Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 2

"I'll understand if you'll want your share, too. Okay, let's just split it, 50-50," said the nervous Lucy, intently looking at the floor as she spoke.

"Lucy, listen, I really don't mind..."

"Okay Erza! You can have it all, if you want," Lucy practically shouted when she felt Erza's hands on her shoulders. I'm so dead. She's so angry; she's going to kill me! It's those idiots fault leaving me here to ask Erza alone.

"Lucy!" This time, Erza was serious, making Lucy jump out of her thoughts. Erza cleared her throat "I was saying, I wouldn't mind helping a friend earn money for her rent. I won't let you down Lucy!"

Lucy's eyes widened at this. With a sigh of relief she said, "Thank you so much Erza! I appreciate this so much." Erza wrapped her arms around Lucy's shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug, not minding that Lucy's face bumped onto her armor, "That's what friends do Lucy."

"Uhm, Erza, I think Lucy passed out." Mira told Erza after noticing that the blonde has not move since she was pulled by the Titania.

"Eh? Lucy...?"

The next day…

"Good morning everyone!" Lucy greeted as she arrived at the train station. By this time, Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Happy are already at the station waiting for Lucy.

"Just in time Lucy, train's here." Erza said as she pulled her enormous carriage towards the train.

"Mmmph, Mmmph"

"Natsu, you're already sick just seeing the train?" Lucy noticed Natsu turning green as he came closer the vehicle.

"You're pathetic, idiot," said the smirking Gray while boarding the train.

When they got settled inside the train, "Gray, you should lighten up with Natsu when he's like that. He can't help it." Lucy scolded Gray for his comment earlier, while looking at the now unconscious Natsu lying on Erza's lap.

It has been an unspoken agreement that when they get on a train, Lucy would sit beside Gray allowing Natsu to sit beside Erza; then Erza would 'help' Natsu with his motion sickness.

Gray, who looked like he was thinking deeply, did not comment on this, instead he kept staring at the scenery outside the window.

Emerald City. Lucy, closing her eyes, tried to remember their destination according to the request details.

"Mira called the client to inform him that we took the request. Apparently, they were overjoyed, and had someone to pick us up at the station." Erza declared to her teammates.

"The girl who got kidnapped; she must be pretty important for them to give such a big reward." Gray said as he turned from the window to Erza. Erza just nodded in reply.

Gray went back to looking outside the window. Why does this mission seem familiar? Emerald City.

"Emerald City, isn't that close to the town Blue Pegasus is in?" Lucy said after a few moments of silence.

"Yes." Erza stated simply.

"What's wrong, Lucy, are you hoping to see Hibiki-san?" Happy teased as he flew to Lucy.

"That's not true! Stupid cat!" Lucy shouted while pinching and stretching Happy's cheeks.

Happy started to mumble incoherent words; when he managed to escape Lucy, he flew back to Natsu and hid behind him. "Lucy's scary!"

Lucy has a smug expression on her face. That'll teach you, cat; saying those things. Where does he get these ideas?

"Lucy," Lucy turned to Erza, "it's okay if you want a stop-over, and greet – uhm – friends before going back to the guild after we've finished the mission." Happy snickered at this.

"No." The blushing Lucy said as she turned to look away from Erza. Not you, too. We're still far from our stop; I think I'll just sleep. Who knows what else they may think of?

The sixth stop…

"Lucy!" Gray was lightly shaking the sleeping Lucy to wake her up, "We're going off now." She slowly opened her eyes revealing her dark chocolate eyes; for a moment, Gray lost his train of thought, until Happy appeared beside them.

"You lllllllllllike her!" Gray, blushing, let go of Lucy's shoulder to shove off the talking cat. "Gray's mean, too!"

Lucy had to blink a few times before she could make sense of what was happening. We're going off now. "Are we there?"

"Yes," Gray said as he tried to get his things. "Erza went to get her luggage."

"Lu…mmmmph…cy!" Natsu weakly said trying to get Lucy's attention.

"Happy, could you carry Natsu, I'll handle your bag." Lucy put on Natsu's (heavy) bag on her back and proceeded to go down from the train. You can do this Lucy! Just a few more steps and you'll be off the train.

However, as she walked further, she felt the bag becoming lighter, "Huh?"

"I'll take this," said a cool voice, as he passed Lucy, carrying Natsu's bag with him. When he got down the platform, and saw that Natsu and Happy were already there, threw the bag to the fire mage's face.

"Gray! Thanks!" Lucy said as she got off the train.

Gray did not have the time to respond because, "Hey, what's your problem, pervert?!" Natsu angrily said, as he approached Gray.

