A/N Hey guys! I recently noticed my poll wasn't even on my profile page! *cone of shame* I forgot to make sure that I clicked the thingy-majigy that would put it on my profile. So I created this in a hurry to make up for my stupid mistake. It's also a lot longer than my last one. I will probably update a lot more during Christmas break, so hang in there until then!

Miu out.

Walking, moving, progressing, she had returned to the path. Kotone dragged a left over stick behind her, not really caring or really aware of it. That lonely stick left a thin trail in the dry dirt, only to be erased from existence by the next person who walked along the path. Her sore feet were heavy as she thought about her terrible situation. The more she thought, the more stressed she became. She could feel the weight of her thoughts didn't let up either. It just grew and grew, dragging her down.

SNAP

She glanced behind her and saw that the stick had broken under the pressure. She looked forlornly at the stick, but in the end, she let go and kept walking….

Erza had a passed out Natsu under her arm. He would occasionally moan or turn a shade greener. Erza didn't seem to notice as she swung him around as she walked. Her metal armor probably didn't help Natsu relax enough to rest properly either.

Lucy watched with concern, unlike Happy. He trotted along with a little hop to his step, probably because he was excited to see another Exceed. His good mood rubbed Lucy the wrong way. She could only wonder how he could be so excited when he's going to see the Exceed under the circumstances.

To distract herself, Lucy glanced to her left to see Wendy whipping her head around, obviously looking for the girl called Alice. Wendy's determined expression gave Lucy the courage to start looking as well.

They had walked into a busy body of a city that reminded Lucy of Fairy Tail. The streets were packed with merchants and people trying to get through. Lucy couldn't take three steps with bumping into a yelling merchant or a person trying to get home. The houses were packed together so tightly that the alleyways were more like a mouse's hallway. As she was looking around at the mobs of people bustling to and fro, she noticed something off.

Before she could think about it for long, an old lady approached Wendy. Her fragile hand, which looked too delicate to be in such an active city, reached out and tapped the girl's shoulder.

"Hello young one, are you looking for something?" her sweet voice asked. Her light jacket was a soft yellow color and she was wearing a long, washed out red skirt that reached the ground.

Wendy turned around and flashed her cute smile in gratitude. Wendy had to talk louder than she usually did in order for the old lady to hear her over the yelling merchants, "Yes, do you think you could help us? We're looking for a girl with a brown cat. She has long black hair, blue eyes, and an arm band that has a symbol of a shark on it."

Erza, Happy, and Lucy had joined Wendy and were listening to her description with no objections. But to everyone's surprise the old woman laughed.

"Oh my," she said, "you'll have to come up with a better description than that! Cats run this city and there are plenty of girls here with that description."

Lucy took another look around and noticed cats were indeed all over the place. Some were weaving between feet in the street while others sat lazily on roof tops. There were some even in the windows of the houses and buildings.

Erza took the lead and said, "She said that she was a dragon slayer and her cat could talk. Like this one." She picked up Happy who waved and greeted her.

The lady smiled and nodded, "Yes, that would be Alice and Mika. They are very popular around here." The old lady beckoned for them to follow her and they cooperated.

Lucy was still bothered though, she felt uneasy. Eyes were on them as the old lady weaved with ease through the people, occasionally stopping and talking with someone off the street as she waited for them.

During one of these times when the lady was talking to a young man, Lucy felt to dots connect.

Wendy and Erza stopped when they felt Lucy tap them on the shoulder. "She's one of them. Look, she's wearing earrings with the same hexagon and shark symbol."

Wendy and Erza glanced over to see for themselves and sure enough, the earrings were the same gold symbol as the one on Alice's armband.

"That's not all," Lucy continued, "look at the people who are watching us."

Wendy's head bobbed as she looked around people to get a good look at the ones who were on the other side of the street.

Erza recognized them instantly; they were the people that the old lady had stopped to talk to while waiting for them.

"They're the same people from before," Erza stated.

Lucy nodded as she grabbed Happy who was jumping out of the onslaught of people barging through the streets. "Then if you look closer, you'll notice they all have the symbol somewhere on them. Kotone was right in saying they're like a guild. The symbol isn't on their body though; it's an accessory of some sort. The guy that is currently talking to our guide has the symbol on a handkerchief sticking out of his pocket."

Happy started shivering in Lucy's arms, "What are we going to do?"

Erza glanced one more time at the people watching them, "We are severely out numbered. I think it would be best if we don't let on that we know. We should just follow along and see what happens."

Lucy and the others nodded as they continued onward to their guide.

The lady smiled as she saw them coming, "There you are! I thought I lost you sweeties to the crowd. Stick close to me now." She headed out again and the group stuck to her like glue. No one wanted her to stop and talk to anyone else for who knows what.

