Chapter 17 : Assault

" Mi'lord, " A platinum blond assistant reported, kneeling gracefully to the ground before him. " All the preparation have been completed, we're ready to move out."

" Good, you're dismissed till further notice."

The blond backed up several steps with a nod and walked out the doors.

" You've done well transforming the throne room into a ritual chamber, Madonna." Pheles said, lounging on his throne-like chair as he looked over the transformed throne room proudly.

" You flatter me, Pheles-sama," The woman curtsied with a flourish, " I was simply making it easier to start the ritual as soon as the Vessel has been retrieved."

" Proceed with the teleportation process then."

Madonna nodded and lifted her arm, a blue blob raised up from her skin and took up the shape of a bird, it blinked its mismatched eyes at Madonna as she transmitted the message it needed to send before taking off into the open round ceiling above them.

Within minutes, the message was delivered and the bird returned to her, the ground started to rumble as if in response to his orders.

" The teleportation mages have started the transfer process of our base with the our arithmetic mages supporting them. We've around an hour till we reach our destination."

" Good, it's all going as planned." Pheles flexed his fingers, and stretched, " Initiate Phase 2 and summon those six to my chambers."

" Yes Pheles-sama."

Just as Madonna started to back out, Pheles said,

" Just one moment, Madonna." Madonna looked up at him, her head tilted in an inquiring manner, " Make sure they don't damage the west gardens while this place is being transported."

Madonna's eyes narrowed in annoyance for just a fraction of a second, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared and was replaced with her usual serene glowing expression, practically beaming at Pheles when she replied,

" Of course Pheles-sama, i'll make sure not a single petal is shed from your garden!"

She glided out the room, her white robes billowing out from behind her, when the door shut behind her, her mask immediately slipped from her face, replaced with a dreadfully ugly sneer on her unnaturally red lips.

" That accursed garden, fashioned after her garden up there." A malicious grey mist started forming around her, twisting and writhing as if it had a life of its own as she muttered with wild, hatred filled eyes " And always about her, her, her, her her,her her her her her..."

" ITS ALWAYS ABOUT HER! THAT FUCKING BITCH!" The grey mist blasted out in a wave around her, rotting all that was around her, potted flowers wilted and disintegrated, glass turned to ash and the stone walls around her started to crumble and crack.

Further down the hall, one of the two guards who were standing guard there suddenly started to convulse uncontrollably, then collapsing onto the ground with blood flowing from his eyes, mouth, nose and ears.

" Oi, what's with- gah!" The other guard attempted to reach out to his comrade but he fell down onto the ground in a similar fashion before he could do so, leaving two bloody heaps on the floor there.

A grey tendril rose up from their bodies and drifted down the corridor in Madonna's direction, seeping into her quivering body.

Her eyes seemed to gleam a brighter shade of silver before returning back to its usual dull silver, if possible, a shade duller than it normally was.

" These would have to do for now." She breathed in deeply and exhaled, opening her silvery eyes that gleamed from beneath her shadowed face, " But it won't be long before i have to look for... better quality sacrifices."

Her body moved as though it was solely being held up by strings, slowly rising up as her body tilted forwards and backwards, with a sickly sweet grin on her deranged face she said,

" But for now, i'll have to continue with my act."

" Oi, Jackal, what cha doing lazing around like that!" A guy stood at the door of Jackal's bunk, his short spiky white hair framing his annoyed face, as he glared at the man who was just staring into blank space, " Didn't you hear the announcement?"

" I did." He said plainly, his red eyes still fixated on the ceiling, " but i'm not interested."

" What's with you?!" The guy shouted, matching red eyes glaring at Jackal, " You've been like this ever since you've returned from that mission! What exactly happened there?!"

Jackal stayed silent for a long time, closing his eyes, he muttered,

" She was there. That's what happened."

The guy just harrumphed, he then quickly looked behind him and out at the linkway before closing the door behind him, casting a sound proof barrier around the room before speaking,

" The Gatekeeper? She finally unsealed herself after, like, forever?" Seeing Jackal nod, he groaned, and hopped onto the bunk next to Jackal, " Ah, that'll explain why you're in this sad mess now."

" Shakal, just... shut up." He turned in his bunk bed, looking at the wall glumly.

Shakal ignored him, and continued pressing on.

" Dude, like, when will you ever get over her." he said, exasperated, " Like, i get it, she saved your sorry ass a long time back then and you've been obsessing over her since then but, like, dude, she ain't even that pretty, though i have to admit, those alluring eyes of hers, " He then motioned at his chest, and waggled his eyebrows, " and that amazing rack of hers, man, if i can just get my hands on those titties of hers-"

He was slammed to the wall behind him with a knife to his throat before he could finish his sentence, a pair of fuming red eyes met his own,

" Don't you dare finish that line." he seethed between gritted teeth, " If not..."

" If not what? You'll decapitate your own twin brother? Jeez, i was just joking." He said, all amusement gone from his face, moving away the knife with no resistance as he looked Jackal in the eye, " Jackal-nii, remember what we came here for. We did not come this far for you to screw it up like this, not after all the risks we've taken to hide our true heritage and identity to come here."

Jackal seem to sober up a little after this statement he then headed out the door after dispelling the sound barrier.

" Let's get going then, we wouldn't want to keep the almighty Pheles waiting."

Shakal looked at his older brother in concern, but after seeing the look in his eyes, he deemed that his concern was for naught, for the look in his eyes was one that was filled with renewed determination, and not one of hopelessness he saw just now, he then scampered after his older brother, happy with his change in demeanor.

Jackal, on the other hand, was thinking about something totally different as he marched down the hallways towards the courtyard, he had to admit though, his brother was right.

Ever since he saw Tenebre, or Gatekeeper as his brother calls her, he's been... well, out of sorts, he can't help it, she was his savior from that hell hole, as well as...

" Your first and only love?" Shakal mused from behind him, putting on an exaggerated lovey dovey face, complete with googly eyes and pouty lips.

" Stop reading my mind!" Jackal shoved him lightly, and Shakal grinned, tapping at his forehead,

" Hey, i didn't. It was so plainly written all over your face, i didn't even need to use our awesome twinability thingy to sense your thoughts."

" Yeah right, as if i'll ever believe you whenever you say that." Jackal huffed, and increased his pace, leaving his brother to scamper after him once again as well as giving himself space to think some more.

It wasn't long till the both of them reached a pair of huge wooden doors that led to the main courtyard, but rather than being closed like it always was, it was wide open, and a constant thumping sound echoed through the hallway from the courtyard.

An entire horde of faceless humanoid creatures marched in a synchronized manner, all of them heading towards a huge box filled with strange glassy blades and each grabbing one of them in a systematic, factory line fashion.

" Are those the new weapons Pheles acquired from that strange white haired lady?" Shakal peeked over Jackal's shoulder and at the horde of puppets.

" Yeah, the lady he 'saved' from those weird bird-like things, they're made from demonglass, whatever that is, the name does ring a bell though, but i just can't remember it." Jackal narrowed his eyes in suspicion, " I don't trust her, nor her weapons, something about her just doesn't feel right."

" Yeah, i agree with you, bro. I used that thing on my last mission, it felt wrong to touch, slippery and-"

" You used that thing?! Wait, you went on a mission without me?!" Jackal turned to glare at his twin, " What did i say about taking mission when i'm not around?"

