. Oculto .

"Kill me now," Lucy moaned, wiping sweat from her forehead and grimacing at the heat. "I don't for the life of me understand how people could ever live in a place like this."

"It's not so bad," Gajeel said, exchanging a look with Natsu, surprisingly peaceful in regards to the fire mage. "S'kinda nice, actually."

"I don't mind," Natsu agreed. "Feels great. I can't usually feel seriously warm like you people, so it's a nice change. I like it. Too bad we don't have anything like this in Magnolia."

"If we had this in Magnolia, I wouldn't be a member of Fairy Tail," Lily said darkly, his small tongue poking out as he panted. Levy giggled at the sight; he looked closer to an actual cat today, and she felt bad for him with his dark fur dragging in the heat.

"I'm with Lily on this," Levy told them, lifting him up so that he could sprawl out on her hair and try to avoid adding to the heat. She knew Fairy Tail's flying cats loved the heat of summer and would nap in the sun patches of the guildhall, but this was too much, even for him.

"Mm, I should summon Scorpio," Lucy said suddenly, "Sand is his...domain…" She stopped, suddenly smirking, reaching for her keys - only to suddenly panic. "My keys! My keys! Where are they!?"

"You should keep a closer eye on them," Eberos drawled, swinging them around his finger. He was a dozen or so steps ahead of the rest of them, and he glanced back with a sneer on his face. "If they disappear, you'll never get them back."

Natsu's face darkened with rage as Lucy's paled, and Eberos snorted, tossing them over his shoulder. The fire mage snatched them out of the air with ease, handing them to Lucy gently, and she hugged them to her with a relieved expression. "Touch them again," he said darkly, "And I'll rip your arms from your body."

"Go ahead and try," Eberos challenged.

"Stop the arguing, or I'll find a way to summon Aquarius," Lucy threatened, and then summoned Scorpio like she'd originally planned. The Spirit appeared beside her in a flash of light, a sympathetic look in his eyes as he greeted them cheerfully.

"Scorpio," Lucy demanded carefully, "Are you able to sense anything through the sand? We're looking for something big. Something that could injure a dragon."

Scorpio blinked in surprise. "I can try, Miss Lucy," he offered, kneeling to shove his hands into the sand. The metallic scorpion-like tail curved above his head as he focused, ordering them to not move so much as an inch. Everyone - even Eberos - went still.

And then Scorpio opened his eyes and stared to the west of their current location, announcing, "We're close, Miss Lucy. A mile off. It's coming this way."

Immediately, everyone went into a battle-ready stance, and Natsu practically hopped up and down in excitement. Lucy smiled nervously at Scorpio. "Thanks, Scorpio, but I don't think you'd be good for this fight. Do you know if Gemini's available?"

"Gemini should be able to fight for you, Miss Lucy," Scorpio responded. "Just summon me if you need me!" That said, he disappeared, and Lucy put his key away in favor of Gemini's.

Levy readied her own magic, Lily expertly slinking down to dig his claws into her shirt, prepared to lift her should he need to. Gajeel kept close, his crimson eyes suddenly narrowing into slits. "Here it comes," he rumbled, studying the shifting sands that were streaking towards them.

And then it suddenly shot into the air. A roar filled their ears, hot breath washing over them. Natsu took the chance to bellow out a Fire Dragon's Roar at the massive creature, and it took little time for Gajeel to do so as well. Eberos, after a moment of hesitation, unleashed his own Roar, the black mixing with the iron and fire in a deadly inferno.

The creature merely shook it off and crashed onto the sand with another scream-like sound, its long body thrashing angrily.

Levy narrowed her eyes, sorting through her endless knowledge for some kind of clue as to what it was. Suddenly, she shouted, "Oh! Linnorm!"

"Now is not the time for coming up with words, shrimp!" Gajeel bellowed as it came to rest on its two legs, its massive head tilting. Three eyes blinked hatefully at them. Scales glinted blindingly in the sunlight, and it parted its jaws to show off rows and rows of horribly sharp teeth.

"No, no!" Levy replied breathlessly, her eyes wide. Lily was still on her head, fur bristling now. "It's a linnorm, Gajeel! A linnorm! It's similar to dragons, but lacks wings and back legs...it explains how something got beneath Igneel and attacked his belly, or how something could have come up from beneath Metalicana when Eberos knocked him out of the sky! It attacks from the ground!"