"Your bag," Gray said under his breath as he waited for Natsu to reach him.

"Natsu! Gray!" shouted Erza from one of the train's door when Natsu finally reached Gray.

"Ahhhh… E-Erza! I-I-I-I was h-helping N-Natsu here. Right Natsu?" Gray nervously said as he slung one of his shaking arms around Natsu's shoulders. "A-Aye!" The shaking Natsu answered.

"Good. Let's find our chauffer."

Lucy sighed and followed Erza with Happy on her arms.

"Fairy Tail?" A small man, who looked to be in his late forty's and holding a card with the words "FAIRY TAIL" written on it, approached Erza.

"We are, are you the one they sent to accompany us?" Erza answered gesturing to the carriage behind the man. The man only nodded, bowed, and then led them inside. Once inside, the carriage started, making Natsu feel sick again.

On the way, Lucy noticed that something was bothering Gray, who was looking outside with creased forehead. She decided to give him space and not bother him, for now. She looked at the unconscious Natsu on Erza's lap. Poor Natsu, to have such a debilitating sickness.

After about half an hour, the carriage stopped. The carriage door opened revealing the front of the house.

"Welcome, everyone. Please proceed inside; we will take your luggage there." Their chauffer said as he bowed. Natsu was the first to go down, regaining his strength. When Lucy got down, she got a better view of the place. Wow, this looks like our house – mansion – before, only a little smaller. They were welcomed by a row of women wearing maid's uniform on one side, and a row of men wearing butler's uniform on the other; they all bowed down and pointed to the front door. There, a tall man with graying hair and wearing glasses was waiting for them. Erza was the first one to greet him. He led them inside, "I'll lead you to the receiving area, I'm sorry but Master Touya has not come back yet. I was the one who posted the request because he was not here when the incident happened." The man said, with a barely concealed sad tone. He led them through a very long hallway full of paintings. Lucy observed the decorations, the paintings, and curtains. She saw from the windows that there was a garden outside with one old – the bark was really thick – tree at the middle. She could also see a swing hanging from one of its branches. She tried observing the inside, and noticed an odd thing. She stopped in front of one of the paintings, "Are they the owner of the house?" She asked the man in front, who stopped when he noticed that she was not following. "Yes, but that is from a long time ago; almost seventeen years ago." The man said while looking at the picture; his eyes seemed to show sadness. "The one sitting is Lady Corine," he gestured to the woman in the picture with long purple hair, curled at the ends, and round eyes the same color as that of Lucy's, and carrying a baby girl. The baby had the splitting image of the older woman, only a lot younger; behind the woman was a tall man with short dark hair, but eyes with the same color as the woman, "standing behind her is Master Touya, he runs the family business; finally, the lovely baby in Lady Corine's arms is Mistress Kisa. She is the one we need you to retrieve."

"Kisa," Gray said so softly, only Natsu could have heard it. He was looking at the baby, not noticing the scrutinizing stare the man gave him.

"I'm sorry, but, I am wondering why this is the only painting of the family I've seen since we entered." Now the man was looking at her, puzzled. "Normally, rich families would display their pictures everywhere in the house; usually, so that the guests would know who owns that house." Lucy said, her right hand placed below her chin, thinking.

"Yes, well, normally that may be the case; but this family is different. One simple explanation is that, they only have one painting of their family. May we proceed? I'll be the one briefing you with the details." He started walking forward, while everybody else followed him. Gray was the last to follow him; his steps were slow as he tried to arrange his memories, hands in his pockets. Kisa? Touya? This place? I feel like I should know them. This request; It just freakin' screams familiar. He was deep in thought that he didn't notice that the others have already stopped.

"Ow!" Gray bumped into Lucy who almost landed on the floor. "Gray, what's wrong? And where's your shirt?" Lucy had to whisper so as not to catch too much attention.

Gray did not freak out this time, instead just put on a shirt he had in his bag. Both of them sat on the enormous couch with the man sitting across, looking absorbedly at Gray. Gray looked nowhere in particular still thinking deeply. Erza had to cough to get everyone's attention.

Looking at each of them, the man said, "I realize I haven't introduced myself yet, I apologize; I get forgetful lately because of the incident. I am Mr. Yuki Kogano, I am the caretaker and doctor of the family. I have been with the Sonomi family for thirty years."

"I am Erza Scarlet, a Fairy Tail mage," Erza looked at Lucy signaling her to introduce herself, too.

"Hai, I am Lucy, from Fairy Tail." Lucy said as she bowed her head.

