wow! I'm so excited for what is to come! And I hope you two will as well!

Q: Do you think Natsu and Gray's constant fighting will cross a line?

Q2: Predictions for the matchups I have planned?