Hi ! Hey, isn't that the symbolic 20th chapter ?! It's something to celebrate ! Or not, it is as you want it. Personally, it make me happy but nothing more and I am just going to keep writing this chapter which I offer to you wholeheartedly. In today's events : mission review, jealousy and confrontation. A golden reward ?

Go, good reading to you all!

Chapter 20 : Meeting and confrontation

/- Strizers HQ -/

- "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, hijo de puta, it hurts !"

- " What did you expected ? Did you Saw the wounds you received ?"

The Strizers sighed before going back on their own activities, ignoring the agonizing shouts of Esteban who wounds were being sewn closed by a man with dark hair raised on his head, now dressed in white male nurse's blouse, his ambers eyes locked on his patient wounds, the latter simply laid out on a table, which did not pleased him at all.

- "You could at least, I don't know… Ouch ! Put me on a real operating table, Stan !"

- "There is a good reason why I didn't do it, Esteban." Answered Stan by approaching his face to his patient to give him the reason, which was just one word. "Laziness."

- "HIJO DE … Ouch !" Esteban had got up all at once to make Stan understand that that reason was awful, but the pain of his wounds stopped him. "You could at least hurry, I am going to end up stuck on the table if I don't move from here soon."

- "I am the doctor, you move if I tell you to move. So stop pitying yourself or I would bitterly make you regret it, understood ? And anyway, concerning the table, you know well that I do not move my patients if they suffered too many damages so not to make their state get any worse. Which is clearly your case. Thus if you do not like this table, go complain to Kareem. It is him who dropped you here."

Indeed, a few hours earlier, Esteban's body, at the moment lengthened on the beach where he had been beaten, had disappeared, absorbed by the sand, under the dumbfounded eyes of the mages who were still there, and he had reappeared on the table of their lounge, under the also surprised eyes of the other Strizers, Stan understanding what he had to do. While Esteban was still being sewn, the other Strizers attended to their usual activities. Vincenzo prepared the lunch, Xun and Dmitri played chess, Mizuki and Daniel were fighting at one of their video games, under Jameson's eyes, which had nothing else to do and Alexander who was occupied with a jigsaw.

- " Anyway, while I patch up this idiot, did we obtained any results with the mages? " Asked Stan, still tilted on Esteban who did not move anymore and was moreover the first one to answer.

- " I think, yeah. Jellal, Erza and their group are not pulled back by their past anymore. Their global performances will feel the effects of it, I think. "

- " It's similar for the fire dragon. " Added Jameson by looking over his shoulder. " He still got a long way to go to handle his feelings correctly, but he is on the right track. "

- " Generally speaking, they all won in power. " Commented Alexander by thinking again about Lucy and his meeting with King of Stellar Spirits. " Some more than others. "

- " So there is good and bad news, then. " Began Stan. " On the good side, we needed them to reach an upper level of power which his already the case. On the other hand, I really think that we should have explain the situation to them, or maybe even lie to them a little, I don't know. If they could follow us by themselves, that would be the ideal. "

- " Yeah, but there is already 2 who are ready to take action. So that is going to have to wait. " Reminded Mizuki without letting her eyes leave the screen, her fingers mashing the button on her controller.

- " But there will be two left that would have done nothing. " This voice came from a newcomer, who entered the room with a thick book under his arm, addressing Stan. " Since you really want to play it diplomatically, that we have not met the mages yet and because I am not a big fan of meaningless fights, we can always go there later. When our 2 companions will have finished their own little business. What do you say to that ? "

- " It is a good idea. We are going to do that. But let us be all ready to jump into action. Our deadline could come faster than planned. "

- " All of this is nice. Very cool. Now, it's not that I'm not dying out of boredom, but I still have my guts in the open. So finish your fucking job, Stan. "

Except that Stan now stared at him, his yellowish eyes reflecting clearly the fact that Esteban had just crossed the limit.

- " Ah, you want me to do it fast ? No problem. " He then grabbed a bottle full of disinfectant, that he opened with one hand, without removing his gaze from his, Esteban's face scowling slightly. " I'm going to be blunt, it's going to sting. " Understanding what was about to happen, Esteban's face decomposed.