" Hey, you were on a mission yourself! Delivering that package whazzit, and they needed people to go with Tiamat to catch that shadow guy, so they dragged me outta my room and dumped me onto the team."

" Next thing i knew, they slapped that strange glass like weapon in my hand and just said " Use it." ," Shakal shivered, and rubbed his hand as if he could still feel it in his hands, " I don't know how to explain, but it just felt wrong to touch ya know, even the Ice Queen Tiamat felt it, but as usual, she tried not to show it."

" And dude, i get it, you're my older brother by just a few minutes, but you don't have to be so overprotective ya know." Shakal smiled and placed a hand on Jackal's left cheek after seeing the hurt look on his face. " I understand your reason for doing so, but, you take it too far sometimes ya know."

" I know but..." Shakal smile widened at the lost look on his brother's face as he tried to say something, as he thought to himself how childlike his older brother look like.

" But what? All i know is that now ain't the time to talk about this. We have a job to do don't we?" He then corrected himself, " You have a job to do don't cha?"

" Yeah."

Just then, a familiar shoulder length platinum blond haired girl walked up to them, with the right side of her body hidden in the shadows, she announced as she bowed slightly, her piercing green eyes looking up glassily at them,

" Mister Jackal, Master Pheles has requested your presence in the Ritual Room."

Jackal took a good look at the the girl and his eyebrows jerked up in surprise " You're supposed to be dead. The both of you."

The girl tilted her head to the left, and the chestnut brown haired man with cold blue eyes on the other half of her body replied monotonously, " We're not programmed to answer that question."

" Afene? Daemon?" Shakal finally recognized the two, or rather the halves of what was used to be two people.

" We're not programmed to answer that question."

Jackal thought aloud, " Hmm, let's go about this another way then."

" Inquiry."

At that one word, both halves of the body straightened up in attention and trained their blue/green eyes steadily at Jackal.

" Who programmed the both of you?"

" Master Larga." The both of them answered in a heartbeat.

Jackal sighed, " Why am i not surprised? They're just like all the others now."

" Well, now we know for sure who's been fiddling with all the real people parts." Shakal hummed, shooting an uncomfortable sidewards look at the hybrid in front of him, " Never liked that guy, and all his creepy... creeps."

" Wow, real creative use of words there, brother." Jackal deadpanned.

" What?" Shakal huffed, " You have something better?"

" Why don't you just call them puppets?"

" Oh. Yeah." Shakal replied blandly. " I guess that'll do too."

" My turn then!" Shakal cleared his throat and did hid best impression of his brother's serious voice, " Inquiry."

Jackal rolled his eyes as the hybrid being turned to look at Shakal with their mismatched eyes, " What are you called now?"

" Master Larga named us ' Daene'."

Shakal eyed them, unimpressed, " He has no naming sense at all."

" Brother, seriously?"

" What? I was-"

" What are the two of you still loitering here for?" A cold voice barked from behind them as a sudden chilly wind blew down the corridor, the woman's mid-back ice blond hair sweeping across her slightly annoyed almond shaped cold blue eyes," Jackal, you're needed in the throne room. Shakal, go join those things in the courtyard."

" It's the Ritual Room," Afene/Daemon corrected, bowing slightly, " Mistress Tiamat."

Tiamat simply brushed past the puppet without a second glance, not even acknowledging them, and headed down the corridor before turning by the corner in the direction of the ritual room.

" Brr, i think i just got frostbitten." Shakal 'shivered', " As expected of the Ice Queen."

Jackal simply shook his head with an exasperated sigh,and ruffled his spiky white hair, " I'll be back then, brother."

" Don't get frostbitten!" Shakal called out from behind him as he walked in Tiamat's direction, Daene following closely behind him.

As soon as the approached the heavy wooden doors and before Jackal entered the ritual room, Daene stay behind the doors and excused herself.

" Come forward, survivor."

Jackal walked forward and occupied the remaining space of the circle of four surrounding a large pool of black matter, obsidian chains that hung from the shadows clinking with the slight breeze that entered through the circular open roof.

" Men, meet the only survivor of the entourage i sent to greet the Gatekeeper."

Pheles gestured to Jackal from his seat, with a hooded Madonna standing in the shadows of his throne, " Now, would you kindly enlighten us with your observations? I'm sure any information would be useful against this... adversary of ours."

" She is, after all, the first and most important obstacle standing before us and the Vessel."

" I'm sure i can enlighten you in other ways, ma chère." The waxed back purple haired man standing beside Tiamat flirted with a heavy accent.

" Shut up and pay attention, Antonio." She replied coldly, her eyes fixated on the feet of Pheles's throne and not at him.

" You wound me Madame Tiamat!" He clutched his chest as if he'd been stabbed, feigning a pained look, but something in his grey eyes said that he wasn't going to let this matter go.

" That's enough fooling around, Antonio." Pheles voice barked from his throne, instantly shutting and sobering Antonio up.

" Jackal. What do you have on the Gatekeeper?"

Jackal inwardly flinched at the mention of the word ' Gatekeeper' , but somehow managed to keep his face completely neutral as he said,

" From what i've observed, she has an ability that allows her to make her opponents explode at will, she also has the ability to create weapons from thin air. That is about all i can report about her abilities, sir."

" That's it?" Igna narrowed his beady black eyes at Jackal in suspicion, " Surely you have more, that's too little information! What are you hiding from us?"

" Suuuuure." Jackal dragged out the word, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, " I'll just stand there like an idiot, ya know, waiting to be blown into little bits. I'll have suuuuch a blast."

" You insolent mercenary! " Jackal winced at Igna's unnaturally shrill voice as his pudgy face flamed red in anger, " Know your place you cretin! Who are you to talk to your general in such a manner? "

He then shouted, his eyes wild with paranoia as his hand fumbled for his staff around his pot belly. " Or is it my position you seek?!"

" At ease, Igna, your position as general is guaranteed. You have my word on that."

Seeming satisfied with Pheles's words, Igna backed off, but his eyes remained narrowed on Jackal.

Pheles's fingers tapped against his dark marble throne," In addition to what Jackal has said, the Gatekeeper is also a user of many other magics, her main is... unknown, but what i do know is that she knows Requip magic and Celestial Magic, anything else is unknown."

" She's also unparalleled in any form of martial arts, an excellent wielder of every weapon in existence. As far as i'm concerned, she's almost unbeatable."

" But everyone has a weakness. If there isn't, all we have to do is to force one out on our own. Which is exactly why i've gathered the four of you here."

" The four of you will each lead a team of Larga'a puppets as decoys, as my generals."

Liberta raised a trembling hand," N-no offence, Master, b-but i don't think you chose the right p-p-person for this job, my m-magic isn't exactly the most useful..."

" On the contrary, " Pheles said, " together with Igna, the both of you along with those puppets equipped with amplification lacrimas will be in charge of distracting her, your magic will make her movements sluggish and Igna's will constantly divert her action elsewhere."

" I un-understand." Then as a second thought, Liberta added, " I think."

Tiamat rolled her ice-blue eyes," I explain it to your non-existent brain later."

" H-hey...!"

She ignored his weak protests and addressed Pheles instead,

" So does this mean Antonio's puppets and mine will be in charge of attacking her?"

