A Wishful Thought: Wow, you guys. I got so much feedback from that last chapter! :'D I was so worried that I lost so many readers for not updating in so long. I'm so happy I was wrong! :') I've kept my promise, too. November still isn't over! :D Still, it's been over a month (haha, I had said I would update next month, but technically a month is thirty/thirty-one days, and I've passed both so. . . _) so I made this chapter longer than my usual. In fact, it's DOUBLE the length of the last chapter. ;D

I've also taken the liberty to revamp some of the former chapters.

1—Edited the "Flashback" scene with Gray; changed the summary; added a list of love triangles/couples for everyone to fight over. In the end, it'll be you guys who decide the couples!

2—Made Gray and Lucy's fight a bit more extreme (it'll come into this chapter or the next, but you don't have to reread it if you don't want to); threw in a fight between Gray and Natsu, hopefully for a somewhat humorous effect? ^^;;

I hope to get to adding more things for the other chapters, too. I'm hoping to add more to the Word Count! XP Feel free to let me know whether you like the changes or not. ^^;;

ANYWHO, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I mean, HOLY CRAP! 22 reviews! That's the most I've ever gotten for Never Let Me Go before! :D I'd like to keep it up if that's alright with all of you! :'D

Black Blood Alliance, miyame-chan, kisshufan4ever, GajeelxLevy, racerabbit, timecage, Dimensional Roamer, NaLu Seirei, Yuki Kusanagi, (blank), Beta5200, eelgirl13 and special thanks to MaxTiger who gave me some very helpful constructive criticism. :D

Without further ado, I present the latest chapter of Never Let Me Go! :D

Tensions Running High

The room became painfully silent.

There were no worried whispers, no screams of anguish, no sobs of regret.

Nothing but silence was in the room.

And nothing but the thunderous silence weighed down on each mage's shoulders, their insides already running cold from what the fallen water mage had whispered, their hearts already beating violently in their chests.

Only silence.

Nobody moved. It seemed like nobody bothered to breathe either. No one even raised their eyes to glance at another.

It was like no one could comprehend the simplicity of the three blunt words.

Mirajane ended up being the one to stop the silence and was the first to move. A slight, hesitant shake of the head at first quickly grew in speed and intensity. The blue eyes of the Transformation Mage were wide with disbelief and surprise, and the remnants of her former tears still hung loosely on the bottom row of her eyelashes. As she continued to shake her head, her breathing seemed to increase and her body began to quiver.

Natsu was the next one to make a move: the quick clenching and unclenching of his fists. Like Mirajane's movement, it started off hesitant and with little intensity, but as time went on, became faster and stronger. It got to the point where every time his fist would clench, the veins underneath his skin seemed to throb powerfully. His untidy pink hair shadowed his eyes from the view of his fellow mages, but to those who registered this, they knew that it would probably be better for them to not be able to see the DragonSlayer's full reaction.

Nobody was paying close enough attention to tell who exactly said it first, but many of them registered the quiet fragment of a thought to be whispered in unison, "No. . . He wouldn't. . .She couldn't be. . ."

Juvia managed a twitch of her lip, but even that small movement seemed to take so much energy out of her. The blunette's eyes were blinking rapidly, making it obvious to the few that were paying attention to her that she was fighting to stay awake. "Juvia. . . Does not lie. . ."

And with those words said, all hell seemed to break lose.

A piercing scream echoed throughout the hall, and before anyone could make a move to stop her, Mirajane appeared standing over Juvia, the signature eyes of Satan Soul already shining with angry tears. She was breathing heavily, and was trembling severely, but her foot was still roughly planted on the lower half of the water mage's torso. A fiery golden glow illuminated the dull room, being the most concentrated at where Mirajane stood. A powerful gust of warm wind seemed to come out of nowhere, whipping her silver tresses madly, giving her a menacing halo.

The other mages had expressions of shock on their faces. The innocent Mirajane rarely became so upset. . . and the result was rather frightening. Before anyone could move to help Juvia, the S-Class mage quietly spoke, "You. . . Liar."

The water mage attempted to shake her head, and seeing this, Mirajane only increased the pressure on Juvia's torso. The water mage felt a warm sensation in her mouth, and coughed it out, sending a stream of red liquid a few inches into the air.

