I do not own Fairy Tail or the Pradesh Characters. FT is owned by Hiro Mashima. The Pradesh Clan belongs to Desna.

Not dropping her ready stance, Lucy began speaking to the guild members behind her, figuring she could shout instructions and preparations up until the enemy decided to break down the doors. Seeing the damage outside at this point could wait, as they were likely outnumbered and they really had no information on the enemy. Besides, it was Fairy Tail's job to protect Magnolia, and it would be better for all its citizens if the battle remained inside the guild hall, instead of spilling onto city streets.

"Vijeeter, Nab, Wakaba, I need you to seal all the entry points. The back door, side entrance, any window big enough to fit people through easily."

Both mages took off, Nab to the back, Wakaba to the side entrance, and Vijeeter, who was light on his feet, started flitting through the hall checking windows.

"Lisanna, Macao, go to the infirmary, make sure it's secure and get supplies out and ready to treat basic injuries. One of you stay there once you're done, the other come back here hold back from the battle, and be ready to drag injured mages back there for treatment. Understand?"

"We've got it, Lucy," Macao said. They, too, took off to handle their duties.

"Ruby, Mikey, Mindy, I don't want you near this. Stay behind the bar," she gave this trio a warning look, which everyone understood. They were all under the age of 12, and were fairly new to the guild and their powers, but were rambunctious and spirited and they'd probably get hurt trying to help. The three of them looked at her, anger on their faces, and Lucy just knew they'd try and help. She couldn't really blame them, she'd probably do the same, but it was a liability they couldn't handle right now.

"Max, please stay by the bar and make sure they don't get hurt. Please."

Max, one of the guild's strongest next to the three that were ready to fight, wanted to be angry for not getting to participate. But looking into Lucy's eyes, he couldn't be upset. Protecting the children was the most important thing, and they needed someone strong to keep them in line, this was really the only option. Heaving a heavy sigh, he nodded at Lucy, then created a sand barrier over top of the bar all the way to the wall, creating a kind of 'roof' over the heads of the crouching children.

"The rest of you! Stay back unless you see a good opportunity! Natsu, if you need to go full power, we will deal with the damage later."

Natsu, who'd been just watching her take charge with ease, grinned mischievously at her statement. He never got permission to destroy like this, and oh was he going to enjoy this chance while he had it. The flames licking at his skin seemed to intensify, and the heat turned up just enough that Mira and Lucy took small steps away from him.

"You got it, Luce," Natsu said, unable to hold back his excitement as he rolled his shoulders.

Mira was pretty impressed with Lucy's ability to make decisions quickly and direct her fellow mages. It was a skill she knew Lucy had, considering her magic basically revolved around it, but seeing it first hand was different. The celestial mage spent so little time at the guild or training with the people here that she'd not had a chance to really see her mind work in the last two years, and even still, she could tell that the experiences she'd had over those years had created an even more strategic mind. She was suddenly very glad that they'd made it back in time for this. Mira was a powerhouse, no doubt, but strategy like and the ability to be calm under the pressure of battle and the knowledge that you're responsible for the lives of your teammates was a skill that few really had.

She didn't have much time to really ponder on it though, as just seconds after they all saw Macao enter back into the main room, the doors to the hall burst open in a cloud of debris. Both doors flew into the hall, Lucy having to sidestep one while Max used his sand to deflect the other away from the side of the bar. Everyone tensed, taking stances ready to defend themselves and their family, as three figures emerged slowly, almost casually, through the dust-filled entry where the doors used to be. With attention so focused on the incoming threat, no one noticed how Vijeeter went down from his perch on the second floor. Nor the figure that snuck out the window.

Natsu let out a low, unhappy growl under his breath. He really hated it when people destroyed things he held dear, and Fairy Tail's guild hall was one of those things (it was definitely different if he destroyed it, he was a Fairy, he was allowed).

"Who do you think you are, waltzing in here like you own the place? I should melt the skin from your bones and burn those into a pile of ashes!"

A deep, reverberating chuckle echoed around the hall, the sound making Lucy tense, and Mira take flight, the latter wanting to be ready for whatever they threw her way. She hovered to the left of her two nakama, waiting for someone to make a move. She and Natsu silently agreeing to wait for Lucy or the enemy to make a move, so they could support or counter.

Natsu was in his element. His best friend and partner had given him the all clear to do as he pleased, an enemy walked right into his line of sight, and he had two of the most bad-ass mages in his guild by his side, who were just as ready to fight as he was. The adrenaline rush was amazing, but he reigned himself in and fought with his instincts to just rush in and light shit on fire. Over the last year he'd started realizing that Lucy's plans often left him in less pain than his did.

