A/N: Hi again! Another quick thank you for all the people that followed this story, as well as favorited it! I really do appreciate it! :) That's all for now, so keep reading!

(Also, I've realized that I haven't mentioned Happy or the other Exceeds yet. My bad! They will be in this chapter, so don't worry!)

Disclaimer: I own no part of Fairy tail

"Just give us Jellal, and nobody gets hurt."

The guild was suspended in shock. Nobody understood what the man meant- what could they want with Jellal? Most people turned to look at the blue-haired mage, who had come out of the infirmary when he heard his name spoken. They searched his face for any semblance of recognition as to who these men might've been or why they were looking for him. To their dismay, Jellal looked just as unsure as they felt.

The men in the doorway were not stupid. They knew who Jellal was the moment the whole foolish guild swiveled to look at a blue-haired man near the back of the room.

"So that's him?" Asked the other man in the doorway. His voice was slightly higher than his companion's, and a touch softer- there was almost a sympathetic ring to it.

By now the dust had settled, and the guild could see that the two men were wearing thick, heavy cloaks. They couldn't see any features of the men except their hands. One pair was silky and perfect, the other deeply scarred.

The first man- the one with the scarred hands- didn't wait for confirmation before beginning to advance into the guild. He was headed straight for the wizard with the red mark on his confused face. He was so focused on his target that he didn't see the flying ball of pink-haired fury as it zoomed towards him, punching him squarely in the jaw. There was a sickening crunch as fist made contact with bone, and Natsu could tell he had most likely broken something in his hand. Natsu couldn't put his finger on it, but something about this particular man's scent was irritating him; it was familiar, but he couldn't place where from.

The scarred man staggered backward, momentarily confused. This, of course, gave Natsu an opportunity to land another punch. The hood of his cloak was knocked backward, and Natsu could see that the face he was punching was a mask of scars under a blanket of forest-green hair. Natsu's temper roared as he realized why the man's scent was so off-putting. This man's scent was on Nashi when I found her. He must've been the idiot that ran into her! There was a stream of blood and swearing as Natsu beat up the intruder, but he was pulled off by Gray before he was even close to being satisfied with the damage he was inflicting.

"Take it easy, Natsu," Gray said. Natsu roared in protest, wanting so badly to explain why the man made him so angry, but he was unable to talk around the burning wall of rage that was building in his chest. Gray extended a hand to help the man on the floor to his feet. "Give them a chance to explain themselves. Maybe they're not-" There was a shooting pain in Gray's face, rendering him unable to finish his order for peace. It took him a few seconds for the pain to dull enough for him to understand that he had been punched.

The man who had punched Gray burst into thin air, which was confusing, to say the least.

Natsu shook off Gray's hold and ran to where the man's smell was the strongest. He was stopped by Lucy and Happy, who were trying to talk to him and calm him down. He tried to focus on her face, but the anger inside him made it impossible to understand what they were saying or who they were.

After they shook off the bafflement of witnessing a man literally vanish into thin air, the rest of the guild started looking around for the cloaked men as well. They turned their heads in time to see two billowing silhouettes running into the distance, towards the direction of the sun. Natsu and Gray simultaneously started to run after them, but Lucy and Juvia caught them before they could get to the door.

"Natsu... Now isn't the time. Let it go, okay?" Lucy begged, her words finally registering in Natsu's brain.

"You might be hurt, Gray. You need to be checked by Porlyusica for injuries. And Lucy's right; now isn't the time."

The furious men huffed a few times to calm themselves down before agreeing with their wives. Natsu reached his hand up to Lucy's face so that he could tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, but was met with shooting pain up his whole arm instead. Wincing, he sucked air through his teeth and grasped at the base of his pinkie, which was where the pain was originating.

"Yikes, Natsu. I think Juvia's right. You and Gray should go get checked out. That might be something serious." Said Lucy as she dragged Natsu to where Porlyusica was waiting. The healer led the two men to a table and began to assess their injuries.

Meanwhile, the rest of the guild was forming a large circle around the room so that they could talk.

"Jellal, what was that all about?" Erza asked.

"I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen them before..."

"You have no clue why they're targeting you?" Asked Mira.

"I'm sorry, but I don't." He responded. He really did look apologetic, like he was somehow blaming himself for all the misfortune of the day.

"You only just joined our guild about a year ago... I didn't think it was common knowledge that you were with us now." Said Mira, thinking to herself. "How did they find you?"

Mira was right. Although Jellal and Erza had been together for close to five years now, Jellal had only recently joined Fairy Tail- only a year and a half ago, after he went on his last mission with his old guild, Crime Sorciaire. He came back from that quest- a demon-slaying expedition, if Erza remembered correctly- and broke the news that his guild was splitting up. Erza, of course, suggested that he join Fairy Tail. It took several weeks of pleading, but he eventually got branded with the Fairy Tail crest and was excepted as a true member of the guild.