" Yes and no. I'll leave the fine details to the both of you, but the both of you are not to attack her actively, attack only when you see an opportunity, but other than that, just keep her busy and avoid her from attacking Igna and Tiamat."

" Understood, Master." She said with a bow.

" Look's like we'll be seeing each other quite often eh, ma chère?" Antonio said, his eyes leering over her body.

Something shifted in Tiamat's constant cold gaze, like a cold fire flared up in her, as she seethed at him with icy clarity, keeping her anger at bay.

" Yes, we will, but i would appreciate it if you can just keep those eyes of yours to yourself."

A flicker of irritation flitted passed Antonio's grey eyes, but just before the words left the tip of his tongue, Pheles intervened.

" Enough!" He slammed his fist on his throne with a loud bang, " We are done here, you're all dismissed till further notice."

They took note of Pheles sudden change in demeanor and immediately lowered their heads, walking swiftly out the doors without a second word.

As soon as the doors closed behind them, Madonna tossed her hood back and draped her arm around Pheles's shoulders, " Why do you even tolerate that paranoid overly indulged excuse of a man?"

" That's because he has an... interesting magic in his blood." Pheles relaxed into her arms, " Ever heard of Project : Infinite Paranoia?"

" You mean that failed project of the Bureau of Magical Development?" Madonna ran the tips of her nails against the fabric of his shirt, " I've heard of it."

" Igna's the first and last success of that project, when he awoke, he destroyed the entire facility, for fear that they'll do something to him," Pheles shrugged his shoulders, " Of course, he was completely unaware that his personality had been completely twisted by the experiments conducted on him, making him overly paranoid of everything around him."

" But his paranoia will be of great use to us. It only makes it easier to use his fear against him."

" I understand, but what about the others? They don't look particularly special." Madonna pondered out loud, tapping a finger on her chin.

" They don't interest me." Pheles smirked darkly, " But their souls do."

As soon as the doors closed behind them, Igna sent Jackal a dirty look before walking away with his band of puppets trailing behind him.

Jackal resisted the urge to return the look, but decided against it and walked in the other direction, heading straight for his brother.

Leaving a very annoyed Tiamat and a smug Antonio behind.

Tiamat turned on her heel and snapped behind her back," Meet me at the first meeting room down the main corridor, we'll discuss our plans there."

But just as she was about to walk off, Antonio's hand lashed out and grabbed hers, pushing her up against the wall and entrapping both her hands above her head in one smooth action.

" My patience is wearing thin, Madame Tiamat," He lowered his face closer to hers, his nose almost touching hers before she turned her head away from his in disgust, he snarled at that and used his other hand to force her to look at him, " Why do you shun me so?"

" My patience," She spat at him, the wet spittle landing with a satisfying splat on his cheek," is wearing thin, and I demand that you release me this instant."

" Ha! Feisty as ever!" He wiped off the spit with his shoulder as a dark look loomed over his face, " But you will submit to me today."

Tiamat's body jerked violently as those words triggered something in the deepest recesses of her mind, her eyes widening in fear and apprehension, not knowing why she felt such sudden fear for the man before her and his piercing grey eyes.

" L-L-Let her go."

Both heads swiveled to look at the source of the voice, who belonged to Liberta, whom they've assumed walked away just now, standing not far from them down the hallway, with his fists clenched and his pale face determined.

" Oh, what is this? The peasant has arrived to save the queen!" Antonio drawled in a mocking tone, " Look at me, i'm cowering in fear!"

Body trembling, Liberta stood his ground, face pale and sweating buckets,

" I s-s-said, let Tiamat g-go."

Antonio's eye twitched in annoyance, shooting the trembling figure before him a withering look, and seethed with his lip curled up in disgust,

" Fuck off, insect, this has nothing to do with you."

Seeing Liberta freeze up in fear allowed Tiamat to recover from the shock the numbing memory of her past brought her and she immediately snapped into action.

Taking advantage of the moment while Antonio's distracted, she twitched her wrist, the water around her wrist condensed and formed a spear, with a simple flick of her slightly released wrist, she sent it down hurling towards Antonio.

He saw the spear from the corner of his eye and quickly jerked to the side, making away just in time with only a cut above his eyebrow.

" You..." He growled, his fingers rubbing the red liquid that he gathered from the cut, " Bitch."

" For such a refined man like you," Tiamat said with a cold smirk, swerving her body and extending a hand in front of Liberta in a protective gesture, " that's quite a filthy word you just said."

" But as of now i've no time to deal with... people like you." She grabbed Liberta by his collar and dragged him behind her as she walked briskly away from the darkly smoldering Antonio.

Dark flames trailed out from his clenched fists as he looked on at the disappearing pair, " I refuse to let you have her again... Not in this timeline..."

Once far from prying eyes, Tiamat dumped the still trembling Liberta onto the ground in front of her and nudged his still trembling body with a booted foot,

" Oi, Liberta, snap outta it."

He shuddered and looked up hesitantly at her, " Tiamat?"

She allowed a weary sigh past her lips, " You idiot, why did you interject? He already hates you and here you are making things worse for yourself. You've no reason to help me anyway."

" B-But i do." Liberta said, only stuttering a little, " I just feel like i do."

Tiamat frowned, " What's that supposed to mean?"

" Ne Tiamat, don't you get the feeling like we've met somewhere before? Like before Pheles recruited us?" He stood up, his stutter gone and replaced with a little more confidence as he looked into her eyes, flinching back only a little, " Like a deja vu-ish feeling?"

" N-Never. I've never felt this way," She hesitated for a moment, but continued saying, " I've never seen you before Pheles and never had i had that feeling like you've described."

" And since you seem to be a lot bolder than you normally are, i shall take it that you're feeling better, " She started to walk away, but after a few small steps, she tilted her head slightly back, and said softly, as if holding herself back from something,

" Don't get involved with my problems from now on."

With that being said, she turned her head back and walked.

Liberta's eyes widened when he saw the figure of another woman appear beside her as she walked away from him, her translucent mid back ice-blond hair floating in mid-air behind her.

" Wait-!" He reached out to her but the figure disappeared before he could get a closer look, but he swore that she turned back to look back at him with a longing smile on it's face before it disappeared.

Leaving him standing alone in the empty corridors of the fortress. With a empty feeling in his chest as if he's missing out on something really important.

Other than the fact that her body felt as if she just got tossed into the Infinity Clock and hurled through the sky twice over, Lucy groaned and stretched like she did every morning, letting out a loud yawn from her open mouth that sounded a lot more like a mixture of a half groan of pain and the nya of a cat after a long nap as she rubbed away the crusty remnants of sleep from her bleary eyes.

As soon as her vision cleared and sharpened into focus, she was immediately greeted by the sight of a certain pinkette's finely sculpted chest right in front of her.

Any rational thought instant flew out her head in the same instant her entire face went red and she barely managed to hold back the scream that was already at her throat when the same sculpted arms pulled her closer, a hum of content coming from his throat when he craned his head to rest smugly on hers.

" W-W-W-W-Wha?!" Lucy's flustered mind couldn't even form whole words in this situation.

She placed both her hands on his chest ( oh mavis, his finnnne chest, she thought ), and attempted to push him away, but with no visible result even after struggling for a good few minutes of effort.

She looked around desperately for Happy, but the traitorous blue feline was no where in sight, that was when she resigned to her fate of being smothered to death. Not that she minded.

.

.

.

Okay, maybe a bit.

