Back with the continuation

"speaking"

""thinking""

On with the story

The tree stopped an hour or so later, with the Fairy Tail wizards all landing safely on the ground. They appeared to be in the middle of a rocky prairie.

"We're here?" Gray asked.

"That didn't last too long." Erza commented.

"That magic was amazing!" Wendy happily exclaimed.

"I smell cold air" Natsu said as he points forward "we're getting closer"

"Is that so?" Erza said, as she leads forward. "Then let's go. The sooner we save the villagers, the better."

Walking through the path of frozen rocks and trees the Fairy Tail wizards reached their destination, Sun Village. Just as Warrod said, the entire place was frozen over. From the buildings to the plants.

"Wow, he was right." Lucy said as she looked around the frozen village in awe.

"I wonder what happened." Wendy thought aloud.

Erza searched the visually scanned the village for any signs of life. "According to Master Warrod, the people were frozen as well. But I don't see anyone."

"Maybe they were frozen in their homes or something." Gray suggested. He too looked around for anything resembling a frozen person.

"no" Natsu said as he points upwards "they're right in front of us"

All of their eyes widen in shock and surprise as a large and giant frozen statue was in front of them

"SO BIGGGG!"

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Gray exclaimed as everyone was looking at a giant frozen in ice

"giants!?" Lucy exclaimed

"I think he forgot to tell us about the villager's size," Natsu said as he was mentioning Warrod

Gray looked up at one of the giants, seeing it frozen reminds him of his past

"you ok?" Natsu asked Gray who nodded

"Yea…it's nothing." Realizing that his answer was an unsatisfactory one, Gray decided to come clean. He looked down at his shoes. "It's just…seeing these frozen giants brought back some stuff I'd rather forget…"

He didn't have to finish his explanation before Lucy found out the source of his apprehension.

"Deliora?" Natsu said as Gray nodded.

"just move on, the past is in the past" Natsu told the man as he patted his shoulders

"I never expected the 'people' to be giants." Erza walked closer to one of them, placing her armored hand on his massive ankle. "I thought they only existed in fantasy."

"Look, even the dogs are huge." Wendy pointed out as she stood in front of the humungous animal in question.

"I wonder if that is a dog?" Charla said with a sweat drop

"Just how are we supposed to save them?" Lucy asked

"this is where I come in" Natsu said as he tells the others to back off a bit

Natsu took a deep breath as his chest expands to the air, he was taking into his lungs

"Karyu no Hoko!"

Natsu breathes out a flaming roar at the frozen statue as he keeps it up before stopping and was surprised to see that his attack didn't nothing

"it didn't melt?!" Lucy said in surprise

"then how about this?" Natsu said as he lifts his right hand up and tried to summon Drac but the Gauntlet didn't appear

"what?" Natsu said in confusion as he tried summoning Drac again but nothing happened

"what's wrong?" Gray asked Natsu

"I can't summon Drac. Something's messing with my link with him" Natsu said as he looks at the bracelet

"if Natsu-san's fire can't melt it, what are we going to do?" Wendy said

"if fire can't melt it, how about Gray tries it?" Charla said as Gray nodded

Gray walked to the giant and pressed his hand against the ice. His gaze narrowed as he felt the magic flow into his body.

"What is it, Gray? Did you find a way to thaw them out?"

Gray shook his head. "No, but this ice feels weird. I've never felt a magic like this before."

"I assume that means you can't melt it either." Charla

"This is going to be a long job isn't it?" Lucy sighed.

"Looks like someone beat us here." A voice said from above, alerting the Fairy Tail wizards.

"They must be the one's behind that huge fire we saw earlier." Another voice said.

"Dun!" a third voice shouted.

Erza looked up to the cliff where their surprise guests stood. She saw three men, each with varied hairstyles. "Who is there?"

The long haired man on the right spoke first with a smirk. "We're the treasure hunting guild…"

"Sylph Labyrinth!" the spike haired man in the middle finished.

"Duun!" the large man on the left added.

There was a moment of silence. The men spoke again, in the same order as the first time.

"We're the treasure hunting guild…"

"Sylph Labyrinth!"

"Duun!"

"We heard you the first time." Erza replied.

"A treasure hunter guild?" Wendy questioned.

"My guess is they hunt for jewels and things like that." Lucy assumed.

"Sorry, but the treasure stashed here is ours." The long haired man said. "So you guys better not get in our way."

"Treasure?" Natsu said while raising an eyebrow

"We don't care about stuff like that." Gray retorted. The three treasure hunters were taken aback by the ice wizard's answer.

"Wait!" the long haired man shouted. "Ain't you guys after that eternal flame thing?!"

The spike haired man shouted his response as well. It seemed that quiet was not these men's fortes. "If not then what's with your heavy wizard presence here?!"

"We're here to melt the ice and free the villagers," Natsu told them

The three treasure hunters looked at one another after hearing Natsu's answer. They looked to be discussing something, but no words were exchanged. Suddenly their faces turned and they looked back at the Fairy Tail wizards with anger.

"Then you do want to get in our way!" the spiked haired and long haired men shouted in unison.

"Duun!" the large man added. Fairy Tail looked up at them with gazes of both confusion, and apathy.

"That flame has been burning in this village for hundreds of years! It's super rare!" the long haired hunter informed Fairy Tail.

