THIS IS IN ALL CAPS SO YOU SHOULD PROBABLY READ IT!************

So, this is kinda embarrassing, but someone caught me in yet another detail mess up. Natsu is a dragon slayer, but I wrote that his dad was human. Sorry guys, if you were confused, but I forgot to add in a sentence that would make that make more sense...

Was that good English? Eh, moving on.

So, by the time I put this chapter up, I should have that part fixed, so you can go back and read it. It was in chapter 16, after talking about poor Herald and Laxus. I'm so sorry for the confusion, and if anything else comes up when you're reading, don't hesitate to message/ review me. Things make more sense in my own mind than for others so...yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Fairy Tail. Wish I did, but I don't. On the bright side, there is so much Nalu, it almost doesn't matter!

Erza's imposing figure filled the doorway, instilling fear into every child that has the displeasure of sitting in the same room as her. The small crowd stared at her, dumbfounded and terrified. Her eyes scanned the wide room, but every person who was sitting at one of the old, semi-broken tables was younger than seventeen. They were so quiet that every microscopic movement Erza's armor made caused a cloud "CLANK!" to resonate through the guild hall, making some younger kids flinch.

"Master Makarov," she barked, getting impatient, "where is he?" Her glare pierced every soul that looked in her direction. A sea of open and closing mouths that were too scared to speak was spread before her. She realized that she probably should have turned down the scary, but it was too late for that now...

"Um, I can go get him," a hesitant voice called out. Erza's eyes focused on a wide eyed, blue haired teen. She was halfway between sitting and standing, partly because of the mysterious red-headed demon in her home's doorway, and partly because a dark haired boy next to her had a hold on her one sleeve and a white cat had its paw on her other sleeve, keeping her down. The other children around her looked with wide eyes, wondering why she had a death wish. Someone tried to mouth to her to sit down, but the girl just shook her head and detached her friends grip on her sleeve.

"Please, show me to him," Erza ordered in a much softer tone as she stepped into the hall to follow the girl. Towards the back of the room there was an old wooden door hung loosely on its hinges with a faded label that said "Master" on it. The girl knocked on the door before opening it enough to stick her head in. Quietly, she told the man inside that a "scary woman was at the door demanding that she see him," and "yes she was pretty" but "no, she looks like an official." The girl pulled back and waved Erza over to the door.

"You aren't going to take him away from us, are you?" She asked worriedly, her eyebrows creasing in such a way that made her look ten years older than she probably was. Erza smiled and shook her head.

"No, I just need to talk with him about something very important," she ruffled the girls hair, much to her dismay, and walked into the office. A small man in an ironically large leather chair stared at her with a deadly gaze, challenging her to try to pry him away from his desk. She would have laughed if she wasn't so serious at the moment.

"Hello, sir," Erza greeted, "I am Erza Scarlet," the door closed behind her.

"If you are here to take me away from my children, Miss. Scarlet, then you are going to have a lot of trouble," the old man growled. Erza shivered, sensing the powerful magical presence that weighted heavily in the room. She had heard that he was powerful; she didn't know just how immense that power was. Thankfully, she wasn't here to find out.

"No, I'm actually here to talk about your grandson, Laxus," she noticed the flash of pain on Makarov's face at the mention of his grandson, which only made her more curious about her boss. Of course, Erza had heard the stories of how the Dreyer family had a falling out, after Makarov's son had fallen to the criminal side; however, she had never heard why, exactly, Laxus decided to reject his grandfather. On the contrary, she had originally thought that it was the other way around...

"What has that brat done?" The old man groaned, motioning for his unwanted guest to sit in the smaller chair in front of his desk. Erza ignored the offer, deciding to get straight to the point rather than stay pleasant. Her hands slapped the surface of his smooth desk, the force splintering the wood where her hands made contact. She briefly savored the feeling of destroying something, after all of her anger had built up, and then immediately afterward she realized what Lucy meant when she said that she was getting "a little too violent."

"It's more like what he is planning on doing that worries me," she carefully watched his guarded face, waiting for it to slip. Her intimidation didn't affect the old man in the slightest, but it wasn't like she expected it to.

