Author's Note:

Hello Peeps! New chapter comin' at ya. And it's early cause you guys are so incredibly awesome!

Can I just say that Fairy Tail readers are just amazing? You have responded so much faster and reviewed so much more than my readers in other fandoms I've written for. It's just fantastic! I can't say thank you enough.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews. Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: pixiecatost, Daisy Shields, moeruhoshi, Galp, TheJSmooth, WisdomDragon27, and Elphaba818. I'm not joking when I say that I always look forward to your comments, it's always a highlight of my day. And equally big welcoming hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: Crystal Kitty 842 and Lunar13.

As you know, we definitely reached the review requirement for a sneak peek, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Speaking of, sorry for forgetting it last chapter. I realized what I'd done several hours later and re-uploaded it with the sneak peek, so I hope you didn't miss it. :D I'll try not to forget again - to the best of my ability. Lol. I can be pretty forgetful sometimes.

Anywho...on with the show!

Within the next week, Juvia and Gray had returned from their two-week mission.

Both Natsu and Lucy happened to be in the guildhall at the time, and Lucy instantly noticed them and paid attention to their body language. Juvia was predictably the same, clingy and way too close to Gray. As always, she mirrored his every move perfectly as if they were choreographed. What had changed though, was Gray's body language.

Before, Juvia just being in the same room as him had made his whole posture tense up. Naturally whenever she tried to cling to him, or stood too close, or pestered him in any way, he would extricate himself as soon as possible and escape. If escaping was impossible, then he would lean his body as far away from her as he could get while simultaneously doing his best to ignore her.

Now though, his overall posture was relaxed, even as she linked her arm with his. He was still ignoring her, but also didn't seem to be bothered by her anymore. His face was relaxed, as were his shoulders, and he wasn't constantly shooting her uncomfortable glances. It was a huge step in the right direction, and Lucy mentally cheered for them.

…. Up until his blue eyes landed on her and Natsu, and his face instantly switched to a scowl.

One supremely pissed ice mage stomped towards them, towing the fawning water mage in his wake. He didn't even wait until they were within normal conversation range, he just started shouting.

"OI! You two! I've got a bone to pick with you!"

"Uh oh. I think he figured out that we set them up." Lucy grumbled, easing behind Natsu just a little. She wasn't afraid of Gray – if he actually went at her she would just pop him with her whip. Mostly, she was concerned about how Natsu was going to respond and didn't want to be between then in any way.

"And what's that Ice Prick?!" Natsu bellowed back.

"You two totally set us up!"

Lucy tried being innocent, with a response of, "What gave you that idea, Gray?"

Natsu ruined it of course.

"Yeah? So?!"

Gray's eyes flashed, and he snarled at them. "Oh don't worry, I'm gonna get you guys back a hundred-fold."

"Was that a threat Ice Princess?!"

"Oh no…. It was a promise, Fire-Fart."

Lucy edged back and away from the two.

As usual, the situation exploded, and the two were going at it within a few seconds, making her really glad she had put a few feet of space in between them. Poor Juvia was knocked off Gray, though it didn't hurt her at all since she was made of water. Still, she took out a table with her epic splash landing. Instead of getting mad, she just sat up and watched the fight with hearts in her eyes…which multiplied as Gray quickly began to strip off articles of clothing.

Sighing, Lucy watched the fight for a little while, then turned away and went back to her previous business. It had been several days since she had gotten back to full health, and since their savings were running on empty, she headed towards the board to pick out a job.

Given how often Gray and Natsu threatened each other, she wasn't too concerned about Gray's promise to get them back. However, she did make note of it, just in case.

When about a month or so passed and nothing had come of it, she pretty much dismissed the threat as nothing more than hot air.

That month passed normally, with everyone indulging in their normal destructive and/or quirky habits. Lucy and Natsu – and sometimes Erza and Gray – took a series of easy jobs, working back up to their normal level to give Lucy a little time to recover. It was necessary, but it did mean that Lucy took a pay cut – so by the end of that month she needed to scramble a little for funds.

