Two Hearts, One Wish

by bestangelbaby

When two people from different worlds make the same wish, they are brought together by forces and reasons unknown to them. Watch and see how the addition of this new person will affect Earthland and the lives of the people connected. No pairings as of yet, may change in the future. Will be rated M for language and scenarios in the future.

7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hello everyone, and thank you for all who made it this far in the story. I just have a few things I wish to say before continuing my story.

1. I have been going back to reread the older chapters and I have noticed not only spelling and grammar errors that I missed, but in addition for some reason some of the format is messed up. Like places where I had line breaks for scene changes and point of view shifts are missing. So I plan on going back to correct these mistakes as I find them.

So please disregard the next few chapter update messages as I will be going back to edit mistakes in earlier chapters.

2. I have mentioned before that I am currently writing chapter 10, so expect the updates to slow after chapter 9. I enjoy long chapters and I feel that anything under 10k words just isn't a properly sized chapter for any of my stories. Yes, I have my earlier ones, but those are when I was much younger and I don't count them.

3. If you happen to enjoy my other works, please don't despair that I will never update those again. I update and write stories as the urge hits me. Right now I am focused on Fairy Tail, but when I feel in the mood for Naruto, I will start updating my Naruto stories.

4. I know some people are probably feeling overwhelmed by how long it is taking me to just get to the Phantom Lord arc much less on how long it will take me to finish it. I am doing this on purpose, my goal for the story is to tell the bits that you don't see between the arcs. I want to explore more of the characters and how they interact and bond with each other during the downtime and not just when everything is going into the crapper. All the big battles that take place are things that most of you have already seen, I want to explore what you haven't. I plan on my main OC to get to know more of the side characters, even the ones within Fairy Tail that you don't see nearly as often. Also please don't be upset if I decide to skip telling certain things. If I skip it, then it happens just as it is in the manga/anime.

5. Also, I gotten some wonderful plot bunnies for different situations for the cast of characters to be in that doesn't coincide with what the main story is to be. For example, different situations in how Gray may decide to take Krysti up on that rain check. So now and again, I may post special chapters that may be a side AU from the main story that I will make special note of so the readers won't be confused about what is going on.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and please remember that none of the Fairy Tail characters belong to me. Only Krystina, Dr. Shibiwa, Nurse Saiya Kaname, and Auntie Vi belong to me.

Previously:

"We have captured the target. Drip, drip, drop…" says Juvia.

"LUCY!" Krysti cries out, she starts to see everything in red as the rage in her starts to overflow. Monsieur Sol steps in and starts to punch Krysti repeatedly. When he goes for a hit in the face, she lets out an agonized scream. Red vision turns to black as the rain continues to fall.

---

Almost the entire fighting force of the guild Fairy Tail marches into Oak town, the home of Phantom Lord. The townsfolk upon seeing the murderous glares of the invading wizards, wisely shut themselves up in their homes. The town might as well not of been there at all for the attention Fairy Tail gave to it. Only one thing is on all of their minds, one unifying thought.

Phantom Will Pay!

The Master led the march with the trio dubbed the Strongest Team right behind him. Everyone else follows close behind those four. As they reach the front of the guild, which looks like an imposing stone castle, the Master nods at Natsu. With a flaming fist, he breaks open the entrance with a large explosion. The Fairy Tail wizards fill up the newly made entrance and wait for the dust to settle. Natsu stands in the enemy guildhall, hunched over and fist extended as he looks over the people who dare hurt his home and family.

The Master stands on a piece of rubble and shouts out a war cry, "Fairy Tail!" Both sides yell in anger and move in towards the other.

The war has started.

A swarm of Phantom grunts jump to overpower Natsu who happens to be the closest mage to them. His eyes narrow and he gathers his fire to slash at them before they hit. More powerful than they can handle, the grunts fall from the air burned from dragon flames.

"I don't care who…Bring it on!" Natsu roars out in challenge. The Phantom mages accept his challenge and more rush the dragon slayer, planning on taking him out. By now, the other Fairy mages have entered the guildhall and start to battle as well. Cana, the heaviest drinker in Fairy Tail who uses card magic, and Loke, the orange-haired ladies man who uses ring magic, busts into a group of Phantom mages and send them flying.

Elfman, the younger brother of Mirajane, tosses enemies into the air while Vijeeter, the black spandex suit wearing dancer, uses his dancing magic to power up his friends. Macao uses his purple fire to capture a number of mages while Wakaba uses his smoke magic to knock out the captured mages. A buckskin poncho wearing youth with raven hair, who goes by the name Alzack, pulls out a gun and shoots the Phantom mages running towards him with magic bullets.

While distracted, one mage almost gets a hit on Alzack if it wasn't for the timely intervention of the top notch shooting of Bisca, the large gun toting green-haired teammate of Alzack. She proceeds to lock on target with more mages while using her magic hunting rifle. During this, a large number of enemies target the Master thinking he will be easy to take out due to his small size.

They thought wrong.

He waits until they are in range with his eyes closed before he opens them with a release of magic. His eyes are glowing an unnatural yellow as he grows in size until he makes an elephant look small. With a roar befitting his new size, he smashes a fist into the ground and catches some of the Phantom mages under his hand. The enemy wizards are terrified at the sight and some start calling him a monster in response.

To which the Master replies in a booming voice, "You laid hands on this monster's children! Don't think any human laws will protect you!" Leery of his strength, the Phantom mages hold back from attacking. They start complaining at how the Fairy Tail wizards are really good and completely nuts in their fighting. Supporting their claims, Erza is seen cutting through innumerable mages with a sword in each hand and only in her normal armor. Reedus, the large painter with a wizard hat, paints large boars on his stomach and sends them to attack with a burst of magic.

Laki, the light purple-haired wood using mage, uses her magic to make confusing walls of attacking wood to mow down the grunts. Even Happy gets to take part of the fight. As he is about to be swarmed, he gets an intense expression on his face before flying around wildly and causing the other mages to collide with each other. Using one of his hidden talents, he pulls out all sorts of fish and other foods to beat the Phantom mages into submission.

Fed up with fighting the foot soldiers, the Master lifts his head up and booms out a challenge to the Phantom Lord's leader, "Jose, show yourself!" Erza changes into a different armor that gives her power against flames so she can deal more damage. She yells for the location of Gajeel and the Element 4, the 5 strongest known Phantom Lord wizards. Her anger at the crimes suffered by her friends and home comes close to making her lose her composure. Chaos reigns around the guildhall as Fairy fights Phantom with Fairy Tail winning for now.

As the fight rages on, the Phantom guildhall becomes more and more damaged with explosions rocking the town below. The townsfolk huddle together in fear of the on-going battle nearby. Some of the Phantoms rally together to make a concerted attack which seems to work at first. Unfortunately for them, their attacks were made with fire. Hope fades to fear as they see the flames disappear into the gullet of a pink-haired Fairy Tail wizard. Belatedly they realize that in their midst is one of Fairy Tail's more infamous members, Salamander the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Natsu's look of fury sends the nearby Phantom mages into panic-stricken terror and more than one suddenly finds themselves into needing a fresh pair of pants. Frozen, they can only just watch as Natsu's flame breath attack, Roar of the Fire Dragon, engulfs them. More mages elsewhere get the cold shoulder, quite literally in fact, from an irate Gray Fullbuster. His ice magic leaves them completely frozen in place as they are encased in ice. Erza and Laki attack together, leaving the enemies bleeding and confused.

The gun wielding duo continues to shoot down everyone who steps in their way. Gray and Natsu find themselves back-to-back fighting in sync as their contrasting elements war with the mages and each other. The other Fairy Tail wizards also form up into groups to protect each other's backs as the almost endless waves of Phantom mages continue to try to hammer them down.

"Erza!" the Master calls out from the top of a flight of stairs. The red head takes her mind off of the enemies in front of her to look at the old man who everyone in the guild loves just like a grandfather. "I'll leave the rest here to you guys!" he continues as he swats away more low magic grunts of Phantom.

"Master!" she calls out worriedly.

"Jose is likely on the top floor… I'll put him out of commission for good…" he says in a calm voice that has a deadly edge to it. Every Phantom mage that heard those words shudders in fear, beyond glad that the Makarov's ire isn't directed at them anymore.

Erza looks on in concern and whispers out, "Please be careful…", before she focuses back on the fight literally at hand. A large explosion at the huge pair of doors from the top of second floor announces Master Makarov's departure from the fight below. A moment later, a crazy laugh from above sounds out throughout the hall which catches the attention of all the fighters. Soon the laughter is followed by a crash on the ground floor. Something large stands up from a destroyed wooden sign that said Phantom Lord.

"Geheh." chuckles a deep dark voice. Hearing this, some of the members of Phantom Lord take heart as they know who it is.

Focusing on the new arrival, Erza quickly recognizes the newcomer as she announces, "The Iron Dragon Slayer… Iron Gajeel!" At the sound of his name, Gajeel looks down on all of the mages with an evil eye that seems to glow red. Jumping high into the air behind Gajeel, Nab, who uses animal magic to give him the qualities of different animals and wears a tribal outfit, goes in to punch him.

"How dare you hurt Levy!" he shouts out in anger. Just as the punch is about to make contact, Nab is suddenly struck back by a large metal pole that is extending out of Gajeel's arm. It pushes Nab into the ground and continues pushing him which causes a large furrow to appear on the floor. The attack even hits Gajeel's guild mates as if he has no regard to their safety. As the metal pole retracts, it is shown that the metal pole is Gajeel's arm.

"Hey there, Trash. The Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel the Great, will face you now." Gajeel calls out almost cheerfully as he drops down to the ground floor with the other fighters.

"Man!" Yells out Elfman in anger. He jumps to attack Gajeel while still yelling, "Maybe I'm trash, but I'm a Man!" His right arm changes into a shape of some sort of giant stone arm as the large white-haired man uses his takeover magic, a magic that lets his body take over the bodies of other creatures he has defeated. Gajeel's left arm turns into a metal pole and blocks Elfman's punch.

"Elfman, huh?" asks Gajeel with a wide grin on his face. He then starts kicking and punching at the larger male while using his limbs to turn into those metal poles. Elfman dodges the attacks and even stops one completely which interests Gajeel. "Not bad." praises the Iron Dragon Slayer as his leg in pole form is being held in the Fairy Tail mage's fist.