Wendy's sobs became harder and faster, but she still managed to stumble towards the S-Class Mage, "P-Please, Mira-San! Y-Y-You have to stop, it wasn't—"

The tears were falling uncontrollably out of the Transformation Mage's eyes, but an uncontained anger still lingered in them. She slowly raised her arm, which had already made the transformation into the scaly, claw-like arm of Satan Soul, before pointing her palm towards the much younger girl. "It was your fault as well."

Wendy could only look at the older mage in horror as a stream of darkness wrapped around her, raising her high into the air.

Eyes wide, and expression frantic, Gray attempted to make her voice heard over the howling of the wind, "Mira! Stop it!"

The silver-haired mage turned her gaze to the black-haired individual, before moving her gaze over the rest of the mages in the room that were giving her expressions full of devastation and shock. Her eyes only seemed to narrow as she whispered, "For Lisanna."

With that, the darkness that was holding Wendy flung her into a wall, and with a whimper, the young girl lost consciousness.

Taking this as a declaration of battle, Gray dashed towards the attacker, his left fist already raised as he got ready to knock sense into the older woman. Before he actually made contact with her though, an invisible force reflected his attack and sent him flying across the room.

"Gray!"

His body somersaulted through the air as he broke through numerous tables and chairs, landing a few feet away from where Lucy, Cana, Loke, and Levy had watched the exchange in utter disbelief. He was panting heavily, and had already received major scratches and bruises from his launch. There was something in his eyes that said that he wasn't willing to give up though as he stared at his fellow comrades. Something that was almost like challenging the others to join him.

The other four mages were filled with inner conflict, none of them knowing what they should do. Mira was their comrade, but. . . she was hurting Juvia, another one of their comrades, who was on the brink of death.

Lucy bit her lip, her tear-stained face contorting into an expression that combined fright and sadness. Warily, she turned her head to the Celestial Spirit kneeling beside her with his arm still protectively around her. "Loke. . ."

The Spirit of the Lion blinked, before looking at the frail girl next to him. His dark eyes took in her lighter brown ones. It was as though he was able to understand what his master wanted him to do without even having to hear her speak, and after a moment of hesitation, the Spirit nodded. Retracting his arm from around Lucy, the Celestial Spirit seemed to stand a bit straighter. Though he was already in his Spirit form, he couldn't help but finger the ring on his right index finger. He turned his head to look down at the blonde girl at his feet, who gave an uncertain nod.

The Lion managed a smirk, before running into battle.

With a twist of his ring, his right fist was immediately engulfed in light bright enough to rival the golden aura surrounding the silver haired mage.

Seeing this, Cana and Levy shot each other uncertain looks, before warily nodding. Cana quickly reached into the small bag on her side, pulling out her deck of trusted cards. She quickly flipped through them until she found the three she were looking for: Heaven, Reverse Death, and Mountain. She activated the cards, and the familiar magic seal came to life before her while the three cards hovered in midair.

Levy bit her lip nervously, but still managed to write the word, "Strength," in the air, before throwing it at Loke. Sensing something heading in his direction, the Lion Spirit turned his head to see what it was. Seeing the word flying towards him, he raised his arm to catch it, and nodded in thanks toward the blunette. Before he turned his attention forward once more, he mouthed a single word to his fellow mage, "Lucy."

Immediately, Levy's eyes flickered towards the girl, a worried expression on her face. She was out in the open, and if Mira decided to retaliate, she would be in danger. Even though Loke couldn't see her anymore, the blunette nodded. She ran towards Lucy, and wrote the word, "Protect," in large enough letters to cover herself and her fellow mage.

Still, Levy's eyes darted to Wendy, who lay on the other side of the bar. She knew that she wouldn't make it in time if she tried to run towards her and bring her over to Lucy and herself to make sure that she was alright, so she wrote the word, "Protect" once more, and threw it so that it would hover in front of the younger girl's body.

There was a small smirk in addition to the determined eyes of the ice mage as he stood up off the floor. Instead of brushing the dirt off of himself, he quickly stripped off the shirt he was wearing, before running at full speed to catch up with Loke.