One particular day found her at the board as usual, working on picking out a last-minute job to help cover her rent expenses – which were due yet again. Before she could decide on one though, Master Makarov suddenly marched down the stairs from the second floor and hushed everyone so he could make an announcement.

All fighting, drinking, and talking ceased as every head turned towards Makarov.

"Everyone! I've just been told by the Magic Council that our guild has been chosen to take on a supremely important mission!"

The silence grew even deeper as everyone's interest was piqued.

"A team of our choosing will meet up with teams from three other chosen guilds, and then all of you will hunt down the Oracion Seis."

Various sounds of shock resonated through the room as they were told the details of the mission. The fact that they were going to be taking on the Oracion Seis was completely shocking and blindsided them all with the abruptness of it.

The Oracion Seis were members of an incredibly powerful dark guild alliance, called the Balam Alliance, and so nobody had tried to disband them so far, despite the atrocities they had committed. To attack the Oracion Seis was to risk bringing down the wrath of the entire Balam Alliance, and nobody had wanted to risk that up to this point. They must have really done something to worry or anger the Magic Council if they'd finally decided to do something about them.

The Balam Alliance consisted of three insanely strong dark guilds and many, many smaller dark guilds that were each loyal to one of the top three. All dark guilds were bad of course, but the three leaders of the Balam Alliance were without a doubt the most feared. It was even rumored that some of them were demons. Most just discounted those stories as gibberish, but Lucy had always wondered if it could be true, because the tales of what they had done didn't seem humanly possible.

Of course, Phantom Lord had been a powerful dark guild too, but the Oracion Seis were on a completely different level. They only had six members, and yet were somehow more powerful than most legal guilds.

All the surprised murmuring stopped though when Master began to speak again. "This mission isn't just to take on the Oracion Seis though. The true purpose of this mission will be to stop them from unsealing an incredibly old, powerful, dark magic. All that we really know about it is its name: Nirvana. We have to stop them at all costs. All the teams sent on this mission will have to be made of extremely powerful and experienced mages. So who wants to go?"

There was some more muttering, and then suddenly Erza stepped forwards. "I will go."

It made sense for her to go – after all, she was one of their strongest members. On the other hand, Lucy was shocked when Natsu joined her, a broad grin on his lips. "I'm in!"

She had momentarily forgotten that he was technically a member now. However, that meant she should go too, since he had to use more and more of his magic the further away from her he was. So Lucy also stepped forwards to join the team, despite cringing a little at the thought of going up against such deadly opponents. It wasn't like she was a coward or anything - quite the opposite in fact - but she did have a pretty good idea of reality, and the thought of dying didn't really appeal to her.

Naturally Gray stepped up next, since he was the final member of their team.

Juvia would have volunteered as well, but apparently four was the maximum that Master Makarov wanted to send.

So, in short order, they were given directions to a meetup point, and they all set off.

When they arrived at the designated location, they entered the rather ostentatious rentable hall to find that it was completely empty … or so it seemed. Shortly after arriving, three handsome young men made a dramatic appearance, complete with spotlights, poses, and roses.

It was all a somewhat overwhelming, and more than a bit silly, but Lucy was drawn in just a little by them. They were the three most eligible bachelors according to Sorcerer Weekly after all. Eve, Hibiki, and Ren from Blue Pegasus were all featured multiple times by the popular mages' magazine, so Lucy couldn't help but feel just a little star-struck. While others in her guild had worked with Blue Pegasus on quite a few different joint missions, she had never participated in one and thus had never met the Trimens – which was the name this team went by.

Still, their attitudes and flamboyant natures were somewhat over the top for her, and in the end she just couldn't take them seriously at all. Especially when they whipped out a love seat from nowhere and grabbed both Erza and herself to be seated and pampered.

She got stuck with Ren, who was trying to be coy or something by handing her a drink while saying, "Here…though it's not like I made it for you or anything."

The outlandish words and the way he refused to look at her was almost too much for her to handle. It was positively ridiculous in her opinion.

