Bold words= author note

Chapter 2 is up. please rate and review. also refer to my profile for any recommendations and send me a Pm with questions or ideas.

Prelude

The guild was quiet once more. Erza was sleeping on Natsu's shoulder while the Makarov was explaining the current situation to Natsu. Laxus was sent to the eastern front after confirmation was given by Mavis. Natsu was currently eating some fire given to him by the She-devil Mirajane Strauss, focusing on the conversation, Natsu finished the fire and noticed that it didn't fill him up. Erza woke up from her nap and Cana came into the guild alone and went down stairs immediately, not noticing Natsu.

Chapter 2

Mavis PoV

'Natsu is in tatters. I had thought that Natsu may have been connected to Zeref somehow, but his brother? A demon? Revived from the dead? This sure complicates things. I will have to make new plans if I want everyone to come out alive.

I will address everyone here. "I had three plans to take our Zeref: 1. Take out his army then sneak some magic sealing cuffs onto him. This may not be our best course of action because as I have recently learned Zeref may be too powerful for the stones to seal all of his magic effectively. 2. We attack Zeref's mind with a full guild telepathy strike and make him either forget who he is, make him forget how to use magic, or to knock him unconscious. However the nature of his curse may prove to be a counter to strikes against his memory and we will still have to find a way to contain him after he regains consciousness. And the fail-safe. This plan is only to be used when they are knocking on our door after we have been defeated. It is to activate my power and blow Zeref off of the face of the Earth along with his entire army with a supercharged Etherion. But of course this will kill everyone on this side of the continent." The small group within the guild was silent for quite some time. When Erza finally spoke.

"There is a fourth option. I watched and listened as well as the rest of the group when Erza stood up. Her fingers lingered on Natsu's shoulder as she began to speak. "We could imprison Zeref. Not with shackles. But with Fairy sphere."

"Or I could use Iced Shell" If you remember from Battlefield, Grey, Laxus, Juvia, Erza, Wendy, and Charlie went to aid in the south. Gray says as he drags Juvia's body inside the guild.

"What happened?" Makarov says as he enlarges his titan arms to bring Juvia to the medical bed. Flame brain over there his us with his attack that's what happened." There was no anger in his eyes, not even a little, and Natsu looked down in shame as Erza put her fingers on his shoulder once again.

"I'm sorry Juvia. I didn't know you were there." Natsu squeaked out as he tried to stifle his tears. But Erza could feel that's he was shaking. He had hurt a member of Fairy Tail.

Grey's PoV

'That charcoal face doesn't know what happened yet. And already the waterworks are starting geez.' "Natsu. You didn't hurt her."

"What? Natsu perked up with a quizzical look on his face.

"I said you didn't hurt her. We blocked your attack. Using my shield I was able to deflect your attack, that's why those ships were destroyed in the blast."

"Then why is she badly wounded? And burned?"

"That was because that dude with weakness magic created a fire type and she took him head on. But the reason she passed out was because your attack lasted so long that I was running out of magic. So she decided to dump her magic into me. She ended up overdoing it and passed out."

"Oh, then all she needs is some magic? Said Wendy as she waked through the door with a slightly injured Charlie in hand. 'Wendy seams uninjured somehow. But I thought I saw her take a few hits.

"Hey Wendy, What happened to your injuries?

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" she says running outside. From a distance you could hear her yell, "Come in girls!" A minute or two later Mermaid Heel walks into the guild. With Wendy following close behind.

Kagura, Beth and Milliana were carried in on stretchers, their wounds bandaged but no longer bleeding. Their group however was only one- third the size that they remember seeing before on their "exchange trial".

"What happened to the rest of-"

"Natsu not now" Erza said coldly to Natsu while covering his mouth with her hand. "One of the 12 was capable of creating weakness machines, they didn't work to well against us because of our ability to work together as a team. But many guild do not have the same level of teamwork among all of its members like we do. This was the size of their force when I arrived to help Kagura. She went down as we fought the swords woman."

"Yes that is correct. Now we came here to help the wounded here since we were so close. We sent Lamia scale On to help Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus. Although it seems that their Christina II has crash landed here." Chelia explained with a defeated look in her eye. She wandered over to where Juvia lay and with Wendy's help, began to heal the water woman.

Lamia Scale suffered without Jura in the ranks but they decided that they needed to help. So they headed out a few minutes ago.

Erza PoV

"Wait they just left?" I said because I had just remembered something. Something very important. "Warren, Call them over here. I need to talk to them. I'll be right back!"

