Chapter Five- Protector

"Why are you bleeding?"

Nicky looks at Zeref with a nonchalant expression, cocking an eyebrow. "I hit myself coming up."

"You found that possible?"

"Dude lay off man, it's my blood."

Obviously Nicky's words and his appraising expression takes Zeref aback.

My attacker turns to a brawl between two boys who look like the people from Yukino's room. He raises his palm and both boys are hit squarely in the chest. They fall back a few feet from each other, heaving.

I feel sore all over. My head pounds, my throat hurts, my palms hurt, my mouth still has the metallic taste of blood, my wounded shoulder with the thin fabric still wrapped around it throbs and I can't stand straight without feeling a sharp stab in my spine.

Perfect.

I wait beside the cornerstone which is resealing itself and the next second Gray's horrified ocean eyes lock with mine. His eyes take in my state and linger on my mouth. I wipe away the dried blood.

I will be happy to say that I would not mind if I was simply hurt all over. News flash—I am dirty and disheveled. Which annoys me far more.

"You will fight each other today," Zeref says. The early morning sun hits me in the eyes strongly, after the darkness of the chasm.

"But you have to conquer one fear first," he continues. "Once you are capable of doing that, with or without magic, you will fight with any member from any guild. The first two to go are Fairy Tail's Heartfilia and…" he looks at Yukino. "The guild-less girl."

"It's Yukino," she snaps at him. She shifts away as he turns towards her and comes to stand beside me.

"Alright. Everyone move away. Give the mages the street."

The street? I thought we would train in the Domas Flau, having an advantage due to our location.

As Yukino and I step out into the sunlight, she whispers to me, "What happened to you? You're bleeding all over."

"No, I'm not," I frown. Yukino sighs and points to my palms. Then her eyes slide to my knees and lastly to my neck.

I hesitantly touch the back of my neck. It's just a single cut. "I feel okay," I tell her.

We can't talk any longer. She steps away and I go backwards too. Then Zeref comes in the centre and a purple magic circle surrounds his outstretched hand. It looks like the golden circles that Hibiki uses to track.

There are numerous runes in the circle, but before I can see them properly, the street is gone. I stand on solid ground but this place is different.

Panic takes over me, again. The walls in front of me stretch for miles downwards and upwards and there are numerous panels caked with dirt attached from one wall to another. The walls to my sides are so far apart, that I cannot see them, and no matter how huge this place it is, I begin to feel trapped again.

I stand on a pretty much similar platform as was in the chasm, but it's not wide. It is enough for my two feet to stand, and three more are unequally placed near me.

I stumble a bit as I try to move and a few loose rocks fall off. I hear a faint sound of something hitting the water.

I don't speak or breathe as I wait for something to happen.

Then suddenly, the distant black door across this thin platform opens and a blinding light appears. In the centre, a broken, bleeding Levy McGarden stands.

Her form flickers and the door is swallowed by the light as she stand across from me at the other end of the ground. I feel scared. I am in this wide, dark place with high walls and narrow platforms to stand on or drown and a dead girl stands opposite me.

"L-Levy?" I choke out.

Her hand lifts to her heart as she opens her mouth. "Why did you kill me?"

"What?! Levy, I—" Not real. Not real.

"You were right there," she says softly. Her voice is melodious as always and it hurts to listen. "You let him kill me. To protect yourself."

I have done a good job of blocking the battle from my mind. But whatever I remember of Levy's death, I know that didn't happen.

Or did it?

"You knew, and you didn't warn me, Lucy!" she screams at me. Tears stream down her soft cheeks and the blood seeping across her clothes depends.

I did. Did I? Did I?! I see the battle again. I see myself shying away from the two attackers, hitting one with my magic, the one in front of me. I see the one behind me lock Levy as the easiest target there. I see him raise his arms in the deathblow Zeref tried to use. I see Levy's back arch. I see myself look away, too intent on protecting myself first.

"Just a warning Lucy," Levy whispers now, walking closer. Her legs are unstable yet she walks, like a puppet. Her hand, broken, rests by her side. Her wide eyes are filled with accusation. "That's all you had to do."

"You're not real," I say at last. My voice breaks. "Levy."

"Am I not?!" she sobs in rage, closer. "Then you wouldn't care about killing me again, would you?"

"W-what?"

She is too close now. Her tear stained face presses near mine as her hands grab my right arm. "Go on, kill me!"