Next to her, Erza was having to deal with Eve. He was definitely working a childlike innocent approach to romancing women, using big doe eyes and sporting a blush as he told her how much he had always looked up to her.

Even worse though, was the man soon to appear. He did so even more flamboyantly than his fellow guildmates, by broadcasting his velvety deep voice before he had even showed himself.

"A Reunion! … A Meeting! … A Grand Occurrence!"

Soon a spotlight lit his form at the top of the staircase and followed him as he slid down the banister in an impressive display of balance. The effect was ruined somewhat though when he tripped and landed on his face at the bottom of the magnificent ramp. He managed to save it – sort of – by springing to his feet and striking a dashing pose.

For such a flamboyant fellow, he was incredibly short. His personality greatly overshadowed his small stature by leaps and bounds. As much as Lucy tried not to judge other people, she couldn't help but be amused by this strange man. In sharp contrast, Erza responded almost violently next to her, by freezing up and turning absolutely pale – as if she was terrified.

Alarmed, Lucy leaned in to her friend and whispered, "Hey, you okay?"

"Oh no….not him…" was the only response she got, and soon she knew why.

Ichiya – the leader of the Trimens – immediately made a beeline for Erza and started fawning over her in the creepiest way possible.

"My Darling! How I have missed your sweet parfum!"

He proceeded to sniff her, and a visible shudder worked its way up her body as she sprang off the couch to try and get away. If it wasn't so creepy, Lucy would have laughed, because seeing Erza like this was priceless. Happy had no problem though, and she caught him snickering behind his blue paw as he watched Erza pull out a spear and quickly pick up Ichiya by his collar to hold him at arm's length. The sight was absolutely hysterical, and even Lucy couldn't quite keep a straight face.

Unfortunately, now that Erza was taken, the other three young men only had her to focus on, which meant that suddenly she was the center of their attention. Being fawned over wasn't exactly a hardship, but it was so obviously fake that she just didn't quite know what to do with herself. Then again, it was possible that these Blue Pegasus guys just simply loved all women THAT much.

Still, it felt very strange, and Lucy cringed back just a little as Eve knelt on one knee and pleaded up at her, "What can we do for you? How can we make you more comfortable?"

Faced with it herself, she grew even more convinced that his role was obviously being the cute, sweet, innocent one of the three. Or at least, that was what he was trying to play himself off as, but naturally Lucy doubted that he was actually that way at all.

Meanwhile, Ren simply pushed her drink closer to her while keeping his eyes averted, but strangely a blush also worked its way onto his cheeks. He was a weird one. Lucy couldn't quite decide if he was truly shy, or if he was really aloof, or if it was all an act. He flipped between all forms of cold, aloof, shy, coy, bashful, hard to get, and disinterest-but-interested so quickly that she couldn't get a proper read on him.

Hibiki on the other hand, wasn't at all hard to figure out. He was meant to be the prince charming type, blond and a little too forward for her tastes – and quite frankly he reminded her a lot of Loki. When he first sat next to her, his arm immediately draped across her shoulders, and the fingers of that hand started playing with her hair.

He leaned even further into her personal space when he asked, "So, how are you liking it here?"

"Um…"

"Drink." That was Ren, who was back to being cold and aloof and apparently bossy too.

She ignored Ren, because he was just too hard to deal with. Instead she attempted to answer Hibiki. "Uh, I suppose it's nice?"

"Just nice? Is there any way we can make it better for you? Perhaps some cake?" Eve piped up, still kneeling at her feet and staring up at her with big puppy dog eyes that even she wasn't entirely immune to. Damn, he was good at that.

Amusingly, she noted that Erza had twitched at the mention of cake, but she stayed immobile in her efforts to keep Ichiya at a proper distance.

Lucy restrained her chuckle and answered Eve's question. "No thank you. Really, I'm fine."

"Oh come now, surely there's something that would make you more…comfortable…" Hibiki trailed one finger along her shoulder, and she stiffened at the sensation. That was pushing it a bit too far.

Thankfully she was saved from having to make a fuss, because at that moment Natsu stepped in. "Oi. Hands off, you creeps!"

