IMPORTANT: I DO NOT OWN THE COVER PHOTO OR ANY OF THE FAIRY TAIL CHARACTERS/PLOT: ALL CREDIT GOES TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS!

I really just wanted to say beforehand how much I appreciate you guys. I know that I talk about it all the time but I really never honestly thought that anyone would read my stories. The fact that you guys take time out of your day to read what I publish means a lot to me, and it's just honestly crazy to believe how many of you there are when there are only 13 Chapters (so far). I really appreciate the feedback all of you give me and I don't think I can ever fully express my gratitude for you all.

Thank you!

*A Guest pointed out that the story can be confusing when I don't include everything that happens in an episode, so from now on I'm going to do my best to include everything.

Because of my recent absence, I have made this update longer than I normally do. There are 8,712 words in this chapter total and because of this, I only covered a little bit more than half of Episode 13. I felt like I would be dragging it on if I finished this episode off, and that I wouldn't even have enough time to even finish it tonight. This also took a lot to edit, so I apologize if some portions of this update didn't flow well/had a few mistakes or if things were all over the place.

Enjoy!


-Galuna Island : Above the Temple of Moon-


"It would be the perfect way to prove my newfound strength if I killed such a strong wizard as herself. Perhaps I'll pay her a visit when I'm done here with you!"

He lost. Despite fighting so hard to defend Lucy's life, and doing everything to the best of his ability to make Lyon see the error in his ways, he lost. Despite using the full extent of his magic, forcing out the most powerful spells he knew and casting them in the most effective way he could, he lost. And despite doing every single thing within his power to prevent his 'brother' from falling into the darkness, Gray still lost. Nothing he did was good enough to protect the people he cared about the most, and now he wondered if they would suffer because of it.

Since Natsu was encased in a thick layer of ice would he be rendered incapable to properly defend himself against any enemies he came to encounter? Was Lucy going to have to suffer from a blindsided attack and fight on her own, without any help from anyone else? Was she going to have to defend the village on her own against Lyon and his lackeys without guidance from any of her friends? Would Lyon actually go as far as to revive Deliora just to prove his strength over their dead mentor? And if he did, what were the chances that he too would die in the process? Was Deliora really going to be set free and allowed to wreak havoc on the world again?

Thousands of unanswered questions bounced around his head, and even though Gray desperately wanted to go and protect his friends, to find the answers to everything, all he could do was sit and wallow in self-pity as everyone he knew slowly succumbed to the dangers around them.

After being thoroughly defeated by Lyon's Active Ice-Make Magic, which proved to be far more superior over Gray's Static Ice-Make Magic, the raven-haired wizard ended up lying face first on the ground in defeat as memories of his childhood played behind his sound of Ur's voice thundering in his head alongside a haunting flashback of Lyon looking at him in surprise absorbed the majority of Gray's attention, causing him to not hear the approaching footsteps to his left, while leaving him to wonder what was going to happen next.

Was Lyon out searching for Lucy at the very moment, or was he just trying to get to Gray by saying he was going to seek her out? Had he already found her within the vast forests of Galuna Island, or even possibly back at the village, or was he in some mysterious place instead? Was his blond friend fighting for her life as he lay, motionless on the ground? And where was Natsu? Just what exactly was going on in his absence?

Gray was so invested in his thoughts that he didn't hear someone come up behind him, nor their incessant cries of his name and he was lucky that it ended up being one of his friends or else he could have gotten even more injured than he already was.

"Oi Gray! Hurry and wake up already! We gotta get back to the village!" Natsu groaned as he hovered over his unmoving rival. When he didn't respond a flash of annoyance crossed his face and he had trouble holding himself back. "Hey! Are you ignoring me?!" He questioned in a louder tone.

When the Ice-Make wizard continued to remain silent Natsu felt his irritation skyrocket to new heights. He was this close to kicking the boy awake or even burning him with the fire he knew that Gray didn't like just so he would finally wake up. But he didn't want to act on a whim and decided to give his rival one last chance. Natsu repeated his name for what felt like the hundredth time, and if he didn't already look so beat up, then he really would have done something to force him awake. A 'Fire Dragon Iron Fist' or even a 'Fire Dragon Claw' would suffice, but at exactly that moment, Gray decided to murmur Natsu's name and look in his direction. Finally, he decided to wake up.

"Oh well," The Fire Dragon Slayer thought to himself, "it's not like I really could've done anything with this ice covering my body. I'll just punch him a different time."


Gray shakily pushed himself upright before glancing at the pink haired boy with wide eyes. When had he gotten there? Didn't he push him off the temple after Lyon encased his body with ice? Shouldn't he have been back at the village?

"... Natsu? What are you doing here?"

