AN: Enjoy and please review :)

Disclaimer: i do not own this Mashima and Type-moon does

Chapter 2: Calm before the Storm

Lucy Heartfilia began to analyze the battle that had just taken place between Archer and Lancer. She knew her plans to trap the Servant in order to judge his fighting level didn't go according to plan. First off, her idiotic servant may have accidentally revealed his true identity when he used the Unlimited Dragon Blades spell. The second was that the fight was interrupted by an innocent bystander who was trapped in her Reality Marble. Because of him, she was caught off guard and Lancer manages to escape.

"Aww, Curse my rotten luck, I didn't get any useful information about that servant." she agonized in despair. "Agh, if you actually fought harder then maybe he would have revealed a bit more."

Her own Servant, Archer however wasn't paying attention to her as he averted his gaze to the half-dead body lying on the subway platform

"Hey Lucy, we should really help him out, he still alive and breathing."

"Why should I, it his fault for getting caught up into the Reality Marble and ruining my genius plan. Besides, he must have witness everything, about magic and about the war, by the rules we have to eliminate him."

Her Servant turned towards her with a calm but cheerful expression. "We already broke the rules once, would it hurt to break it again. I know my master would want to save him regardless of the consequences"

Lucy blush at the remark and gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine, let see his wounds"

Jellal Fernandes found himself in a pitch black void. He drifted back and forth within the space as he stared forward into nothingness

Then flashes of picture came rushing into Jellal's head causing him agony. He felt a burning sensation in his brain as violent and crude images flowed in and out. Images of Kardia Cathedral burning down in flames, to his own school being envelop in a gigantic inferno. Even images of his past as a slave for the R-system, emerged in his brain. He tried to push those images out of his head as best as he could. Then at the center of the flashing images stood a woman with scarlet hair and metallic armor, unfazed by the carnage around her.

Jellal…

Then finally familiar voices awoken him from the nightmare

Jellal….

He awoke, gasping for what little air he could breathe. He suddenly realizes that he was in his own bed, back at his apartment complex.

"Eh man, are you ok, you don't look so dandy"

"Nyan, Wally is right, you look pale, Jellal."

Jellal notices his two neighbors watching him intently with concern. One of them, he recognize as Wally Buchanan, a very blocky person who always wore a hat and sunglasses wherever he went. The other was Millianna, a girl with a cat-like appearance and personality.

"Ugh, when did I get back from my recitation class" Jellal said in a groggy state as he tried to remember the events of last night.

"If I had to guess, maybe around 1:00 in the mourning" a voice replied in the distance. "Geez, I told you not to sign up and take that night class, not when you been juggling a full-time job on the side" added another voice with a hash tone.

Two men enter the room to check on their fellow neighbors, one of them was a short dark-skinned man with light blonde hair and the other was a tall muscular man with black hair and a turban drape over his head.

"Sho, Simon, what are you guys doing here?"

"We all heard your screaming voice in the middle of the night and woke everyone up. Damn it Jellal, I have exam tomorrow and you just screwed up my sleep cycle" angrily stated by Simon.

Aw don't say that Simon, you were so concern about him, you nearly broke the door to get here." teased Millianna

"Shut up" yelled Simon in embarrassment

"He was so scared that something might have happen to you" she said as she winked at Jellal

"Damn you Millianna, don't go making things up"

"I know I was scared shitless by your screaming when I heard it" sarcastically replied Sho

"You need to be dandier with your screaming or the ladies will avoid you" Wally reply

"Thanks guys, I am alright, but we all have classes tomorrow so all of us better get some sleep" Jellal said as he tries to shoo away his visitors out of his apartment.

"Ok, we get it; just don't scream like that again"

"Nyan, yeah Jellal don't worry us again."

