From the Valleys to the Heavens

by SunMoonKunochi

So I died. Yeah, not that great. I didn't mean to though. Sure, I got into some fights, and I could be irresponsible, but I was fifteen! I did not deserve that knife to the chest. It was certainly amazing to wake up, even if you don't know where you are. Or who you are. But since I'm here I'm going to fix everything! Watch out Fiore, here comes a badass Lucy! OC reincarnation

17. Super Mage Giant-OH WHO REALLY CARES!

Okay guys, I was literally going to do a Christmas Special for this, but as I was writing it I just kind of went…I really don't care. This is pointless, I just really want to continue the normal storyline, and I'm already too stressed over Red Gloved Hands.

On that note, for those who read that story…I NEED YOUR HELP! The reason I didn't update it is because I have nothing on the next chapter except for some meandering of words that were basically already the storyline.

I don't know what direction that story should take, and I'm feeling really mad about it. I know exactly how Lucy should be brought back to life, and I know that Natsu would realise his feelings for her much faster than in the show, and I know that Lucy would be so much stronger physically, but be so much more torn up and scarred emotionally – but I don't know how to put it together! If anyone has any suggestions, please PM me; I really do need help, or I'm just finishing the story with a brief overview of what the story would be like without Lucy. (Which would be interesting, but that's really not what you guys want…I'll put up a poll to see what I should do, so go have a look at it and vote please).

With that all said and done, here's the next chapter!

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Disclaimer: Even my story doesn't have as much angst and pain as the newest chapters of FT! I also don't own AVPS.

Warning: Lots of fighting and swearing – this is where shit gets real – and sarcastic comments placed in the strangest of places. It also jumps a lot in P.O.V. which was a bit of an error on my behalf. Sorry.

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3rd Person P.O.V.

As the Fairy Tail mages panicked and streamed outside to see what was causing their guild to shake (well, the ones that could move), Lucy slowly got out of the hospital bed, seemingly unconcerned by the whole situation.

"You should get back in bed," one of the bedridden Fairies spoke up, rolling his eyes towards the hobbling form of Lucy since his neck was currently bandaged tightly. "You're injured, and Mira will have my hind if you injure yourself, let alone Natsu or Gray."

"Please," Lucy scoffed, not pausing her awkward, dragging walk towards the door of the infirmary. "As if they would be thinking about me at this moment; we currently have bigger problems. Like, say," she drawled, "disposing of Phantom Lord once and for all."

The wicked grin plastered across her face gave shivers down many of the injured Fairies.

"Oh, Mavis…" breathed Erza, staring up in shock and horror at the monstrosity that was once the Phantom Lord guild. It towered over their own guild, making every Fairy there feel insignificant.

As many Fairy Tail mages were beginning to become accustomed by the massive structure actually standing above the mass of water near their guild, there came a crackle of static before the familiar, sickening voice of Jose was blared across to them from the Phantom Lord guild.

"FAIRY SCUM! I'M NOT HERE TO WASTE EITHER OF OUR TIME, SO I'LL MAKE THIS SHORT; GIVE ME LUCY HEARTIFILIA, OR WATCH YOUR GUILD CRUMBLE INTO DUST UNDER PHANTOM LORD'S MIGHT!"

"LIKE HELL!" roared out Natsu in reply. He clenched his fists tightly by his side, trying not to burst into flames in rage, lest he burnt Erza and Gray who were standing by his side. "LUCY IS OUR NAKAMA, AND THERE'S NO WAY THAT YOU'LL TAKE HER FROM US!"

A roar of agreement came from his fellow guildmates, nearly making the ground shake by their intensity.

Mirajane stood at the back of the crowd of her nakama, hands clasped tightly to her chest in anxiety. She watched all of her loved ones fight for one of their own, and wished that she could do something to help them. Anything!

Suddenly, a thought popped into her head. One so crazy that it just might work. Lucy was currently bedridden inside the guild, but Jose didn't know that. If she could just transform into Luc—

"HEY, JOSE, YOU BASTARD!"

Collectively, everyone's attention turned to the entrance of the Fairy Tail guild, only to be met with the sad sight of a rather bruised and bandaged Lucy leaning heavily against the doorframe. Her usual dark pants were torn and fluttered around her booted feet in a rather sad way. Her hair was a mess of gnarls and blood, and she currently didn't have a top on; the bed sheet from the hospital bed had been knotted and twisted together in a genius way to create a tope over her bandaged chest. And bandaged arms. And bandaged back. And—

Well, you get the picture; Lucy was a bruised and bandaged mess that glared defiantly up at the Phantom Lord guild, key chain clutched tightly in her hands which had been unshackled by Mirajane before she had hurried out behind everyone.

"Ah, Miss Heartifilia," Jose purred over the loudspeaker, "I was wondering when you'd join us. I'm so gladthat you managed to survive your little…shall we say…fall."

At this, Natsu let out a low, terrifying growl, struggling more than ever to retain a somewhat normal temperature for him. "That absolute bastard…!"

"Otherwise," continued Jose, "you wouldn't be able to see me reduce your precious guild into a pile of rubble, and any fantasy of your having any freedom at all to ashes."

Lucy flinched at the last part, betraying some of fear, but she quickly pulled herself back together to continue her conquest of glaring Jose's guild into dust. "I've said it once, but I'll say it again, Jose; you're ridiculously cliché and it isn't impressing me one bit." The blonde then had the audacity (or stupid bravery) to buff her right hand nails against her makeshift top, a bored expression plastered on her face. "I could go into a massive speech on how a guild is made up of the nakama and their memories, not some building, but I don't think we have enough time to stand around and talk shit about each other."

Lucy then straightened up, a determined and fiery look replacing her previously mockingly bored one. She thrust a hand out to point at the helm of the guild, unknowingly locking gazes with an enraged Jose as she pointed a finger at him. "I'm going to come up there, and beat your fucking punk ass into the ground before peeling it back off to wave like a fucking flag from the top of my apartment. But not before I tear out your pussy moustache hair by hair and light your oily hair on fire! Then I'll pull out your beady eyes and take a fuckload of joy in melting them in a vat of acid as I cut out your lying, thieving, slimy tongue into little pieces and shove it down your throat!"

"Holy fuck…" Gray muttered as Lucy went through several gruesome and graphic threats that had many guildmembers gagging and flinching. "She's snapped."

"So prepare yourself, Jose!" Lucy bellowed out. "Since I'm coming for you and your blood!"

There was brief moment of silence throughout the surrounding area as Jose seemed to mull over what Lucy had said. Then a crackle of static signalled that the vile man was about to speak again.

"Interesting, Heartifilia. Very interesting. Such bravado in the face of yours and your guildmates doom. Will such spunk last as you face your death, hm?"

Jose then burst into harsh laughter that squealed and scratched through the loudspeaker, creating the backdrop for the ominous clanking and grinding of gears that omitted from the giant structure in the water.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. OhsweetKamiandJashin-samafuck!" Lucy cursed under her breath, limping forwards to push past her nakama. She brushed past a rather concerned Elfman to stand next to Erza, eyes locked onto the massive canon that was slowly being unsheathed from the innards of the guild. "Erza," the redhead jerked at the sound of her name, turning with surprise to see the injured Lucy standing beside her. "Lucy, you shouldn't be—!"

"That's Jupiter," Lucy cut across her, that single comment causing Erza's to widen in horror. "Yep, the canon that can destroy buildings and reduces lands to rubble; and it's pointing right towards us. We need to move!"

Nodding in acknowledgement to Lucy, Erza raised her voice to be heard over the Jupiter Canon movements. "EVERYONE, MOVE! THAT CANON IS ABOUT TO FIRE! MOVE RIGHT NOW!"

At hearing the panic in the usually unfazed Erza's voice, the collected Fairy Tail mages wisely scattered to the sides, fleeing to the safety of nearby trees and hoping that they wouldn't be hit.

"Damn it all!" Lucy suddenly burst out, shocking several people nearby as they realised that she was remaining right next to Erza in the centre of the canon's blast range. "The injured in the guild; we have to get them out before they're fried!"

Without waiting for Erza to react, the blonde began barking orders out to a few of the guildmembers nearby, instructing them on getting them out.

Suddenly realising what Lucy was getting at, Erza rounded on the girl with fury pumping out from every pore. "That's out guild, Lucy! We can't abandon it!"

Uncaring of the older girl's words, Lucy merely crossed her bandaged arms in answer and sent Erza an unimpressed look. "Would you rather human bones get obliterated and skin get melted than wood and nails?"

At those words, Erza shuddered in answer and turned to encourage the other Fairies to get the injured out as quickly as possible. Only, her words were drowned out by the horrible hum of magic being powered up.

Stiffly turning back to face the darkly glowing light of Jupiters' might, Erza only had enough time to shove Lucy behind her and requip into her strongest armour: Adamantine. She raised the two halves of the armours' shield up and managed to join it together before Jupiter shot out its attack straight at her.

It hit with a great crack, not unlike thunder, sending Erza sliding back into Lucy's curled up form.

The blonde jerked her head up to stare in shock at Erza's trembling back, cringing all the while at the powerful sensation of the Jupiter being diverted around her to clip the edges of the guild behind her. It was thankfully empty now, not that Lucy knew it, as the last few mages managed to scurry out of the way and join their fellow mages in watching one of their greatest mages struggle to hold back the terrifying might of Jupiter.

On the side, Gray struggled alongside Elfman to hold Natsu from running to protect Erza, none of them noticing Lucy struggle to her knees behind Erza, as she was blocked from sight by the streams of magical energy passing by her.

