A/N: Okay guys, you get a good glimpse into what's happening, and a MAJOR hint into the bad guys plan!

In answer to a guest question, the "it" the bad old guy referred to at the end of chapter 38, is Lucy. Sorry I didn't make it clearer! :)

Also, I don't mind the crazy review! It was lovely, and thank you! ;) xx

Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please remember to review with opinions, reactions, ideas, questions... whatever really! :) xx

No-one's POV

After Lucy had been knocked unconscious by Soul Savage's Master, she was roughly released from her shackles, limply falling to the floor and letting out a groan as one of the men who unlocked a shackle kicked her in the ribs, grinning as the cracking sound cut through the air like a knife.

The two men had masks covering their faces; only their eyes visible through a slit in the black material. They grabbed the unconscious girl under her arms and dragged her out of the cell, their way lit by a floating light orb as her legs scraped painfully along the rough stone ground.

They took her through a series of tunnels and caverns, laughing along with mages they met on the way who got in their own well aimed kicks on the blonde woman.

Finally, they reached a large cavern that had a huge stone monolith that had been carved out of the mountain. It's edges were razor sharp, and the men grinned as they pulled the girl so her hands rested in another set of shackles that were higher up the monolith than they had been in the cell. Above the immense stone structure was a hole in the top of the cavern, allowing in the freezing cold air and the sunlight from outside. Snow covered the top of the structure, and surrounded the base, its depth growing as the snow fell through the hole in thick sheets.

She groaned as her wrists once again took her whole body weight, her body unknowingly to her expressing her pain at the treatment.

The masked men cackled as they walked away, shooting evil looks behind them at the girl.

Her clothes were drenched, and her skin was ice cold. Her left side still leaked warm blood, which sketched out a bloody rivulet down her bare leg and a pool of blood stained her shirt and skirt.

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking she was dead at first glance. Her hair was limp, and hung limply around her face, knotted and dirty. Her wrists were bleeding slowly. Her body was so cold her heart had slowed the pumping of blood to her extremities in order to maintain her core body temperature to stay alive.

She shivered as snowflakes began to accumulate on her head and arms, lowering her body temperature once more.

'Hey, you!' Xavier's voice cut through the cold air as he entered the cavern and looked up at the blonde woman, before shouting at a man who leant nonchalantly against a wall picking his nose.

'Brush that snow off her and cover her with a blanket. She'll be no use to the Master dead.' The man ignored Xavier for a moment, before slowly standing and wandering down the tunnel, giving him a glare as he strode past.

'You might be the favourite for now pretty boy, but watch your back.' He hissed before leaving Xavier standing at the entrance of the cavern.

Xavier ignored the comment and walked up towards the woman, scowling down at the wound in her side which had refused to stop bleeding, despite the bandages he'd applied to it.

He glanced around him to check if he was alone, before muttering beneath his breath, his hand resting on her bloodied side.

Black light emitted from his palm and sank into her skin, making her wince before sighing and sinking as the pain lessened slightly.

Xavier quickly removed his hand, satisfied he'd stopped the worst of the bleeding, and had healed the major injuries inside her, before quickly walking away and leaving her there.

He despised light mages, especially Celestial Spirit owners, yet this girl was... odd.

He had told her a semblance of truth from his past; that he had been the son of a rich family, his parents had died, and he did have a younger brother. What he left out, was that his brother was murdered by a Celestial Mage, and that he was a magician in the ancient forgotten magic's that were believed to have been of legend.

He glared darkly at any mage who was in his way as he trudged along the corridors of their lair.

The Master would begin the ritual soon. According to him, Fairy Tail would arrive within a couple of hours to retrieve their friend, and he wanted them to watch as the ritual progressed before their eyes.

Xavier himself had no issues with Fairy Tail, but the Master had an old rivalry with Makarov, that light guilds Master, so their destruction was inevitable as far as he was concerned... though somewhere in his heart, he felt a twinge of guilt at the treatment of the blonde woman, before he quickly suppressed it and started to imagine the beauty of her blood...

A Few Hours Ago at Fairy Tail

Makarov's POV

I grinned as my lacrima rang, signalling that Laxus was calling me. I skipped over to the orb and answered the call, smirking as I waggled my eyebrows up and down as I greeted him.

'Helloooo Laxusss-' Before I could finish what I was saying, Laxus interrupted me, and I saw the panic and shock plastered across his face, along with the deep set dear he tried to hide in his eyes.

'Shut it Gramps! Get Wendy and back-up here, NOW!' I nodded as I realised the severity of whatever situation Laxus had found. Instinctively, I knew Lucy and Natsu were in trouble.

I quickly ran out of my office and searched the guild below me, identifying the mages I would be sending immediately.

Oddly enough, they were all present.

