And here's the next chapter! Thanks to a lovely review, I've managed to write and release it earlier than planned :)

Everything went into slow motion, Freed could feel the life being drained out of him and a searing pain on his arm. He could just about make out Laxus' scream as the world slowly began to grow dark.

Suddenly – or rather miraculously – there was a bright flash of light that seemed to illuminate the battleground.

Laxus was pushed backwards by the sheer force of the spell that had been cast. As he squinted he could make out a large magic circle with an intricate incantation in the twilight sky above him. Many of the shadow monsters shrieked in agony as though the light was burning through them. They began to give off a strange pulse of magical energy before exploding into a burst of dark magical residue.

As the light began to fade and Laxus could finally see in front of him, Ruby Cillia was standing in the centre of the magic circle. Their eyes met and she winked at him.

"Not so bad for a mage that isn't even S class." Ruby had a cheeky smile on her face as she looked at Laxus' shocked face.

Laxus' mind was reeling as he processed what had just happened, and even though the battle wasn't over, he felt relieved somehow after seeing Ruby.

The yells from the shadow monsters forced him to break eye contact and look back towards the ones that still remained.

"Light drive sword!" Ruby yelled and a beam of light had appeared in her hand. The light formed a glowing sword that had black engravings on its hilt leading to the tip of the weapon.

Laxus eyed the battlefield, Freed was lying on the ground with a strange wound on his shoulder. Evergreen and Bickslow were standing not too far off from Freed, both hunched over and still out of breath.

"Evergreen, Bickslow, go to Freed and get him out of here!" Laxus shouted.

"Let's finish this!" Laxus looked back at Ruby and they both nodded in unison before charging at the remaining shadows.

As Laxus used his lightning, he couldn't help but be curious about Ruby's magic. She used a variety of spells, some of which shot blasts of black and white magic. The more powerful spells had a mixture of both light and darkness, seeming to obliterate the monsters in its wake. The sun's last rays were still peaking over the horizon but her magic seemed to light up the darkening sky. She conjured her sword from time to time, blocking the attacks before they could reach her. I knew we should have brought her along form the beginning. Laxus was entranced by her magic as she did a backflip to avoid another attack.

Ruby turned to look at Laxus, her eyes going wide as she yelled, "Laxus, behind you!"

Laxus turned around just in time to dodge one of the shadow monsters that attempted to strike him.

"That was a close call." Ruby looked concerned as she noticed Laxus had several wound on him. Although he doesn't show it on his face, he must be in a lot of pain. Ruby furrowed her eyebrows, thinking of Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen who were also scratched up pretty bad. Freed's arm will take quite a while to heal…

Ruby was getting out of breath, only a few shadow's remained but she knew the second the sun set the tides will be against them again.

"Lightning dragon roar!" Laxus blasted three monsters at one, still sweating profusely and growing increasingly tired.

"Dark drive burst!" Ruby shot a beam of black arrows at the remaining three shadow monsters.

Laxus looked around to check if they had missed any of them, after realising that the battle was finally over he felt his vision becoming blurry. He nearly collapsed onto the ground but Ruby had ran up to support him.

"Ughh… I'm at my limit." Laxus was lying with his head resting in Ruby's lap, he had been fighting at full capacity for the last hour and even with his immense stamina the battle had really drained him.

"Thanks for helping." he took her hand, his mind wondered back to the battle. I really thought we were goners back there, if Ruby hadn't shown up when she did… He shuddered at the thought.

Ruby bit her lip as she always did when she was worried. Evergreen and Bickslow should have gotten Freed to a hospital by now…

"You really should have been more careful you know…" Ruby's voice was laced with concern as her curly black locks fell in front of her. Laxus gave her a haphazard smile, his wounds from the attack must have caused mild magic poisoning.

"Take your shirt off." Ruby said in a matter of fact tone.

"Wait what?!" Laxus bolted up from where he was, suddenly feeling more alert.

Ruby chuckled and shot him a sly smile, "I'm a healing mage as well you know, those wounds are gonna give you some serious magic poisoning if you don't do anything now."

"Oh, right…" Laxus could feel his face getting hot. He did as instructed and lied on his back, noticing the smug smile on Ruby's face. I really walked into that one now didn't I…

Ruby couldn't help but notice how toned Laxus was, but the number of cuts on his torso made her increasingly concerned. The wounds were black with dense magic poisoning and were growing larger by the second. She placed her hands on the largest wound which was on the left of his chest and closed her eyes. After a letting out a breath a small grey magic circle formed and the wound turned white and began to glow.

Laxus could feel the pain being relieved as some of his strength began to return. When he looked at what once was a rather large wound, he could see his skin perfectly patched up, not even leaving a scar.

"How did you do that?" Laxus was surprised as he looked up at Ruby.

"Well I did say I can use healing magic you know, I also happen to be pretty good at it." Ruby looked proud but sounded a little shy at Laxus' praise.

She made quick work of his injuries. The colour had returned to Laxus' face, who looked much better than he did just a few moments ago.

"You probably felt drained before because magic poisoning takes away your magic." Ruby explained, she was glad the spell had worked successfully.