'She's not as prepared as she was in the series,' Lucy thought hysterically to herself, completely overwhelmed by the whole situation. 'Her feet are slipping and her guard isn't strong enough. If she hadn't had to push me aside…' The blonde bit her lip in anguish before beginning to draw on as much magical energy as she could muster.

Thankfully, her physical condition had no contribution to her magical wellbeing, as she was battered on the outside, but fresh on the inside from only summoning one key today; it was more than enough to help her out here.

Pushing forwards to press against the struggling the struggling Titania's armoured back, Lucy pushed as much magic as she could outside of her body to manifest in a golden haze. It caused her teeth to chatter in exhaustion, and sweat to dribble into her eyes from strain, but she continued to exclude her holy magic in an abundance.

"I'm sorry…Erza…" the girl managed to breathe out before she yanked Erza away from Jupiter and tossed her to the side to tumble into Natsu's feet, trembling in exhaustion.

Unthinkingly, Natsu instantly stopped all resistance to Elfman and Gray to drop to his knees and gather the exhausted Erza up into his arms. He didn't notice Elfman and Gray didn't fight him at all, or that their attention was barely on Erza and her wellbeing.

They were more focused on the blinding, golden mass that was once Lucy Heartiflia.

---

Jose's expression went from impressed to shocked to gleeful to enraged in a matter of seconds as he watched Titania stand against the might of his canon (A/N: HAHAHAHAHA! Canon! HAHAHAHAHA, I'M SO PERVERTED!), then Heartifilia pushing her aside to sacrifice herself. But…but…

Wasn't Heartifilia meant to be destroyed along with her guild from his magical power, not stand there defiantly in a blaze of golden magic?

The brat's own magic had pooled itself around her and formed a solid wall to divert the Jupiter beam to either side, much like Titania. Sure, it looked like it was costing her every drop of magic since Jose could see her trembling from even up in his guild. And it seemed like she would drop any second, but Jose knew that the Jupiter Canon didn't have much juice left in it before it shut down to power up again.

Not enough to destroy Heartifilia before she could weather through the shitstorm that was Jupiter.

---

In hindsight, Lucy had to agree that this wasn't one of her more genius ideas.

In fact, it didn't even get anywhere near the top ten, let alone the top twenty or thirty.

This was a terrible, awful, foolish idea that she hoped would end soon as her magic was nearly gone and it felt like she was either going to be sick or spontaneously combust into hundreds of lovely little Lucy pieces that would proceed to rain down on everyone's surprised faces as Jose laughed in triumph and everything that she had worked for in the past year would be for nothing.

Well, at that thought, Lucy straightened her spine and reaffirmed her belief in what she was doing was right. It may hurt now, and even tomorrow, but it wouldn't hurt everyone around her in the long run, and that was all that mattered.

So, taking in a deep breath and digging her feet firmly into the ground that cracked and crumbled under her feet from the opposing forces of her magic and Jupiter's, Lucy managed to weather the mess that was Jose's 'secret weapon.'

At the end of it, as Jupiter's beam petered out and disappeared completely, Lucy managed to drop her magical barrier and shakily put the finger up at Jose before she stumbled forwards to fall on her knees in the broken ground, smoke curling off her softly.

"Jesus fucking Christ," the blonde groaned out as she tried to push herself to her feet through her physical and magical exhaustion. "This is the last time I jump in front of a magical attack so callously…" Lucy ignored the yells and shouts around her as she began to drag herself forwards and into a somewhat upright position. She then shuffled forwards, loping at an uneven pace to make her way to the water's edge.

Golden magic still pulsed around her hands and arms as Lucy dragged a key from her pouch, grinning viciously at her own reflection in the water. She then raised her voice loud enough for everyone to hear, amusement audible in her words. "TIME TO LET AN OLD FACE JOIN THIS PARTY!" Shoving the golden key into the water and twisting it to unlock the giant magic circle that had appeared on the surface of the water, Lucy released the last bit of her magic, trembling as she did so. "OPEN! GATE OF THE WATER BEARER: AQUARIUS!"

An all-too-cheerful chime rung out, signifying the entrance of one of the more powerful zodiac keys, and Aquarius emerged from the water's depths with a magnificent display of a water show. It was ruined, though, when she rounded on Lucy. "I WAS ON A DATE, BRAT! HOW DARE YOU SUMMON ME!" The mermaid seemed to recognise Lucy's current condition and stopped the massive rant that she was about to blast at her. "What the hell happened to you?"

Lucy held up a hand in answer, asking for a moment as she struggled to get enough oxygen into her lungs. That last push of magic had taken her breath away and made her drop to her knees on the concrete by the water. She was struggling to keep her eyes open as she made eye contact with Aquarius, but there was a deep fire burning in the dark orbs that let the spirit know that she was still fighting. "A bastard thought that he could take me and you guys, my spirits. I just summoned you here to prove him wrong."

"Oh?" Aquarius hummed dangerously, turning to stare angrily up at the ugly structure currently standing in her domain! "Well, I should only demonstrate my power out of…courtesy." A wicked grin crossed Aquarius's face as she lifted her urn over her head. "Do you want me to blow them away?"

"Not quite," Lucy answered as she pulled herself up stiffly to stand beside Aquarius. "Knock 'em around a bit, but aim for the canon there." Lucy pointed out the Jupiter Canon that was slowly being powered up again as Jose crowed out death threats, seemingly passing over the fact that Lucy was up and standing and was about to fight back. "I think you can wash out a few rats there if you aimed for it."

A dark aura seemed to hover around Aquarius as she raised her urn and began twirling it around in an almost dance-like style. "Excellent. This will be my pleasure, brat."

Lucy nodded back before hurrying backwards as quickly as possible; she didn't want to get caught up in Aquarius's attack, they always hurt like a bitch.

Much to everyone watching, both Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, Lucy was up and standing. What was even more surprising, though, was the fact that she had managed to summon a spirit; especially Aquarius (several Fairy Tail members shivered at the memory of the times Lucy had summoned Aquarius in the guild). And to top the whole thing off, everyone's jaw dropped as Aquarius began to manipulate the water to her will.

It wasn't the usual swarming mass of waves that she normally tossed around, uncaring if anyone got caught up in it. No. This was a careful manipulation of water that showed just how powerful she was with her element.

The water began by swirling around Phantom Lord guild's legs, creating almost a whirlpool. The whole building wavered on its spider-like legs, struggling to stand strong against the funnel beneath its feet. Then, water started to rise in front of the structure. It curled and spun together to form a graceful pillar that moved exactly like a snake.

The water bunched up at the top, eye-level with the Jupiter Canon, before it snapped forwards in a spray of water that had people below flinching at the sudden downpour. It funnelled its way through the canon, making it rumble and roar from the pressure. Several dents appeared in the metalwork as water streamed through at a ridiculous rate.

Aquarius turned with an unusually serene expression to Lucy, letting the waterworks slowly die down, and leaving the guild wobbling and tottering on its feet. "My work is done here." She left in a flash of gold to the symphony of people screaming from the innards of the guild as they were met with a mass of water that dragged them through the halls and shattered windows as they went, throwing several people out into the water hundreds of metres below.

"That's my spirit," Lucy remarked tiredly but proudly as she took in the astounding sight.

A sudden call of her name had her turning to meet the sight of Erza, Natsu, Gray and Elfman racing towards her, worry etched on their faces.

Natsu put on a burst of speed as he saw Lucy waver slightly on her feet, eyes glazed and rolling in their sockets. "Lucy!" He caught her in his arms as she pitched back, chest pumping as she tried her best to gulp in oxygen.

The pink-haired mage began to freak out as the blonde seemed to hyperventilate, eyes bulging in surprise. "H-hey! Lucy! Lucy, are you okay! C'mon, talk to me!"

"It's her ribs," Gray bit out angrily as he came to a stop beside Natsu, staring down at his female friend as she struggled to breathe. "That idiot pushed herself so hard that they must've moved even more in their broken state. You moron," Gray addressed the next part at Lucy as she began to move about in Natsu's arms and regain her breath. "What the hell were you thinking taking on Jupiter like that?"

"Agreed," Erza spoke up, leaning slightly on Elfman in her usual armour. The Jupiter had taken a lot out of her, even if it hadn't broken through her armour or knocked her to the ground. She knew that if Lucy hadn't pushed her out of the way she would've been obliterated by Jupiter, but it still didn't mean that she was happy. "That was incredibly foolish of you."

Regaining her feet and pushing herself away from Natsu, regardless of his angered expression, Lucy held her head up high as she stared at her guildmates. "Maybe to you, but it was incredibly wise; we need you more in the fights ahead than you need me. It was a tactical decision that I'm sure will come to fruition later on. But for now, you guys should hurry up and head on through the barrel to enter the Phantom guild. I didn't do that whole thing with Aquarius for my amusement, you know? She's just washed away any opposition you'll have there."

The blonde turned to Gray, expression still pinched in pain and fatigue. "Gray, you can form an ice structure to get you guys up there, then hang back to let Elfman take over. He can take down anybody who managed to survive Aquarius's attack with his superior strength."

"MAN!" Elfman roared in agreement. "Taking charge is MANLY!"

As Lucy was about to continue explaining her game plan, Natsu burst into the conversation, still sore over Lucy's easy dismissal of his assistance. "What? Why should Elfman go first? I can fly up with Happy and easily beat whoever the hell's left!"

"No, Natsu," Lucy said shortly, cutting off whatever he was about to say next. "The first opponent up there would be best beaten by Elfman. Totomaru may be a Fire Elemental who isn't as strong in his arts as you," here, Natsu puffed up in pride, "but he literally controls all fire. He would turn it against you. Elfman could easily crush him as long as he dodges his sword; he's not too proficient with it as he is with his magic."

"Don't worry, Lucy," Elfman said strongly, "I'll defeat him! Like a MAN!"

