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

PROFANITY WARNING!

Originally, this was supposed to be the last update of the Galuna Island Arc, but my power keeps cutting out and I'm not sure when I will have time to update again. This means that the next time I'm free to write, I'm either going to double up two episodes into one chapter or write two separate updates (one of which will be kinda short).

Enjoy!


- Near The Temple of Moon-

"I don't have time for any of this!"

Everyone watched with wide eyes as Lucy abruptly shot forward, an undeniable rage lighting up her brown and gold-speckled eyes as she winded her fist back. Happy and Saiya gasped as her hand cracked across the (human-formed) Ice Dragon's face, sending him spiraling into the ground with a painful thud that caused even Erza to flinch. Lucy jabbed an accusing finger into the Spirit's chest, paying no mind to the red liquid that was rapidly streaming out of the man's nose, and growled lowly from deep in her throat.

Grabbing a handful of his shirt, Lucy clenched her teeth as she yanked his face close enough to hers that their noses almost touched. Her inner wrath bubbled up such a dangerous storm in the center of her chest that it almost made her feel sick.

"I'm not so sure what game you think it is that you're playing at, but I have a lot better things to be worrying about than your stupid, empty threats." The Stellar Spirit Mage said as her eyes narrowed into a nasty glare. "Right now, for all I know, two of my friends could quite possibly be dying while I'm just standing here, wasting my time listening to a stranger who's trying to demand stupid, meaningless explanations! So please, spare me your shitty, over-dramatic monolog and get the hell out of my face!"

As the feisty blonde glowered at him, the Ice Dragon unintentionally chuckled under his breath, thinking to himself how much she resembled the multi-colored dragon he once knew from centuries in the past. Without truly realizing it, an amused smirk tugged up the corners of his lips as he pulled himself up from the ground, and he snorted under his breath as Lucy's eyes flashed in anger again.

Inadvertently, she had caused him to reminisce about the days he had spent with the Grand Celestial Dragon, Draco. It was a long time ago that he had met the Great Star Dragon, but he was a being that was terribly difficult to forget. Memories that had been locked away long after being banished from the Celestial Spirit World emerged within seconds and he didn't know whether he should feel grateful or cursed.

"Yeah, you're definitely his kid alright," The Ice Dragon responded with a small sigh, "For now that's reason enough for me not to kill you. I owe your idiot of a father a favor anyway, so the next time you see him let him know that this rare act of kindness finally wipes our slate clean. It won't be happening again anytime soon."

Thrown off by the sudden change in personality, Lucy's expression faltered.

"...What?"

The Ice Dragon huffed, and he rolled his eyes dramatically at the girl's confusion. Voice a mixture of amusement and annoyance, he eyed the blonde critically and said: "Don't let it get to your head kid; I still don't like you. However, I'm sure that if I really did try and kill you, Draco would crawl out of whatever hole he's hiding in and stop me before I even had the chance to finish. I know for a fact that you're not worth all that effort."

"That's funny!" Lucy hissed. "I was going to say the same thing to you! I'm starting to realize that you're not worth all the effort it took to bring you back into the Celestial Spirit World!"

Waving off the girl's snarky response as if it had never happened in the first place, the Ice Dragon continued: "Besides, I know for a fact that Deliora would be a real pain in the ass if he started destroying things again, and that's a headache I'd rather avoid getting. I'll just go ahead and leave you and your little human friends to do all the work instead." With a slight smirk, the Spirit added, "Who knows, maybe if you impress me enough I'll tell you why you have such difficulty facing earth mages. After all, I'm the last person Draco spoke to before he and everyone else suddenly disappeared."

For a moment, Lucy's heart jumped in her chest and all traces of her previous anger disappeared. She squinted at the man as his words echoed throughout her head -the bitter edge to his voice portraying just how lonely he truly felt despite the brave front he always put up.

