CHAPTER 2

Lucy choked on a sob as she stared at the cold grave of her mother. It seemed strange and wrong to think of her mother being buried there. Layla had always been so very full of life. Such stillness was unnatural, and it disturbed her.

"This isn't right." She choked around the lump in her throat, fresh tears cascading down her cheeks, "Daddy this isn't right!" She looked blearily up at her father, uncaring of the others at the wake, "Mommy's not supposed to be like that! She should be moving! Why won't she move?!"

Jude lost his own battle against tears as he knelt and pulled his distraught daughter into a tight hug, "Lucy... you know you mother's joined the cycle of life." He said slowly, suddenly painfully aware that he had to curb Lucy's magic now that Layla was gone. His wife had always said that Lucy was powerful, possibly even had the potential to match their renowned ancestress Anna.

"But!" Lucy protested, squirming in his hold, "She shouldn't be there! Why can't we bring her back?!"

Jude closed his eyes briefly and prayed that the other mourners wouldn't think anything beyond a child's lack of understanding in her question.

"You know it doesn't work that way." He replied and pulled back enough to look at his stubborn daughter, "You remember what mommy said?" He smiled a little at her and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, "About the natural flow?"

Lucy pouted and looked down, "There's a balance to life and death." She recited, "And we should always respect it. The dead are dead and they in turn will help bring about new life. That's the natural flow of life."

Jude nodded patiently, "Mommy's joined the natural flow." He told her seriously, "And even though it hurts us now, we can be comforted in the fact that her life has joined the world and will bring forth new life somewhere." His smile widened a little as his own words comforted him a little, "And her spirit will be waiting for us. Wouldn't it be better to greet her someday with all sorts of stories about how we lived then still hurting from her death?"

Lucy gave him a skeptical look he, frankly, couldn't blame, "I just miss her so much daddy."

His heart clenched and shattered at the tiny words and he nodded, "I know honey." He pulled her close again, "I miss her too."

Neither father nor daughter noticed a wild haired man watching the whole scene from one side, grief on his face. He turned and left as he watched the pair hug again. He couldn't stand watching any more, though it was gratifying to know that Jude was taking Lucy's magic in hand despite his lack of it. Not a lot of people could do that.

Still, it hurt to know that Layla's fears had been entirely justified.

Rage welled up in him all of a sudden and he slammed a fist into the nearest tree, causing it to shake a few leaves onto him, and he hung his head as he slumped against its sturdy trunk.

"Damnit Layla... you said you'd be careful." He growled harshly, "You swore to me I wouldn't have to bury you too.

A soft breeze rustled around him and the memory of him signing those papers wavered in front of his eyes.

"Yeah." He croaked, a rueful smile curled his lips, "Yeah I know. That don't mean I have to like it though squirt."

The breeze curled around him comfortingly for a moment in an almost hug and Gajeel sighed as he pushed away from the trunk, "You know I ain't gonna take this lyin' down." He growled at it, "I can't."

The breeze brushed over his forehead one last time as the sounds of the wake ending reached his ears and he waved it off, "Don't worry about me." He grunted, "Go be with your family for a while. Your runt needs you."

He could almost hear her laughter as another memory of her scolding him to come visit more often played before his eyes and he chuckled, "Yeah, yeah. I will." He promised, "But not before the bastards that did this to you are dealt with."

With that he stalked out of the cemetery, hunting, death, and blood on his mind. It was the least he owed his friend's spirit.

-::-

Natsu tried to blend into the wall, fear strangling his lungs and anger pulsing through his veins. His dad was furious.

He pushed himself into the corner, trying to make himself as small as possible to avoid being seen, but he knew it was only a matter of time before his father's attention fell on him. Natsu hoped he might avoid the initial wave of his wrath, considering Acnologia had started off in such a good mood...

He backed up as his father smashed shelves and chests of gold. Without noticing, Natsu's elbow bumped into a small, glass bauble that his father happened to like.

Natsu acted quickly, snatching the glass constellation from the air before it could smash into the floor. However, the action still caught Acnologia's attention, and his dark eyes locked onto Natsu holding one of his most prized possessions.

"What are you doing?" Acnologia thundered, stomping up to Natsu and snatching the delicately spun glass from his son's limp grasp.

Immediately a surge of anger welled up within Natsu and he glared up at his father.

"Nothing! I just caught it!" He protested, "It was going to fall over and—!"