"Oh, and why's that?" His eyebrows raised in genuine, unknowing curiosity. So, he wasn't in on the sinister plot after all. She breathed a soft sigh of relief. Even though she was the fierce Titiana Erza, the thought of having to face Makarov Dreyer made her want to cry like a little girl when she found out the tooth fairy didn't exist.

"Do you know about the orders that are being carried by the Royal Guard right now?" She inquired, snapping back to business. There was no time for relaxing.

"Yes," Makarov practically growled, teeth clenched at the thought of his friends sitting in jail, "I do."

"Did you know that Laxus is the one behind those orders?" She asked carefully, like the short man in front of her was a ticking time bomb.

Makarov was silent, stunned beyond belief, but his initial surprise only visually lasted for a second or so: his face quickly snapped to defiant rejection, as if Erza had any reason to lie to the old man. In fact, he examined her with an incredibly intense look of suspicion.

"I saw him give the order myself," Erza confirmed the old man's worse fears. He shook his head like he still couldn't believe it. "I'm not lying, sir."

"No, that can't be right," he asserted, "It's not possible."

"Why not?" Erza snapped. She didn't enjoy being called a liar, especially during a manner as serious as this. Makarov hopped onto his desk and pinned her with a piercing stare; she felt like his eyes were searching her soul, searching for something to trust. Apparently, she was as trustworthy as her reputation, because after a minute he sighed and looked to the side.

"Miss. Scarlet, maybe you should come with me," he said hesitantly. For a moment, he stood on his desk, immobile, but then apparently decided something. Hopping off his desk, he walked past her and led her out the door. Erza, with an increasing sense of dread, followed him out.

"I am going to die," Lucy groaned, rolling around on her carpet like one of Cana's empty beer barrels. Natsu rolled his eyes at her dramatics, but at least it was better than having her puke on his shoes. Which she almost did. Twice. Now he knew how everyone else felt when they had to ride in the same car as him.

"Next time, don't agree to drink with Cana," he advised, and as a response Lucy flopped over and gave him a withering look.

"I didn't know," she mumbled. He raised his eyebrows at her. "I didn't! She said it was juice!"

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm the smarter one," he prodded her with his foot, "Come on, get up. We have bigger fish to fry."

"If we have fish, can I have one now?" Happy squeaked pitifully from his spot next to Lucy, mimicking her pitiful flopped position. The poor cat looked emotionally scarred from his bath time with Cana as he lay there, quivering and whimpering. Natsu would feel terrible, if the situation wasn't so hilarious.

"It's an expression, Happy," Lucy explained, "Plus, you ate all of my fish."

"Moving on," Natsu redirected their attention to the more important things. "Your date-"

"Not a date," Lucy mumbled.

"Luce, you're going out to eat. At a nice restaurant. It's a date and you know it," Lucy rolled her eyes and blushed, mumbling that they "weren't like that" and "I can't date someone I just met." Despite her objections, she realized that there was no arguing with him (because lets face it, this was a very date-like situation) and motioned for him to continue.

"Then what do we suppose we do?" She groaned, tired of the whole mess that she had gotten herself into. This is why she should just stay in her house: she won't end up screwing herself over if she does.

Although, she thought, meeting Natsu might have been worth it...

The second she realized what she was thinking, she immediately shook her head to get rid of the thought. There was no way she had any special feelings towards the pink headed moron. Although, she supposed, he did- eh, never mind. Her feelings about boys wasn't the issue at the moment.

"I'm tired of making plans," Natsu complained, matching the trademark whiny tone of his blonde friend. She rolled her eyes at his antics; the small movement made her stomach clench painfully, and she groaned pitifully, sounding like a dying, beached whale.

"Never thought I'd hear Natsu say that," mumbled Happy, who was still depressed because of the lack of fish in the apartment that could soothe his woes. Lucy started to laugh, and Natsu, whose keen ears picked up on the comment, frowned.

"Shut it, Barf Cat."

"He has a point," Lucy giggled.

"Because you're so much smarter than me," Natsu snapped, sarcasm dripping from his words. Lucy grunted for as an affirmative before she tried to flip over and push herself up, but she didn't get past a push up stance before her face started accelerating towards the ground. It was only the last minute intervention of her superhero best friend that stopped her from face planting. He hoisted her up and smirked, making her roll her eyes and blush at her superior failure.