He bent down with a slight groan, blatantly ignoring the question, and grabbed Gray by his shoulders with a small frown playing on his face. "Well," He began, "after you rudely kicked me off the temple I fell into the forest and couldn't find my way back to the village. I climbed back up here in hopes that I could see what direction it was in, and it looks like it was a good thing that I did. That guy really roughed you up." Natsu explained as he slung the boy over, what would have been if the ice wasn't there, his shoulders.

"W-wait. Leave me behind... You need to go and find Lucy. I think that she's in trouble." Gray said with a sense of urgency in his tone. "I think Lyon is looking for a fight with her. She could end up getting really hurt if you don't get to her before he does!"

"Nah," Natsu surprisingly shook his head, "There's no way I would ever leave a friend behind, and I think that the guild would be pretty boring without having an Ice Princess around, so I guess I'll take you with me too." He joked. "Besides, Lucy's a Dragon Slayer and she has those Spirit Keys of hers! I'm sure that she can hold her own against that guy. You need to have faith in your guild mates; Luce won't let us down. I know that she'll protect the village with all she's got and take anyone down who stands in her way. She's scary like that, you know? Kinda acts like Erza sometimes."

Gray's eyes widened at the sincerity in Natsu's tone, and he was genuinely surprised at the faith he had in their blond friend. How did he always manage to do that? How did he always manage to find hope in the darkest of situations? Wasn't he worried about what could happen if things went wrong?

"Now stop feeling sorry for yourself because you lost one little fight! Have confidence in Lucy's ability as a wizard and trust that she can do her job right! That way when we get back, if that Cold Emperor guy really is there, we can help you take your revenge for getting such a beating! Now hold on tight cause' we have to book it back to the village. We can't let Lucy have all of the fun!"


-Meanwhile-


Saiya giggled as she watched her blond friend interact with the villagers. Lucy had claimed countless times that she was not a people person and that she didn't get along well with others, yet there she was, soothing the bustling crowd of concerned villagers with ease. Within a matter of seconds, she had everyone calmed down and easily obtained their undivided attention by just saying a few simple words. It was amusing to think that she considered herself to be a difficult person to get along with or someone who could not be easily understood when she had managed to dispell a tense atmosphere and bring all the villagers into a state of tranquility all on her own. She was easier to get along with than she ever intended to be.

"I need all of you to remain calm and listen closely to what I'm about to say. Right now I'm the only one that's able to help you guys, so I need your full cooperation so that I can ensure that you guys stay safe throughout this whole ordeal." Lucy revealed with a calm tone. "A group of wizards has been living on this island for some time now, and my guildmates and I have reason to believe that they are the cause of your demonized forms. Three wizards are headed this way, as we speak, with the intentions to destroy this village and everything in it."

"So you mean we're gonna die?"

This one comment seemed to set things in motion and left Lucy with a brewing problem. The realization that their lives were in danger quickly set in and the villagers were quick to murmur and yell at her in confusion. They nervously glanced at one another and some people even resorted to sobbing loudly as they held their family close, causing the blonde to rub her head in frustration. This was not how things were supposed to be going, and she was quickly growing annoyed with the panicked response of all the villagers. Things would easily go sour if she didn't fix this soon.

"That's it? You're not going to protect us anymore?"

"But I have a whole life to live!"

"Why are you giving up on us?"

"Is this all Fairy Tail has to offer?!"

Happy and Saiya were quick to hide behind Lucy's body as the crowd grew angry; their fears easily overpowering their better judgment causing them to react this way. The villagers spit out accusations about the guild, claiming that they were trying to conn them out of their money and playing them for fools, alongside several other nasty statements. They even went as far as to grab their weapons and point them at the blonde, saying that she must have been working with these other wizards as well, which is why she wouldn't help them.

"This is bad!" Happy cried as he latched onto Lucy's leg.

The villagers only got more angry by the second and if the girl didn't fix things soon an accident may happen and somebody could end up getting hurt. In addition, time was running out and Lucy doubted it would take Lyon's lackeys much longer to reach the village. She had to get things under control and finish the job she was originally intending to do.

"Yeah! If we don't calm them down soon I'm worried that we're gonna be in big trouble here!"

Lucy groaned loudly as she finally let her hands fall from her face, and she had trouble not snapping at all everyone for a raging migraine they caused her head with their loud voices and constant yelling. Nevertheless, she calmly raised her hands prompting everyone to be quiet.

"Listen, you all cut me off before I could even finish what I was going to say, so it's understandable that you all got upset. But you have to realize that my guild and I have full intentions to carry out this mission, and I swear to you all that I will protect your village with my life if that's what it takes." She explained with a soft smile to further quell their fears. "As I was saying, I have a plan. I'm going to set a trap at the entrance of the village and after I capture these wizards I'm going to 'interrogate' them until they tell me how to return you back to normal."

