Chapter 14: Truth

Styxx woke with a start. Cold sweat covered him. The teen was breathing deeply, terrified of the nightmare he awoke from. Every moment of it was burnt into his mind. The agonizing sounds, the pained faces, all of it. He had trouble calming himself. but after a few minutes he was able to.

The white haired teen quickly prepared for the day ahead and went to the lobby of the hotel. There he saw Isabella waiting for the team. Styxx walked up to her.

"Hey, Isabella. Not sleep well?" The shapeshifter asked. Isabella looked as if she had a restless night.

"What? Oh, Styxx. Yeah, I did. Bad dreams is all." Isabella told.

Styxx was surprised to here she had a nightmare last night as well. "R-really? Wh-what was it about?"

Scared, Isabella looked up to her friend, "It...it... it was horrible. At first it seemed like a normal morning here in the hotel. Lucy came down and spoke with us. But then her old friend from Fairy Tail came up to her, Levy I think her name was."

Styxx was shocked by how similar his dream was to hers. The mage continued, "That seemed normal too, since they're staying here in the hotel as well. So you and I went to the dining hall for breakfast while the two caught up. For some reason though, my mind stayed with those two. They kept on talking, and then another Fairy Tail member came up to them. It was the black haired one with a stripping problem.

" They were both scared of him. He was so angry, he was yelling at them. And then... and then" Isabella was sobbing now.

Styxx understood her feelings and finished for her, "He kidnapped her. He took her to his room, and then he... well, you know."

Tears still falling down her eyes, Isabella gaped at her teammate. "H-how do you know that?"

Styxx answered seriously, "Because I had the same nightmare last night."

Isabella was calming down now. She cleaned herself up then asked, "What do you think it means? If we both had the same dream then..." The brunette trailed off, she looked behind Styxx to see Totomaru and Kunaru walking towrds them, grim looks on their faces.

When Totomaru and Kunaru walked up to Isabella and Styxx, they all stood there silently. After a few moments, Kunaru broke the tension, "Did you guys have nightmares too?"

The brunette and the shapeshifter both nodded. That was when Totomaru spoke up. "Was it about Lucy being kidnapped by that black haired mage?" The fire mage didn't continue. By the looks on his companions faces, he could tell that they had the same dream.

Styxx spoke next, "So what do we do about it?"

Kunaru spoke up again, "We should talk to master about it. She should know what to do."

Isabella finally spoke up when she said, "Two of us should stay to make sure Lucy stays safe."

The other three mages murmured their agreements. Then Styxx spoke up again, "I think it should be you two, since Isabella and I were in the dream." The white haired mage pointed at the water and fire mages in front of him.

"No, it should be you and I Styxx." Isabella disagreed. The other three looked at her confused. "We should go along with the dream as far as we need to, that way we could find out more information about the dream and what caused the man to act that way."

Realization dawned on the three men as Isabella explained. They nodded in agreement. With that, Totomaru and Kunaru walked off in search for their master. Styxx and Isabella continued to talk with each other.

"Maybe we're wrong, maybe it's just coincidence." Styxx stated hopefully.

Isabella snorted at the comment, "Yeah right. Four people having the exact same dream, on the same night, no less. There is no way that's a coincidence."

Styxx was slightly offended, "But that outfit she was wearing wasn't hers. All her clothes were too small for her after training."

Isabella unbecomingly snorted again, "Yeah, that's why she and I went shopping the day we got here. Don't you remember us telling you that we were going on a shopping spree?"

Styxx went slightly pink in the face. He had forgotten. Isabella saw him blush, so she nodded then looked away. When the time mage had, she saw Lucy walk over to them. Styxx turned to see her also.

Just like the night before, they had the same conversations, the same chuckles, and the same interruption by Levy. But this time Styxx and Isabella saw Grey, they saw him watching them.

Instead of leaving with Isabella to go to the dining room, Styxx asked, "Levy, would you like to join us for breakfast? A friend of Lucy's is a friend of ours." Isabella nodded in agreement, the two smiled at the script mage.

Levy, eager to keep talking with Lucy, agreed, "Of course! I would love to do!"

With Levy's agreement, the group continued walking. Out of the corner of his eye, Styxx saw Grey silently knocked out by Kunaru and carried off by Totomaru. He smiled again then looked down at the blond in front of him. Lucy was safe from the ice mage, for now.

The four mages arrived at the dining hall to see it filled with Fairy Tail and Wolf's Howl members. None of them were talking with each other. None except the few that had left Fairy Tail and joined Wolf's Howl. They were catching up with each other apparently.

The dining hall was really a breakfast buffet, so the four companions walked over and served themselves. The group then sat down at a table together. The members of both guilds took this as a sign that it was okay to talk with one another. Soon, the hall was filled with laughter and talk.

"Their really enjoying themselves. It makes me happy." Lucy smiled, relishing in the fact that there was little to know ill emotions between the two guilds.

"Yeah. If nothing bad happens between the two, maybe an alliance will be made between the two." Levy agreed, hoping for a chance like that to happen.

"Alliance? What do you mean?" Lucy was confused, she didn't understand what her best friend meant.

Styxx spoke up to explain, "Alliances are something that was introduced while you were frozen in time in with the rest of Fairy Tail. An alliance is when two or more guilds will join together for different kinds of reasons. A guild in an alliance has a duty to house members of the other guilds. Members can also help out on requests with members from the other guilds. Of course, they are also meant to help protect the other guilds in the alliance as well."