"Yeah, that's great," Eberos said bitingly. "And how is that going to help us when it's sneaking underneath the ground? Got any weak spots?"

"Err, downside about linnorms," Levy said hesitantly, "They have thick armor that is nearly impossible to get past and we should probably get back to the dragons, because I doubt it'll attack two at once, even if one is injured."

"Levy," Lucy cried, "Why wouldn't you think of this before it attacked?"

"I wasn't thinking," she cried back, and then threw up a shield when the linnorm's long tail suddenly cracked towards them as fast and sharp as a whip. It slammed into the word that Levy had created, and sent she and Lily flying into Natsu. He yelped as they hit the sand harshly, and Lucy took up a stance before them to try and protect them until they could get up and ready themselves again.

Natsu wheezed as Levy dug her elbow into his gut and tried to get herself upright. She froze when the sands began to shift beneath them, and her heart skipped a beat when it struck her that it was possible the linnorm wasn't alone.

"Move!" she screamed, hauling Natsu up upright. He grunted, but did as she said, grabbing Lucy around the waist and diving out of the way. Levy gasped when a second tail came out of nowhere and hooked her, throwing her into the air. A second linnorm rose out of the sand, jaws parted and ready to gulp her down, and Levy screwed her eyes shut in preparation.

The linnorm screamed as a pillar of iron sent it skidding away, and Levy grunted when she hit the ground, rolling down a small incline that the linnorm had created. She scrabbled frantically at the sands when she saw the hole she was plummeting towards, and then grinned in relief at Lily when he snagged his claws in her shirt and lifted her to safety.

"Thanks," she gasped.

He returned the smile. "No problem." He carried her high above the attack as Lucy and the dragon slayers launched attack after attack at the linnorms, trying to fend them off, and she narrowed her eyes, fighting to think of what they could do to fix their current situation.

One of the linnorms shook itself suddenly and then dove underground, tunneling through the sand like it was nothing. Levy watched the sands shift and roil as it left for some reason that the blue-haired woman couldn't figure out. Her eyes narrowed and she ordered, "Put me down, Lily, and then be careful, but follow that linnorm. Come back to this spot before nightfall."

He did that as quickly as he could, zipping off, calling words of farewell to Levy and Gajeel, who merely demanded that she tell him where he was going, backing off to let the others momentarily deal with the enemy before them.

"The other linnorm left," Levy explained. "I sent Lily to follow it." She threw up a solid-script: shield, and then whirled around to block another blow that was sent their way by the linnorm's whipping tail. Gajeel used his magic to nail themselves into the ground, letting her lean back against him for support so that it didn't send her flying again, and then shifted when it drew back.

"Why?" he huffed.

"What if it's protecting something?" Levy murmured. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I wonder if...Gajeel, there's two of them. Maybe they have a nest or something? And they thought we got too close?"

"Dragons don't kill people or other creatures if they get too close to their nests," he pointed out. His crimson eyes followed the linnorm's every movement as it suddenly screamed and lunged. Eberos darted back, narrowly avoiding being snapped up. It caught his cloak as it was and tore a shred off, shaking it violently as if the linnorm thought he was still clad in it.

"Look!" Lucy suddenly called, pointing up. "Beneath the arm!"

Levy's hazel eyes followed, and she narrowed her eyes, seeing the vulnerable spot. "Beneath the jaw, too," Natsu added, tilting his own head back a fraction to tap the spot he'd mentioned. He took advantage of the linnorm's open jaws to bellow out his Roar, and the linnorm suddenly screamed in agony, collapsing downwards. It rolled, making a sound that had Gajeel grimacing.

And then its three eyes filled with agonized rage and it threw itself forward, snapping as it tried to get to someone. Gajeel shoved Levy towards Lucy, and the blonde caught her blue-haired friend before she hit the ground. A moment later, its jaws clamped down on Gajeel's foot, and he was gone, the creature burrowing into the sand and dragging him with it.

"Gajeel!" Levy screamed, immediately frantic. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest, fear for her friend and quite possibly more driving her forward when she slipped. She was grabbed around the waist by a grumbling Eberos before she could reach the hole in the ground, which had slowly begun to fill with sand.