Upon seeing that the villagers were no longer in such a state of hysteria, Lucy let out a small breath of relief and wiped some sweat off of her face. It seemed that her finished explanation managed to ease their worries and even provide them with a sense of comfort which would make things much easier from there on out. Now that everyone was on the same page, Lucy could finally start building her trap and figure out a real plan on how to protect the villagers.

Her comfort was short-lived, however, because the Village Cheif decided to reveal himself and cause even more chaos.

"Why haven't you destroyed the moon?!" Moka demanded with an incredulous expression. He looked extremely livid that Lucy and her friends hadn't done their task yet and the blonde was worried that if he didn't calm down he was going to blow.

Lucy exhaled out of her nose in frustration, internally hardening her nerves so she didn't loose her mind, before turning to face Moka; faking a happy expression in order to mask her ever growing annoyance. "Listen, I just explained to your people that the moon isn't the cause of your curse. If it was I would've already taken on a demonized form because my magic depends solely on taking in things from the sky and moon, but I haven't which means that it's not the problem here. Like I said there are these wizards on the island that have been doing a ritual in an old temple, which is causing you to-"

"You don't know what you're talking about you stupid little girl! Hurry up and do what I've asked of you. Destroy the moon!" Moka demanded in a brash voice. "My people, don't let this imbecile trick you! She's lying, trying to deceive us into thinking that the moon isn't the problem! It's not true! It must be destroyed at all costs!"

Noticing that the girl was at a complete loss of words, two of the villagers nodded at one another before dragging Moka off, while everyone else apologized to Lucy for his outburst. They confessed that he hadn't been the same since the death of his son, Bobo and that by obsessing over the destruction of the moon it may have helped him cope with the pain. For a long time he was in a state of depression with nothing to do, but after convincing himself that the moon was the root of all of his problems it became all that he could think about.

"It's fine," Lucy waved them off; a distant glint to her golden-brown eyes. "I know what its like to lose a close family member too, so I can understand how he feels. I don't blame him for feeling this way. It's an expected response if I'm being completely honest. I was the same way after my dragon disappeared."


Finally, the villagers back off and gave the blonde space to do her work in peace. She was relieved to have found that everyone was ultimately leaving her alone and that she didn't have to give anyone anymore answers to their constant questions. But the again, there was always one particular being that took great pride in raining on her parade, and even more in causing her the most discomfort possible; Natsu Dragneel's personal partner, the tiny blue exceed, Happy.

He tugged at her leg, signaling that he had something to say, and despite her better judgment the girl hesitantly glanced in his direction. She honestly had better things to do than listen to some stupid question he was bound to ask, but being the 'nice' person she was she let him do it anyways. (And it wasn't because she was secretly afraid that he would burst out crying if she ignored him, which would result in him telling his partner that she was being mean at a later time, because that would just be ridiculous. She wasn't afraid of some cat telling on her! Especially to someone as obnoxious as Natsu! No, that would be absolutely absurd.)

"Lushie how are you going to trap them? Knowing you, you're probably going to do something stupid and it won't actually work. Hopefully, you have an actual plan so that the village doesn't end up getting destroyed. Otherwise, the blame's gonna be all on you." Happy murmured as he used his paws to cover his mouth. He really didn't want the blonde to see his mischievous grin or hear his muffled laughter because she could be scary when she was upset, but his attempts were in vain because Lucy noticed each of these things anyways.

With a giant tick mark on her forehead, she yelled: "Shut up you damn cat! My plan is full proof I'll have you know! Only a stupid cat like you would have doubt in a wizard like me. Just you watch! I didn't study under a dragon for my whole life for nothing!"

Huffing, Lucy flipped her hair over her shoulder before violently yanking one of her gold keys off of her belt. Glaring at Happy from the corner of her eyes as she muttered something unintelligible under her breath, she swiped the key through the air and summoned her desired spirit. Lucy was going to show Happy just how smart she could be. She was no idiot and definitely wasn't going to act without thinking beforehand. He was going to make sure he regretted doubting her in the first place, that much was certain.

"Open! Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!"

Cockily, the blond placed one of her hands on her hip and used the other to point at the open space in front of the village gate. With a proud smirk, she said, "Alright Virgo here's what I need you to do..."


Lucy smiled in excitement as the finishing touches were placed on top of her 'masterpiece' and she had trouble not laughing in glee. The blonde's so called 'genius plan', the one that she claimed would, without a doubt, be a complete success, consisted of Virgo digging a deep hole. It was big enough for at least three people to fit in, if not more, and was covered with straw, some spare wood and sticks, and a thin layer of dirt that would help it blend in with the ground. In other words, the very thing that the whole villages survival depended on, was a randomly placed pitfall. Yeah, genius, right?

