A/N: Sorry for the wait! Thanks to everyone who said nice things about the previous chapters. I appreciate it ^^ And I loved scaring everyone hahaha. How brave would I have to be to kill off a major character so early? I've never actually killed a protagonist off before. I'll put my precious characters through the wringer, but I can never bring myself to kill them for real. Good for you guys, huh?

As a refresher, Lucy's fine and Oracion Seis is defeated. Deliora's ice was shattered by Natsu. The team is circled around him, ready to fight.


Ice showered around them as they stood surrounding Deliora in fighting stance, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make the first move. There was a loud groan as the demon's limbs began to move, released from the ice that encased it for decades. Its body moved forward.

…and promptly collapsed, falling to pieces.

Silence.

Gray was the first to speak. "What the hell?"

"So you're telling me I got my identity exposed so I could fight this thing, and it isn't even alive in the first place?" Loke said, sighing loudly.

Natsu stepped forward and poked the creature's shoulder. The skin instantly crumbled, dried and brittle. "Well, this is boring," he said, kicking another chunk of demon and watching it fall apart.

"This demon may have been a dud," Lucy said, "but there are plenty of very real and very alive ones being revived across Fiore every month. And we did put a stop to the Oración Seis."

"They were just a bunch of misguided kids," Jellal said. "It's my fault they're like that anyway. I'll take full responsibility for their rehabilitation."

"Don't mess it up," Natsu warned.

Jellal nodded. "I won't."

"So?" Lucy said. "Now what do we do?"

"Maybe Levy found something out in their base," Natsu said.

"Oh yeah," Lucy said, "Levy and Wendy! We should see how they're doing."

"And I could use Wendy for my dislocated shoulder," Erza said.

They started to move toward where Wendy and Levy had disappeared off to, but Natsu noticed that two were being left behind. He paused. Gray was kneeling by Deliora's disintegrated head, Lucy standing alone behind him. Natsu hadn't been paying much attention to Gray's emotional state, but it made sense that this whole ordeal dredged up some bad memories.

Sighing, he walked back to where the two stragglers were. "Come on, Gray. We gotta make sure Wendy and Levy are all right."

"I know. Just…give me a moment."

Shit. Gray was crying, wasn't he? Gray was definitely crying.

He looked at Lucy, panicked. Her eyes had something bittersweet but solemn in them, and he held her gaze for a moment. Natsu was no good with tears, but Lucy seemed fine just standing there. So, his lip pushed out in a pout, Natsu stood there too.


By the time Gray had recovered from his personal moment, the others returned with Wendy and Levy, and Jellal was gone.

"We need to go to Phantom Lord after all," Erza said.

Gray stood up, dusting off his pants. "What for?" he asked as if he hadn't just been crying his eyes out.

"In the hideout, we found correspondences between Zero and Phantom's guildmaster, Jose Porla. They mentioned a Lord, and it seems to be the same one you and Lucy overheard those government officials mention," Wendy said.

Erza nodded. "Makarov also mentioned hearing of a Lord, but never the name, or what organization is responsible for all this. We're Fairy Tail's investigative team for this right now, and with the increase in demon activity the past couple months, there should be more clues left behind. So if we follow this lead, we might be able to get the information that's been eluding Makarov and his contacts for decades."

"It's their fault for keeping this suspicious stuff all a secret," Natsu said, crossing his arms.

"It's too late to nitpick about the guildmasters' past decisions," Erza said. "Wendy and Levy are right; we need to follow this lead to Phantom Lord. Gajeel and Juvia might know something, or know the way to find out what we want."

"If dark guilds are involved in this, they'll definitely know," Gray said. "That's why they're undercover in the first place."

"Precisely," said Erza.

Natsu growled. Juvia he didn't mind, but he and Gajeel were far from friendly. Gajeel was one of those people he couldn't forgive. Back when he and Juvia were enemies, Juvia fought like any other mage, but Gajeel went above and beyond to be cruel to Natsu's allies. And anyone that messed with Fairy Tail to that extent could never be redeemed, in Natsu's eyes. Or, they could, but Gajeel was still the same insufferable jerk as always, and seemed to make no efforts to change that. It was just his personality, apparently. And Natsu hated it.

