Finally! Sorry it took me so long. I've just been so busy, and so help me, I have got to stop adding more stories! lol Thanks for continuing to read my work! You guys are the best! And loads of love to my beta, Deathsembrace137 - she is the peanut butter to my jelly!

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

CHAPTER 28: I WON'T GIVE UP

GRAY'S POV

I made my way into the guild, feeling good in spite of the confrontation I'd had with Natsu the night before. I was determined to not let my anger at him get in the way of my excitement about Lucy's progress. Things were going well, and I didn't want to be bogged down in my negative emotions. I'd finally been able to really spend time with Lucy, to really show her that I was there for her, and I knew that was in large part due to Rogue's influence. He'd been so good with Lucy, and honestly, though he'd pissed me off royally while doing it, he'd helped me out with her too.

I hadn't really wanted to like him. He was a mage of Sabertooth, and from the moment we'd met them, they'd shown themselves to be self-important assholes for the most part. Though now with these up close looks at Rogue, I had to admit that he seemed different. For some reason, where Lucy was concerned, he was attentive and caring, the very picture of dedication to her.

But what was it about Lucy that changed things for him? I couldn't figure it out. He was so blank with everyone, but the minute he turned to her, his face softened. He was more open, and for just a moment, you could see a flash of his feelings. But once he caught you trying to look, he'd close back down again, shutting everyone out. The man was hiding from everyone but Lucy, it seemed, and I couldn't help but wonder what had caused him to be that way.

"Morning, Gray!"

The cheerful voice brought me from my thoughts, and I glanced up to see Mira waving at me. "Oh hi, Mira," I said as I headed toward my usual table where Erza and Juvia were talking.

I'd barely sat down when a loud noise pierced the air. Erza and I looked at each other in confusion for just a moment before her eyes widened. "It's the runes!" Erza shouted, standing to her feet and running toward the large map on the wall.

As a whole, the guild moved with her, everyone ready for the confrontation we'd waited so long for. "Where is he, Erza?" I called, pushing my way to the front.

"On the other side of the city...looks like he hit one of the warning stations." She turned with a dark look on her face, obviously already imagining her retribution. "We should still check it out. Gajeel, you and Juvia are with me."

Both nodded quickly and followed her out the door, each of them sporting determined faces. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched them leave. More than anything, I wanted to be out there finding this bastard. I longed to look him in the eye and exact my revenge for what he'd done to Lucy, to make him pay for all the ways he'd hurt her. But Erza was more than capable of taking him out, and with Gajeel and Juvia at her side, I'd be surprised if they had any trouble.

To be honest, it was probably better this way. At this point, I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to keep myself from killing him if I were ever in his presence, and though I was sure our guild members would understand, I felt pretty certain the Magic Counsel would not. Maybe Erza had figured that out and was trying to protect me. Of course, now I was stuck here waiting.

With a heavy sigh, I headed back to my table, trying to figure out how to occupy my time, when Cana and Levy headed over to join me. I smiled gratefully at the two, and before long, we were deep in conversation, with Cana and I updating Levy on what had been going on with Lucy. She'd already been gone by the time we got to the guild last night, so she hadn't heard the good news.

I was well into my distraction when, an hour later, the alarm went off again. The warning had come from a spot closer to the guild,though this time, he'd managed to get caught in one of Freed's traps. A loud cheer went up through the guild, one that echoed inside me. I couldn't quite believe it was really over...this nightmare was almost over.

Master grabbed a communications lacrima and called up Erza, redirecting her to the new location. And once again, it was a waiting game. It wouldn't take them long to get there, and as we sat there in nervous anticipation, I couldn't help but think about how Lucy would take the news. She'd be able to leave her home, come back to the guild if she wanted to. She would finally be safe...and Rogue would be going back to Sabertooth.

I frowned as I thought of Lucy's reaction to that. I honestly didn't know what she'd do. He was the only one she'd been completely comfortable with since her attack. When he left, would she return to the way she'd been in the hospital?Would she no longer be able to handle being around all of us?

Master's lacrima chirped, drawing me from the disturbing thought, and we all took a collective breath. I felt Cana grab my hand, giving it a quick squeeze, and then, the old man activated the link. Erza's face appeared a moment later, her face etched in a scowl. "Master, there's no sign of him here. Somehow, he's escaped."

My heart dropped at her words. How could he have escaped the trap? I'd been in one of Freed's traps before. They weren't easy to get out of, so how did he do it?

Master turned his head to the side and cursed. "Has Gajeel managed to catch his scent?"

The Iron Slayer came into view with an equally angry expression on his face. "There isn't any damn scent leading away from the trap. I can't find a trace of the bastard to follow."

"I was afraid of that," Makarov muttered, his mouth turned down in frustration. "Alright, head back. We'll have to come up with something else."

The lacrima shut down with Erza's agreement, then Master turned to the guild at large. "You all heard what's happened. We're going to need a new plan. If he can get out of these traps, we'll have to find another way to catch him. Be thinking about that. In the meantime...Freed, I want you to head over to Lucy's and put runes around her house just to be safe."