"I…can't!"

"I knew it," she says. "You're pathetic enough to let your best friend die. But you're not brave enough to conquer guilt."

Not real. Not real. "Levy, please."

"You killed me, Lucy. It was not battle, it was your selfishness."

"Damn it!" I shout. Power erupts from my Fleuve d'étoiles. The whip rises above in a circling light of blue and golden and it lashes out at Levy.

The power disintegrates her and I drop to my knees. That was not her, I keep repeating. But her voice echoes in my mind. Her words sink deep into my heart.

The horrible place disappears. I am on the sunlit streets of Clover. I don't realize I am sobbing into my hands until I hear myself getting louder and I don't get up.

Then I remember the next part of training and I get up. What had I conquered there? That guilt shouldn't stop me from fighting? That what was said to me shouldn't affect my power?

I don't care.

Yukino takes longer than me. I notice the runes-graved purple circle still encasing her. She is motionless but I know she must be in the same position I was in. My purple circle is gone; I simply stand on the street.

My Fleuve d'étoiles. It worked, which must mean I still have power, and I intend to use it. Or maybe emotions channel power, it has worked before.

When Yukino too collapses on the floor, Zeref commands us to fight. I don't want to fight her. But she has power left too and she uses her keys first. I sigh, knowing I cannot use Urano Metria and end this quickly and go forward with the whip.

The next second confuses me. Her spirit tries to block my attacks when my the light circling the whip comes in contact with Yukino's skin. I expect her to fall to the ground but I let my guard down too easily. In the next second that she flips her next key, I have used up all my power.

Her spirits collide into me and I land hard on the road. I vainly tug at Leo's key, hoping against hope. It shines but he can't come out due to my power and I feel myself give up. My eyes close and I welcome some sleep.

Gray's worried eyes meet me as I come to my senses. I ignore the soreness in my body as I yawn.

"Wuzzareyoudoin'here?" I mumble groggily. Then I cough and say, "What are you doing here?"

"Well you missed the other fights when you blacked out. I carried you down before Zeref decided to throw in the river or something, and if you're interested, I won my fight against Jan."

"Hun? Like in honey?"

"Jan!" he says. "That huge guy from Gramlush Guild."

I raise a hand to my temples. "Ugh. I feel horrible."

"You look horrible," Gray corrects, but smiles when I glare at him. "You know I had to carry you down that chasm, and we fell for a really long time. At least the platforms last time were some solid ground."

"Thank you?" I yawn again. "What time is it?"

Gray gives me a weird look. "I don't exactly have an underground watch Lucy, but it's about three hours since the training. So almost noon I guess."

He pauses. "You need to tell me what he did to you."

"Zeref."

"Oh…" I sigh and narrate briefly what he said and did, editing the part about him throwing me back. I honestly can do without the extra attention.

"Where is everyone?" I ask, once Gray is done listening.

Another look. "If you remember anything about what that bloody idiot said, then we are free to be up at noon. So most people are up on Clover."

"Don't the common people get scared?" I muse.

Gray sighs and gets up. I think I annoyed him by asking stupid questions, but he says, "That's the worst part. They're scared of us."

"But we haven't—"

"And they don't know that," Gray says. Then he raises a hand to his temples. "Something's wrong Lucy. Even Tartarus would not go to such lengths just to make an army. How does he know we won't rebel when we're stronger?

"Because they're stronger?" I point out, rolling my eyes. "The whole of Fairy Tail guild is more than the number of mages here and it takes everything we have to defeat one major dark guild."

"Maybe you're right on that one, but," he bends down to the ice I am lying on. No wonder I am freezing again. "Think about it Lucy. Why train us? Why eliminate the weak? Wouldn't the logical thing be to simply force everyone into their new society?"

My head throbs painfully as something clicks in place. Force us?

"No wait, Gray," I rush to get all my words out. "Even if people like that girl Lucy and Yukino were alive and forced, then they wouldn't be much use."

He stares at me blankly.

I make a sound of impatience. "What I mean is, they would be an easy target to force into battle. But they're not strong enough, magically or physically. If the remaining mages here are, then once we're even stronger, you're right we can rebel no matter what. They are making a fool of themselves."

Gray's eyes suddenly widen. "No they're not…" he mutters.

"What?"

