Hi everyone! So to avoid confusion i'll let you in on this, all the exceeds in this story do not have a smaller form. They're natural form is variations of big cats and they are able to transform into humanoids if they have trained themselves to do so. Pantherlily still appears how he does in the anime when he's in his bigger form, Charla's humanoid form is also the same from the anime. Now that you guys know, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

Chapter 4

(Lily's POV) The fire crackled as Lily layed next to the source of heat, it had been a long day. He and Erza had finished up a job and were heading back to Fairy Tail, they could have kept going seeing as they were only a ten minute walk away but decided they deserved a rest. He stood and grabbed the rabbit he'd cooked over the fire with his large mouth then began to eat. He hadn't felt like transforming so he just ate the prey bone and all, after all, his stomach could digest bone.

"Lily, those are not very good table manners." Erza said a bit bewildered watching him swallow the entire rabbit. She was sitting on the forest floor across from him taking bites from her own. He sighed and gave an amused chuckle.

"I don't really feel like shifting and it's hard to pick flesh off bones with paws, although i do agree it was rather distasteful to eat it how i did." Lily didn't enjoy the crunch of the bones or innards of the small animal really, but he his race was still wild and they were built for these things. The humidity was thick and he could sense a storm brewing, he couldn't see the clouds due to the forest canopy but he knew they were dark and heavy. The ground shook and the skies rumbled, he and Erza shared a mutual look of agreement as Lily jumped up.

"W-We've rested long enough, l-let's get back before the storm hits." Erza looked infatuatedly at Lily, a slight blush across her cheeks. Lily's legs slightly shook as he shot a glare at her.

"I'm not cute! I am certainly not afraid of the thunder Erza!" He shouted. 'I'm not afraid! It's just thunder!' Copper, a metallic scent hit his sensitive nose. His ears shot up in concentration listening around them, he heard foliage snapping and running in the distance. It was blood, human blood, not just one human but at least four or five people's scents. 'Has something happened? Maybe travelers or campers are in danger?' Erza noticing the serious change in Lily's demeanor grew focused.

"What is it Lily?" She concentrated her energy into one of the rings on her fingers and a sword materialized into her hand.

"I smell blood, a lot of it, people are coming this way." Lily shot into action not wanting to take his time. He didn't know if the people were dangerous or the ones in danger but he wasn't going let them closer to the guild until he found out. Running on all fours he closed distance between him and the individuals while Erza hung back to smolder the fire. He could smell rain in the distance as well, the scent was being thrown off but he could still hear where the people were. 'Please don't thunder until this is over.' Distracted in his worry he hadn't noticed the woman running ahead of him. Red, blonde and blue caught his keen eyes in the darkness, shock stung him. 'What..' A few feet in front of him stood a delirious woman with another non moving woman on her back. They looked like they'd rolled around in a bloodbath, the sickening scent of blood overpowered any other scent round them. 'It wasn't four different people, these two girls are covered in others blood.' Worry hit him, 'What happened to them?' The blonde woman was topless and bruises littered her body, her eyes were wide with fear as she stared at him.

He could not only see her fear but he smell it as if it were the sheer amount blood covering them. He began shifting to his humanoid form realizing they needed help. "Hey.. Are you alright..?"

He watched as the woman frantically grabbed at the whip tied to her bottoms and he shot forward. 'She's not in the right state of mind.' Just as she cracked it forward Lily grabbed it from her hand, yanking away. She fell forward to the forest floor, guilt hit Lily, he had not meant to injure her more than she already was. She had been so light and unstable his simple yank knocked her forward. The blue haired woman on her back fell in front of the blonde, Lily gasped when he finally got a real look at her. She was covered in slashed wounds, bruises and what looked like hickies. His stomach dropped and flipped, 'I hope they're just bruises..' He knew his hope was unlikely, she was nearly naked with her clothes in tatters. Not only that but she was bleeding out, this woman was far more injured than the other.