The blonde quietly agreed with him before going on with her plan. "Natsu, you will take on Sol. He's an Earth Elemental that can travel through the ground with his magic, but his attacks mainly focus on liquid earth, which you can harden and stop with the heat of your attacks."

"Yosh!" Natsu burst out, fists lighting up in excitement. "You can count on me!" The boy then turned to look over his shoulder to where Happy was floating, watching then proceedings curiously. "We've got this in the bag, haven't we, Happy?"

"Aye!"

"That's cool and all," Gray said dryly, "but what about me? Who'll I verse?"

"As if you could beat someone, Ice Princess," Natsu laughed. "They'd just stand there and laugh at you and you're—"

"Enough!" Erza snapped out, successfully cowing Natsu into submission. "Let Lucy finish!" Although the redhead was curious and suspicious about how Lucy came across all of this information, she understood that any information was important for helping out the dire situation.

"Thank you, Erza," Lucy said to the girl before looking at Gray. "You'll be taking on Juvia of the Four Seas. She's a powerful Water Elemental, but I think that you can take her easily."

Gray grumbled about the fact that he had to face a girl, but a look from Erza had him falling silent – although he was quite irritated by Natsu's constant snickering, he valued his life more than a satisfying punch to his face.

"Erza, you'll fight Aria, a Wind Elemental," Lucy said to the girl. "He is the most powerful of the Elemental Four, but if you take him out before he can uncover his eyes, you can defeat him."

Erza clenched her fists angrily. "He's the bastard who stole Master's magic; he cannot be forgiven!"

Patting her shoulder comfortingly, Lucy replied sympathetically. "That may be true, but you guys should also wonder about how and why those Phantom Lord members do what they do; you may be surprised by the answers."

Just as Erza was going to ask how she came by such information, Lucy flapped her hands at them, pushing them towards the Phantom Lord guild. "No more time! Go now, before Jupiter is charged up again! To defeat it, you must break the lacrima just inside of the barrel, and defeat the Elemental Four! Now, go!"

"Aye sir!" Natsu roared out as he raced ahead, followed shortly by Erza and Elfman. Gray hung back, though, eyes solemn as he looked at Lucy's battered form. "Are you sure you'll be alright? You've taken a beating today and—"

"I'll be fine Gray," the blonde cut across him softly, "so don't worry about me. Just go and help out your nakama."

The stripping boy looked hesitant as he looked between the blonde and his other friends, before nodding sharply to Lucy and jogging off towards them. "Stay safe."

Lucy smiled a twisted and sour smile. "Of course." It's not like I won't be captured or targeted or something…

The girl then let out a groan and rubbed at her tired eyes, wishing that this shit could hurry up and be dealt with so that she could lie down and sleep for twenty years.

But, alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Almost in defiance to Lucy's thoughts, Jose released hordes of Shades that came gliding out of the mad man's guild to attack the Fairies left on the ground.

Cana quickly took charge of the situation, rounding up the mages for a counter-attack to defend themselves and their slightly broken guild. The brunette may be a drunkard, but she was one of the most experienced mages of her generation and was a tactical genius in battle, even more so than Levy, who was the smartest person in the guild.

At seeing the Shades attack, Lucy hurried off to go and collect her sword from its position beside her bed in the guild, but was stopped by a small hand tugging at her own.

Significantly surprised, Lucy stopped and whirled around to be met with the sight of the little, black-haired boy she had rescued from Phantom Lord. He was looking shy and hesitant as he held out her sword for her to take, his red eyes shadowed by his long fringe. "For you, Lucy-san."

Smiling a true smile for what felt like the first time in forever, Lucy stiffly squatted down to the boy's level to take the sword from him. She held in her right hand as the other petted his hair softly, careful not to startle the skittish boy. "Thank you so much. I'm not happy that you risked yourself to get my sword, but I am thankful all the same. Now, why don't you head over to the side and—"

"No!" the boy burst out. He then realised that he had shouted out the protest. A blush worked its way up his cheeks and he ducked his head shyly. "I mean, I want to help." He glanced up at Lucy through his fringe, determination evident in his eyes. "I want to help you, since you helped me escape Phantom Lord…"

A soft crept across Lucy's face. She hesitantly placed her hand under the boy's chin to raise it up to look at her. Her dark eyes met with his own bright ones, and she nodded. "Of course you can. We'll welcome any help that we can get. Especially someone as special as you…Ryos."

The Dragon Slayer flushed lightly. "T-thank you, Lucy-san."

"It's Lucy," the blonde supplied for him as she stood up, smothering a groan of pain. "Just Lucy, little one. Now," she stuck out a hand to him, face reassuring to the shy boy, "let's go kick some butt, ne?"

"R-right!"

---

After watching Elfman barrel through all of that weird, flame-dude's attacks and knock him out with an arm transformed into the bulging muscle of a black bull, Erza, Gray, Happy and Natsu raced alongside him to destroy the lacrima that was powering Jupiter.

It broke with surprisingly little effort, and the quartet of humans plus one flying cat wasted no time in racing on ahead through the hallways, intent on completing their missions.

However, they all stopped what they were doing when Jose's voice rung out again, speaking loudly and proudly about how they may have stopped Jupiter, but he had an even greater weapon to destroy them with.

The guild then proceeded to shudder and clank and shift, causing Natsu to collapse to the ground from motion sickness.

"What is going on?" Erza demanded, trying to keep her footing as floors and walls and ceiling shifted and moved about, groaning and squealing in a mad kafuffle of genius architecture. "What on Earthland is happening?"

Unbeknownst to her and the other Fairies inside the guild, Jose had activated a weapon that was so crazy and dangerous that it would easily have him sentenced to death for having it built, let alone initiating it.

His guild had shifted and changed into a large robot-like form that towered over the devastated Fairies outside. One of Its arms rose stiffly and began to write runes in the air with its fingers. Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II was a ridiculously strong unit that was only used to write out the runes for the ultimate spell Abyss Break. The attack would literally wipe away all of whatever was in its path: organic or man-made. Nothing would stand after it activated, and Lucy knew that as she hurried through a mass of Shades, sword swinging as Ryos kept her back covered with several blasts of Shadow Dragon Roar.

"This is ridiculous!" Lucy hissed out angrily, swiping away another Shade that simply reformed again. "Those idiots better hurry up and defeat Juvia and Sol and Aria, or I'll come up there and finish them all!"

Behind her, Ryos shivered slightly at her dangerous tone as he dodged a swipe from a newly reformed Shade. Lucy was really nice, but…she was absolutely terrifying.

Finally finding herself by Cana and Mirajane, Lucy blocked an attack heading for the ivory-haired girl and sliced it in half. "Is everyone okay over here?"

"I should be asking the same thing to you," Cana shot back, firing off several rounds of lightning that had Shades dissolving into dark matter. "You look like shit, Lucy-chan."

"Gee," Lucy said dryly, "thanks." The girl finally grew serious, eyes flickering towards the runes slowly being written by the guild-turned-robot even as she decimated another hoard of Shades. "We can't keep fighting these until Jose is distracted; what can we do?"

"I don't fucking know!" Cana huffed, beginning to get testy after destroying so many Shades, only for them to come right back at her. "Why don't you go and fix it!"

"Gray's stairs have melted and I don't have any way to get up into the fucking robot!" Lucy growled out angrily. "This is so fucking troublesome!"

Mirajane, hefting a plank of wood from the guild, bashed a Shade into the ground before turning a concerned eye onto Lucy. "I think we should get you away from here, Lucy. I don't know why, but Jose seems to be going after you. So if I—"

"Mira, I am not being knocked out and transported to a safe house. Think of something else, sweetheart, since there's no way you're getting me away from here."

Mirajane blinked in surprise at Lucy's casual dismissal of her plan – how had she known what her plan had been? – before reluctantly nodding. "Okay, Lucy."

"So what now?" Ryos spoke up from his position guarding Lucy's back, his innocently inquisitive expression melting Mirajane's heart. She had already met the young boy earlier that day; Erza had come racing in with the others, talking about how Master was sick and Lucy had disappeared. What had surprised Mira the most, though, was how Erza carried a small boy in her arms, one that she had never seen before.

Of course, she had quizzed the redhead, and was surprised to find that Lucy was the one who had snatched the boy up. She hadn't explained why, really, but mostly said that the small boy named Ryos was a Dragon Slayer. And according to Ryos himself, a Shadow Dragon Slayer.

Most of the Fairies had been wary of letting the Phantom boy in, but Ryos had quickly soothed that problem by informing everyone that he hadn't actually joined Phantom yet; he was too much of a brat and a weakling by their standards (something that had made Mirajane's heart go out to him). In fact, the only ones who spoke to him was Juvia and Gajeel, and neither of their relationship was exactly friendship material.

Juvia mostly ignored the boy as she had no idea what to do with small children, and even then, she was always off on missions, so it wasn't like she could spend much time with him anyways.

As for Ryos' relationship with Gajeel…well, it wasn't an awkward shuffle of student and teacher. Only, with a lot more cursing and gruff putdowns than much teachings.

The deal between them was that Gajeel would help Ryos get better at his Shadow Magic by teaching him the basics of Dragon Slaying magic itself, while Ryos would teach him a thing or two about Shadow Dragon Slaying magic.

It was an awkward and fear-filled relationship at best, and Ryos was more than happy to abandon it if it meant that he would be able to start anew at Fairy Tail, where people and relationships mattered.

Loudly, Cana interrupted Mirajane's thoughts as she tossed several cards into Shades, watching with vindictive glee as they exploded. "We can't keep fighting these Shades, and we can't get up there. So…what now?"