"Umm... Guys? Look at this." Said Cana. She had wandered to the gaping hole in the wall that was once the door, hoping to find some way to fix it. But instead of finding hinges or a slab of wood, she found a note. It said:

We warned you.

You should've handed him over. We'll be back.

Brace yourselves, Fairy Tail.

This was the biggest mistake you ever made.

The note was passed around, and reading it only added to the confusion of everybody in the guild. What had they done wrong? What had Jellal done that would make the so angry at him?

Master Makarov spoke up. "It looks like we're preparing for battle again, children." An air of seriousness settled in the room. This wasn't their first battle by a long shot, but they still managed to get nervous. It didn't help that this was their first real issue since all the children had been born, so now they had them to think about.

"What's the plan, Master?" Erza asked. She was already pushing the pre-battle nerves aside, gearing up to fight the men who had threatened her husband.

"Well, it would help to know why they're targeting you... Jellal? You don't know anything about them?"

Jellal opened his mouth to explain again that no, he had no clue who they were, but Lucy beat him to it.

"Do you think... could they've been from the Tower of Heaven?" She asked.

The whole guild was silent while they tossed the idea around in their minds. It was Jellal who broke the silence.

"Yes, they could have been. I wasn't exactly paying great attention to who was there at the time, so I suppose so... There's just one problem. Why would they attack now? Why not when I was in a smaller guild and had less protection?"

Mira answered his inquiries. "Well, they might not have been able to track you down until recently. Your old guild was always on the move, right? It would've been hard to find such a small target in such a big world even if you were stationary, but add in the fact that it's a moving target, and you've got yourself an even bigger challenge."

"Yes, that makes sense," Erza confirmed. Mira flashed a smug smile at Erza, an old habit from when they used to fight in their pre-teen years. "But what's the plan, then?" Erza continued. "If they really are coming back, and I'd rather not doubt that they are, we have to have some sort of plan. We don't want to be taken off guard again."

Yuki, who had been nestled in the corner of the infirmary with her brother, was growing tired. She made her way to the circle of adults that were in the middle of the room and tugged on her mom's sleeve.

"Momma?" Asked the five-year-old. "I'm getting ti-" She was interrupted by her own yawn. Once she was able to speak again, she finished her sentence, then promptly leaned against her mom and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, baby. You're probably really overwhelmed, huh?" Erza reached down to scoop up her daughter and rocked her in her arms. Then a thought struck her. "Guys... what'll we do about the children? They can't stay here... we can't put them in harm's way. But we can't all stay with them either. We need to fight."

Lucy understood exactly what Erza was getting at. She had been worrying about what she would do with Nashi and Stella. Porlyusica said she needed to stay with Nashi, but they couldn't stay here, could they?

"Why don't we leave them with Levy?" She suggested after a moment of thought. "She can't fight, not in her condition. We can just herd all the kids at my place and the rest of us can go fight."

Gajeel immediately saw a flaw in Lucy's reasoning. "But what if the house gets attacked? Isn't your place pretty out in the open? It is a possibility, and Levy wouldn't be able to protect the kids or herself if there was a serious issue. Why don't I stay with them too?"

"You can't, Gajeel. You're one of our most valuable fighters. Someone else can stay with Levy, but I don't think it can be you." Cana cut in.

"Well, who else would be willing to sit out of the fight?!" He roared. He was getting possessive. He didn't want Levy or their baby to get hurt, and he thought he was the most capable of taking care of them.

Lucy was beginning to get frustrated. Nothing seemed to be working out today. Nashi was hurt, the guild was attacked, and now they couldn't figure out what to do with themselves.

"...I can do it." Said a voice in the back of the room. It was Lisanna, who was surrounded by all the Fairy Tail children that had been hidden away. She must've gone to get them. Lucy thought. "I don't mind sitting out from the battle, and I really do love kids! They'll be safe with me and Levy... if that's okay?"

Lucy huffed a sigh of relief. Lucy trusted Lisanna with her life, and would gladly place the care or her kids in her hands any day. She remembered the day their friendship took root, and it made her smile...

Eight and a half years ago...

Lucy and Natsu had just returned from a week-long mission and announced the news of their engagement to the guild.

"It's about time!" Cana called.

"I can't believe you made her wait until she was 20 to propose to her, you fire-brained wimp!" Gray yelled. Natsu knew that was just Gray's unique way of congratulating him, and it only made his smile grow wider.