'BRATS! SHUT UP!' I yelled, quieting the rowdy guild before4 I called out the names of the mages I'd selected.

'Erza! Freed! Evergreen! Gajeel! Wendy! Gildarts! Mira! Gray! My office, NOW!' I screamed before entering my office and pacing anxiously.

The mages quickly entered behind me, their expressions deadly serious as they stood before me.

'Master, what is it?' Gildarts asked, his arms crossed across his chest as he stared at me, his black cloak hanging over his shoulders.

I stopped pacing and sighed, rubbing my hand over my head as I assessed the mages before me.

All had connections to Natsu and Lucy, and I knew that they would panic as soon as I informed them of Laxus's call and request for Wendy, implying someone was severely injured.

I sat down and linked my fingers together as I stared up at them, gesturing for them to sit.

They exchanged curious and wary glances as they sat down, Gildarts standing and leaning against the door.

'Brats, I need to you remain calm and refrain from destroying my office in a panic. Agreed?' I stared into each of their faces as they became even more gloomy and curious about what I had to say.

'Master, what's happened?' Fred asked, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared at me, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he fiddled with the handle in a nervous habit.

'I just a few minutes ago received a call from Laxus. I had sent him and Bickslow to Kunugi on a mission. I expected them to meet Lucy and Natsu there. Obviously, they went to search for them both. I don't know the circumstances of the call, or what has happened, however, Laxus called asking for Wendy as well as back up immediately.' I observed their faces transform into shock and worry as they realised what I'd said. Laxus had never called for backup, not even when he was a child in the guild and went on missions by himself. It just didn't happen.

'Master... do you suspect this has something to do with Lucy?' Erza asked, her voice shaking slightly as she stared at me wide eyed; her breathing slightly heavier as she held back her panic.

I looked towards Freed and Ever, seeing the strained and worried look in their faces.

'I believe that Lucy and Natsu have been harmed. I am sending you all immediately to Kunugi to help Laxus and Bickslow. Some might think this is overkill, however seeing as its Laxus calling for reinforcements, I feel this is adequate.' They all nodded, and I noticed Gray's fists clenched tightly against his legs as he tried to control the ice that had begun to cover the wooden chair he sat on.

'I'm placing Gildarts in charge of this mission, and give permission to go full force should you encounter any enemies.' I directed this at Gildarts, and watched his eyes widen slightly in surprise, before he inclined his head in acknowledgment.

Gildarts had been one of the most destructive of my mages, till I forced him to have a limiter to suppress his magic and save the guilds purse strings. By saying this, I was giving him my permission to remove that limiter and use his full power should he feel the need to do so.

'Well, go now! Wendy, rest on the train, do not perform Troia on Gajeel; I need you to be at full magical strength. We have no idea what kind of injuries you need to heal.' Gajeel grimaced, but nodded his agreement at my words, his face already tinged slightly green as Wendy hesitantly agreed.

'Good. Hurry there, the next train is leaving in five minutes, and you must be on it.' I said, my voice brooking no argument. I watched as they all hurried out of my office, following them out as they ran out of the guild and straight towards the train station.

I sighed as I watched them leave, ignoring the confused faces of the remaining guild members who looked up at me questioningly.

I hoped that my brats would be alright. For Laxus to have called for reinforcements... it was something I never would have dreamed to of happened. Yet it had.

I frowned as I entered my office, slowly closing the door and sitting myself at my desk, brooding over the possibilities of what had happened, and waiting for Laxus to contact me once again.

Laxus's POV

Bix had fallen into a troubled sleep around an hour ago. It was now mid-day, and I expected the others to arrive soon. It took around 6 hours for the train to get here from Kunugi, if they took the high speed train, which I damn well hoped they did.

I scraped a hand through my hair for what felt like the millionth time, and stared down at Natsu's chest as he breathed steadily.

I don't know how, but Nick had managed to heal him and come through his gate without blondie's power. I was grateful to him either way. Natsu was alive thanks to him.

I stood up, stretching out my stiff muscles as I walked over to the window, staring out at the bustling street below.

It was then that I realised I hadn't called Gramps to tell him where we were staying, and I swore as I grabbed my communication lacrima and connected with him. He answered immediately.

'Laxus! What's happened? What's going on? Have the other's arrived yet?' I could hear the worry in his voice, and saw the stress painted across his aged face.

'Gramps. I don't know what happened, Natsu hasn't woken up yet. The other's aren't here yet. I called to tell you we're staying at The Golden Gate inn on Broadstreet. As to what's going on... Natsu and Happy are healing up. They've been out cold since we found them.' I couldn't bring myself to bring up Lucy... just thinking about her made my heart ache.