"A Man must be strong." states Elfman simply.

"Then how about this?" throws out Gajeel before thinner metal poles extend out of Gajeel's leg which is still in the pole form. Many nearby Phantom mages gets hit by the attack while the take-over mage dodges despite the close range.

"Damn him, even his own friends?" Elfman blurts out in disbelief as he looks on at the rampart destruction caused by the dragon slayer.

With a fist cocked, Gajeel calls attention back to him with an arrogant, "Where do you think you're lookin'?" Then he punches the air toward Elfman while his fist changes into another pole and extends, hitting the white-haired mage in the cheek. The blow sends him flying through the air and before Elfman can land, Natsu jumps on his friend's stomach. With a kick, the Fire Dragon Slayer pushes Elfman even further back while propelling himself towards the larger figure of the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Gajeel!" Natsu roars out while flying towards his opponent. With a fist of fire, he knocks back the long, spiky, raven-haired mage into the bar that runs along a wall. The other Phantom mages look on in shock and fear, never before have they seen someone strong enough to knock Gajeel back like that. With a large ecstatic grin, the red-eyed man picks himself up out of the damaged bar with no apparent trouble. With both fists on fire, Natsu decides to introduce himself.

"I'm Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayer." Natsu growls out with the pissed off look still in his eyes. Gajeel just gives a satisfied grunt in response. "Elfman, give this guy to me." the fire mage demands.

"Why, you… Not only do you use me as a floor mat, you plan on interfering in our Man-on-Man battle?" Elfman shouts out angrily because of the interruption.

Not giving them time to talk, Gajeel shouts out his attack move while running forward, "Pillar of the Iron Dragon!" His fist shoots forward into the pillar while the grin stays on the fight-loving mage's face. It hits Natsu square in the chest and pushes him backwards a bit as he clings onto the pole.

"Natsu!" Erza cries out, worried about her friend's safety while fighting a notably strong mage. As Natsu stands still while clinging onto the metal pillar, heat waves can be seen rising from around him. His head down, no one can see his face as he starts to speak in a calmer voice.

"This guy busted up the guild and hurt Levy and the others…" Natsu then looks up into Gajeel's red eyes while glaring at him. The Fire Dragon Slayer's arms light up as Natsu shouts, "Eat this!" Using his strength, he tosses Gajeel high into the air. Most of the fighting has stopped for now as everyone watches the fight between the two dragon slayers.

Each side rooting for their own, hoping that they will beat the enemy. Gajeel is thrown high enough to reach the rather thick support beams that lie high above the main guildhall, and uses one as a kick off point to fly back down towards Natsu. Gajeel goes in for a normal punch which is blocked by Natsu's forearm. With the other fist cloaked in flames, the pink-haired wizard goes for a roundhouse punch to Gajeel's face.

Getting knocked backwards again, Gajeel flips through the air like a rag-doll as he bounces into a stone wall. The older members of Fairy Tail are getting excited by Natsu's apparent advantage over the other dragon slayer.

"Natsu!" Elfman bellows out. "I'll let you have that manly battle! But in return…" he gets interrupted by a confident Natsu.

"Right! I'll knock him good!" he says while having one fist pumped into the air and grabbing onto that arm's bicep with the other hand. Gajeel's fist pokes out of the pile of rubble that he is encased in before he stands up, looking slightly worse for wear. His clothes are getting tattered by the assault. He hunches into a battle ready position as he calls out to Natsu.

"That didn't affect me." he calls out in a cocky manner. Natsu's pissed off look fades and an excited grin shows up as he gets revved up to fight a strong opponent.

"Doesn't look like that to me." Natsu replies just as cocky.

"You sure?" asks Gajeel as he dashes forward to fight. He speeds up faster than before which catches Natsu off-guard and is sent flying into the air from a pillar kick. Natsu gets thrown into a group of Phantom mages and knocks them over like bowling pins. Gajeel walks slowly over to where Natsu landed, his eyes glinting evilly in the low light.

"Come on, bring it. You're not affected either, right?" he says in a slightly challenging tone. Flames explode from the pile of debris that Natsu is in, pieces go flying everywhere as Natsu nonchalantly stands in the middle of the inferno. The light of the fire makes his eyes look like they are glowing red as he laughs lightly.

"You know me pretty good there…" Natsu says in harsh excitement as the battle fever takes over. His flames die down quickly as he speaks and his face has an almost crazed look to it.

"Giheh" Gajeel laughs before he speaks. "You're one hot and uncomfortable guy, you know that?" His lust for battle rising, Gajeel activates the magic in his right arm.

"Shut up, you hard-ass." Natsu bites back as he too activates his magic in his right arm. The adrenaline is pumping between the two as they prepare to take things more seriously. Gajeel makes the first move.

"I'll crush you!" he shouts out as he throws the first punch as a pillar to Natsu's face while he dashes to the side. Natsu blocks it with a flaming fist before it hits. Holding the pole in a tight grip, Natsu turns up the heat in his flames.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, you scrap-iron bastard!" he shouts harshly as his grip tightens. The heat causes the iron to weaken and the pillar starts getting crushed in Natsu grip.

Gajeel looks at this unconcerned as he says calmly, "Oh? Just as the rumors say… That's some decent power you got there. Ouchy, ouchy…" He retracts the pillar quickly and his hand smokes from the fire. Gajeel locks eyes with Natsu as he continues, "So? Is that all you got, Salamander?" Natsu holds up a flaming fist as the pissed off look returns.

"Don't worry 'bout that. This was just a greeting. Before our Dragon's fight" he retorts in a much lower voice than before. They stare at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Narrowing their eyes, they crouch down and use their magic power to launch themselves in the air at each other. Natsu roars and Gajeel laughs crazily before they impact. They start attacking and Gajeel gets a lucky kick on Natsu which pushes him back some.

"Heavy…" he grunts out in some pain, more surprised at the weight the attack had behind it. Gajeel presses the attack, leaping high into the air and coming down with a foot extended for a stomp. Natsu's fist lights anew and takes a swing at Gajeel after stopping the stomp with his forearm. Gajeel leans back to dodge the flaming punch and kicks off of Natsu's arm to jump out of range. Hitting a special switch in the heel of his boot, two blades extends out of Gajeel's calf-high boots and he uses them to anchor himself to one of the building's support beams.

Natsu quickly follows with a magic powered high leap of his own and goes for another fiery punch to Gajeel's head. The Iron Dragon Slayer barely gets his arm up in pillar form to block the attack. The power behind it causes him to get knocked through several support beams, each one as thick as the Iron Dragon Slayer. Natsu lands on a different support beam in a crouch as he watches Gajeel's path.

"Now, I'm all fired up!" Natsu harshly calls out. Gajeel by this time recovers from the attack and lands on another support beam, again upside down and in a crouch. The grin has yet to leave his face, too caught up in enjoying the fight.

"Got a bit of a destructive streak in you, huh?" Gajeel observes. Large pieces of timber fall to the floor below, unmindful of the mages underneath. Both sides are at a standoff, almost as if they are waiting for the battle between dragon slayers to decide which side wins. Soon the entire guild starts to shake as if in an earthquake.

The Phantom mages become uneasy, not knowing what is going on. The members of Fairy Tail only smile at the uneasiness of their enemies. They know that the shaking means one thing. Master Makarov's anger is being released, the Giant's Wrath. Fairy Tail takes heart, knowing that they cannot lose with their Master fighting alongside them.

Up above at the top of the guild, the Master is walking lightly upon the ground while it craters from the sheer force of his magic being released. A soft yellow light envelops the old man as he makes his way towards Master Jose Porla, the leader of Phantom Lord. So immense is the power, that the tower starts to break apart and electricity crackles around the Master.

Reaching a set of doors that would dwarf anyone, one blast of magic power from the Master and almost the entire wall explodes in a shower of rocks and dust. As the dust settles, the short stature of the Master is seen walking through the room. The only indication of his movement is the cracks in the floor growing wider and wider as they spread through the room.

Master Jose sits upon a throne-like chair with an entirely too smug for his own good look on his face, completely unruffled by the Master of Fairy Tail's entrance. Master Makarov stops in the middle of the room, by which now is almost completely destroyed and glares hatefully at the other guild master.

"Jose!" the Master cries out in unadulterated fury. Unmoving, the smarmy red-headed leader of the guild sits upon his throne with his legs and arms crossed.

"Well, well…" is all Jose has to say.

"What is the meaning of this? Answer me!" the Master demands, ready to battle at a drop of a hat and his power still pouring off of him like a raging waterfall.

"It has been a while, Makarov-san. Not since the regular guild meeting six years ago? I'm afraid I made a fool of myself then. Liquor really does me in." Jose says perfectly calm like nothing is wrong. His position doesn't change and he doesn't even lift his head from where the large purple wizard's hat is covering his eyes. The Master hunches over in anger, getting into a battle ready position.

His arm grows in size as he rears back and sends a punch with an extending arm not unlike how Gajeel's pillars work. His fist grows to be larger than Jose and the chair combined as he makes contact with the target of his ungodly fury. The magic Master Makarov has been exuding recedes as he focuses now on fighting and not intimidation.

"I did not come here to chat, Jose!" the Master grounds out from almost gritted teeth. The dust in the air from that attack settles to show Jose in the same spot, unmoving like the attack never occurred. The image of Jose flickers, not unlike how a television screen would when the signal starts getting interrupted.

The hologram-like image starts to laugh lightly as the Master bellows out in frustration, "You're just a thought-projection?" the old man's arm retracts back to its normal size as he looks on, more than irritated that he can't exact his revenge just yet.

"Damn you! You ran from the guild?" Master Makarov growls out the question, demanding an answer.

"A battle between two of the 10 Great Wizard Saints would surely cause a cataclysm." says Jose with the same smug looking expression on his face. He looks up and fixes the Fairy Tail Master with a piercing look. "I would prefer a simple, sensible victory."

The unbridled hatred is heard clearly in the Master's voice as he asks, "Where are you? Come fight me fair and square!" In response, a figure laying on the ground appears into view at the feet of Jose. As it becomes clear enough to be recognizable, Master Makarov stares at it in shock. There before him was an image of Lucy, one of his newest children, there on the ground unconscious and tied up.

"Lucy? Why?" he chokes out the questions, overcome with feelings of concern over the young girl and fearful for her life.

