After what feels like eons, here's part 2 of the three-parter, everyone. Hope you enjoy.

To Red1832: I guess you can see it that way, but the romance isn't the focus in this story. And yes, I want it to stop just as much as you do. :( So I'll try to get it over with as quickly as I can.

To treeofsakuras: Appreciate the thoughts! Just try not to let your imagination get ahead of you, okay? ^^;

To Justice Tokidoki: Again, thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I'm pretty sure I addressed most of your concerns to you already, but if I missed anything, be sure to let me know. :) And I promise to try and watch myself in the author's notes more.

To SilverWolf (guest): I can't say here, but hopefully your question will be answered in this update.

To Elvenlaughter: I'm glad you're someone who appreciates all this angst, because personally I'm getting kind of tired of it. XD And this demon possessing Natsu isn't Zeref; it's an OC villain that I made up (Zeref isn't even a demon to begin with). Even so, I'm glad you're sympathizing with everybody! Heaven knows they need it.

To snowflake00 (for ch.6) : Thank you so much! I'm flattered that you enjoyed this story, and I hope that you'll read it to the end!

Much thanks to you all and anybody else who were kind enough to read through that filler chapter, and I sincerely apologize to everyone for its contents at the end. No harm was meant.

Ch. 9: The Final Hours (Part 2)

Sting, Rogue, and Yukino had been kind enough to escort me back to Fairy Tail from the mountain, even though they had their own mission to worry about, and I had insisted that I could make it on my own.

"You're not going to get anywhere on your own being that beat up," Sting had reasoned. "We'll take you back. It's no big deal; we can report to our client later. He expected us to take a couple days on this job, anyway."

So despite my protests, they'd come along with me to the guild, all the way to the front gates. On the way, they'd asked me for details on the situation, and I'd done my best to fill them in on the goings-on so that they'd be up to speed. To say that they were flabbergasted the entire time I talked was an enormous understatement. There'd been so much to explain that I still wasn't finished by the time we finally arrived at our guild hall. It had gotten pretty late, too, because the sky was just fading out of red and into blue as the sun disappeared behind the hills.

"Thanks for bringing me back, you guys," I said gratefully as we stopped in front of the front gates. "I really owe you one."

"Think nothing of it, Miss Lucy," Yukino answered warmly. "We were happy to help you."

"Yeah, no worries," Sting assured me easily. "Besides, we're not done paying you back. There's no need to thank us just yet."

I blinked in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"If it hadn't been for Natsu," Rogue began to explain, "Sabertooth would have remained a guild of ruthless soldiers. Our fight with him back then made it painfully clear to us that we weren't truly a wizard's guild. We were able to change for the better because of him, and we owe him too much for that."

I was taken aback by this. It never ceased to amaze me how Natsu changed people through what everyone else saw as brutal fistfights. "I – I see…"

"So what we're trying to say is," Rogue concluded, "we want Fairy Tail to let us lend you a hand, if that is all right with you."

Now I was really surprised. "R-really?" I exclaimed. "You want to help us?"

"It'd be an absolute honor, Miss Lucy," Yukino said wholeheartedly. "Working alongside your guild is something Sabertooth will take great pride in."

I almost couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Three of some of the most powerful wizards from Sabertooth, the second-strongest guild in Fiore, were offering their help in a matter that didn't concern them in any way. Their help would be an unbelievably invaluable asset to us achieving our objective.

Even so, I hesitated. We liked to solve our own problems without getting anyone else involved. It was our pride as Fairy Tail wizards to act upon our own beliefs and avoid worrying about the opinions of us of others. We didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of our own mistakes.

"I…I don't know what to say," I began, piquing their attention. "I'm really grateful to you for offering your help, but…this is our problem, so you shouldn't have to –"

"You're wrong," Sting interrupted me, his expression unnaturally firm. "It's not just your problem."