'Laxus, what about Lucy?' Gramps voice was quiet as he realised I made no mention of her. I slowly closed my eyes and took a deep breath before releasing it and staring into Gramps eyes.

'She wasn't there Gramps, just her... keys and... blood.' I whispered out the last word, my throat clenching as I forced my body to hold back the dragon instincts that made me want to roar and scram and cry.

'Mavis help us.' I heard his voice crack and opened my eyes to see his emotionless face that held all his pain and worry in his eyes.

'Can you sense her magic? Did you get a trail on the perpetrator?' I shook my head, feeling the tears pricking at my eyes, but refusing to allow them to fall in front of Gramps. I had to be strong, cause he was already allowing the salt water to slip across his wrinkled cheeks.

'I sent them on the high speed train. I know Gajeel will hate it, considering I asked Wendy not to cast Troia. I assume Natsu's wounds are... severe?' I turned to look at Natsu, and wordlessly walked over, allowing the lacrima to show him the state of our fire dragon slayer.

I heard him gasp, before he muttered my name, his voice cold and serious.

'Laxus. Find out who did this, call me. I want to know those responsible for this.' I could sense Gramps magic from this end of the lacrima, and nodded seriously, staring at Natsu's bloody bandages that covered his body still.

'I'll call the group and tell them where you are. Expect them to arrive soon.' I nodded as the communication lacrima shut off, and resumed my seat beside Natsu.

'You better be okay blondie. You're making a lot of people worry right now.' I whispered, staring at Natsu's bandaged face, before pulling my sound pod over my ears and using the music to distract the dragon within me from the rampage that I was on the edge of going on.

Gildart's POV

I sat separately from the others; I didn't feel like sitting next to the puking dragon slayer, and wanted to think clearly.

Master must believe the enemies we were to face were strong, or at least a force to be reckoned with.

Ever since Master had asked me to wear my black cloak as a limiter to my powers, I'd never once taken it off on a job. For him to give me permission to use my full power just went to show how worried he was. With good reason.

I knew Laxus. He was far too proud to ask for backup, or any sort of help. If he was struggling with an opponent, or anything for that matter, he would rather go through it alone and wait for someone to take over from him, making it seem like a big deal that they'd interfered, when he was actually exhausted.

That he had called for backup meant there was something he fears more than his reputation and image being altered.

I frowned as I contemplated in my mind the possible things that would cause him to call us, and came up with very few reasons.

I looked up as someone came to sit opposite me, and raised an eyebrow at Titania, who sat and stared out of the window with a worried expression I'd never seen before.

'Gildarts.' She muttered in greeting without looking at me as she chewed on her lip and knotted her fingers together anxiously.

'Erza.' I acknowledged her greeting, throwing a smile her way that held no amusement behind it. We were all worried about our fellow mages.

Suddenly, my communication lacrima began to ring from beneath my cloak, and I pulled it out to see Master's grim visage in the crystal.

'Gildarts. As soon as you get t6here, go to The Golden Gate inn on Broadstreet. Wendy's needed immediately, do you understand? Go through every wall that stands in your way if you have to, you must get there quickly.' I nodded, once more shocked. He hated it when I used my Crash spell to go through walls, complaining about the paperwork and the money that was expended on repairs.

'Master! What happened? Are they okay?' Erza snatched the lacrima from my grip and held it tightly in her hands as she stared at master, her eyes filled with panic. Everyone else in our group had gone silent, looking on anxiously as they awaited Master's response.

'Natsu and Happy are injured; Natsu severely, only just alive. He needs Wendy as quickly as possible.' Erza seemed to relax only slightly before tensing up even more than before.

'Lucy?' She whispered, her voice high pitched as her worry and panic got the better of her, making her tremble slightly.

I'd never seen her like this, and I'd known her since she was a child. Never had I seen her face contorted in this fear and dread; her body shaking in order to release the pent up emotions that overwhelmed her.

'Lucy... we don't know. She was gone. Her keys were left behind and it was clear that she'd been injured.' I quickly caught the lacrima as Erza dropped it from her hands, and tried to shut out the noise of Mira crying with Wendy in her arms. Gray was grinding his fist into the seat and Gajeel swore between his bouts of sickness. Freed held Evergreen tightly as she sobbed into his jacket, her face hidden in the red fabric as Freed stared at the ceiling grimly.

'We'll be arriving in Kunugi in five minutes. All passengers remain seated please.' The voice over the speaker seemed to echo in the silent compartment before I spoke to Master again.

'We'll complete this mission Master.' I said, cutting off communications as he nodded in response.

I didn't know Lucy too well, but I knew she was a close friend of Cana's, and there was no way in Hell I was going to allow my daughter's friend to be harmed when I could prevent it.

I gritted my teeth and stared out of the window to see the countryside blurring past me at an astonishing speed, and had to consciously restrain my magic as my fists tightened.