Knowing from experience that some things were best left unsaid, the blonde held her tongue and turned to face her other three companions; finally letting go of all of her anger. So many questions wanted to force their way out her mouth, ranging from "what did he say to you" and "do you have any idea where Draco is", yet she knew this wasn't the appropriate time to ask. Not when Lucy was positive that the Ice Dragon wouldn't answer her questions, nor when the sun was close to setting, and definitely not when two of her other friends could be in grave danger.

She would listen to the very words she had said: 'there are bigger and better things going on right now' than worrying about where her Dragon is. Draco's secret location could wait.

"Well? What are we waiting for then? You heard the man."

Lucy's declaration caused Saiya's eyes to widen, and the silver exceed flew toward her owner out of surprise. "You're just going to leave things like at that? Even though you know that he knows something about Draco? What if he know's where he is? You're willing to risk losing this once in a lifetime chance?"

Lucy smirked slightly as she tilted her head to look at the few stars that had emerged in the ever-growing night sky. "What I've learned over the past few years of looking for him, Saiya, is that there's never just a 'once in a lifetime chance'. New, better opportunities will come and go with time. And do you honestly think that finding Draco would be as easy as just speaking to one person? If it was, I'm almost positive that we would've found him by now if that were the case."

Hesitantly, the silver cat pondered over her next words. Her friend had never done her wrong before, and she doubted she would start now.

"Alright," She nodded her head, "Only if you're sure."

"I'm positive. My gut is telling us that we need to go help Natsu and Gray. We can deal with our own problems later; this is more important."

As the blonde turned to face the Temple of Moon she adjusted her cloak so it covered her body better. Yet again, Erza was reminded of how much her old friend had grown since they were kids, and her heart warmed at the fact that Lucy had been able to come across such genuine friends. Had they been there several years before, presented with the same difficult decision, the blonde wouldn't have hesitated to find out any leads on where her dragon was; even if that meant putting other people in danger for her own gain. Now, though, she had actually taken her companions safety into consideration, and Erza couldn't help but internally thank her other two friends for helping Lucy become a better person.

She couldn't help but wonder, though, what else had changed?


Lucy, Erza, and the silver and blue exceeds frantically ran through the forest as they advanced upon the Temple of Moon. Sprinting up several flights of stairs just to get to the first level of the old structure, they raced to beat the rising moon and ever growing midnight black sky.

Unbest to them at the time, Gray was further up, on a different level of the Temple, fighting Lyon with all of his strength; all hopes of convincing him through words abandoned upon finding out that the white haired boy wouldn't budge by something so simple. Equally, violent blows were given by both parties, each fueled by different desires of revenge and the ambition of protecting a mentor's dream. Identical forms of magic were thrown into the mix, Static battling Active Ice in a fight for the right of being called the strongest form of magic.

At the same time, way beneath the Temple where Deliora's frozen body resided, Natsu was fighting a short man who oddly reeked of women's perfume; slow mind working to dissect words spoken with a sharp tongue, riddled with tricks and underlying meanings. Somehow, someone at the very peak of the building was conducting the Moon Drip Ceremony, slowly melting the ice surrounding the demon's giant form; causing the entire Temple to tremble and shake, while the remaining four Fairy Tail Wizards stood at the first level of the Temple, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do.

Titania's brain worked in overdrive to come up with some sort of plan, her S-Class experience enabling her to work easily under such pressure as time started to run out.

"Lucy, do you think that there's any way you could try and slow the ice from melting around Deliora's body?" Erza suddenly questioned, causing the blonde and two exceeds to look at her in confusion.

Unsure, the Stellar Spirit Mage rubbed the back of her neck; nose scrunched up in thought. "I mean, I don't really know, to be honest... I could try and absorb some of the Moon Drip, or maybe figure out a way to deflect the light from hitting it. But that's the best I can do... Why?"

"I'm worried that if we both try and get to the top of the Temple, where the ceremonies happening, that we'll be too late and the ice will melt before we can stop Deliora's revival from happening. I think that the only way we'll even have a chance at stopping it is if we can prevent the light from hitting him, even if it's just for a minute."