"I'm Natsu!" "Aye, I'm Happy!"

"That's good to hear." Yuki-san said as he bowed to Natsu and Happy, acknowledging them.

Gray started to introduce himself, "My name is Gray..."

"Gray Fullbuster! Could you really be?" Yuki-san stood up surprised, looking at Gray, forgetting the other people in the room.

Gray was dumbfounded. "H-How…?" His brain was not working. Who is this man? How does he know me? Should I know him? Arrrgh! I feel like I should.

Yuki-san's face went from shocked to confused. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened it he had a look of understanding. "I see." It's as if he understood everything and went back to sit in his previous position; not bothering to answer Gray's question. Gray, his mouth hanging open, could not believe what happened. The others thought that he was about to say something; they anticipated for it. He had so many questions. How could this man just sit there like nothing happened?

"I am sorry for the interruption. Now, if you let me, I would like to proceed with the request." Yuki-san continued talking.

"Wait, how do you know me?" Gray stood up, pointed an accusing finger at the man; his patience wearing thin. There's something really weird about this mission.

"I am sorry Gray-sama, but, I need to discuss the matter at hand because of its urgency; about that, which you ask me I will talk about it when you complete your mission. I think, here, time is of the essence. I would not like to waste anymore of your time. So, please listen to me first." Yuki-san calmly said as he gestured Gray to sit down, who obediently followed. His mood was becoming gloomy because of all of the unanswered questions in his head; but he had to focus, this mission was for Lucy, after all.

"I was the one who sent the request. I assume that you know what happened. I would like you to retrieve Lady Kisa. She was taken from her carriage on her way home; we found her carriage at the outskirts of Emerald City up north. The driver of her carriage was brutally murdered and was tied to a nearby tree."

"Wait, you said that she was kidnapped by a dark guild – from the request – I want to know if they asked for money in return and as to how you knew it was a dark guild's doing." Erza questioned the man as she considered dark guilds that were known to kidnap rich people to earn jewels.

"No, they have not made any ransom. We assumed that it was a dark guild that kidnapped our princess." Yuki-san stared at the group's confused faces and continued, "You see, Lady Kisa has been targeted by dark guilds since she was very young; as to their purpose, we have no idea, but we were sure it's not for the money that we could give them, because they never asked. Because of this, Lady Kisa was taught how to use magic. After mastering some magic, her captors would have a hard time catching her. She would always fight for herself and win; until last week. I think that the dark guild got a lot stronger than before, if not, she could have easily gotten out by now. Moreover, the way they killed the other person with Lady Kisa tells us that they have no respect for life."

"She's a mage?" Lucy asked bewildered.

"Yes, it's a long story. She claims that she is not that strong, but she does know how to use magic; that's how she survived for a long time now."

"Did she tell you whether she knows why she is targeted?" Erza inquired.

"She doesn't know either. Otherwise she would have told me; I'm like a father to her, since she grew up with me guiding her."

Gray could only listen to the man's story. I definitely know this; perhaps a mission from a long time ago. He decided to ask Mr. Yuki, "You said that she was targeted since she was a child, correct?" The man only nodded in response. "She was taught magic to defend herself, you say; has she been in this situation before, before she learned magic?" Gray waited for the man's answer; Yuki-san smiled knowingly. I am in the right track¸ Gray thought.

"Tell them that I am cancelling everything; I will call them once my sister is back." A tall, dark-haired man entered the room abruptly. He was talking to a petite woman, around his age, who was taking notes as she followed him. The man looked a lot like the Touya Sonomi in the painting from before; but, definitely older. He looked taller, and his body is a lot fuller than in the picture. His face was good-looking, but you can see the lines, not because of old age, but probably because of the stress his work has given him. After he spoke, the woman quietly walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

When Yuki-san saw him enter, he stood up; this made the group stand up with him. The said man approached them; a small smile on his face. Weird. The Fairy Tail group all thought the same seeing him smile despite the situation. Mr. Yuki was first to speak, "Everyone, this is Master Touya Sonomi. Master Touya, this is the group Fairy Tail sent to help us." The said man bowed down and looked at them one by one; until he landed his eyes on Gray's. His friendly expression was replaced with shock; as with Mr. Yuki before. Mr. Yuki held his shoulders, making the younger man look at him. Mr. Yuki shook his head and said, "It's not the time. We must focus on Lady Kisa's kidnapping for now." The older man gestured for everyone to sit down, which they did. Gray was less shocked unlike before; he had now formed a theory as to why he received these reactions. Now, I am sure I have been here before. He thought as he calmly looked at Touya Sonomi.