"They're buying time," he declares. "They're not training us—or whatever it is they're doing—just for the heck of it. It won't be easy to win over every guild in this world, so duh, they need strong mages. But they won't let us get to the rebel part."

"I don't quite follow you."

"We get controlled, don't you see?" Gray snaps his fingers. "Like…like puppet magic. Or that thing that Kain did, by controlling you."

Control us? That is why I suspected why someone couldn't simply say none of us would join the army. They were going to program us, control us to become their army. And we weren't strong enough to protest until they did….

"Gray, how are you sure—"

"Lucy, is there any other reason to waste a whole week making us accept our fears and become the damn strong wizards they want us to become? Why should they fight themselves, they—"

"They want us to do it for them and they know that even with Minerva and Sabretooth people can rebel. Yukino was right…we'll do their dirty work."

…or were we?

Gray's sudden burst of energy dissipates and he sits down on the ground. I can't lift my head, which feels like a metal ball, so I can only see the top of his head.

"Yukino?"

"I met her in the morning."

I take it he is about to respond when then I see a flash of black and white garments through the gaping hole in the door. Then Sherry crouches and walks in through the space.

She doesn't look at us as she speaks, "We need to do something about this."

"Uh, right," I cough. "You know where Wendy is?"

The pink-haired girl turns to me, her eyes clouded with emotions I can't place. I have learnt to ignore Sherry's reactions these days, knowing I will not understand them.

"Everyone's on the street."

Gray stands up and leans against the ice. "What about you?"

Sherry lets out an exasperated sigh. "Am I not allowed to be here?"

I frown. What's wrong with asking where she was? But her eyes harden again and she marches right past us. Her ice has begun to melt, so she simply sits down hard on the rocks and looks away, glaring.

"Friendly," I mutter. Then I slowly try to get up, testing each part. I have to be up and moving before Zeref accuses me of being weak and vaporizes me too.

I just feel sore and pretty much everywhere from my back up hurts, but it's bearable.

"We should go find Wendy," I say.

I am sleeping on ice.

And I feel hot.

The nape of my neck boils as if morphine is burning off and my long blonde hair irritates me for once in my life. I briefly consider chopping it off by summoning Cancer but then decide against. Firstly because I can't summon him right now, and secondly because I rather like my hair.

So, feeling stupid, I tear off a bit of the fabric from the left side of my top as well, so that there are almost identical cuts up till above my hip on both sides. Then I grab my hair and twist it up, tying it with the cloth.

It can't be anything to do with my fight today. I got a day off because Gray pretended I was way too injured to join in the fights, but by the time Zeref called everyone to the stone floor with a blue fire burning in the middle, I was up and hyper.

Sadly, my opponent could control two elements at the same time, fire and earth. He too had been low on magic, so he used just fire, earth magic already used up to heal his door.

Happily, I won. My whip didn't betray me, nor did my split second summon of Taurus.

I guess it's night now. Is it? It must be. We're all supposedly sleeping again.

After ten minutes I can't take it anymore. I slip past Wendy again and climb out through the hole in the door. It's large enough. Wendy was too tired to heal the door when she came back and she sleeps on the same ice as me again. She whispers 'Charles' in her sleep sometimes, worrying for her Exceed. All three Exceeds at our guild are with Makarov, which is some reassurance.

I step out on the floor. Definitely night. There is no light and I can't even make out which rocks allowed access to the sunlight before anyway.

I don't have a clue as to what I am going to do.

So I spread my arms and lie down on the centre of the grey stone floor. My eyes close and I imagine myself in Fairy Tail. Mirajane and Lisanna laugh with me at the bar counter and Natsu and Gray fight behind me.

Happy flies around my head, begging to me to tell Natsu to stop fighting until Erza lets out a frustrated groan and throws her cheesecake at them. I laugh, holding my sides, at her horrified expression.

Natsu's Fire Dragon's Roar ends up charring one of the pillar and Master ends up penalizing him again. Levy comes and sits next to me, asking me when I'll finish scribbling my last chapter. Bisca and Alzack get mushy somewhere in the guild and amused groan arise.

And then I open my eyes.

No Natsu. No Erza. No Levy.

My eyes squeeze shut as I cry for a real reason for the first time here. I let it all wash over me and then I am sobbing and pressing my fist against my lips to keep it low. I allow myself to feel homesick, I allow a bit of vulnerability.