Knowing that it was best for Gray to catch up with the Celestial Spirit so they could attack in unison, Levy hastily scribbled the word, "Agility," and threw it at her comrade. Almost as if he knew we should be doing something of the sort, the ice mage raised his arm in perfect timing to catch the word, which dissolved into thin air as Gray rushed forward in a sudden burst of speed.

In no time, he was running beside Loke, who nodded at his appearance. The two seemed to share a silent strategy for a moment, before splitting off into two different directions. Mirajane was standing near the back center of the bar, and Loke had dashed to the left, while Gray made his way to the right.

In a matter of seconds, the two men were about fifteen feet away from Mirajane, and both couldn't help but feel even more conflicted since it seemed like she was making no move to prepare herself for the blow. As if to warn her of what was to come, Loke, who seemed less at ease than Gray, began to call out the name of his attack, "Regulus. . ."

Since he had yet to get his magic ready, Gray did the same while running and sculpting his ice, "Ice Make. . ."

Taking this as a cue, Cana also began to call out the name of her own attack, "Summoned. . ."

The two only got closer and closer to the S-Class Mage, and much to their dismay, the mage didn't seem close to calming down at all. The aura seemed to intensify more, and if it were possible, the speed of the wind became even faster. The Celestial Spirit steeled himself for what he was about to do, as did Gray and Cana.

Then, in unison, they unleashed their attacks.

". . .Punch!"

". . .Death Scythe!"

". . .Lightning!"

"STOP IT!"

Simultaneously, the eyes of everyone in the room widened, but it was too late for the three attacking mages to stop their assault.

The combined light from all the magic in the room was practically blinding, and Levy and Lucy, even though they weren't directly participating in battle, flinched away from the light, covering their faces from its intensity.

Immediately afterwards, it was like everything just stopped. The lighting in the room dimmed significantly, the howling wind stopped almost instantly, and the room grew uncomfortably silent once more. Hesitantly, Levy and Lucy moved their arms away from their face so they could see what was happening.

It was their collective gasps that broke the silence.

Standing where Mirajane formerly was, was the lowered head of Natsu, his body shaking tremendously, and his breathing as labored as ever. Parts of his clothing had been burned to shreds from both Cana's lightning and Loke's Regulus attack, and there was a large bruise on the left side of his chest, along with a couple of scorch marks. There was a long, deep gash from his right shoulder to the left side of his waist, and Gray's abandoned ice scythe was at his feet. Mirajane was on the floor a few feet away, and it seemed that when Natsu had pushed her out of the way, the surprise of his attack (since she had been steeling herself for Gray and Loke's attack, and wasn't expecting one from behind her) and the attack itself was enough to break her out of her reverie. Her face was shadowed by her hair, and she was completely in human form now. She seemed worn out as she gasped desperately for air, and like Natsu, she was shaking uncontrollably. Gray, Loke, and Cana were each wearing identical expressions of shock, regret, and even guilt. Loke was still standing in a hesitant battle stance, eyes alternating from looking at Mirajane to looking at Natsu as though he was expecting some sort of retaliation. Cana seemed simply awestruck with her cards at her feet and her mouth slightly agape. Gray on the other hand couldn't seem to move his gaze away from the long gash he had accidentally placed on Natsu's chest. His eyes seemed wider than the others, and the astonished guilt was strongest on his face out of the three.

No one made a move when the guild door opened, and someone reentered the barrier.

Hair messy, slight tear stains on his face, pile of old clothes in his arms, and eyes wide, Gajeel simply let out a startled, "What the hell happened when I was gone?"

Unfortunately, Gajeel's entrance did nothing to break the atmosphere in the room.

Juvia had apparently passed out during the battle, and was still on the floor unconscious, as was Wendy.

Mirajane was still on her knees on the dirty bar floor, still shaking as the sobs racked her body.

Natsu still had his head down as he breathed heavily and shook uncontrollably.

Gray, Loke and Cana made no move to confirm that they had even acknowledged his arrival.

It was only Lucy and Levy that gave him even remote attention, and that was only through a spared glance.

The Iron DragonSlayer felt his blood begin to boil at how ignored he was, but it soon clicked that now wouldn't be the best time to throw a fit. In fact, it was now becoming obvious to him that the situation in the room had gotten even worse after he left.

