Author's Note: Yay, Update! Well, the story is off pause now, I finished off One Hot Summer on Christmas, and now it's time to complete this story. I'm sure I made you all pretty mad having to wait for so long, but here it is chapter 5, it has a stupidly long title -.-' … but whatever! Read, Review, Rejoice!

Chapter 5:
Fateful Encounter

Lucy was on wits end by now. She looked around the table to see if there was anyone else as nervous as she was, but she was struck with shame. Even if they entered the room with a slight bit of uneasiness, everyone was now sitting coolly. Their expressions were serious, but they didn't seem worried or anything like that.

"What's the point?" Luxus said coldly.

Everyone fixed their eyes on Luxus now. He roared, "Don't screw with us Natsu! What's the point of bringing someone from the past into this war? She's drastically inexperienced, as good as dead!"

Lucy flinched with a shudder. 'Dead… good as dead…', She repeated in her mind with a drone.

Erza quickly stood up and warned sternly, "Watch your mouth Luxus. Even as a master, that mouth of yours can cause you problems."

"Don't pretend you didn't want to say the same thing, Erza."

She closed her eyes in silent thought. Slowly the armored wizard slid back into her chair and responded, "Consider Lucy's feelings in this situation and choose your words carefully. I'm sure she's frightened to death."

Luxus looked over at Lucy. She was shuddering and her face was completely pale. She had the expression of a sheep being led to the slaughter house and the tears were practically too scared to come out. The irritated lightning slayer spat, "That's just what the hell I'm talking about."

He got up and slammed his hands into the table causing Lucy to almost shoot up out of her seat. He looked like he was about to say something, but he changed his mind and walked out the room. Just as he was about to close the door, he stopped in the crevice and said, "Give me a briefing when this damn meeting is over, Erza." He slammed the door and stomped off.

Erza sighed while Gray complained, "He's always walking out on meetings. 'Give me a briefing Erza.' he always says. Screw him."

Happy mused, "Gray's so jealous."

"There's more than one way to skin a cat. Happy, don't forget that." Gray threatened.

Lucy crossed her arms below her chest and said in a slightly annoyed tone, "Aren't we supposed to be discussing something here?"

"Weren't you the one who was cowering in the corner just a second ago?" Happy pointed out.

"Grow up cat!"

"Lucy's right, this is supposed to be serious." Natsu stood.

"I am a bit curious though…" Erza started. "Luxus did make a point, no matter how crude he was about it. Lucy has absolutely no experience when it comes to dealing with Zeref and honestly, I'd feel more confident with the Lucy of our time fighting by my side. She isn't even an S-Class mage at this point."

Natsu was silent for a moment. Gray urged him to talk, "Come to think of it, anyone from that time period would seem pretty useless in this war, even Guildartz. Natsu, explain yourself."

Suddenly the fire dragon-slayer spoke up, "The truth is…, if we judge it by just experience then you'd be right, she'd be at a drastic disadvantage."

"Then why?" Lucy breathed. They were practically discussing her death. She was trying to fight back the tears building up in her eyes. "I'm so confused, why would you bring me here to die?", she sobbed.

Natsu chuckled a bit attracting everyone's attention. "Actually, you would be most likely to survive this battle, that is if my theory is correct."

Gray quickly shot up from his seat, throwing over his chair in the process, as he accused, "Bull crap! What kind of theory could you possibly have that could somehow miraculously save us! Why can't any of us do it, huh Natsu explain that!"

"Cool down Gray. Watch your temper." Erza warned calmly. Gray grumbled to himself as he stood his chair upright and sat back down.

Suddenly Natsu said, "Magic Tracers…" Immediately as Natsu said that, both Erza and Gray flinched a little, but quickly regained their cool.

"Magic Tracers?" Lucy echoed with a puzzled expression.

"It's a special spell that allows you to track down anyone you attach it to by following their magic patterns." Happy wisely explained.

"But it is impossible for magic tracers to be attached to any of us. It would have come up in the scan we did a few weeks ago, however there was no trace of enemy magic." Erza noted.

"There was no trace of enemy magic because the spell has been feeding off of its host's magic. We've blamed our diminishing magic on age, but the truth is the magic tracers are sucking up our magic like fleas and we've been none the wiser."

"Even if that is true, Lucy can't win this war on her own, even at full power."

"I know, but bringing Lucy here is just to prove my theory. The way this battle between us and Zeref is going, we're probably going to all die out within the next five years."

"Way to be optimistic.", Lucy commented sarcastically. "Wait, what do you mean I'm just here to prove your theory? What did you bring me here to do?"

A large familiar smile grew on Natsu's face as he cheerfully said, "I just need you to play decoy, will ya do it? Its easy!"

Lucy suddenly felt a feeling of nostalgia hit her when she saw Natsu smile like that. It was the first time he smiled that big and was so happy since she arrived in this strange time period. It was just like the way he smiled before and, on pure instinct alone, she nodded her head to accept his request.