"Why, you ask?" Jose says, as if it is the simplest answer in the world. "Even though she is part of your guild? You're saying you have no idea who Lucy Heartfilia-sama is?" Phantom Lord's Master asks in disbelief. Without waiting for an answer, Jose lifts up his right arm and starts to activate his magic, the target being the unconscious Lucy. Knowing that she is just a thought projection and that he can't do anything to protect her, the Master still extends a hand as he moves forward in a desperate attempt to save another one of his beloved children from harm.

"Don't!" The Master cries out in fear. Without Makarov noticing, a large figure in green appears behind the short man, his hands already in place to cast a spell on the Master of Fairy Tail. Noticing the large man's presence way too late, he turns to face the newcomer as a spell is cast against him. Large, unnatural tears spill from underneath the bandages covering the figure's eyes like twin rivers.

"The, the, the sadness!" the figure in green cries out in despair as he activates his magic. The Master raises his arm to try to block whatever is being thrown at him and to protect his eyes from the bright glare of the other mage's magic. Quickly overwhelmed, the Master is blown away by the spell. His magic which was nearly limitless is reduced to nothing in less than a second. The shock of the drain causes him to fall down through a hole in the floor caused by his magic earlier while his skin turns a sickly green from the spell's effects.

He falls down many stories until he lands with a large crash into the ground floor of the guildhall. A fall like that would of killed any normal person at even one-quarter of the height. But we are not talking about a normal human here, this is the Master of Fairy Tail and one of the 10 Great Wizard Saints, who are comprised of the top ten most powerful mages in the entire world.

He survives the fall, but barely. The crash attracts the attention of the fighting mages. The members of Fairy Tail look on, horrified, to see their once proud and powerful Master, laying on the ground almost dead. They stand frozen, not believing what they are seeing.

"Gramps!" Natsu and Gray cry out in fear, while Erza shout out, "Master!" at the same time. As if their words hit a switch, the members of Fairy Tail go to surround and protect their beloved leader. Erza runs over as fast as she can and gently picks up the Master in her arms. Shock, disbelief, worry, confusion, and fear dances across her face and eyes.

"M-My magical power… My magical power!" is all the Master can force himself to say, too weak to have it go above a whisper. Erza hugs him tighter to her when she hears this. Cana is kneeling by his head with Natsu, Gray, and Happy standing a bit further away but no less worried than the rest of their guild.

"Master, hang in there!" the red head cries out.

"What happened?" Cana asks the Master anxiously.

"What is this?" asks Gray, completely distrusting his senses. "I can't sense any magical power at all from him!" Elfman approaches and heard what Gray said.

He asks, "You mean he's now nothing but a little old man?" incredulous to the whole idea of it being true.

"But why?" Happy starts to cry, becoming overwhelmed by the sight.

"Gramps, get it together!" Natsu shouts out in fear. The old man doesn't respond. He doesn't even blink. If it wasn't for his chest moving, you would think he is dead. The other members of Fairy Tail whisper amongst themselves, trying to wrap their minds around this new situation. As the Fairy Tail mages grow somber and disheartened by the tragedy, the Phantom Lord wizards are getting a morale boost as they too figure out what is going on.

With the Fairy Tail Master out of the way, they feel they now have a chance to win. With a congregated roar, the Phantom Lord mages renew their attacks on the now weaken Fairy Tail forces. Erza quickly figures out the situation and it looks bad. Her friends took a huge blow to their morale and their worry over the Master has cut their fighting power down significantly. With the renewed vigor of their enemies, the Fairy Tail wizards are getting beaten back.

That's without the help of Gajeel or the Element 4, and if Jose himself decides to come and fight… Erza knew what needed to be done, as much as she hated to admit it but there was only one option left for them if they had any hopes of making it out with everyone alive.

With a deep breath, she bellows out the command, "Retreat! Everyone return to the guild!" It tore at her heart having to say that, and it went against everything they believed at Fairy Tail. But if the Master had any chance of survival they had to leave. Now. Shocked, her friends look back at Erza, unsure if they heard her correctly.

Did Erza Scarlet, otherwise known as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, The Strongest Female in Fairy Tail, the mage who doesn't know how to hold back, actually tell them to run away? They protest against leaving the battle, still wanting to fight despite how badly they are now getting beaten, but she stands firm.

"No! Without the Master, we cannot defeat Jose! Retreat! That's an order!" She shouts out, hiding her pain at having to leave before avenging her fallen comrades. Begrudgingly, they group up and start leaving, much to the delight of the Phantom mages. They rush the beaten Fairies, pushing the invaders out of their guild. They throw out taunts and insults, overjoyed in their victory.

As the members of Fairy Tail gather to leave with heavy hearts over their defeat and the critical condition of their master, they knew that even though the battle was lost the war was far from being over. Not wanting to give up the fight, Natsu ignore Erza's order in favor of beating the tar out of more Phantom Lord mages. His attention is pulled away from fighting when his sensitive hearing picks up on a name that Gajeel utters.

Lucy.

Instantly concerned for his friend, he turns to look up at the Iron Dragon Slayer and a large figure in green to focus on their conversation.

"It is a sad story. The girl named Lucy is being held in our headquarters." the large figure informs Gajeel calmly. From his sitting position Gajeel looks up at the figure standing next to him.

"So we gave her a 'warm welcome', then?" he asks with a smirk.

"What?" Natsu whispers to himself as he stands frozen in shock. Happy, who didn't want to leave his best friend behind, stands behind Natsu and watches his strange actions.

"What's the matter, Natsu?" the blue cat asks in concern. Anger flares up in Natsu along with fear for the safety of his friend.

"Gajeel!" Natsu shouts upwards toward the other dragon slayer, the fear evident in his voice.

A smug smirk on his face as he stands up, Gajeel only says, "We'll finish this one day, Salamander!" The large figure next to him extends an arm over Gajeel and they both become translucent like a soap bubble before fading from view.

"They caught Lucy…" Natsu trails off, unsure whether or not to believe his ears. Erza also has stayed back, making sure not a single member of her family is left behind as she continues to order the retreat. Gray is of like mind with Natsu and only wants to fight to avenge his friends, no matter the odds. Erza stops his attack and in an uncharacteristic move, leans against Gray's chest as she begs him to leave the guild with the rest of their friends.

With immense regret, he runs to follow the rest of the guild in their retreat. Erza turns to go as well, certain that Natsu will follow after he pummels a few more mages. As Phantom Lord wizards chase away their enemies, one of the grunts gets caught in the vice-like grip of Natsu.

"Ah! It's Salamander…. And a cat!" the nameless grunts shouts out as the fire mage gives him an unholy glare.

"Hey you…" Natsu starts out, glaring so hard at the unfortunate mage that veins are popping out. Flames coat Natsu's body as he menacingly growls out between clenched teeth, "You and me are gonna talk!" Seeing this, the target of the of glare suddenly wishes for a fresh change of pants. Natsu starts dragging the mage out the guild and through town in complete silence. This greatly unnerves the man being dragged, but he dares not utter a word for fear of his life.

Some of the braver townsfolk peep through curtains or cracks in the door, but none would help the poor man after seeing murderous rage flashing in the pink-haired man's eyes. Happy flies alongside Natsu, worried about what is going on with his best friend. He almost never sees Natsu get like this and he wonders what could of caused such a strong reaction in the normally happy male. As they travel up a stone hill that overlooks the town, the cat finally decides to break the silence.

"Natsu, what are you going to do?" Happy asks curiously.

"I'm going to save Lucy, obviously." he says, biting back an impatient tone. Without turning to look at the mage that he is dragging behind he directs his next words. "Tell me. Where is Lucy?" He ignore the man's attempts to keep from being choked as he is being dragged up the hill.

"H-H-How would I know? Who is that?" the man stutters out, starting to get mad at his mistreatment despite his fear. Before he finishes speaking, his entire body is coated with burning flames. Howling in pain, the man renews his struggles to try to escape the grasp of the irate Fire Dragon Slayer. "It's hot! It's hot! I'm burning!" he screams out.

"Say it." Natsu replies, his voice uncaring of the man's suffering.

"I don't know nothing', seriously! It's hot!" he cries out in fear and pain.

"If any more of my friends are hurt…" Natsu says his voice unchanging. He glances back at his captive, the glare on his face intensifying in mounting fury. "You'll be nothing but a pile of ashes…" he leaves the threat as it is and increases the temperature of his flames to prove his threat isn't idle. The man screams in terror, certain that he is about to die in a most agonizing way. He starts talking rapidly, hoping that he can say something to stall his upcoming death.

"I never heard of the wench! I mean, I don't know about the young lady!" he blurts out, hoping that his lack of knowledge about the woman will be enough to save him.

"Oh, that so? Too bad. Time to make charcoal, I guess." Natsu says almost cheerfully, which terrifies the man even more.

"Aye!" agrees Happy almost as cheerfully as Natsu. The captive man is reduced to tears as he sees his life start flashing before his eyes with death imminent. In a last ditch effort, he tries to divert the stronger mage's attention to another target.

"But our headquarters is up ahead. She may be there…" he blurts out, almost resigned to the fact that he is going to die.

"Say that in the first place, sheesh." Natsu scoffs lightheartedly, almost as if his anger has disappeared. The man sighs in relief as the flames disappear from his body, crying in joy that he gets to live. Without warning, the flames renew to an inferno and the man screams in pain. Natsu and Happy continue working their way up to the headquarters where they hope to find Lucy, ignoring the smoking husk of the still breathing man.

---

During this time that Natsu was on his way to rescue Lucy, the kidnapped blonde slowly wakes up. Her body feels cold, sore, and very uncomfortable. Opening her eyes, she is greeted by unfamiliar stone walls. Shocked, she bolts upright to a sitting position and notices how her hands are tied up behind her back. As she questions herself as to where she is at, Jose appears in front of the steel door of her prison. Only part of his face is seen through the small window covered in metal bars.

"So you're awake, Lucy Heartfilia-sama." he says smugly and she twists to look at him, still feeling shock and confusion.

"Who are you?" she demands in a strong yet slightly fearful tone. Jose opens the door and stands inside the prison cell, blocking the doorway.

"I am the guild master of Phantom Lord, Jose." He introduces himself in a gentlemanly fashion.