Especially since the person happens to be Natsu, a.k.a the man she only just recently admitted she had feelings for.

She blames the girls ( Damn you Mira, Lisanna, Erza, Levy, especially you CANA, she screamed internally ), but thank them for it as well, if not for their help ( or more like constant prying, she grumbled ) she probably wouldn't be able to come clean with her feelings for him ever.

Even now she afraid that Natsu being, well, Natsu, probably being the dense idiot he is probably wouldn't reciprocate her feelings.

And it hurts her every time she thinks about it, her hand unconsciously clenching up above her heart as it thumped and tightened painfully against her chest.

Natsu awakened to the uncomfortable feeling of something heavy being lodged in his chest, and his eyes snapped open. His eyes zeroed in onto Lucy's pained face, the hand that was above her heart and flinched at the smell of salt that hung in the air.

" Lucy." He said huskily, his voice still hoarse from sleep as he cupped her face with both his hands gently, looking over her in concern, " What happened? Are you in pain?"

The both of them froze when his hands came in contact with her bare skin, and they both felt the air between them immediately come alive with an energy so powerful, so hot, its almost palpable like a flame. It pulsed with life as it drew them together, attracting them to each other so intensely, it felt almost like a primal need for each other.

They lips met hungrily, molding hotly against each other as they kissed. The blond gasped with she felt his tongue force its way into her mouth and moaned. If this was what fire tasted like, she thought, now she knows why Natsu likes it so much.

" Oh." The blond gasped for air when they separated for air, and again when he left a hot, wet trail down the side of her neck and sucked harshly at the tender spot near her collarbone, her body arching up when he flicked his smoldering tongue against the sensitive spot before sucking at it again.

Lucy shuddered in his arms, clutching onto his body for support as her breathing quickened along with her heartbeat. But as soon as she felt his hands flatten against the bare skin of her back, pressing her closer to him as he dragged the fabric of her top with his upward moving hand, she flushed and pushed him away in one flustered movement, suddenly remembering his actions from that one drunken night, pulling down her top and covering her face to protect what dignity she had left.

She tried to steady her ragged breathing, but the intense look in Natsu's eyes made breathing hard even for her as she felt desire pool in her groin. She clambered quickly away from him and scrambled for sanctuary, tossing a flustered, " I-I need the bathroom!", before slamming the door behind her.

Her jelly legs gave out beneath her and she slumped down to her knees with her back to the door, clutching at her painfully thudding chest as she desperately tried to calm herself.

" A bath..." She mumbled to herself, her body moving on auto-pilot as she stood and and walked towards the tub, steam rising from it as she filled it up with water, " A nice warm soak would help clear my mind..."

As soon as the tub was filled, she stepped into the water and let the warmth slowly seep into her body as she sank down into the tub just till the tip of her nose touched the surface of the water. But the longer she stayed in the water, the colder she felt it became, and more and more thoughts of Natsu continued to invade her mind, his fire, his warmth, his smile and it eventually led to the the thought of whether her feelings for him would even be returned.

A single tear slipped down her cheek, dripping down into the now lukewarm water, hugging her knees close to her chest, she looked blankly down down at the rippling water as the empty, bittersweet feeling in her chest grew.

Natsu sat stonily at the same spot where Lucy left him, staring blankly at the bathroom door with a hand above his chest, listening to Lucy's heartbeat through the bathroom door as he felt his own matching heartbeat, mentally berating himself for letting his instincts take over, again.

He groaned and buried his face in his hands as he recalled his dream from last night," Why did i only remember it now..."

Flashback...

" Ne ne! Igneel! I. GE. NEEL! " Little Natsu ran up to the huge red dragon, hopping onto his tail excitedly, " What are we gonna learn today?"

" Pleeeeeeease make it a cool new move! Please? I wanna destroy something today!"

The red dragon growled in amusement as the little pink haired kid hopped repeatedly on his tail, waving his flaming fist in the air as he grinned wildly, " I'm all fired up!"

A rumbling sound came from Igneel's throat, which was equivalent to a dragon chuckle, as he nudged/ sent Natsu flying with his snout and flattening him to the ground with a thump of his tail.

" Impatient brat! Always revved up for some sort of destruction." Baring his sharp canines in a semblance of a grin, looking a little proud of himself " Well, you got that trait from me after all."

" But just for today, we have a different kind of lesson, one that does not includes our usual shenanigans."

" Lefme ooo!" The red fire dragon lifted his tail from the boy and he scrambled out, immediately running up to the dragon's snout and throwing a feeble punch at him, folding his arms and pouting, " Does that mean we're not learning any cool new moves today? But whyyyyy-"

Igneel cut short Natsu's whine by flattening him again, his sigh loud enough to send the the greenery around him flying, then barking, " Enough! What i'm going to tell you is boring but VERY important, so sit down!"

Igneel turned a single slited pupil to glare at Natsu," And if i catch you dozing off, you're catching your own dinner for a week you hear me?"

Mortified by the prospect of not having a dragon-sized portion for dinner, Natsu immediately sat up straight at attention and squeaked " H-Hai!"

" Now, what i'm gonna tell you now, you'd better engrave it deep into that empty skull of yours." Igneel tapped a talon to his pinked-haired head to place emphasis," If you screw this up, you're a goner ya hear me?"

Natsu nodded furiously, Igneel then used the same talon and drew a crude but good enough depiction of a human and a dragon.

" Right, as a dragon, there comes a time where we have to find what we call a mate, in human terms it would probably called a girlfriend or a wife but you are not human, neither are you a dragon, you are a mixture of both, a dragon slayer, one that converts the body to a dragon's constitution, that's why thing will be a little different fer ya. Are you even listening?"

" I am! But... Igneel?" Natsu asked, looking up at him with a befuddled expression," What's a mate? Or a girlfriend or wife? Is it edible? It doesn't sound very delicious. "

" Hmm, a mate is... your important one, your soul mate, the other half of your soul, there are many ways of saying it, but what's important for you is that when you find her, do not, i repeat, DO NOT ever let her out of your sight no matter what happens. You'll only have one mate, and one only."

Then as a second thought, he added, " And no, they are not edible."

Natsu's expression deflated at that, but he quickly snapped into attention when Igneel growled lowly at him, with Natsu's attention back at him, he continued.

" When you find her, you'll get overly possessive of her, like a dragon guarding his favorite treasure. You'll feel like incinerating every single male that's around her, looking at her, touching her. You'll unconsciously show more affection towards her as well as to be more aware of her scent, her appearance."

" But when she's hurt, you'd feel like your entire world's shattering before you, you'd feeling like breaking down from the guilt but at the same time, also an immeasurable amount of anger at whoever or whatever it is that hurt her. Even if it is yourself."

" So you protect her with all you've got, you hear me? If she's ever taken away from you, there's no guarantee what you WON'T do to get her back, you won't even be thinking rationally, your instincts will take over, you'll feel... incomplete. Is that you dozing off i see?" With a quick flick of his tail, Natsu was smacked awake from his upright sleeping position.

" I'm awake! Not dozing off at all!" He yelped, sitting up straight as he tried to wipe off the drool from the side of his mouth as inconspicuously as possible. Igneel narrowed his eyes at him, as if thinking of a suitable punishment for him, he then decided that the lecture would be a good enough punishment for Natsu.