Lucy, sensing the atmosphere was becoming slightly strangled, asked, "What is your name? I didn't catch it before."

They could hear her chuckle in response, not exactly helping the already tense atmosphere. She glanced over her shoulder at them and was taken by laughter again when she saw Natsu's pathetic face.

"My," she said, "what an odd group you are. You didn't catch my name before because I didn't say it. I also didn't catch any of your names either, because none of you said yours."

"How are we odd?" Happy demanded.

She chuckled yet again, "You want to see Alice right? Why do you want to see Alice?"

"Well," Wendy began, "we think that she can help us find someone we're looking for."

The lady replied with, "Why are you looking for this person?"

"She's our friend and we want to help her," Wendy said without hesitation.

The lady swerved to the left, causing everyone to scramble after her. She started walking down one of the narrow allies, barely fitting. Erza had problems at first, but she managed to get through just fine after she started dragging Natsu behind her.

The old lady stopped halfway down the alley and turned towards the group. Her smile was innocent, not deceiving in the slightest as she said, "Alice is in here."

She turned the rusty handle of a rotten wood door next to her and pushed it open. She walked into the tavern that was brightly lit with candles and filled with people singing nursery rhymes.

Lucy and Happy were the first to enter and stepped to the side for Wendy and the others. All were dumbfounded at how much the scene before them reminded them of Fairy Tail. People were drinking and a brawl would randomly break out for a couple of seconds. You could hear laughter and cheers coming from everywhere, but the second the door closed behind Erza and Natsu, everything went silent.

Of course, that was when Natsu started waking up from the spell Kotone put him under.

"Wait…Where are we?" He murmured as he tried to stand up. His legs shook but he managed to stand by holding onto Erza. He looked up to see the blank expressions of the people around them and said, "Where ever we are, the people aren't all that friendly."

A girl in her twenties stood up, tying her purple bow at the back of her head. She ruffled her short, spiky back hair as her black shoes tapped on the wood flooring. Her black pants were a sharp contrast to her white, long-sleeved blouse with a dark purple vest over it. Then, to top it off, her deep purple eyes pierced the group like daggers.

After a few moments of this glare down, Natsu marched forward and said, "Yo! Stop staring! It's considered rude!"

The girl smirked and turned her back on him. She then said in a clear, precise voice, "What a bunch of idiots. Alice! These ones are for you!"

The girl sat back down and Alice walked out from behind a bunch of guys huddled around a card game.

She stood tall and walked like she had just walked onto a runway, over to the girl in purple. "Which one of my fans wants to see me now?" she asked tiredly.

She finally looked over at the door way and her expression immediately soured, "What are you weirdos doing here?"

"What did you call me?" Natsu roared.

Lucy was looking around frantically, everyone's eyes were on them and she couldn't look in any direction without seeing the symbol. They were in the heart of their territory.

Erza, being the boldest of them stated, "You were the girl at the lake, correct?"

Alice huffed and crossed her arms, "Well duh! How could you forget me?"

Erza's armor clanked as she took a step forward. Her hands fisted as she let her serious attitude fill the room. "You recognized our friend. What connections do you have with her?"

Everyone in the room bristled at the word 'friend'. Eyes shifted from the group to each other.

Alice bit her lower lip and said nothing, her own eyes shifting to her comrades.

Erza frowned as she repeated the question, to no avail. Natsu gritted his teeth as he eyes scanned the room.

"Well," he said, "is anyone gonna answer the question?"

No response.

Wendy started fidgeting and Lucy's arms squeezed Happy tighter.

Finally, the old lady walked out of the crowd and said, "I think what the real question that needs to be asked here is, 'How are you connected to Kotone?'"

The group haltered for a moment, shocked that they knew Kotone. It was their turn to glance amongst each other, wondering what they should say.

Happy, surprisingly was the one who answered, "Kotone joined our guild a couple of days ago. She's really good friends with the master of our guild. We once lost a member of our guild. We thought we would never see her again. But we were lucky enough to get her back. We know we will never be that lucky again, so we want to help Kotone so we don't lose her."

Everyone glanced at the suddenly very deep Happy. He smiled, silently telling everyone that he has his moments.

The old lady glanced at the girl in purple, who nodded in response.

The lady grinned, "It seems you speak the truth. If that is how you know Kotone, then it would be best for you to leave. We can't have you guild members ruining everything we've worked for."

Erza glared at the woman and Lucy cringed as she heard the armor screech. Erza quickly relaxed her hands and flexed them. There were slight dents in the armor that Lucy noticed, but chose not to mention.

"What's wrong with guilds?" Erza demanded, her voice deceivingly calm.

Again eyes shifted, but there was a scowl on their faces. Soon the eyes turned to glare at their Fairy Tail symbols, which they showed proudly.