Luckily, or ridiculously unluckily, if you looked at it a certain way, the Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II took this chance to disengage one hand from writing runes and reach down to snatch up Lucy, who only had Ryos shout of surprise to warn her of what was happening.

Of course, that wasn't enough to let her escape from being picked up by a giant hand and nearly crushed, but it was the thought that counted.

There were several shouts of her name from nearby Fairies as Lucy was picked up in a crushing grip, struggling futilely as her hands were crushed to her side, along with her sword.

"Fuck!" the blonde cursed, squirming against her restraints. "Double fuck!"

That was the last the Fairies heard of her before she was tossed into a hatch near the top of the robot, disappearing without a sound into the darkness of the robot's head.

Many Fairies could only stare in numb shock at the area where one of their nakama had disappeared. Ryos was the only one who shouted out her name again, his little voice thin and high through the sounds of ongoing battles.

---

Meanwhile, inside the Super Mage Giant Phantom yadda, yadda, yadda, Natsu had finally met up with his opponent after several minutes of dashing through abandoned and very wet hallways, chasing after the scent of earth and other underground things that had led him to the very creepy man he was facing alongside Elfman and Happy (but of course Happy was off to the side as Natsu didn't want him to be injured by some idiot who could move some earth around).

Both Gray and Erza had parted their ways after a few moments of running, seemingly searching for their own opponents, so it just left one fired up Natsu and a determined Elfman to face the creepy, twisted and monocle'd visage that was Sol.

The man spoke in a distinctive French accent that was much too delighted in the face of versing strong enemies, and his smile made the Fairies skin crawl. Ugh…

"Ooo~! What do we have here? Two Fairies? Non, non, non! Two Fairies to crush!" The man swooned in happiness, sending very strange signals to Natsu and Elfman.

"The hell is wrong with this guy?" Natsu muttered to Elfman, watching with wide eyes as the man stretched and twisted his way around a pillar in the hallway they were in. "That's unnatural."

"Ah, non, non, non," the man crooned. "This is merely my magic; Monsieur Sol's magic! Salute!" The man swayed from side to side, feet melded into the ground beneath him. "We are to battle now, oui! I am versing Elfman-sama and Natsu-sama, oui?"

Natsu slammed a hand into a clenched fist in answer, sharp incisors shown in his excited grin. "I don't know about this mongoose or whatever, but I do know that I'm about to kick your ass!" And before Sol could continue to talk, Natsu dashed forwards, hands already lit up with his customary flames.

But, even though Natsu tossed some of his best acrobatic moves at the weird, French guy, the man easily twisted his body at ridiculous degrees to dodge, or even melted into the ground to appear metres away from where he had started, sometimes even up in the walls or ceiling.

"Stay still, damn you!" Natsu snarled out as he shot out a roar of flames, the man's disappearing act starting to get to him. "I just want to burn you to crisp so that I can go and beat up Gajeel!"

At this, Sol stopped moving, head twisted to the side as he scrutinised Natsu with a pleased look plastered on his face. "Ah, non, non, non. Gajeel-sama is quite busy at the moment. He cannot be disturbed."

"But fighting is MANLY!" Elfman roared out, hands clenched in excitement. "Nothing is manlier than two men fighting their problems out! Oohh, it makes my blood boil!"

Ah, cible," Sol sighed melodramatically, "I'm afraid Gajeel-sama is very busy entertaining our…guest." The man then snickered a very dark and twisted laugh as the twirled his body around. "Mademoiselle Lucy is probably having a delightful time!"

"Lucy…?" Natsu muttered to himself before the dots linked up and his anger burst out in a flurry of flames. "What have you done to Lucy?!"

"Non, non, non," said Sol, "not I, but Gajeel-sama." He then twirled his moustache with one hand as the other waved in patterns that neither Elfman nor Natsu could pick out. "Earth Statues…"

In response to Sol's actions, the ground beneath him began to bulge and twist, and it soon wasn't long before an exact copy of Lucy, made entirely out of earth, stood before them.

"Help me…" Earth Lucy rasped out, her voice sounding like her own, only with the undertone of two rocks rubbing against each other. "The pain…it's too much." The earthen girl then slumped to the ground, hands and feet bound together. Another mound of earth arose in front of her, shifting to don the image of a grinning Gajeel.

Earth Gajeel began kicking Lucy absently, seemingly scrutinising her determined expression as he kicked her in different places. The earth clone than laughed his distinctive laugh and morphed his hand into a club that he began swinging into Lucy, eliciting sharp screams of pain from the Earth Lucy.

"What is this…" Elfman ground out, unable to take his eyes away from the mocking spectacle of Lucy getting beaten up by Gajeel. Even if they were clones, it looked ridiculously real.

Beside him, Natsu just steamed, trying to convince himself that Lucy wouldn't get captured and that this was just a stupid trick to deceive him.

Well, he wouldn't fall for it!

"I see you aren't feeling enough pain," Sol sighed sadly, "I guess I shall have to kick it up a notch."

And then, much to Elfman and Natsu's horror, Lucy and Gajeel were replaced by a very familiar face that stared blankly at them, her usually distinctive blue eyes the same shade of brown as the rest of her body.

"Why'd you let me die?" Earth Lisanna whispered. "Why, Elf-nii, Natsu? Why did you kill me?"

---

As Natsu and Elfman were met with their past, both Gray and Erza had met up with their own opponents.

But, really, there wasn't a change in those battles, so I think we'll skip them and see how Lucy's going.

---

Not well.

Not well at all.

Upon rolling to a stop from being tossed into the dark hatch by the Giant Phantom thingamajig, Lucy was pounced on by a bunch of Phantoms and bound by chains. Her sword was taken away from her and tossed in the corner, but it wasn't like she could wield it anyway, what with her wrists being shackled together. Not to mention her ankles being bound together and then chained to the wall so that she couldn't get away.

"Well, isn't this flattering," Lucy said dryly to no one as she struggled to sit in a position that wouldn't have her chains rubbing against her uncomfortably. "So many chains and bling for me; how kind of you."

"Gihihi," a voice laughed out, echoing through the dank, stone room she was in, "there's the spunk I wanted to see."

"Oh, how melodramatic of you, Gajeel," Lucy said, rolling her eyes at the dark-haired man who had emerged from the shadows of the room to stand in front of her. "I thought better of you, Black Steel."

Gajeel laughed again, the sound causing his guildmates to flinch slightly. Not like he noticed. "So you've heard of me. Would it surprise you if I said I had heard of you too?"

Instead of replying, Lucy shrugged uncaringly, making Gajeel frown slightly. "Of course it wouldn't; nothing surprises the Celestial Maiden, The Defeater of Wyverns and Fate's Fortunate." Gajeel chuckled again, his eyes gleaming hungrily. "Of course, that's nothing compared to what else you're known as; Lucky Lucy Heartifilia, heiress to the Heartifilia Konzen!"

The dramatic reveal was ruined by Lucy fake gasping, tugging her chained hands up to cover her mouth in mocking shock. "What? I'm a heiress? No way! I so didn't know that!" The blonde dropped her hands and gave Gajeel and deadpan expression. "You can cut the dramatic crap, Gajeel. It's unbecoming of you and I'm going to give a sarcastic answer every time you say something like that, so don't even try."

The Dragon Slayer shrugged, his mouth twisted in amusement. "You're an interesting one, Heartifilia."

"I try very hard, Redfox."

"You do know that I'm about to take great pleasure in hurting you, just so I can get Dragneel fired up as fuck so that I can beat him, yeah?"

"Oh, so totally. But don't count on Natsu getting very fired up. It would've been much better to get one of the other guild girls, or even boys. I'm not very important to Natsu, especially compared to those that he has spent years growing up with." Lucy tossed her red-tipped hair, somehow looking composed in a bed sheet, torn pants and chains. "Bit of an error on your side, you know?"

"Please," Gajeel sneered at her, "that weirdo Sol may seem like an idiot, but he's good at finding out things. He's observed that Dragneel is unnaturally attached to you, going so far as climbing in your apartment at night to sleep with you."

"Huh," Lucy said absently to herself, "I thought I felt a different magical signature around my house recently." The girl seemingly shrugged such a matter off, fixing her gaze back onto Gajeel. "Ah well," she remarked easily, "seems like his information is wrong. Natsu is ten times more attached to the likes of Erza and Gray than me. But don't worry," the girl gushed, "everybody makes mistakes."

Kicking at the ground, Gajeel stalked forwards with a grin. "Yeah, and your mistake is getting captured today. I'mma 'bout to have some fun with you."

A snort of laughter came from Lucy, pulling Gajeel short. "What are you—Oh, really? Mature one aren't you?"

A giggle escaped Lucy's lips at Gajeel's grumpy expression as he changed his entire arm into a metal rod. "Oh no, Redfox, please don't stick me with your rod!" She then flushed a light pink as giggled away, seemingly mortified and amused by her own comment.

"You're a fucking idiot," Gajeel sighed as he changed his arm back into its usual state of fleshiness. What? There was no way he was going to use that attack now that she said that. Instead, he drew out several knives that he had kept at the ready for this opportunity.

At seeing them, Lucy fell silent, eyes now sharp as the knives that Gajeel tossed absently in his hands, grin wolfish and predatory. "Ah, not so tough now, aren't you, Heartifilia?"

"Gajeel…" One of the Phantom's nearby spoke up hesitantly. She wanted to show Fairy Tail who was boss, but this…this was going too far.

"Oh, it's alright, sweetie," Lucy spoke up, surprising the Phantom girl. "I'm not scared."

A thud beside her right ear had her stilling. She could see the hilt of a knife in the corner of her vision, close enough to make her nervous.

"So close," Gajeel smirked, "wonder what'll happen if my hand…slips?"