"Master, we don't have any of his DNA left to synthesize the ink we used on the traps, and considering how poorly they worked against him, I am not certain my runes will be of much help," Freed denied softly.

I could see the disappointment in his eyes, the guilt that his best hadn't been good enough, and I hated it. I hated all of this. This man had hurt Lucy, had put her in a constant state of fear, and now he was making us all doubt ourselves, doubt our ability to stop him. It was all wrong.

Apparently, Master felt the same way. "Freed, you did everything you could. No one could ask for more than that. For now, we will do what we can, fight him the only way we know how to. He's a bit more than we had anticipated, but we will get him," the old man declared firmly. "Now, head over there and ward her house. Use whatever runes you think are best. We have faith in you."

The green-haired man nodded his head resolutely, then left with Bickslow at his side. It looked like from here on out, none of us were going anywhere alone. Freed's runes were no joke, and if this man was powerful enough to get out of them, then he was certainly a foe to be wary of.

"Alright, we need ideas, the sooner the better. No suggestion is to be discarded; we look at everything. In the meantime, I want groups ready to head out if there's another warning."

"Master," Jet called out, his brow wrinkled with concern, "Shouldn't we move Lucy?"

At his question, Evergreen piped up as she adjusted her glasses, "Yes, if he is getting close, maybe it would be best to bring her to the guild."

"There's nothing to indicate that he's discovered her home, and without knowing how quickly he's moving around, I don't want to endanger her by exposing her unnecessarily," Makarov said, with a tired shake of his head. "If it looks like she's been compromised, we'll bring her in immediately, but until we know for sure, we're going to be cautious."

My jaw clenched in fear. Was he was coming after her again? What if he knew exactly where she was? I needed to warn Rogue. "Master," I said, standing to my feet. "I've got to go over-"

He cut me off with a raised hand. "Yes, you'll need to let Rogue know what's going on, but I want you to be careful. We don't know where Tatankan is at the moment."

"I'll go with him. I can keep Lucy occupied while he talks to Rogue," Cana said, rising from her seat as well. "We don't need her worrying about this. She's already been through enough."

Makarov tipped his head in acknowledgement, then turned back to the rest of the guild, leaving the two of us to our plans. "Alright, let's get going."

"Do you mind if I go with you? I haven't seen Lucy since the hospital," Levy asked, biting her lip nervously. "I can help distract her."

"Yeah, that's fine."

Minutes later, we were passing Freed and Bickslow as they headed back to the guild. "Everything okay over there?"

Freed nodded, answering, "I have put up a rune barrier to keep everyone out with the exception of those with the Fairy Tail guild mark and Rogue." He paused, his expression uncertain as if he was debating what he wanted to say. "She is...very different."

"Yeah, she is," I agreed with a sigh. There was no other way to say it. Lucy had changed, and though everyone understood that, it was still startling to see for the first time.

Bickslow seemed to have nothing to say on the subject, but his silence was telling in itself. It was obvious he was bothered. The Seith mage wasn't one to keep quiet, so when he chose to, it was usually a good indication that something was wrong. Unfortunately, there wasn't a damn thing we could do to fix it.

The two moved off without a sound, both seemingly lost in thought, so we turned and continued on our way. We arrived at Lucy's house without incident and no sign that we'd been followed. It took Rogue only a moment to answer the door, as if he'd been waiting for us to knock. Of course, he'd probably smelled us long before we got to the door.

We moved through the door, and I frowned, seeing Lucy huddled up on the couch, her knees tucked up to her chest. She had pulled into herself again, though not as badly as I'd seen her do before.

"She had a hard time with your friends being here," Rogue, seeing my questioning look, explained softly as he turned to go to her.

I put out a hand, grabbing his arm. "I need to talk to you, but not here," I said, flicking a glance in Lucy's direction.

"Has something happened?" he asked.

Just then Lucy's head came up. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she studied the group of us hovering by the door. We were already failing at being casual about this. I bit back a curse of frustration and offered a tentative smile to the suspicious blonde while I quietly answered Rogue's question, "Yeah, but we can't discuss this in front of her."

"We'll let you handle this. We've got Lucy," Cana suggested, tugging Levy behind her as she headed over to Lucy to give me a moment alone with the other man.

Rogue watched until Lucy was drawn into a conversation with the other girls, and then he turned back to me, his eyes narrowing at my response. "I don't like leaving her."

"I know that, but if she hears this, it'll scare the shit out of her. I swear we won't be long, and Cana and Levy will be here the whole time," I assured. I knew this would be hard on him. Hell, I didn't like it either, but I also didn't want her to overhear our conversation. She already feared Tatankan coming back to get her, and this would only make it worse.

Rogue closed his eyes and gave a resigned sigh. "Fine, but we aren't going far. We're staying close enough for me to monitor things with my senses."

LEVY'S POV

I wrung my hands as we watched Rogue and Gray walk out the door. It was clear that Rogue wasn't happy about the situation, and now that it was just us girls, I was feeling rather anxious myself. The last time I'd seen Lucy hadn't gone very well. She'd been scared and panicked, and I couldn't help worrying that I would somehow make her uncomfortable again.