" There are five stages, the Selection, then Dominance, followed by the Acceptance, and finally the Marking stage to fully seal in the Bond. Each stage is extremely important and very delicate, a single mistake would result in excruciating pain and suffering for both you and your mate."

Igneel nudged the daydreaming boy with his snout and looked into his eyes, " You understand me, Natsu, don't mess this up and don't ever lose your mate."

" It's not something you'd ever want to experience." Igneel's eyes looked away, hiding his regret filled eyes from the boy as he looked to the side.

" But... Igneel?" Igneel looked back at the boy with an inquisitive tilt of his head," It all sounds so urm.. whazzat word... complicated and urm...painful. Do i really have to do all this?"

All Igneel did was to look at him with a mixture of sympathy and glee," Well, when the time comes, you don't really have much a choice."

" With thar being said," Igneel grinned sadistically and slammed his claw down on Natsu, both flattening and trapping him beneath, " As punishment for dozing off, lets extend my lecture and go reeeeeaaallly into detail eh, Natsu? Hehehehe..."

" NOOOOOO SPARE ME!"

" Dammit Igneel, you stupid flaming bastard, you could've at least told me more." Natsu growled vehemently under his breath, the he grumbled" or i could've just paid more attention to what he said."

" What's taking her so long?"

In three steps, Natsu was right in front of the bathroom door and was about to knock when he heard the muffled sound of her cries from the inside, the salty scent of her tear seeping past the crevices of the door and into his nostrils.

" Oi Luce, ya alright in there?" He banged at the door abit harder then he meant to, hearing the protesting rattle from the hinges of the door, agitated by her scent of her tears, " Luce!"

" I'll be out in minute!" Her muffled voice shouted from the inside and he immediately heard the sloshing sound of the water as she got out of the tub.

Natsu felt conflicted, all he wanted to do was to just smash open the door, hold her tight in his arms and wipe away her tears, but he knew Lucy would not like if he were to just barge through the bathroom like that.

So he just stood there with his back to the wall beside the bathroom door, listening to the sound of her tap water running as he pondered over his jumbled up emotions, trying his best to sort through them.

After being rejected entrance to Igna's room even though they had to come up with a diversion plan, Liberta walked aimlessly down the silent hallways, flinching back occasionally when he bumped into the many puppets that reside in fortress alongside their master.

He sighed heavily as he continued to walk, recalling the events the transpired earlier on, but he was so deep in thought that he didn't even know he was walking in the direction of west garden, it was only when he heard the crushing sound of grass beneath his feet did he finally snapped out of his reverie.

He looked around in confusion, " Where am i? I never knew such a place like this existed.", he wispered to himself in awe as he slowly took in his surroundings.

His eyes flitted past a gleaming white marble statue of a one winged angel as he continued to examine the newly discovered area, but he then frowned and looked back at the statue, squinting at the particularly dark corner of the wall beside it and spotted two familiar bickering figures hiding in the shadow casted by the towered statue.

He started sneaking up to them, a skill he learned with little difficulty as he's pretty much quite an invisible person by nature, but as soon as he heard the contents of their conversation, he quickly dodged behind the statue.

" Do you think she's got my message?"

" Gatekeeper? Pah, seeing how much magic you've poured into that dimensional messenger to make sure it went as fast and unnoticeable as possible, what do you think?"

Liberta's eyes widened as his body trembled, thinking to himself, " These two are traitors?!"

" I mean, you're too good for your own sake ya know?" Shakal sighed while shaking his head, " I mean, you even erased every possible option of it from being traced, you've done too good a job of it man, she won't even know it came from you."

" Yeah, she probably don't even know that it was me sending her news all this time, heck, i don't even think she even remembers me at all." Jackal said, looking away from his brother with pained eyes.

" Wait, " Liberta thought, " The Gatekeeper does not even know who this guy is? Then why is he risking getting caught and killed to send messages to that monster that doesn't even know who he is?"

" Things a guy would do when in loooooove!" Shakal rolled his tongue, earning him a smack in the head, the sound making Liberta flinch back and step on a twig that was so conveniently placed behind his foot.

SNAP!

" Who's there?!" Jackal said loudly, flicking out his ever-present hidden blade in a deadly arc.

" W-Wait!" Liberta cowered behind the base of the statue, quivering as he squeaked out, " Don't kill me!"

In sync, their eyes widened and they looked at each other, with the same thought, they grabbed him and dragged the frightened man further into the shadows, before whipping out their daggers together and pressing it at each side of Liberta's neck.

" And why shouldn't we?" Jackal growled, with Shakal continuing, " General Liberta?"

" C-cause it's not the r-r-right thing to do!" Liberta blurted out the first thing in his head.

" Dude, you are so not helping yourself right now." Shakal deadpanned.

" And because i know what it is like to love someone who doesn't even remember you!" The words flew out of Liberta's mouth even before he realized it did, catching himself by surprise.

" What do you mean?" Jackal seethed, trying to hide the hurt that showed in his eyes.

" I-I don't k-know." Liberta admitted, before quickly adding, " It just c-came out o-of my mouth like that!"

Slumping in their hold, Liberta revealed, losing his stutter " Lately i've been seeing things, a figure of a woman to be exact, especially when Tiamat and Antonio are around."

Shakal shook his head, " He's a lost cause, bro, he's even seeing things."

At Jackal's glare, Shakal promptly shut his mouth and Liberta continued, "Her face's always seems sad though, it almost seems like she's yearning for something, something that some part of me also does, but she looks just so similar to Tiamat, uncannily so."

" Those words i just said just now, i think it was that part of me that said it, the other part of me i mean, not the one you see now that still has a crush on Tiamat." He twiddled his thumb shyly as he said that.

The two looked at each other, and said telepathically through their twin link,

" You thinking what i'm thinking?"

" Yep, it sounds similar to that thing old man Nezhirt told us before."

" That and the another thing."

" Whether he can be trusted? I think so, he looks pretty pathetic- i mean trustable to me."

Jackal continued glaring down at Liberta as he considered all the different possibilities that could happen in all sorts of situations.

" Ne Nii-san, not all the outcomes have to be so negative ya know?" Shakal laughed nervously at the scary look on Jackal's face and Liberta's face seemed to turn a shade paler, " Maybe you two can just... urm... partner up? Ya know, being ' unrequited-love' buddies and all."

" Shakal, just shut up."

" Haha..." Liberta looked at the two brothers timidly as he pointed at the daggers that were still at his neck, " B-but this getting r-r-rather uncomfortable, would the b-both of you be so k-kind as to remove it f-from my neck...?"

" No." They said immediately, both heads snapping to stare at him.

" Ah... o-ok then..."

" But really, what are we going to do about him?" Shakal said, tapping his dagger against his neck, making Liberta gulp nervously. " Should we really dispose of him like what you think?"

" Hmm, no, his absence would be immediately noticed by Pheles." Jackal shook his head.

" What about erasing his memories?" Shakal suggested.

Jackal shook his head once more, " Neh, too much fuss."

" Then what about-"

" J-Just letting m-m-me go...?"

" And why the hell would i do that?" Jackal said.

" Urm... cause i s-swear i won't t-tell on you to anyone?"

" And on what basis should i believe you?"

" ..."

" Nothing right?"

" B-but i swear that i really won't, i've no reason to."

" Even though you swore allegiance to Pheles?"