---

Elfman lost it.

There was really no other way to put it.

Natsu hadn't seen him so distraught since…well, since Lisanna had died.

And now Elfman was trapped inside the memory of killing Lisanna after attempting to go fully into a Beast Soul Take Over and Natsu was faced with dozens of Earth Lissana's that were attempting to kill him while bringing up bad memories; this was not a fun day for Natsu.

Especially since he couldn't stop thinking about how Lucy could currently be kidnapped by Gajeel and was being beaten by the bastard.

He had to wrap this up now, or else Lucy could but hurt really badly!

Smashing through a bunch of Earth Lissana's and dodging several earth structures that were flung towards him from Sol, Natsu finally managed to clip the annoying man, sending him careening back to smash into the wall. Surprisingly enough, he broke through the wall and nearly toppled off of the robot, if only he hadn't melded his feet with the ground to stop. Even so, it would take him a while to find a good handhold to pull himself up.

Even more surprising, though, was the sight of Mirajane being clenched in one of the robot's hand just outside.

"Mirajane!" Natsu shouted, shocked at seeing one of his nakama captured. "Are you alright?"

The white-haired girl managed to jerk her head over to look at the boy, visibly struggling against the hand holding her. "I'm alright, Natsu. I attempted to transform in Lucy to trick Jose, but he saw right through me." The girl broke off with a gasp as the hand tightened, squeezing her tightly.

"Mira!" bellowed Natsu, moving to go and save her, only to be stopped by the girl's furious head shaking.

"No, Natsu. I'm alright. You have to go and save Lucy, though."

Natsu felt his blood run cold. "Lucy…what happened to her? Mira, where's Lucy?!"

Coughing lightly, Mirajane replied in a whisper. "Jose's captured her. She's in the topmost part of this thing. Go and save her, Natsu. She may seem so strong, but even someone like Lucy needs to be saved every once in a while."

"Right!" Jerking his head up, Natsu turned on his heel and raced away, calling for Happy.

He barely noticed Elfman breaking out of whatever spell he was on and finding Mirajane captured by Sol. He barely heard Elfman transform and absolutely decimate Sol to save his sister. He barely felt the Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II stop writing the runes for Abyss Break, since all of its power sources had been defeated. All he heard was the whistling of wind in his ears as Happy flew him through the corridors to go and save Lucy.

Of course, he did meet some obstacles in the way, but they seemed to have mostly been cleared by Gray and Erza, and they were easily dealt by a flaming fist or leg. He even managed to catch the sight of Gray with some blue-haired chick down some corridor, but he ignored it.

Natsu barely even slowed to check on Erza as she stood over a large man's form, tired, but well in her victory over Aria.

All he could think of was Lucy and her wellbeing.

---

Up in his lair, Jose steeped his fingers as he watched his Shades destroy those blasted Fairies' guild. He took a lot of pleasure in hearing their screams of emotional agony at every hit that was landed on that pitiful barn. But it was merely just the topping for his sweet, sweet victory of successfully nabbing that brat Lucy Heartifilia.

Gajeel had radioed in before, telling Jose that he had captured Heartifilia and she was currently being held in his beautiful Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II.

(And no matter what anyone said, Jose did not dance for joy at hearing this).

Jose had responded that Gajeel had to guard Heartifilia until they made their getaway, but that wouldn't happen until Fairy Tail was broken into millions of pieces at his feet. He had also told Gajeel that anything but death was free game when it came to the bitches' wellbeing – something that made Gajeel a very happy man.

Quite pleased about how things were going, Jose turned his loudspeaker back on and began to talk to it – gloating a bit would make everything ten times better.

"Fairy scum, I'm afraid that we won't be able to spend much more time together. Your guild is almost finished and I have won! Lucy Heartifilia has been captured and there's nothing else you can do to save her! In fact, I'll let her give you one last scream goodbye before she leaves."

Expecting to hear the girl's pitiful screams when Jose patched Gajeel's link through to the loudspeaker, Jose was more than surprised by what actually came through.

The first speaker was obviously Gajeel, dark, deep and sneering. "So close, wonder what happens when my hand…slips?"

The next voice was Lucy, judging by the higher voice and feminine tone. But she wasn't hysterically speaking in shrill tones like Jose was expecting (hoping). Nope, she was decidedly casual as she replied. "You cut your hand? Hopefully?"

"You still being a smartass with me? I'll throw this next knife to spear that silver tongue of yours. Then we'll see how well you can talk then." Gajeel's voice was gruffer than usual in anger, grating harshly through the loudspeaker system and making Jose wince at the controls when Gajeel's voice made the sound pitch and squeak irritably.

His wince turned into a scowl when Lucy laughed. Actually laughed, at Gajeels' threats.

Try me, oh great Gajeel."

A thud was heard over the link, and Jose took great pleasure in seeing many Fairies on the ground outside wince and scream at the sound. Oh yes, now Gajeel was showing a great example of Phantom's might. He was sure that the idiot was torturing the girl and was about to make her scream—

"Gajeel can't throw! Gajeel can't throw! Gajeel cannot throw! He only eats metal and cannot throw, even if he's reading a how-to-throw book!" Lucy barked out another round of laughter after her mocking song, sounding amused by the whole situation.

Jose quickly cut the connection before he could be humiliated anymore.

He asked one thing from Gajeel. One thing! Just that he make Heartifilia scream and pay for her insolence.

"Why can't I ever find good minions?" Jose sighed, before he remembered that the loudspeaker was still on and that everyone had heard what he said.

Freaking out, he scrambled for the off button, fumbling it several ti

---

mes before he managed to cut it off with a sharp click.

"Oh, fuck…" Jose muttered to himself. "I need a drink."

Inside of Jose's Super Mage Giant—oh who really gives a fuck!—Natsu was still racing towards where he hoped Lucy was, guided and powered by Happy's wings.

It was just his bad luck that he couldn't hear the whole situation over the loudspeaker as he was currently smashing through several stone ceilings in succession to get to the top of the robot as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he wouldn't be freaking out so much on Lucy's health – she was doing a pretty good job of surviving so far.

---

"Maybe this'll be the one to hit you this time 'round," Gajeel remarked as he tossed another knife at Lucy.

This one joined four other around Lucy, all of them causing small nicks on her body that blood slowly seeped out of. The newest one sliced through her hairline and cut off several hairs, also making blood trickle down her forehead.

For her credit, Lucy had seemed barely fazed by the knives being tossed at her, only jumping slightly whenever they hit their mark. Her lips were pursed in concentration and thought as Gajeel hefted another knife in his hands.

This time, he didn't dawdle, instead, tossing it immediately at the blonde. This one wasn't aimed to barely miss this time around. This time, it was directed right at her chest.

The Phantom Lord members watching cried out in surprise, but immediately fell silent as Lucy flashed a manacled hand up to catch the knife before it hit her chest.

The girl's eyes were frosty as she clenched the blade, seemingly uncaring of the fact that lots of blood was trickling its way from between her fingers. "It seems like you missed again, Gajeel."

The boy snarled back, his frustration and anger of not being able to scare her was starting to cloud his judgement. Jose had told him that she wasn't allowed to die, but everything else was free game; surely she would've survived a knife to the heart, right?

"You know, Gajeel," Lucy spoke up, rousing the Dragon Slayer from his thoughts. "In another few minutes, I'll have enough magical energy to summon one of my keys." The girl wiggled slightly, making the keys tucked into her pants jingle lightly. "Then you're going to get fucked over and I'm going to laugh my fucking ass off."

"Not likely," Gajeel sneered back. "Not if I take your precious keys off you." Stalking forwards, the Phantom mage picked Lucy up by her throat, intent on pulling the keys right out of her pants.

Of course, he didn't account for Lucy flipping the knife around in her hand and stabbing it into his shoulder.

Letting out a pained howl, Gajeel dropped the girl and stumbled back, clawing at the knife stuck in his shoulder. When he finally managed to tug it out in a spray of blood, Gajeel turned murderous eyes onto the grinning Lucy who was crumpled at his feet, having been dropped right onto her unprepared feet and probably twisting her ankles. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

Forming a rod with his right arm, Gajeel slammed it down at Lucy, only for the girl to roll to the side.

"I could've killed you then," Lucy said conversationally as she dodged several of Gajeel's attacks with the limited range her shackles gave her. "I could've easily stabbed that knife into your spinal cord or head and killed you." The blonde then stared up at Gajeel, eyes glinting. "You owe me, Redfox."

"Yeah!" the boy roared back in answer, winding up for another swing at her. "I owe you pain and misery, bitch!"

Just as Gajeel was about to slam the rod into Lucy's back, the ground beneath him abruptly crumbled and broke apart in a fiery explosion, sending him flying backwards with the force of the attack.

Lucy shrieked at the sudden eruption of fire right beneath her, attempting to scramble backwards away from the terrifying flames that were currently burning her hands and legs. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Ow! You son of a bitch, Dragneel! I'm going to fucking kill you!" She would've kept going through several more insults, but the sight, and the smell, and the sound, and the feel of the flames around her dragged her deep down into memories she had tried to supress for so long.

And that's when Natsu burst into the scene after his attack, Happy holding him afloat. "Your ass is mine, Redfox!"

The pink-haired mage then touched down opposite Gajeel, who was already getting up, and letting Happy flutter off to the side. "Where's Lucy, you bastard?"

"Gihihi," Gajeel laughed crazily, forgetting about the wound in his shoulder at the sight of new competition. "Why, right behind you, Dragneel."

At hearing this, Natsu and Happy whirled around to spot Lucy curled up against the wall, barely-conscious, more battered than before, and sporting several new slices and burns on her body.