Laxus picked up his shirt that was covered in blood and was pretty cut up. He decided to just throw on his large, brown coat with light brown fur trimming around the edges.

"Hey, my coat kinda looks like yours." Laxus noticed the long red coat Ruby was wearing, which suited her dark red highlighted hair quite well.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ruby smiled gently as they both made their way back to Dawn city.

The night had finally come. One bright star glittered in the sky, refusing to give in to the darkness that spread around it.

The next day back in Magnolia, Lucy was sitting on her bed in her flat. She was still upset but feeling better since her conversation with Natsu.

"True strength huh… I never really thought about it that way. But still, I can't keep relying on other people forever." Lucy said to herself.

Lucy had thought about it time and time again, but she couldn't find a way to become powerful. She could get more celestial spirits and getting more silver but that would still mean relying on her spirits. She could improve her combat skills but against the powerful wizards and demons they faced it would do little damage. Damn it! Why does it always end up this way?! Lucy clenched her hands into fists in frustration.

"Well, I guess I should worry about it after I take a bath…" Lucy sighed at walked to her bathroom door. The second she opened it she screamed, backing up a few steps in surprise.

"You know, if you need some advice about combat magic, I would be more than willing to teach you." Erza was taking a bath in Lucy's tub as though it was the most natural thing to do, not even registering Lucy's shock.

"Also, you should try not to scream so loudly, I thought the window was going to break." Erza continued in a monotone voice.

"Well excuse me but this happens to be MY HOUSE!" Lucy was infuriated, this happened every time! Thank goodness Natsu hadn't tried sneaking in her bathroom but naked. I'd actually kill him if he tried doing that. Lucy put her hands on her hips and glared Erza who was still acting as though this was completely normal.

"Oh of course, my apologies. You are welcome to join me if you would like. Oh also, you should lock your window if you don't want visitors." Erza was enjoying her bath, something about Lucy's apartment seemed very cosy.

"You mean I should lock my door." Lucy rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Erza's invitation.

"I'll just wait for you to finish." Lucy signed and went back to her couch.

After a while Erza joined Lucy in her living room, after a few moments of silence Erza started to pitch the mission idea to Lucy.

"Were you serious about getting stronger?" Erza was very direct when she spoke, choosing not to dance around the topic too much and get to the point.

"Of course, after all you know what happened in the last battle." Lucy's forlorn face had returned as she averted her gaze from Erza, choosing instead to look at the sunset outside her window. There was a bird's nest on the nearby tree, with a baby chick hopping on one of the branches. Hoping one day it might spread its wings and fly.

"Well, one should start by retrieving what they might have lost in battle." Erza continued, testing how Lucy would react.

"Yeah well whenever you see what's left of my dignity just give me a shout." Lucy gave a self-depreciating laugh.

"Lucy, be serious." Erza frowned, perhaps Lucy wasn't ready just yet after all.

"Seriously?! You think I wouldn't just get the Aquarius key if it was that simple!" Lucy shouted, losing her patience. She was frustrated and she wasn't sure what Erza was trying to get out of her.

"What if I told you there was a way to find out more about the golden key you lost." Erza studied Lucy's face carefully, she looked very sceptical.

"What are you talking about? That's impossible." Lucy didn't want to raise her hopes only to lose everything again.

"Well, I have a mission request to investigate a lost celestial temple. Lucy, I can't guarantee anything but I believe you may find the information you're so desperately searching for." Erza couldn't be sure that it would help, but it was worth a try.

"I know you've been studying in the guild archives, that was why I couldn't find anything there wasn't it." Erza had suspected it since she found a gap in the shelves where some of the records were supposed to be.

"It didn't mention anything about a celestial temple… just some old scripts." Lucy mumbled.

"Do you know about the existence of a celestial temple?" Erza inquired.

"Yeah, I think my mother mentioned it once when I was younger… but I don't remember anything about it." Lucy tried hard to remember what her mother had told her, but she was far to young and the memory wasn't clear.

"But… I would be willing to go on the mission if you'd let me." Lucy was hesitant, but then again, she didn't have anything to lose.

"Let's go back to the guild and prepare for the mission." Erza said as she got up to leave.

"Should I get Natsu and meet you there?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, that would be very helpful." Erza replied.

As Lucy walked outside, she saw the baby bird that she was watching from her window. It had jumped off the tall tree and began to fly.

Master Makarov was on his way to a Magic Council meeting that was being held in Crocus. He was sitting on the train, still thinking about what he had heard from Gajeel.

At this rate, word's bound to get out. There could be a mass panic, especially since the people of Fiore are still dealing with the repercussions of the previous battle.

The other wizard saints were going to attend, and for this particular meeting all of the guild masters had been invited as well.

"Hmmm, I sent Laxus a lacrima message before I left... I suppose Mirajane will have to take care of it." Makarov said to himself.

"Where had that boy been recently anyways...?" Makarov sighed.

"Oh! Hey there Master Makarov!" Sting walked over Makarov and sat oposite to him.

"Well well, the Sabertooth guild master has decided to come along this time has he?" Makarov noticed Sting seemed concerned, he sat with his arms crossed and brows furrowed as though something was bothering him.