"Don't bother," he muttered, "You'll get yourself killed trying to save a dead man."

"Who the fuck do you think we are?" she sneered, kicking him in the back of the knee so that his leg gave out. He snarled as he hit the ground, and she yanked free, shouting, "Lucy! Lucy, summon Scorpio, he can help!"

"Right," Lucy agreed, jogging over. Natsu wasn't far behind, determined to make sure nothing happened to her. She summoned Scorpio after sending Gemini back to its world, and then demanded, "Search for the linnorm that took Gajeel or Gajeel himself, Scorpio! And hurry!"

"Of course!" he said, dropping to dig his fingers into the sand. It seemed to shift momentarily before he was suddenly burrowing himself down, ordering them all to stay back. They peered down the hole after him, Levy's heart pounding as she silently pleaded for him to bring Gajeel back.

A few minutes later, Scorpio burst out of the sand a good dozen or so feet away. He'd drawn the arm of a nearly unconscious Gajeel over his shoulder and Levy threw herself towards them, her feet slipping in the sand as she rushed over. Lucy, Natsu, and - with annoyance - Eberos weren't far behind.

"Gajeel!" Levy gasped as Scorpio carefully lowered him to the ground, explaining, "The linnorm left him and I could feel the blood in the sand. He must have punctured an eye or something to get it to release him."

"We need water," Lucy muttered, frustrated that there weren't any fresh sources around. But she removed a flask from the pack she'd dropped before the fight when Natsu set it down, handing it to the blue-haired woman, who worriedly handed it to Gajeel when he sat up. He coughed, hacking loudly as he tried to clear his lungs of sand. His breath rattled in his chest as he sucked in air, his dark hair filled with sand.

After he'd caught his breath, he chugged what was left of the water, and then went to work on spitting sand out of his mouth. "Disgusting," he snarled.

Sure that he'd be alright now, Levy turned her attention on his bloodied leg, grimacing at the nasty teeth marks that had been left there. One tooth had punctured all the way through, and her throat tightened at the sight of bone it had skimmed.

"I'm sorry," she managed to choke out. "I'm sorry! If I hadn't taken this stupid job-"

"Someone else would have gotten involved and it might have been a bit worse," Natsu said, cutting her off. He eyed the wound carefully. "We should head back to Oak Town, send word that we need Wendy...they could be venomous for all that we know."

Levy burst into tears at that, and Gajeel gave him a dirty look. "Thanks for that, Salamander."

He rolled his eyes. "Just being truthful," he grumbled. "Anyways, we can see what Gramps has to say on the linnorms and figure out what to do with the rest of the guild-"

"And what do you plan on doing with the dragons?" Eberos suddenly demanded. He wore a look of cheerfulness on his face, as if he was pleased with the damage that had been done, and Levy glared through her tears at him for it. "They didn't want to see you, let alone people who will question where the others are."

"I hate to admit it," Lucy sighed, "But he's right...the dragons didn't want to see their own children, Natsu. No offense to you or Gajeel of course, but what do you think they're going to do? Let people demand and question them when they didn't want to be found to begin with?"

"Wendy will want to know where Grandeeney is," Natsu admitted. "And if Sting and Rogue caught wind of this…"

"Damn it," Gajeel huffed, dragging over the pack Natsu had dropped. He searched for more water, and Levy gently took the flask from his grip to fill it, using her magic.

"Well, Gajeel does need to get looked at, even if we can't involve everyone else, and I bet Kenai's mother could help," the quivering solid-script mage murmured. "Ell seemed to have a decent base of knowledge about everything...but wasn't Oak Town wrecked?"

"It was," Lucy muttered, scowling. She tapped a scar on her head that was forming. "I'd know, believe me."

Eberos snorted. "Well, I didn't exactly expect to need the town for anything more than catching someone's attention." They all looked to him, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Just because I'm willing to assist doesn't mean I care."

"You," Lucy seethed, "Are a complete and total-"

"If Oak Town was destroyed," Natsu said slowly, "Then one of the guilds will be there helping with cleanup. Maybe even more than one."