"Oh I like your spirit, little dragon," the voice spoke. Natsu did not like being called a little dragon. He narrowed his eyes at the newcomer further.

Lucy studied the group as they came into focus, and was somewhat surprised to see only three people among them. She wanted to feel relieved, but her mind wouldn't let her. Fairy Tail was well known as the strongest guild in Fiore. The only guild she knew of that was more well known for their history against dark guilds was White Sea in Bosco. Either they were really dumb (which, considering the fact they were here now, when they were at their most vulnerable, she really doubted), or all three were powerful mages in their own right. She decided to stick to the side of caution, and allow them to enter a bit further and draw out any information from them that she could before the fighting started.

"Who are you?" Lucy said, her eyes hard and her face settled into a grimace. Her guildmates recognized the faintly golden aura around her from just moments ago when she'd confronted Macao. The pressure of her magic this time, though, was near violent, and all her guildmates kept an eye on the conversation she was having, waiting for any instructions she was going to throw out. The children grumbled under the bar, hearing what was happening, but annoyed that they couldn't see it. Max gave them a stern glare from his spot next to the bar. For a second time, the guild members in the hall missed someone moving on the second floor, entering through the window the other figure had left from.

The center figure, a large male roughly the size of Laxus, was the deep voice that had thus far been the only one speaking. His dark, greasy black hair was pulled into a low ponytail parted down the center, the split ends at the bottom just barely tickling the collar of his dark blue t-shirt on his back. You could see what had to be his guild mark on the center of his chest, a skull with a star centered right on the forehead, peeking out from the v-cut neckline of his shirt, which was was tucked into grey pants, that honestly looked as though he'd not washed them in a year, and were tucked into equally dirty grey combat boots. Lucy couldn't help but think she wouldn't be surprised if the pants had once been white, and that thought had her almost gagging. Oh how she did not want to fight that man. He probably smelled. She'd let Natsu take him.

"It doesn't really matter, Blondie. You gonna fight me or what?"

"Why are you here?" She wasn't getting anywhere on identity, but they'd not made a move yet, so she may still be able to get some information.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he teased her. She was starting to reconsider letting Natsu have him.

"One last chance to leave before I let Natsu take you down, Greasy."

Greasy narrowed his eyes at her, and it gave her no small amount of satisfaction that he seemed to hate the nickname she'd used as much as she hated anyone but Laxus calling her Blondie.

"You're short on wizards and both you and the little flaming douchebag are low on energy at the moment. I'm not really all that afraid," Greasy deadpanned, and Lucy fought hard to suppress her surprise. She'd been working hard to project her magic in a way that made it clear she had power to spare (she didn't, but she'd learned how to make it look like she wasn't magically exhausted) and the fact that it wasn't fooling him was disconcerting. No one had ever figured it out before.

"What makes you think that?" she asked him, more quietly than she'd like. She was feeling uneasy about the whole thing. He had information that only people in the hall right now should know. She trusted her nakama, but at the moment? At the moment it seemed as though someone standing behind her had betrayed her, and they could be poised to stab her, or heaven forbid, stab Natsu, in the back.

"Oh, we have our sources," came a light, lilting voice from Greasy's right side, and for the first time, Lucy took notice of the mages standing behind Tall, Dark, and Dirty. To his right, where the voice came from, was a tall blonde woman dressed in brown leather. She looked severe, a little older than Mira, and had harsh features settled into a grim expression, despite the laughing tone of her statement. She seemed pretty unremarkable, but she wasn't wearing shoes, a fact that Lucy found a little odd, seeing as she knew she was heading into battle.

"...where are your shoes?"

Lucy hadn't really realized she was asking it before it came out of her mouth, but before she had a chance to smack herself in the forehead for asking such a random question, the mage in question gasped and started searching frantically.

"Damn it! When did that happen?" she was mumbling to herself as she glanced around. After a moment of not finding the shoes she'd apparently not realized she wasn't wearing, she just turned and shrugged. All of Fairy Tail watched this happen, thinking only that it reminded them a bit of a certain ice mage.

"Oh for the love of magic, seriously?!" Came a high pitch, petulant voice from Greasy's left side, "I can't believe you lost your damn shoes again."

This mage looked young. Probably no older than Romeo, so young that Lucy felt a bit uncomfortable fighting her, but her voice was nasally and annoying and she looked at everything with a sort of condescending air that made her believe she'd probably be able to kick her ass without feeling too bad about it. She had long, dark green hair that was hanging in crazy, out of control curls to lay at her mid-back. She was wearing a short kimono-type outfit with bright green leggings and very, very tall, very, very impractical heels and holding onto a golden staff that had a snake head at the top.

"Can it, Piper," Shoeless snapped at her companion. Both turned away from each other and crossed their arms over their chests in annoyance. Greasy just rolled his eyes, seems this is pretty standard behavior with them.