"No starting fights," Erza warned, eyes on Natsu. She seemed to know what was bothering him.

So did Gray. "Just remember that Gajeel's our ally."

Natsu scowled. "Yeah, yeah. I still hate him."

"Gajeel is one of the undercover contacts?" Lucy said.

"Yeah," Natsu said. "Him and Juvia. Juvia's all right, but Gajeel's an asshole."

"He's not actually that bad," Levy said to Lucy.

"Yeah he is," Natsu said. "He's a jerk. He hurt our friends."

Levy sighed. "Yes, and that's why he and Juvia went undercover, to make up for their mistakes. He's an ally now. Gods, Natsu, is there a guy in Fairy Tail you don't make an enemy with? Gray, Gajeel…"

"Gray and Gajeel are separate issues," Natsu said. "Gray and I are actually f…fr… Well, anyway, at least Gray hasn't beaten anyone at Fairy Tail half to death."

"Technically that's not true," Gray said. "When I fought Juvia the first time, I totally creamed her."

"But she wasn't in Fairy Tail yet."

"Neither was Gajeel," Erza pointed out. "Natsu, I know you still don't trust him, but the rest of us have moved on."

Natsu scowled. He didn't like it when they brought up his tendency to dwell on things.

"Well, whatever," Natsu grumbled. "We need him and Juvia so it can't be helped."

"I was the one he beat half to death, as you said," Levy said. "If I can forgive him, you can, too."

Natsu stared at Levy. He wondered if he should mention that he knew she and Gajeel had a thing. He'd be more inclined to put faith in her words if he didn't know that she and Gajeel were like two lovesick puppies for each other. Forgiveness he could understand, but something like love with the person who did that to you? It was too weird.

Besides, even without his dark history, Gajeel was still an asshole.

"Let's just hurry up," Charle said. "It may be close, but Phantom Lord is still two days' distance from here."

"Right," Natsu said. He turned to Gray. "Ready?"

Gray made a face. "Why wouldn't I be? Let's go."

Natsu resisted the urge to make a snappy comeback about Gray's emotional display only minutes ago. He could usually get away with one jab before Erza interfered, but Lucy might not be so forgiving, considering the steady warning look she was giving him.

So he kept his mouth shut and they left the site of Deliora's disintegration behind, the memory of Gray's tears forgotten along with it. While they traveled, Lucy took the chance to slowly introduce them to all of her other celestial spirits so that there wouldn't be any more surprises.

The celestial spirit that confused Natsu the most was Virgo. He knew people had some weird kinks, and he had to respect that, but Virgo took it to a whole new level. She was literally begging to be tortured and punished as Lucy exasperatedly closed the gate.

"That's the last of the Zodiac spirits I can show you," Lucy said. "The last one is Aquarius, whom you don't need to meet. She hates humans."

Natsu leaned forward. "Really? Why?"

Lucy grimaced. "Well, more like she just hates me. She's my most powerful spirit, and the first one I summoned, but even so, we don't get along. And I need a body of water to summon her. The bigger the better. I mean, I could summon her in a small pool, but I'm pretty sure she'd murder me."

"She sounds scary."

"She is scary."

"So, umm, wait. Loke, Virgo, Aries…" Natsu counted the spirits on his fingers. "That's only eleven."

Lucy nodded. "Capricorn is missing."

"You mean you don't have Capricorn's key?" Erza asked.

"He hasn't been seen in the Spirit World for years. That's why I was surprised when you recognized Leo, I mean, Loke. I know Capricorn is wandering Earthland somewhere, but I didn't expect Loke to be doing the same in his free time."

"He mostly just hits on girls," Gray said.

"Of course he does," Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, he's an insatiable flirt."

"So he hits on you, too?" Gray guessed."

"All the time," Lucy said. "And any girl in the vicinity of where I open his gate. That's why I only used his key when I thought we were about to face Deliora; he's one of my strongest spirits, but I didn't want him to make a bad impression on Erza when I'd only just met all of you."