"I was relieved a bit when I heard Fairy Tail accepted our request. We only did send the request to you. You see your guild have never failed us before. That's why I know you can help us." Touya said.

"Before?" Erza raised her brow.

"Yes, this had happened before. Anyway, I will tell all of you the details once you rescue my sister. I am sorry but we couldn't find the name of the dark guild; but we know for sure that this guild lies somewhere in the forest up north. They were the ones who had been trying to get their hands on my sister for a few years; we've asked for the help of other mage guilds before to hunt them, but the dark guild had been good at hiding their presence."

"Excuse me, uhm, but, how could you be calm about this?" Lucy asked unsure, choosing carefully her words.

"How do you know that she's still alive?" Gray asked bluntly.

Lucy's eyes widened at Gray. She nudged Gray, but Gray only shrugged. I might as well cut to the chase. Gray thought as he waited for Touya's response.

"Yes, Heartfilia-sama," Lucy visibly flinched at the sound of her family name, "we're calm because it's the logical thing to do; if we didn't remain calm, we wouldn't be able to talk to you properly. Besides, you're here; I am sure you'll bring her back. Gray-sama, you know she is and so do I." Touya smiled at Gray. Gray didn't understand, but somehow he knew that this Touya person believes he's right.

"Right! So rescue the girl, defeat the dark guild! That's what you want us to do, right?" Natsu excitedly asked as he stood up. The briefing took forever!

"Yes." Yuki-san answered.

"Yes! Let's go!" Natsu ran outside with Happy on his trail. "Wait, Natsu!" Lucy ran after Natsu, Gray following behind. Erza stood up, bowed her head, and said, "Leave this to us."

"Wait, Erza-sama!" Yuki-san stood up, "Lady Kisa, she's almost as tall as Miss Lucy, same dark brown eyes, long purple hair with curls at the end, fair skin, and a very heart-warming smile. Please save her!"

Erza smiled and nodded. She immediately went after her group and relayed what Yuki-san told her about Kisa's description.

At the forest…

"How would we find them? He said this guild is good at hiding; previous guilds failed to find them!" Lucy asked her teammates.

"They didn't have a dragon slayer with a nose keener than that of a dog." Erza answered. Truly, Natsu was already trying to smell the air for other people present in the forest.

"He can also differentiate the smell of good mages from bad mages!" Happy added. Feeling contented with their plan, Lucy followed Natsu with everyone else. She then remembered something, "Gray," she whispered, "those men earlier, you know them? It seems that they know you."

"It seems that I took the request they gave a long time ago. I'm not sure how long, I still can't remember. But, everything seems to be familiar, like I have been there before; even the request is familiar." He answered, more to himself than Lucy.

"Was that why you looked bothered earlier?"

"Yes," he stated simply.

"There!" Natsu screamed and ran ahead. Everyone followed him, until they reached a dead end. They were at the foot of a steep slope covered in a thick blanket of vines. Natsu stopped running but continued to walk towards the wall. His teammates stopped and stared at him. All were shocked when he shoved off some vines to reveal a small cave behind. "It's here." He said walking slowly inside, summoning fire in one of his hands to light the cave. The team followed him inside the small cave. After a few minutes, light can be seen at the end. Erza held Natsu to prevent him from charging in, "Careful!"

Slowly they got outside to see a clearing; at the middle is a small two-story house. It looked like a house built for an average family. Lucy looked at Natsu, "Are you sure this is it? It looks pretty normal to me."

"Yes, I definitely smell bad people. Let's go!" Natsu was about to charge when Erza held him down.

"Not so fast Natsu, we may have found their hideout, but they still have the subject. When they see us, they might threaten us with her. We need a plan." Erza made sure to lock Natsu down so he couldn't move long enough to hear their plan. She knew that if she doesn't hold him down, he'll just charge right in.

"Lucy, call Virgo and have her dig from here to under that house. We will use that passage to infiltrate their base. We are not certain if they have an underground which would house their dungeons or weapons – so we need caution." Erza started out.

"Why don't we let Happy fly over the house to scout if there would be signs that there is an underground base?" Gray asked while studying the building.

Lucy interjected, "Even in the magic world, flying cats are not common – throwing Happy on enemy grounds is a huge risk."

"That's right, they might even shoot him on sight." Erza added. With this, Happy flinched and inched closer to Natsu.

"But an outright hole on the ground – or a wall – is hardly a common thing either." Gray argued.

"Yes, I understand." Erza nodded at Gray's point, "that's where Natsu comes in. He'll be enough of a distraction to catch the bandits off guard."

