Author's note: Alright, Chapter 8!Thank you so much for all the views and reviews, favorites, follows and just about everything! I have to admit that last chapter of Fairy Tail was a bit of a tear jerker. AND I'M IN LOVE WITH FAIRY TAIL ZERO! This chapter of Worlds Apart is dedicated to the fans, and to never give up on your goals and dreams! Well, Chapter 8!

Chapter 8: Tears, Discoveries and a Suppressant.

"S-so it's gone?" Lucy asked Erza. The whole room fell silent after Erza announced that The Research for The Cure was destroyed in the Battle.

"All of it." Erza said solemnly. Levy was frozen in shock. She spent three months on that research and was so close to finding a cure; only to have all of this happen.

"Levy, are you alright?" Erza asked. Levy stayed quiet. She wanted to stay strong for everyone around her.

"I-I want to see the damage." Levy suddenly said. They looked at her in shock. Did she really want to see it?

"Levy, are you sure?" Lisanna asked.

"Please!" Levy pleaded. Erza stayed quiet for a moment before hopping off the stage and guiding Levy to the basement, with Gajeel, Jet and Droy. Levy's jaw almost fell from the shock of the sight. The room was completely destroyed; holes in the wall, papers scattered or destroyed, machines sparking or trying to function, one barrel that carried Cana's beer destroyed. The beer was spilled over some of the machinery. Wires were loose, the table was destroyed; even all of Gajeel's test results were gone.

"T-this is just so painful to look at." said Droy with tears in his eyes before he stuffed three corndogs down his mouth.

"We were so close... and this had to happen." Jet said with a tear in his eye. Levy stayed silent. She couldn't say anything. She worked so hard to get where they were with The Cure; only to have it blow up in her face. She tilted her face so she can look at the ground. Her face became shadowed.

"Levy, are you alright?" asked Jet.

"I-I need to be alone." Levy suddenly said. She turned away and began to climb up the stairs when she felt a hand grab her wrist. She turned around to discover its Gajeel. "Not now Gajeel." she said "I just need some space." Gajeel reluctantly let her wrist go. Levy walked up the four flights of stairs in the guild. She reached the balcony and looked at the red morning sky.

So much weight was put onto her shoulders. First the pressure to research for The Cure, the difficulty of finding one, then a zombified Dragon-Slayer declares her his mate, followed by helping her get more information than she ever obtained (that was a relief) and now, all of it was lost and she would have to work for it all over again. It was all too much to put on her. She did her best to hold her composure but finally, she couldn't anymore. Levy felt like a glass mirror; the more stress she received, the more cracks in the mirror. But with the weight of having to find The Cure all over again, the glass mirror finally broke; shattering into pieces. At that moment, Levy sat at the ledge of the balcony and began to cry.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and little drops landed on the stone balcony adding a slight discoloration. She really needed this; to relieve the pain she was feeling these past few months. Every second that passed she cried harder. About two minutes passed and suddenly, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She looked behind herself to discover it was Gajeel.

"G-go away Gajeel." She sobbed "I want to be alone." She continued to cry but she soon felt herself being lifted off the balcony ledge and was soon leaning against a strong broad chest. She looked up to discover Gajeel took her in his arms and held her while she cried. Gajeel took his hand and began to caress her cheek. She looked up at him and stared at him straight in the eye. His face showed concern. He could see the damage done to the guild but, why was she crying? As if she could read his mind, Levy spoke through her tears.

"Y-you wouldn't understand Gajeel." She said "I had a lot of pressure put on me because of that cure. With those test results we got from you, we could have had a cure for every zombie in Fiore in no time. But that stupid Blood Moon had to come along and ruin it. Now I have to re-do everything! I-I'm so sorry Gajeel! I promised you would be the first to be cured; but from the way things turned out, I won't be able to cure you so quickly!" She began to cry again but harder than when she started. Gajeel tightened his grip around Levy while she cried into his chest. He never felt like this before, seeing her like this; it hurt.

"L-Levy," Gajeel suddenly said. Levy's eyes shot open; did Gajeel just say her name? She looked up at him and stared at him with wonder "L-Levy, It's o-ok that you can't c-cure m-me right a-away, I-I can wait." Levy gaped at him; this was the first time he spoke a complete sentence to her.