Lucy lets out a surprised gasp as she says, "Phantom?" Her confusion eases as she remembers that she was captured by the Element 4. Her eyes then widen in realization when she remembers that she wasn't alone. "What did you do to Krysti?! Where is she?!" she yells out in anger.

"Oh? You mean that pathetic fairy that was with you as you were captured? She was dealt with in proper fashion." Jose waves away the question in a tone of dismissal.

"Dealt with? What did you do!?" Lucy screams. Ignoring her questions, he walks towards the blonde girl on the floor.

"I know that this filthy cell and shackles are quite rude of me, but you are currently a prisoner, so I hope you understand the circumstances." he says still acting like a polite gentleman despite his smug appearance.

Lucy angrily bites back, "Remove these at once! Prisoner? How dare you do that to Levy-chan's team and tell me what did you do with my friend!" She violently swings herself around to face him better as she gives him a hateful glare.

He decides to humor her by answering, "Nothing more than she deserved. Just left her on the streets like the piece of weak, pathetic trash that she is." his smug smirk widens in sadistic pleasure. Lucy feels her blood run cold at that remark and her glare deepens.

"You're horrible!" she hisses out, her anger clearly evident. He turns partly away from her, knowing what she can't do anything in her situation, and raises a hand to his face to rub at his chin.

Eyes closed, he continues from before, "For someone of your status, I have prepared accommodations for a welcomed guest instead of a prisoner."

"What's that suppose to mean?" she says through gritted teeth before letting out a high-pitched shriek. A centipede crawled up her leg, and the bug gave her a mini heart-attack from the suddenness of its movements.

"Ew, ew, ew!" she screeches out as she tries to shake it off.

Jose looks back at her with the same smile that doesn't leave his face as he replies, "See? You don't want to stay in this cell, yes? If you cooperate, I'll transfer you to the suite." he look down at her haughtily, as in his eyes she seems to be cowering from his sheer strength and power.

"Why did you attack us?" she asks instead of answering Jose.

"Us?" he repeats, sounding a bit confused. He gives a slight laugh as he realizes, "Oh, are you referring to Fairy Tail?" He leans his head back to look down his nose at her with a creepy smile forming on his face. "Just in passing… a side effect." Lucy lets out a surprised noise at this.

Jose extends his hands to the side at hip level as he clarifies, "Our true objective was to obtain a certain someone. And that someone just happened to be in Fairy Tail, so we crushed it on our way… That's all." He says this like it is something normal, an everyday activity for him.

"Someone?" Lucy questions, not daring to see the truth in front of her.

"Oh, my…" Jose says sounding disgruntled at how she isn't connecting the dots. "You're much denser than I figured the daughter of the Heartfilia family would be. I mean you, of course." he states. Lucy freezes at the revelation, almost in too much shock to hear Jose's next words.

"The Daughter of the Heartfilia Konzern, Mistress Lucy." His voice deepens as he calls her by her proper title. Snapping back to reality, she glares at Jose just as much as before.

"How did you know?" she demands quietly.

"It seems you hid this fact from the people in the guild. Why would the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the country take on such cheap, dangerous jobs?" Jose questions, unsure why she would leave all the money and power that goes with it behind.

Ignoring his question, Lucy asks one of her own, "Is this a kidnapping?"

"Oh, no… Nothing of the sort. We were requested to bring you back with us. By none other than your father himself." he informs her casually. Lucy sits up straight as she feels like all the air has been sucked out of her lungs. Confusion runs rampant through her mind as she tries to understand her father's motives.

"No… No way! Why would he?" she whimpers out.

Jose lifts an eyebrow over her reaction to the news as he says, "I'm sure it's because he wanted to search for his beloved daughter who ran away from home. Quite normal." Lucy's eyes are clenched tight and she grits her teeth at the, to her, completely wrong observation.

"No way… He's not the kind of person that'd care about that!" she denies in a troubled voice. She looks up at Jose with a determined look, "I'm never going back, you hear me? I'm never going back to that house!" she shouts that last sentence. Jose rocks back on his heels as he looks at her in slight amusement.

"Oh, my… What a troublesome little lady we have ourselves." he says out loud to himself.

With more confidence than she felt, Lucy demands, "Release me this instant!" to which Jose denies. She squirms a bit before looking down in embarrassment. "I kinda need to go to the bathroom." she says softly while blushing at having to make the request. Unmoved, Jose just stands there with his arms crossed.

"Oh, what's this? That's the oldest trick in the book." he says clearly unimpressed with what he thinks is an attempt to escape. She squirms even more as her blush deepens.

"No… Seriously… Please, help." Lucy complains, starting to sound desperate. A bucket appears out of nowhere, almost as if by magic.

"Fine then." he says, complying with her request and setting the bucket down near her. She looks shocked at the sight. "Go ahead." he says with that unconcerned tone, certain that she is just bluffing.

"No way!" she yells out, mortified that he told her to do that activity in front of him. He laughs at her discomfort.

"There are plenty of way to deal with that old trick." he states proudly. With a sigh of resignation, she stands up in front of the bucket, facing Jose. She arches her back so her bound hands can reach up under her skirt.

"A bucket, huh?" she says, accepting that her situation can't change. Jose's eyes almost pop out of his skull seeing that she in fact, DID need to use the bathroom.

He yells at her, slightly horrified about what is going to happen, "Wait, seriously!?" His face goes through several strained and unreadable expressions as she wiggles around. "I've never seen such an improper lady! And I am a gentleman!" he says to himself, aghast at her actions before quickly turning to face away from Lucy. Seeing him turn around, she smirks in victory.

Stepping up closer to him quietly, she sends the most powerful kick she has, that she named Lucy Kick, right in his groin. The blossoming pain he feels quickly has him face plant right into the floor as he screams a high-pitched screech of agony. His butt is high in the air as he uses both hands to hold onto the vital organ to protect it from further harm.

Lucy sends his prostate form a smug smile as she proclaims, "It's best not to underestimate the old tricks!" Walking past him, she stops to give his twitching body a playful wink while saying, "Then, take care." She hurries to exit the room, only to find that her prison is on top of a tower. She stops for fear of falling, the outside breeze ruffling her hair and clothes. Jose slowly forces himself to stand up while enduring the pain of 1000 blazing suns that his crotch feels like it is in.

"Too bad for you… This is a sky cell!" he forces out, his voice a few octaves higher than it was a minute ago. He pushes himself to walk, determined to pay the blonde back for this insult upon his person. She stands there, unmoving, while listening to the wind. Still holding his crotch, he stops a few feet behind her as he gives her slight praise.

"You did me a good one there…" he grounds out, fighting the agony his body is in. Lucy turns to face Jose when she hears how close he is behind her. She looks down and behind her as if her attention is caught by something. She looks back at her captor and a pained expression crosses her face.

"Now, come to me! I'm going to punish you. I must show you how scary Phantom can be!" Jose proclaims harshly. Without saying a word, Lucy closes her eyes and leans backwards until she can feel herself falling. The absolute shock over Lucy's actions weakens Jose's will and he collapses under the pain he is enduring.

He was unable until that moment to understand how strongly she didn't want to go back to her father. As the young blonde is falling she clenches her eyes shut, praying that she did hear what she thinks she heard. Taking a large breath, she puts everything she has to scream out one single word.

"NATSU!"

She hears an answering yell, "Lucy!" the relief at hearing his voice brings tears to her eyes. Hearing him scream her name, she knows that she is safe. Her trust in her friend is that strong. She relaxes and waits as the wind whistles by during her descent. A loud, wordless yell followed by two strong arms wrapping around her back tells her that Natsu is there and now she is safe.

The two mages fly through the air from the force of Natsu's jump and they crash into a half-built wall many yards away from the Phantom Lord headquarters. Natsu twists them around so that he takes the brunt of the blow so Lucy won't be hurt as they land with her on top of him.

"Lucys are falling from the sky!" Happy cries out in a joyful shout. Dust has risen up from the impact and Happy waits for it to settle before flying closer. Still within the dust cloud, Natsu and Lucy stay in the position that they landed in as they recover from the fall. Natsu is on his back with Lucy partly on top of him.

Her breasts smashed up against his face muffles his voice as he says, "You're nuts, you know that?" He has an annoyed look on his face as he says that. Lucy looks at him with a soft look in her eyes. She feels grateful to have such a caring friend.

"Natsu… I thought you were here…" she says, the relief evident in her voice. He scoffs.

"Where else would I be?" he says grumpily. By now the blonde noticed what position she was in with the scarf wearing man. Blushing, she quickly gets off of him and looks shyly down at the ground. The dust clears out enough that Happy can see his friends and without a second thought, he flies over to them. Natsu sits upright and uses one of his hands to rub the back of his head from when he hit the brick wall.

A cry of, "Lucy!" interrupts whatever the blonde was going to say as a blue blur crashes into her chest. She gets that soft look in her eyes again as she watches the little cat hug her.

She lays her head gently on top of Happy's as she says, "There, there now. Everything is ok." Natsu watches his two friends with a large smile on his face. When the cat felt better, he floated away from the blonde while leaving her shirt somewhat damp. She didn't mind it though, it showed that despite all the insults that Happy does care.

"Hey Natsu, could you help me with this?" she asks while turning her back to show the rope around her wrists. The dragon slayer nods and moves behind her to take off the restraints. Her wrists free, she bring them up to her chest as she rubs them

"Are you okay?" Natsu asks with a bit of concern. Lucy winces slightly at the pain in her wrists as she nods.

"Yeah… Somehow…" she trails off, troubled by the information about why all the attacks are happening.

"Thank goodness. Let's go back to the guild." demands Happy as he stands besides the blonde girl. Natsu stands up as Happy is saying this, and he turns to his blue-furred friend in frustration.

"What? This is their headquarters… We should-" he exclaims while gesturing wildly before Happy cuts him off.

"But Erza said to retreat!" Happy reminds the overly excited mage. Natsu leans down to stare at Happy right in his face.

"She's scared! I ain't afraid of them at all!" the dragon slayer proclaims, his expression turning angry.

"The Master's been severely wounded!" the cat shouts back, becoming equally angry.

"I'll pay them back for that too!" Natsu states while standing back up with his arms crossed. Lucy looks on sadly before bolting upright and her eyes widening.

"We have to hurry back! Krysti's in trouble!" she shouts out effectively ending the argument. Both Natsu and Happy look at Lucy in shock as she stands up to face them. Worry is etched on her face as she tries not to think about what trouble has befallen her newest friend.

