A/N: As promised, uploaded! ;) You'll be finding out in the next couple of chapters what's going on in the celestial world, but till tomorrow, enjoy! :) xx

Laxus's POV

I stared at the grave in front of me, the rain slapping the freshly laid tombstone, beginning the long process of chipping away and eroding the stone.

Everyone else had left, but I couldn't. My tears mixed with the rain that dripped down my face, and I collapsed to the floor to my knees, resting my hands on her grave...

I jerked forwards out of the dream to stare at her face. I stared intently at her chest, and relaxed when I saw it move.

She wasn't dead. It was just a dream.

Thank God.

I gently took her small, pale hand in my large callused one, and gripped it, squeezing slightly as I raised my other hand to stroke her golden bangs out of her face.

'Stupid blondie, making us all worry like this.' I whispered, my shaking hand resting against her smooth cheek before I forced myself to pull back.

I looked around to see everyone in various states of sleep; Bix resting his head on the bed beside blondies other arm, Ever and Erza lying across the bottom of the bed, ensuring to avoid putting their wait on blondies legs. Natsu slept on the floor, his arms dangling over the edge of the bed, with Happy sitting on his head. Gray stood in the corner, leaning against the wall fast asleep, and Wendy was still asleep in another infirmary bed after the healing she'd done on blondie.

I sighed, staring at her face and willing for her eyes to open, for her to wake up grinning, for her to smack Bix for a pervy comment, for her to start arguing with Freed, kick Natsu, hug Happy, deal with Erza and Ever's tears and blubbering with a grin.

Waiting for her to bring back the light to Fairy Tail.

It had been silent since Master Mavis appeared with an unconscious and hurt Lucy. Cana hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, and was bordering on sober, Gramps had willingly shut himself in his office to do paperwork, Mira was constantly crying as she dried the same glass over and over again. Elfman had stopped saying everything was "Man", Macau and Wakaba weren't playing cards or talking, they just sat there. Wakaba wasn't even smoking, and Reedus just stared at his empty sketchpad, while Droy ignored the pile of food in front of him and jet seemed to have become a turtle. Levy looked like she was reading, but the book was upside down, and everyone could see her puffy red eyes. Gajeel just shoved his metal away and crossed his arms, glaring at the ceiling.

It was as though someone had clicked the off switch inside everyone's heads.

It was the middle of the night, and the only people here were Team Natsu, the Raijinshuu, me, Wendy and Gramps.

I saw her keys lying on the bedside table, glistening in the moonlight that streamed through the window, illuminating her face and making it look even paler, like ivory.

I stood up, stretching out my sore muscles and walking over to the window, resting my forehead against the cold glass, watching as my breath condensed against the pane.

'Stupid fucking spirits. Stupid fucking laws. She wouldn't be like this if she could only have told us-' My voice cracked and I felt tears threatening to spill over, my dream still fresh in my mind. Her death... just the idea of it terrified me. When Bix had said that she was... God I could have killed him.

Hearing it said aloud made it real, and my mind just detached. My heart plummeted to my feet, my insides ached, my muscles felt like jelly... I became weak.

I growled quietly at myself, snapping my eyes shut as I tapped my head against the glass, forcing those thoughts from my head.

'She's fine. She's alive, breathing.' Told myself, opening my eyes to stare up at the stars.

Suddenly, I heard a gasp behind me, and whirled around. Blondies body was glowing again, shining as her back arched from the bed, her eyes still closed, but her mouth open wide in shock as her body tried to escape gravity.

'Lucy!' I shouted, running forwards and trying to grab her.

Everyone had awoken at my shout, and they reached out to her, but we were suddenly repelled by a magical barrier.

'Shit!' I shouted as my hand was thrown backwards in a shower of angry gold and blue sparks.

'LUCY!' Natsu shouted, jumping forward, only to have his body thrown back so hard he smacked into the wall.

'What's going on?' Erza said, reaching for her friend as she writhed on the bed, her hands clawing at her face before she suddenly went slack.

All that we heard was heavy breathing from all of us who'd awoken, then, her eyes shot open.

Freed's POV

'What the fuck?' Bix swore as her eyes opened, revealing pure white orbs, before a blue iris seemed to appear, the colour seeming to move and flux between gold and blue and white, as though it was alive.

'Don't try and touch her!' I called out as she sat up, emotionless and not saying anything.

'What the hell Freed? What the fuck are we supposed to do?' Laxus shouted, frustrated as he reached out to her and was shocked slightly. I frowned before trying to punch her hard, and found myself thrown across the room like Natsu.

I sat up and slowly stood up in pain.

'The more force you put behind trying to touch her, the further back you get thrown. It repels that force.' Suddenly, she sat up straight and her eyes stared straight forward, through all of the people who surrounded her.

'Phoenicis, located.' Her voice sounded robotic as she turned and slid out of the bed, before beginning to walk, padding across the floor with her bare feet.

'LUCE!' Natsu shouted, making a grab for her again, only to be forced back.

'I'll stop her.' Gray growled, icing the ground in front of her and sealing the door with ice.

As soon as she came within two feet of the ice though, the barrier became visible and began to eat up the ice made by Gray's magic.

We stared on in shock as she absorbed his ice into her barrier, before it extended itself to destroy the ice around the door.

'What's going on?' Ever screamed, running to follow Lucy, but careful not to touch the barrier.

'The spell she cast. It must be in its final phase now.' I frowned, before turning to everyone.

'There's nothing we can do, only follow and keep her safe. She's acting as a homing missile, the key she was searching for has been found, and the spell is taking her to it. We can't interfere, it won't let us.' I quickly explained as we ran behind Lucy, who's speed increased as she exited the infirmary.