"Hrrmpghh!" Natsu seemingly agreed with Erza's plan.

"So Happy and Natsu will cause a disturbance outside and lead the most members they can away from the house. The three of us will infiltrate their base. If we prove that there is an underground place, I will head upstairs to take care of the remaining guards while Gray and Lucy look for the subject – split up if the place would be big for the two of you." Erza summarized their plan. Feeling Natsu become hotter and tensed, Erza started, "Alright. Lucy," Erza gestured to Lucy, whom called forth her Celestial Spirit Virgo, "Plan starts in one, two," Erza then jumped off of Natsu, "three! Lucy! Happy!" Natsu then ran as fast as he could to the house with Happy just behind him waiting for his signal to pick him up and fly.

Back behind the trees, a huge hole can be seen where the mages used to stand. In a few minutes, the trio, and a celestial spirit, arrived in what it seemed as a hallway from a hole created on the wall.

"A base hidden under a beaten shack – clever." Erza commented as she dusted soil off her armor and hair. "Then, as planned I will go upstairs to take care of the remaining guards. You two will find the subject."

"Yes." The two answered.

"Thank you Virgo." Lucy said as her spirit faded back to the spirit world. "How about punishment, prin – " Virgo was not able to finish her sentence as she disappeared to her world.

"Here comes our cue." Erza warned as the other two mages readied themselves.

Just then, a load explosion was heard from above. At the same time, Erza requipped to her Flight armor and ran to the direction which she assumed would lead her upstairs. Gray and Lucy both went to the opposite direction.

They were lead to a staircase going down. Yes, it seems like we're on the right track. Gray thought as they descended. Explosions could still be heard from above them. This building's not gonna hold up – that idiot.

However, upon stepping on the last foot of the stairs, Gray was forced to stop on his tracks. Lucy – just behind Gray – bumped on his back and peered from his shoulders to see possibly around fifty smirking men waiting for them. At the back she could see a line of bowmen aiming at them.

"Shit." Gray hissed as he posed to cast his spell, "Ice make…" as a multitude of arrows came flying towards them, "Shield!" He spread his arms as he finished chanting creating a flower-like shield made of ice in front of them. Thankfully, the shield finished just in time to stop the arrows from piercing them.

At this, the men in front shouted and charged towards them with swords on their hands.

"I open thee, Gate of the Lion, Loki!" Lucy shouted as she waved Leo's key in the air while her other hand reached for the whip on her hip.

"Right on time, my princess." Loki cooly said as he ran towards the charging dark mages.

"Regulus punch!" Loki's hand started to glow as he shouted his battle cry. Once the enemies were near enough, he unleashed his punch unto them knocking a good eight mages.

With the immense light from Loki's attack, the mages in front were forced to close their eyes and slow down. Seeing the opening, Gray launched from behind Loki executing his attack, "Ice Make Dark Bringer!" He swung the double sword a few times and rendered the immobilized mages unconscious.

The bowmen launched another rain of arrow towards their direction. This time, instead of activating his shield, Gray charged forward, "Ice Make Ice Geyser!" The spikes of ice hit the enemies surrounding him and a good number of the bowmen.

Loki, on the other hand, grabbed his master as they avoided the arrows. Using the momentum of his run, he swung Lucy forward to the bowmen.

Catching on to Loki's strategy, Lucy released her whip and attacked every bowman she could reach.

Not an hour has passed, and all of the fifty or so men are down on the ground. Gray picked one of them up by his collar, "Where are you hiding the prisoner?"

Loki and Lucy stood behind Gray glaring at the man. Catching their point, the man weakly pointed to the left which was a staircase, "The floor below." That was all he could say before he passed out.

Before going down the stairs, another explosion was heard. This time, the ceiling above them could not hold on any longer and collapsed. Gray was able to push Lucy away as he staggered to get up and avoid the falling ceiling. He finally just rolled to the stairs as he waited for the dust to settle. When he opened his eyes, there was already a wall of rocks and dust in front of him.

"Gray!" he could hear Lucy shouting from the other side. "Lucy! Are you alright?"

"She is, Gray! We both are, you?" He heard Loki answer. Thank Kami! "I'm fine. I can't find any other passages for you to reach me here. I'll just go ahead, find the others and tell them we know where the dungeons are!"

"Okay! Be careful Gray!" He heard Lucy shout worriedly.

"Be careful, too!" was his answer as he turned around to go down the stairs. That was the last thing he remembered before blacking out.

End of Chapter 2.

Whoo! That was a long one.

Are you ready? Next chapter, please!