Natsu went reeling to the side by the hard smack that sent his teeth rattling in his skull. He blinked past the daze and stared up at Acnologia, sensing that his father's rage went a bit beyond the moment.

"Don't you dare glare up at me with those eyes! Putting your hands all over my belongings," Acnologia gripped Natsu by his hair and lifted the squirming boy up out of the air.

Hatred burned in his eyes, one that was reflected by Natsu as he yelled and kicked out with his legs.

"You look more and more like that scum Igneel every day," he spat, and Natsu didn't even have the sense to wonder who that was before he was being flung back.

He whimpered as he fell on the nest floor, panting as Acnologia advanced on him in all his rage, "and it was his friend, that damned vampire that destroyed all of my soldiers! Useless scum! Now I have to start my network back up again!"

His burning eyes glared down at Natsu, telling the child whose fault he thought this was. He scooted back, a tremor working through his gut, down to his belly.

Natsu didn't even try to apologize, knowing it would just send Acnologia into a higher fury.

"You're crazy!" He shouted instead, scrambling to his feet as he tried instead to run, "I didn't do anything, leave me alone!"

A blinding pain cut into his side as he suddenly felt something hot, slush against his hip. He stared down at the claws buried into his side, cutting him open.

Natsu's mouth fell open, shock taking its place over the pain as his knees trembled and weakened. He met Acnologia's furious eyes and his father's claws that had aimed to gut him.

And he saw the rage bleed out of Acnologia's eyes, being replaced by shock and horror over his actions.

Natsu collapsed, blood falling free from his injury and wondering if perhaps, this time he was actually going to die?

—::—

Erza scowled as she slashed through a training dummy with unsatisfying ease, and resisted the urge to apply the same attack to every other training dummy, and maybe one or two of the columns while she was at it.

"You seem angry today Erza." An elegant voice called from behind her and she turned to find her mother standing there with a soft, but knowing, look, "What has you so frustrated child? The call of battle?"

Erza huffed a little and crossed her arms, "That has nothing to do with anything." She grumbled, "I just need to vent."

"I can tell." Her mother replied wryly as she surveyed the carnage of the training arena, "But have you considered perhaps talking about what's troubling you instead of destroying all of our practice dummies?" She shifted a bit and smirked, "Or perhaps you would like to fight your mother instead?"

Erza's eyes widened at the offer, but before she quite knew what she was doing she lunged forward with a battle cry. Steel clashed against steel as Queen Irene blocked her attacks with an ease born of experience. An ease that only fueled Erza's own fury.

"Your form is good." Irene complimented calmly as they moved around the arena, "Textbook perfect in fact.. Though you have yet to begin incorporating your own flair fully into the basic forms I can see the start of it."

She smiled as her upset daughter requipped into another armor, "Ah, trying for overwhelming force." She noted, "A good strategy for most opponents, though a risky one if your opponent is capable of meeting your ferocity." She smirked as she cast a light enchantment on Erza and her daughter promptly dropped to the ground like a stone, "Or can negate it."

"Mother..." Erza growled as Irene slammed her sword down next to her cheek, effectively ending the short spar, and knelt down.

"Now... do you want to tell me what has you so upset that I could hear you in the throne room?" She asked mildly before a wicked smirk crossed her face, "Or perhaps I should tickle it out of you?"

Erza shot her a glare before her shoulders slumped in defeat and she sighed, "It's Jellal."

Irene raised a surprised eyebrow and released her enchantment as she reached out to help her daughter up, "Jellal?" She asked, "What's happened to him?"

Erza shook her head in frustration, "That's the problem!" She exclaimed, "I don't know! His letters home are different. I mean, you wouldn't know it to look at it, but I feel something... cold... in them now." She slumped a bit, "I can't explain it any better. I just know something's wrong. I just don't know what." She gripped her betrothal necklace, "And I can't rest easy."

Irene studied her daughter thoughtfully. This sounded like something a bit beyond the usual teenage angst over a crush, or betrothed in her daughter's case. There was genuine worry there, and frustration. She'd always had mixed feelings about sending Jellal off to learn outsider magic, reluctant to entrust one of her precious people to anyone else, but the opportunity had simply been too great.

The magic of their home kept them protected, and her predecessors had been all too happy to hide away from the rest of the world and pretend it didn't exist. It wasn't a view Irene shared. The outside world didn't stop after all, and if they intended to survive they needed to be aware of what the outside was capable of. More than that, the boy himself had been eager to go.

