A/N: Okay, the next installment. I hope that y'all enjoy it.

All rights to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 5: Hearts Allied

Lucy and the Golden Keys donned their nicest combat clothing, best weapons, and gathered in the foyer of the main house. Lucy surveyed her twelve best mobsters. They looked fearsome and ready to kill at a moment's notice. But Lucy could also see the kindness that they harbored towards abandoned things and the love they held for the world and the life that they had been given.

"Are you ready?" Lucy asked.

"Hai, Himi," they replied in complete unison.

"Then, let's go," Lucy directed, "be cautious as possible while approaching Fairy Tail, Leo may have scared them unnecessarily."

"That's not very nice, himi," Leo whined while the others chuckled.

"It's the truth though," Lucy said walking out the door, "and you probably revealed how we know all about their pasts while you were at it."

Leo stood gaping at the door while Lucy and the eleven other keys filed out behind her. He realized that he was about to be left behind and quickly caught up to his mistress.

"How'd you know?" he pouted.

"Silly lion," Lucy answered affectionately, patting his head, "don't you know, I know everything."

There was a grain of truth to that statement. Lucy certainly knew more than people would expect her to know because she did extensive research and reconnaissance before making any sort of move. She was also incredibly smart and had the best tacticians alive at her side as she planned things out. The Keys had certainly been out-maneuvered by their mistress more than once and had made it a game to try to do something that would surprise her. More than once Leo had wondered why he was sent to Fairy Tail when Lucy already knew everything there was to know about those people.

Lucy left no time for spare thoughts to enter his head now though, as she moved as quickly and secretively as possible through town so as not to set off any alarms or disturb any of the civilians. Leo was fully occupied trying to keep up with his mistress, avoid notice, and not die to think about other things. As always, Lucy reached Fairy Tail first and stopped, without slowing down, right outside the gates that led to the Fairy Tail building. The Zodiac came to a stop around her. Their formation was carefully orchestrated to intimidate, but also appear somewhat friendly. Well, as friendly as a group of thirteen people in floor-length, dark coloured cloaks could look.

"Are you ready?" Lucy asked once more.

"Hai, Himi," her twelve best answered as one.

"From here on out, we are on a mission to destroy the terrible evil that resides in this world," Lucy, no, Lady Summoner instructed, "we will need Fairy Tail's help to do so. I expect all of you to be on your best behavior and be role models of a proper, proud Celestial Golden Key."

"Hai, Himi," they replied.

"Begin mission than," Lady Summoner intoned, "shoot for the stars and pass the Heavens."

"Shoot for the stars and pass the Heavens," the Zodiac echoed. Their mission had officially begun. No one was allowed to back out and must try to succeed until they die. Failure was not an option.

With that Virgo held open the first gate for everyone to pass through. Leo scampered ahead of the group and once the time was right, opened the main doors. Light from outside flooded into the hall. Everyone in the guild was froze where ever they were in shock as a familiar figure entered the mall hall and knelt, head bowed and cloak spread out on the floor behind him.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail," the figure said, "my Lady."

Fairy Tail watched in silence as a petite figure clad in a midnight blue cloak floated into the guild, followed by eleven other figures who slipped by her and arranged themselves around her in such a manner that would protect her from anyone who meant to harm her. The person, who was quite obviously a girl based on what the kneeling figure had called her, stopped part way into the guild and looked around.

"We have some work to do," a melodic voice drifted from under the hood concealing her face, "but it is better than I thought."

"Himi," a monotone voice said, "please remember why you are here."

"Right," the girl spoke to the members on the floor, "I would like to meet with your master."

"Who are you?" Erza asked in an intimidating voice.

"Someone who wishes to speak with your master," the girl responded in a cool voice, "if you cannot comply with my wishes of your own free will, I will have no choice, but to force you."

"Leave my children alone, I will meet with you," a tired voice came from the balcony of the second floor. A tiny old man stood on the railing, he had a serious look on his face.

"Master!" Erza exclaimed aghast.

"I will not allow any unnecessary harm come to my children," the man told the red-haired girl. He turned to the strangers standing in his guild hall, "please come upstairs. I will meet with you."

"Thank you very much, Master Makarov," the girl in the cloak responded giving a tiny curtsey.

The thirteen cloaked figures moved silently through the hall to the staircase at the back. Gasps were heard around the guild as the mobsters caught sight of the symbol on the backs of the cloaks. It was the symbol of the elites of the elites in the Celestials. The blaze of the Lady Summoner herself.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, one of the figures extended an arm, it was clad in black and the hand looked slightly familiar. The girl set her arm on his and the two headed the procession up the stairs like a couple from hundreds of years ago. Once they disappeared down the dark hall that led to Makarov Dreyar's office.

Makarov was waiting for them. He was sitting on his desk with his odd staff in his lap. Makarov eyed them suspiciously as the smallest figure took the center and the others spread out along the walls, melding with the shadows.