"Don't worry, we already have bad impressions of him," Gray said jokingly.

"It does explain a lot," Wendy said. "He always smelled a little different from normal humans."

"And he's weak as fuck," Natsu said. "Um, pardon my language."

"Excused," Lucy said. "And I'm surprised to hear that you guys see him as being weak. As my spirit, he's a strong fighter. He takes a lot of magical energy to summon, almost as much as Aquarius."

"Perhaps using his own power to be in the human world weakens his abilities," Erza said.

"Or he just didn't want to get found out," Levy said.

"Yeah," Gray agreed, "not being human would probably hurt his prospects with the ladies."

"Not to mention it'd put him in danger because of his relation to me," Lucy said, sighing. "Honestly, the lengths that man will go to."

Erza clapped her hands together. "Well, that's enough talk for tonight. Tomorrow we arrive at Phantom Lord, and we should all be well-rested just in case. Goodnight, everyone."

"Goodnight," they all chorused, retreating to their tents. Well, all except for Natsu and Lucy, as usual. But even Lucy stood up, brushing the dirt from the rear of her skirt.

"I really need to get a less conspicuous outfit for when we return to civilization," she said. "I was recognized so quickly in Fairy Tail. I'm thinking my outfit might be part of it; I'm always wearing clothes from the Celestial Spirit World, so it stands out."

"That might be part of it," Natsu agreed, though he still thought it was more about the way she carried herself and the aura around her. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was just something about her that screamed, I am an important figure. But no matter how many times he tried to tell her it was her elite upbringing that made her stand out so much, she refused to believe it could make that much of a difference.

Maybe it really was the unique outfits.

Lucy turned to Natsu and flashed him a smile. "I'm going to bed early tonight. Goodnight, Natsu."

He nodded. "Goodnight."

There was a flash of light, and Plue was at her side. "Come on, Plue," she said, flicking her wrist and walking away with him at her heels. Natsu watched her crawl into the tent and close the flaps behind her.

Natsu had the sudden urge to reach out, to run after her and make sure she was okay. He knew her death had only been an illusion, but he still couldn't shake the image from his mind. He could only hope this anxiety would leave him soon.

Sighing heavily, he turned back to the fire. He should go to sleep soon, too, but he'd stare into the flames just a little while longer. It was going to be cold and rainy tomorrow for sure, so he had to bask in the fire's heat while he could.


As they approached Phantom Lord, they sent Charle out to tell Gajeel and Juvia to meet them. Happy initially wanted to go, but the others all thought he was too loud and easily distracted, so Charle smugly offered herself instead.

"Happy, you're blue," Gray said. "Charle's white, so she can pass for a normal cat more easily than you can."

"I can act like a normal cat," Happy whined.

"Can you?" Natsu said, genuinely curious. He'd never actually seen Happy try to act cat-like. Sure, exceeds had many natural feline traits, like their body language and their purring, but Natsu didn't remember a time when Happy actually mewed like a cat did. Natsu couldn't imagine it.

Happy didn't get a chance to prove himself, because Charle returned quickly with news that Gajeel and Juvia were on their way.

"That's fast," Erza said.

"Gajeel said they had no assignments today, so they can disguise their visit to us as going out shopping."

"Gajeel shopping?" Levy said, giggling.

"No, Juvia shopping," Charle said. "Apparently Gajeel never interacts with the others at Phantom Lord on his days off, so he'll just pretend to be napping at home all day."

Natsu snorted. "Typical."

"Do they know where we are?" Erza said.

"Gajeel said to meet them at the tallest tree in the forest," Charle said.

A short while later, thanks to the exceeds' guidance from the air they found themselves at a towering spruce tree. The forest was thick in these parts, trees as dense as underbrush; as long as nobody else passed by this particular tree, they wouldn't be seen easily.

They sat and waited. And waited. It was a few hours later that the sky clouded over and began to show signs of rain.

Lucy flinched in surprise as a raindrop fell on her cheek. "Oh?" She put a hand to her face. "It's starting to rain."

Natsu held out his hand and felt the beginnings of a low drizzle. He reached into his bag and pulled out a large rain cloak, which he wrapped around his shoulders.