"Wait, wait. Go back," Natsu piped in, "Did you say you have sources?"

"What of it?" Shoeless answered him.

It seemed to snap into place for Natsu, then. Never the quickest to draw conclusions, but Natsu wasn't stupid, "You're saying you've got a spy in this guild? Bullshit."

"It doesn't matter, fire bug. It really doesn't. Because we are here now, and you're about to be dead," Greasy spoke to Natsu, before launching himself towards the dragon slayer and throwing punches.

Lucy was royally pissed off, and anxious. She didn't like this situation, and for some reason she was really getting a bad feeling about it all. She didn't get any information from the intruders, besides one of their names (which is less than helpful, really), and they'd launched the first attack.

"Mira, take Shoeless!" Lucy shouted, as Natsu was pretty well occupied with his own opponent. Judging by the crinkle in his nose, she could tell she was right about the guy's clothes, too. Poor Natsu was dealing with a stinky, close-combat fighter while he had an enhanced sense of smell. It's really the worst kind fight to deal with, and Lucy could have traded, she really didn't want to smell the guy. And really, she knew Natsu hated hurting younger girls, even if they started it, so this was the best option to keep Natsu from holding back.

Squaring her shoulders to her opponent (who looked rather bored), she called out a spirit while she dealt with the few things she needed to make happen to keep the guild members safe, "Open, Gate of the Lion! Loke!"

Loke arrived in a flurry of sparkles, a hand casually pushing his glasses up on his nose, "Twice in one day, Lucy? I know you care for me but this is downright needy," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Not the time, Loke. We've got some shit happening right now. I'll be right back to help, but can you distract her? I've gotta get the kids out."

She said it low enough that no one else heard her, except maybe Natsu. She didn't know what these assholes wanted, but they were strong enough that they posed real danger to the kids in the guild, and the last thing she needed was them stopping her from getting the kids out of the line of fire safely.

Loke's expression turned serious, and he nodded. There were very few times Lucy asked her spirits to fight without her, and the fact she was doing it now made Loke quickly realize how bad the current situation was. "I've got this, Princess. Go deal with the kids. I'll be here when you get back."

He quickly made his way toward the green-haired girl, ready to fight to protect his keyholder and closest friend.

Lucy, hating herself for even allowing Loke to take on an opponent alone, took the opportunity he gave her and immediately dealt with the kids and guild members she needed to so she could get back to the fight as soon as possible.

"Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

The maid arrived at Lucy's side as she walked quickly to the bar and signaled Max.

"Virgo, can you dig a tunnel from behind the bar to the East Forest?" At the maid's nod, Lucy exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Max, take the kids to Porlyusica's place. Virgo will get you about halfway there through a tunnel, but I need you to keep them safe while we deal with this. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

Virgo made quick work of the tunnel, then appeared back at Lucy's side for more instructions. Seeing how very drained her master was, and how anxious she felt through their contract, Virgo didn't even ask for punishment.

As the kids filed through, albeit with grumbles about missing the action, she spoke quickly with Max and Virgo, "Max, I'm sending Virgo with you. We have no idea who these people are or if they have more people waiting around for us, but it's not safe to assume right now that they don't know where Porlyusica lives. There are a lot of guild secrets that seem to be out in the open today, so let her help you defend the kids and Porlyusica when you get there. Do not come back here, even if Virgo disappears. My magic might fail in the fight, but do not leave them alone to come back here to help. We will send someone to you when we are good here, I'll give them a phrase. Test them, we don't know who to trust right now, but I'm trusting you. Ask them 'Who guards the benevolent gate?'. They have to respond, 'The Zodiac Twelve and the Hands of Fate.' Can you remember that?"

Max just nodded, then grasped Lucy's shoulder before following Virgo and the kids, "Stay safe, yeah?"

Lucy let a soft smile grace her features, "yeah, get going".

She watched them disappear down the tunnel, then channeled Virgo's Star Dress to close the hole in the floor so they couldn't be easily followed.

"Happy, Romeo, come here," she said, and the two approached her cautiously, not taking eyes of the fight. It seemed Natsu, Mira, and Loke were all fighting still, and seemed to be struggling, even with the occasional assist from the guild members standing at their backs. This is not good.

"Happy, I'm going to pull a Natsu. I need you to use the distraction to carry Romeo out of here, and you both need to get to Master, now," She wrote out the pass phrase on a piece of paper, along with where Max and the kids were headed, folded it carefully, and sealed it magically, causing a golden magic seal to glow on the paper, "I need you to give this to Master, or Laxus ONLY. No one else can handle it except you, and anyone who tries to open it besides them will experience some less-than-pleasant side effects. Can you guys do this for me? Please?"