"W-Why are they going outside?" Lucy asked quietly, tugging at a strand of her hair in a show of nerves.

I'd never seen her do that, never seen her display much in the way of nervous habits. Lucy had never been one to be uncertain of herself. She was confident and vibrant, and it pained me to see that side of her so changed. Would she ever get that back?

Even her clothes were a testament to her change. She had hidden nearly every inch of her body in a long sleeved t-shirt and sweat pants. I swallowed hard as I considered the woman who had been my best friend for so long. It wasn't fair that she'd been hurt this way. Lucy had always lived her life kindly, had always tried to be a good person and had succeeded. She didn't deserve this.

I turned away as I felt the first prick of tears, giving myself a moment to pull myself together. I couldn't break down in front of her. What kind of friend would do that? She had been through so much, and she needed strength from us, not sadness.

Taking a deep breath, I moved to the seat across from Lucy, fixing a soft smile on my face as Cana answered the blonde's question. "Oh, it's just a bit of guy talk. You know how they are."

I didn't know how Cana played it off so easily. I knew why we needed to lie to Lucy, but that didn't make it any simpler for me. I was a terrible liar, and Lucy knew that. If she took even a moment to study to my face or asked me directly, we'd be sunk. Anxiety pulled at me, and I clutched at my skirt. Why had I thought I could do this?

Thankfully, Cana didn't have even a bit of my apprehension. With a proficiency I envied, she skillfully steered the conversation to a more innocuous topic as she unceremoniously plopped down on the couch next the Lucy. "So, what'd you and Rogue do after we left last night?"

It took a moment for the quiet woman to change gears, but when she did, it was obvious she was still struggling to follow Cana's train of thought. "We just uh...had dinner and then...went to bed."

"Oh really? What did Rogue make you for dinner?"

Lucy blinked at Cana as if she was trying to figure out what was going on. "I wasn't very hungry...so, he just made sandwiches."

"Such a shame he didn't cook," Cana mused, shaking her head lightly before turning to include me in the conversation. "Levy, you wouldn't believe how good that man is in the kitchen. He literally walked into the kitchen and within 30 minutes had made one of the best soups I've ever eaten."

I smiled at the brunette in thanks. I guess she had seen I was still having a hard time figuring out what to say, so I took her lead. "Really? I wouldn't have pegged him as the cooking type." I bit my lip, then turned to my other friend. Why was I having such a hard time talking to her? Yes, she was different now, but she was still my best friend. I loved her like a sister, and I refused to let my nerves get the best of me. So, pushing aside my reservations, I asked, "Lucy, is he really that good of a cook or is Cana pulling my leg?"

She nodded softly at my question, and Cana grinned. "Ha! Told you! Totally surprised me too. Of course, then Gray thought he should try to help, but ended up getting himself booted out of the kitchen."

"Rogue kicked him out?" I laughed. I couldn't quite imagine the two of them working together in a kitchen, but the idea of Rogue running Gray off so he could cook alone was even more wild to me. It was so far from what I'd have expected of him.

"Oh trust me. It was for the best," Cana giggled, tipping her head to the quiet woman at her side. "Gray can't cook to save his life, can he Lucy?"

"Aye!" Happy agreed sleepily, flying in from the bedroom, and rubbed his eyes sleepily as he settled in Lucy's lap.

I glanced over at the pair and stilled as I realized that Lucy wasn't smiling. She was just sitting there looking between us, unconsciously pulling the blue cat close. Her face was serious, not even a hint of amusement evident in her expression. Then she frowned. "What's going on?"

Suddenly, I realized how foolish it had been for us to think Lucy wouldn't see through our attempts to distract her. In spite of everything that had happened, Lucy was still every bit as sharp as she'd been before, and she wasn't buying our story. What were we going to do? We couldn't tell her that her attacker had gotten away again.

Before either of us could answer, there was a sound at the door. Relief washed through my body at the interruption. At least I wouldn't have to openly lie to her. No, I was definitely finding the idea of Rogue figuring out how to handle things very appealing. "I'll get it. It's probably the guys," I said, standing to my feet to get the door.

"You don't have to worry about it. Gray's got a key," Cana called out.

"It's okay. I'm already here," I said, reaching for the doorknob. Knowing Freed had put runes around the building, I didn't even question who it would be. It could only be Rogue and Gray or one of the other members of our guild. So, when I pulled the door open, I was more than a little stunned to find no one standing there. "What the..." I muttered to myself as I stuck my head through the open doorway and looked down the stairs.

I started to push the door closed when I felt a sharp sting on my leg. "Ow!" I yelped, looking down and gasping as I caught sight of a large spider on my calf. My eyes widened as the creature wavered and then simply dissolved. "Oh God..."

He was here...somehow, Tatankan had found her. Frantically, I pushed at the door, feeling my eyes well up with tears. This couldn't be happening. I'd nearly got the door shut when a streak of black smoke darted through. No no no... "Cana!" I choked out as the first jolt of fire shot up my leg. "Run!"