While Lucy continued to shower herself in self-praise, everyone glanced at her creation in uncertainty. They all had the same dumbfounded expression written on their faces as they wracked their brains for the right words to say, and the blonde mistakingly took their renowned silence as a compliment. They must have been in complete awe upon recognizing her intelligence, and were far too amazed to utter a single word, which is why they had resorted to standing in complete silence. Because there was absolutely no way that they weren't impressed by her idea; that just wasn't possible.

"I know, I know," The blond chuckled as she leisurely placed her hand on Virgo's shoulder, "this is by far the best thing any of you have ever seen. It's alright, you don't have to tell me because I already know: the level of my intelligence is immeasurable."

Virgo spun around with such a ferocity that it caused Lucy to stumble backward in surprise, a loud "Princess!" falling from her lips as she completed the action. The girl was quick to place her hand over her pounding heart but the pink haired spirit didn't even give her a chance to gather herself because she suddenly grabbed onto both of her shoulders in a vice-grip, forcing the blonde to hold her overly-serious gaze. "There is absolutely no way that this is ever going to work."

As this was going on, Happy stumbled forward with a dark shadow cast across the majority of his face. Lucy glanced down at the blue cat in shock when he suddenly grabbed onto her leg with a quivering lip, and she inwardly wondered what had caused him to have such a reaction before his head shot up to look at her with blank, pupilless eyes.

"You know, I was just joking earlier when I said that you were going to do something stupid," He explained causing a burst of hope to bloom in her chest.

Yes! At least someone appreciated her efforts! At least someone could see the effectiveness of her plan! Lucy clasped her hands in front of her chest as she looked at the exceed with sparkling eyes, and the villagers could have sworn that a flowery aura surrounded her body as the cat opened his mouth to finish off his statement.

"But I'm sorry to inform you that you might actually be stupid. There's no way anyone would be stupid enough to fall for that trick! It's the oldest one in the book, and it's right out in the open! What were you thinking?! Now the village really is doomed!" He cried causing Lucy to fall over.

The villagers tentatively turned to look at one other before nodding their heads in agreement. Apologetically they said:

"I'm sorry Lucy-san but I have to agree. I don't think your plan is going to work."

"We're doomed now, aren't we?"

"Who would ever fall for something like that?

"What should we do now?"

"Do we even have time to do anything else?"

"We should've never trusted her with the job."

"This was a waste of time."

Lucy slapped her face in defeat before waving her arms around wildly. This was not what was supposed to be happening; she wasn't supposed to be getting a verbal beating over how bad her plan was, she was supposed to be getting praised for it!

"Would all of you just be quiet for one minute? Look all around you. The village is completely surrounded by a giant wall, which means that there are only one entrance and one exit out of this place; through the gate. It doesn't matter how visible the pitfall is, or how much any of you think it'll fail because if those wizards want to get in they'll be forced to walk over it. I made sure Virgo dug it wide enough so that they couldn't walk around it, or jump across it. I've got them boxed in so doesn't matter what move they decide to make! The end result will always be the same!"

Happy placed his paw on his chin and continued to shake his head in disagreement, much to the blond's annoyance and displeasure. For some odd reason, he refused to believe or have any faith that Lucy's plan would ever work.

"No. There's absolutely no way this is going to work. Hurry up and think of another plan before they get here."

"What would an ignorant little cat like you know anyways?! I'm telling you it will work!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh!"

The two Faries were so invested in arguing with one another that neither party heard one of the guards say that someone was approaching, or that they were opening the gates. Not even Saiya could get their attention, and it was only until they heard the familiar yelp of two male voices that they snapped out of their petty fight. Sheepishly, Happy and Lucy glanced into the pitfall and found Natsu and Gray sitting at the bottom with small shards of ice surrounding them. They faintly heard someone ask, "what the hell happened", but the blue exceed was too stunned to say anything. Lucy, on the other hand, couldn't stop a triumphant smirk from forming on her face.

"Told you it would work..."


Saiya, Happy, and Lucy watched with grim expressions as Gray's injured body was gently laid out on the ground. His skin was marred with a mixture of dirt and dried blood while the rest of his figure was covered with several nasty, dark blue bruises and deep cuts. It was painfully obvious that he had just barely managed to return from a one-sided battle, and Lucy couldn't help but feel a strong wave of guilt tug at her gut. Would things have been different if she hadn't allowed Gray to make her leave?

"That Cold Emperor guy really gave him a run for his money, huh?" She murmured as she glanced over the boy's injured face.