"Come on, Happy," he said, letting Happy under the shelter of the cloak. He looked around and saw that Lucy was the only one not getting out a rain garment. She had almost no belongings, so it didn't really surprise Natsu, but didn't the Celestial Spirit World have raincoats?

Instead of a coat, Lucy pulled out her key ring. "I should call Horogolium," she muttered, sorting through the keys.

"What kind of spirit is that?" Natsu said.

"He's a grandfather clock. I can sit inside him to stay dry until the meeting."

"Don't bother," Erza said. "Gajeel and Juvia are almost here."

"How do you know?" Lucy said.

"The rain," Gray said. "Juvia uses it as a signal to meet. Also, the fog it creates can be used for cover."

Natsu opened his rain cloak and pulled Lucy inside. "Here, just share with me. It'll stop when she gets here," he said.

Lucy allowed herself to be wrapped in Natsu's cloak with surprisingly little protest. Natsu knew better than to question her compliance, but he was a little unnerved by how easily she let him keep his arm around her. Yes, it was because he was holding the cloak that kept them both dry, but her body leaned into his with a natural ease that Natsu wasn't expecting.

With her in his arms, Natsu noticed that despite her larger-than-life presence and sleek muscles, Lucy was surprisingly small and soft. He'd sort of assumed they were the same height, but now that she was up against him, he realized that she was actually shorter, and her shoulders thin.

She tilted her head to look at him. "You know, you're surprisingly skinny," she said.

Natsu was speechless for a moment before he began laughing. "I was thinking the same thing about you," he said.

"Well, it's all muscle," Lucy said, a slow smile spreading.

"Quit flirting," Gray said. "They're here."

"We are not," Natsu argued, but two figures making their way through the misty forest distracted him.

The new arrivals came with silent footsteps; any sounds they may have made were drowned out by the gentle patter of the rain. Gajeel's silhouette was large and broad, coat slung over his shoulders but arms never through the sleeves. Juvia's hair was still in that strange hairstyle she'd adopted for the undercover position, stuck flat to her head until it formed a dramatic loop at her shoulders. She held a large pink umbrella over both her and Gajeel.

Juvia made steady eye contact with Gray, but for some reason didn't attempt to make physical contact. Natsu'd have to figure out what was happening there later; it was unusual for Juvia not to be all over Gray the second she saw him.

"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed, smile wide.

"Quiet, Shrimp," Gajeel grumbled, but he ruffled her hair under her hood.

Now that Gajeel and Juvia had arrived, the rain slowly stopped, leaving only a drifting fog. To Natsu's mild disappointment, Lucy stepped out from the protection of his rain cloak.

"I am the Celestial Spirit," she introduced, reaching forward to shake their hands. "You may call me Lucy."

Gajeel sent inquiring looks around at the others, but took Lucy's hand anyway. "Gajeel Redfox," he said. "This is Juvia Lockser."

"Pleased to meet you," Juvia said, exchanging curtseys with Lucy.

"Lucy is assisting us on this mission," Erza explained. "Or, rather, we're helping her. Natsu brought her to us, but she was the one to receive the information for this job from Makarov."

"It is a case of mutual interest," Lucy said, smiling gently. To Natsu's surprise, she returned to the shelter of his cloak. It wasn't raining anymore, but perhaps the thick lingering fog was enough to make her seek a dry shelter. Happy was still huddled at Natsu's feet, too.

"Is it okay for you to be taking off from all your knight shit?" Gajeel said to Erza.

Erza scoffed. "They wouldn't dare fire me. This is more important than anything I get assigned by the state, anyway."

He shrugged. "Fair enough. So, Charle told me you needed information."

"We do," Erza said.

"Good," Gajeel said with a nod, "because we've got a hell of a lot of information to tell you about this fucking Lord, and you're gonna wanna hear it."


A/N: Time to find out who this Lord is they keep talking about! Exciting stuff. Haha

Next chapter is only half-written, and after that a few aren't even started, so updates might be slow for a while. Hopefully I can go back to my weekly update schedule later, but for now, I'll just do what I can.

Thanks for reading!