"Who are you and what business do you have with my guild?" Makarov asked. He had no earthly idea who these people could be, although the cloaks looked familiar.

In response the girl reached up and unhooked her the clasp of her cloak. She took the cloak off with a large flourish. When Makarov could clearly see her again, she was standing confidently, with one of the figures standing next to her, holding the girl's discarded cloak folded neatly over his arm.

"It's very nice to meet you, Master Makarov Dreyar of Fairy Tail," the girl smiled, "again."

Makarov Dreyar was, for once in his life, completely and utterly speechless. Not one thing came to mind to say, not even anything dirty.

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, or as you might know, Lady Summoner, the founder and leader of the Celestials," the girl continued, her bright smile never leaving her face, "I'd to recruit Fairy Tail to help me in my mission."

"What mission?" was all Makarov could say.

"Destroying Zeref," Lucy answered. Her eyes flashed with a hate so strong that Makarov felt real fear for the first time in his life. He'd encountered an aura quite the same as the petite girl in front of him possessed.

"We'll gladly help as much as we can," Makarov answered without thinking. He could not fathom denying this girl anything she might desire.

"Great," Lucy replied, smiling, her black aura instantly disappaiting.

"What do you require from us?" Makarov asked, waving for Lucy to take a seat in front of his desk.

Lucy took it, and waved one of the cloaked figures over. A pale hand with a manacle and chain attached reached out and gave Lucy a thick manila folder. Lucy took it and set it on the desk between herself and Makarov.

"This is information we have on Zeref that is safe to be documented, the rest is contained with in my head only," Lucy informed him, "I'll give you a quick rundown on the situation." She flipped the folder open and removed the top document, then she closed the folder and pushed it aside. Opening the paper she held, Lucy revealed an incredibly detailed map of Fiore. Thirteen pictures fell out of the map that Lucy caught and set aside face down.

"Here, here, and here," Lucy point to three large black dots, "that's Zeref's three biggest mafia supporters.

"One is located in Magnolia!" Makarov exclaimed in surprise.

"That was Oración Seis," Lucy told him, "we wiped it out to send a warning to Zeref."

"Ah," Makarov noticed that the black circle in Magnolia had a red cross through it.

Lucy tapped another black circle. This one was in Hargeon. "In one month's time, Fairy Tail will destroy this mafia with the members that I have selected to prove that they are worthy to fight along the Celestials against Zeref," she said, then tapped another circle located in the middle of nowhere, "two weeks after Grimoire Heart is destroyed, Fairy Tail and the Celestials will destroy Tartarus to test our teamwork and coordination skills. Should we fail, Zeref will win and destroy the world."

Makarov gulped. Grimoire Heart and Tartarus were the two most fearsome mafias after the Celestials. Fairy Tail had a lot of training to do in the next month. He also had to start picking who would fight whom and do some recon on Grimoire Heart so that his kids would be ready. Tartarus also would need to be looked into, and Zeref.

Lucy interrupted his thoughts by handing him flashdrive. "That contains all the information on Grimoire Heart and Tartarus that you will need to succeed, but you can look over that later. I have more I want to tell you about Zeref.

"This here is Zeref's base of operations," she pointed to a large black star. She then pointed to twelve smaller stars in quick succession, "and that's where his Spriggan twelve are based." Makarov stared at the map in awe. There were symbols for every single mafia in the country precisely where the main guild hall could be found and the smaller bases were also on there. Lucy even had Tenroujima Island marked on her map.

Lucy flipped over the photographs she had set aside. They were all of oddly high quality and showed the features of each person clearly. "These are the Spriggan Twelve, Zeref's generals," she explained, "I will not tell you how I obtained these photographs or any of the information that I have. You must either trust me or not. It's your decision to make; however, complete rust between the two of us and our members is mandatory, if it cannot be had, Celestials will have to go elsewhere to get the assistance they need."
Makarov stared wide-eyed at the pictures. He picked up one picture. It showed a pale-skinned, dark-haired man with red eyes. The man was crying. "Who is this?" he asked in a fearful whisper. The man's power could be felt through the photo.

"Zeref Dragneel himself," Lucy hissed, "that bastard. I'll be the one taking him down."

"Drag-neel?" Makarov asked staring at the picture.

"Yes," Lucy answered.

"There's no way," he said, staring at the picture, "but the resemblance is unmistakable. They have the same face shape."

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked somewhat urgently. Zeref was hard to get information on, anything Makarov knew could potentially be the difference between winning and losing.

"This man," Makarov slowly raised his head to meet Lucy's eyes, "his younger brother is in our guild."

A/N: And that's a wrap. Sorry, it's a kinda short and crappy chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will be much better.

Thanks for reading! Please check out my other stories!

Artistofthemind.