- " No, man. Don't do that ! "

Except that Stan was not listening to him anymore and spill all the contents of the bottle on the body still covered with wound of his shadow colleague, which let out a roar of pure pain that would have destroyed the eardrums of the others if they hadn't fled the place as soon as they understood what was about to happen.

- " WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU ?! STOP THAT ! STOP ! "

- " Ah sorry, but you told me to make it fast and it is what I am going to do. So stop crying and assumes your choices. Doctor order. "

- " AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! "

/-In a forest next to Magnolia-/

- " AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! "

This forest, usually full of wild life, looked more like a totally empty forest, which was due to this shout which had just broken the ambient peace, a shout which was more over the last one of a long series which had disrupted the peace of this place since a few hours now. The reason : Lucy, who was training relentlessly and who had just reached her limit for today, knees on the ground, panting, a metal light blue key twinkling in one of her hand.

- " I … I still need training. But I can make it. I am sure of that. " She commented for herself, before getting up, and heading to the city, gazing at the key in question which she always had in her hand.

" It is much harder than with the others, but I was expecting it. We are talking about the King of the Stellar Spirits. " Said Lucy by rethinking about her trainings that she had imposed on herself. She was however aware that her mind, as Capricorn ever so subtly noticed, was disturbed by question that never stopped coming back to her mind and they were all directed to Natsu. She still had no idea about what had made him change so much lately and this mystery was almost becoming an obsession by moment. By now she had just reached the city, her head lowered, lost in her thoughts not noticing where she went and collided with somebody, falling behind and landing on her butt on the paved ground.

- " Ouch ! "

- " Lucy ? Are you okay ? "

Raising her head towards this voice she knew quite well, she was faced with Erza who was holding her hand out to her, the rest of her group next to her.

- " Yes, thank you, but I think I should be the one asking that question. What happened to you ? " Asked the blonde mage, worried about her friends. Indeed, Erza, Jellal, Kagura, Miliana, Shô and Wally were nastily all bashed up, signs that they had a relentless fight not long ago. It didn't took a long time to Lucy to understand what happened. " You met a Strizer, isn't it ? "

- " Yes. And it was by the way the evil twin of the one that you had faced at Akaruidesu with Rogue, Yukino and Minerva. " Answered Kagura, Lucy making a face by remembering this fight but without understanding what she meant by 'evil twin'. By seeing that the blonde seemed lost, the swordswoman smiled and explained more. " It was the Strizer of the darkness and the moon. "

- " Oh, I see. But I thought that you went to visit Simon grave ? " Asked Lucy to Jellal and Erza, obtaining an answer from Shô.

- " And it is what they did. And that's where we all met. But he was there also. Apparently, he was waiting for them. "

- " We were late. " Cut in Wally, when he saw that Lucy had opened her mouth to ask why Shô had said 'apparently' if he was over there. " We found them prisoner of nightmares he did. "

- " It was horrible. But even without that, he was dangerous. I am very happy that this guy is down for the count. " Sighed Miliana, still a little shaken when thinking again about the horror of her nightmares.

- " Well, the most important thing is that you are all alright and that there's one more out for them. 4 left, I think. " The blonde explained by smiling, making the other mages smile until Jellal notices the blue key which was still in Lucy's hand.

- " Lucy, what is that key ? I didn't know that there were blue ones. " asked Jellal, curious, but he was in for one of the biggest surprise in his life.

- " It is the key of the King of the Stellar Spirits. He entrusted it to me. "

- " WHAT ?! " Nobody expected that. The jaws of Shô, Miliana and Wally crashed on the paved street, Kagura opened wide eyes and Jellal looked at the key completely in shock. Erza already knew and, smiling, began dragging her friends up to the guild.

- " Come on, guys. Get over it. We have to get to the guild and explain what happened to the master. I'll explain all I know about that key if you want. " Except that Jellal wasn't not only disturbed by the key, but also about the context of its apparition.