Ren rose to the challenge. "Maybe you should go home. In fact, both of you should just leave." He was also referring to Gray now.

Gray sparked at that, and soon both Natsu and Gray were going head to head with the three Blue Pegasus boys, while Ichiya continued to swing from Erza's spear and coo at her.

This whole time, Happy just watched and snickered. Once the three clinging annoyances had been distracted by Lucy's guildmates, he hopped up onto the couch with her and asked, "Soooo…. did you have fun?"

"No. I don't really know what to make of those three…. they're just so extra. I mean, look at this couch!" She gestured to the pink love seat they were currently sitting on. The back of it was in the shape of a heart, the ends of the arms were hearts, and there was even a large golden heart halo coming up from the back.

"Well you remember what their guild master looks like. Maybe it just rubbed off on them?"

At Happy's mention of Master Bob, Lucy had to agree. He was a gay drag queen, who wore pink primarily, possessed every wig imaginable, and always sported angel wings on his back. It was more than possible that even straight guys in his guild would pick up a certain flare from their flamboyant leader.

"Yeah. Probably." She agreed with her companion.

Thankfully the brewing fight was somewhat stalled when the next team entered.

Instantly Gray's attention switched, specifically to a white-haired mage named Leon. They were old rivals from childhood. They'd both trained under the same master, an ice mage named Ur, and for a long time Leon had blamed Gray for her death. Sometime last year, Lucy's team had gone up against him and his three followers/friends, because they had gone rogue and used something called moondrip on a whole island in the hopes that they could release the demon known as Deliora from Ur's ice. The whole point of it was stupid in Lucy's opinion – apparently Leon had wanted to kill the demon after it was freed, as a way to surpass Ur. As it turned out, Deliora was already dead though, so in the end Leon and his gang realized that they had gone down a bad path for absolutely no reason. By the time everything was said and done, they had promised to go clean.

Apparently Leon had joined Lamia Scale, since he had shown up for this mission with the team sent from there. Sherry – one of his previous gang – had also tagged along for the ride. They were two of the members sent on this mission, while the third was Jura, who everyone was supremely happy to see. He was one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and they could definitely use that sort of power on this particular mission.

Another bonus was that everyone listened to him.

As soon as Leon showed up, Gray picked a fight with him and they started going at it. Meanwhile, Natsu took on all three members of Blue Pegasus who were now itching for a fight. To make matters worse, Sherry came over and started trying to pick a fight with Lucy as soon as their eyes met. They had never gotten along, and despite her best intentions, Lucy could feel her hackles rising at the pink haired nuisance. She was a little similar in attitude to Aquarius – in the sense that she felt the need to loudly and extensively point out that Lucy didn't have a boyfriend and wasn't girlfriend material. It wasn't long before Lucy had stood up rather abruptly and was squaring off with the other woman.

However, as soon as Jura called everyone to heel, the chaos calmed somewhat.

Thankfully, the last team they were waiting for also soon arrived – in a highly unorthodox manner – and provided yet another welcome distraction. Their entrance was almost as shocking as Blue Pegasus's, though what was surprising about it was the level of underwhelming. A young blue haired girl practically tumbled through the doors to the rental hall. She tripped instantly upon entering the room with a cute squeak that had every head turning towards her. Perhaps even more surprising though, was the white cat that strode in next to her.

It was another cat just like Happy, and Lucy's jaw dropped as shock hit her like a lightning bolt. Happy wasn't the only walking, talking kitty?

"Lucy! Lucy! Look at that pretty kitty! Could you maybe tell her that I'm not neutered?" That was Happy of course, and his claws tugged urgently at her skirt.

She glanced down at his adorable eager face. "Um…I'm not sure that would be appropriate for an introduction. You might scare her off. It's best to try not to act too interested at first."

He pouted. "But Luuuucy…"

"I know… but you really don't want to come on too strong. Just wait a bit until the time is right." she advised softly, reaching down to pat his head.