And so, the new arrival decided to bite his tongue and watch the scene before him unfold.

Slowly, Natsu raised his head, revealing his puffy red eyes, tearstained cheeks and the crimson blood trailing out of the corner of his mouth. With a light cough, the glob of red liquid landed at his feet, almost touching the fallen water mage. He was still shaking, and as he opened his mouth to speak, a few more tears leaked out of his eyes, "No more fighting. . . Nakama aren't meant to fight with each other."

The absolute sadness on his face was heart wrenching, especially since seeing just a frown was rare on the face of the optimistic DragonSlayer.

The room remained silent as the other mages regarded him, before Mirajane slowly stood up from her position on the floor, her knees wobbling as though she would fall at any minute. She raised her arm to wipe off some of the tears on her face, and once she removed it, she hesitantly raised her face towards her fellow mages. Some of her tears were caught in her eyelashes as she whispered, "I'm sorry, I just. . . I-I lost control. . ."

When her voice cracked on the last word, Gajeel couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He scanned the faces of the other mages as though it would give him a clue as what exactly was happening, but nobody even made eye contact with him.

"This needs to stop."

All eyes immediately darted to the ice mage, who had muttered the words. Now he was trembling just as Mira and Natsu, and his hands were clenched in tight fists. His head was bowed, his hair shadowing his expression.

Though everyone had a feeling that they knew what he was talking about, Loke still felt inclined to ask, "Stop what?"

Gray raised his stormy, dark eyes in a glare that could freeze hell over, "You know exactly what the fuck I mean."

The mages in the room all silently regarded his implication, and Lucy quietly spoke up from her position on the floor, "Gray's right. We never should've started anything like this in the first place. Look at what the result is so far. . ."

No one made an indication as to their feelings about her statement, and the room became silent once more.

Then slowly, Natsu shook his head, "No. . . We can't stop now."

Everyone's eyes instantly flickered to the rosy-haired mage, and no one was able to skim over the fact that his bruise seemed to have worsened considerably in such a short amount of time. Seeing this, the guilt within Loke worsened, and he muttered a halfhearted, "And why is that?"

"We have to get Jellal out of jail. . . for Erza."

Numerous people in the room blinked in surprise at the simplicity of his claim, until Mirajane shook her head sadly, "No. . . That reason isn't enough anymore. . ."

Immediately, Natsu's eyes narrowed into a solid glare that he turned towards the silver-haired mage, "Of course it is. No one in Fairy Tail deserves to suffer, and—"

"THEN WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO SUFFER, HUH! ?" Everyone turned to Mirajane, eyes full of pure shock. Her eyes were closed tightly, and as the tears rushed down her face, she continued to scream, "LISANNA HAD JUST GOTTEN BACK! A-After all these years, she had finally c-come back. . . AND SHE'S GONE AGAIN!" For a few moments, she remained quiet as she tried to regain control of her breathing. Then, her stormy blue eyes opened as she turned her glare to Natsu specifically, "If no one in Fairy Tail deserves to suffer. . . Then what did I do that was so bad that I get to be the exception of that rule? Lisanna. . . Innocent Lisanna. . ."

The silence resumed as her fellow mages regarded her. Then slowly, their gazes shifted to Natsu, to see how he would retaliate.

A single tear managed to leak out of the fire DragonSlayer's eye, but he made no move to wipe it away. "Yeah. . . We've all suffered. . . Haven't we?" No one responded to his question, so the rosy-haired boy continued, "Mira. . . I don't think you understand how much Lisanna meant to me, too. . ." As he said her name, more tears fell from his eyes, "I-I'm suffering as much as you. . . And everyone here in this room has suffered just as much for even longer amounts of time. The loss of a parent. . . The guilt over the death of a loved one. . . Growing up with a lack of love. . ." As he said these things, the respective mages he was referring to lowered their heads quietly. Natsu remained silent for a few moments, as though to let the thoughts of the other mages settle. Then, he began again, "But at each opportunity to end their suffering. . . Didn't the Fairy always jump forward to risk its life, just to be able to see a genuine smile on the face of its nakama once more?"