And I can't breathe in this place. It's too trapped, and I never liked underground anyway.

I wonder…

Wiping the stupid moisture from my eyes, I begin to walk towards the west. Then I stop. How will I understand which way is up? The first time I followed Zeref to the mouth of the chasm and then got sucked by the blue Transporter orb.

I can die. Or get caught. Or lost. And I don't know Lost Magic to transport me.

I ignore all that and start to run my hands against the rocks, going left. If I go left, then I can't go in the wrong direction.

Then I take a deep breath and stop once I am far from the floor and standing in the darkness. Trying my luck, I remove a key from my waist, concentrate hard, and whisper; "Gate of the Maiden, I open thee; Virgo!"

The key glows. Then a faintly flickering Virgo appears in front of me. I missed her, but I don't waste magic by trying to hug her or say hello. I just point upwards and say, "Please."

She understands. "I can't stay long, Princess," she warns, as her fair hands take mine and I follow her deeper into the earth.

She goes at a high speed, and I realize why she is so faint. My power cannot manage this speed, so she is using her life force. My eyes sting.

When I finally arise at the very edge of the chasm, I scramble and crawl towards the door which we came through. I thank Virgo and she disappears along with the hole she created.

It takes so little time to clamber up the rocks and loose stones and reach the cornerstone, I don't realize I have to tap it and circle the insignia until I do.

Then I breathe in fresh air as I appear on the other side, on the street. The night air too is tainted with remains of the fight, but I can smell the air. I sigh in relief as I look up at stars. They shine brighter in Clover than in Magnolia.

"Hey Levy," I murmur to the stars. "How's life? Did you meet Mom?"

The stars glitter back at me.

"That's right," I agree. "It must be peaceful."

I don't know how long I lean back and stare up at the sky. In the distance the glass panels of the cathedral and is illuminated by the quiet, lit Clover. I hear the occasional cars, and laughing in the distance, but not many roam the streets. Everything seems normal, another day in Fiore.

Perhaps an hour passes until the air begins to get colder despite the summer month and I trace the insignia again. The stone doesn't open. I try twice more and on the fourth, terrified attempt it responds to the magic and groans open.

I descend, landing hard on the rocks and abusing my already injured back further. Just great. I don't wait to see if the stone closes or not, because if by any mishap someone is outside the chasm, the opening must have been heard. Damn.

I run at a slow but steady pace and breathe a sigh of relief when I catch sight of the grey-blue stone floor to the chasm. Then I slow down.

As I latch one foot over the uneven base of the gilded door to the floor, my eyes are suddenly blinded by a flash of green. Someone just walked past me.

My heart ignores my sternum and decides to reside in my throat for a second.

I press myself against the rocky wall beside the heavy door and don't breathe. I hear voices, two males and one female.

"—because it's useless," someone says. His voice is deep, quiet, calculated.

"Not exactly. As long as Lamia Scale is there—" Zeref's soft voice sends a chill down my back. I can't figure out whether it is fear or nervousness.

"Oh shut up," the female says. It takes me a long time to realize it's Minerva, from Sabretooth. "We didn't call you here for nothing, Zeref. Lamia Scale is going smoothly. Sabretooth, ironically enough, poses a problem."

"I wanted to eliminate the rebel girl," Zeref says, a hint of anger in his voice. At first I think he speaks of me, then I realize he means Yukino. "As long as she is here, she's a weak point. Especially for your White Dragon Slayer."

There is another flash of green as the male says, "We need the rest of the Dragon Slayers. But you have to let Lamia Scale take action first."

"Naturally," Minerva snaps. "The Slayers will be a huge advantage."

At this very moment, I had pressed myself against the rocks so much, that my make-shift hair-band comes off. The cloth falls to my feet and I quickly pick it up. And in the process of bending down, my blonde hair is swept back towards the open door.

The next second someone's foot collides with my back and I fall down face-first onto the ground. My breath catches in my throat in panic.

"I thought the mages were asleep!" I hear the first male's voice. I crane my neck around to see Jiemma, a staff which glowed green in his hand. It disappears as he lifts me up by the hair and I shout in pain.

"What are you doing here? What did you hear?"

Think fast. It's kind of hard to do that, considering I am facing a murderous guild master and hanging by my hair.

"I…uh got lost," I stammer. Come on, you can do better! I coughed. "I…uh wanted to catch up on training so I...came out…but uh..."

