I'm incredibly sorry for the long wait of this chapter, chalk it down to life getting busy. I took over the house I shared with my landlord, so I had been saving to buy the necessities to prepare myself with. I began my diploma and I had to pay for my course upfront

And as life does, it just gets busy.

But I have been drafting this story out in the meantime to get more details and outline it further – so I had been reading, watching, and listening to zombie stories to draw inspirations. Even finding a great Fairy Tail zombie story on Fanfiction 'Capturing Her Damaged Heart' and is an amazing read. The story is based in a normal world, no magic, but the major Fairy Tail characters exist and have a great in-depth role.

I don't have an updating schedule. I can only promise to update all chapters when they are complete.


Fairy Tail

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters

Chapter 3: The Journey

Though it had only been twenty hours since Lucy had left, Natsu's stomach gave another nervous flip at the blonde's absence, while his heart danced a frantic rhythm that he was sure was borderline on heart palpitations. The guild seemed to mimic his nervous energy with fidgeting limps, twisted expressions, and low conversations.

No one from their guild besides the Thunder God Tribe had been beyond the walls, and that was only because Freed needed protecting without interruption (from the Inflicted) while he drew and activated the runes around the city of Magnolia.

It was one of the new rules that Natsu still struggled to adjust with was he could no longer freely exit and enter the city – and people that did leave, often didn't come back. And if they did come back, they had to examined or potentially Quarantined.

They had been successful in the building the wall, but it hadn't gone without sacrifice and loss. Igneel was still out there somewhere, Natsu was certain of this. Natsu could only hope he survived long enough to find his adoptive father.

Lisanna drifted over to the table, a gentle smile on her face. "Mira-nee said Lucy has a Lacrima now, one that calls the guild, too." When he said nothing, she came up with another question. "What are you thinking, specifically, Natsu?"

"I'm thinking …" Choosing his words carefully, "That something has happened to Lucy and the others," Natsu took in a deep breath with a slow exhale, "But I know this feeling won't go away, and I'm left with it until they come back … but I just can't stop the feeling that something will go wrong, really wrong Lisanna."

Lisanna's eyes softened, she knew this feeling well. She had been lost to her own home and family for years. Natsu confession landed on empathetic ears beyond the general sympathy.

"I understand. I get what you mean. When I was in Edolas, sometimes I would get these feelings that something was wrong here in Earthland. It's like something in you is connected to the person and people you are worried about. But I could never prove that something was wrong here when I was there." A distant expression took over her calm expression.

Natsu wondered if she was thinking of her Edolas family, and if they faced similar danger in their world. "But this is Fairy Tail! Something always goes wrong, but do you know what the best thing about being a part of Fairy Tail?"

The Dragon Slayer stared, "There is a list of things we're great at but I don't handling a Zombie Apocalypse isn't one of them. Ouch!"

Playfully smacking him on the shoulder, "No, silly. We're great at finding our way back home. I was probably the biggest lost cause, considered dead-" she sighed dramatically.

"For good reason!"

That was no light trauma the young Dragon Slayer had faced.

"But" Lisanna continued, gently placing her own hand on top of his. "I still came home. And so will your team. Lucy will come to you."

The pinkette gentle smiled, letting a small bead of hope grow in his chest. Turning his hand over to squeeze her own hand back. "You came home to us, against everything. You're right. We always come home."

This time a vibrant smile grew across the take-over mages face. One of those smiles that you didn't always see a lot of.

Pulling her out from his, she let it fall on his dishevelled head, letting her fingers further mess it. "Now don't sit here wallowing, you look pathetic right now Natsu, go home. And remember that no news is good news."

Chuckling, he waved her off but took her advice.

"I'll see you in the morning, take care!"

The Guilds doors closed behind him, and the night air was cool and pleasant against his skin. The few people that were still out and meandering had pulled thick layers over their bodies. Small puffs of white air exiting their lungs.

In consideration of Lisanna's words, Natsu knew Lisanna was right about one thing. Everyone comes home, and there is no reason this wouldn't be the same with Team Natsu. He should show more faith in them.

He was too tired to be around anyone, but too restless to return to bed. Instead, he made his way to the wall, to his favourite post the guarded the main entrance to Magnolia. If any action was to show itself, it would be here. It was nearing midnight and coming up to graveyard shift.

It was not his shift, but no one complained when he arrived. He shrugged on hazard jacket that was provided for the patrollers, and a single long-ranged weapon. In this case a Bow.

Magnolia had its walls now. A sense of order, and a sense of peace and comfort now. Freed was a huge token to that cause, having his magical barriers alert them if the dead were close. Regular citizens and builders helped build the wall and all wizards who had a Make Magic abilities had accelerated the process.

They survived better than those outside the city. Because they rarely saw anyone return, and when they did, they all said similar things. That it was a mess out there. That there was more of the dead then there was the living.

No one really survived out there, and after a while people stopped turning up seeking sanctuary in Magnolia.

