A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail or The Wizard of Oz.

"Hello? Can anybody hear me? Help!"

Lucy shot up, all traces of sleep gone. She looked around frantically for the source of the voice that had woken her up but saw only her sleeping companions. She frowned. Wasn't Natsu supposed to be on watch after Gray?

"Oi! Is anybody there?" The voice sounded impatient now.

Lucy shook her head and decided that investigating this mysterious voice was far more important than chewing Natsu out for sleeping on his watch, especially since she hadn't had to do a shift because Gray insisted that she shouldn't have to. She got to her feet, cautious not to make too much noise. The other three were probably not going to wake up anytime soon—all that hollering certainly didn't rouse them—but it never hurt to be too careful. She wanted to do this on her own, to prove that she wasn't just a helpless damsel in distress who needed her knight to do everything for her.

She crept away from the campsite but paused when she came to Gray curled up under a tree. He looked uncomfortable, and she felt a pang of guilt for hogging all the blankets. Tiptoeing back to the pile of blankets she had slept on, she grabbed two and carried them to Gray.

"Okay, now what?" Lucy looked down at the blankets in her hand, lost. How on earth was she to get them under Gray? Maybe she could roll him over real fast, put the blankets on the ground, then roll him back on top of them? She entertained the idea for a moment before realization struck her about just how stupid an idea that was. There was no way he wasn't going to wake up if she did that!

"Oh, no! Stupidity is contagious!" she muttered under her breath, glaring at Natsu. "The sooner we reach Fairy Tail, the better."

"Hey! Anybody?" The voice—definitely feminine, now that she thought about it—roared through the trees.

Lucy jumped in surprise and felt almost guilty for getting sidetracked with Gray. Deciding to just put the blankets over him, she gingerly covered his half-naked body, hoping that she wouldn't wake him up. He had shifted slightly when the voice decided to remind them of her presence so he might not be sleeping as deeply as she had initially thought.

After a few moments of waiting with bated breath for any sign of Gray waking up, she found none and deemed it safe to finally go and see just who was calling for help.

"Help, please," The woman sounded tired, her voice hoarse. Lucy hastened her pace; whoever she was, she might be in need of immediate medical attention. She berated herself for not considering that earlier and pushed past the low overhanging tree branches barring her way.

"Wait a minute." Her steps slowed. "How do I know this isn't some kind of trap to lure unsuspecting travelers to their deaths?" she whispered fearfully, her gaze darting furtively around the foliage that she had gone into. Her mind ran through every scenario she had ever encountered in her novels. Psycho stalker, obsessed ghost of a jilted lover, murderous sociopath, the possibilities were endless.

"Well, it's a female so it's probably not a stalker. At least I hope not," she gulped. "And I've never even had a boyfriend so no dead jilted lover. Then that leaves…" her eyes widened in alarm, "murderous sociopath! Oh, my gosh. Why didn't I think this through first?"

She whirled around and started walking back. She kept a brisk pace, intent on getting back to the camp as soon as possible. But after a few meters, she realized she didn't recognize her surroundings at all. Lucy was well and truly lost.

"Why is this happening to me?"

Erza Scarlet sat in a cool stream, the water flowing serenely around her. Her throat hurt slightly from the effort of calling out on the off chance that somebody was near enough to hear her. She was pretty sure there was a campsite a little ways off because she had spotted the smoke rising from their campfire the night before when she was going to bed. Only a thick barrier of trees separated her from the strangers who had spent the night in the forest she had come to call home.

Her keen hearing picked up the sounds of someone plowing through the trees. She brightened. So someone had heard her!

"Help, please," She didn't bother raising her voice; her would-be rescuer seemed near enough to hear her now. Erza waited impatiently, wishing that she could at least tap her foot to relieve the stress. For the umpteenth time, she cursed her impulsive decision to stay for an extra hour during her bath. If she had only gotten out of the water on schedule, she wouldn't be stuck sitting here waiting for somebody to get her out.