- " Wait, Erza. This key was only a legend, nobody had ever seen it before this day. It was a myth. And when finally it appears, sent by the King himself, it is when we are dealing with opponents from another world. " This theory made Erza lose her smile, getting his point and now feeling like something bad will happen. " I have the impression that something much worse than them could come soon. "

Left behind by the group, Lucy kept going on her way to her home, decided to get rid of the sweat and the dirt left by her training when she saw something that triggered her curiosity. Natsu was crossing the street a dozens of meters in front of her, looking around him as to make sure that he was not followed before rushing into a building. Intrigued, and sure that she was finally going to be able to clear up the reason behind his recent changes, she followed him and paused for a moment when she noticed the shop she had ended in front of. A white and grey facade covered with small pink diamonds. In Lucy's head, everything suddenly clicked perfectly. She knew that this woman had something to do with that. She then approached the shop window and looked inside. She couldn't hear a thing, but it wasn't important. The time had come to discover what he was hiding.

/-In the store-/

Rachel was folding cardboards that she had just emptied, the new articles already ready to be sold, when she heard the small doorbell ringing. By getting up, she saw a bundle of pink hair which was very familiar to her, Natsu approaching her with a big smile.

- " Hey, Tsu-kun ! It would seem like you are in top shape, today ! What happens to you ? "

- " Don't call me like that, Rachel. " Whined Natsu resting on the counter. " You know that I don't like this nickname. "

- " Sorry, I had to do it. "said Rachel with a small laugh before crossing her arms and pressing them on the counter, pushing her breath out even more. " What brings you here ? A problem ? And no, I won't change my position, Natsu. " She ended with a derisive smile before keeping on with the teasing, putting her hands on her breasts pressing them together with a small sulky pout. " Why do you almost never react to those, hum ? They are not good enough for you ? "

The Dragon Slayer looked away, slightly embarrassed, his face split by an amused smile by seeing her playing with her breast, but he shook his head, as to say ' she's incorrigible ' and turned around towards her.

- " Forget that. And you perfectly know how I can resist to that. "

- " Yeah, I know, your heart is taken and regarding breasts, you saw, and TOUCHED, better. " Said the young woman, mocking the dragon, by releasing her breast, giving a look at Natsu by insisting on the 'touched' which made him redden slightly. " Well, enough fun for now. Why are you there ? " With his face back to its original colors, Natsu also remembered why he was there.

- " I wanted to thank you. "

- " For what ? " She wondered, raising an eyebrow.

- " For your advices. Since our last meeting, everything went better with everyone. They don't see me as a madman anymore, everything became like before, but at the same time, I feel that my relationships with the others improved. Even if I felt like I'm not really making any progress with Lucy. But anyway, it's all thanks to you." He suddenly took Rachel's hands in his own, looking at her in the eyes. " This is why I want to thank you. Can I do anything to repay you ? "

- " Don't worry for Lucy, it will get better. And no. It was my pleasure to help. I don't need to be rep … " Rachel suddenly stopped by a pang of doubt before a satisfied smile appear on her face, the young woman began searching in a drawer. " In fact, I had forgotten but there is maybe something that you could do to repay me. Especially since we could say that we are even after that. "

- " And what would that be ? " Answered the mage, apparently interested. Rachel put some time then brought out of the drawer a lollipop which she put in her mouth and a paper.

- " You know that I like helping people's out. All my friends know that. " She began, resting on the counter, playing with the lollipop in her mouth without paying attention to it, eyes fixed at Natsu's ones. " So they don't hesitate to ask me for help. And sometimes, it's something I cannot do by myself. And this is one of them. "

With this, she slid the paper towards Natsu, the contents being strangely familiar to him. And for a good reason because he had seen similar things on the request board of the Guild.

- " But it's a mission request ? Where did you get it ? " He wondered by looking at the paper, clearly surprised seeing one here.

