A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates lately. As those who follow or have read Reflections, you know that my computer deleted all of my fanfiction files. I'm extremely upset, but promise to keep writing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail ~

Thesaurus

Chapter 13: Light and Capture

Silence is an eerie thing. It hangs in the air like fog, and when broken, is either a relief, or devastation. Tono no longer breathed, no longer thought, no longer felt. He was silent. His body hit the grass and lay still.

His Nakama stared in shock at his unmoving figure, of this guy that they had known seven years before. The quiet was broken by Levy. "Tono!" Numb feet moved towards her former comrade, and the others followed behind her. Gajeel wanted to offer some sort of comfort to the bookworm, but making people feel better wasn't something he was good at.

Just as they reached Tono, his body began to do something odd. It dissolved into the air, a million particles of light scattering around the place where he had laid. 'That's right…' Levy thought sadly. 'He told me once that his entire body was made from his magic…and if he used all of his magic then…' A single tear slipped out of her eye, but she held the rest back. She told herself she wouldn't cry for something that Tono had done to ensure the safety of his Nakama. 'He's exactly what a Fairy Tail mage should be.'

The glowing particles formed a symbol in the air, and shone like stars. Tono's last words put into this sign of family, togetherness, and memories. The Fairy Tail guild mark. Gajeel found himself lifting his hand and forming an 'L' and thinking back to the Fantasia parade. He actually remembered Tono had been there. Next to him, Levy and Lily copied his action.

The light dispersed, and Gajeel felt himself checking on Levy. Was she alright? Would the death of a friend shake her so badly that she'd never act the same? To his surprise, and relief, she was smiling softly, recalling the memories of a geeky banana lover in glasses; saying her good-bye.

.:Magnolia:.

Lucy sighed to herself as she carefully scanned her apartment for her partner. Lately, he'd been out and about, intent on finding and taking down a specific enemy: Shadow Claw. When he wasn't attempting to track a new lead, he was in her apartment or by her side, constantly on the watch.

It was a sweet gesture that honestly made Lucy's heart swell, but all it did was make her more nervous about being targeted. What did the dark guild want with her? Plus, she wasn't being allowed to do anything to help! She could take care of herself, she had 10 out of the 12 Zodiac keys, for goodness sakes.

While she was ranting to herself, Lucy failed to notice that there was someone else in the room. And that someone wasn't Natsu. The woman cackled under her breath and spread both of her hands. Lucy's window was shattered as plants and vines snaked into her room.

Taken by surprise, she didn't have time to react before she was ensnared. Thorns gave her little cuts everywhere as she struggled. The spirit mage went for her keys, but her wrist was pulled back with such force that it broke.

Lucy grit her teeth through the pain that arose and sought out her captor. Helga waddled out from behind the bathroom door, as oversized as ever. "I caught you! I finally caught you! That damn pink-haired brat has been thwarting me for days but now I've got you!" Unbeknownst to Lucy, Natsu had been sleeping in her room each night and watching over her carefully when she walked to the guild and back. Helga hadn't yet gotten the chance to attack but now…

"What do you want?" The celestial spirit mage willed Loke to come out of the Spirit World, but nothing happened. The enemy stepped over some of her plants, making her way over to the captive. An ugly sneer took over Helga's features as she grasped Lucy's chin with chubby fingers.

"You'll find out soon enough, Heartfilia!" The tangle of plant matter keeping Lucy from moving began to retreat out of the window, and she went with it. Helga followed after, still on a sort of high from actually capturing Lucy. She'd finally be able to look Nyx in the face and declare that she was stronger!

Lucy swiveled her head, it being the only unrestrained part of her body, and looked around the streets. They were all cleared of people, which confused her. Usually there were many people wandering about at this time of day.

Then in the distance, she was able to spot something that made her heart drop. Maybe two blocks over, dust was rising in the air as destruction below it occurred. Magical energy flew in all directions. "No way…Everyone…"

"They're all fighting for their lives against Shadow Claw's strongest!" Helga said gleefully. "Now if I was there, they'd really be having issues, now wouldn't they?" Lucy ignored her and kept her gaze locked on what she could see of the battle.