Meanwhile, a young blonde girl was running from a group of men, each carrying weapons ranging from blades to guns to chains. She ran through narrow alleys trying to elude the men, but no matter what she did they just kept following her.

Suddenly she found herself backed against the wall of a dead end. The men stepped aside and let the scariest looking of them all walk up to the front. He was probably the boss. He carried a silver revolver in his hand and a familiar scar on his eye. He snickered as he walked towards the young girl who was practically scared stiff.

He stopped and stood right in front of her as she slid down to her knees. Her legs gave out on her. Suddenly he held up his bandaged left hand and said, "You're gonna pay for what your friend did to me the other day, blondie."

"What are you talking about? This is the first time I've met you." she whimpered.

"Don't screw with me!" he yelled with anger and bashed the end of his gun into her head. "You think I don't remember! You're carrying the same whip, you're hair's the same color, you look exactly the same!"

He held the gun to her head and said, "This wouldn't have happened if you just came with me and my partner last night, and you probably wouldn't have to suffered if your friend had just left us alone. Bad luck for you."

He replaced his gun back in his belt and walked past his gang. Just before he was out of earshot, he said "Have fun with her guys."

Suddenly the blonde girl smirked and quickly drew her whip. She laughed, "You actually fell for that! You guys are really stupid you know, like I'd actually be scared of you!"

One of the gang members lunged at her with his sword in his hand. With a quick flick of her wrist, she cracked her whip and it stung him right in the center of his chest. She smirked and pressed a hidden button at the handle of the whip. Within less than a moment, powerful bolts of electricity ran down the wire-like leather of the whip, knocking the man unconscious in a violent fit.

She held up her palm to the sky revealing a blue Fairy Tal mark. "Let me make this clear, I am a member of NG Fairy Tail, therefore I have no fear! I am Layla Dragoneel!"

With a few skillful moves she was able to knock out the entire gang without breaking a sweat. She sighed, "Now all that's left is the boss. This is too easy."

Suddenly, a hand-shaped boomerang flew past her face and grabbed her whip. It quickly returned to its owner's hand as the gang boss pulled out his gun. "Let me make this clear." he mocked. "My name is One-Shot Shigure. There's a reason I'm called that." He held his gun with a careful aim, "Don't expect me to miss."

Layla was beginning to sweat. Sure she was pretty confident when she had that whip in her hand, but right now she's not too sure. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't see it coming and thought. "First mom and now me. Why?"

Suddenly she heard a loud scream and felt something land just in front of her feet. She tore her eyes open, but she was looking at the ground. Her whip laid in front of her. As she looked up, the first thing she saw was a fountain of blue hair standing behind the now unconscious Shigure.

By her figure, she was obviously a woman. Her curves were made obvious by her skin tight black suit. Her face was partially covered by a small mask. Only her brown eyes could be seen, just barely though.

"Are you alright?" she asked sweetly.

Layla grabbed up her whip and secured it to her belt. "Humph, I could have done it by myself."

The woman laughed, "You have the stubbornness of your father even if you look so much like your mother."

"What do you know about my parents?"

"Plenty, considering I fought alongside them for so long."

The woman grabbed Layla's hand and said, "Hold on tight." Suddenly, she leaped high into the air onto the roof of a building. She hopped from roof to roof with the agility of a ninja. Layla was too stunned to even complain like she usually did. She'd never seen any normal human jump like this except for on television.

Eventually they stopped at a small blacksmith's shop. All that could be heard was the sharpening of swords from the backroom. The entire place was dark. Layla was amazed, "Where are we?"

The woman, seemingly ignoring Layla's question, walked further into the building. Hesitantly, Layla followed the woman. She led Layla to the back, a room full of swords of every variety, shape, material, and even color.

"He must be in the basement." she said quietly.

"Who?"

Again the woman continued on, completely ignoring Layla, much to her annoyance. She moved a large drawer revealing a door on the bottom of the floor. The woman opened it and jumped down. Layla looked down the hole and gulped. It was pitch black down there and seemed overall ominous.

"Hurry up and jump down." the mysterious woman called.

Layla gulped again and slowly slipped her body down the hole. When she felt her feet touch the ground, a light suddenly turned on. After a few seconds of shielding her eyes, she observed her surroundings. She was in a library, a pretty old one as a matter of fact.

"Over here!" the woman called from a nearby room.

Layla slowly walked over to the next room, which actually turned out to be a kitchen. She met someone in a hooded robe cooking over a stove and the mysterious woman was lazily leaning against the counter.

"I refuse to take one step further until you start answering my questions. First of all, who are you?" Layla demanded.

"Oh I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Wendy Marvell."

Author's Note: You can consider this a new year's present or a late Christmas present. But anyway you put it, it's a gift from me to you.. It's finally off pause. Also, I really need your help, please leave a vote on the poll on my profile. I want to know what story I should start after this one and I'm going by popularity vote. The poll closes when this story finishes, so leave your vote! Until then, don't forget to review.