- " I am going to explain to you. I have a friend who lives in the North of the country, in the region of Isvan, in a town renowned for the rare fishes they fish in the sea not far from their home. Their city is not very far from the sea which is accessible by the river which crosses the city. But one day, huge ice block suddenly appeared at the end of the river and since then, they are unable to reach the sea, which is starting to drag down their economy. " Rachel marked a pause, taking her lollipop in her hand before starting again, her face suddenly joyful. " My friend knows that I settled down in a city with a guild and that's why he sent me the announcement so that I can entrust it to you. "

- " But why didn't you directly sent it to the guild ? " Asked Natsu, not understanding why Rachel kept a request in her drawer.

- " Because I said to myself that you would want to do this mission more than the others. " Admitted Rachel by turning the poster to him. " Look at the reward. "

Natsu looked at the poster, quickly passing on the image which showed the said blocks of ice, which were actually impressive and apparently made by magic, the descriptive text which was basically what Rachel had told him and thus stopped on the reward which made him did a double-take. At the bottom of the poster was written the following text :

Reward : one of the 12 golden spirits keys.

- " But it is impossible! Lucy and Yukino already have them all ! It has to be … " Natsu stopped, realizing that his assertion would have been true a few years ago. Lucy missed a key. A key which she only have simple fragment now. " The siren one. The key that Lucy had sacrificed when we faced Tartaros. "

- " Imagine her reaction if you return with that key. She will be very grateful to you. Very grateful. Maybe she'll even do some things as a way to thank you. " Rachel had let her voice take a voluntarily low and teasing tone by playing with her lollipop with her tongue, Natsu smiling stupidly, reddening by imagining the scene.

- " Thank you for that ! I'm sure that she'll love the surprise. " He thanked Rachel by seizing the paper, Rachel looking at him with a wounded pout.

- " What ? You're not even going to pay me for this great opportunity I found for you ? "

- " Sorry, but I have nothing to pay you, Rachel. "

- " It doesn't matter. " And she grabbed him by his collar, pulling him in and quickly kissing him, not leaving him time to react. It only lasted a second before Rachel stopped it and began laughing by seeing the flushed face of the young man, still under the shock, the young woman pulling out her tongue playfully. " That will be enough for me as payment. Now stop standing here and go. You have a job to do, isn't it ? "

But while Natsu turned to head to the door, he saw Lucy entering the shop. She was covered with dust and sweat but Natsu still found her as beautiful as ever. On the other hand, she was not smiling, and he knew enough about her to know that this light in her eyes was a clear sign that she was a few seconds away from exploding.

Basically, she was pissed.

/- A few minutes ago, POV Lucy -/

Finally. Today I'm going to finally know what caused those recent changes in Natsu. Well, first thing first, they seem to know each other well, that explains their big smiles. But what is she doing? What is she doing with her breast, that bimbo ? Who does she think she is ? Well, she can do what she wants. That is of no use with Natsu, he is as innocent and naive as a … DID HE JUST LOOKED AWAY !? SERIOUSLY !? HE IS EMBARASSED ?! But since when does breasts makes you flustered ? Almost all the girl in the guilds have tits like those and you never felt embarrassed by them ! My.. OUR breasts aren't well enough for you ? AND HE BLUSHES ? But what did you do to this Natsu, dirty witch !? I knew it. He did met somebody. But what can he find in her ? She is nice, I can't lie about that, I witnessed it myself. But for the rest, she just has top model's body and that's it. And in what kind of world does Natsu grab a girls hand like that ? Wait, what is she doing ? What is that paper ? And why a lollipop ? Aren't you already enough of a teaser like that, was it really necessary to adds another touch to your flirter appearance ? Hum. Natsu seems to listen carefully. It's a pity that I can't hear a thing, I would like to know what they are talking about. And what is on that paper? In any case, that seemed to surprise him. And he is happy ? I have to know what's on that thing. Stop with your lollipop, you, he doesn't even know the name of what you're suggesting, you slut. But why is she sulking, now? Pff, she's such a kid. A kid who … WHAT !? DID SHE REALLY DID THAT ? DID I SAW IT CORRECTLY ? BUT YES ! SHE KISSED HIM ! WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE … ARGH ! I CAN'T STAY THERE AND DO NOTHING !

/-Return in the shop-/

- " Hi, Luce. What are you doing here ? " Asked Natsu on a friendly tone, trying of defused the Lucy-Bomb before she set off, but it was waste of time.