The son of one of her priestesses and an outsider, Jellal had always been a little different, his late father's magical strength manifesting early and strongly, so allowing him to explore his father's world, and magic, had seemed like a fine idea despite her misgivings.

Now it seemed she should've listened to them more.

She shook off the sense of foreboding that thought produced, and smiled encouragingly at her daughter, "If there's something wrong he won't be able to hide it from you." She replied and dropped a hand on Erza's shoulder, "Now, why don't we get some lunch, and afterwards we'll work on your training?"

Her smile widened, "After all, wouldn't it be quite a surprise for him if you passed your age tests early?"

Erza smiled at her mother but seemed comforted by the idea. Neither she, nor Queen Irene noticed as the defenses of their island began to fail. Neither did they pick up on the fleet of ships which came their way.

—::—

Gray glared out of the window of the truck he was crammed into with a wizard named Gildarts and a boy around his age named Lyon. The former was a powerful man, whose reputation was known all throughout the West, while Lyon had apparently been from another town just north of Gray's that had been razed by Deliora.

Gray was distinctly aware that he had relatives living up further north, but because of the terrain they hadn't visited in some time. Apparently this boy had been one of their students, and thus learned a similar magical art to Gray's.

It had been some time since Gray's village had been destroyed, and it felt like ages since Gray had even been able to move after the attack. Gildarts and Lyon had to take him further south to receive healing from an angry old lady named Porlyusica, and by the time he recovered the trail to his attackers had gone cold.

"Alright kids, I know you two ain't got a lot going on right now, but keep your heads up. I'm going to leave you with a friend of mine and he'll help the two of you get on your feet," Gildarts glanced at the two kids, both rather sullen. He was just glad they weren't currently in the middle of trying to pull one another's hair out.

"What are you going to do old man?" Gray demanded, squinting at Gildarts out of the corner of his eye.

"Old man?!" He gawked at Gray, looking offended. He huffed for a moment and shook his head, "Well brat, I find in moments like this it's usually better if you try to get as much information as possible about your targets."

"But I've been looking for a way into Hell for a while. A way that a human can survive in," Gildarts sighed, "I got something precious stuck over there, and I can't get to it."

"What is it?" Lyon chimed in, looking up at Gildarts in confusion.

"My kids," Gildarts replied simply. His eyes dragged on Gray and Lyon, "you two brats remind me of them."

"It's why I'm such a sucker and dealing with you two foul-mouthed sea urchins," he smirked at them and pulled beside a fence outside a cottage.

"Oy! Makarov! I've got someone here to see you!" Gildarts roared out from the driver side of his truck.

At first there was no response, until Gildarts laid on the horn until the small wooden door snapped open and an angry, elderly man appeared.

"Fine! What is it! What do you want?" The man, presumably Makarov, demanded as he appeared in Gray's vision.

He was old and tiny, looking wizened like an apple, but with a powerful glitter in his eyes that reminded him of Gildarts.

Gray wondered if the man even came up to his shoulder.

At Gildarts nudging, they all filed out of the truck and out in front of the man. From inside the house, a blond teenager stood from the threshold, glaring out unwelcoming at the intruders.

"Good afternoon Laxus," Gildarts greeted, only for the teenagers glare to darken and the boy to slam the door shut in the wake of his greeting.

Still, Gray was certain the unfriendly teenager was watching from a window somewhere.

"Don't mind him Gildarts, he's still getting over the uh..." his eyes flickered to the children, "...loss of his parents. I've been keeping an eye on the boy so not to trouble the council."

Gildart's expression looked unreasonably grim by that sentence, and Gray wondered what exactly was the story behind Laxus, the council, and his parents.

He didn't ask though, knowing he wouldn't want anyone to pry in on his own life without permission. Gray quickly avoided his eyes when Makarov's attention fell on him.

"And who are these?" Makarov questioned.

"Two mages from the north. Their towns were set upon by demons and they were the sole survivors," Gildarts commented.

A flare of hot anger burst within Gray, and he kicked the man in the shin.

"We aren't the only ones! My sister is alive! She was just taken away!" Gray insisted hotly, gritting his teeth and glaring at both men to dare say otherwise.

Gildarts howled and hopped up and down on one foot, while Makarov gave Gray such a patiently sympathetic look that he was unsure what to think of it. Or if the man even believed him.

"Then let us do our best to find her, right m'boy?" Makarov asked, stepping aside to let them pass to his home, "we will get you all sorted right away, and I'm sure the guild Lamia Scale nearby will have everything you two will need."