"What?!" Happy and Natsu both shout out in unison. Natsu steps forward and grabs Lucy by both of her shoulders, his face deadly serious.

"Where is she, Lucy?" Natsu says, his grip unconsciously tightening.

"I'm not sure. I think she is still where I was captured…" she gets cut off as Natsu grabs her wrist and starts pulling her back towards their hometown of Magnolia. They sprint as fast as they can, hoping to find their friend safe and sound. Lucy tires partway back and Happy picks her up to help keep up with Natsu. They are silent during their journey, focused solely on reaching their friend.

When they finally make it to town, Lucy directs them towards where she last remembered seeing the brunette. About one street away from their destination, Natsu stops to sniff the air. Happy and a recovered Lucy, go back and watch in concern as they see Natsu's face pale.

Without waiting for them to say anything, he takes off down the street even faster than before. Happy and Lucy exchange anxious glances at Natsu's odd behavior before quickly following after him. They quickly catch up to Natsu as he is standing completely still while looking down the small street, shock and horror written on his face. The other two members of Fairy Tail look and let out a shriek of horror at the sight.

Krysti is laying face down on the ground with her head facing away from them. But what caused the reactions from the three new arrivals is the large puddle of blood surrounding the brunette. Lucy sinks to her knees with both of her hands covering her mouth, barely able to suppress her sorrowful wails.

Happy stands next to Lucy, trembling at the vision of their friend. This was worse than the sight of Team Shadowgear hanging from the tree in the park. Even worse than seeing the Master reduced to nothing but an old man close to death. With them you were able to tell that they were alive. Krysti on the other hand... Natsu slowly walks over to the prone form, his head hanging down so his bangs are covering his face. Standing beside the body, he kneels down uncaring about the blood staining his pants.

Reaching out a hand hesitantly, he pauses before placing it gently on her shoulder. The cold flesh causes his heart to clench. Steeling himself for the worst, he gently shakes the woman as he prays for her to be ok. A small groan that can only be heard by him reaches his ears. He brightens up instantly and rolls Krysti over to try to wake her. He recoils when he sees how badly beaten up she looks.

Her nose is a bloody mess as it had been broken again, the most likely source of the blood. Bruises cover almost every part of her exposed skin and he didn't dare look elsewhere. Her clothes are completely drenched in her blood, even worse than the first time her nose was broken. Her body was cold, just as cold as the night they spent in Harujion and her normally rosy cheeks were deathly pale. He clenches a fist that is shaking in pure rage. Another one of his precious family members has been hurt and he wasn't there to protect them.

If it wasn't for the fact that she needed him to take her somewhere to heal, he would of gone back towards Phantom Lord and damn the consequences. He reaches his arms under Krysti and in a smooth motion, lifts her up to carry her bridal style. He shivers slightly at how cold she feels in his arms and increases his body heat to help warm her. He takes off at a fast pace back the way he came. He passes Lucy and Happy who still haven't recovered from their grief.

He stops slightly behind them and whispers, "She's alive." before taking off down the street and ignoring the shouts and stares of passerby's. Lucy lets out a huge gasp of relief and shakily gets to her feet. She was so sure that the worst has happened. All that blood. Even she can smell it from where she is at the end of the street. She closes her eyes and can't help but see the beaten up bodies of her friends, her family.

She pushes the images away and takes off after Natsu in a stumbling run before steadying herself. Happy follows after the blonde, torn between who he should be near.

Natsu's mind is numb and the only thing he can think of is to take her to the guild, to safety. Just like the last time when the brunette was injured, only this time it is much more serious. His breath is turning ragged from the almost non-stop sprinting all the way from Oak Town.

Entering the guild, he barely looks at the damage as he weaves around the obstacles to head downstairs where a huge commotion can be heard. Natsu tightens his grip on the older woman as he slowly makes his way down the stairs, careful to not to aggravate her wounds. Loud noises of people complaining and groaning from their various injuries are the loudest. While other less injured members scramble to gather magical items or are planning their next attack against Phantom.

A hush falls over the guild at the sight of a blood covered Natsu carrying in a bloody and badly beaten up brunette girl. His head is lowered and no one can make out his expression as he gently lays her on the nearest table. He tightly takes hold of Krysti's hand as he sits down beside her body, his head still bowed. Large gasps are heard as some of the members quickly realize that the person beaten up is their newest member.

"Natsu! What happened!?" cries out Mirajane as she rushes over to the couple with Erza and Gray close behind. Tears well up in her eyes as she gets a closer look at the injuries. Everyone holds their breath as they await for an answer from the dragon slayer. He lifts his head and the look of fury on his face causes most of the guild to recoil from its intensity.

"It was the Elemental 4. Phantom." he positively snarls as he says the name. A burst of heat explodes from the dragon slayer. "They. Will. Pay." he slowly grounds out as the heat takes on the form of flames around his body. At the same time, an intense cold contrasts with the heat as Gray glares in the direction of the Phantom guild hall. His fists are clenched tightly to his sides as a white mist forms around his body. Angry and awed chatter instantly buzzes around the room at Natsu's words.

Its normal to see Natsu getting worked up, but its rare for Gray to start leaking magic like that when not in a fight with the dragon slayer. A dark aura hushes the guild just as quickly as it started when Erza spins to face the pink-haired man. The red-head steps up and looks down to meet Natsu's eyes with her unflinching ones, ignoring the stabbing cold and prickling heat of the two mages in front of her.

"Tell us everything." she commands in a low voice, the hard glare in her eyes matching the murder in the fire mage's. Normally such a look would have him cowering in terror, but the anger in his heart and the knowledge that it wasn't meant for him allows him to face her stare head on. Natsu nods and retells all that he knows, his expression hardening if that was possible. At the mention of Lucy being kidnapped, the others start to move to go rescue her when the blonde herself came down the stairs surprising everyone.

She is almost tackled by Mira as she and a lot of other members of the guild bombard her with questions. Natsu still has yet to let go of the brunette's hand and Gray stands beside Krysti, hovering protectively over her. They are like silent sentinels as they watch the proceedings with dark thoughts clouding their minds. Happy flies over towards Natsu and lands on the table beside Krysti.

His large eyes well up in tears as he silently cries. The rivaling forces of magic between the two boys has barely calmed during Natsu's telling of events. Getting everyone to settle down some, Lucy is able to tell her side of the story to the guild. She left nothing out. Everyone is in shock to learn that their friend really is a rich heiress.

Most of them were able to get over their shock fairly quickly, while others needed more time to process their thoughts. Mira gives Lucy a brief, but warm hug before hurrying off to gather medical supplies to treat the badly injured brunette. Looking down, Lucy uses her bangs to hide her face, but the unmistakable sound of a sob is heard to the people nearby. The men look over in horror, their worst fear happening right in front of them.

A girl is crying.

They panic, unsure of what to do as Lucy stands there, crying her eyes out. The sound breaks Natsu and Gray out of their murderous thoughts and slowly their magic abates. Another friend of theirs needs help, even if they don't know exactly how to provide it.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Lucy wails out before covering her face with her hands again. Between sobs, she continues, "This is all… This is all my fault! But, I still want to be in the guild…" Lucy increases her volume as she looks up to stare everyone in the eyes, "I love Fairy Tail!" Lucy starts to break down into uncontrollable sobs. The guild looks on at her with awe before the less injured women move in to comfort the poor over-stressed blonde.

They take her to a more secluded corner to let her express her emotions more privately. When the majority of her grief has been let out, Lucy moves over to rejoin her team as they watch over Krysti as she is being treated. Someone suggests taking her to the hospital to which Mira shoots down vehemently. With how increasingly hostile Phantom is becoming, Mira doesn't want the injured brunette to be moved to the hospital.

Despite the fact that she would receive better treatment for her injuries, it would be hazardous to try moving her with Phantom Lord out there ready and willing to brutalize anyone associated with Fairy Tail. It's just too risky unless the whole guild goes as one, and if they do they will have to stay at the hospital to keep guard. There is a chance that Phantom doesn't know that Jet, Droy, and Levy are in the hospital and that is the best protection that can be given to them.

But if Krysti is moved, then it would alert Phantom that there is at least one injured member within the hospital and would cause the previous injured three to be in even more danger. Its a risky gamble, but Mirajane is willing to take the chance. Watching the brunette receive treatment, Lucy starts feeling extremely guilty again at the pain she has caused her friends. She lowers her head with a depressed look about her and feels the prickle of tears getting ready to form. Noticing something is wrong, Gray turns to look at Lucy.

"What's the matter? Still uneasy?" the ice mage asks softly. Lucy's head lowers until she is looking at her feet, and Gray's words catches the attention of other nearby members. After a pause, Lucy decides to answer without lifting her head.

"No, it's not that." She pauses again, as if to gather her thoughts. "It's just… I'm sorry." she finishes weakly.

"Well, it's the fate of rich heiress' to get chased. And the ones who protect them are Men." says Elfman as he walks over towards the group.

"Don't say things like that!" Gray snaps. All the stress and frustration adding up is making him much more irritable than usual. Elfman looks slightly taken aback at the unusual amount of bite in Gray's words.

Hopping to the floor, Happy looks up at Lucy with a worried and confused face as he says, "But I'm really surprised. Why did you keep it a secret, Lucy?" Unmoving from her position, she starts to speak at a low volume.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything. After I ran away from home, I didn't really want to talk about it. For a full year, he never showed any interest in his runaway daughter. And now he wants me back? My father went to such terrible lengths to take me back…" she pauses from her explanation to clench her eyes shut to hold back her tears.

"He's the worst!" she cries out in a louder voice and pauses again. The guys can only watch her, not knowing exactly how to approach. Lucy opens her eyes again and lowers her voice to where it was before her outburst. "But when you get down to it, it's originally my fault for running away from home, right?" she asks more to herself than the others.

"That's not true! Your father's the bad guy here!" Elfman protests.

"You idiot!" Gray hisses out. Elfman realizes his blunder and quickly tries to make up for it.

"I mean, Phantom!" he says lamely while striking an odd pose.

The sad blonde ignores them and continues speaking, "Thanks to my selfish actions, I've caused all this trouble for everyone. I'm really, truly sorry. I guess if I went home, it would end this, right?"