- " Don't you worsen your case ! " Her tone taking Natsu of-guard, the blonde gesturing to the paper which he had in his hand. "What is that ?"

- " It is nothing. Absolutely nothing. "Quickly said the dragon by sticking the poster in his pocket and as Lucy was going to start speaking again, Rachel cut her off, her tone dry and authoritative.

- " I don't see what this has to do with you. You're not his mother. " Lucy turned to her, pointing at her in the same way you'd point someone who did something unforgivable.

- "You stay silent, you bitchy girl ! I saw everything ever since Natsu entered here. Who do you think you are, teasing him with your breast, kissing him like that and suggesting him things he doesn't even know the name of with your slutty lollipop trick ! I won't let you …" Lucy now seemed unstoppable, but Natsu silenced her by a remark which took by surprise her.

- "I think that you wanted to say a fellatio." Lucy turned her head to Natsu so fast that we would have almost been able to hear her cervical snap, the blonde looking at him with big surprised eyes. "Yes, Lucy, I know what that means. And moreover, you have basically just admitted to have followed me here, meaning that you spied on me. So you hold it against me when I don't trust you enough, but you have no shame of spying me ? It's a little bit selfish, don't you think ?" His tone wasn't mean or anything bad like that, but his eyes reflected that he felt disappointed in Lucy before he turned back to Rachel. "Finally, I think that you were right. They really see me like some kind of kid." He turned around again towards Lucy, his expression showing clearly that he was fed up with the fact that everyone was treating him like he was immature. "Well, here is a flash news for you : I am not immature anymore. Well, not as much as before. Well, it's not that I'm in a hurry, but I have a job to do. Later, girls."

- "Goodbye, Tsu-kun." Said Rachel with a wave of her hand. Lucy, her, had remained silent whereas the dragon left the shop, leaving both girls alone, Lucy still looking at the door, with Rachel waiting for a reaction.

- "A job ?" Repeated Lucy, recovering with difficulty from what had just happened.

- "Well, yes, a job. What do you think that paper was about ? An invitation to a swinger party ?" Rachel laughed before beginning thinking, a hand rubbing her chin, speaking to herself. "Hey, it is not bad idea."

- "Not a bad idea ? You find that a swinger party is a good idea ? But you really are a … a …" Lucy struggled to end her sentence, not daring to say what she wanted to, as if something prevented her from doing so. But Rachel ended her sentence for her.

- "Bitchy girl? Bitch? Slut ? Whore? Am I getting close ?" Lucy was almost paralyzed to see how Rachel apparently didn't gave a fuck about what she was thinking of her. "You know what ? I am going to explain everything to you. After I met him in the train, I offered my help to Natsu. I saw that he was the naïve and innocent kind of guy, but he was too naïve and innocent for his own good. So I gave him advice to lose, or at least reduce, this part of innocence. And he confided to me that he never have felt as good as nowadays."

- "Yeah, right, and the kiss was a part of the 'training' isn't it ? What do you want of him exactly ?" Lucy was really angry and she was determined to make this bitch spill everything she could but Rachel was not going to put her in a very comfortable situation.

- "I just try to help a friend. And even if I wanted to 'play' with him, I don't see how it could concern you." Lucy looked at her outraged but Rachel, her smile having disappeared long ago, had not finished. "You are neither her mother, nor her girlfriend, whom he doesn't have by the way, so if one day, I want to flirt with him just to get him in my bed, you wouldn't have anything to say since it's his life, not yours."

- "I know enough about him to know that the girls who show their body all day and who wear revealing clothes leaving little room to the imagination are not his kind of girl." Lucy showed a victorious smile, sure to have scored a point but the neutral expression on Rachel's face and her right eyebrow, suddenly raised to disappear under her fringe, made her understand that it had not worked as well as what she had planned it. And by following Rachel's gaze on her body, she remembered herself that she was still in her training clothes, worth knowing hair held in in a high ponytail, skin-tight sport bra and short shorts as skin-tight as her top. In other words, the kind of clothes which shows her body and left little room to the imagination. She raised her head to meet Rachel's victorious smile. "Okay, I get it, I am not the one who can say that."