Gray, Erza, and Lucy had the best chance of survival than anyone else he knew. But still, a deep feeling of concern swelled inside in the Dragon Slayer.


Lucy's knuckles were white over the hilt of her whip, nails making half-moons in her palms biting into her flesh.

The screams of the Inflicted weren't human, void of any emotion.

They were animalistic and soulless. A possession of evil within them. It would only take one scratch, one bite, or one wrong move to be part of the dead and just as empty inside.

The writer often contemplated the morality of the Inflicted, wondering how the personality broke away from them. Were you aware of the affection taking over you, did you feel yourself slipping away into nothing or did you simply die and come back as nothing?

The key mage had never felt so vulnerable.

Gray and Erza looked out opposing windows, but all they could see was shadows against darker shadows. At an advantage, they relied on the speed of their steeds to get them to safety.

The echoing screams were hard to place, usure how close with the noise bouncing around the glade and mountains.

"I can't see nothin' out there," Gray's arms raised protectively in front of him. He had attached a spring-loaded blade to each arm that could automatically unsheathe on demand. This was his new weapon. As he could wear it at all times and was easy to conceal beneath his clothes – when he did wear them.

Erza had kept to her primary weapon, a sword. Keeping two short swords that were harnessed to her back. With her swordsmanship, she could smoothly reach back and pull them out.

Titania was the most prepared for such a Global apocalyptic turn of events. Her casual attire was fitted for the Inflicted, wearing a top piece of armour (swapped out the blue skirt for a pair of black jeans). Years of gruelling missions that had practically trained her for this. Calm under pressure, and a vigilant force to be reckoned with. Erza was a large reason, along with other people, to the success of Magnolia.

In the early days of the Outbreak, Magnolia was not as safe as it was now. And it was partly because of their uniquely designed city. A plan had been made by the mayor, who was able to encourage a lockdown, had utilised the Magnolia's ability to rise off the ground – as it did for when Gildarts returned home from long missions to stop demolishing houses and business.

So, the city began to rise, like pedestal from the natural world. Some people made it out of the city before it happened. Some people were stuck in the sky against their wishes, but it depended on whose opinion of whether it was the right thing to do, in the name of humanity.

It had stopped the people from leaving and spreading the disease. It Isolated them, but it also meant they couldn't escape among the dead that were already there.

This forced the infected to turn and be revealed. Families and friends that's wished to survive had to evict the Inflicted-to-be. A low point of humanity, Lucy remembered.

The second stage of securing Magnolia was the hardest. A team lead by official law, and volunteering mages and regular citizens begun to cull the city. Slowly making their way through Magnolia, dividing the city into small fractions. Conquering as they went.

Erza, Gildarts, and other S-class mages lead teams from the Guild. Lucy wasn't part of the teams, but instead held down the fort of Guild with others, shielding and protecting those who wouldn't or couldn't return home.

But in time, the city was clean.

The 'Cleanse' it was sometimes referred to.

Magnolia returned to the ground a few weeks later, and then the wall was built, and people could leave if they wished.

The carriage rattled as it seemed to go airborne over small bumps in the road.

Lucy slowly exhaled, pulling the whip taught between her hands. Balancing in the rocking carriage.

Erza looked over at Lucy, "Do you have anything besides a whip?"

The writer nodded. Besides her old trusty brown whip since she could no longer use the Fleuve d'étoiles in these anti-magic times, Lucy kept small throwing knives.

Natsu had tried to help Lucy with more long distant weapons, but she wasn't a natural. Instead, Gray and Erza helped Lucy to train with short distant fighting.

Mostly teaching Lucy to bury a blade quickly and nimbly in a temple of the dead, decapitate, or fight off an Inflicted if she was overpowered by a bigger opponent. Lucy had spent hours, into day, and into weeks of being taught, including the difference between an overhand strike and an underhand strike. Gray's words floated back to her from that day.

'Now feel the weight of it in your palm, like this, okay good! Now the balance of the knife needs to sit here, and when you move you think of it like an extension of yourself. Something that can't be knocked away from you.'

Lucy knew now that when a target was in front of you, use would do an underhand strike. The only time you would need to do otherwise was when the target was being dropped upon or smaller.

Lucy had prayed the day would never come where she would need to use the training.

"The horses," started Lucy, moving closer to look out the window. "They're faster than the dead …" not a fact, but a question.

Titania nodded, stoic expression in place. "Yes, if they don't have the time to intercept us. They could still be rouge ones close – "

Something that could block the way, scare the horses or slow them down.

"We will get out of here." Gray interjected. Lucy could see his Adam apple bop up and down. Lucy wanted to agree, but her voice died in her throat before she had the chance to open it.

Nodding, Lucy looked through the small coach window out the front. The coachman snapping the reigns against the hides of the horses, forcing them to go faster.

It was a strained silence, as time would reveal how close to death they were. They couldn't fight a town, or even a small village on their own. Their best hope was to put as much distance between them and the dead.