"You bastard!" Natsu roared at Gajeel. "What did you do to her?!"

"Oh, nothing much," Gajeel replied, "I just threw a few knives at her. You should be asking yourself what have you done?" At seeing Natsu's confused expression, Gajeel broke into wild laughter. "Oh, this is rich! You don't even know!"

"Know what?" Natsu demanded, even as he crept backwards towards Lucy. "What is it?"

A sadistic grin appeared on Gajeel's face, making several of the Phantom mages who hadn't been knocked unconscious by Natsu's attack shudder in fear. "I'm talking about her fear of fire, dumbass. Her absolutely terrifying, paralysing fear of flames and what they can do."

'Lucy's…scared of flames?' Natsu thought, aghast, stopping his advancement towards Lucy. "B-but, she would've said something! There's no way Lucy's scared of fire 'cause she always goes on jobs with me! She's used to fire! She likes me, so she must like fire!"

"That's where you're wrong, Salamander," Gajeel growled. "That blonde bitch is scared of you and what you can do. She's probably only your partner 'cause she's scared of what you'll do to her if she says no."

"Lies!' Natsu burst out angrily. Desperately. "You're lying!"

Gajeel snorted. "Fine, don't believe me. Just ask that dumbass bitch yourself." He quickly held a hand up before Natsu could turn around to the girl shivering in the corner, where Happy was attempting to wake her up. "But you can't do that before I bash you into the ground and grind your bones to dust!"

The Dragon Slayer with arms of iron burst forwards then, not giving Natsu enough time to react. He fell on the pink-haired boy with a kind of viciousness that Natsu had never seen before, pummelling away at every part of Natsu's body.

But Natsu was known for his ridiculously hard skull, as well as every other body part, so he was able to take the hits with a grain of salt. He then recovered and turned the tables by grabbing Gajeel's metal arm and flinging him over his shoulder, making sure not to hit Lucy.

That whole situation with Lucy and her phobia of fire was distracting and worrying at best, but Natsu was prepared to shove such matters aside so that he could defeat the arsehole that had hurt his nakama so much – especially Lucy!

So, with a roar of fury, Natsu launched himself into a battle of proportions that no one had seen before. With levels of destruction that was so unfathomable that the Phantom members watching could scarcely believe their eyes.

While the two Dragon Slayers were going at it, Happy was on one side of the room, trying (and failing) to wake up Lucy from whatever weird dreams she was having.

"Lucy…!" Happy cried out, shaking the girl's shoulder with his tiny paws. "Wake up! This is no time to sleep!"

The blonde's only response was a shudder of her body and a small whimper of fear that had Happy flattening his ears against his head in worry. "Lushi…!" The small cat was beginning to sniffle now, taking in the entire situation and not finding it too good.

His best friend was fighting the psycho that had hurt Levy, Jet and Droy, as well as Lucy; Lucy was unconscious and freaking out over something that Happy couldn't see, and was covered in so many injuries Happy was amazed that she hadn't passed out prior to this; his nakama was being overwhelmed by those freaky ghost-things, and his guild was currently being destroyed.

"Wake up, Lucy…" Happy hiccupped out, still patting at the trembling girl's shoulder. "Please…"

Then, almost like the heavens had heard Happy's plea, Lucy shot up suddenly. A scream wrenched its way out of her throat and her hands scrabbled at her abdomen, like something was wrong there.

"It's okay, Lucy! It's okay," Happy called out to the girl, patting her leg soothingly as she struggled to come to terms of where she was. "You were having a nightmare."

"Fire…" Lucy muttered dazedly, tugging at the hem of her shirt as her chest heaved. "Everything's burning…"

"No it's not, Lucy," Happy said to the scared girl, still stroking her. "Everything's perfectly fine. There's no fire here."

Natsu took this opportunity to breathe out a large spout of fire, which sent every Phantom mage scrambling for cover, screaming in fear.

Lucy joined them, eyes wide in terror as she tried to get away from the object of her fear. "Happy, you little shit! I'm going to chuck you in the fires to burn!"

"Well," Happy consoled as he trotted over to stand by the girl, "at least you're back to your usual mean self."

"Yeah," Lucy replied, running a hand through her hair as she watched the awesome battle between Natsu and Gajeel – it was ten times cooler to see in person than on a screen or in a book. "Sorry about that. It's just…" she gave a shudder and clenched a hand to her side, "fire brings back bad memories."

Happy gave her a dubious look before turning to watch the fight, anxious to see his partner win.

Beside him, Lucy settled down her racing heart to watch the fight, hoping beyond all hope that Natsu wouldn't run out of steam like in the series. There was no way she could summon Sagittarius like Lucy did, let alone a silver key like Cenas. She had bluffed to Gajeel that she would be able to summon a key soon, but really, by soon she meant in two days' time with lots of food and a fuckload of naps. Doing that trick with Jupiter and summoning Aquarius had drained what magic she had managed to gather up in her brief rest in the infirmary.

So, yeah, there was nothing she could do as Gajeel ate some metal plating and got a power boost. Absolutely nothing as Natsu got pummelled by Gajeel's attacks, making short bellows of pain in between each hit.

Each sound…it made Lucy's chest constrict in a way that she hadn't felt before – and it wasn't because of her busted ribs, either. She's had plenty of those before, and knew that sensation. This was totally different. Having Happy wailing and tugging on her leg in emotional agony didn't exactly help the feeling, and Lucy felt the familiar burn in her eyes of hopeless tears.

Fuck! What could she do? Her sword was so far away (not like she could get it since she was still shackled to the wall), and Natsu and Gajeel were moving back and forth so fast that there was no way that she wouldn't be hit in the crossfire if she tried to go and get it. All she had was her bare hands (which were manacled together) and her wits, neither which were in very good condition right now.

"What can I do…" Lucy moaned, eyes surrounded by stress lines following Natsu and Gajeel's process around the room. "There's got to be something…" Watching Gajeel push Natsu back towards her, Lucy got an insane idea.

It was the second coming of Jupiter, and it would hurt like a bitch, but that was a friend out there! Granted, an annoying, rude, loud and way too passionate friend, but Natsu were precious, no matter how much she pretended he wasn't!

The thing was, Natsu may get power-up from eating sources of power, but he also got fired up at seeing his friends in trouble.

Now, all Lucy needed to do was throw herself into another incredibly stupid situation.

Literally.

---

Natsu was being beaten. There was literally no other way to put it.

He was being beaten into the walls, into the ground, and even up into the ceiling. He was being beaten everywhere by the likes of Gajeel, who was a heartless bastard and actually deserved to be beaten.

As of right now, Natsu was bloody, exhausted and half blind because of it. He could barely block or deflect any attacks coming from the energized Gajeel, that's how tired he was.

If he could just get some room and grab a quick breather, than maybe he could recollect his thoughts and activate a battle plan.

But there was no way that Gajeel was going to let him escape, not when he had him on the ropes.

Just when it looked like Gajeel was going to go for a massive deck with one of his metal-scaled hands, there was a flash of gold in front of Natsu's eyes, obscuring his view.

His onyx eyes widened significantly as he watched Lucy fling herself in front of him to catch Gajeel's hit right across her face. She didn't even put her arms up, she just took the hit without a single sound.

Even Natsu could see that her nose folded easily under the hit, breaking and snapping to the side with a spray of blood that splattered all over his own face. Lucy head gave way and she twisted with the momentum of the punch, tumbling to the right side of Natsu. She hit the ground with a bounce before being dragged back towards the wall slightly; she had pulled her restraints to the limit to get to Natsu, and was now being dragged back because of it.

Gajeel looked rather surprised at the outcome as he glanced between Lucy's limp form at his feet and the blood smeared across his knuckles. He looked up to see Natsu's terrified expression turn to one of rage, and felt fear for the first time in what felt like ages.

As Natsu began to turn the tables and beat Gajeel into submission, Lucy managed one brief smile of victory before she blacked out from pain and exhaustion.

---

Lucy P.O.V.

When I woke up, I kind of wished I could go right back to the land of unconsciousness.

Everything hurt.

My eyes were gummy and sticky as I opened them as little as possible. Which was lucky, as the sunlight that penetrated through the slits of my eyelids made me groan as the migraine in my head kicked up another notch to brain-melting pain.

But I couldn't just laze around here all day…wherever here was. I had to assess the situation and act accordingly. At worst, my plan had failed and Natsu wasn't fired up enough to defeat Gajeel. That meant that Jose had me, or had already given me over to 'my' father. Both of which sucked royal Hippogriff.

At best, I was in a place that was safe, my injuries treated. That would be awesome, and one of the first times that has happened to me. Normally when I fall unconscious, I'm still in the same place that I was before I blacked out. Sure, there has been a few occasions when my gang mates took pity on me and brought me back to base, but I was mostly expected to fix myself up, since I'd never had many life-threatening injuries.

I guess I was just lucky like that.

But that was enough walks down memory lane, I had to wake up. Even if my nose throbbed and my chest felt there was a heavy weight on it.

And I do so, with a momentous effort that resulted in my retina being burned by stupid sunlight that was filtered through a window on the wall opposite me.

A window, which was a good sign. That meant that I wasn't being kept underground.

Finally deciding to get this over and done with, I rolled over to the best of my abilities, grunting slightly when my abdomen burned.

I was met with the sight of a small, black-haired boy curled up on the white sheets that I was under, his small body easily able to fit on the bed beside me. He was fast asleep and covered in a few bandages of his own, making me tut.

Who was the irresponsible bastard that left Ryos on his own, not making him go to sleep in a bed of his own to rest his wounds? They're obviously an idiot.