"So for treasure hunters like us, it's like a really heavy, S-Class heavy, treasure! But because of those damn giants, we ain't been able get near it." The spike haired man continued.

"Then for who knows what reason, the giants went and duun froze up, right?" surprisingly it was the large man who finished the explanation, having said something other than "duun"…kind of.

"So this is like, the perfect time to get the flame." The long haired man resumed.

"But that flame is the guardian god of the village!" Wendy argued. "It's really important to them!"

"Yeah!" Lucy chimed in.' "You coming here and stealing it makes you know better than common thieves!"

The treasure hunters looked at another once again in one of their silent meetings. Once again they turned to the Fairy Tail wizards in a burst of anger.

"It's a treasure hunter's job to get their hands on the treasure!"

"That means if somebody lets their stuff get taken, then it's like, so heavily their own fault!"

"Duun! Duun!"

"Screw this! Let's just hurry and take the treasure before they can get in our way!" the long haired man suggested.

"You're right!" the spike-haired man agreed. "Let's go!"

"Duun! Duun!" The Sylph Labyrinth members turned on their heels and began to run back the way they came, but they were stopped by Gray's questioning.

"'Take'? I hate to break it to you guys, but that flame is frozen in a kind of ice that…" he was cut off by the spike haired hunter who turned around with a wry grin on his face. He held up to them a vial containing a small amount of a glowing purple liquid.

"Treasure hunters are heavy with treasure hunting skills." He said. "We got this heavy potion, 'Moon Drip', and it's heavy into melting all sorts of ice!"

"Whaaa!" Gray exclaimed in surprise.

"Moon Drip?!" Lucy exclaimed. "That's the magic that Lyon used on Galuna Island, right?!"

"How did they obtain it in liquid form?" Erza questioned.

"get that vial, we can use it to save the giants" Natsu said as everyone nodded.

"Let's get those guys before they can use it!" Gray shouted. He led the charge, the rest of the group following his lead as they chased Sylph Labyrinth through the frozen forest.

Everyone chased after the treasure hunters while Erza stayed behind in order to find a way to un freeze the giants

"Something's odd about this." Erza said as she looks at the giants as they all were facing one direction with their weapons readied

"All of them are facing the same way. Their weapons drawn for battle. What could have happened right before the village was frozen to cause this? And can such a small amount of Moon Drip unfreeze all of this?"

She then realized something as she looks at where the giants; were all facing at

"Giants…Weapons…Ice…Were they fighting something? Or to be more precise, protecting something? Were they protecting the village? No, it had to be something precious something to them. Something worth dying over." She said before she realized it.

"The eternal flame!" She looked in the opposite direction the giants were facing.

"If they worshipped the flame like a god, then they must have been frozen while protecting it from some outside enemy." She began walking opposite the giants and out of the village. "That means…" she broke into a run, the pieces continuing to fall into place. "The flame must be in the opposite direction of where they are facing." She ran as fast as she could. Each step was crucial. The longer she took, the harder it would be to save the village.

Exiting another frozen forest, Erza saw something in the distance. "A mountain!" It was guarded by two giants with large spears, but just like their fellows, they were frozen solid. Erza ran past the frozen guards and began to ascend the mountain, using her flight armor to shorten the trip.

"The flame must be at its peak!" she deduced. When she reached the peak she found nothing, just more ice. She looked over the mountain top, sighing in defeat as she returned to her Heart Kreuz armor.

"I thought returning the eternal flame would help the village return to normal but…" she sighed.

"Although even if I did find the flame, I would have no way to return it to its normal state. I didn't think this course of action through clearly enough. Was my armor always this heavy? I must be tired from using that spell earlier. I knew should have trained more. But never mind that for now. I should have known that the village's treasure wouldn't be found so easily. In any case I should…"

Erza then stops in front of a giant ice shard as she looks at her reflection

"What…what is this?" Her voice was higher in pitch. "I've turned into a child…?"

She was now a child anymore as her armor fell down to the ground and her shirt was the only thing that was covering herself

In the sky

High above the skies of Sun Village, a winged cyclopean creature soared through the air; carrying two passengers on its back. One of the riders was a man of considerable size. His bulging muscles nearly ripped through his tight shirt. He also sported a bandana - with the picture of an open mouth with teeth bared - over his mouth. He looked over the side of the creature with annoyance.

"Treasure hunters and wizards…?" he said. "They're both problems. We have to eliminate them. That's our job."

"I care not for the thieves." His companion - a woman - scoffed. "The problem is the wizards."

"That's true." The man nodded.

"Fairy Tail." Anger, but also a slight hint of amusement built up in the woman's voice.

The man turned his head to look at his companion. "You know them?"

"Of course." She smirked. "Only the most terribly ignorant live in this world and not know of Fairy Tail."

"I know nothing of the outside world." The man stated plainly, looking down at the ground once again.

"It doesn't matter." The woman said quickly, her smirk slowly turning into a devilish grin. "I never thought my chance at revenge would come so quickly." She grabbed the end of her long black hair, twirling it around her finger amusedly. "The shadow world has its advantages after all."

"I don't care about that." The man declared. "This is a job. Let's go, new girl."

"'New girl'?" the woman repeated with an amused expression. She nearly eked out a laugh at the blatant disrespect. She turned to him. "You are to call me, 'Princess'."

Her name is Minerva Orland, Former member of Sabertooth and was now a member of a dark guild, Succubus' eye

that's a wrap!

bye bye