With that I left, I could barely stand up at first, and I was so thirsty, I was so dehydrated after my fight with Ajeel. He left me very close to death, but thanks to Biscka I was able to survive that battle. Another debt that I will never be able to repay. Running downstairs to the basement I quickly retrieved my package. I was 3 feet wide by 4 feet tall and was 2 feet deep. Written on the top face of the box were the words Lamia Scale in fancy calligraphy it was a brown wooden box encased in leather with a handle on either end. It was held shut with two brass clips and a magical enchantment as a lock that only the castor could unlock. I quickly carried it upstairs while casting the spell to release the magical protection. On the way up I realized I forgot the other one. I ran down to grab an identical box with the words Mermaid Heel. I rushed up the stairs and when I nearly reached the top I noticed that the Lamia Scale box was already at the top of the stairs. I rushed up wondering who had moved it for me. When I reached the top I dispelled the seal on the box and brought the two over to the table, thanking Natsu for moving the box for me since he was the only one who seemed to have moved from his position. Right about then Lamia Scale arrived obviously worn out. Both angry and relieved that they had been delayed from their fight with the northern forces.

"This better be good Miss Scarlet, Leon replied as he kept his focus on the blue haired mage that was being healed while muttering 'Grey-sama you tease me too much' and giggling. The sour look on his face was evident but he made no obvious movements towards her.

"Yes it is good." I reply with happiness that I could not hide. "In preparation for battle I bought some very expensive and very important resources for all of us, now remember this is my life saving so don't squander it." I apprehensively unlocked the brass latches that kept the box from opening and revealed 24 perfectly layered cyan lacrima crystals within the box. Everyone found their way to their feet and over to my box. "These are for you Lamia scale. Each lacrima will replenish your magic power completely and cannot be refiled. I want you and Mermaid Heel to each take a box of these Lacrima to the North and send the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth forces back here for resupply.

"Ohhhh! That is a great Idea Erza! Why didn't I think of that?!" Mavis replied in wonder with stars gleaming from her eyes. Then we can send all of the forces from Sabertooth and Fairy Tail to the Western front to deal with the main force."

"Hey Erza."

"Yes Natsu?"

"Never mind, it's not important." I wonder what he was thinking about. Doesn't matter he will tell me if he needs to.

"First Master, Now that you know about this what is our plan?"

"Well, Let us wait for Sabertooth. After they arrive then we will send an all-out attack towards the western front like you said. I knew you had a gift for strategy Erza. But I didn't know that you would come up with a better strategy than I would."

"Well to be fair First Master I did have a lot of time to develop this plan. I have been secretly purchasing and hording these lacrimas since we returned from Tenrou. In case we had to fight opponents that powerful again. Unfortunately I was captured first when we fought Tartarus."

"Charlie!" Wendy yells and surprises everyone, who quickly resumes attack stance with all weapons drawn. "Oh, sorry you guys but I just remembered something."

"Way ahead of you child." Charlie was still in her exceed form. It is still had for me to remember that she has a human form now. She was focusing on something with her eyes closed. Until I felt a wave of magic pressure, I have never felt magic like that before.

"What was that?" I hear Natsu asking. I tense up, until now I didn't realize how close I was too him. It must have been when we all readied for attack. I had been standing the entire time. When everyone sat down, I sort of followed suit. I didn't realize I sat right down onto his lap.

"It is my upgraded vision magic. There is still no sound as I can only see images but I can always see what I am looking for now. And now I… huh? This can't be right. Hmm… no it is."

"What is it Charlie?" Wendy asks worriedly.

"Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? You just said something wasn't right."

"Correct child. And that something that wasn't right, was nothing." I and the rest of the guild had become thoroughly confused. But I saw Mavis Nodding her head in agreement. "What I mean is that I didn't see much. I saw our plan unveiling and working and then all of a sudden I saw Natsu, Zeref and a dark-skinned, spiky haired man in a standoff. And then, Nothing. It's not like the time in which I looked into the future and saw when I died. I saw white light when I looked into my death. I still see them standing there, it's just that, the image won't change. I felt a heat on my back, and I can feel myself moved off of Natsu's lap. He stands up and I can see the look in his eye. He looks up and then out the guild doors.

"They are here!" Natsu runs to the door happily to greet the members of Sabertooth and the returning members of Fairy Tail. The plan is then re-explained to them as Natsu returns to his seat, and I resume sitting on his lap. I don't know why I did it, but I did. We all talked for a little on how the fight was going and it seamed that Sabertooth had lost nearly as many members as Mermaid Heel did. And Fairy Tail seemed to show up just in time. The members of the 12 shields were taken down. But only done so when all the powerful members of Fairy Tail and Sabertooth ganged up on each individually, per the First Master's orders. Then out of nowhere, Natsu shot up from his seat and began sniffing the air. He made sure I stayed on my feet however. I thanked him for that but he was not listening. I drew closer to him and asked him what he was looking for.

"I smell him Erza."

"Who?" I was worried about him now.

"Change of plans First master. Leave 10 lacrima in the box. I will take them. Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, Rouge, I will need you with me. Take your own lacrima."

"The Dragon slayers? Why? And me?"

"Because, that one arm man in Charlie's vision, remember him?" I nod slowly, not seeing where he is going with this. "It's Acnologia. He's coming. I can smell him."