Lucy nodded her head in understanding, easily mirroring the red-haired woman's concerns. "Let's do it then. I'll make sure that I do whatever I can to stop the Moon Drip from hitting Deliora while you go and try to stop the ceremony from finishing. The light feels weaker this time, from what I can tell, so I don't think there's a lot of people up there, which works out in our favor. The ice will melt slower and give me a chance to figure out how to slow the process down even more while you do whatever you can to stop the ceremony from finishing."

Completely confident with their new plan, Lucy moved to take a step toward the opening to the very bottom of the Temple, only to suddenly grabbed by her red-haired friend; held back by her wrist.

"Be smart about this, Lucy. I know that you want to help these people, but don't do anything stupid. If Deliora does end up getting revived you have to make sure you get out of there right away. You're strong, we all know that, but this is a battle you absolutely cannot be involved in. Promise me."

Erza's expression faltered as the girl reached out and gently flicked her nose, a genuine smile tugging up the corners of her lips. Her eyes shone without fear as if she wasn't about to go fight one of the most terrifying demons in the world and Titania wasn't sure if that made her feel more relieved or worried.

"I'll come back. So stop worrying about me and hurry up and do your job. We're counting on you too, you know."

Despite how serious the situation was, Erza couldn't help but crack a grin as she lightly punched at the blonde's arm. "I'm being serious here. Be careful."

Lucy smirked and Saiya hooked onto her shoulders, an identically determined glint to both of their eyes.

"When am I not?"

-Was that even a question worth answering?


- Meanwhile : Beneath the Temple -

Natsu rubbed at his nose, the irritating scent of women's perfume causing it to burn uncomfortably as it came toward him in waves. He growled lowly as Zalty continued to smirk at him, his nasty snickering piercing his ears so badly that it started to make his head hurt. After chasing the mask-wearing wizard for what felt like an eternity, screaming questions from the top of his lungs while running all around the Temple, he finally settled on the ground right in front of Deliora's frozen body.

Zalty, who was standing higher up on a structure of rocks, smirked as he looked down at Natsu's peevish form. A snigger threatened to tear through his lips as he saw the annoyed glint to his eyes, body shuddering with glee at being able to bother somebody so easily. The pink-haired boy only seemed to glare harder as he felt the extra pair of eyes on him, but it didn't do anything to deter the masked man's amusement -if anything, it only seemed to spur it on.

Snarkily he exclaimed: "I'm quite surprised that you were able to find me, all things considered. I can't say that I hate the company, though. It'll be nice to have an audience here for the grand finale, even if it is just an airheaded idiot with a small lucky streak."

Natsu hissed; his tongue clicking loudly against the back of his teeth. "I'm normally not one to judge so quickly, but maybe you should ask Lucy or Erza what type of perfume they wear after I'm done kicking your ass. Yours reeks."

Zalty scoffed. "Perfume? Don't tell me that you're not only stupid but blind too? Can't you see that I am, in fact, a man?"

"Well, how else do you think I found you? It's as if you used an entire bottle! Boy or not, you still smell bad."

Natsu stumbled slightly as the Temple suddenly started to shake again, and his eyes widened as he noticed the steady pool of water that started to gather around his feet. Looking up, he saw that the eerie purple light from the Moon Drip Ceremony had started making the ice melt, leaving Deliora's giant head to stick out in the open; completely uncovered.

And it didn't take a genius to put two and two together to realize that it wouldn't take the rest of his body that long to melt either.

When Natsu moved to take a step toward the exit of the cave, however, Zalty seemed to have other plans in mind and used a strange silver orb to hit him in the face. The pink-haired Slayer roughly hit the ground and had his hands not barely shot out when they did he would have completely smashed his face, causing the mask-wearing wizard to laugh hysterically.

"Sorry," Zalty sneered, "but I'm afraid I can't let you leave just yet. Not when we have a whole show left to finish! You can't leave before the best part has even happened!"