He pouted but seemed to understand and hung back with her as the girl introduced herself as Wendy and the cat as Carla. They were both from Cait Shelter, a very reclusive magic guild that very few people had ever heard of before. Despite her age, which looked to be about 11 or 12 maybe, she turned out to be a sky dragon slayer, which explained why she had been sent on this mission. She was very powerful, though in healing magic not in combat – which they were all glad to hear.

As soon as she showed up, Jura took charge and suggested they all get going. Time was of the essence, so it made sense, and they all kicked it into gear and headed out.

The meetup spot had been chosen because it was easily within walking distance to the large ancient forest where this Nirvana thing was rumored to exist. However, despite the importance of their mission, Happy spent the trek focused entirely on Carla and slowly eased himself over towards her.

Eventually he sidled up next to her and said, "Hi! I'm Happy…I've never seen another cat like me before!"

"Neither have I." she responded politely, but sounded completely disinterested…even a little cold.

This sort of jilted conversation continued on for the duration of their journey, and Lucy felt like she was watching a train wreck in incredibly slow, slow motion. It was painful to watch, so she was extremely happy when they finally reached their destination.

It wasn't a long walk thankfully, and soon they arrived at a cliff overlook which showed the gorgeous vista of a sunken basin filled with lush jungle-type vegetation. Based on the sunken appearance, Lucy had to assume that it had once been a caldera volcano, and she was amazed that such a large piece of gorgeous land had been successfully kept under wraps. She certainly hadn't ever known that this place existed and wondered if it was even marked on normal maps.

It was certainly fitting for a place that was hiding some ancient secret artifact.

Upon arriving there, the group slowed to a halt. They all took a moment to look out at the glorious sight … and also to wonder how the heck they were going to get down into the basin. Lucy knew she and Natsu could get down easy, with his and Happy's wings. Of course – considering how Happy was still absolutely distracted by a certain pretty white kitty – he might not be a huge amount of help.

While they are all dawdling – for their own individual reasons – a new person snuck up behind them without being noticed …. at least not until Erza gasped. At the sharp sound, everyone turned to look at her, and then followed her gaze to a hooded figure that was most certainly not a part of their group.

As for Erza, she seemed outright shocked, which quickly turned into something entirely different as a whole variety of emotions swept across her facial plains. Thick liquid even began to build in her eyes, and Lucy sucked in her breath and held it with astonishment.

She had never seen Erza cry…ever…and she had known the red-headed warrior for many years.

"Is that you?" Erza whispered, all her attention focused on the shadowy person.

He – because it definitely was a he if those broad shoulders were anything to go by – finally looked up and raised his hood to expose a head of bright blue hair and a face that had a red tattoo on his right cheek. He was certainly a striking individual, and not one that Lucy would imagine was easily mistaken for anyone else. Based on Erza's reaction, he was indeed the person she had thought he was.

A choked gasp came from her throat, and everyone seemed to glance at her and then away quickly to give her a little privacy. In fact, everyone sort of stepped back a bit to give the two a little room, since this seemed to be really emotional for both of them. The young man, who seemed to be about their age, didn't show the emotion as obviously as Erza, but his dark blue eyes burned.

"Jellal?"

At the name, Lucy instantly knew why her friend was reacting like this. Though she had never met the guy personally, she knew about him. Erza had told her just a small part of her story, and he played a huge role in it. Though her red-headed friend had never specifically said so, it was obvious that she had deep feelings for Jellal, and Lucy had never been quite able to figure out if they were platonic or not.

Then, about two years ago, Erza had gone on a mission to investigate a strange structure called the Tower of Heaven…or at least, that's where the mission ended up taking her. From what she had told Lucy afterwards, Erza had a lot of history with the building, and had ended up there somewhat accidentally. Jellal had also ended up at the tower – or rather, he had been the one to call her there for some nefarious reason – but at the end of it apparently he had died to save her. At least, that's what she had told Lucy.

"I…I thought you were dead."

"Not quite. Though it certainly did a number on me."

Natsu sidled up to Lucy and whispered, "So…who is this guy?"

In as few words as she could manage, she summarized what she knew about him in a whisper.