"I'm not going to hurt you or your friend, you need help, please calm down." Lily tried to reason with the blonde but his words fell on deaf ears. She was still delirious and reason could not reach her, Lily knew she'd pass out any second. He reached downwards the pick the smaller woman up but the blonde threw herself on top of the bleeding woman. Lily's eyes grew wide as the woman glared daggers into his, the way she guarded her friend looked animalistic. Her eyes looked far away and determination was set deep into her face. If looks could kill Lily would've died in that moment. 'She's protecting her with her body.'

"Erza! Get over here now, we need to get these people to Wendy and Porlyusica now!" Lily had been so taken by the absolute look of intimidation the blonde gave him that he hadn't noticed her back. 'My God…' She had shards of glass covering it, dried and fresh blood mingled across it. 'What on earthland happened to these two.' Lily tried to make himself seem as unintimidating as he possibly could.

"You're going to be okay, we're taking you to our doctor right now." Lily quietly and calmly told her. Erza emerged from the brush in utter shock. Her face grew completely serious as she ran towards the injured women and Lily. Relief washed over the blonde's face when she spotted Erza and her body went limp. "Lily! Take them now, equip your wings and fly them there!"

Lily nodded and focused his energy to his back, wings sprouted and he carefully cradled each girl in either of his toned arms. Erza had put a hand on his shoulder and braced herself for take off. 'I expected them to weigh more, i guess i'm just used to Gajeel's weight.' Lily mused to himself, he shook the unnecessary thought from his head as he focused on flying. He was cutting through the air fast, his wings stung from the exertion and his eyes were blinded for a split second by a violent flash. Thunder quaked and fear pulsed through him, he couldn't stop or hide, these girl's lives depended on him. 'Shit.' Thunder roared again and he jumped in his skin. A warm hand gripped his shoulder reassuringly, Erza tried to calm him. "We're almost there Lily! You're doing great!" She yelled over the sound of wind and weather.

He finally spotted the guild in the forest clearing, he lowered his body into a dive and swooped down. Equipping his wings as he touched ground, Erza had hopped off his back mid landing and thrown the guild doors open.

"Wendy! Go to the medical room now! Someone go get Porlyusica, we have critically injured people!" Erza barked storming into the guild. Everyone had faces of shock as Lily entered the guild holding half naked, beaten and bloody girls in his arms.

"Oh my!" Mira shouted setting down the mugs she had been cleaning, she ran to get master Makarov. Wendy ran to the medical unit preparing the room as Carla ran behind her. Gajeel stared in shock and confusion at his friend as he carried the women off to the unit. His gaze lingered on the tiny woman in his friend's arms. He and Natsu had been in the middle of a fight when Erza busted into the doors. Natsu also stared at the women with worry and anger on his face as they were being taken to Wendy.

Lily laid them on the medical beds as Wendy and Carla began assessing the woman's wounds. "Wendy, start with the that one first, her wounds are worse." Lily told the young girl hurriedly. She nodded and Carla came over to care for Lucy.

"Oh.." Carla had shock on her face staring at the blonde womans back. She looked like she'd been dragged through glass. Suddenly Lily felt hands pushing his back as he Erza pushed him towards the door.

"Lily you need to leave while we tend to their wounds, you're in the way." She told him matter of factly as the door shut behind him. He stood outside the door with worry and anticipation in his system. 'Who could have done such a thing..' His attention was drawn to heels clacking his way, Mira and master Makarov were headed to the door. Lily moved out of the way as Mira entered, he looked to Makarov and relaid the details of what happened. Makarov's face grew serious and he went into the room. Gajeel, Natsu and Grey approached him.

"Oi, what happened Lil?" Gajeel's gruff voice hit his ears, "You're covered in blood too." Lily looked at himself and saw he indeed was. The scent had filled his nose for so long he'd not found it unusual to still smell it even outside of the room. Natsu and Grey looked to him expectantly along with Gajeel.