The footsteps stopped. Erza strained her ears, trying to discern why the person had halted. Suddenly, they began again, only this time erratically, as if whoever it was was running from something. She tensed, more eager now to find a way out of her predicament. She didn't fancy meeting a potential enemy in her state now. The person was coming nearer; he would be upon her at any moment. Erza braced herself, readying for a fight.

A blonde girl burst through the foliage, panting. She looked to be around her age. The girl's brown eyes landed on Erza.

"Um, hello?" Erza tried hesitantly, not wanting to scare her away. At least not until she found a way to help her.

The girl's gaze was riveted on the armor Erza was wearing. Almost fearfully, it moved to the claymore—her sword choice of the day—she had laid on a flat stone by the stream. Erza watched, confused, as the girl's expression turned from baffled to frightened.

"Murderous sociopath!" The blonde pointed an accusing finger at her. She began inching away from Erza.

"Excuse me?" Erza replied, affronted. How dare this person accuse her of that? She didn't even know her!

She closed her eyes, tamping down her indignation. There must have been a misunderstanding. Though she had no idea how that had happened seeing as she had only been asking for help. She had even made sure to be polite. She used 'please'!

Erza sighed and began explaining how exactly she had gotten stuck in the stream.

Lucy stood motionless as the woman—she had introduced herself as Erza Scarlet—related to her why she needed her help. Once she was done, Lucy relaxed. So she wasn't a sociopath after all! Judging from her story, she was just another weird person in this land of weird people.

"So let me get this straight," Lucy said. "You need my help because you can't move since your armor rusted while you were taking a bath?"

Erza nodded, looking at her expectantly.

"You were taking a bath?" Another nod. "In your armor?"

"Yes. I already told you—"

"Why didn't you take your armor off first? And what kind of armor rusts that fast?" Lucy ranted. Seriously, what kind of person takes a bath fully clad in armor? At least she wasn't wearing a helmet. That would have been even weirder, if that was even possible.

"I can't take my armor off. An old woman cursed me to wear it all the time because I rejected her son's proposal. As for the rust… well, this iron is pretty old," Erza finished impatiently.

"Oh," Lucy did her best not to laugh. She doubted Erza would take it kindly if she started laughing now. The sword over there looked very sharp. Never mind that she was currently incapable of moving. Erza looked like the type to find a way around that given strong enough motivation like, say, someone laughing at her expense.

"What do you need me to do?" Lucy asked. She decided to put off her questions about the specifics of her curse for later; Erza's teeth were chattering.

"First, get me out of the water," Erza commanded. Normally, Lucy would have complained at being bossed around but something about Erza's no-nonsense attitude stopped her. She stepped into the stream and winced when her foot came into contact with the iron greaves covering Erza's shins. Even through her shoes she could feel how cold it was from having been in the water for who knows how long. If her armor was this cold, how had Erza endured even a minute of being in it?

Lucy grabbed Erza's armored arms and heaved with all her might. After a few minutes of pulling and pushing and generally doing whatever she could to get Erza out of the water, she finally succeeded. Of course, Erza was still frozen in a sitting position, but at least she was on dry ground.

"What next?" Lucy panted. Hopefully, the hard part was over and done with. Geez, she had never done work this physically taxing in her entire life!

"There should be some oil in my house over there," Lucy followed Erza's pointed gaze to a small wooden cabin a few hundred meters away from the stream. She hadn't noticed it before because it blended so well with the forest, as if the house had sprung from the forest floor.

"Oh, okay. I'll go get it," Lucy nodded. She got up, trying to ignore her protesting muscles. Was she really this out of shape? She made a mental note to start exercising more.

"I'll be right back."

Erza watched Lucy go with trepidation. She tried to recall if she had disabled the net trap by the front door.

"Agh!"

Evidently not.

A/N: Erza's appeared! The gang is almost complete. One more! Try to guess who it'll be =^-^=