Memories stormed the minds of the mages gathered in the room.

For Levy, the memory of being beaten in the middle of the night along with her two teammates was followed by the faint recognition of being tied to a tree with the symbol of Phantom Lord on her lower stomach. Then as she recovered, finding out the news that Fairy Tail had declared war on Phantom Lord, refusing to let the pain of herself and her comrades become forgotten.

For Gajeel, it was the memory of losing Metalicana, and finding his new home in the guild of Phantom Lord. Fragments of his numerous battles in that guild came to mind, until at last, his guild, his home, was no more. Then the appearance of the tiny, old man, Makarov at the ruins of Phantom Lord, telling him that he will never forgive him for hurting his children, but beckoning him to join Fairy Tail, insisting that the guild would help put him on the right path.

For Loke, it all began with the memories of his first master, Karen, and her mistreatment of Aries. He remembered how she refused to release the contracts on both him and Aries, and how he refused to enter the Spirit World until she did so, ultimately leading to her death. Soon, the memory of joining Fairy Tail was followed by the fear of knowing that his death was near. He remembered how he forced himself to quit Fairy Tail, how he broke off connections to all those in the Earthland world, as the date of his death was quickly approaching. Then Lucy appeared, challenging the Celestial Spirit King himself if it meant saving him.

For Lucy, it was fragments of her childhood. The love of her mother, and the lack of love from her father. Her mother's death, and her own running away from home, meeting Natsu, and joining Fairy Tail. She remembered how Element 4 kidnapped her, and then how Natsu risked his life to save her, and bring her back to Fairy Tail.

For Gray, it started with the nightmare that was Deliora, the horrendous demon that murdered his family. It then shifted to when Ur took him in as her student, training him in the ways of magic. Fragments of their times together quickly morphed into the time when he defied what his teacher had told him. Soon, the memory of his teacher's sacrifice to save his life was followed by his joining of Fairy Tail, and the memory of the events on Galuna Island. He remembered how he was ready to sacrifice himself in order to stop Leon form reviving Deliora, but how Natsu interrupted the spell, refusing to allow Gray to kill himself over the whole thing.

And without meaning to, Mirajane herself remembered her first loss of Lisanna. How empty she felt, and how lost and confused. But as the memory continued, she remembered the mourning of Fairy Tail, the sympathy and tears of her fellow mages, Lisanna's best friend with the rosy hair going into a state that was comparable to even her own depression.

While the others wallowed in their memories, it was Cana who spoke up. She seemed sad as she whispered, "Not every person's suffering has been fixed. . ."

Gray rose his eyes to meet hers first, a questioning, surprised look in them. "What do you—"

Before he could finish asking his question though, Natsu interrupted, acting as though he hadn't heard what Cana had said. "Don't you remember? What does Master always say our guild's policy is?"

The others were shaken out of their reverie by his question, and with their somewhat mystified whispers, they joined in with Natsu's determined voice, "Do whatever you think is right."

The room was eerily silent once more as the mages in the room contemplated his words, and partially their own. As they continued their thoughts, Natsu lowered his voice to something a little louder than a whisper, "Now. . . Don't you feel like this is the right thing to do? When we were hurt and filled with pain, Fairy Tail never failed to at least try to put an end to that suffering. Shouldn't we, as members of Fairy Tail, keep with the tradition and at least try to stop all the pain that Erza is going through?"

Levy for one, was already bought by Natsu's speech, and she stood up out of her position on the floor to announce it. But before she could, Mirajane beat her to the punch. "I understand that, Natsu. Believe me, I do. . . But hear me out. We did try to help Erza. We infiltrated the jail, and based on what Juvia said. . ." Her voice trailed off, and she shifted uncomfortably where she stood, making it obvious that she couldn't bear to finish the thought, let alone the sentence.

Thankfully, Gray understood what the silver-haired mage was leading up to, and continued what she had intended to say, "We were even able to meet Jellal, Natsu. We tried, and look at where that got us. Look at what happened to. . . To Juvia. And. . ." The ice mage's eyes flickered towards the Transformation Mage, who had already bowed her head in sadness. Seeing this, he lowered his voice slightly, "And to Lisanna."