Their attention turned back to the duo as Erza asked, "What are you doing here? Are you…"

'Still evil' was left unsaid, though Lucy knew it was a possibility. Apparently, he had gone crazy due to being possessed by an ancient evil demon. It had been worshiped as a god by the previous builders of the tower, but then switched to using Jellal for some unknown reason. The whole story was a bit fantastical, and Lucy only had a small part of it, but she did know that it was entirely possible that this Jellal was still possessed. Hopefully that was not the case, since he was supposedly quite strong.

"I'm here likely for the same reason you are. To find and destroy Nirvana."

"You know about Nirvana?!"

"Of course. To atone for my sins, I have been going after dark guilds for the past year, so I always have my ear to the ground. The Oracion Seis haven't exactly been subtle."

"I see. That's good to hear." Erza's smile told Lucy that her feelings for Jellal were definitely potentially on the non-platonic end of the spectrum. After clearing her throat and straightening out her facial features, she asked, "Do you have any idea where it may be?"

Averting his eyes, he quietly said, "Yes. Being so…intimately connected with an ancient dark force for so long did leave some leftovers. I can feel dark magic from miles away, even if it's sealed. I can easily sense Nirvana's presence, though it's somewhat dulled at the moment."

"Ah. Then maybe you could help us. As you suspected, we are also here to find and destroy Nirvana – as well as to defeat the Oracion Seis if it comes to that."

"Wait just a minute now…" That was Jura, who seemed a bit cautious and was currently eyeballing Jellal. "This man is a wanted criminal. I don't think we should be associating with him."

Jellal's eyes rose to meet the Wizard Saint's. As a previous Wizard Saint himself, a certain tension crackled between the two men.

"I understand your hesitance Jura. Had our roles been reversed, I would likely feel the same way."

"I can vouch for him. His previous actions were due to an evil being who had possessed him. He is no longer under the effects of that possession though, so it is perfectly safe to team up with him."

For a long moment Jura stared at Erza, and then turned away. "As a Wizard Saint, I cannot ally myself with a known criminal." There was a long pause, but then he sent a slight smile over his shoulder. "However, I have not heard your last name, Stranger, and therefore I do not know your true identity. If Erza vouches for you, I will believe in her. But know this, if you do anything to expose hidden intentions, I will eliminate you along with the Oracion Seis if I need to."

There was a collective sigh as everyone relaxed just a few notches. That had been tense.

After that, the only thing to do was figure out how to get down the sheer rock face below them, so they set about finding and discussing options.

Everything was fine and dandy, until the shelf of rock under them suddenly exploded. Instantly, Lucy was airborne thanks to Happy, and they got tossed a good ways from the power of the blast. When the dust cleared, and Happy was able to regain his balance, Lucy's first thought was of the safety of her friends. To her great relief, the clearing dust revealed that Jura had been able to construct a rock shield to keep them safe from the explosion and had made a floor for them to stand on. Of course, they were all hastily exiting said rock floor, so that Jura wouldn't have to maintain it.

Expectedly, the enemy made a grand entrance after the explosion, and right about the same time that Lucy was landing, six people appeared as if from nowhere.

Why evil mages felt the need to suddenly appear from thin air, Lucy would never know, but it seemed to be a popular trend at the moment. Maybe it was for dramatic effect.

Whatever the case, Lucy was unimpressed.

"Ah! I see you all survived, well done." the person who seemed to be their leader said, stepping forwards from the group of six wizards. He was tall, possessed white hair, and had a series of geometrical maze-like tattoos on his face.

"You must be Brain, the leader of the Oracion Seis." Jura responded.

"Indeed. And you are Jura of Lamia Scale. The Council chose an impressive selection of wizards to pit up against us. I assume they are making a bid for Nirvana?"

"You would be correct." Erza announced.

"How unfortunate for you, because there's no way that you could possibly defeat all six of us. Therefore, you will die. Hoteye?"

An exceptionally large mage stepped forwards and grinned. "Do you think we can get some money from them? Whoo yeah!"