Natsu speaks up before Lucy can continue down that path of thinking, "I wonder about that." Hearing his voice, Lucy pulls her gaze away from the floor to look up at the dragon slayer.

"But "rich heiress" just doesn't strike the right tone." he says with the first true smile on his face since he saw Team Shadowgear in that tree. As Lucy watches him, his voice grows more cheerful as he continues, "Laughing in this dirty old beer hall, and making a ruckus while on some adventure… That's the Lucy I know." She looks down as she mulls over his words.

Turning serious, Natsu lets go of Krysti's hand as he stands up to take a step towards the blonde and calmly asks, "You said you wanted to stay here, right? What's the point of returning to someplace you don't want to go?" Lucy jerks upright as Natsu's words strikes a chord in her. Encouraged, he continues, "You're Lucy of Fairy Tail!" She looks up at Natsu to see a bigger smile on his face. He hooks a thumb over his shoulder to point at the guild.

"This is your home to return to." Moved by the sentiments, tears well up in Lucy's eyes yet again. Only this time they weren't tears of sadness, but tears of love and hope. Gray looks annoyed by the waterworks and Elfman starts shaking in fear, tears of women being his weakness.

"Don't cry, sheesh… You're stronger than that!" Grays tells the overwrought blonde in hopes of stopping her crying. He scratches his head out of frustration, too unsettled about the whole affair to even strip. During this, Mira and a few other guild members who have medical experience finish patching up what they can of their friend. A make shift bed upstairs is made and they carefully carry her over to it. The brunette should have an easier time to rest with fresher air and removed from the ruckus below.

Mira has a hard time convincing the ice and fire mage to stay away and let Krysti rest without them hovering over her. Both boys feels particularly guilty about leaving the girls alone which let Lucy get kidnapped easily and almost cost the brunette her life. They aren't the only ones filled with guilt. Erza feels that the guilt should be placed on her since she insisted on leaving the two alone in their grief at the hospital.

Lucy feels it is all her fault for running away from home even though she is perfectly justified in doing so. Even Mira feels guilty about it since she was the one who let Krysti go off on her own with Lucy. If she just insisted that they stay in the guildhall with her, or if she went with them, things would of been different. They all stew in guilt, believing that they each are to blame for their friend almost dying when by all rights, it is completely Phantom Lord's fault.

When Krysti is out of sight, the usual noise slowly starts up again as everyone goes back to complaining, planning, or stocking up. They knew that Mira would not of tolerated any of their activities while the newest member was being treated. Reedus stays upstairs to keep an eye on Krysti as he wanted a bit quieter place to paint, along with he has grown fond of the woman in the short amount of time she has been in the guild. Her knowledge of paints and pictures instantly winning him over during their first meeting.

Looking at all the bandages that covers her figure saddens him greatly. Knowing there is not much he can do at this point to help her, he decides at least he can paint her something he thinks will cheer her up after she wakes. Back downstairs, Cana and Mira try to find out where are some of their strongest mages that were absent from the battle with Phantom.

Cana uses her tarot cards to look for Mystogan, their most mysterious member. Mira however, is using a lacrima that is designed for communication to talk to Laxus. Grandson of the Master, Laxus uses lightening magic to overwhelm his enemies in a blink of an eye and is currently tied with Mystogan in strength. Trying for the 6th time and still no luck, Cana tosses her cards into the air with a groan of defeat.

"It's no use… I can't tell where Mystogan is." she growls out in frustration. Mira turns slightly to look at her from where she is standing while talking to Laxus.

"I see. Too bad." she replies in disappointment. Cana looks over towards the white-haired woman while in a partial kneeling position.

"If their aim is Lucy, then they'll be attacking again. We've got a lot of injured people… This doesn't look good." Cana says in a worried tone. Mira turns back to the lacrima and closes her eyes, with troubled thoughts and a heavy heart. She starts talking to the image in the crystal, outlining their situation while Cana starts to chug a bottle of alcohol out of frustration.

"Master is gravely wounded. And we don't know where Mystogan is." She opens her big blue eyes which emphasizes her sorrowful expression. "You're the only one we can rely on, Laxus!"

"Huh?" sneers the image of the man in the crystal. Short, spiky, blonde hair with grey eyes and a lightening bolt scar running down one side of his face, the man gives off a gruff exterior.

"Please, come back! Fairy Tail's in a crisis!" Mira pleads. A gleeful expression replaces the sneer and Laxus turns partially away from Mira and has a hand on his head.

"Serves that old codger right!" he says with a gloating laugh. He then turns back to Mirajane with a sly look on his face. "Doesn't have anything to do with me. Handle it yourselves." he states seriously. Cana throws a glare at Laxus while tightly gripping the bottle in her hand.

"Laxus… Why, you…" she growls out in anger at his words.

"After all… The old man started this war. Why should I be the one to bail him out?" he says with a self-satisfied smirk before pinning the two girls with a hard stare.

Matching his hard stare with one of her's, Mira informs Laxus, "They're targeting Lucy… One of us!"

"Huh? Who's that?" he asks with a questioning tone and uncaring look. Then a look of recognition enters his voice. "Oh, you mean the newbie?" His face gets a lecherous look to it. "Tell her I'll be happy to save her if she becomes my woman." he says in a lower tone of voice.

Indignant, Cana shouts at him, "I can't believe you!"

"Hey now! Is that any way to speak from someone you're asking help from? And just for that, you can strip for me as well!" he snaps at bikini-top clad brunette. Cana glares back, offended and angry about his lack of regard for his home. His expression relaxes back to the I-don't-give-a-damn one he has been using. "And tell the old man to hurry up and retire, so I can take over as position as master." he continues with a tone to match his expression. He laughs greatly like the whole thing is a joke before suddenly the crystal explodes into tiny pieces.

Mira lowers her fist from where she punched the lacrima. Tears streaking down her face as she bites her lip in an attempt to keep from crying out loud. Her fists are clenched tightly, her fingernails leaving indentions in the skin.

"Mira…" whispers out Cana as she looks at her fellow mage in shock and sadness.

"I can't believe him…" Mira chokes out through her grief. Her shoulders shake from her quiet sobs. "Is that person actually a member of Fairy Tail?" she questions no one. She quickly turns away from where the image of Laxus was and determination enters her tone and features.

"In that case, I'll fight!" she says firmly with her eyes clenched tight and tears still on her cheeks. She starts to walk away and Cana steps forward to stop her.

"What are you saying?" Cana says loudly in disbelief.

"Lucy was captured and Krysti was almost killed even though I was there! I could of kept them safe!" Mira almost shouts, still keeping her eyes closed while fighting the turmoil of guilt inside of her.

Cana reaches out and grabs a hold of the crying woman's arm before stating firmly, "No. You'll get in everyone's way as you are now. Even if you were once an S-class wizard." Her face tightens as her sorrow threatens to overwhelm her and Mirajane's eyes open to show the blue orbs shining with her tears.

---

After Krysti's wounds have been treated, Erza went to the guild showers to relax as she mentally goes over their situation. She replays the battle against Phantom and how badly it went when they lost their morale. She feels disheartened and almost lets her feelings get the better of her. Gritting her teeth, she shoves them back behind lock and key. Not wanting to lose her focus at this reprieve. Guilt assuages her as she starts thinking about Levy, the Master, and Krysti and the condition they are in.

She punches the wall in anger as she blames herself for not going with the Master and preventing that particular tragedy. Before she could blame herself any more, the entire guildhall shakes repeatedly while large crashes are heard. Wrapping a towel around herself, she and the rest of the guild who are conscious run outside to see what is the cause of the shaking. The whole town of Magnolia looks toward the sea in absolute shock. Those that can move, quickly start exiting the town as soon as they can make their legs work.

An almost mass panic takes place as more and more people become aware of what is happening. A large shape approaches the city from the sea, which is shown to be a large castle-like building walking on mechanical legs. The members of Fairy Tail exit out the backdoor that lies facing the sea and they stand there looking on in awe and fear.

"What the hell?" Natsu shouts out the question on everyone's minds as they watch the Phantom Lord headquarters walking towards them on two large mechanical legs. The sheer size of it boggles the mind and leaves more than a few Fairy Tail mages shaking in terror. Each step the building takes, shakes the ground as if it was an earthquake.

"Their guild is walking!" Happy blurts out, unable to stop himself.

"Phantom?" Loke questions, unwilling to believe his eyes.

"What are we going to do?" asks Wakaba, fear evident in his voice. The rest of the guild watches only in silence as the monstrosity makes it way towards Fairy Tail. Erza shakes as she is almost overwhelmed by what she is seeing.

"I didn't predict this… This is how they attack us?" she utters. Mira cries behind Erza, overcome by her fear. About 100 yards away, the building sets itself down in the water. One of the walls of the building lowers itself to reveal a giant barrel aiming right at Fairy Tail. The barrel extends until it resembles an enormous rifle. Dark energy starts gathering at the tip of the barrel and a orb quickly grows in size. The energy gathering creates a vortex at the site. Realizing what is happening, Erza takes action.

"This is bad! Everyone, take cover!" Erza shouts out the command as she turns to face her guild mates. Her arms sweep out over them to emphasize her words. The orb by this time is almost as big as the Fairy Tail guild hall. Erza darts towards the shore while ignoring the questioning cries of her friends. She throws off her towel as she re-quips into some armor. Bulky white and dark gray heavy armor covers the red head's form as she stands on the shoreline. Eyes wide in fury, she yells at Phantom Lord.

"I won't let you touch the guild!" she screams out.

"It's the Adamantine Armor!" Happy notices.

"She doesn't intend to actually block it, does she?!" Bisca gasps out of fear for the safety of her friend. Her partner, Alzack, yells at Erza.

"I don't care how much crazy defensive power that armor gives you!" He looks angry and scared as he yells.

"Don't do it, Erza! You'll die!" Wakaba joins in to try to persuade Erza from her decision.

"Get down!" screams out Erza, the only thing on her mind is protecting her home and family from further harm. Natsu tries to run after her to stop her and Gray latches onto the irate fire mage and has to struggle to hold him back.

"Erza!" Natsu screams out in fear.

"Natsu! All we can do is believe in her!" Gray grunts out from trying to hold back the dragon slayer. Less than a second later, the large orb is shot out towards the guild with an explosive force. The pressure from the magic alone parts the water as it speeds along to its target. In a blink of an eye, the dark vortex of magic is almost upon them. Erza, with her quick reflexes, brings her arms together and the wings on the armor's arms join together to create a giant shield.