Natsu nodded his head. "Yeah. Apparently, he was fighting to protect you. Said that guy was looking for a fight, or something like that. Gray insisted that I left him behind and got here to make sure you were alright; he was worried that he would be here trying to kill you."

Lucy's face scrunched up in confusion and she took a moment to glance his way. "What are you talking about? No one's been in the village except for us. Not even his lackeys have shown up yet."

"I don't really know. I just figured he was talking a bunch of mumbo-jumbo as a result of being beaten so badly." Natsu said with a slight shrug. "I told him not to worry, though. I knew that you'd be able to handle that guy's lackeys with no problem."

"Speaking of them, something isn't making any sense here," Saiya chimed in causing everyone to glance in her direction. "Since Lu, Happy and I have gotten here, none of us have seen any signs of the enemy. They left way before we did, and even later than you two, yet you still managed to get here before any of those wizards have. Something just isn't right about all of this. It shouldn't be possible that Natsu and Gray managed to get here before those wizards!"

One of the villagers hesitantly stepped forward after the silver exceed was done speaking, and gingerly raised their hand to point at the sky. "I think the answer to your confusion is right up there... Look: it's a giant flying rat carrying some sort of bucket. Do you think that could be them?"

Lucy tilted her head to look up at the sky, and her eyes narrowed as she spotted the familiar looking rat. She quickly realized that it was the same creature that had attacked her and her friends in the forest only several hours prior, and because such an aggressive animal was flying over the village it managed to cause her quite a lot of concern. Lucy knew nothing good would be coming out of its sudden appearance, even more so when she had a nagging suspicion that it might have belonged to one of Lyon's allies.

She quickly let her eyes fall closed as she strained her ears in order to listen in on all of her surroundings.


"I would never have thought that the Double-Poison Jelly would take so long to prepare."

"Yeah, but it's not like it's necessarily such a bad thing that it took up so much time. Look, those wizards are down there."

"I suppose you're right. We cannot stop until the demon, Deliora is revived for the Cold Emperor. He must get his revenge. Anyone who stands in the Cold Emperor's way deserves the punishment of death."

"Yes. We must do everything possible to make sure the Cold Emperors plan is a success."


In her extreme haste to try and figure out what was going on around her, Lucy failed to see the small droplet of green jelly falling from the sky that escaped the bucket that the large rat was holding. It was positioned right above her head, and with her eyes closed there was absolutely no way that she would have seen it coming. Her nose scrunched up as she smelt something bitter, the droplet getting closer and closer with every passing second, and just as she finally went to open her eyes Natsu swiftly shot forward and tackled her to the ground.

"Watch out!"

When the tiny droplet of green jelly hit the earth it easily ate through the ground; creating a giant hole as a direct result of its acid-like capabilities. A thick string of hot steam floated up from the ground, damaging the earth further, and Lucy couldn't help but shiver as she considered what could have happened to her had her friend not intervened when he did. Would she even be alive had Natsu not moved forward when he did?

The villagers promptly succumbed to a state of panic as they discerned that their lives were, yet again, in danger while Lucy attempted to gather her bearings after narrowly escaping the dangerous situation. Everyone had already seen what a minuscule amount of the jelly could do when coming in contact with something, and they could only imagine what the whole bucket amount was capable of; which was about to be dumped over the entire village. The demonized villagers couldn't help but consider if this time it really was the end.

Meanwhile, Happy and Saiya tensed as Angelica, the giant flying rat, reeled its arms backward before launching the entire bucket of jelly over the village. Panicked screams echoed throughout the community as the green substance descended on them, and it wasn't until Natsu ordered everyone to get into the center of the village that Lucy snapped out of her surprised daze. The pink haired boy jumped into the air, while his corresponding blue haired exceed grabbed onto his shoulders, as all the villagers simultaneously reacted to his orders.

Off in the distance, the Village Cheif clung onto his son's grave. Rapidly shaking his head, he exclaimed: "No! I refuse to leave Bobo's side; I won't leave my son alone! If I'm going to die, I'll do it next to him!"

His protests caused the blonde to frown, and almost instantly her body acted on her own. Lucy couldn't stop herself as she jumped to her feet, rushing to Moka's side in the blink of an eye, before using her body to shield him from the green jelly above. Saiya cried out for her owner in distress as she watched her run off, and if one of the villagers hadn't yanked her up when they did, she easily would have chased after her without a second thought.

Up in the sky, Natsu activated his magic in both of his hands causing them to be encased in red hot flames. Throwing his arms above his head he conjured a giant ball of fire, somehow managing to completely avoid burning Happy in the process, before chucking it at the middle of the green jelly.

"Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!"