"H-how can you speak a full sentence?" Levy asked "Your speech was affected by The Vi-"

"You reading to me." Gajeel struggled "I-I'm getting better because of you." Levy gaped at him again. Was her reading to him really helping? "D-don't give u-up, I-I know you will find a cure." Levy smiled and wiped away the remaining tears on her face. She hugged Gajeel for his kind words.

"Thanks Gajeel," she said after a sniffle "You're the best." They got up at that moment and left the guild so they can catch up on their sleep.

A few days have passed after The Blood Moon and Fairy Tail began to repair itself. The injured were capable of walking or out of their bandages. They repaired all the damage done to the guild as best as they could. Gajeel even surprisingly helped by using his iron to create support beams for the guild hall in case the roof was to collapse. The guild did their best to repair the machinery that was broken during The Blood Moon. Although some were going to remain with problems and others waved the white flag. Levy was sitting at her usual table; she was deep in thought. Even though it's been a few days since The Blood Moon, a lot didn't make sense to her. And she believed some of the others could agree.

"Levy," a voice suddenly said, snapping Levy out of her thoughts. It was Erza "You've been like that for the past few days, does it have to do with that zombie?" Levy looked up at Erza for a moment.

"N-no Gajeel has nothing to do with what's on my mind. Maybe he could answer something about it now that his vocabulary and speech is improving-"

"They are?" Erza said surprised "That's wonderful!"

"Yeah it is. But what's on my mind is something more complicated. Something's just don't make sense to me."

"What doesn't make sense to you Levy?" a voice asked. It was Wendy who decided to ask that question.

"Well there are two things that don't make sense to me at all; one: when the zombies attacked the guild, they mostly targeted the basement, right?"

"Yeah, they did." Erza said with slight confusion in her voice.

"My question is why? Usually they're careless with what they attack but it seems to me they were targeting that particular spot." Erza and Wendy's eyes widened in shock; Levy may have had a point. Both Titania and The Sky Maiden started calling the guild over to the table Levy sat at and told them the theory Levy just pointed out a moment ago.

"And another thing that bothers me is I had a confrontation with The Bad Zombie." The guild gasped hearing that "And what surprised me more is that he could speak! Perfectly too!" jaws dropped when Levy said that.

"What did he say?" asked Natsu.

"He spoke about The Blood Moon providing him strength instead of making him lust for blood. He said that his speech and strength was all thanks to 'The Master'."

"Who is 'The Master'?" asked Freed.

"I don't know. When I asked he said I've said too much." They looked at Levy with surprise. Levy then turned her attention to Gajeel "Gajeel, do you know who that could be?" Gajeel shook his head.

"Th-this is news t-to me." He said.

Silence then fell over the guild, 'The Master'? What does this mean? Suddenly; an odd shrieking sound was heard all over the guild.

"The hell is that?" Gray asked.

"Gray, clothes." Cana pointed out.

"CRAP!"

The sound went off again.

"Yeah, I hear it too." Natsu said "Sounds like it's coming from the basement." Levy looked at Natsu with confusion. She walked down the steps that lead to the basement. When she arrived she couldn't believe her eyes; the machine that carried Gajeel's blood samples was working! Not only working but they completed the job despite the damage it took on!

"I-I can't believe it." Levy said with eyes widened "Its Gajeel's blood results! They're finished!" The people who followed Levy down the stairs were surprised as well.

"I thought the lab results and machines were destroyed during The Blood Moon!" Erza said.

"I thought so too! But it looks like this little beauty kept working." Levy smiled. She grabbed the pieces of paper that the machine printed out and walked up stairs. She read them carefully. Eyes widened every time she read something shocking.

"I don't believe it!" she finally screamed after reading three papers worth of results "The machine managed to pinpoint the source of The Virus in Gajeel's blood and it turns out to be; the main cause of The Virus is Darkness Magic!" Everyone gasped when they heard those words.

"Darkness Magic?" asked Lucy "Who do we know that uses Darkness Magic?"

"Well, we got quite a list." Mira pointed out "There's me, but I only use it in Satan Soul. Freed, Jellal but no one's heard from him except Erza mayb-"

"MOVING ON!" Erza screamed.