"Alliances were actually inspired by the one used to defeat Oración Seis, Lucy. So technically you have some experience with alliances already." Isabella added in.

Lucy nodded, "Ok, I think I've got it down. Thanks Styxx, Isabella."

"So your names are Styxx and Isabella?" Levy asked.

Styxx and Isabella nodded, then Styxx said "Yep, don't wear it out." The white haired mage then took a bite of one of his numerous foods.

Levy saw this and was confused, he seemed to eat almost as much as Natsu. To have her curiosity sated, the teen asked her best friend, "How is he able to eat so much? It's almost as much as Natsu."

Instead of Lucy answering, Styxx did instead, "This isn't my true form. The form I'm in now is much smaller than my true one."

Levy was only more confused now, "How is that?"

Styxx swallowed the food in his mouth then sighed, "I use shape shift magic. That means I can change into any living thing I want."

Levy stared in awe, she had never heard of such advanced shape change magic before. "So that's why you all transformed from wolves before? You used your shape shift magic?" Styxx merely nodded as he continued to eat. Levy then asked another question, "So what does your true form look like?"

The shape shifter looked around the dining hall, trying to find something to compare to. After about a minute, he saw someone to use, "Okay, you see that huge guy over there? The one with the white hair?" Styxx pointed at the man, which happened to be Elfman.

Levy nodded. "I'm a little bigger than him."

Levy was speechless, her jaw open. "H-how can you change that dramatically and still have magic power?"

"It only takes power to change, not to maintain the form. Unfortunately my appetite doesn't change, so I have to eat huge amounts."

The blue haired girl silently nodded, then turned to Isabella, "Wh-what about you? Do you shape shift as well?"

Isabella only laughed, the brunette had trouble speaking, but was able to get her words across. "N-no, I don't shift shape." Levy sighed in relief. Isabella continued, "I shift something else. But I'm going to keep what exactly that is a secret." Levy gasped again. She couldn't believe how powerful they were.

For the rest of the meal, the group asked each other questions, made small talk, and joked around. The people around them had all left until there was only them and a few late morning wakers. When it was finally time for the four to leave, Levy said her goodbyes and ran off to find the rest of Fairy Tail.

"Lucy." Styxx said. Lucy stopped waving to her friend and turned around. "Isabella and I have to speak to the master. Could you wait out here until we're done?" The blond teen nodded and walked off to a near by chair. The two then walked off to their masters room.

When they had arrived, Styxx knocked on the door. It was quickly opened and they were let in. Inside, tied to a chair, was Grey. He was yelling all sorts of profound insults. All were actually quite amusing to Styxx, but he kept quiet.

It was Kunaru who had opened the door for them, so he was standing with Isabella and Styxx. Theodora was sitting in the corner quietly. Totomaru was the one who was questioning Grey.

"Why were you following Lucy?" The fire mage asked. He was pissed off. Grey had only just woken up.

"I didn't mean to do anything to her. I was just following her to keep an eye on her." After a few seconds, the ice mage realized what he said and spoke up again, "W-why did I say that?"

Kunaru spoke up now, answering Grey's question, "While you were out cold, we charmed you so you'll answer all our questions truthfully."

Grey's eyes widened at this and sat still for a few moments, defeated. When he spoke up again, his voice was soft and hard to hear. "I-I was just following Lucy because I missed her. Her leaving hit me badly. It made me want to hate her." The Wolf's Howl members all darkened in mood as he said this, but then Grey went on, "But... after yesterday... after I heard her sing, I-I just couldn't help but hate myself. She had every right to leave after what we did to her. It just took me a while to figure that out."

Styxx, eyes wide, quickly ran out of the room. Theodora looked at the other three mages and they looked at each other as well. They were all thinking the same thing, Then who will attack Lucy? As realization dawned on them, the other three members of the Wolf's Howl team ran out of the room. Only Theodora and Grey were left.

Grey was confused. Why would they react that way to what he said? As if reading his mind, Theodora answered his thought, "Last night, those four and myself had a vision." Grey wore an even more confused look on his face, so the old mage continued, "In the vision, you kidnapped Lucy and then attacked her."

Grey was horrified by this, but was still confused, "But I would never do that!"

Theodora shook her head, "No, you wouldn't. But you would give us the information needed for us to know. In the vision, you followed Lucy, you kidnapped her, and you attacked her.

"In truth, you only followed her. That means that you were used as a symbol. Used to tell us that it was someone from Fairy Tail, someone close to Lucy, and someone that holds feelings of love for her."

Grey only nodded, seeing the truth in the matter. But then he grew scared as well. He didn't entirely trust this whole 'vision' thing going on. But if there was the possibility of Lucy in danger, he would help her. Both mages were silent now, both trying to figure out who it is that would hurt their friend.

Grey, being from Fairy Tail, figured it out first, "Hey old lady." Theodora looked up, annoyance masking her face. "I have a good idea of who it is."

Theodora walked over to the ice mage and untied him, "If you know who it is, then tell me quickly and we'll go."

Grey stood up and quickly stretched his back, preparing for the day to come. When he finished he looked down at the old mage and simply stated, "Natsu Dragneel.