Natsu's knuckles were white as his fists shook with anger at the derogatory comment. At Erza's question, Wendy could see him and everyone else waiting for an answer.

The old lady slowly reached into the pocket of her sweater and with her fragile hand, pulled out a ruby red locket with the gold shark symbol on it. She released the clasp on the side and gingerly lifted a folded wad of paper out. Carefully, afraid of tarnishing the prized possession, unfolded the paper to reveal that it was a letter with a picture.

"This," she said, "is the reason why we are here today. You say that you want to save Kotone. We don't want your help because you are guild members. Our city hasn't had a guild in over 400 years."

Natsu and Erza slowly relaxed, sensing the change in the atmosphere. Wendy immediately felt the heavy air weigh down on her, foretelling an ancient story was about to come. Lucy also recognized the speech pattern, wanting to be a future author, and knew this tale is respected among the organization's members.

Looking at the picture, the lady began, "I will give you the short story and not go into too much detail. My name is Chiyoko. I am named after my grandmother's grandmother, Chiyo. She was a little over 17 when she started an orphanage. Back in those days, there were several kids who were abandoned and in need of a home. In order to shelter all of them, she had to rent a larger house than she had. She worked and worked for years to save up and by the time she was 20, she had earned enough to buy the large house. Unfortunately, the house was already bought and she negotiated with the landlord to see if she could buy it from him. They agreed upon her renting the house for a reasonable amount that she would be able to afford. The kids were happy and she was happy, until the landlord raised the rent. Chiyo couldn't pay the ridiculous amount of rent, but she couldn't turn the kids out into the streets. Soon she was in serious debt and when she couldn't pay, the landlord would get into a rage. He would toss her around and even swing at a few of the kids.

"One day, the landlord got fed up with the ginormous amount of debt and threw them out with only the clothes on their backs. Chiyo was pounding on the door, begging for him to let the children sleep there until she could find other arrangements, when a young girl walked by. Her eyes were bandaged tightly with a few rags and her clothes were in just as bad of shape as the rags on her eyes. The girl tapped Chiyo on the shoulder and placed her hand on Chiyo's arm. Chiyo stopped banging on the door long enough for the girl to put her own hand on the door. She pushed it open as if there wasn't a lock there at all. This was astounding for the kids and Chiyo and they stood there, watching her as she walked inside.

"A couple of minutes later, they saw her returning with a bunch of papers in her hand. She stopped right outside the door way and held the documents up in the air for Chiyo to take. Once they left her hand, the girl went on her way, just as she was before she heard the commotion.

"Chiyo looked at the papers in her hands and saw that they were documents, signed by the landlord, to change ownership of the property to Chiyo. Behind the papers was an envelope that contained a letter with the previous landlord's writing. Upon reading it, Chiyo discovered that the letter was from the girl who had to make the landlord write it for her. It said that she hoped Chiyo would continue to take care of the kids and not let anyone else treat her like that again.

"Years later, Chiyo had the opportunity to see the girl again, though she didn't recognize her. The girl knocked on the door, wearing white bandages and a black, hooded cloak that hid her face. By this time, Chiyo was a grandmother and my grandmother was the one who opened the door. My grandmother was a little over 17 at the time and welcomed the young girl. She invited her in and asked her what she could do for her. The young girl said that she wanted to see the person who ran the prospering orphanage. My grandmother led her to Chiyo, who was reading stories to the young children.

"When she finished the story, she saw the young girl and invited her over. The young girl walked up to her and took Chiyo's hand in hers. She said, 'You are a good woman. I hope that when my time comes to an end, this place will still be around.' It was then that Chiyo recognized her and invited her to stay for night, which she accepted.

"That night, Chiyo asked the girl who she was and how she could still be so young. The girl didn't answer directly, but gathered the kids, saying she was going to tell them a bedtime story.

"She began the story of Kotone, saying that Kotone was raised by a dragon and grew up thinking that she herself was a dragon. Then one night, Kotone noticed that she had a human body and realized that she was indeed not a dragon. Kotone ran away, with her father yelling that she would have to return to him if she didn't want bad things to befall upon the villagers nearby. Kotone wandered the earth, seeing what human life was like. She was surprised at how kind and at how cruel the humans could be. But, she decided in the end that it was a wonderful life that should be protected. Kotone ran back to her father just as he was about to take off and wreak havoc on the people. Although she returned to her father, she couldn't forgive him for deceiving her. So, in order to be free and not endanger the people, she would have to end her life. Kotone was very happy though, because she was finally with her mother that she never got to meet before.

