Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor anything else associated with Fairy Tail. I only own the plot of the following story and my OCs who help move the story along. (Of course, some of the ideas for my OCs come from research on certain things, or if I found nothing on that, I created it for the sole purpose of this fanfic.)

Author's Note: Oh my goodness guys. Thank you so much for your support. I've come to the conclusion that as long as I stay ahead on homework, I should be able to post more! Now... if only I could get motivated to study... ah well. Maybe I can find some motivation to work on homework and cosplays now that I have another chapter up... hmmm. Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter! R&R! Thanks for reading. xD 3

Chapter 12

Beds lined the wall along the same side that she sat on and the opposite wall. The room was at least twelve beds wide and five beds tall, as the beds were stacked on top of each other bunk style. Ladders on the right sides of the beds allowed people to climb up to the higher rows. The dressings were plain, white sheets tucked in nicely, a pillow laying on top of the sheets, and a blanket folded on the opposite end of the pillow, behind the ladders.

Loke stood looking down at Lucy, who had swept her legs over to the side, sitting up. He looked at her with a slight sadness in his eyes. "I could only take one of you to safety." He motioned towards her.

"Why? What happened…. Loke?" She looked up at him with her big brown eyes watering.

Loke felt Lucy's magic pulling him towards her. Something must be wrong. No, something is wrong, Loke thought. He appeared in front of the two sleeping. She looked peaceful leaning against Natsu. The fire really brought out the hues of her blonde hair. Natsu appeared restless though. That's it! Natsu's restlessness is causing Lucy to think something is wrong. Loke walked out of the cave they were sleeping in. He noticed a figure approaching in the early morning light.

"Natsu's senses picked up a threat heading towards you two. You must have subconsciously noticed it and pulled me here. He had some sort of magic neutralization thing, so I was only able to grab you."

Lucy nodded.

"And this," he said, showing her the now clear anklet. "This broke off in the process. I don't know if this was important to you or not…" He looked down, twitching his lips with slight guilt.

Lucy stared at the broken anklet, inspecting it. "When did it break off?" She looked back up at Loke with her thinking face.

"When I jumped us through my gate to here."

"So…" Lucy stood up. She began pacing, muttering to herself. "The jewelry can only handle so much magic before it breaks… Therefore, if we were able to grab Natsu and pull him through a spirit gate… his should theoretically break off too…" She stopped pacing and smiled brightly at Loke. Now, we just need to find Natsu!"

"Uhm…."

"Oh, don't worry about that anklet. It was draining me of magic. I feel as good as gold now that I've rested a bit. Well… almost…." She looked herself up and down, disgusted with the tattered dress. "Virgo!"

"Yes princess." The spirit appeared out of thin air.

"Could you possibly bring me a change of clothes?"

Virgo nodded, disappearing.

"Oh… and Loke," Lucy said sweetly.

"Yes?" Loke looked at her smiling.

Virgo reappeared holding some clothes.

"Get out! You don't get to watch a girl change!" She forced Loke through his gate before he could say a word.

Erza walked through a door into a large chamber. A red glow from the center of the chamber gave the only light available. It was surrounded by some sort of rune magic, keeping what appeared to be lava, from filling the entire chamber. On the far wall, there appeared to be another door. Erza walked towards it, cautious of the pillar of magma.

"Is this a volcano?" She whispered to herself. "No… There's no way this can be a volcano…" She stopped in front of the door. Slowly she pushed the door open to find another room. She gasped. A board lined the wall opposite the door. It was filled with different modules for different things. The thing behind the board scared her the most though.

The wall was clear from her side, yet apparent not from the other side and it looked like no light shown to the other side. She watched Aloin approach Wendy, Gray, and Juvia. Happy and Carla hovered a little bit behind them. She grew angry seeing Natsu suspended behind them.

"Well, it looks like you've discovered quite a bit haven't you, Erza Scarlet?"

Erza turned around, face to face with Vesper. Her brown eyes narrowed. "What is your plan?" She growled. She requipped into her Black Wing armor.

"We will not fight. I just wish to talk to you." He took a step back, revealing that he was unarmed. The glow from the lava framed him.

Erza slowly lowered her blade, not changing from a fighting stance. "Why would I want to talk to you?"

"You don't really have a choice." He turned around, walking towards the pillar of lava. "This right here, is the core of my workspace. If you, as so much, knick a piece of my hair off, that will blow up the whole mountain, as if it were a volcano. Now do you really wish to harm me right now?" He turned around towards her, raising his hands.

She requipped in to her Heart Kreuz armor. She took a deep breath before saying, "What do you plan on doing with this?"

"Oh this thing," he murmured, walking closer to her. "Well, I will tell you, but in good time." He circled around her. "Mmmm, just as feisty as the last one, but red… I'm not sure that I like that red hair of yours."

Erza stood in bewilderment. "Wh-what?"

"Well, you have found my control room, but you see…"

Erza stood frozen. His voice changed from a factual tone to a more seductive, demonic tone as he grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him so he could whisper in her ear.

"I'm not sure if I'm very fond of redheads." He continued walking around, this time beginning to circle the core. "I've never really cared for blondes either. There was this one girl though, the one that I believe your friend in there, calls Lucy." He motioned towards Natsu.

Erza glared. She didn't like Vesper's menacing smile one bit. Nor him licking his lips for that matter.

"She seems like a rather fine treat. I've never had a Celestial Spirit wizard for dessert before. Hmmm… I do have someone who is interested in you." His eyes lazily narrowed to red slits. "Just put us all together in one room and.."

She flew towards him donning her Heaven's Wheel armor. "How dare you!"

"Mmm Mm Mmm." He snapped, disappearing. "If I were you, I would've just let me finish my sentence."

At the snap of his fingers, Erza's armor had vanished. The momentum she had gathered caused her to fly into the wall. She looked up, stunned.

"Didn't you notice?" Vesper reappeared in front of her. "I slipped a bracelet on you. Now maybe I shall put you up there with your friend and let me absorb your magic with this."

"You… monster…"