'Happy, fly Natsu up so he can watch from above, tell us of any dangers immediately, take them out, signal us, anything. You've got the air with Wendy and Charle.' The dragon slayers nodded at my plan, and their Exceed's instantly performed Aera, lifting their friends into the sky.

'Bix, Erza and Gray, take the front, stay ahead and be ready for anything. We need to protect Lucy as much as possible. That barrier might not last.' They nodded, before running forwards, careful to keep a small distance between us.

'We'll keep an eye on the rear and follow up on any threat as well as monitor Lucy's magical capacity. Laxus, thought project Master, tell him what's happening. He must still be asleep in his office. He can contact First and try and get an idea of what's happening.' Laxus nodded, and immediately began to duplicate himself, and I watched his copy running back towards the guild.

'Tch. It sure as hell isn't boring around blondie, huh Freed?' He said, grinning as we ran after her, her pace had increased greatly.

I laughed sharply and Ever glared at us, before focusing on running in her heels.

'We have no idea how long this is going to go on.' I warned them, trying to pace myself to conserve energy.

'We have no idea how far away this key is, nor how long her magic will hold out.'

Bickslow's POV

I looked back to see she'd caught up with us, and pushed myself to run faster, sending my babies zooming ahead to keep a better eye open for threats.

I stared back at her, staring into her eyes and analysing her soul.

Right now, it looked as though it had been shrouded in another barrier, protecting it from my Figure Eyes and any spiritual harm.

'Damned cosplayer, can't she slow down for us?' I laughed under the strain, glancing at Erza and Gray. Erza frowned and Gray grimaced as I stuck my tongue out in my characteristic grin before focusing completely on running.

We exited Magnolia, and was headed down the road towards Hargeon, when suddenly we heard a shout from behind us. We stopped to find she'd gone off the path and had began to run through the forest, her feet getting torn up by thorns and brambles as she emotionlessly sprinted through the undergrowth, controlled by that fucking spell.

'Crap!' I swore as a Vulcan appeared out of nowhere. My babies shot forwards, slamming into it's chest before one of Erza's swords took it out, and we carried on running, following behind our celestial mage.

'Hope she finds that freaking key soon. She won't be able to walk for a week as it is.' I breathed out to Laxus. We just couldn't catch up to her.

Through the trees to our right, we could see the towering lights and rides of Akane Resort, but cosplayer carried on running, pushing herself harder and faster.

Suddenly, the tree line broke and there was a river in front of her.

'NO!' I heard several voices shout as she threw her body forwards, but instead of falling beneath the surface, she seemed to step across the rushing water.

"Ice Make: Bridge!" Ice screamed as soon as he reached the river, and we were all running across immediately afterwards, running and running, hoping to catch up to her.

Ever's POV

I'd lost track of how long we'd been running. I'd kicked off my heels ages ago, and ignored the stinging pain shooting through my feet, enjoying the few cool moments we had crossing Gray's ice bridge.

I looked up to see most everyone ahead of me, and pumped my arms faster, desperate to catch up. Suddenly, Freed was beside me.

"Dark Ecriture: Wings!"

I smiled gratefully at him, before using the wings he'd given me to go on ahead, easily catching up to Lucy as I dodged the tree branches that stretched out their gnarly limbs, desperate to grab hold of me wherever they could.

The, we entered a large clearing that had a huge old oak tree in the centre, it's leaves bright green and fresh.

Lucy ran straight up to the base of the tree and fell to the ground, digging frantically with her hands, making her nails rip and her fingers bleed.

I reached out to stop her, only to be shoved back by her barrier.

I could only stare on and cry, shouting at her as she dug through the dirt feverishly.

'What's she doing?' Natsu had made Happy drop him off on the ground along with Wendy and Charle.

'Lucy-san!' Wendy called out, running forwards and trying to send out her healing magic, only for it to be absorbed by the barrier.

Everyone had arrived, and we stood around, breathlessly waiting, watching as Lucy's hands got torn to shreds through her own uncontrolled actions.

'Stop it Luce! STOP IT!' Natsu screamed, launching forwards suddenly as tears ran down his face, his fist flaming as he brought it down on the barrier. For a moment, he stayed still, before being thrown back and into a tree around 20 metres away, his fire being absorbed once more.

'We have to wait.' Freed whispered, the pain he felt at having to watch evident in his voice.

I stood beside Lucy, watching as she dug and dug and dug, desperate for her to find the key so the spell could dissipate.

She froze suddenly, causing us all to hold our breathes as she slowly stood and turned to face us, her weird blue, shimmering eyes swirling with a rainbow of colours.

'Phoenicis, acquired.' Her voice monotone as it echoed in the still and silent night.

The eyes faded, to her normal chocolate brown, before she staggered and collapsed, falling into Gray's waiting arms.

Laxus growled, but held himself back when Bix grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head as Lucy was lowered to the floor.

Wendy rushed forwards, and began to heal her feet and hands, crying.

'Hey guys. Why the fuck am I out here, huh?' We heard her croaky voice mutter as she finally woke up, as Lucy.

Lucy's POV

My entire body ached and I stared up at everyone who surrounded me, blearily.

I felt something digging into my hand and painfully lifted it up, opening my fist.

I grinned, happily as I recognised the key I held.

I tightened my hand around it once more, tears spilling over my face as I smiled.

'I did it!' I whispered, before falling back into the darkness as Wendy called out my name, unable to hold on to consciousness any longer.