"Me and Erza were on our way back and decided to take a small break when blood caught my nose. I went to investigate and the blonde woman holding the smaller one, both bloody and beaten. I don't know where they're from but the smell of sand was faintly on them, by the looks of it i'd say she ran from the desert city all the way to here. She was delirious, wouldn't even let me try to help them." Lily thought back to how the woman had glared at him. The animalistic way she'd protected her friend. 'How had they gotten so injured? What would make someone run miles without stop?'

"Hey, hey, the desert city? That's miles from here.." Grey looked unsure and confused.

"I smelled hints of jasmine and palm oil on them." Natsu told Grey. Lily stopped and thought, the blood had been so overpowering he hadn't picked up on the other smells. They had smelled like Natsu said, very faintly.

"I noticed it but whats it gotta to do with anything Salamander?" Gajeel dauntingly asked which in turn made Natsu squint his eyes.

"Wow, is your brain made of Iron too?" Natsu said accusingly, trying to push the Iron Dragon Slayer's buttons. Grey looked unamused, any other time he'd love to see a good fight but this situation was serious. "Gajeel, we're saying they're from the desert city, palm oil and jasmine is largely used there." Lily told him.

"In any case, i hope they're okay. We can ask them what happened when they come around." Lily told them. They nodded, Grey and Natsu went to go sit in the guild hall once more while Gajeel hung back with Lily.

"I think there's something you might want to know.." Gajeel perked up at this and looked to his friend. "Remember how you told me you and Juvia used to run with notorious guild before coming here? What was the guild symbol?" Gajeel's eyes went wide.

"Why? Why do you ask?" He looked at me expectantly with a dark face.

"They both had a black and purple guild mark on them, not only that but it's highly likely their from desert city, the place you worked for that guild in." Gajeel looked dark, his hand rose and he outstretched his palm. Metal rose out of it, forming the shape of his old boss's guild stamp. Lily felt uneasiness settle into his stomach as he confirmed his hunch. Gajeel looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"That's the one.." Lily searched his mind for reasons they'd have such a evil man's marking. 'They didn't look like they belonged to such a evil guild.. They were even beaten..' Realization hit him. 'What if they didn't choose it? Gajeel mentioned some of the atrocities that man did..' Gajeel looked as if he'd been punched in the stomach. A sick look across his face. "You told me he trafficked people and used them correct? What if they're his 'property'?"

(Gajeel's POV) 'Fuck!' He slammed his fist into the wall. Dread and guilt coursing through him. 'I could've killed the bastard back then! Why didn't i?!' The girls laying in that room were his fault. Gajeel felt sick. His old boss was responsible for this! He tried so hard to get away from his dark past, to build himself into a new and better person. But it decided to come knocking on their door. 'That blondie and shrimp in there are partially my fault..' Lily saw the self blame in Gajeel's eyes.

"Gajeel, this is not your fault. You are not the one who did this. We need to wait until their awake and find out for sure if they really hadn't chosen to work for him."

"Did you see 'em? 'specially that shrimp. There's no way in hell he would ever let someone like them to join his guild unless they were product." Gajeel felt sick thinking of the two girls in the medical unit as a product. 'I wanted to become a better person..' He had to sit down.

"Hey, let's go sit, we'll figure this out, okay?" Lily looked at him sympathetically. "I'll be right back, i need to get this blood off me." Gajeel nodded and slid down the wall. Sitting near the infirmary door. 'I'll stay here until they get better.' He felt responsible for this…

Author's Note:

I'll also explain how magic is used in this story. Only Exceeds and Dragon Slayers can use magic without the need for rings. They are magical by nature which will be explained a bit more later on. Rings are used as a medium to convey magic, kind of like how Lucy's keys work in the anime. Humans can only harness magic with these ring mediums plus training. Anyway, sorry if there are errors! I suck at proofreading!