'When's the wedding?" Asked Mira

There were several forms of congratulations being called out from every point in the room, ranging from sincere to playful and back to sincere again.

Lucy, who was also glowing with happiness, was looking around the room. Her eyes met Lisanna's, and her stomach turned. She knew Lisanna had a thing for Natsu, and she couldn't help feeling like she had wrecked that for her. Although there was no part of her that regretted saying yes to Natsu, Lisanna and Natsu had been friends for as long as Lisanna had been in the guild. Lucy couldn't help feeling a little guilty for stealing him from her.

Lisanna, catching wind of Lucy's emotions, approached the newly engaged couple. She took Lucy by the hand and brushed off Natsu's protests as she led her away.

"Just let me congratulate her, woman to woman!" Lisanna called back.

Once they were alone in the kitchen, Lisana started talking.

"I know what you're thinking, and don't even go there. I'm so happy for you, Lucy!"

"But Lisanna, I know how you feel-"

"Lucy. It's true that Natsu and I are good friends, but it's nothing more than that. You have to understand that when I was in Edolas, I had been silently letting go of this life, piece by piece. I never thought I would be able to return here, and when I did, it was a miracle. So yes, maybe I do still like Natsu a little bit. But it would have been extremely selfish to come back here thinking I had some sort of childish claim over him when I had been in Edolas all that time trying to forget him. So please don't worry about me. I really am so happy for the both of you."

Lucy had tears in her eyes now. She was so relieved that there were no hard feelings between the two of them. They embraced, and Lucy could feel that Lisanna meant every word she had spoken.

Present day

"Of course!" Lucy exclaimed. "That's a wonderful idea, Lis!"

"I guess..." Said Gajeel. Levy chuckled at him. She knew that as much as Gajeel didn't want to admit it, he really trusted the white-haired takeover mage.

"Only one problem. Where are we going to stay?" Lisanna asked. "Gajeel had a point, Lucy. Your house is too out in the open. And besides, I think it would be better if Porlyusica and Nashi stayed there, anyway. But my place is too small, and I'm guessing that Levy's is as well. Right?" She looked at Porlyusica first for confirmation, then at Levy. Both people nodded their heads. "So where will we go, then?"

Mira chuckled. "Oh, Lis. Why don't you just use my house? It's pretty far out in the country, and it's pretty big." She offered. Lisanna smiled as she remembered her sister's house. It was on the outskirts of Magnolia, where it wasn't very busy. There weren't very many neighbors, and the house was large enough to hold the four kids and two women.

"That sounds perfect!" Said Lucy, with a sizeable yawn afterward. "But we'll have to continue planning in the morning. I'm beat."

"Me too," Stella said. "I'm a beet, too. I need to go to sweep." Lucy chuckled at her daughter's phrase and picked her up.

Porlyusica, having finished examining the two men who were injured in the fight, handed them back to their wives. She reported that Natsu had fractured his pinkie, and he had a cast on to prove it. Gray seemed to escape with nothing but a major headache. Lucy chuckled at Natsu's obvious hatred for the binding plaster on his hand and led him to the door with Stella in tow and Nashi in her arms. Nashi had been cleared by Porlyusica to go home.

"But I'll be there tomorrow to look after her, so you can leave once I get there, okay?" The whole guild laughed at Porlyusica's not-so-subtle way of kicking the Dragneel's out of their own house.

Having agreed that it was getting pretty late, everybody started walking out of the guild hall through the nonexistent door. They all went home and to bed, but they'd be lying if they said that any of them got a good night's sleep.

In a park, not far from Fairy Tail...

A small, twelve-year-old girl nestles herself under a cherry blossom tree onto a bed of grass, determined to get comfortable. Lying on her back, she looks up at the stars. They're so pretty. She thinks. I wonder if he can see them too.

The girl's eyelids start to feel heavy, and she gives no resistance as they force themselves closed. She's had a long day, and she knows she will have several more like this one ahead of her.

Rolling onto her side, she mumbles something slurred with sleep before she is whisked away into the world of dreams.

"I wonder if I'll find you tomorrow... Papa."

A/N: As is the tradition now, I left off with a cliff hanger. I don't think this one's as bad as the other ones, right? I want to tell you more about the girl in that last part, but I can't! Because I have to keep you on your toes! GRRRRR! I wanna tell you exactly who she is and how important she is, but I CAN'T! ;(

I guess I revealed a little more than I wanted to there... Oh well. I didn't divulge any top-secret information, so I'll keep it there.

Anyway... how was Lisanna's backstory? I hope you guys liked it! I finally ended the first day. Gosh, it only took me five chapters to do it. I hope you guys will keep reading, maybe even leave a review!

-K