'It's just like Phantom. Because of me, they've got to fight again…' Her broken wrist throbbed dully as she tried to move it, but she continued to inch it towards her key ring. 'If I don't tug on her 'precious plants' hard enough, maybe she won't notice.' I won't let my Nakama fight by themselves! I'm going to join them!

Lucy's hand grasped the first key she came in contact with, and she only muttered a quick "I summon thee!" To release the spirit. A flexible beam of light danced in the air before landing on the ground, and Lucy waited for it to appear, trying to formulate a plan in her mind. 'First things first is to get me out of these restraints.'

"Puu-puun!" Lucy's jaw dropped and she mentally smacked her forehead. 'Why now of all times do I pick PLUE!?' Said spirit fell on his face in front of Helga, who only stared at him. Lucy fumbled with her hand, desperately trying to grasp another key –

"IT'S SO ADORABLE," Helga squealed loudly, scooping up The Canis Minor. "Oh, how horrible it must be to have such an unsightly owner, you poor thing!" Lucy glared, wondering just what the woman meant by 'unsightly owner.'

While the opposing female was distracted, Lucy carefully began to ease herself out of the bundle of vines. She was only able to wiggle her broken wrist out of the mess before Helga noticed and tightened her work. Lucy had to bite her tongue in order to prevent herself from screaming as the thorns dug deeper into her skin.

Plue stared at his owner and then shivered a little in Helga's arms. "Oh you poor thing, are you cold?" She trilled, "Let me warm you up." Before the Shadow Claw mage could move, Plue was attacking her with everything he had, (which wasn't much) flailing his little arms and kicking with his tiny legs.

Surprisingly, he actually landed a hit to Helga's pudgy nose. Now out of her grasp, he wobbled off down an adjacent alley, going to get help. Lucy watched him leave, relieved that he was no longer in Helga's grasp. The vines tightened even more as Helga's face scrunched up in fury, and Lucy' vision stared to blur. "Natsu…"

.:Plue:.

The spirit turned another corner, and the sounds of the fight grew louder. Plue wobbled a few more steps, and was met with a fellow spirit: Leo. The lion of the zodiac scooped him up, his eyes confused behind his glasses, before realizing that this meant Lucy was in danger.

He carefully put a tired Plue on his shoulder before turning and charging into the battle. Of course, Natsu was in the middle of everything. Loke snagged him by the scarf and began to run through the alley in which he'd found Plue.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" Natsu yelled, distressed over the fact that he hadn't been done brawling. "Hey, Loke –" Hey was cut off when they arrived not far from Lucy's house. As soon as Natsu caught sight of Lucy, he tore himself from Loke's grasp and charged Helga.

Leo quickly made his way to Lucy, his fists alight with Regulus. It was painstakingly precise work to cut through every individual vine without causing Lucy any more harm; cut one vine, and another would snag on Lucy as well. Plue dug his nose into one of the plants and got himself stuck.

Loke continued to work at freeing his key holder, not slowing down even a bit. As soon as they were met with the lion's power, the vines crumbled into dust. He worked faster, and his eye caught Lucy's key ring by chance. He reached for it and grabbed Lucy's left hand, as the right one looked badly bruised) and pressed Cancer's key into her palm. "Lucy, if you can hear me, you've got to summon Cancer now! I don't think I can get you out of there in time before Helga tries to tangle you up even more. Please Lucy!"

A/N: I'll be at camp for all of next week, so I won't be able to write: my apologies. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, (I cried when Tono died…) and look forward to the next one. Yeah, not much of Gajeel or Levy, but trust me, they will be key players in what's coming next.

Please bear with me as I try to get over the fact that my computer deleted everything pertaining to fanfiction.

Also, for those of you that didn't really notice, I changed my penname from ajmonkeygirl99 to something else. :)

REVIEW REPLIES:

Pikaskye: ^^; Sorry for the iffyness! I'm so jealous of your Happy doll! Though Pantherlily is my favorite exceed.

Nadeshiko Redfox: … ;_; I'm so sorry Tono…

Miss Rune: Thank you!

Kurisu313: :3 I love that word as well ~ *hug* Thank you!

NaraSuna4Ev: I will complete Thesaurus, and every other story of mine too! I love that too! ;)

Guest: Thank you! That means a ton to me. :) Thank you for reading this!

Review, or Helga will come creeping up on you and shoot some vines through your window!