A/N: Hey, everyone! Been a while, hey? Sorry for slow update, but I've got a two week break now! Thank you to the 67 followers and 32 favourites! Thankyou to Bentears for the continued support! And also thank you to kelpiejh, and I agree with you completely!

Disclaimer: Lyrics belong to Red and I still sadly do not own Fairy Tail, but if I did, NaLu, Jerza, GaLe and Gruvia would probably all be together. Oh, and Aries and Loke. And maybe Sting and Yukino. Maybe Romeo and Wendy. Maybe Happy and Carla when they're a lil' older. Maybe. But I love Mashima's development of NaLu so far. Did anyone read the new chapter where NaLu babysat Asuka? She's a shipper, I swear.

Fall of Terranpet and Rise of Stars

I can't pretend everything's alright

Please don't let me fall forever

Can you tell me it's over?

After finding the slaughtered citizens of Terranpet, the group felt far from at ease. After alerting Cana, the only other Mage knowing about the quest, via Calling Card of the gruesome sight they had come across, a few members of the Council and Master Makarov himself had come to confirm the worst. Hours had passed as they awaited the arrival of the "professionals", but as night had truly fallen, with torches and weapons, 4/5 members of Team Natsu were formally yet reluctantly greeted before they were forgotten about entirely. Folding his arms and throwing the Council Members a dirty look as soon as their backs were turned, Natsu scowled. For the sake of his sensitive sense of smell, he'd moved away from the graveyard and back to the entrance to the town as the bodies were identified and survivors were searched for. He and the exceed were the only ones in their small team that seemed unable to rest after what they'd witnessed, yet in barely no time at all Erza and then Grey were dozing off in the shelter they'd created in the agonising hours they had to endure waiting for "help" to arrive. Master Makarov had gifted them with a nod of acknowledgment only before he had trudged after the Government Officials, his expression mirroring his children's. Grim. It was the mask that had plastered itself onto everyone's faces the moment they had stepped onto the scene.

Hunched over on his makeshift seat, in fact a turned over crate, Natsu had his eyes closed, looking as if he were in deep thought. His head felt hazy from the horrendous stench of the deceased that even Igneel's scarf couldn't help him cope with. Happy rested beside him, looking worriedly up at his friend as the Dragon Slayer drank in the night's fresh air, hoping it'd clear his mind somehow. The damage was being assessed and if the Council was involved, this was no small thing. This Dark Guild was much worse than they had previously thought, and even the thick-skulled Salamander realised that. He was no longer depressed at the thought of Lucy's absence, he had never been happy on any mission without her accompanying them, but this was an exception. He wouldn't have wanted her to see what they had seen, he knew how she would have reacted and he knew he would've dragged her far away from the scene but the damage would have already been done. The last thing the pink-haired eighteen-year-old wanted was for her to have been traumatised from this expedition he would've dragged her on if she had chosen to come. If she wasn't here, she'd be happy and carefree. She wouldn't be the same cheerful Lucy Heartfilia here, especially not while she was awaiting questioning after the death toll had been measured alongside her comrades.

The gloomy atmosphere was really eating away at the currently awake duo, and Happy nuzzled against the Fire Mage for comfort. Absentmindedly patting the feline's head, Natsu's eyes slowly slid open as he picked up another scent that made him forget about the one lingering about them. After a few experimental sniffs, he gained the exceed's attention and Happy looked up with him quizzically. He quietly mewed his friend's name but gained no response for a few moments of silence. Then he gained a short glance before the Mage spoke. "I can smell something…different to before…something else…" Natsu tilted his head up, sniffing the air as his eyes narrowed. "…someoneelse…Happy, come on…" he slowly rose to his feet, beckoning for the cat to follow. Happy sighed and gripped the back of Natsu's vest, sprouting his wings. He wordlessly lifted them both into the air as the Dragon Slayer began to direct where he wanted them to go. After he Natsu pointed into the distance, Happy nodded and zoomed forwards, following the directions and the scent his friend could supposedly smell.

"What type of scent is it, Natsu?" he inquired, picking up the pace at request.

Natsu frowned, wondering on how to describe it. "It's…it's the scent of a person, that's mostly all I can tell from here…" He murmured. "I think we're almost there, Happy, can you drop down a bit further?"

Happy nodded and complied with a cry of "Aye, Sir!".