"Yeah well last time I was preoccupied with some things..." Sting winced as he recalled the memory.

"Do you have anything to report to the council?" Makarov was curious if Sabertooth had also encountered any strange creatures, any information would prove very useful at this point.

"No… not really…" Sting averted Makarov's gaze, instead looking out the window.

"Umm... Have you seen Yukino by any chance?" String said abruptly, now turning to look at Makarov.

"No, I haven't I'm afraid." Makarov could see the disappointment on Sting's face.

"Ahh, I see. Well then I guess I'll leave it at that." Sting got up and left the carriage, Makarov watched him go, choosing not to say anything for now.

Sting walked into the next carriage, closing the door to the previous one which Makarov was still in.

Yukino… Where did you go?

…

It all started three months ago, spring had just arrived and Sabertooth was basking in the sun.

"Hey look who it is! Did you two have fun on your 'secret' mission you snuck off for last week?" Dobengal looked at the pair as they walked into the guild.

"You know I'm the guild master right? Would it kill you to call me 'Master' every now and then?" Sting was annoyed that despite him becoming the master quite some time ago, none of his guild mates ever took him seriously. Behind him, Yukino had almost turned red with embarrassment. All eyes of the guild seemed to be on them and unlike Sting, and she didn't like all the attention.

"Come on, give them a break. They went to investigate some strange reports near the coast." Minerva smiled as she entered the room in an elegant dark blue dress.

Before Sting could reply, a large blast could be heard in the distance, followed by shouts and screams.

Rogue kicked open the doors of the guild, walking straight up to Sting.

"We've got trouble! A group of people wielding some crazy magic started rampaging around the city!" As Rogue was speaking, a cloud of smoke rose from the nearby school.

"Damn it! Everyone, we're heading out! Rogue, Minerva, come with me to take down the assailants. Dobengal, Lector, Yukino, go evacuate the school. The rest of you! Help the people get to safety and take out any enemies you see!" Sting quickly came into action, barking orders so that they could minimise the damage.

The guild rushed outside to take down the attackers. Yukino, Lector and Dobengal made their way over to the school.

Yukino looked worried but at the same time felt very helpless. He sent me to evacuate the school? Does he have so little faith in my abilities?

Even on the mission, Sting had always done the heavy lifting and took out the beasts that had wondered into the nearby villages at triple the rate she could. And that wasn't even me… my spirits were doing the work…

Yukino gave a self-depreciating smile, Sting never showed of his power but as a white dragon slayer and an S class mage… Her magic always paled in comparison.

A shout brought Yukino out of her thoughts, the school had caught on fire and there were still people inside.

"Yukino! Summon Pisces and put out the fire!" Lector shouted before flying up to the top of the building to save some of the children trapped up there.

"I'll leave it to you!" Dobengal added before running towards the building.

"R..Right!" Yukino stuttered as she pulled out her golden key.

"Open Gate of the Paired Fish! Pisces!" Yukino called, a large golden magic circle formed above her.

When the two large fish appeared however, they also knocked down a nearby tree – which happened to have a young child right underneath it.

The child screamed but before the tree could fall on it, Lector swooped in and carried the child to safety.

"Careful Yukino!" Lector said before flying back to the smoking building.

This isn't going well…Yukino thought.

"Pisces, spray water into the school building and extinguish the flames." Yukino looked at both of the fish who were crammed into the small street space.

They sprayed the building with water, which swiftly took out the fire but there were bound to still be some people trapped inside.

"Pisces! Revert to your human form." Yukino had to yell because of how high up they were. Once in human form, the pair walked up to her.

"Let's go and help any people still trapped in there."Yukino added before walking into the still smouldering building.

"Mom, I'm not a big fan of the heat you know." The younger of the two complained before running in right after Yukino.

Meanwhile, Minerva, Rogue and Sting were facing off against a rather burly man with white hard and a white beard. Behind him stood a small army of assailants.

"I'll take the left." Minerva shouted.

"Then I'll take the right." Rogue grinned as he stepped towards the right.

"I guess that leaved you and me, old man." Sting looked in the dark eyes of the rather large man in front of him, all too aware of the city buildings that surrounded them.

"You dare challenge a dark guild boy? I have been a guild master for twenty years, I have no time to play with the likes of you!" The tall man didn't even bother mentioning his name as he started to charge through past Sting.

"Hold it right there!" Sting blocked his charge in its tracks. Ok, most of the civilians that used to be here have fled, but many onlookers still remain. If we had more space this fight would be easy but... one wrong move might kill someone.

"How about we settle this elsewhere?" Sting wanted to take the fight out of the city if he could.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" The large man snapped his fingers and a brown magic circle formed in front of him. A round of large, cannon like rocks fired towards Sting who immediately dodged with a backflip towards the left.

"You missed!" Sting shouted, but just a few milliseconds later he heard a large crash behind him.

"No, I don't think I did." The large man smirked as Sting looked behind him with wide eyes and saw a building start to topple over on a large crowd of onlookers.

Sting was almost frozen in place as he saw the looks of terror on the civilian's faces.

Crap!