Groaning, the Fire Dragon Slayer sluggishly pulled himself up from the ground and glowered at Zalty through his pain. A welt had already started to form on the side of his face where the glass orb had hit him, and he wouldn't be surprised if that whole side of his head got swollen considering how hard he had been hit. When the orb rounded a path back toward him again, though, Natsu lit his hand up with a Fire Dragon Iron Fist and smashed it into a thousand tiny pieces.

Waving his finger at the Fairy Tail Wizard disappointedly, Zalty sang: "Now that wasn't a very nice thing of you to do!"

And somehow, within the blink of an eye, the orb managed to rebuild itself again.


Panting, Natsu wiped a bead of sweat away from his forehead as he narrowly avoided Zalty's white orb again. He had long since lost count of how many times he'd destroyed the ball as well as how many times he had equally been hit by it, and he would be lying if he didn't say that he was growing tired of the redundant process.

Zalty's magic was a difficult one, and the Fire Dragon Slayer struggled to get around the vast potential Arc of Time possessed. Unlike his battle with Yuka, raw strength didn't guarantee immediate success. Destroying the orb wouldn't do anything, seeing as it's owner could just force it back into its 'past' form -where it was whole, and dodging didn't help either when Zalty could drive it into its future form, causing it to move twice as fast. What was possibly even worse was the fact that if Natsu did manage to almost land a crushing blow to the orb, and possibly turn things to his favor, Zalty would freeze its time and make it stop moving so that his counterattack never even followed through.

So, as he stood alone, body painted with welts and bruises, with Deliora literally coming to life behind him, Natsu Dragneel couldn't help but ask for a sign. What was he supposed to do in such a terribly difficult situation?

"Stand up and show em' what it means to be a Dragon Slayer!"

Wide-eyed, the pink-haired boy gaped as a familiar blonde landed directly in front of him. Her Celestial Dragon Wing Attack seemed to surprise the mask-wearing mage as well, causing him to pull back his white orb out of curiosity, and she smirked as she glanced over her shoulder at her injured friend.

"That's what I'm assuming you wanted to hear, at least." She laughed. "Though, it's not exactly that hard to tell what you're thinking about either."

"L-Luce!" Natsu gasped, "What're you doing here?! I thought you were with Erza!"

She shrugged her shoulders dismissively, eyes narrowing in on Zalty's tittering form. "We were, but after we reached the Temple we decided to split up so she sent me down here. Erza thinks that I may be able to redirect the light from the Moon Drip off of Deliora's body while she races to the top of the Temple to stop the ceremony."

"Oh?" Zalty giggled. "Aren't you ever so the clever one? And I suppose you think that I'll just stand back and watch all of this happen?"

Lucy sneered, easily matching what could be seen of the masked man's expression. "Not really. I'm more-so betting on Natsu flat out kicking your ass. You're not the only one with a Lost Magic here, you know."

Raw excitement bubbled up in Zalty's chest causing a strong adrenaline to bounce throughout his core, and he struggled not to pounce right at the blonde haired girl. She easily matched his level of intelligence and spoke with a sharp-witted tongue; completely confident with the words she was going to say. He never expected that the Faries would make things so interesting!

"So you are familiar with my magic then! I was wondering why you didn't ask about the orb after you destroyed it if I'm being completely honest."

The cave shook again, causing various sized sharp rocks to fall from the ceiling and walls, as the ice around Deliora's body continued to melt. It had only been minutes since the Moon Drip Ceremony commenced and the Iced Shell around the demon's body was already almost halfway gone. Deliora roared, violently thrashing his body around to try and further free himself from the ice only to find that it wouldn't budge. In the meantime, Zalty continued to laugh, growing ever amused with the turn of events that continued happening.

"Lu! We're running out of time! You need to do something about the Moon Drip right now!" Saiya cried.

Frustrated, Lucy growled and glanced at the demon from the corner of her eyes. "I know that, but I'm not even sure what it is that I'm supposed to do!"