In a dazzling spark of light, Natsu's flames collided with the acid-like matter causing the center of it to disperse and create a giant hole. The people that followed his orders, who were all standing directly beneath the opening in the jelly, were completely protected from the substance and managed to survive the attack; completely unscathed. Lucy and Moka, on the other hand, were not in such good of a position as everyone else.

As a steady stream of the jelly descended on their position, Saiya cried out in distress and watched with tears in her eyes as everything was destroyed. Her friend was nowhere to be seen and the worst-case-scenario quickly invaded the exceed's head. Thousands of "What If's" plagued her thoughts until it was the only thing she could think about. What if Lucy was injured? What if Lucy was dead? What if there was no trace of her body left? What if-?

"Oi Saiya! Stop crying already! You're the partner of the Celestial Dragon Slayer, right? Stand tall and hold up your head!" The blonde smirked as her friend's figure became clearer from behind the mist, and she sent her a flashy grin as Virgo appeared by her side, holding the Village Cheif in her grip. "Besides, there's absolutely no way I'm going down by some jelly. Not until I find Draco, anyway."


When the smoke died down enough for things to almost be completely visible, it was revealed that the entire village had been destroyed without so much as a trace of it ever being there in the first place. Except for the center of the land, which was only there because of Natsu's daunting actions, nothing was around except for a giant crater. Moka trembled under Virgo's grip and frantically searched for his son's grave, inwardly praying that nothing bad had come to it, and breathed a giant sigh of relief when he saw that it was still standing tall.

Well, that was until someone suddenly kicked it over.

Natsu and Lucy simultaneously stepped forward to shield everyone from any oncoming attacks as their eyes narrowed into tiny slits. Though no one had opened their mouth to say anything, they had a mutual understanding with each other; both wizards were extremely familiar with the pain of losing someone they loved, which explained their silent anger, while also agreeing that they would do everything in their power to keep the villagers from being hurt any further. They didn't deserve any of the things that had happened to them thus far, and the two Faries would be damned if they let anything else happen to them again.

Sherry sighed as she moved forward, flipping her hair over her shoulder with a mock-pity expression written across her face. "The Cold Emperor ordered us to annihilate everything within this village, which is why it's such a pity that you just didn't allow the Double-Poison jelly to kill you off. We were trying to give you a painless death, you know, but now you've gone and done it. You've forced us into a corner and now we have no choice but to resort to bloodshed."

"Don't be such a drama queen. There are roughly fifty villagers, and only two working wizards, not counting the one the Cold Emperor already defeated. This'll be the easiest job we've had yet. I doubt that this will even take more than ten minutes to finish." Yuka scoffed arrogantly.

"What are you, mindless robots who don't have a mind of their own?" Lucy snarled as her eyes narrowed into a nasty glare. "These are innocent people you're talking about! You destroyed their village for no reason, and for what? For some guy who's taking actions that only benefit himself? Have you even stopped to consider what might happen if he doesn't defeat Deliora? Just what the hell do you think you'll be getting out of all of this?!" She demanded in a sharp tone.

Behind her, Natsu knocked Gray out with a punch to the gut before laying him back down on the ground. "Luce is right. You three are acting on someone else's actions that aren't your own. You destroyed this village, hurt my friend, and threatened the life of someone close to me. Yet, somehow, none of it was because of your own personal opinion or choices."

Sherry's expression abruptly morphed into something far more dangerous, and nothing could take back the Faries surprised reactions as she barked: "It's my love for the Cold Emperor that fuels me on! His wish is our command just as his desires are our own. How dare you try and stand there and act like you know anything about us; about my beloved! You cannot be forgiven!" Her arm darted out to the left to gesture to her pet rat and her eyes darkened even more. "Now Angelica! Show them our wrath!"

The creature jumped into the air before shooting forward with her owner on her back. Lucy braced herself and latched onto Angelica's foot as if by using pure strength she could hold the rat down, only to get lifted off of the ground at record speed; her furious cries growing far more distant with each passing second. She violently punched at the animals feet, getting nowhere quickly, before suddenly resorting to tickling it. Both Sherry and the blonde had not expected that her actions would have worked, and their screams echoed throughout Galuna Island as they crashed into the ground somewhere far away from the village.

"She really is weird, isn't she?" Natsu chuckled as he watched the scene from the corner of his eyes.

Happy immediately tugged at his pants with giant crocodile tears in his eyes as he whined : "No. Lushie's a big fat meanie Natsu! She called me stupid when you weren't around!"


Battle:

-Natsu v.s. Yuka & Toby-

(1)


As Saiya and Happy flew off to check on Lucy to make sure that she hadn't been seriously injured in the crash, Natsu turned around to face the remainder of Lyon's lackeys. He couldn't fully express how disgusted he was at their actions, and he had trouble not bashing all of their faces in right away. They attacked, and destroyed, a village full of innocent people, terrorized countless families, hurt two of his close friends, and completely destroyed a grave; all for no reason at all. And nothing could possibly make him feel more outraged than that.