"Ryos," I whispered, stiffly raising a hand to place it on the boy's mop of hair. "You need to wake up, Ryos." I ruffled his hair, making the boy moan slightly in his sleepy haze. "Ryos, wake up. You need to go sleep in your own bed, sweetheart."

A mumble bubbled out of the boy as he slowly raised his head off the bed. His red eyes blinked dazedly at me for a moment before he seemed to recognise who I was.

"Lucy!" he yelled out, bolting upright with a surprised expression on his face. "You're alright!"

"Depends on what alright means," I replied back, smiling at the boy to show that I was only teasing. But I quickly dropped it because my nose hurt whenever I contorted my face. "What happened, Ryos? I can't remember much after Gajeel and Natsu began to fight…"

Ryos nodded as he shifted around to sit cross-legged on my bed, eyes intense as he began speaking. "Well, after you got captured by that robot, everyone was freaking out, not sure what was going on. The brunette with the cards—"

"Cana," I informed him.

"Yeah, Cana-san. Well, she took charge again and tried to counter the Shades attacks, but we were getting overwhelmed. We were also really scared that Abyss Break would activate, but the robot suddenly stopped writing the runes at one point."

I hummed thoughtfully at this. "Everyone must've defeated the Elemental Four."

"Yeah," Ryos agreed, "I saw Mirajane's brother defeat Sol after she got captured. I'd never seen Sol get beaten so badly…"

Surprised at the fact that Mirajane got captured, exactly like in the series, I pressed for more details. "Did the Shades stop? Is the guild okay? Has Jose been stopped? What about Natsu, is he okay? Erza? Gray? Cana—"

"Calm down, Lucy," Ryos said nervously, fluttering his hands to placate me. "Yes, the Shades did stop after Makarov-sama fought Jose and defeated him."

"Good on you Makarov…" I muttered to myself. I then realised that Ryos was waiting to continue, and I quickly ushered him on; I wanted to know what happened in the end.

Ryos fumbled for words for a moment before he regained himself. "Um, the good news is that everyone's pretty much okay. A couple of people were injured from the Shades, but Porlyusica healed them all really easily before she kicked them all out." Ryos gave a small shrug before gesturing widely. "You're the only one who got to stay at her place."

Following what Ryos was gesturing at, I was surprised to see myself inside of a round room that looked like the inside of a tree. Actually, now that I remember, this house was actually made out of a tree that was hollowed out; cool.

I could look at the room more closely later, though. I was more concerned about Natsu and Erza's wellbeing. They both versed the hardest opponents and I could only hope that they came out okay, just like in the series.

As if reading my thoughts, Ryos began to speak again. "Natsu-san is perfectly fine, Lucy. He was carried down by Happy from the Phantom guild after it began collapsing. He was barely conscious, but he kept yelling about getting you back and how you were injured. Happy had to go fly up again to get you, and nearly got knocked out by a bunch of rubble that was falling."

"Damn cat," I sighed, "he shouldn't risk himself just for me."

"Don't say that, Lucy!" Ryos suddenly burst out next to me, surprising me some. "You're just as important as everyone else, so I wish that you'd stop throwing away your life so easily! I've only known you for two days, but I would be sad if you…if you…"

"If I died?" I asked softly. At seeing the boy's distraught expression, I sighed again before pulling him to my bandaged chest, wrapping my arms around his thin back securely. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Ryos, but if I die, I die. There's nothing that anyone can do about it. I would want people to be happy after I died, not moping and crying. So," I raised the boys head up to face me with my hand, trying to show him how sincere I was. "Don't cry about me dying yet, 'cause I have a lot more bite left in me, and I'm not going down so easily."

Ryos nodded sharply, eyes slightly brittle. "Mn!"

At seeing the boy calm down, I patted his head softly, pushing it down to nestle in the crook of my shoulder. He was so fragile and I couldn't even see the polite but confident young man that he would become in the future.

As I relaxed into the hug some more, I could feel sleep pulling at me again. Even if I had only just woken up, I knew that my body needed rest still to recuperate. So I had no regrets when I let go of consciousness and dropped back to sleep, my arms still wrapped tightly around the warm bundle that would be known as Rogue in the future.

---

The next time I woke up, it was to Porlyusica sitting on a chair beside my bed, a stern and disapproving expression directed towards me.

I merely blinked at her, feeling much more refreshed after my nap, even if I was a bit worried about Ryos' whereabouts since he wasn't in the bed with me anymore.

"You, child," Porlyusica began, startling me into focusing on her again as she spoke with a cranky tone. "You are incredibly troublesome."

"I apologise for any inconvenience my condition gave you," I replied back formally as I struggle to sit upright against the mound of pillow someone had placed behind me at some point. "But I also thank you kindly for your hospitality, and that you took the time to heal my wounds."

"You're not out of the rough yet, brat," Porlyusica remarked back snippily. "I had to heal a broken nose, several lacerations, magical depletion and four broke ribs; don't think that they're going to be alright straight away."

I nodded back politely, trying to maintain my stoic expression in the face of her own stern one. Porlyusica was pretty scary, but I quite liked her no-nonsense disposition. It was nice to see after spending so long with crazed and random people like Fairy Tail. "I understand perfectly, Porlyusica-san."

The woman snorted at that, like she thought that I didn't understand at all. "We'll see…" She then stood up to bustle around the room, moving objects and herbs around. It seemed to merely just give her something to do as she talked to me. "You've been stinking up my room for two days now, so I'm expecting you to leave soon. Your annoying friends have been intruding on me every day, pestering me about your condition." Porlyusica harrumphed, not looking pleased about such things. "I've had to chase them out several times, those damn brats."

I mulled over her words, slightly surprised that the others had visited me. But I smiled at that news, and looked up to Porlyusica to thank her again.

She just grunted before tossing something at me. "Here. The pink-haired brat wanted you to have these."

Reflectively catching whatever she had thrown at me, I opened my hands to find my key chain staring back at me, each key glinting in the sunlight that flooded the room.

"Oh, thank you…" I whispered as I hugged my keys to my chest, "thank you so much…!"

"I heard you the first time," snapped out Porlyusica, apparently done with humouring me, patient or not. "The only reason you're still here is because your ribs are still healing and your nose still needs to toughed up again after I had to reset it." The pink-haired woman came to sit back down next to me, looking more serious than I had ever seen her. "But, also, because I wanted to ask you when you were going to tell that annoying guild of yours that you aren't from this world."

I froze. How had she known? I had never mentioned anything about being from another world to any Fairy Tail member, so they couldn't have mentioned it to Porlyusica. Just how did she know?

My answer was given at a softer tone than Porlyusica's usual cranky one, the woman's face folded along well-worn wrinkles. "I can sense it on you, girl. It is similar to Anima, but also different. Even with its differences, though, I can still sense that massive time and space magic has been worked on you."

"Do you know how exactly I got here," I asked her softly, hesitant to talk about this situation after keeping it a secret for so long.

When Porlyusica shook her head, and I felt the small flutter of hope that had sprung into my chest leave swiftly. I couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh; when would I find out how I had gotten here, and why? I had asked several wise women and men about crossing worlds on my travels, and all of them said it was impossible unless someone was born with the talent or astronomical powers were at work. But ripping open gateways to other worlds was something that was both dangerous and ridiculously tricky, so only something old and powerful could be able to work such magic, and I didn't know anyone like that either than Zeref, maybe Mavis, my spirits or even the dragons like Igneel and Grandine.

But as Porlyusica, the Edolas version of Grandine, didn't know how, I would have to cross out that option. Not like I had many already…

"So, child," Porlyusica barked out, "when are you going to tell them that you're from another world?"

"When are you?" I shot back, feeling an embarrassing amount of happiness from her surprised expression. "Yes, I know that you're from Edolas…Grandine."

Porlyusica sent me a calculating look, her expression caught between anger and intrigue. "Will you tell me how you came upon that information?"

I shrugged back, shifting in the sheets that lay across me. "My world. I know a lot of things about Fiore and the events that happen here from my world, and even a slight bit about Edolas."

"So your world is as closely connected to Earthland as Edolas is?" Porlyusica asked, suddenly looking fascinated by the information. "Perhaps you were snatched up by Anima and—"

"I'm afraid not," I said, cutting across her. "I was not sucked up by a portal or any of that sort. I died to come to this world. Not like I had any choice…" I muttered the last part, still sore about the literal back stab that had happened to me. "I woke up in Lucy Heartifilia's body. Only, it wasn't a reincarnation, as I only arrived a year ago, when her body was sixteen."

The healer looked absolutely perplexed as she churned the information around in her head. "I have never heard of such a thing before…"

I rolled my eyes. "Join the club."

Porlyusica ignored my comment to ask another question. "What is your name then? You said you were not Heartifilia until you came to this world, so what was your name prior?"

"Tiana Laakson," I replied back earnestly, not even surprised when Porlyusica blanched at my last name. I may have been born in England, but that didn't mean that I was from there. My father's side of the family was actually part Finish, and the family name had been carried over a whole bunch of generations to me.

"It means Tiana of the valley," I informed Porlyusica, even though it didn't especially matter. "Old family name."

Porlyusica nodded absently at that, not very focused on what I was saying.

Just as I decided to pursue what it was like to be Grandine and how life was in Edolas, a great rattle came at the front door – which was made out of the tree as well; awesome – before it burst open.

Erza, Gray, Natsu, Levy. Happy and Ryos came tumbling through, each one shoving and pushing to get through. Well, the first three were. Levy and Ryos were trying not to get squished too badly – ah, I once knew the struggle of being the midget – and Happy was merely flapping over their heads.

The Exceed was the first one to notice me sitting up, awake, and let out a loud wail of my name before he came speeding over to crash into my chest.