For a moment, it looked like Natsu was willing to crack, but then he shook his head vigorously, clenching his fists. "I know. . . What happened to them was. . ." The DragonSlayer shook his head, unable to finish his sentence. His fists seemed to clench even tighter, and it seemed as though he was fighting himself to say what he wanted to say. And ultimately, he did, "Lisanna and Juvia. . . They knew what we were planning to do, and they knew the risks that they would be taking when they agreed to take part in our plan. . ." The rosy-haired paused for a moment as he managed to clench his fists even tighter. It was at the point where the veins in them looked like they were about to pop. "They went through so much, trying to make it so that Erza could be happy again. And if we just stop this all now. . . Wouldn't we have forced our nakama to suffer in vain?"

Eyes widened as the thought came to light in each mage's mind.

Seeing that no one else intended to rebuttal him, Gray spoke up, "Natsu. . . Even if we manage to get Jellal out of jail? What then? The Mage Council is automatically going to assume that Fairy Tail is involved. . . Erza is my comrade just as much as she is yours, but are we really willing to forfeit our entire guild, just to keep her happy?"

The room remained silent as the situation was pondered over. Even Levy, who had seemed as though she had been completely bought by Natsu's words seemed like she was beginning to question it all again.

"Tomorrow." The mages in the room turned their gazes back to the rosy-haired boy once more. "We'll meet at Lucy's apartment, and put it to a vote tomorrow."

The blonde haired woman blinked in surprise at the statement but before long, she let out a high-pitched shriek as she regarded her fellow guild members that didn't seem to think that meeting at her apartment was a big deal, "Ehhhh! ? My place! ?"

Natsu rose an eyebrow at her curiously, "Well, yeah. I mean, you're going to be letting Juvia and Wendy stay with you for the time being, right? It's best that we just meet up wherever they are, so we don't have to worry about transporting the bodies again."

Lucy sweatdropped at the fact that Natsu had automatically assumed that her apartment was where he could do anything he wanted to do. She quickly shot a glance at each of the other mages in the room, hoping that at least one of them would help her out, but they all seemed to be wrapped up in their own thoughts. Even Loke, who had sworn to always be there in her time of need, didn't seem to be rushing to help her out at all. Biting her lip, the Celestial Spirit Mage racked her brain for an excuse as to why her place wouldn't be the best place to meet up. It wasn't that she didn't want her place to be used, it was more that she was annoyed that people simply thought that they could do anything at her place instead of theirs.

Now if she had volunteered herself first, then it would all be a different story.

With a flash of an imaginary lightbulb that floated beside Lucy's head, she said, "But Erza always randomly shows up at my apartment. I-If she decides to stop by between now and our next meeting, she'll see Juvia and Wendy's state, and there's no way I can lie to Erza! She'll pummel me!"

Mirajane, who seemed to have gotten over her sadness for the time being, waved away Lucy's concern half-heartedly, "No. The Master has sent her on a vacation." The eyebrows of several of the mages in the room raised in surprise, "It was more like he arranged for an interview and photo shoot between her and Sorcerer Magazine, and called it a mission. You know Erza, she won't defy the Master."

The others nodded in agreement with her, and Lucy sweatdropped once more at her failure. Realizing that she couldn't find any other argument, she gave a hesitant nod, "Yeah. . . I guess they'll be staying at my place then."

Natsu managed a weak smile at her words, and despite everything that had just happened, Lucy couldn't help but feel better after seeing even the slightest gesture of happiness on her friend's face.

"Then tomorrow it is."

A Wishful Thought: I'm going to be honest here, I'm not sure that I liked how this chapter came out all that much. Still, I hoped that you all enjoyed it! And I know I'm a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving! Also, I hope that trying to lighten the mood a bit at the end of the chapter wasn't TOO BIG of a fail. XDa

In the Next Chapter. . .
Lucy has more questions for Gray regarding his true opinion on the whole matter, the group decide on their next move and how to cover for the situation with Juvia, Wendy, and Lisanna, and we might even get a special peek on Erza and Makarov's suspicions about this whole ordeal. . . ;D

I'm hoping to get another chapter in next month. O—O

In the mean time, please REVIEW. THEY'RE INSPIRATIONAL, MAN!