"Lapointe, but he was a magic doll and he's apparently dead, Jose but no one seen hide or tail of him since The Phantom Lord vs. Fairy Tail war, possibly Ivan but I'm not sure.. And there's Midnight from Oración Seis." After counting, Levy realized there were only three-four possible suspects in this.

"What's the main ingredient for The Cure going to be?" Droy suddenly asked.

"It has to be Light Magic. But no ordinary Light Magic; it has to be the purest form of Light Magic." Levy explained "There are only two extremely pure forms of light magic; the first is White Dragon Slayer Magic-"

"That's great!" Natsu interrupted "All we need to do is find Sting from Sabertooth and we got a cure!" It sounded easy but there was one problem; no one has heard from Sting since The Virus started. In fact, Fairy Tail hasn't made contact with any other guild since The Virus started. They tried their best but no matter what they could never break through. They don't know if Sting was still alive or worse; turned into a zombie.

"Anything else?" Lucy asked.

"There is one; however we need to get as many as we can as soon as possible." Levy explained.

"Well what is it?" asked Juvia.

"Lumière lune fleur." Levy said "It's a flower that grows on the other side of Fiore. It's said to be the purest white magic in the world. In fact; according to legend, our ancestors learned a form of lost light magic by watching this flower. It says here that the flower is completely pure when it blooms. It's pure white pedals signify its purity. The flower's special ability is to absorb the world's darkness. As it absorbs, the pedals begin to turn black. When they completely turn black, the flower dies and is reborn again as the purest flowers in the world. We're going to need a bunch of freshly bloomed Lumière lune fleurs."

"Is there another way?" asked EverGreen "Like maybe The Master's light magic-"

"It's not pure enough." Levy explained "But I think it can be used as a suppressant to the symptoms."

"There's only one way to find out." Gray stated "Hey! Master! Think you can use your light magic on Gajeel?"

"Of course." Makarov said "Gajeel my boy, please come over here." Gajeel looked at Makarov with confusion. He then looked at Levy as if to ask if it was ok.

"It's fine by me, go ahead!" Levy smiled. Gajeel walked over to Makarov who got up onto the bar table. He ushered Gajeel to sit on the barstool which he did. Makarov then took his hand where a bright yellow glow formed. He put Gajeel's head between his hands and let the magic run its course. After about five minutes. The Light disappeared and Gajeel sat there blinking.

"Thanks old man. Gihihi." Gajeel suddenly said he turned around to look at the guild and screamed "Oi! Demon wench! Get me some iron here I'm starvin!" The guild's jaws dropped to the floor; yep, it worked.

"Gajeel!" Levy suddenly screamed happily.

"Shrimp!" He walked over to Levy and wrapped his arm around her waist "Gihihi Mine!" Levy rolled her eyes. Yep, he's ok.

"Can you remember anything?"

"Nada; but I do feel like my old-self again that's all I know." He hugged Levy and gave her a kiss on the cheek "It's all thanks to you shorty." He whispered "Even though I'm still a zombie, I know I won't be for long once you get that cure started. And I know I'll get my memories soon enough."

"It's the least I could do." She smiled. They hugged. Levy let go for a moment and was about to thank Makarov for this when she noticed something bothering Makarov.

"What's wrong Master?" asked Lucy.

"There's something important I must tell you all." Makarov suddenly said.

Somewhere not too far from the Fairy Tail guild; about a few towns away was a secret base where The Bad Zombie was kneeling to someone.

"Forgive me Master." The Bad Zombie said "I had no idea, I thought we destroyed all the machines-"

"You tried and failed." The voice barked "I ordered you to destroy all those machines and you failed."

"We thought we destroyed them! If Gajeel didn't betray us it wouldn't have happened-"

"No. It's that girl. She's the issue. I ordered you to destroy her that night!"

"I did my best and you know it!" Screamed The Bad Zombie after a moment of silence he spoke again "Sir, we just learned from the spy we sent that the girl discovered the main cause of The Virus and The Guild's Master used light magic as a suppressant. Gajeel is now capable of thinking for himself."

"What?!" the voice screamed.

"Now they're looking for Lumière lune fleur-"

"This is getting too far! My plans are falling from the seams! Find the flowers and destroy them or kill the girl! We can't let anything else happen!" With a bow and a nod, The Bad Zombie left so he could fill his master's wishes.