Toby and Yuka were looking off in the direction that their comrades, Sherry, and Angelica crashed in and watched with, what looked like, slightly peeved expressions as the two different colored exceeds flew off to the same place.

Natsu could only hope that Lucy had survived the dangerous crash unscathed and that she was in a good-enough condition to fight Sherry because, from what he could tell, these wizards were out for blood and were fully prepared to fight to the best of their ability. Though, he supposed, anyone who was close friends with Erza had to be strong enough to handle a small beating, so he wasn't going to worry about her much. He had his own concerns to be focused on, after all.

Yuka sighed as if he were annoyed and rubbed small circles into the skin on his forehead. "Well, there's three things the Cold Emperor is sure to be upset about: The villagers escaped before we had the chance to finally finish our orders, Sherry and Angelica got taken down, and that girl he so desperately wanted to fight is probably dead now. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets furious when we tell him that she got killed before he had the job to do it himself."

Toby glanced at the blue-haired wizard before scrunching up his nose. "It's not like that's such a bad thing, though. Obviously, she wasn't much to begin with so I don't think she would've really been worth his time. The Cold Emperor doesn't need to busy himself with these pathetic wizards; he should be focusing on accomplishing his goal. Maybe we should-"

"I don't know who gave you the right to talk about Luce like you know anything about her, but let's get one thing straight," Natsu snarled as he shot forward, "anyone who tries to land a hand on my friends has to deal with me! I already told you, right? Lucy is precious to me, and I'll be damned if I let someone like you guys lay their hands on her! Never in a million years would I let that happen!"

His body acted on its own and before he could realize what he was doing, Natsu had already headbutted the dog-looking wizard back several feet. He didn't really know where the source of his anger had come from, but hearing them talk bad about Lucy made his blood boil for some reason, and before he could stop himself his mouth had started moving on its own. If someone asked why he called the blonde "precious" he wouldn't be able to give them a legitimate answer except that she was just special to him. And while Natsu would have reacted the same way had the two wizards been talking about anyone else from the guild, the reaction was stronger for some unexplainable reason.

Somehow, somewhere deep inside his gut, Natsu could tell that his blonde friend was extremely lonely. Whether it was in her distant gaze that he sometimes found her sporting, or her forced smiles when he would be looking at her for too long, he could tell that she was hiding something. Since he was so familiar with the feeling, Natsu felt a distinct need to protect Lucy, which may have been the exact reason for his odd response to Lyon's lackeys trash-talking.

Yuka's eyes widened in surprise as the pink-haired wizard suddenly spit out a mouthful of flames at his figure, body still suspended in the air from attacking his friend, and had it not been for his unique magic capabilities he certainly would have been hit by the unexpected attack.

"I see. Things are starting to get pieced together now." Yuka chuckled as Natsu's flames finally started to die down. It was revealed that he

It was revealed that he was standing behind a semi-transparent, blue wall which had protected him from the Slayers flames in the first place. Then, after a moment of peace, he allowed his hand to fall back to his side causing the barrier to disappear.

"The reason why you were able to protect yourself against the Double-Poison Jelly so easily, and why you seem so familiar to me, is because you're that famous Fire Wizard aren't you? The one that is not only able to wield Fire Magic that you can't buy in stores but is also able to use it freely throughout it body; the Salamander of Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel." Almost cockily, Yuka placed his hand on his chest and smirked. "Famous wizard or not, it would be unwise for you to underestimate us. We were apart of a well-known guild once too, in fact, the Iron Rock Jura was one of our members."

Natsu squinted at the blue-haired wizard in disinterest. "And? Am I supposed to know who that is, or even care about what guild you're talking about?" Lighting up his hands in reddish-orange flames, he slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "All I know is, anyone who stands in Fairy Tail's way gets taken out, and you've given me more than enough reason to do exactly that. Now, how about I show you the reason behind why I'm so well known?"

Yuka scoffed at the boys ignorance before rolling his eyes. "Fine, don't take heed to my warning. I must say, though, that Lamia Scale is far better than your pathetic joke of a guild. I must admit that it truly is a shame that you were the one unlucky enough to have to face me. Your defeat will really dampen Fairy Tail's reputation once we're done with you. I can only imagine how bad their name will become when word gets out that one of their strongest wizards was defeated so easily."

Natsu clenched his fists even tighter as the urge to just destroy everything and fight returned, just as it had when they were talking bad about his friend, and he had trouble holding himself back. He was growing extremely angry with how dismissive the blue-haired wizard was being toward Fairy Tail.