"Well that's an easy one," Natsu grinned, "Stand up and show em' what it meant to be a Dragon Slayer, right? You're smart, so I know that when it really matters you'll know what to do."

Zalty sighed and made a gagging sound. "Can't you two be all 'lovey dovey' sometime else? We had a good thing going for us before you suddenly decided to start acting like a couple again. If anything's gross it's your reaction to one another."

"I'm all fired up now! You go ahead and do what you gotta do Luce! I'll take care of this guy!" Natsu roared, his fists lighting up with bright red flames.

Hiding her flushed face, the blonde nodded her head and took off into the air. What was that guy talking about anyway? They were absolutely not acting like a couple!

"R-right." She coughed. "I'll leave him to you, then!"

Zalty scoffed, feeling slightly annoyed by the two Slayers cockiness, and used his magic to lift his orb into the air. "You two just don't know when to quit, do you? Don't tell me that you honestly think that you can beat my Arc of Time Magic? I will make sure that Deliora is revived and become the strongest wizard in the world!"

"Is that what this is all about? Power isn't everything in this world! Innocent people could die because of you!"

"And? The lives of measly peasants mean nothing to me! My power will rival that of a god!"

Natsu growled. "I'll make you regret saying that!"

As this was going on, Lucy flinched as Saiya flew her under the Moon Drips light. She bit her lip as a crushing weight settled on top of her back, forcing her to gasp for a breath of air. As the purple light steadily began to flow into her body, changing its pathway away from Deliora to flow toward her (as if she were a magnet), she started to increasingly feel numb. It didn't take Saiya long to realize that something was wrong, and she almost immediately noticed that her friend was in pain based on how badly she was gritting her teeth.

A pressure started to build up in Lucy's chest as small gold scales started to faintly form on her skin, and a small yelp forced its way out of her mouth when a surge of the Moon Drip jumped into her body. Saiya tugged on her shoulders, silently asking if they needed to leave without alerting anyone else of their problems, only to have the blonde shake her head. She couldn't leave now, not when everybody was counting on her.

Lucy's hands started to shake as the light from the ceremony continued to flow into her, and it didn't take her exceed much longer to suddenly start feeling its effects too. Soon enough, both girls felt dizzy and on the verge of passing out. And when sparks started to form around both of their bodies, well, they knew it couldn't mean anything good.

Meanwhile, Natsu powered through a barrage of orbs with a Fire Dragon Slayer Roar that prevented them from reaching him. Barely dodging a large pile of rocks that fell from the ceiling, he used the smoke from his attack as cover and jumped off the wall to come at Zalty from a different angle. The mask-wearing wizard realized the Slayer's intentions just a second too late, and suffered a sharp flame covered Fire Dragon Iron Fist to the face. The force of the punch shoved him off the throne of rocks he was standing on and had it not been for the steady stream of water that had melted on the ground he surely would have suffered more injuries.

"Yosh! Did you see that Luce?" Natsu cheered; a broad grin plastered across his face.

Except when a large explosion caused his ears to ring, and he watched in slow motion as two bodies were thrown across the room, he suddenly wasn't so happy anymore.

"Lucy!"


Coughing, the Celestial Dragon Slayer groaned as she pulled herself out of a pile of debris. Saiya was clutched securely against her chest, her cloak haphazardly thrown over her smaller body in order to protect her from the unexpected blast. She winced as she pulled herself up to her feet; muscles aching from a mixture of the rough collision with the ground and the electric surge that occurred just before the explosion happened. Shaking her hair free of any extra dirt, Lucy looked down to check and see how Saiya was doing, and sighed in relief when she found that she was virtually untouched -just out cold.

"Lucy! Hey, are you alright?"

Voice a little bit hoarse, the blonde Celestial Spirit Mage flashed her friend a small grin. "A bit sore here and there, but other than that I'm fine. It looks like I couldn't last long enough for the Ceremony to stop, though." She sighed.

Natsu frowned and shook his head. "You did all you could. But look," He said as he gestured to Deliora's body, "Erza must have made it to the top of the Temple. The light finally disappeared!"