"It isn't dandy at all"

Jellal smile as the four people left his apartment. He, Sho, Millianna, Simon, and Wally all grew up as slave for R-system a long time ago. He didn't remember much about his life as a slave or anything about R-system, only that he and his friends had to help each other to survive the harsh experience. After all the slaves were liberated by the Fiore government, the friends all decided to stick together like one big family. At first it was hard but luck was on their side when they receive sponsorship and compensation money from the government. With the money and help receive from them; He and his friends got the opportunity to go to school. But even then, they lived on the border lines of poverty and were always tight on cash. He and Simon had to take on full time jobs to sustain their living condition while taking college classes. Wally, who was also taking these classes have been struggling to keep his grades up, and both Sho and Millianna were busy trying to do good in high school. But despite the hardships, they still manage without much problem.

Jellal lay in his bed, puzzled. He pulls his hand on his chest to where he thought the stab wound would have been. He felt restless about the event pertaining to his experience.

"What that just a dream, me getting stuck in that weird world and getting stab."

The events felt so unreal, that Jellal question if it even happen. The red chaotic world, the girl with golden blonde hair, the raven haired man with the frozen spear, the other man who summoned fire, all of it seem to have been in his head. Maybe Simon was right, he had been busy lately and that he been pushing himself too much. He needed rest.

On the roof top of Jellal apartment complex, Archer and Lucy stood there observing Jellal condition.

"He should be fine now, I heal his wound up to the point where even a scar is not visible" said Lucy to her servant "I couldn't really erase all of his memories, but it looks like he thinks that the fight between you and Lancer was just a dream."

"That Lancer guy was seriously stronger then I thought, I can't wait to fight him again" her servant said excitedly as he pump his fist together. "I am seriously burning up"

"Cool down dragon breath, we can't risk getting in trouble with the judges again "Lucy replied to her bravado companion. "We have to lay low and wait for the remaining three servants to be summon."

"Aw really I want to fight somebody strong and beat them up"

"Well until all seven Servant are summon, the Holy Grail Wars won't officially begin and if we attack anybody now I may get stuck with a penalty"

The master then looks at the back of her hand that had a strange red symbol etched in her skin.

"We cannot afford to lose one of these right now"

Lancer came to greet his master and apologies about his tardiness. He was standing in a dark room of some rich mansion, talking to a dark figure in the back. In his life, Lancer had always been a reserve and calm person, he had a certain air around him of a friendly and fun-loving gentlemen. But he was also prone to anger especially when it came to rich arrogant aristocrat-like people. Such word could describe his master, but as a Servant he would not dare to go against him. He could only love his master and serve him unconditionally as with any other Servant

"Ah, Lancer welcome back" proclaim a shadowy figure. "I am happy to say that my people were able to identify the master you fought"

"If I heard correctly" proclaimed Lancer "She is a member of the Heartfilia family, one of the three great noble houses of magic. Even if I am not from this time line, those three families were still very prominent back then."

"Well according to my sources, she is Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of the current head, Jude Heartfilia. But it looks like she participate in this war on her own accord not her families. I even heard that she stole the servant meant for her father to control and ran away to compete in the Holy Grail Wars."

Lancer felt a heavy disapproval towards the girl, maybe it was just the fact that women from his timeline were refrain from being so rebellious and un-lady like. But his true feelings were more of concern about the girl's actions and motive.

"What would compel such a young girl to enter this death match?" Lancer said to himself out of curiosity.

"Who knows why, maybe she has daddy issues and want to prove that she is strong and independent or something along that line" his master rudely stated without caring. "But her magical power is very strong; I heard rumors that she is the strongest Heartfilia mage in the last three hundred years of their history. It would be unwise to underestimate her."

"Yes master, I will keep that in mind the next time we meet."

"Oh, one more thing Lancer, there been a regrettable occurrence"

The Servant turns back toward his master to hear what he had to say.

"The guy that witnesses your fight with Archer is somehow still alive."

"What!" Lancer said in disbelief "There is no way he could have survive a wound like that?"

"It appears that Heartfilia saved his life for some reason. But the problem right now is that some ordinary kid knows about the Grail Wars, in compliance with the rules we must kill him. If the judges caught wind of this, it will pose a problem for us and the other Masters."

The shadowy figure then gave out his order "Lancer, find him and make sure to kill him properly this time."

"Yes Master" Lancer replied obediently.

End notes: i was going to try and introduce Erza in this chapter but it didn't happen, but she will be in the next one.