LINE BREAK

Lifting her head, Lucy peered cautiously through the heavily dense branches of the tree she and her Spirit currently sat in. They'd been searching for hours for this Dark Guild's hideout, having gotten nowhere in terms of finding a single clue. After summoning her Silver Gate Key Spirit Pyxis more than just a few times to assure the two of them that they hadn't gotten lost or gone off track, they continued travelling west, as Virgo said to. As night had fallen their mission had become a more difficult task as their surroundings looked more and more similar the further they travelled. Lucy had feared they had been walking in circles, so she'd taken the ribbons from her hair to tie around a tree that she believed they'd passed on several occasions. Luckily, this wasn't the case, and in fact they never encountered the ribbon again. After she and Virgo had bid farewell to the Queen, the Celestial Spirit had offered her clothing from the Spirit Realm, which was gratefully accepted. It was more suited for a mission than the elegant kimono Lucy had been given, so she delicately folded it up and it was taken away by one of the royal family's staff members, along with her bag with all of her belongings. She hoped she'd be given back her things safe and sound once she had returned.

"See any sight of them, Virgo?" Lucy turned to look at her Celestial Spirit, who was using a pair of binoculars the Spirit had brought from the Spirit Realm.

The Maiden hummed softly. "Negatory, Princess. Shall I be punished now?" she passed the binoculars over when Lucy shook her head, sighing.

"This is hopeless, what should we do?" she scanned the area, but was only greeted with the same sight they'd been seeing all evening. Dense forest. Lucy's Magic Power levels were decreasing at a rapid pace now and she felt weak. Having two Spirits out for this amount of time wasn't good and she knew that, but they had to find the base before the Kingdom was attacked again. She'd been alerted of the amount of civilians that had been murdered in Constellar in the past and she knew she had to put a stop to it.

Virgo placed a comforting hand on her trembling shoulder. "Princess, you are exhausted, let us postpone our quest until tomorrow morning." She proposed.

Lucy let out a weary sigh, closing her eyes as she pressed a hand to her forehead. "Tomorrow morning…" she echoed, reluctantly agreeing. "Alright. I guess it'll be easier to find them in the daylight." She allowed the Spirit to lift her into her arms before safely dropping down to the forest floor.

LINE BREAK

As Virgo carried her master back towards Starlight, Lucy's eyes slowly closed and her head fell against the Maiden's chest in fatigue. She could only just hear her Spirit's gentle scolding at summoning two Spirits for a long amount of time, yet she was proud the Mage's abilities were improving. Once she had finished her lecture, Virgo abruptly stopped, jolting Lucy slightly where she lay in the Maiden's arms. "What is it?" she questioned. "Virgo…" she trailed off when she picked up on the smell she'd found familiar from spending so much time with Natsu. Smoke. With a silent exchange of glances, the loyal Spirit headed off, following the scent. As it grew stronger, Lucy covered her nose and mouth with her hand, squinting as they suddenly became engulfed in a cluster of grey clouds. Virgo seemed to be unaffected by the smoke as they travelled through it, but it was making Lucy cough and her eyes began watering. Picking up the pace, the Celestial Spirit's eyes narrowed as she felt dark presences surrounding them.

"Princess…" she said in a warning tone, alerting Lucy in a subtle yet worrying manner. The girl squeezed her eyes shut, covering her mouth and nose with both hands now, trying to make it easier to breathe.

"Princess!" Virgo's uncharacteristic scream was frightening as the smoke began to clear. The Celestial Mage let out a cry as her Spirit flung her through the air and she slammed into one of the trees surrounding them. Coughing as she hit the ground, Lucy lifted her head to see a cluster of Razor Fang Guild members ambushing them. She barely pulled herself into a sitting position when she saw masses of dark energy attack the Maiden and blind her as an explosion echoed throughout the forest. The blonde was scrambling backwards with wide eyes as the light faded and Virgo vanished in a rain of gold light, returning back to the Spirit Realm to heal. Her ears were ringing and she felt light-headed as she staggered to her feet, leaning against the tree behind her for support. Peering up through her bangs, her hazy vision still allowed her to see the damage done. The dense trees surrounding them had been cleared like a bulldozer sweeping through the area. Smoke and was everywhere, cloaking the Dark Mages and concealing them from the Fairy Tail member. Ashes floated down around her like darkened snowflakes descending from the heavens, contrasting against the light blonde of Lucy's hair as they landed upon it.

She knew Loke was still out there fighting, yet he had left abruptly and then come back by opening his own gate for the sake of Lucy's magic energy. Thanking him under her breath, she pulled out two keys to summon Taurus and Capricorn. She knew her Magic levels were low, but she swore as a Fairy Tail Mage to finish this mission and she'd be damned if she let these Dark Mages slip away after harming so many people including one of her Spirits.

They were going to pay.