They both chirped, "Aye, sir!" and Happy grasped Romeo's clothing tightly, ready to fly out the front doors at max speed as soon as the distraction happened. Romeo took the glowing paper from Lucy's hands and clutched it tightly.

Suddenly, before she could turn around, Lucy felt the pull of magic as Loke was sent back to his realm.

"Damn it! Open the gate of the Ram, Gate of the Goat! Aries! Capricorn!"

Both spirits had been watching the battle from the viewing pool once both Virgo and Loke had been called, and so when they arrived they went to work immediately. Capricorn threw himself into the fight with Piper, striking out at her quickly while avoiding the long rope-like things she was throwing around the battlefield. Wait… Are those snakes? Aries had appeared right next to Lucy, and she threw out wool to capture at least a dozen snakes that had been flying into the air towards the celestial mage and the two people she was preparing to leave. She rolled them into their own little snake cocoon while apologizing profusely to Lucy for doing so.

"No, thank you Aries, you're a lifesaver. You did well. Can you keep the snakes away from these two while I make them an opening?"

"I'm sorry, yes princess, I can do that! I'm sorry!"

Lucy acknowledged her response with a quick hand on her shoulder as she stepped forward, between where Aries and Capricorn were fighting but off to the side a bit. She dropped her Star Dress, and dropped to a knee as she felt the pressure of holding open three gates open at once, after having a full day of missions.

"Shit," she said, breathing heavily while sweat dripped down her brow, "This better work or we're in trouble, I won't have the energy to go much more…"

She took a few minutes to breathe deeply, feeling the magic inside of her, praying to Stache Face that it was enough to do as she needed to.

She started her incantation, mostly sure that she could do the spell and still survive the magic drain:

"Oh stars far and wide that embody the heavens…"

Natsu, who'd been fighting with Greasy, heard the beginning of the chant and almost got hit in the face at his obvious distraction. He threw himself back into the fight to make sure he didn't get killed, but was searching for an opportunity to leave the damn battle and wring his partner's neck.

"What the hell, Lucy?" he shouted at her. He knew she didn't have enough magic for that spell. It nearly killed her every fucking time she used it, "Stop that, you moron!".

She ignored him, but his words had the negative effect of drawing Piper's attention away from Capricorn and Aries and to her directly.

Lucy felt her two spirits pulling more magic from her as they dealt with the snake mage's more frenzied attempts at getting past them to stop whatever spell she was weaving that had even her own partner frightened. Cursing under her breath, she closed Virgo's gate, hoping that Max didn't need her because she couldn't spare the magic anymore.

"By thy radiance reveal thy form to me…"

Mira noticed the change in Natsu, who'd been fighting at her side, and tried to figure out what had changed. She was facing off against the rather severe looking woman who was apparently an earth-make mage (which she internally laughed at, given the habit she had that reminded them all so much of their own ice-make mage), and had taken a few hits, but had the upper hand. Terra, as she'd come to find out her name was, was strong, but once removed from the earth her power became much harder for her to control, so Mira was doing her best to fly around and swoop her up as much as possible and allow her fellow guild mates to get shots in. Was it really a fair, one-on-one fight? No. But she came into their home and challenged them, so all's fair. Besides, Mira is a demon, after all.

"I implore you, oh Tetrabiblos…"

Mira threw her opponent harshly into the unforgiving ground and allowed Wacaba and Reedus to keep her down for a minute while she tried to figure out what had Natsu worked up and distracted. She landed down on the ground behind Greasy McDirtyPants and threw her elbow into the side of his head before he could react to her presence.

"Ruler of the Stars, let your unrestrained rage flow…"

Normally, Natsu would be pissed that someone interrupted his battle. Now? He was beyond grateful, because Greasy was down for the count, for at least a few seconds, and he needed to stop Lucy before she killed herself expending more magic than she had.

"With the eighty-eight heavenly bodies…"

Too late. He was too late. The only enemy still up was Lucy's, but now that she'd gotten this far in the spell, she couldn't be stopped. He was ten feet from her, ready to tackle her to the ground, but now that she had invoked the heavenly bodies, her magic permeated the air and created a seal around her. Nothing could be done. He'd failed her, and all he could do now was hope she had more magic than he knew she did. To hope she'd been holding out on him, because if not, she was gone.

He had other friends to save though, so with pain in his heart, he shifted his weight quickly and launched himself at Mira, the closest guild mate to him, while shouting at the others, "Get down NOW!"

He'd just landed on the ground when her heard her, and the room flooded with celestial power.

"SHINING! URANO METRIA!"

In the momentary quiet caused by the powerful surge of magic, a boy and a cat flew out of the guild unnoticed.