"Whatever," she wiggled from his grasp, "the more pressing issue is that the House is closed down," she saw his eyes tighten in the most un-Natsu way. For once, he didn't look like a pyromaniac goofball, but more like an adult.

It was so, so weird.

"Guess all my attention is on you now," he shrugged. Natsu couldn't say that he was particularly disturbed by the fact that the House was closed down: he most definitely didn't love working there, and the only one of his bosses he liked was Bob. At the same time, it was his job, however terrible it might be, and now he was screwed. Of course, there was also the whole "taking the old guild masters" thing. He had to talk to Makarov, and soon.

But, Lucy couldn't know that. She would try to help, but this wasn't her problem.

"Wasn't that strange, though?" She pressed, noticing that Natsu had gone quiet for a minute. The thought of him thinking about something so serious set off her red flags.

"Nope," he shuffled over to her bed and dove underneath the covers, trying to end the frowned at the sight; not only was he suspiciously avoiding the subject, he had messed up her perfectly made bed, an action that couldn't go unpunished. She ran over to him and hopped on his back, making the breathe leave his lungs with a loud "oof!"

"Lucy, get off me," he huffed, trying to wiggle from under her.

"Oh please, I am not that heavy," she rolled her eyes. Before she could tell him about just how healthy she was (despite those weekly cheat nights), there was a soft knock on her door. A look at the clock revealed that it was time for the daily mail delivery: yet another letter from her long lost father had finally arrived. What was going to be in it this time? Questions about her job? A story about her mother? A plea to come home? She had to warn herself to not get her hopes up so high, or else the universe would be moved to disappoint her.

"Stop squishing the lovable teacher and answer your door," Natsu interrupted her curious musings, reminding her that she was still sitting comfortably on his back in a more than misleading position. She abruptly jumped off, blushing like a tomato, and spun around to hide her face. Her heart was pounding a million miles a second, for a reason she couldn't understand. Maybe Mirajane was right: her eating habits were finally giving her a heart condition.

"Lovable? Don't flatter yourself," she coughed to hide her slightly higher voice, which the dragon slayer would be sure to pick up on. As she walked over and opened her door, she could hear her friend scoff, mumbling about how he was ten times better than Gray, so of course he would be considered "lovable." With a light giggle she let her door swing wide open.

"Uh, hi," The usual white haired girl, (Lisanna, Lucy remembered) squeaked. She was giving Lucy this huge, bug eyed look; possibly because the blonde was being more inviting for the first time in her life.

"Hello," Lucy shot her a dazzling smile, one that she had been practicing in the mirror for a month. Except, Lisanna flinched and avoided her eyes; maybe that smile wasn't as bright and inviting as she thought it was...

"Here's your mail, Miss," she placed a creamy white envelope in Lucy's outstretched hand and immediately hopped back, clutching her mail bag close. She spun on her heel and started to hurry down the hallway, the motion making a shiny gold necklace slip from her neck and clatter to the ground. She was in such a rush that she didn't notice.

"Wait!" Lucy called, stepping out her door and picking up the necklace. It looked familiar in that it was shiny and gold and expensive looking, shaped in the form of the Fairy Tail emblem that Natsu once showed her. She heard a little shriek and the necklace was snatched out of Lucy's hands. She looked up to see the girl frantically trying to hide the necklace in her bag as she retreated.

"Have a nice day, Lisanna!" Lucy yelled after her, making the girl pause for a second and shoot her a strange look. She almost seemed...guilty? The girl had her eyebrows scrunched together, and she was nawing her already beet red lip. But what, Lucy wondered, would she be guilty of?

"You too," she hesitated, "Lucy," she spun back around and went back the way she came, clutching her blue postal bag like it was her one lifeline. Shaking her head, Lucy shut the door and walked over to her bed, where she could clearly see the huge lump that was her friend.

"That was strange, right?" she poked where she thought his arm was. Natsu poked his head from under the covers and looked at her, nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, Lisanna wasn't used to be like that. But, there might be a reason for that," he adjusted his ever handy scarf so that it acted as a second pillow.

"What?" She asked, curious.

"Your boob is showing," he remarked casually. Lucy rolled her eyes, determined to not fall for the whole "the boob is the clasp on your necklace" trick again.