Levy pressed her lips together, glancing up at Gajeel. He was busy chugging more water and didn't seem to notice her look. Gently, she shifted the shreds of his pants aside to examine the wound left there, and he snarled in pain, glaring at her. She ignored it and grabbed the water from him. "It needs to be cleaned out," she muttered. "There's a lot of sand in it."

"Tch, don't blame me if you get kicked," he growled, and then hissed when she dribbled water over the wound. She yanked her headband off, using the cloth to swipe at it with shaking hands.

Natsu suddenly lifted a hand. "I could cauterize it. Wendy showed me how." he offered. "That'll help stop infections and the bleeding."

Levy looked like she was honestly considering it for a moment, but Gajeel said hastily, "No, Salamander, no way in hell."

"Okay, okay," Lucy reassured. "We won't cauterize it. Here, Levy, use this to wrap it and we'll just have to wait for Lily to come back before we leave." She handed Levy one of her many headbands that the solid-script mage had packed, and Levy's small fingers tenderly wrapped the injury.

"There," she said after tying the make-shift bandage.

"We should have brought real bandages when we came searching," Lucy muttered, shaking her head. "I don't know what we were thinking…"

"We weren't," Natsu huffed. "We were focused on finding Levy and Lily."

"Don't need 'em," Eberos said smugly. "Kill anyone before they even think about hurting me. Haven't been injured in years."

Natsu studied him for a moment. "Oh, yeah?"

Eberos smirked.

There was a moment of silence.

And then Lucy did some kind of roundhouse kick, her booted heel nailing him right in the jaw. Eberos went down with a strangled yelp, and Natsu stared at his partner in shock, having fully intended to simply deck him. Levy and Gajeel gawked up at her.

She smiled angelically at the dragon slayer. "Don't touch my goddamn keys, or I'm going to kick you into next year. Natsu can attest to how strong my Lucy Kicks are, can't you, Natsu?"

"Yep," he said cheerfully.

Eberos sat up, shock written across his face, and he touched his jaw gingerly. "What the fuck."

Gajeel cackled. "Don't piss off our women, stupid."

Levy giggled, and did a final check on Gajeel's leg before settling in beside him, determined to wait for Lily and then head straight back to Oak Town so that someone could look at his leg.

She paused.

Which direction are we heading…?

Lily returned near dusk, when they'd settled down for the night, and landed right in Levy's lap without warning, making the young woman squawk in surprise. After apologizing, he announced, "I followed the linnorms as best as I could and searched the area I lost them in, and I found a small temple of sorts."

"Interesting," Levy murmured. "We'll have to go look in it when we come back."

"That fucker almost tore my leg off and we're coming back?" Gajeel seethed, and she shrugged. She wanted to know what the linnorms had decided to protect.

"I'm with Gajeel, Levy," Lucy said reluctantly. "I don't like this...I think we should leave whatever the linnorms are protecting alone. They went after dragons without a second thought and they did nearly eat Gajeel, so I think we should just leave them be."

Natsu made a face. "But there might be some kind of badass treasure in there! Or someone who's been stuck!"

"Fuck 'em," Eberos muttered. "Leave 'em there."

"That's rude," Levy huffed, and then glanced down at Lily when he calmly began to speak.

"Personally, I think we should talk with the dragons and see what they want to do. They could very likely destroy the linnorms if they were at full strength and knew what to watch out for. They're more powerful magic wise, and I'm sure Natsu's father incinerates anything."

"What he said," Levy agreed. "I think Lily's idea is great. We have to head back to the dragons anyways to figure out where we need to go to get back to Oak Town." She swept her wild blue hair back and then eyed Gajeel's thoughtfully. It could do with a good brushing, honestly, though she guessed he'd want to wash his hair free of sand before even thinking of brushing it.

"If the dragons went, it'd be better," Lucy agreed slowly. "I think we should send for Wendy if we can though. I know she'd ask questions, but her magic would be incredibly helpful in all of this."

"Bunny girl is right," Gajeel said after a moment, grumbling about the fact. "The kid's magic would make it so we didn't have to run back and forth if the stupid things bit us."

"Okay, that's lovely, but what if she gets hurt?" Natsu grumbled. He was all for going to investigate what the linnorms were defending, but he didn't want the youngest slayer hurt. "Then we're screwed, and she's Wendy. If Wendy comes, Charle comes, and that means Happy has to be put in danger. Actually, I think you should stay with him," he suddenly added to Lucy.