Crying out in surprise, I reflectively grabbed Happy, clutching him tighter to my chest. The blue feline only wriggled in closer in return, big, fat tears dripping down his face and getting the thin gown I had on wet because of them.

"Lucy's okay!" Happy cried into my chest. "She's okay!"

"E-err, yeah," I replied, unsure how to handle the situation. I decided on patting Happy's head to console him. "H-hey, it's okay. I'm okay, Happy."

"Thank goodness!" Erza boomed out, clanking across the room to stand by my side. "We didn't know when you'd wake up!" The girl's face then softened, and she swiftly grabbed my head to slam me against her breastplate, doing an awkward hug that only cricked my neck and hurt my head, rather than comfort me.

"Thank you, Erza…" I managed to groan out, struggling to get out of the embrace before my nose broke again. "For your concern."

"Such bravery in the face of danger," Erza said passionately, not letting me go, "it's simply amazing!"

"Oy, oy," I heard Gray mutter from behind the redhead, "you might want to let her go before she blacks out. Her face is turning a weird colour."

Thankfully, Erza listened to him and released me, making me drop back down onto my pillows with a gasp of air. Sweet, sweet oxygen!

"Oh, Lu-chan," Levy spoke up next, skittering forwards to softly hug me around the shoulders, careful to not jostle Happy from his position at my chest or aggravate any of my wounds.

Damn, did I like this girl.

"You're all okay, Levy-chan?" I asked the blue-haired girl, looking for any injuries on her when she pulled away. "All healed up?"

"Yep!" Levy said cheerfully, patting a gauze on her cheek. "Just a couple of cuts healing up, but it's all okay! Porlyusica-san said that they'll finish healing by next week."

"That's good," I said sincerely, really meaning it. "You had us worried."

A snort came from behind Levy, making me peer around her slight girth to make eye contact with a disgruntled Gray. "What? What is it, Gray?"

"She had us worried?" Gray said bitterly, shaking his head. "Man, we knew Levy, Jet and Droy would pull through; they're tough like that. We were less sure of you."

"Me?" I asked, confused by that comment. "Why me?"

"It's because your magic was so low," Levy supplied for me, her brow creased slightly. "Your body struggled to work without magic to help heal it, and your heart failed a few times from the stress your body was on. We…" Levy bit her lip, eyes downcast. "We thought you might die…"

The impact of her words hit me hard at that moment, making me sit and think for a moment about what could've happened if my heart really did fail for good. I would've…died. I would've failed my mission. Lucy Heartifilia would be gone from the world before she could even complete so many things.

She would never become friends with all of her spirits, or so many people from other guilds. She would never see her little sister, Michelle, ever again, or fix up her relationship with her father. She'd never grow and prove herself as a Celestial mage. She would've…

"I'm really sorry," I choked out, feeling ashamed at the tears that were trying to push their way out of my eyes. "I'm sorry for worrying you guys and—and—!"

"Dear Mavis," I heard Gray groan, "I didn't mean to make you cry!"

Cold hands settled on my shoulders, making me look up into Gray's serious gaze, only inches from my face. "Yes, we're all slightly angry that you hid your past from us – I mean, you, a heiress? – and that you gambled your life so easily, but we're…" Gray sighed and released my shoulders to run a distressed hand through his hair, making it spikier than usual. "We're just happy you're alive, okay?"

I nodded briskly, scared that if I tried to talk anymore I might break down and begin crying in earnest.

"We're really happy!" Ryos bubbled up from beside my bed, his hands clenching at the sheets. He looked much healthier and happier today than when I saw him yesterday, his eyes shining with youthful mirth. "I've never been happier in my life!"

I laughed than, taking one hand off Happy – who was refusing to let go of me – to gesture to Ryos to join me up on the bed.

The boy obeyed instantly, scrambling up onto the bed to settle down on the sheets, nestling in at my side. He radiated a heat that soothed my nerves some, and I relaxed slightly.

Of course, I instantly tensed up when Natsu finally stepped forwards, his expression uncharacteristically serious through the bandages that were wrapped almost randomly across his face, as well as the rest of his body.

We stared at each other for a moment, even though I really didn't want to. Natsu's eyes were ridiculously intense when he wanted them to be, and they were really unnerving me. So it was a relief when he finally spoke up.

"…You threw yourself in front of me to get punched by Gajeel."

Worrying my lip with my teeth, I replied honestly. "I did."

"Why?"

I took a deep breath, not looking forward to the moment that Natsu would flip a shit and start yelling at me. "…So that you could get angry enough to overpower Gajeel and win. Also because that hit would've knocked you out of the fight, and there was nothing I could've done if that had happened; I had no magic and was shackled, therefore limiting what I could do when it came to a fight." I stopped talking and looked down at Happy, who was looking up at me with disbelief – I had almost forgot that he had yelled out when I had jumped in front of Gajeel. He must've been so freaked out by the sudden turn of events.

That thought made the guilty feeling in my stomach double, and I struggled to keep myself composed.

A hot hand placed itself on my head, and I looked up hesitantly to meet Natsu's burning gaze as he leaned in closely. "Don't ever do that again. You hear me, Lucy? Never again!" The boy gritted his teeth and turned his head away, an emotion I couldn't place on his face. "When Gajeel hit you…When I saw all of that blood coming out of your face…" He brushed a couple of fingers against his cheek, as if tracing something there. "It just…" He paused, unsure where to go on.

I didn't contribute anything, too scared that I would say something that would anger him, or even begin to cry. Luckily, Natsu seemed to collect himself and continued to talk, his dark eyes back onto my own.

"You should never sacrifice yourself like that. Not so…so foolishly! Your nakama care about you, and I'd—we'd all be destroyed if you died like that. So…" Natsu swallowed roughly, "don't die on me, okay?"

"..I'm sorry," I whispered in reply, a few tears leaking from my eyes. "I'm really, really sorry!"

And that's when the dam burst.

Tears began pouring from my face and I started to cry loudly, not caring about appearances anymore. I was so tired and sad and guilty to even care anymore. I didn't even react when Ryos and Happy hugged me tighter. I just closed my eyes and wailed in an ugly, snotty mess that normally would've mortified me.

But I was surrounded by friends, I finally understood, and weakness was okay when you had other people to push you back up. They were my strength as well. They were my pillar of strength that would keep me going in dark times, and I understood that now. I couldn't throw away my life like that, it wouldn't be fair to them. It wouldn't be fair to anyone.

There was a kafuffle around me as everyone bustled into movement. Levy and Erza came forwards to hug me, careful of my injuries. Ryos and Happy were already wrapped around me, the latter beginning to sniffle again. Gray awkwardly patted me on the head, expression mildly uncomfortable.

But it was Natsu's forehead leaning against mine that made me stop crying, and begin to merely sniffle. "Thank you..." I said quietly to him, voice thick with tears. "Thank you for everything, Natsu."

"It's okay," he replied just as quietly, "we're partners, so we have to look out for each other, right?"

I smiled then, albeit tearfully. "Right, partner."

The moment was completely ruined then by Porlyusica appearing with a broom in her hands, already wildly swinging it around as she approached us. "OUT! GET OUT, YOU BRATS, AND STOP MAKING SO MUCH NOISE IN MY HOUSE!"

Instantly, everyone detached from me and ran, screaming, out the front door. "Run from the witch! She's insane!"

I stared, dumbfounded and only holding a pair of gate keys, after them, completely shocked by the turn of events.

It was only when Natsu burst back in to grab my hand in his own that I moved, scrambling out of bed after him. He pulled me out the door, laughing as Porlyusica chased after us with her broom in hand, throwing insults after us.

I laughed then, too, revelling in the breath of fresh air and the feeling of my partner's hand in my own. We looked absolutely ridiculous; me, in a white gown over bandages and no shoes; and Natsu, in his usual grab with matching bandages. But it didn't matter as I beamed at Natsu's back, feeling happier than I had felt in ages. "I want to go on another adventure!"

Natsu turned to look at me as we raced through the forest surrounding Porlyusica's house, his hand clutching mine tightly as he led me through. His face then scrunched up because of the appearance of his trademark, huge grin on his face, and I could feel his happiness practically emitting from him. "Aye sir! Let's go on another adventure!"

---

Oh, the irony.

I feel awful for putting in the last part in, 'cause it refers to future Lucy and how she never got to go on another adventure.

But anyways, massive chapter, ne? I have literally covered the whole Phantom arc in two chapters. The next chapter is just dealing with the aftermath and that Blossom festival! I'm so pumped to write the feels between Tia!Lucy and Happy and Natsu. PARTNERSHIP FOR LIFE!

But so much happened in this chapter, even though I brushed over the fights and stuff.

Basically, the important facts are:

Lucy finally gets over some of her reluctance to trust others, and stops thinking of her life as something easily wasted.

You discover that Lucy has a fear of fire – which will be explained perfectly later on. And by later on, I mean way after the time skip. Sad, I know, but I have to wait until then for a good reason.

You also meet Ryos for real, which is, as you may have guessed, Rogue when he was younger. They never explained how he knew Gajeel aside from the fact that he met him after leaving his dragon and before Gajeel joined FT, so…obviously he had to be associated with Phantom to know Gajeel, so I just explained it as best as I could.

On the line of Gajeel; he's going to close to Lucy in the future, as I think those two would compliment each other well, just like Gray does with her. But I'm not having Lucy dance in a bunny suit, so I need a new nickname for her from Gajeel. It needs be something mildly degrading, but also affectionate. Please tell me some suggestions.

I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I can't wait to write more! I just need to write another chap of Mimic and attempt to write Red Gloved Hands.

IF YOU WANT RED GLOVED HANDS TO CONTINUE IN A CERTAIN WAY, COMMENT, PM OR VOTE ON MY POLL!

CIAO!