" Well, d-didn't everyone have t-to do the same?"

Jackal and Shakal grinned at each other,

" We did, but we kinda twisted the words to fit our objective, so we're not exactly bound to him and his cause."

" Ah... wait, objective?" Liberta noticed, " Is it related to the Gatekeeper you mentioned earlier on?"

Jackal cursed at the slip of his tongue, and pressed the dagger deeper into Liberta's neck, drawing a little blood, and Liberta finally considered the possibility of him having to use his magic to put them to sleep when Shakal suggested,

" Hmm, what about this nii-san, Liberta-san?" He said, pointing a finger up as if pointing out something, " Firstly, nii-san, if Liberta-san successfully manages to keep our secret till this battle is over, we help him with his problem?"

" What problem?" Liberta asked, not getting a word he was saying.

" The visions of your pas- MMFFTT!" Jackal quickly covered his brother mouth and corrected, " visions of the woman you've been seeing!"

" Oh... wait, you can h-help me with that?" Liberta said, " How?"

" Yeah, we know of a person who... urm, specializes in things like that." Jackal scratched the back of his head with his free hand, which means Shakal's mouth was free once again.

" So, what's your choice? Accept our proposal or die?" He said cheekily, placing emphasis on his words by tapping the dagger against his neck.

" Do i really h-have a choice?"

" Right, that's settled then!" Shakal withdrew his dagger from Liberta's neck, " Whew, my hand was just getting tired!"

" I'm not convinced." Jackal then pricked his finger on the tip of his dagger, and smeared the drop of blood that emerged on Liberta's lower lip, then he too, withdrew his dagger, " Now i am."

Liberta licked his lower lip and tasted the salty-irony taste of Jackal's blood, unsure of what Jackal just did to him.

" W-What?" He said, confused.

" Just something i did to ensure you would really keep your word." Jackal said nonchalantly, rubbing his fingers together, playing with the blood seeping from the the cut before it healed instantaneously.

" Now, General Liberta, may we have the pleasure of escorting you back to your room, sir ?" Jackal offered with a predatory grin, like those of a hunter towering over his kill ( aka. Liberta )

And the only thought on Liberta's mind was,

" What did i just get myself into...?"

A tension so thick, a knife could cut through it like butter, hung in the air of the guild as a certain two sat in their own swirling vortex of gloom.

Natsu's head leaned on the wooden table, staring blankly into space as Erza ate her cake with lesser enthusiasm and Grey squirmed in his spot beside the pinkette uncomfortably, feeling the heated glare of a particular white haired demon glaring holes into the mass of pink hair as her sister sat beside the owner of the other vortex of gloom, occasionally throwing a pointed look at the same pink head before going back to comforting her 'sister' .

It's no secret that Natsu and Lucy were close, even closer than just team mates and best friends they claim to be, the whole guild knew and just recently, even Lucy herself came to accept that, but knowing how incredibly stubborn and dense Natsu is, the entire guild, even Mira who happily agreed to take the lead with a scary look on her face, have been holding themselves back from giving him a good bashing only because Lucy is telling them not to, for fear of destroying whatever relationship that they have built up between them.

But the even their patience have limits, they were that close to dragging Natsu out by his ears when the guild doors slammed open, revealing a group of four.

Mira, being the first to filter out the rather dramatic lighting behind the group that casted shadows over their identities, was the first to react.

" Welcome back Laxus, Freed, Evergreen, Bixlow, how was the mission?" She chirped brightly, her sunny bright aura a contrast to what was behind her.

" Waaaayy easier than what was described on the mission slip! We hardly broke a sweat!" Bixlow grinned with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as usual.

" Easy!" " No sweat!" " No sweat!" His babies echoed, hopping in the air around him.

" And its all thanks to the great Laxus-sama who took down all the wayward mages with a single move!" Freed said dramatically.

" Did someone die or something? What is with the atmosphere in the guild?" Evergreen hid her face behind her fan, as if she could smell the tension in the air, nose cringing up distastefully.

Mira spared a thoughtful look at the gloomy blond at the bar, then shooting Natsu a hateful glare, and sighed, shrugging her shoulders,

" The same ole stuff, nothing's changed, unfortunately."

" Hmm." Was all Laxus replied with,

Bixlow and Freed then headed in the direction of their unofficial assigned table wheres Evergreen tried to go unnoticed to Elfman's side.

Laxus made his way to the the master's office to have a word with his grandfather, pausing only at the bar to ruffle Lucy's hair with a gruff word of encouragement, the two having gotten slightly closer after the Tenrou incident.

" Come in." Makarov looked up after hearing a knock on his door, spotting the spiky mess of blond hair, he put down his work greeted, " Oh Laxus, welcome back, how's the mission?"

" It was completed without a problem, quite an overly rewarded job for something so simple." Spotting the troubled look on his grandchild's face, Makarov prompted,

" Is there a problem?"

" Actually, there is." Reaching back to grab his travelling pack and took out a long cloth bounded item, unraveling the worn cloth around it, he unveiled a strange jagged glass weapon and placed it carefully on the office table for inspection.

" I came upon this when fighting off those mages during my mission. I manage to salvage only this one, the rest shattered sometime in between our battle, but the mages themselves didn't even seemed surprised when it did, they were almost like puppets." He thought aloud.

" But i did catch a glimpse of a faint red light coming out of the shattered glass pieces when it broke and every single one of them had the same tattoo branded on the back of their neck."

Grabbing a slip of paper, which Makarov hoped was not one of his complaint slips, Laxus drew out an image in the semblance of a scythe with a few swift strokes and pushed it forward to Makarov, " Something like this."

Studying the symbol in front of him, Makarov stroked his mustache as though about why it looked so familiar to him.

" Hmm..."

" Jeez, that's the symbol of Pheles's organisation, i showed you that before already. Your memory must really be getting worse with age." A voice said beside Makarov's ear.

Makarov jumped up from his seat in shock and whipped his head around, glaring at Tenebre while rubbing his ear as she continued staring intently at the picture drawn by Laxus, with an surprisingly serious looking Serpe leaning on the wall behind her.

Lightning sparked from Laxus body and raced over his skin threateningly as he readied himself to attack the intruders, but he quickly stopped himself and looked on in bewilderment when Makarov grew out his hand and smack Tenebre behind her head.

" Are you really trying to kill me?! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

" Oi Ji- ji, who's this woman?" Laxus asked, his body still tensed up and ready to attack, his piercing eyes staying on Tenebre and Serpe.

Makarov looked at Laxus as if he just realised his presence there, and blinked,

" Oh Laxus! Haha... " He said awkwardly, finding some escape to avoid revealing Tenebre's identity and that of the world to him, " Ah...Urm..Ah! Laxus! I think that's Mira calling you, it seems like she's got something for ya! "

Laxus merely stood there, unconvinced, as he glared down at his short grandfather his need to know the truth.

" Makarov, there's no need for you to chase your grandson away. He, or in fact, all of your guild would need to hear the truth sooner of later. Especially since Pheles is making his move."

" Who?"

Tenebre sighed, and sat on the table, " I'm going to make this explanation as easy to understand but also as quick as i possibly can, so listen up."

.

.

.

.

.

.