The magic of the armor activates into a magic barrier as large as the orb. They collide in an intense explosion. Both sides push against the other, neither giving any quarter. Almost everyone cowers or is frozen in place, watching their possible death being blocked by one of their friends. Stubbornly, Natsu still tries to escape Gray's grasp to go to Erza's aid. Bit by bit, the Adamantine Armor starts to crack under the strain. Refusing to give up, Erza pumps more magic into the armor.

Straining against the power, she grunts as more of the shield disintegrates. With a sudden force, the armor breaks completely and throws Erza backwards just as the dark magical energy dissipates.

She did it.

She protected everyone. Exhausted, she reverts to the clothes she normally wears under her usual armor as she tumbles over the ground. Knowing that her family is safe, she relaxes as she tries recover from the strain. The dust clears from that last blast of power to shows a huge furrow in the ground and the ocean from where that magic was at. The members of Fairy Tail look on in awe and wonder at the power the orb had and at Erza's strength in being able to block it. Gray finally lets go of Natsu, who then rushes to the red-head's side.

"Erza, hang in there!" Natsu yells at her, clearly worried for the woman he has looked up to as an older sister for a large part of his life. A voice calls out loudly from the direction of the Phantom Lord's headquarters, who Lucy recognizes as Jose.

"Makarov. And now Erza as well. Both are out of commission. You no longer have a chance for victory. Hand over Lucy Heartfilia. Right now." Jose demands coldly. Outraged, everyone in the guild starts shouting refusals. All except Lucy herself. Guilt wracks her being as everyone is willing to go through so much pain and suffering just to keep her safe. Being one of the newest and weakest members, she doesn't feel like she deserves any of the loyalty from the guild that they are displaying for her.

"Hand her over." Jose demands again in a harsh, guttural voice. The voices of outrage from her friends continues as Lucy starts to cry, so overcome by everything. Her shoulders shake as the tears fall. Erza pushes herself up to her elbows as anger surges through her.

"We'd rather die than sell out our friends!" she screams out with all her might. A chorus of agreements flow around the guild. Lucy, shaken out of her self-induced guilt trip, looks up at all of her friends. She is touched by their loyalty, even when she hasn't been there long enough to earn such dedication in her opinion. Natsu's face is a mask of pure rage as he adds to Erza's scream.

"Our answer will never change, no matter what! We will kick your ass!" he roars out. Lucy has to use both of her hands to stifle the sobs as they tear through her body. Angered beyond belief, Jose shouts back at the defiant Fairy Tail wizards.

"Then you'll get a second extra-large helping of Jupiter! Quiver in fear for the 15 minutes it takes to charge!" This announcement quiets most of the mages on the beach. How can they stand another blast when the only person who could is out of commission? How will they block another attack? Dark shapes start flying out of the Phantom building and head towards Fairy Tail surprising everyone. At first they think it's the mages from Phantom Lord attacking until the dark shapes get closer.

"Stare into the pits of hell, Fairy Tail! You only have two choices left. Be destroyed by my troops. Or be blown away by Jupiter!" Jose's voice rings out in fury. At first, Fairy Tail thinks that the figures are more Phantom grunts coming back for revenge for the earlier raid, until Cana tells them that the dark figures are only Jose's magic and not real humans. They are surprised that they are being attacked by beings not unlike ghosts.

"We have to do something about Jupiter." Cana states seriously. Natsu turns to her and punches a fist into his other palm.

"I'll bust it to pieces!" he declares before getting into an eager position, wanting to hit something. "15 minutes right? Let me at it!" he says loudly, just as serious as Cana. She nods and quick as a flash, the dragon slayer takes off to destroy the gun. "Happy!" he shouts out for his blue-furred friend.

"Aye, sir!" the cat yells out with a determined face as he flies towards his friend and picks him up with his paws. Flying as fast as he can, Happy takes Natsu over to the barrel. On the ground, Gray and Elfman start running towards the enemy guild as well.

"Elfman, we're going in too!" the ice mage calls out to his friend.

"All right!" Elfman agrees while running beside Gray. Erza finally passes out from her ordeal and two of her guild mates brings her inside the ruined hall. They lay her gently down on a mostly undamaged table near Krysti's makeshift bed before hurrying back out to join in the fray. Cana's serious expression hardens into grim determination as Erza is safe behind walls and out of immediate danger.

"All right! We'll make a stand here! Got it?" she commands the rest of her fellow mages while pulling out her tarot cards. The guild shouts out their agreement. A determined Mirajane marches over to Lucy and grabs her wrist.

"Lucy, this way!" the white-haired woman insists as she leads Lucy away from the beach. Mira takes her to around the front of the guild, and out of sight of Phantom Lord. Reedus is out front and Mira starts issuing orders.

"We have a safe house. Stay there until the battle is over." Mira directs that towards the blonde girl who pulls her hand out of the other woman's grasp.

"But… I have to fight alongside everyone! It's my fault this happened!" protests the celestial mage. Mira turns to face Lucy and stares at her firmly.

"No, you're wrong, Lucy. No one thinks that. For our fallen friends… For our guild… and to protect you! Everyone takes pride in this battle." the older woman tells her in a tone that brooks no nonsense. The runaway heiress looks sad at those words, she really wants to help fight and not just sit behind some walls like a weak princess. It's one of the reasons why she ran away in the first place.

Mira reaches a hand towards Lucy's face as she continues, "So listen to what I say, ok?" A soft glow emits from the former S-class wizard's hand which causes the blonde to look up and gasp. Her eyes shut and her legs wobble before falling forward. Mira quickly catches her before she hits the ground and looks at Reedus.

"Reedus, take Lucy to the safe house!" she commands.

"Oui!" he replies as he takes out his paint and proceeds to paint a picture of a small covered wagon being pulled by a large pig on his stomach. Activating his magic, a large pink puff of smoke appears and it reveals that the picture on his stomach became real.

"Please be careful!" Mira tells Reedus as they load Lucy in the wagon. He gets into the driver's seat and takes hold of the reins. He repeats his last statement and gives the reins a snap to get the pig to move. They take off at a face pace as the white-haired mage watches them hurry down the now empty streets. Knowing that she can't fight, but still wanting to protect her friends, Mira does the only thing that she can think to do to help.

She uses her transformation magic to turn into Lucy.

Back at the rear of the guild, Jose's ghosts, which have been identified as Shades, are attacking the Fairy Tail wizards. They fly through the wizards, causing chaos throughout the ranks. Mira prays for Natsu to be able to take out the Jupiter weapon soon. She heads back into the guild to take care of the two injured women inside. The Shades disappear easily when hit with magic, but due to the fact that they can fly, makes it harder to hit them.

Some of the Fairy Tail wizards notice that if a Shade touches them that they weaken. Worried, they call out to the others about it only to have it confirmed. The Shades were cursed. Jose, using a special long range viewing magic, watches and listens to the struggles of the mages on the beach with sadistic pleasure. Hearing their questions towards each other, he feels magnanimous and decides to confirm their suspicions.

"Exactly! Phantom soldiers where just a touch will sap away your life! That is Shade!" he calls out in cruel joy. Hearing this, Fairy Tail's resolve to not get hit and to protect their fallen friends increases. Angry at Jose and the situation entirely, Bisca changes her rifle into two semi-automatic guns and fires upon the entire lot of Shades. The sky clears of them, but only to reappear again a few seconds later. Frustrated and shocked, the mages can only grit their teeth and continue to attack in defense of their home.

As they fight, Mira sadly watches out from inside the guildhall as she tends to Erza's wounds. During this, Happy has already dropped Natsu on the end of the Jupiter barrel. Using his flame punches, the dragon slayer has been pounding at it for over a minute. Natsu grows quickly frustrated at how he can't even leave a dent in the barrel.

"I guess we'll have to destroy it from the inside." Happy observes. Natsu stops his attacks and looks up at Happy in surprise as he realizes that he never would of thought of that. With a quick leap, the duo lands on the inside of the barrel and runs inside the building. They gasp in shock when they get to the other side of the Jupiter gun.

A cavernous room lies before them with the first thing that catches their eyes is the giant lacrima floating in the middle of the room. It was at least the size of a house, never have they seen one that big before. Four other room-sized lacrimas are positioned an equal distance from the large one in the middle and from each other.

"W-What's that?" asks Natsu in astonishment more to himself than to Happy. A clank is heard and a warm female voice announces that there is 11 minutes left until Jupiter can fire again.

"It looks like a lacrima for concentrating magic." Happy puzzles out.

"I never seen a lacrima that big before." Natsu says, still in awe at the size.

Happy explains what it is to Natsu in a serious tone, "A Magic Focusing Cannon is a weapon that uses concentrated magic power instead of a cannon shell."

"I don't really get it, but all I need to do it break it, right?" Natsu asks, as he prepares to leap down to the ground. An unknown male voice cuts through the air.

"I won't let you do that." it says confidently. Surprised, the two friends look down where the source of the voice is coming from.

"A lookout?" Happy questions. As they look at a seemingly older male standing on the floor in front of the center-placed lacrima.

"Whatever! I'll just get rid of anyone in our way!" Natsu declares, already assuming the opponent below them is already defeated. He jumps down, prepared to end this in one blow.

The light gives the taller male's eyes a strange glow as he replies, "I won't let you."

"I don't have time for this! Outta the way!" Natsu shouts as his fist ignites. Almost reaching the ground, Natsu cocks his fist back, ready to punch when suddenly he punches his own face. The force of the blow knocks him sideways as his mind tries to understand what just happened. Happy floats down using his wings as he is immediately concerned over the strange behavior of the dragon slayer.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Happy questions loudly.

"Uh, my body is… on its own…" he manages to get out while his fist is still pressing against his cheek. He quenches his flames and is able to get back in control. Flipping, Natsu is able to land without injury. His face is a mask of seriousness as he knows that this isn't going to be an easy fight.

"It looks like… you're the one getting in the way." says the older man, just as cocky as before. Natsu studies his opponent intensely. Two tone black and white hair done up in a high ponytail catches his attention first. The over confident posture is next, which causes Natsu's anger to flare at being looked down upon. On the newcomers face is a thick black line that goes across his nose, splitting his face in half. The cheerful woman's voice comes on and announces 10 minutes are left.