- "You see, the more I listen to you and the more I say to myself that it is you who needs to grow up. He said everything to me you know. He understood that you had gone away from him because of his immaturity and careless behavior which had led to Happy's fugue, and I completely understand you about that, I would have done the same thing if I was in your place. But after that, even when you saw him collapsing in your arms in the middle of the street, when he demonstrated feelings that you thought he was incapable of feeling, you kept your distances all the same. And when he began to behave in a little more mature way, you ran away from him because he was too different from before, when he was immature. From the way I see those things, you keeps him away because you don't know how to feel anymore, and at the same time, you are worried that he can, now that he became the same as before, change again and then lose him once again. I know that you lost your family, but is that a reason to make your friends pay for your fear of being alone ?

Rachel's monologue had plunged Lucy into a kind of lethargy, the words of the seller striking her quite hard. But the mention of her parents made her suddenly completely awake.

- "WHAT ? HOW CAN YOU KNOW ABOUT MY FAMILY ?!"

- " Heartfilia is not a very common name, so I did some research. Your mother, your best friend, died while you were only 10 years old, something like that. Afterward, your relations with your father degraded: negligence, rejection, a childhood filled with sadness which led to your fugue. Then you broke any form of contact just to make sure you'll never lose the new life you now had at the guild. And when you finally reconciled with him, after 7 years of absence locked on an island, you discover that death took him too, leaving you without any relatives left. The fear of losing someone dear to you once again can make us do not very recommendable things, and it is what is happening to you at the moment. You don't want to lose Natsu so you're meddling with his life but that kind of egoistic behavior is going to do a lot more damages than confronting your feeling head on like any adult would do. "

*BAM* The blow was send without any form of warning. Lucy had planned to slap the fashion queen smug smile out of her face, but along the way, her fingers had curled into a punch and it's a right hook that would do for a professional boxer that struck Rachel in the side of her face, sending her crashing into her clothes rack, the seller looking at the mage with big surprised eyes, a hand on her bruised cheek which already began to swell and to turn blue. On her side, Lucy was stuck in an endless cycle of hatred. Rachel's words had already irritated her but adding her family in the equation had been the straw that breaks the camel's back, tears accumulating in her eyes whereas she looked at the seller with burning eyes filled with fury, the shameless beauty giving her a derisive smile in return.

- " Oh. Did I hurt the princess feelings ? "

But Lucy was not going to take jokes anymore and did something that Rachel had not planned. The blonde threw herself on the brown haired girl and beat her black and blue with such a violence that Rachel was unable to do a thing to defend herself. After a few minutes, Rachel was covered with dark blue mark and scratches, her clothes tattered and feeling like her whole upper body was aching with unbearable pain.

- " SHUT UP ! LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY, YOU BITCH ! I DON'T KNOW WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, BUT YOU'D BETTER STAY AWAY FROM NATSU AND THE GUILD, OR THE NEXT TIME I'LL SEE YOU, IT WILL BE TO TEAR THAT SLUT HEART OUT OF YOUR BIMBO TITS MWITH MY BARE HANDS ! "

And seething with anger, she left the building, going back to train herself instead of going back home like she initially planned to. She needed to let go of all this stress and unfortunately, the forest won't be back to its peaceful state before a long time. From her part, Rachel got up with difficulty, her anger rising but unlike Lucy, she kept it under control.

- " Okay, bitchy girl, very well. You can keep your Natsu for all I care. That is, if he ever comes back from Isvan. "

/-In the train heading to the Isvan region-/

Natsu was agonizing like always, Happy trying with great difficulty to help him while the rocking of the train tried to finish the dragon off. After he left the shop, he went straight to the guild so that Mirajane could officializes his mission, while making sure the reason behind his mission was a secret, the match maker part of the barmaid helping a lot (she found the idea of Natsu leaving to get back the key that Lucy had to unwillingly sacrifice when they faced Tartaros. But even that motivation was not enough to prevent Natsu from dying, getting slowly killed by his motion sickness, under the eyes of two newcomers, very surprised to see him here.