"With that, the girl ended the story and walked one last time over to Chiyo. She handed her this locket and was about to leave. But Chiyo asked her to take a picture with everyone and the young girl, which Chiyo realized was actually Kotone, stood with everyone as the picture was taken. After that, Kotone said farewell and walked out onto the streets, never to be seen again. That is, until Alice recognized her from the photograph. She also mentioned that the sensation of the magic Kotone used matched the description of what Chiyo has passed down to me. This paper is the description of Kotone that Chiyo wrote and this is the picture they took with the rest of the orphanage."

With that "short" story, Chiyoko showed them the picture and were all taken aback at how Kotone looked almost the same as she did in the picture. Sure there were the subtle signs that showed that she was indeed younger, but it looked like she was only a human year younger in that picture.

Chiyoko pulled the picture away and folded it back with the letter into the locket. She gave them a pointed look and said, "That landlord was the master of the only guild in these parts. We took over the job of a guild and call ourselves 'Shark Empress'. This orphanage is made up of many of the descendants of the orphans Chiyo took care of and many other orphans we took under our wings over the years. Some of us can use magic while other cannot, but none the less we take whatever jobs we can to support ourselves. We've been preparing for the war for generations. We would like it if you let us handle this matter, for we owe Kotone a big debt."

The group fell silent as they realized what they had walked into. None of them wanted to say anything, for these people have held a grudge against guilds for a long time. The whole reason why these people were here, as they are, was because of Kotone. The bonds they shared were that of a family, just like Fairy Tail.

Lucy understood why they reminded her of her guild and couldn't help but smile in tense atmosphere. Her smile vanished as she thought of something and it burst out of her mouth before she could give it a second thought.

"She's been watching us," she said.

All eyes went to her and a chorus of "Huh?" followed the comment.

Lucy's mind went back to when she and Kotone had a one on one conversation…

'That girl just now,' Kotone began, 'is a part of an organization that I thought would have died long ago. It seems that it's actually gotten bigger, almost to a point where it can be considered as guild. Oh boy, I wonder what they're going to do now…'

Lucy's eye flashed as she read in between the lines of her comrade. Her face lit up even more as she thought of something else Kotone had said…

'I know how our guild runs. Silly, I was there when your guild was created. I watched from the sidelines after I saved Mavis, the original master…'

Lucy's hand made contact with her forehead with a loud SMACK as she started laughing.

Everyone glanced at each other with worried looks in their eyes, concerned for the girl's sanity.

Lucy's laughter died out and she scanned the room. Her eyes shined as she saw a couple of kids standing together in a group. She walked over and knelt on the floor in front of them.

"Hey," she said, "my name is Lucy. What's yours?"

They said their names after a little hesitance and prodding from their mothers.

Lucy smiled her thank at the mothers and asked the kids, "Do you guys like to play games?'

They nodded.

"Really? What kind of games do you play?"

"Well," a bold boy began, "we sometimes play capture the princess. Lily is usually the princess."

"I haven't heard of the game before. How do you play it?"

The boy gained some confidence at Lucy's happy reply to his previous answer. He said, "Well the princess goes and hides and the knights go find her."

"Wow, that's so cool! Is Lily a really good hider?"

"Yeah! She uses magic to hide herself sometimes to make it harder to find her!"

"It sounds like fun! Do other kids from the village come and play with you guys?"

"Not really. Sometimes they would come and help us find Lily when she hides really good."

"Oh that's nice. Is one of the other kids from the village a girl with silver hair and a black coat?"

The boy shook his head along with all the other kids except for one. Lucy smiled at the girl and asked, "What's your name sweetie?"

"Lily."

"Oh you're the really good hider! Have you seen this girl from the village?"

"One time when I hides, it was snowing an I got lost. I fells into a hole an I couldn't get out."

"Oh no! What happened?"

"A girl wif silver hair and stuff on her eyes pulled me out. I was cold so I couldn't move that much an she brought me home."

Lucy smiled and thanked the girl. She stood up and declared, "Kotone has been watching us this whole time. This little girl is proof that she was watching over you guys this entire time. While I was talking to her earlier, she said that she thought this place would have died long ago. She also said that she was there when our first guild master created fairy Tail. She knew we were following her as she ran this way. She was leading us to you guys. Kotone has been playing us like puppets, pulling the strings to her escape. She said that she wondered what you guys were going to do now. She meant that she was wondering what you were going to do with us. I bet she even knew that I was going to figure this out. For Pete's sake, this was an elaborate delay tactic!"

NOW FOR REVIEWS! I HAVE ONE!

TheOrangeNeko Your welcome! And thank you for letting me tweak her personality a little!

Now, I'm no longer accepting OCs and I have to thank everyone for submitting their OCs. TheOrangeNeko, AquaMiyuki, and my good friend Sabrina, thank you for your OCs and congratulations! They were chosen for the three major roles and I hope you look forward to seeing them in action!