"No," Lucy said disappointedly, "We weren't quick enough."

A cold blast of wind forced the two Slayers to hide their faces as Deliora threw out his arms, the Iced Shell now turned to water that freely sat around their feet. As his deadly roar ripped through the island, the villagers started to panic, begging their Cheif to run, while Natsu and Lucy clutched onto anything they could hold onto as the sound reverberated deep in their ears. The ground shook and tore as the demon took a step forward, and Lucy cringed as sharp rocks and debris started to fall from all different directions.

Natsu looked over his shoulder in surprise when a familiar scent reached his nose and watched with wide eyes as Gray bent down to run his hands through the melted ice. Deliora continued to rise to a standing position, yet all Gray did was watch with a distant expression as the demon slowly regained all forms of its previous life.

"F-finally!" Lyon hissed. "T-the time for my destiny to be fulfilled has finally come!"

A crazed grin pulled up the corner of the boy's mouth as he shakily pulled himself up to his feet, and Lucy frowned as she watched him struggle to stand upright on his own. He was so blinded by revenge that he couldn't even think rationally; unable to see that he was clearly walking into certain death if he challenged the powerful demon. It was scary to think that in his place could very well have been Gray, had their roles been reversed. What would have happened then?

"N-none of you have the strength... N-neither of you has the same amount of power as me!" He yelled. "S-surpassing Ur and killing Deliora... I-It's my destiny! This is what I was born to do!"

"If all of that really is true, then that just means it's my destiny to stop you."

Lucy turned her gaze down to the ground as Gray knocked his brother out, not wanting to see the expression on his face that surely meant he was saying goodbye. Her vision started to fade in and out, as the strain of being forced through such an exhausting mission finally started to take its toll on her body. She dropped to her knees just as Deliora's eyes started to regain its signature red gleam, forced now only to watch as two of her friends struggled to make the right decision.

As Gray widened his stance, crossing his arms to form an 'x' in front of his chest, Lucy could only do one thing.

"Now, Natsu!"

Gray choked as the Fire Dragon Slayer blatantly stood in front of him; standing directly in the path the Iced Shell would take to re-freeze Deliora's body. He quickly yelled at him to move, explaining that he didn't know what he was doing and that in order to protect everyone in the future this spell had to be cast, yet he wasn't hearing it.

No matter what, he wouldn't budge.

"You got two choices here Ice Princess! Either cancel out the spell or cast the Iced Shell with me standing here. Either way, I'm not moving till this whole thing is over and done with!"

Gray's stomach dropped as Deliora roared once more. His hands began to sweat as Natsu continued to stand strong; showing no signs of ever moving or giving up. The Demon winded his fist back, eyes shining as bright as they could before he threw his arm forward with Natsu still standing in the way.

"Don't do this! You're going to get yourself killed! You can't win!" Gray screamed.

Natsu lit up his fists. "Winning doesn't matter anymore. I only care about protecting my friends."

And then suddenly, Deliora was gone.


A/N: Hey guys, so I just wanted to apologize for not really updating these past few weeks. Between school and Marching Band practices/competitions, I've had absolutely no time to do anything. Luckily, though, I was graced to have this free weekend so I was finally given a chance to write something

I hope you guys enjoyed this update and those to come in the following weeks. I'm super excited about finally being able to write for the Phantom Lord Arc because I have some interesting ideas in mind that I hope I can put to use.

Your feedback is always appreciated!

*Obviously I'm trying my best not to make Lucy a giant unbeatable character/ "I-Win" button which is why I wrote things to backfire against her when she re-entered the Moon Drip for the second time. If anyone is confused with why she wasn't able to absorb all of the moon's light, it's because her body couldn't withstand having that much power at once/it was more than she could physically withstand.

Thanks again!

-xxTheNightmareBeforexx

p.s. This rain from Hurricane Matthew sucks, and my power keeps cutting out, so if you see any mistakes in this chapter I'm going to come back later and fix them when this storm is done.