"Like I said, I couldn't care less what guild you're from or who was in it. We were hired to protect the villagers and to solve the problem that you guys caused! That makes you guys Fairy Tails enemy, which means that you're the unlucky one. You messed with the wrong guild, and now you'll have to answer to me!"

Toby yelped as he activated the flames in both of his hands causing a giant wave of fire to form on both sides of his body. Aiming to attack both of the wizards at once, Natsu managed to burn the top of Toby's head and send him rolling to the ground in a panic. Yuka, on the other hand, simply activated his own magic and protected himself against the Slayers attacks the same way he had just moments before.

"Wave!"

Natsu reeled his flame-covered hand backward as the burst of blue magic was sent his way, before throwing it forward with all of his strength. Unfortunately for him, the attack seemed to do nothing and was useless against his opponents magic.

Unknown to the Salamander at the time, Yuka was a specialist in Anti-Wizard Magic known as 'Wave' which gave him the ability to nullify the effects of any and all spells directed his way. During his time as a member of Lamia Scale, he perfected these abilities to a 'T' which meant that any attacks the Fire Dragon Slayer sent his way could easily be deflected by his magic. In truth, it didn't matter how well-known or how strong a wizard was when facing him because the result would always be the same; his magic would always prove to be superior over the other wizards, which meant that we would always win.

So, when Natsu's flame covered fist collided with the blue wall of magic, it was like someone dumped water over his hand, and his flames were doused out. His attack was proved to be useless within a split second, and the same result happened when he tried to use his "Fire Dragon Roar". None of his magic was working.

And since his magic-fueled attacks didn't seem to be functionally properly, he decided to use pure physical strength to defeat Yuka instead. With this idea in mind, when he came face-to-face with another one of the wizards 'waves' he threw his bare fist forward. It broke through the magic barrier with ease, and just as he went to cheer in success it was replaced with a yell of pain as a spark of electricity shot up his arm.

The blue-haired wizard sighed as if he was bored. "You didn't honestly think that would work, did you? You just placed your entire arm into a vortex of pure magic energy, which is something the human body isn't accustomed to feeling. The only thing you've succeeded at doing is realizing that there's nothing you could possibly do to win this battle."

Not one to give up so easily, Natsu threw his face against the blue wall and pushed his entire body forward. Despite the extreme pain that flared up in his body at the action, he continued pushing his head forward until it fully cleared Yuka's 'wave'. Natsu couldn't exactly hear what Yuka said over the sound of the ringing in his ears, but after reading his lips he assumed it was something along the lines of how he was "such an idiot for doing that because now he was stuck inside the barrier, unable to use his magic now that he was in it".

Then again, only half of his body was between the barrier which meant that the same rules didn't apply to what was outside of it.

Smirking, the Fire Dragon Slayer got another idea lit up his elbow with his flames, which was outside of the barrier, and further propelled his body forward. The blue-haired wizard hadn't expected Natsu to be so crafty, so when he yelled out a loud "Fire Dragon Flame Elbow" he wasn't prepared for the fist aimed at his face.

Using his magic as a boost for his arm, Natsu threw his fist forward and nailed Yuka right in the face; knocking him out almost instantly. Slightly out of breath, he turned around to face Toby, who had already activated his 'Mega-Jellyfish Paralysing Claws' as he stood in a defensive stance.

"It'll only take one tiny nick of my claws to completely paralyze your whole body. Just one touch from these babies and you won't be able to move a muscle."

Putting his hand on his hair, Natsu slowly nodded his head. "Is that so?"

"Yeah! So you'd better watch out. I'm a lot stronger than Yuka is!"

He resisted the urge to smirk."I'm sure that's true. But before we start fighting I feel like I should let you know that there's something on your head that you might want to take care of."

It was almost sad how easy it was to take Toby down; Natsu didn't even really have to do anything to him. Toby simply reached up and poked himself in the head with his claws and ended up accidentally paralyzing his entire body with his own magic. -How unfortunate, right?


A/N: So as most of you probably already know, some number of months ago my mom was in the hospital with some health complications, which she eventually recovered from, but now she's shown some symptoms of having some more problems which is why I haven't been able to update in a while. Everything should be fine now, but I just wanted to let you guys know what was going on in case something else happens that causes me to disappear for days at a time.

Also, I apologize that I didn't cover this whole episode. Again, I didn't want to drag the chapter on and I felt that it was necessary to update. I'll try and post the rest of it within the next few days.

*I also just had family over for a week so I didn't have time to write a thing.

But I'm happy to be back and I missed you guys so much while I was gone~ I genuinely hope you all enjoyed the update!

-xxTheNightmareBeforexx