" So..." Laxus summarized, after her brief explanation, " What you are saying is that you, Tenebre Akarusa-Heartfilia, is the half-sister of Blondie, also a half angel-demon, a few thousand years old and also Gatekeeper of the many worlds to keep them in check, recently unfroze yourself from Iced Shell, a spell powerful enough to kill Deliora, teleported an entire group back to the group just after you recovered, then ran off to fight a band of mages from this Pheles fella and a dragon, quarreled with a bunch of old chaps, suffered a breakdown and shadow traveled here to warn us of an approaching war to get Lucy for some power you refuse to tell me just because of some information from an unknown informant?"

" Yep, that's about it." Tenebre nodded.

Laxus looked at Makarov with renewed respect and said, " How do you deal with her recklessness?"

Makarov shrugged and sighed, as if he himself could not believe how he did it.

Hopping off the table, Tenebre said," Now, all i have to do is to find Lucy."

But before she left the room, the glint of the dark weapon on Makarov's desk caught her eye and her entire body stiffened,

" Where did you get that from?" Tenebre pointed at the glass weapon.

" Oh that thing?" Laxus said, " I recovered it from a mage with that tattoo on his neck while on my mission. Why, is there something wrong?"

" Not really... Just don't touch it directly, and don't try to destroy it, it might come in handy later on." Sending Serpe a look, he nodded and whipped out a few crystals from his pocket,

" Here, take these." Tenebre passed them to Laxus and Makarov, " These are the ice crystals from my Iced Shell, it contains my magic in it, so it might come in handy sometime later, but i hope you'll never have to use it."

" And i really wish you'd put a little more faith in us, you're still keeping something from us right?" Makarov said, gripping onto the crystal, feeling the pulsing magic within it.

" I'll tell you, the moment i figure it out myself." And she walked out the door, mumbling to herself,

" One down, a few million more to go..."

Serpe shut the door behind her and said," I think i'll head back for now, i've gotta inform the others about the war."

Disappearing the moment she nodded her head, Serpe headed back into the Celestial Realm, informing all the spirits under contract with Tenebre of the current situation, and it was not surprising that the news even reached Lucy's spirits.

Approaching the downcast Lucy by the bar, who didn't even realize that she was there till she tapped Lucy lightly by her shoulder, making her jump up in surprise.

" Holy-! Oh it just you Tenebre, i didn't hear you approaching... wait... Tenebre?!" Lucy exclaimed, looking much brighter than she was moments ago, and hugged her tightly, " You're back! I mean, where were you?! Do you have any idea how worried i was when you suddenly disappeared on me?! You baka!"

Hugging her back, Tenebre said, " Sorry for making you worry, but i really had to leave then, something important came up."

" Something related to your job?" Lucy released her from her hug, Tenebre nodded, then a guilty look came upon her face,

" To you as well. "

" Me? What about me?" Lucy asked, confused on how she was related to something important.

" I've... i've something to confess to you, Lucy, something that i should've told you the moment you met me."

Lucy took notice of the look and immediately grabbed Tenebre's hand, leading her to the back of the guild and out of prying eyes,

" I supposed we needed a little bit of privacy. Right, so what's this you have to tell me?"

Tenebre gulped nervously, and started hesitantly," Remember that time when you and your team were in my memories, when i cut off that scene just before Layla said out your family secret?" Lucy nodded, and Tenebre continued, " It's time i told you what it is."

" Does it have anything to do with these dreams i've been having?" Lucy inferred, smiling kindly at the shocked stiff Tenebre.

" How did you-?"

Lucy sighed, " A hunch, you always seem to shy away whenever i mention the word."

Pulling Tenebre down beside her as she sat down on one of the wooden benches outside, she looked at her attentively, " So what's the story behind it?"

" E-Everything started during the War of the Two," Tenebre started," That's was when your great great great great grandmother, Lucille V. Heartfilia, was still alive. Pheles, brother of High King Mephisto and second to the throne of Gehenna, waged a war against his own country and Arcadia, to steal the High Queen Seraphim's eye to use as blackmail to make her marry him in his twisted version of love, it came as a surprise as he's not the type to wage a war for something like this."

" He was a gentle, peace-loving demon who hated war. What caused him to change so drastically, no one knows, but it was because of this war and his slight miscalculation that Lucille received the gift, or curse, of Seraphim's eye, or also known as the Oculos Divae, the eyes of the goddess."

Tenebre looked down and sighed heavily, " It enables the beholder to see into the past, present and the future. But with only part of its power removed by Seraphim to preserve Lucille's life, now the eye can only see into the future, at the cost of the vessel's life, every vision eats up a portion of her life, in which, the vessel now... is you."

Lucy's hand flew up to her mouth in shock, " You mean...all this time...my dreams..."

" Were visions of the future that you were not supposed to see." Tenebre admitted guiltily.

" I do not know how or when you came in contact with an immortal's blood or when you felt felt an immeasurable amount of fear, what i do know is that the seal placed on you with Layla's dying breath to prevent you from seeing these visions, to prevent you from dying early, is breaking and now you only have a few years or months left before all the seals break and the power of the eye that has been accumulating all this time would soon tear apart your soul."

Lucy simply stared on in shocked silence and Tenebre placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at her worriedly, " Lucy?"

" This... is a lot to take in."

" A-Are you alright?" Tenebre asked, alarmed when she saw Lucy's body start to tremble.

" I think, but i'm feeling...a bit...dizzy..."

Just then, Lucy hugged herself and grabbed at her arms, hunching in into herself, her body trembling violently as she crashed onto the bench sideways, her fear filled wide eyes staring at the unknown in front of her.

" Lucy!" Tenebre exclaimed frantically, grabbing hold of Lucy's twitching body before she fell off the bench, flinching back whens she felt the magic radiating off her body zap against her skin with a stinging familiarity which made her even more frantic.

" Another vision!" She grabbed hold of her face with both and and shook her slightly, " Lucy! Snap out of it! Lucy!"

The doors to the guild slammed open and Natsu stood there, all flustered and frantic looking. When his eyes found Lucy's, he immediately rushed over to her,

" What happened to her? What did you do to her?!" Natsu demanded, kneeling by her side.

" She's having a vision!" Tenebre looked pleadingly at Natsu. " You managed to snap her out of it the last time, do what you did again!"

Even through his furious expression, a slight blush manage to slip to his cheeks, " W-What? Don't you have another solution-"

" If i did, i wouldn't be asking you!" Tenebre looked away sharply as she pushed Lucy into his arms and stood up abruptly, biting back several words, she instead turns to face Natsu and dropped to her knees, bowing so low her forehead touched the grass, " I'm begging you, Natsu Dragneel, please save Lucy before her life force depletes any further!"

Natsu's eyes widened in shock at her actions, and her words, his body trembling in barely restrained flurry of emotions ranging from confusion, fury and fear, mostly fear, for Lucy and her life. The more he thought about it, the worst the tightening feeling in his chest got, but the thought that Lucy might die in front of him and that he could do nothing but watch her go jarred him to the core and pushed him to act.

But as soon as he leaned down and came face to face with Lucy, her eyes cleared and she blinked up at him, Natsu mirroring her actions when his mouth popped open and he went stock still,

" KYAAA!"

" GAH!"

Natsu flew away from Lucy with a mighty kick from her, the flustered blond looking completely scandalized at his actions as she pointed a shaking finger accusingly at him, alternating between staring at Tenebre and Natsu in disbelief, " W-W-Wha-?! T-Tenebre? W-Wh-W-W-"

She then screeched, slapping both her cheeks," Why was Natsu about to kiss me?!"