The carriage continued to surge forward; the fear spiked adrenaline into the horses that pulled them.

Lucy exchanged her whip for her knives, feeling more secure.

Lucy wondered if she was protected enough … she wore her usual long boots, jeans, and a thermal top with a jumper on top.

The mage wanted to be covered from head to toe, giving no space for exposed skin. Not a place for a nail to so much as scratch her where she could avoid it. Looking down at her hands, she realised she would need gloves.

But that was her future problem.

When Gray accepted this mission, he knew something was going to go wrong. It was a certainty. Maybe because of the risk, not knowing where all the hotspots were out there. Maybe because he was part of rambunctious Fairy Tail and something always went south.

Gray was used to being called cynical, but he also saw it as being realistic. And there were no times to indulge fantasies now.

And a horde of the dead chasing them was definitely something going south in the mission. They weren't even twenty-four hours down since leaving.

Gray's eyes flicked to the two women in the carriage with him. They were all standing in the small space, heads brushing the ceiling – this was no place to host a battle.

Erza stoic expression almost gave nothing away, and Lucy, stood firm and poised, her blades gleaming. Her lips in a tight line but he could feel the anxiety washing off of her.

Pressing his face closer to the window, he could see the town begin to set behind them. But the screams didn't stop, and it would only attract more attention to the Inflicted that weren't already on the chase.

It felt like hours they stood there. Waiting, and listening to nothing but the following snarls of death. Eventually, snarls faded, and they retreated further into the night.

The soft break of light was appearing over the ridge of the mountains. They hit flat road, made of stone and compacted dirt. No longer the muddy terrain they crossed.

Collectively, they lowered into their seats. Still tense and alert.

The rest of the journey was silent. Strung out, tired, and butts numb going numb. Lucy and Erza dosed off while Gray promised to keep an eye out. After some time, Gray shifted into the front cabin through what felt like a ridiculous small door to his slender frame.

It was odd they were given such small details about it, with only the promise and minor reassurance that everything would be explained. But the Ice mage had trouble believing that an honest conversation would come. A lot of hope was being placed on a small, selected group of mages.


Natsu watched the sun rise behind the alps, and when time for the new shift-change happened, he knew it was eight in the morning. The new patrols were bleary eyes, yawning, and otherwise the complete opposite of morning people.

Natsu gave a short run down of his uneventful shift. No one around any area of the wall had seen anything. Natsu naturally wanted to assume it was the weather, so cold and dreary, but its not like the dead was affected by it.

The town was quiet, everyone starting their routines. Protecting their crops, maintain their spaces. Business were all shut down, all the unessential ones. Some things stayed open, small business, but currency was different. It was a trade of food, clothing, supplies, and weapons.

Very few places still made coffee, which was exactly what Natsu needed. Something to keep him awake.

Things were starting to feel normal again.

But in this new world, Natsu liked the new primitive mindset people had. Without the hostility. Everyone only cared about surviving and focusing on what truly mattered to you and the community.

But god forbid you cough around the wrong people. You'll end up being thrown in isolation.

The sickness that spread everywhere had started like a bad story. But before it grew into its monstrous truth, there was the sickness first. Like the flu, it was the dry cough, shortness of breath, the muscle aches.

Some people survived, and some … never returned. They died. And they either stayed dead, or they came back.

People quarantined and isolated themselves. But it was hard to tell what simple Influenza was and what has eerily similar symptoms but is an entirely different illness.

When the young dragon slayer made it to Strawberry Street, his body seemed to fall under its own weight, too tired to keep walking. Even when his head rested on her bed, breathing in her scent, his mind refused to slow. Refused to give him a break. He was currently on scenario one hundred of what could go wrong.

"Luce …" he whispered, arm sweeping her side of the empty bed. Like a man still feeling a phantom limb that had been cut off. Forcing his eyes closed, he prayed for sleep.


Hours to write and seconds to review and make a writer happy.

Authors Note:

For the choice of weapons for Lucy and Gray, I was unsure what to give them initially. Lucy can't call out her spirits, her whip would be no use and could only attack one individual at a time. But I decided to let Lucy keep it on her person regardless, even if it can't serve a real purpose in battle – she strikes me more as a 'you never know when you might need it' thinker.

And for Gray, he can't use magic just like everyone else. I thought of a few weapons, including a scythe. However, I felt like a weapon that could be attached to his form would be more suitable. Plus, less likely to lose it in battle. And I had watched the movie Underworld recently and Lucian's weapon was what sparked the idea of what Gray should have. I hope you agree (and also watch my favourite movie as well).

Erza, naturally, swords. Need I say more there.

I am sorry about the belated release of this chapter. I wish I had a promising release schedule, but I just can't fit it with my day-to-day schedule as I sometimes work 16 hour shifts four days a week and study full-time – I have massive burnout.

I can promise to release chapters as soon as they are finished.

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