"I will drop you in two seconds flat by a Lucy Kick to a certain spot on your body if you so much as think of leaving me behind," she said darkly.

Even Eberos flinched, and Natsu hastily backtracked, correcting himself. "Right, so Lucy can come, but I don't want Happy or Wendy in danger."

"Another exceed would be useful," Lily disagreed. "Even if it's Happy."

"Hey!" Natsu snapped. "Leave Happy alone, he's good!"

"Yes, he is," Lucy soothed, rubbing her partner's shoulder, and then turned her gaze to Levy. "Levy," she finally sighed, "You and Lily are the two who took the job in the first place, so why don't you two make the decision and we'll follow along. Although, Gajeel, if your wound is bad enough, you may have to stay in Oak Town."

"Like hell," he snarled. "I ain't letting you freaks go running off with her and bring him, too." The iron dragon slayer jerked his thumb in Eberos' direction, and Eberos shrugged, not bothered by the attitude directed at him.

"He's not wrong," was all he said. "I do want to play with you guys."

Levy looked down at Lily, who gave her a look that told her he'd do whatever she thought was good, as she was the one who'd picked the job. So, Levy took a deep breath, and announced, "Here's what we'll do. I don't want a big team going back, but I need a strong one. So I'm taking myself, Gajeel if he's up to it, and Lily. If Gajeel can't do it due to his leg, I'll take Eberos and Natsu. Lucy, I want you in charge of making up cover stories for us as to why we're not coming back, because I don't want the dragons revealed."

Lily nodded slowly. Gajeel grumbled. "I'm still going," he told her. "No matter what's goin' on, I'm not letting ya run around with that fucker."

"Language, Gajeel," she huffed.

"And what about Wendy?" Natsu demanded.

Levy went quiet as she thought it over, and then sighed heavily, "I want to get the dragons' opinion before we decide what to do about that. If they agree, I'll take her with us. If they don't, we'll see what she can do for Gajeel's leg, and then leave her to stay with you guys in Oak Town."

Eberos scowled. "Selfish little bastards, aren't you?"

"I said I'd take you if Gajeel can't," Levy pointed out, "I could have left you out entirely."

"I should make it so no one can go," he retorted.

Levy glared furiously now, narrowing her eyes into angry slits. "Lucy Kicks are fantastic, but I doubt you've been kicked by a woman under five feet tall who has to run to keep up with everyone."

He rolled his eyes, but fell silent, turning his face away, and Levy felt Gajeel affectionately tug on a lock of her blue hair. He was amused with her responses to his irritating comments and showed it in a quiet way that no one else would notice.

Levy felt a warmth in her chest when she smiled at him, and then hugged Lily before setting him in the sand beside her. "We should get some rest for tomorrow, it's going to be a mess. If Metalicana's up to it, he might even be able to get us back to Oak Town in a few hours rather than days."

"His kid's been hurt," Natsu said simply. "He'll get us there in minutes. And if you ask, seconds."

"Aw, that's kind of sweet of you to say, Natsu," Levy cooed, and then simply flopped back into the sand as Natsu announced that he wasn't going to sleep just yet. Lucy agreed that it was smart to have a person watching for the linnorms, and he told her she could be next so long as she summoned a Spirit to sit with her that wasn't a silver key.

Gajeel grumbled, but settled down, and Levy felt comforted by the sound of his rumbling breaths enough that she fell asleep within minutes.

Sorry for the late update, my internet was horrid for all of yesterday!

Alright, my peoples. There was questions about why Levy wouldn't just use her magic to create water. As you can see, I didn't forget that she could. Here's the thing: if your magic drained away as you use it and you had a psychotic mass murderer beside you as you prepared to fight something that could injure a dragon, would you waste your magic or would you try to find a source of water first? Practicality would demand that you search out another way to get water before you use what you need to defend yourself. It'd be like tiring yourself out at the beginning of a race; it's a waste of energy.

Thanks to reviewers (Violet Shadow Kurayami, Typhosion8, AfterWriter, Tigerwoman188, Dragonfan47, Guest #1, SilverGhostKitsune, and Msies!) as well as those who favorited and followed!