- " Natsu ? Happy ? What the hell are you doing here ? "

- " Gray ? Juvia ? " Exclaimed Happy, surprised seeing both mages standing in front of the compartment looking at them with big eyes.

- " But what are you doing here ? " Asked Juvia one more time, Happy answering since Natsu was too busy groaning and trying to hold back his puking. As Happy explained the situation, Juvia and Gray seemed more and more tense.

- " Hum, you know that it really feels like something bad will get out of this situation, right ? " says Gray, addressing Happy, Natsu still unable to answer.

- " I told him that, but he refuse to listen to me. " Admitted the Exceed, feeling as worried as the others, but now, if things should turn for the worse, he will be able to help. Once they reached the station of Shiroame, both groups parted, each going in a completely different direction.

/-With Gray and Juvia-/

Both lovers were in the middle of the ruins of the ice mage home town, standing in front of a simple wooden cross on which was engraved the names of his parents, Silver and Mika, now deceased. Both mages were silent, Juvia kneeling to put some flowers on the grave, both praying until Juvia got up and raised her eyes towards the sky covered with grey clouds.

- " It's going to snow soon. "

- " Yeah. I think that it's time to go ho … Hey, what's with all this fog ? "

Indeed, the village ruin was suddenly covered by a thick fog which almost seemed to close on them. In only a few seconds, they couldn't even see their own feet anymore.

- " Juvia ! Are you still there ? "

- " Yes, but Gray where are you ? I don't … AAAAHHHH ! "

- " Juvia ? JUVIA ?! "

The shout from Gray got lost in the mist which dissipated as fast as it had appeared, but when it had totally disappeared, Juvia was gone with the fog. Instead of her blue haired girlfriend, there was a stone plate on which was engraved a text which Gray hurried to read.

" If you want your girlfriend back, come to Kitakaze. "

- " Kitakaze ? It is not … " Gray needed moment to understand but when he did, he left in a furious sprint. " Natsu, you absolute idiot ! "

/- Kitakaze -/

Natsu and Happy were outside of the city, in front of the river mentioned in Rachel's request and indeed, enormous blocks of ice blocked the way and prevent any boat from going out.

- "They appeared overnight, and nobody managed to make them move ever since. Nothing works. It is the miracle that you came." Declared a fisherman whom Natsu had met in town.

- "No need to thank me, I'm going do that with pleasure." Began Natsu before stopping. "Wait. What do you mean a miracle ? You made a request to our guild." Called back Natsu but much to his surprise, the fisherman shook his head negatively.

- "We did nothing of this kind yet. Why ?"

- "I'm the one who did it."

Up in front of them stood a man that came out of some kind of mist. Tall, short blonde hair, a well-trimmed beard, blue eyes which seemed to be made of ice. He wore a woolen pants with big winter shoes, chains around his waist by way of belt and a sleeve-less white open vest, showing that the cold didn't bothered him at all. There was something wild in this guy that didn't go with well with Natsu. But the dragon didn't have time to think more about it than it was pushed aside by Gray, who began scolding him.

- "Natsu, you stupid ash brain. I knew that this request was a trap ! This guy is a Strizer !"

- "Well, at least there's one who knows how to use his brain." Threw the Strizer by revealing some sort of huge jar made of ice inside of which was Juvia, unconscious but apparently in good shape. "I didn't expected Gray and Juvia to joins the party, but I'll do with."

- "Wait what the hell is that ? What's going on ?" roared Natsu, not understanding.

ICE SHARDS !

A flock of ice shards fell on the mages who jumped away to avoid them. In front of them, the blonde Strizer had pieces of ices which floated in the palm of his hand, his look neutral.

- "You are the slow type, it would seem ? You were tricked. My name is Ragnar Linderoth. The Strizer of cold. So, we're going to start or what ?"

Once again, the end is a little precipitated but I hope that you liked it nevertheless. I'll see you soon for the next chapter. See you !

Next time: misty battle. The cold from another world. What the Strizers are fearing.