"I'm not wearing a necklace."

"Yeah, I know."

"Sir, where are you taking me?" Erza asked, ducking to avoid another low beam. The old man choose to answer with a simple sigh, leaving the lost red head even more confused. The dark hallway seemed much longer than it looked when he had led her down it, and her more dramatic side wondered if she was ever going to reach the end. The small light at the end of the hallway gradually grew bigger and bigger as the silence between the two adults became more and more awkward, until they finally came to a dark wooden door. The small light above the door glared at her, filling her with a sense of dread. Whatever she was about to find out, she was not going to like.

"You said that you saw my Grandson today, correct?" Makarov ignored her, question reaching for the doorknob. He didn't open the door, but patiently waited for her answer.

"Yes, I did," she said. The old man sucked in a deep breath and opened the door, stepping into what looked like an infirmary. There was a soft light streaming in through a dirty window with so many cracks that any breeze drifted through and ruffled the curtains and bedspreads. There was a tall wooden stool next to an occupied bed, but the stool had so many herbs and mysterious looking vials on it that Erza couldn't see who the patient was right away.

"If you had told me this two days ago, I would have believed you absolutely. However, your claims are a little farfetched," he gazed at the figure on the bed with a miserable, wistful expression.

"Excuse me," the blue headed girl from earlier squeezed passed Erza and walked over to the stool, grabbing various items from the stool and spreading them onto the adjoining bed according to a thick volume she balanced on her arm and hip.

"Wendy, have you found a treatment yet?" The old man asked the young girl. She pursed her lips and looked at the spread before her.

"I think I can use a combination of these roots to have some effect, but without knowing the type of magic that caused him to fall into a coma, I can't help him much," she bowed her head, "Sorry, Master."

"Master Makarov, who is this?" Erza asked. The old man straightened, remembering that he had brought a guest into his infirmary. Tugging on her hand, he led her to the side of the bed. Erza, the usually calm and cool one, gasped from sheer surprise: the man on the bed was none other than the man in question, the one that had set the hounds of hell on every guild master that ever was. Laxus, the slave driving, coffee loving, possibly criminal boss. Complete with obnoxiously yellow hair and a ragged scar over one eye.

"When did he get here?" Erza choked. It wasn't more than four or five hours since she had run away from the castle carrying Harold's warning, and yet here he was, knocked out cold, and judging how pale he was and how dark some of the bruised decorating his face were, he had been in this room for a while.

"Last night," Makarov carefully watched her surprised expression evolve into terrified.

"That's impossible," she whispered. She was with the annoying bastard this morning; how could he be in two places at once?

"I don't know who the man you saw today was," Makarov walked over to his sleeping grandson, grasping the grown man's hand and looking wistfully at his face, "but that was not Laxus Dreyer."

Erza rubbed her head and tried to think.

"If that wasn't Laxus," she started slowly, "then who is trying to control the king?"

HMMMMM! I WONDER WHAT THIS IS? OH YEAH, A PLOT TWIST!

You know, by the time this story is over, I'm going to have to totally change the summary. This is turning out completely different then advertised. Anyone wanna try to help me summarize it? :)

…..

oh yeah, so, um...I'm alive. Its been 4 months since my last update, for which I am INCREDIBLY sorry. After midterms it was as if my life went on fast forward, and all of a sudden I was ten chapters deep into One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and two essays behind.

Seriously, I sometimes still think its September. Help.

But, I will desperately try to update more, but lets face it, this is the fifth time my promise has fallen flat. Which is ironic because I usually take promises very seriously. But, if it makes you guys feel better, I haven't been able to look any any fanfiction since my last update (even alerts from my own account) so I've been suffering for my neglect.

So, yeah. This pointless interlude of my life has been brought to you by Nalu.

Anywho, please review and tell me how the story is for you! Too strange? Too off topic? Too badly written? If you ignore that little box, I won't be able to improve! I don't care if its hate mail, just fill my email with words so that I can ignore the college mail! :D

Plus, and I hate using this as a threat, the less reviews I get, the less motivated I am on updating this on time. So...yeah...CMON GUYS LETS TALK!

Anywho, until next time, my lovlies!

~NeverMakesSense