"Move it. I'm going to smash that giant crystal!" Natsu demands.

Happy floats besides his best friend and tells him quietly, "If you can break that lacrima, Jupiter shouldn't be able to fire." The two humans stare each other down for a while trying to intimidate the other.

"I won't let you." repeats the unknown man after a period of silence. "Didn't I tell you?" he continued. The females voices announces 7 minutes are left. Natsu ignites a fist and launches another attack at the enemy blocking their way. Against his will, Natsu's flaming fist punches him in the face again. This catches the dragon slayer off guard and he tumbles on the ground, away from the other man.

Natsu gets up and touches his cheek gingerly from where he unwillingly punched himself twice. He wonders what the hell is going on with his body attacking himself like that. Happy is frantic as he tries to get Natsu back on track to focus on destroying the lacrima. Ignoring the cat, Natsu rushes in to attack with another flaming punch.

He loses control of his fist, but instead of punching he is made to spin in a circle which causes a small fiery tornado to form around him. The other male jumps and hits Natsu with his knee, causing the spinning to stop and the flames to die down. Natsu crashes into a wall, leaving a sizeable dent, and then falls to the ground with a thud. 6 minutes before Jupiter fires is announced.

"I am Totomaru, and I manipulate the element of fire." Totomaru announces to the still fallen Natsu who pushes himself up to stand.

"Eh, one of those whatchamacallit-somethingorother 4?" Natsu asks.

"Natsu, it's the Element 4! The only part you got right was the 4!" Happy yells, frustrated at the dragon slayer's inability to recall names. Ignoring the cat, Totomaru directs his comments towards the other fire mage.

"All flames are under my control." he states as if it was a well-known fact. Needless to say, Natsu doesn't believe him and Totomaru continues to boast, "Whether enemy or in nature, all flames are mine!" The Elemental 4 mage hunches down, in preparation of getting attacked.

"My flames are mine!" Natsu shouts out harshly, getting mad that someone has the audacity to try to control his dragon fire. Happy again shouts at Natsu to ignore Totomaru, but to no avail.

"Seems you drew a bad match-up, my little fire wizard." Totomaru says, fully confident in his abilities. At this point, the 4 smaller lacrimas begin to glow with magic. As the glow brightens, magic streaks across towards the larger crystal in electrical form. This causes the Magic Concentration lacrima to glow as well as it charges. Natsu gasps in shock at the sight, the enemy temporarily forgotten. Happy states the obvious that it is activating while the female announces informs that there is 5 minutes left.

Tired of defending, Totomaru goes in for the attack with a shout, "Blue Fire!" His magic activates and column of blue fire lashes out and envelops Natsu. The smirk on the Phantom Lord mage quickly fades into one of shock. The pink-haired guy was eating his fire.

Laughing as he eats, Natsu says, "Ooh, that's cold! Never eaten fire like that before." The sword wielding fire user figures out who he is facing and addresses him.

"I see… So you're the Dragon Slayer I've heard rumors about. This means we're both at a disadvantage. Fire won't work on either of us."

Angry, Natsu yells out, "Don't go decidin' that yourself! I haven't even hit you yet!"

"Exactly!" Totomaru says like he is teaching a really slow child something simple. "I can't be hit by fire!" Hearing this, Natsu pounds his fists together to start up his signature breath attack. Totomaru activates his magic before Natsu is ready to spew out the dragon flames.

"All fire is under my control!" the Phantom mage exclaims. Unexpectedly, instead of fire Natsu spits all over Totomaru who looks disgusted by the action. He starts to lose his cocky manner as his frustration with the dragon slayer grows. Natsu points and laughs in victory for tricking the other fire mage. The female voice sounds off that only 2 minutes remain.

Happy starts flying around everywhere while going ballistic that Natsu isn't trying to stop the Jupiter and just wants to fight. The two humans ignore the cat's incessant shouting as they glare at each other.

"Why, you… You tricked me!" Totomaru accuses harshly, his anger growing.

"Orange Fire!" he shouts as he activates his magic for an attack.

"Didn't you see? I eat fire!" states Natsu confidently. He starts to suck in the fire but has to stop. "It stinks! My nose!" he cries out as his face starts turning colors from the disgusting odor the flames hold. He rolls on the ground and covers his nose with his hands trying to get rid of the smell that is assaulting his really sensitive nose. Totomaru laughs as he gets even for that trick Natsu played on him.

"That fire's the smell of a mop drenched with curdled milk!" he states proudly. Almost recovered, Natsu moves over to the other guy and the two mages start pushing against each other with their shoulders. They growl at each other for the trick the other has pulled on them. The female voice announces that only 1 minute remains before Jupiter fires.

The glow from the orbs seem to increase as time has gone on. Happy is crazed with fear and tries to physically pull Natsu away from Totomaru while telling him to calm down so he can focus on Jupiter. Getting angry, Natsu shakes off Happy and rushes in to attack Totomaru but without his flames. Noticing this, Totomaru smirks feeling that victory is assured.

"Whoa, there… Giving up on magic and using your fists? In that case I, with my katana, have the advantage!" Totomaru jumps back as he says this to give him room to draw his sword that hangs on his hip. In a blink of the eye, he appears in front of Natsu and tries to slash him which gets dodged by the dragon slayer.

Natsu keeps jumping around dodging while Totomaru doesn't let up and keeps getting within range to slice up the Fairy Tail mage. With a swift upside-down kick, Natsu disarms Totomaru and the sword flies into the lacrima in the center of the room. It cracks, but it isn't enough to destroy it. Natsu smirks knowing that he evened the odds.

"Too bad." calls out the Elemental 4 mage. "A scratch like that can't destroy such a large lacrima." he says arrogantly.

"Oh? Is that so?" Natsu asks wonderingly with his back to the lacrima in question. His fists light up and he goes in for the attack with more punches while Totomaru dodges easily. "Than how about this?" Natsu asks while attacking with a fiery fist.

"Honestly, you don't learn a thing, do you?" Totomaru says in contempt at Natsu's idiocy. He activates his magic and has Natsu punch himself in the face, again. Angry, Natsu ignites his flame out from his fists so much that Totomaru gets hit with it. Looking singed, the Phantom Lord mage glares at Natsu in surprise and anger. Happy is freaking out as the magic is gathering for another shot and the female voice announces only 20 seconds is left. Natsu lets out a wordless roar as he creates two giant fireballs, one in each hand.

"That won't work a second time. I told you already… All fire is under my control!" states Totomaru, fully confident that the dragon slayer is going to fail to destroy the lacrima in time. He activates his magic to take control of the flames swirling around Natsu. He grunts in surprise when the flames don't obey him like before. The fiery vortex around Natsu grows in size and quickly reaches Totomaru's position. The fire manipulator can't believe that Natsu was able to find a way to block his control during a battle.

Enraged, Natsu bellows out, "How dare you move my fire!" He then throws the massive fireball right at Totomaru. The Elemental 4 wizard dodges to the side with a smirk.

"What does it matter as long as you can't hit me?" Totomaru taunts. Noticing something odd, he turns to see that the fireball turns into a fist of fire and it hits the lacrima as the female voice counts out the last seconds. He stares in utter shock, not believing that he let the dragon slayer's attack hit the lacrima.

Still angry, Natsu gives him a smug grin as he informs the other mage that he wasn't aiming for him with that attack. The fire drives the sword that is still stuck in the lacrima in further and deep cracks appear over the orb's surface. A giant explosion rocks the entire building as the large lacrima bursts and takes out the entire Jupiter system.

Faint cheers can be heard over the explosions as the members of Fairy Tail are ecstatic that the Jupiter gun is destroyed. As the explosions clear along with the dust and dirt, it shows the entire room is now just a pile of rubble.

Natsu chuckles a bit before he explains to the bewildered Element 4 mage, "Look here, bud. Fire ain't gonna listen to people telling it what to do. It responds to your heart's will." he adds a grin to the end of his statement. Happy looks on in awe and slight embarrassment. It dawns on the blue-furred cat that Natsu had to fight Totomaru to gain control of his flames or there was no way he could of destroyed Jupiter. He hangs his head in shame that he let fear keep him from thinking clearly.

Down on the beach, the destruction of the Jupiter gun raises the morale of the fighters. With increased vigor, they renews their attacks on the Shades. Mirajane, still posing as Lucy, looks on at her friends with great relief. With the threat of Jupiter gone, they now have much better odds at surviving this battle.

Back inside the destroyed Jupiter room, Natsu is readying another attack that he is focusing on hitting Totomaru with.

"You can't manipulate my fire any longer! It's your turn to get blown to smithereens, Phantom!" he shouts out. Suddenly, the whole room rocks causing the three males to lose their footing. Unseen by those three, the guildhall starts moving. The rooms and buildings shift around as the entire place starts to transform. The unnatural movement causes Natsu's motion sickness to act up. But thanks to the tea he has been drinking for almost two weeks, it doesn't affect him nowhere nearly as badly as it would have. He sends up a silent prayer in thanks for his housemate and her medical knowledge and kindness.

Outside, the Shades retreat which gives the fighters on the beach a small reprieve. Catching their breath, they watch as the Phantom Lord headquarters shape shift. Totomaru knows what is going on and is surprised that Jose is resorting to this drastic action. Random Phantom Lord mages scramble to get to safety so they won't fall off into the water or get squashed as everything keep shifting. Totomaru grins in victory, knowing that nothing can stop the building after it shape shifts.

"The giant has awakened! It's over for you guys!" he crows. Natsu hunches over with one arm wrapped around his stomach, fighting back against the motion sickness. He is able to stay on his feet and his face isn't as pale as it would have been, but he hasn't been completely cured. Down on the beach, everyone looks up in horror and fascination.

If they thought the enemy guild hall was huge before, it is nothing compared to how it is now. It towers over the entire town as it stands up. A magical giant stands before the guild of Fairy Tail, and no one can believe their eyes. The Shades stream around the giant, almost like a sash and Jose's voice sounds out again as he speaks to the guild.

"You should grovel and beg for forgiveness, you damn kids. Then you will learn your place! Feast on despair until the end of your pitiful lives!" Jose almost growls in irritation. The giant starts to walk closer to the guild and the Shades fly back down for another attack. Too focused on defending their home, no one notices a pair of blue-grey eyes opening.