Tenebre's rigid back slumped in relief and she gathered Lucy in a hug, " Oh thank the Gods!"

" Huh? Tenebre, what are doing?" Lucy said, flustered at her sudden actions, " Last thing i remembered was feeling dizzy,"

She then flushed a dangerous shade of red when she glanced at Natsu briefly, the said person looking at anywhere but her," Then Natsu's face being so friggin close to mine!"

" You just experienced another attack," Tenebre looked Lucy over worriedly, " Do you feel nauseous? Breathing difficulties? Does your eyes hurt? Do-"

" I'm fine, i'm fine!" Lucy quickly ceased her mother hen-ing, " Just a little fatigued."

She then looked away with a troubled expression, " But i can't seem to remember the... urm, vision, it's all pretty vague and fuzzy."

" The same stuff of Magnolia burning, and three people standing on a mountain of... human parts?" Her voice trailed off uncertainly, frowning as she though hard, " One of them looked like you, Tenebre."

Looking up at Tenebre's startled expression, Lucy hastily waved her hands in front of her and laughed nervously, " Or i could just be seeing things? That can't possible be you right? Along with Magnolia burning and a pile of body parts?"

" Right?" Lucy asked again, looking uneasily at the still silent Tenebre.

When she finally spoke, her words were cold and concise, standing up and facing the guild with a grave expression on her face, " If that's is the future you saw, we have to prepare for war."

" War?" Lucy looked startled, " With who?"

" You remember that Pheles guy i was talking about?" Lucy nodded, " We though we killed him during the war, apparently he's still alive, and he's after you, your eyes."

" Wait, who?" Natsu couldn't take it anymore and cut in, his eyes burning with a fire that demanded for answers, " Who is this Pheles and why is after Lucy's eyes?"

" He needs her eyes for what i presume to be a continuation of the war he started a few centuries ago," Tenebre then put forward another suspicions that's been nagging at her, " And perhaps harness its limitless powers to exact revenge on his brother and me."

" We won't have that!"

The both of them looked back at Lucy, who stood with her back straight with pride as she lifted the signature Fairy Tail hand gesture to the bright afternoon sky, looking fiercely at Tenebre as she proclaimed, " I'm not letting this person take you away from me, i've only just reunited with you after so long, and you're one of us now, and Fairy Tail takes care of their own!"

" Well said."

Lucy grinned brightly at Makarov, who stood by the wide open doors with the rest of the guild behind him, all with their fingers pointing proudly in the air as they all mirrored Lucy's fierce, prideful expression.

Even Natsu, who somehow manage to stand beside Lucy and draping an arm around her shoulders, " Well, whoever this dude is, i'm not letting him take my Luce from me!"

He then added as a second thought, mumbling as he looked shyly away from Lucy," Or you. Cause that would make her sad."

Lucy flushed bright pink.

" You liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike her!"

" Pinkhairedbrowneyedbabies! ohmymavisohmymavis-"

" Mira-nee! Where's Wendy?!"

" Fainting is for MEN!"

" I'm pretty sure that is the least manly thing to do... And she's a woman dammit!"

" Gihihi."

" Gajeel! I can't see! And stop messing up my hair!"

" Gray, *hic*, yer clothes."

" Gah! Where did my clothes go to!"

" Gray-sama! Your topless self is as wonderful as always!"

" SILENCE!"

The entire guild fell into a terrified silence, even Makarov, all turning their heads hesitantly to look behind at the red-haired demon- ahem, i mean, woman, scrambling over each other to create a path for her when she walked forward with a terrifying look directed at Tenebre.

When she came face to face with the said dual colored hair woman, and after an intense eye-to-eye showdown between the two, she slapped both her hands down on Tenebre's shoulders and slammed her forward into her metal breastplate with a solid hug, her face softening when she said, " We all have our scars, our pasts, our differences. But that is what makes us who we are, and with every bump in the road, we only grow stronger from it."

" And with every failure in life, at least we know we'll always have someone to fall back to, people that will always have our back, people we'll risk our lives to protect, our beloved family, our nakama, OUR FAIRY TAIL!"

She roared to the sky with a fierce pride, and the entire guild roared back in response, " YEAH!"

Tears dripped freely down Tenebre's cheeks, her glistening tears shining together with the bright, wide smile on her face, the biggest most genuine one they've seen yet, as she sobbed, " Thank you! Thank you all-"

But at that very moment, she froze, her eyes widening is disbelief, muttering a shock, " What?".

She spun on her heel and looked at the sky behind her overlooking Magnolia, and so did most of the guild as they let out a collective gasp,

" What is that?"

" Is that-?"

" A magic circle?!"

As soon as that word left Lisanna's lips, a bright blue bolt shot out from the magic circle and crashed in front of the gathered members with a massive impact that drove many to their knees, but before the huge cloud of dust and dirt cleared from the area, a whole troupe of humanoid creatures marched out from it, all carrying similar glassy weapon in hand and heading in the direction the purple haired man in front was pointing at, straight at Lucy, as his voice rang out above the noise,

" GET THE GIRL!"

All hell broke loose, and just as the the sun made its way downwards, from the sky appeared a shimmering dark floating fortress, casting a ominous shadow over the entire town of Magnolia, and with a voice that held the promise of death and beckoned the beginning of the end, a guttural war cry spilled forth from Tenebre's lips as she charged right into the eye of the storm,

" PHLELES!"

AN : Annd that sure escalated quickly! A new record of 12.2K words! My fingers and my crazy brain took over for this chapter i swear! It wasn't me, at least, not entirely? Anyways, prepare for more action in future chapters as of now! For how long tho, hmm ( knowing smirk ) you'd just have to find out on your own!

Now, to all you lovely people of Fanfiction, for all the awesomeness you all are, i'm pretty sure you all already know that we Fanfiction-ist ( as i like to call them, or us, or me, GAH, you know what i mean! ) write these fics for the pure fun/enjoyment of out readers and for ourselves at absolute no cost at all, to share the infinite fluffiness/angst/comedic filled stories with the world for all to enjoy so that even if it doesn't happen in the real word ( or even in the world of anime itself, i love you but DAMN YOU MASHIMA-SENSEI! But i still love you. ), we at least have to place to read or live in our delusion even if it is just a little while.

But to us who write these fics, we thrive and harness our creativity and motivation from the reviews and feedback from YOU, the readers, and when we don't, it's not like we'd stop writing, at least not me and a couple people i know, but it does get kind of upsetting to not receive feedback and know what your readers are feeling and expecting from the future of the fic ( positive or not, i welcome criticism, sure, constructive ones of course! ).

So let's make a change here in this community ne? Let's make this a better place for both readers and the writers themselves!

Of course it's all entirely up to you.

I mean, you could choose to do it.

Or not, And make someone out there really upset. And i mean hole-in-the-toilet-brawling-her-eyes-out-as-she-draws-circles-in-a-dark-corner kind of upset.

Totally up to you.

But of course, I'd like to thank EVERYONE who've reviewed, followed and favorited so far and during the previous chapter, i really appreciate the reviews guys, it serves as motivation to continue writing and to study for my exams! YOU PEEPS ARE AWESOMESAUCE! ( especially the studying part, urgh... math )

Ja ne!

~KanaeHitomi~