"I don't-" All of a sudden, Brain's whole demeanor changed as his eyes locked onto Jellal. "Wait, you're here as well?"

Jellal refused to answer, but his eyes narrowed.

A broad grin broke out across Brain's lips. "I see, I see. Well…in that case, we shall withdraw. For now. Come."

The other members of the Oracion Seis – especially Hoteye – all seemed highly confused by the abrupt retreat, and almost looked like they might protest. However, anything they may have said was instantly shut down by a commanding look from Brain, and soon they had all disappeared, once again as if into thin air.

Meanwhile, everyone from the allied guilds were flabbergasted.

"What was that about?" Gray demanded with a tone that said he was thoroughly confused and pissed.

Lucy and Happy shared a look of concern and confusion as well, wondering the same thing.

"Cowards!" Natsu exclaimed, sounding irritable at not getting to fight.

Meanwhile, other soft murmurs of confusion circulated throughout the group.

Erza was the first to speak and voice a probable explanation. "Most likely they know that Jellal can find Nirvana."

Jura jumped in at that point. "They also seemed quite pleased to see you. Would you care to explain why that might be, Jellal?"

"When I was possessed, I had some interactions with these people. It's possible that they think I might work in tandem with them, or that they can convince me to join them. However, at the very least I believe that Erza is correct. Whether or not they try to get me to join them, it's certain that they intend to use me to find Nirvana. Most likely by following us."

"Now what do we do?" a soft-spoken timid voice asked, and nobody had to look at Wendy to know it came from her. Carla instantly soothed her.

"If they're just going to follow us, then what's the point of even trying to find Nirvana first?! It'll just lead them right to it!" Leon agreed.

"Even if they follow us, we still have to find and disarm Nirvana. We simply have to hold them off until we can do so." Hibiki contributed, and several heads nodded in agreement.

"Do you know how to disarm Nirvana?" Lucy then asked Jellal, since he was their best bet at doing so.

He shook his head. "Once it's fully active, no, I have no clue. I merely intend to unseal it and then destroy it before it can be fully activated."

"You're going to unseal it?!" Eve asked, sounding absolutely horrified. A few snowflakes fell around him, which apparently happened when he grew distressed.

"That seems like a really bad idea." Ren agreed, scowling at the blue-haired mage.

"It's the only way to destroy it. I cannot do so when it's sealed. The magic circle that's sealing it also acts as a protective barrier against other magic circles, and until I can write a detonation circle on it, there's nothing I can do."

"So you plan to explode the thing?" Natsu asked, looking positively delighted. That came as no surprise to Lucy …. he tended to get overly excited at explosions.

Jellal nodded in confirmation.

For a long moment there was silence as everyone absorbed the plan so far. Then Erza turned to them all and said, "It seems like our best course of action is to simply proceed as planned. Once we have found Nirvana, Jellal will unseal and detonate it. While he's writing the detonation circle, we'll just have to keep the enemy busy, or defeat them before we even reach Nirvana."

After a moment, everyone nodded in agreement, and in short order they all set off. Jellal led the way, which only made sense considering he was the one who actually knew where they were going.

Sneak Peek

With a snap, she unraveled her whip and went after Angel. The other Lucy intercepted her, and she had to skid to a halt and throw herself to the side to avoid getting smacked with that big-ass sword thing. She slipped though on some wet river rocks and fell into the water. Gemini used the temporary weakness to gain the upper hand and slammed Chisel down on her. She managed to roll out of the way, but not completely. The blow caught her right calf and even though Chisel's blade was blunt, it still wasn't fun to be hit by it in any way, shape, or form.

As for Natsu, he was fighting with everything he possessed to try and crawl his way off the stupid raft that had captured him. He'd only gone a few inches though…not nearly far enough to tip into the water, and nausea seized his gut with more than just the pain that transportation imposed on him. He hated this with every fiber of his being – having to hear and feel Lucy fight while he was forced to sit there and watch was absolute torture. It was worse than anything he could ever imagine, and he retched in disgust and pain.

At the same time though, he was also in awe of his mage.