And what? I magically flew up the chasm in the dark to train?

"She's lying," Minerva's cool voice says, bored. "Just kill her, it won't harm. I remember this girl…from Fairy Tail…only the Slayers in that guild are useful."

I am thrown back and the air decided to leave my lungs. My eyes are frozen in horror as Jiemma raises his hand in a blinding flash of white light, and I know I'm going to die.

Suddenly, the light is gone. A steady white barrier surrounds me and spreads out to the sides and I am left breathing hard behind it.

Zeref stands in front of me, his right arm outstretched towards me to form the shield and his back to me as he faces my attacker.

What just happened?

"Are you insane?" Jiemma roars. "Is a mage supposed to be out here at this time?"

"I'll punish her," Zeref says. "She is strong enough to join, killing her is a waste."

The way he speaks suddenly makes me realize that Zeref is hardly in charge. The guild masters of the three guilds in the Alliance are and they have Minerva on their side. Zeref is the least of one's horrors.

"You're being too soft," Minerva chides.

Zeref's voice is dangerous. "I killed one already, Minerva. What is unnecessary has no place here."

Jiemma sighs. "Fine. Just make sure she pays for disobeying the rules."

"She will," Zeref says with finality.

The shield disappears. I don't move as Jiemma crouches closer to me. "Did you hear anything we said?"

"No," I say. "I swear."

"If I find out you're lying…" he trails off.

"You won't. I'm sorry."

"I don't care, Fairy. Take her away, Zeref."

Zeref bends down to take my left arm. His grip is strong but I don't protest as he moves forward and we both drop into the chasm.

His fingers loosen once we are out of the other two's sight but he still holds my arm as we reach the ground. A faint halo of gray forms at his feet and he lands steadily and this time, I do too.

The black hood is again lowered. As I follow him without a sound to the gray floor he raises his hand and the white orb appears to light up this place by a fraction.

"Let go of me," I say at last. He leaves my arm. His eyes are unnaturally and uncharacteristically soft but I know better than to trust him.

"Why were you outside?" he asks. His voice is not angry or soft. It's just a blank monotone and it annoys more than his anger. He is slightly taller than me, so I have to look up at him.

"Why did you protect me?" I fire.

He raises an eyebrow. "I believe I asked you first, Heartfilia."

"I went up to look at the stars."

He is obviously surprised at my answer. Then he composes himself. "I think I answered your question there. You're good for a dark guild."

"Did you just seriously say I'm—"

"Not that you're dark," he corrects. "That you're strong for the guild."

I make a sound of disbelieved laughter. "Right. That's why you look at me as if I'm the weakest."

He ignores me. I am about to simply walk back to the others when his slender fingers hesitantly brush the wound on my shoulder.

"Did I do that?"

"What?"

"When I attacked you this morning. Did I do that?"

No, your stupid test did that and you attacking me added to the injury, I think. "Decide Zeref. Either you go about chucking me at rocks or pretend to be all concerned when I'm hurt. And you know, that's what happens when you throw people."

"Don't you understand, Lucy?!" he says at last, frustrated. "I can't be soft with you. You have to channel your rage into your power."

What the hell is he saying?

"Don't pretend as if you don't enjoy what you do," I tell him.

His fingers lock around both my wrists, his face dangerously close. "If you think that," he hisses. "Then you know nothing about me."

"You're right, I don't," I hiss back. "And you're the vilest person I met, Zeref. So I don't want to know anything either."

His fingers release and he moves away from so quickly, I am disoriented. One emotion I have never seen on his face replaces the ferocity. Hurt. Hurt and pain fills his eyes and his face and all of a sudden I want to comfort him.

No. He's acting. It's all a brutal act.

"I'm not like this, Lucy," he whispers at last. His face contorts in some suppressed pain which confuses me. "I'm not bad. Trust me."

"It's too late, Zeref," I stare at him coldly.

Then I move around the orb and push myself in through the hole in the door. I land flat on my belly in the dark and then reach up for the ice Wendy sleeps on.

When I curl up and ignore the cold, I look up to see the door resealing itself. The rocks and dust rise up and fit together to form the solid door it was before.

As the last big rock fits into place, I see the flash of a black robe with gold lining, illuminated by a white orb of light. He healed it.

Then I close my eyes.

Pretty long :D Like it? Please review! Thanks to everyone supporting the story :)