LINE BREAK

A while had passed until Happy and Natsu had slowed their descent from the heavens to a complete stop and planted their feet back on solid ground once again. Pressing a finger to his lips to motion the exceed to remain silent, the Dragon Slayer sniffed the air a few more times with a serious expression, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the scent. Whoever it belonged to, this person smelled like two scents that were intriguing to the Fire Mage. The first scent was familiar to the scent of Terranpet's surroundings, the second even more astounding…the scent of a dragon. As soon as he was set down, Natsu took off running through the rocky clearing, suddenly halting as he found what he was looking for hiding behind a section of hastily collected boulders made for shelter. Sitting on the ground, surrounded by fragments of shattered rocks, was a boy. The scent of salt water hung around him, Natsu having recognised it is tears as he approached him. Hugging his knees to his chest and hiding his face, a scratchy voice was heard. "I'm guessing it's finally over…if you're from the Council, I assure you, I defiantly didn't do it." He lifted his head, having sensed the pink-haired male's presence. "Oh," he scanned his attire with tear-filled eyes, noticing that he wasn't wearing the normal uniform of a Council Member. "Sorry…" he muttered quietly, scratching at his head, running his hand through his messy hair.

"Nah, its fine," Natsu crouched down in front of the boy, igniting his hand with flames to get a better look at him. With his face illuminated by the fire, he looked much older than the Fire Mage had guessed, even looking about the same age as the Salamander. Underneath his dark copper brown fringe, his eyes shone a light green as the orange glow danced across his features.

"You're from a Guild, aren't you?" the brunette murmured, glancing at the red emblem upon Natsu's shoulder.

Natsu nodded, grinning. "Yeah, I'm a Fairy Tail Mage," his smile then dropped. "You're from that town, aren't you?" he said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. He knew this teenager would have been the only survivor and guessed that he was away when the attack began. No wonder he was crying, he would've come home to his entire town slaughtered! "Don't worry, as a member of Fairy Tail, I'm gonna find who did this. I promise." Natsu placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, only for him to shuffle away. He sighed, dropping his hand. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, Fire Dragon Slayer." He introduced, this time holding out his hand for the brunette to shake. This time, he was rejected once again as his offer didn't even gain a second glance.

"Erin." The other teenager supplied shortly. He looked away from the Mages, furiously rubbing at his eyes.

Natsu guessed the boy had views almost alike to his own, sharing the hatred for crying in front of people. He didn't believe if others cried, it made them weak, but the Fire Dragon Slayer had a strong dislike of anyone thinking he himself was weak because he could shed tears. "No last name?" Natsu inquired, tilting his head to the side.

Erin slowly looked up again and let out a soft, slightly exasperated sigh. "Magnar. Erin Magnar. Earth Dragon Slayer. That's it." He answered, averting his gaze once more.

Natsu sat down beside the fellow Dragon Slayer, tugging gently at the necklace around the younger boy's neck. "What's this?" he asked.

Erin looked down and gently pushed the Salamander's hands away. "The Earth Dragon that raised me, Terra, gave it to me a few years before she disappeared." It was a simple addition to his outfit, an elegantly crafted wooden star with gorgeously detailed symbols held by a woven chain.

Natsu brightened up, tugging at his scarf. "This is what my Dragon Igneel gave me." He said. "He disappeared as well, but maybe we'll find our Dragons together." He held out his hand. "What do you say?"

Erin sighed, allowing a small smile to appear. "Sure, Dragneel." He answered, taking his hand as he was dragged to his feet. "Thanks…you know, for coming to help out my home town…" he rubbed away the remains of his tears. "I was on a mission, I didn't think the Guild would go thisfar." He sighed sadly. "I should've been here, because now they've gone off to terrorise even more. I tried tracking their scent, but they were too fast, I couldn't keep up. I was weak and I couldn't get back at them for what they'd done to my people." He cursed under his breath at his uselessness, but Natsu shook his head.

"It wasn't your fault, Erin." He said, grinning as Happy flew over to them, perching himself atop the Salamander's head. "But we've accepted this request and we're not going to go back on our word. We're gonna get back at the ones who did this."

At his words, Erin grimly nodded. "We will." He said darkly. "I will."He followed after the two, keeping his head down as they walked. Natsu couldn't understand why he had a sudden feeling of uncertainty as they headed back towards the town. Nor did he understand why this feeling made an image of Lucy appear in his head when he thought of the Dark Mages on the run.

One thing none of them knew, neither Erza, Grey, Natsu nor Lucy knew…was that their missions were linked in a way they'd never guess.

.

..

…

A/N: Recap: Natsu, Erza, Grey and Happy arrived at Terranpet three days after the Dark Guild they've been assigned to go after attacked their own townsfolk, killing all of them except for one member, Erin, a Dragon Slayer, who was away when the attack occurred. Since so many murders have occurred, the Council is starting to step in and since they were too late, the 4/5 members of Team Natsu will return to Magnolia with Master Makarov to decide their next course of action for the quest. And an energy and magic drained Lucy has returned from her search to find one of her worst fears confirmed –Constellar being attacked.