I might not know Lucy very well, but I knew Natsu like a son. That he was on the brink of death just went to show how strong our opponent was. Natsu would rather die than allow one of his family to be taken, yet somehow he was beaten, and his partner was kidnapped while sustaining an injury; and from the way Master said it, it wasn't a simple scratch.

I looked at Erza to see her face emotionless and cold as she stared down at the ground, in a state of shock, before her eyes lit up in anger.

I looked around to see similar expressions on all of my guild mates faces.

Whoever had done this was going to have to defeat the strongest, and angriest mages of Fairy Tail.

I almost felt sorry for the bastards.

Lucy's POV

Slowly I opened my eyes, the pain forcing me awake as my body was wracked with shivers.

My skin felt clammy, and I couldn't stop my body from shaking, making the shackles at my wrists scrape my already bleeding and raw skin, but I couldn't stop shaking.

I noticed someone had draped a blanket around me, but my wet, cold clothes clung to my body, and the wound in my side was still bleeding slightly, though the pain was remarkably less than it had been before.

I saw beneath my feet was snow, and noticed the frozen water droplets falling in front of my face like soft white cotton wool. It was colder here, and lighter too.

I looked up to see a short, hunched over figure below me, his hands clutching a familiar burned box.

I gasped in shock, before my body spasmed from the cold once more.

'W-w-w-w-who are y-y-y-you?' I asked, my teeth chattering involuntarily and causing my words to come out unsure and stutter.

The person cackled as he stroked a wrinkled, bony hand across my box.

'I'm the Master of the guild which shall destroy Fairy Tail; or at least, the person who will instrument your destruction of Fairy Tail.' I felt my eyes widen as he cackled once more and glared as I jerked against my restraints, the blanket falling from my shoulders into the pile of snow below me.

It only surrounded me, and I glance dup to see a hole in the roof of a massive cavern that was directly above me.

'I would NEVER help the likes of you!' I shouted out, somehow managing to stop my teeth from chattering as anger surged through my body.

'That's where you're wrong my child.' He muttered, his voice cold as he clicked open my box, rifling through the ashes and bringing them close to his face, before smelling the ashes.

My face must have been one of extreme disgust, as he laughed that evil sound once more, before sitting on a carved stone chair and crossing his legs, placing the box on the arm of the chair after dropping the ashes of my letters in it.

'I shall explain my plan to you, seeing as you are the key component to the destruction. In one hour, your friends shall arrive here, and they shall witness the ritual that I shall perform that will enable you to destroy the guild you love so much.' I heard the venom in his voice as he spat out the last two words, and shuddered from fear, before glaring at him once more.

"Never show your enemy fear blondie; gives the sickos a kick." I recalled Laxus's words, and felt my lips twitch slightly into a smile. This guy was definitely my definition of a "sicko".

'Well, I'll skip the boring parts. I know from certain sources that you gained a lot of magic from Tenrou Islands magical supply. I know you went there to get rid of that extra magic, but only succeeded in gaining more. I believe it was described to you as you being a "magnet" for the magic of the isle, correct?' My jaw went slack in astonishment.

How could he know that?! I saw his grin from beneath the darkness of his hood; Ever had jokingly described me as such one evening during meal time.

'As I said, I have my sources. You do not have a traitor, I'm just a genius.' I narrowed my eyes at him as his smug voice grated on my nerves.

'Well, let's say that your little friend was correct in calling you such; you are a magnet for the magic of Tenrou...' I frowned in confusion, before my eyes widened as I realised what he meant. I couldn't hide my fear as I shook my head and renewed my struggled against the unmoving shackles that held me against the freezing stone.

I froze as I heard him cackle. It was then that I noticed mages who's faces were covered in black masks drawing a huge magic circle on the ground surrounding the obelisk I was attached to.

Mavis help us! I thought, desperately sending a prayer to the heavens as I tried once more to gain access to my magic, only to find it still locked away from me. I screamed in agony at the pain that shot through my body.

'Don't bother girl. I used the power I gained from your memories in this box to seal away your magic. It's amazing how much power and control I gain from your letters to your beloved dead mother. It allows me to control your body and seal away your pesky magic, as well as your spirits.' I stared at him in shock as a wrinkled hand lifted from the depths of his cloak, a finger pointed towards me. Suddenly, my legs were spread apart and pinned against the edges of the rock. I cried out as the sharp corners dug into my skin, unable to resist the invisible force that pushed my legs deeper into the rock.

'Ah, I love the power you give me. It's a shame you won't be around much longer to give me more...' He retreated, allowing my freshly bleeding body to relax, my sobs echoing in the silent cavern as he walked away, my box held under his arm.

Someone... help... keep them... away...