"But…"

"Listen," he plowed on, not giving me a chance to retaliate, "from what you told us, this demon is going to try and destroy our country using Natsu's powers. I'd hardly call that the biggest problem for just one guild. It'll affect everyone, wizard or otherwise. If this demon gets what it wants, lots of innocent people will die, right? And like you said, Natsu will be seen as a terrorist unaffiliated to any wizard guild in the eyes of the law – a rogue that abandoned his guild to wreak havoc. It'll be even worse since it's the famous Salamander from the almighty Fairy Tail guild that'll be burning Fiore to the ground. They won't notice that he doesn't have his guild mark – just looking at his face will be enough for them to recognize him. Don't you realize what kind of flack this will bring to your guild if we don't get the word out?"

"I know all that," I protested. "We all do! We were planning on doing that ourselves –"

"And who's to say they'll believe you guys? Not to be rude or anything, but…you are Fairy Tail. Property damage is nothing new from you to the Magic Council."

"But there's no way that they'll think that this is just collateral damage!" I argued vehemently. "The demon'll be destroying everything, and it won't be on accident! The Magic Council can't count this as the same thing!"

"Even if they don't, they'll definitely get involved," Rogue put in. "There's no way that your guild alone can take care of this problem. Let us help you."

"They're right, Miss Lucy," Yukino pleaded. "Please, let us help."

Looking around at their determined expressions, I knew that there was no way to deter them. Even if I did outright reject their help, they'd still find a way to pull in assistance from their guild. Arguing with them would just be a waste of what precious time we had left.

I sighed. "You'll still help even if we say no, won't you?"

"That's about right, yeah," Sting confirmed.

"Then let me tell you a couple things," I went on. "We're going up against a demon in control of Natsu's powers. And if – when he comes here, we have to attack him at full-force – as if we were trying to kill him."

That bit seemed to give them cold feet. I hadn't touched upon this before in the two-hour trip back to Magnolia, mainly because I hadn't wanted to tell them everything about what was going on. The other part of it was that I didn't want to admit the truth to myself.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Sting cut in incredulously. "Don't you realize that what you're saying here is completely ridiculous?"

"I know it sounds crazy," I confessed, "but that's the truth. We have to. Natsu told us that that's the only way to get rid of the demon."

"You can't be serious," he protested. "We actually need to kill him?"

"I don't want to do this anymore than you do. But his exact words were come at me to kill."

Sting placed his hands on his hips and whistled. "He makes it sound like it's gonna be easy."

I sighed. "Well, it's Natsu. What else would you expect?"

Rogue gave a rare smile. "That's true."

"That guy is impossible," Sting laughed. Then he looked at me earnestly. "Don't worry. We'll find another way to help him without killing him, and I'm sure that the all-powerful Salamander of Fairy Tail knows it. He's the guy who took out Tartaros, after all! He won't let some demon get the best of him in the end after that."

I looked at him in gratitude. "Thanks," I said. I looked around to all of them in turn before turning toward the building and saying, "Come on, you should come inside. We have lots to talk about."

The guild hall felt strangely empty for a place filled with people. In the moment that I walked in, the atmosphere was extremely heavy and depressing, and it was completely silent – which was not like Fairy Tail at all.

Of course, that changed the minute Happy noticed me. Him crying out "It's Lucy!" was enough to break the guild out of its stupor and have them stampede over to where I was, screaming my name.

Happy got to me first. He flew into my chest crying, "Lucy! Thank goodness, we were super worried!"

"Happy –" I started to say in surprise, but I couldn't finish – the entire guild came crowding around me, clamoring and expressing their utmost relief.

"Welcome back, Lucy!" Mirajane said happily.

"We were so worried!" Wendy cried jubilantly, holding Carla in her arms as she spoke.

"I'm happy that you're safe, Lucy," Carla said warmly from her spot in Lucy's arms.

"Lucy, you're okay!" Gray breathed in relief as he approached me, extreme guilt on his face. "I'm sorry; I should've done a better job protecting you. I hope you'll forgive me."

I tried to wave him down. "N-no, it's fine. Don't worry about it, Gray. I'm okay now; that's what matters, so…"

"That is entirely untrue, Lucy," Erza cut in with worry in her expression. "I'm happy to see you back safe and sound, of course, and we were just about to decide who would be going out to rescue you…but what is the meaning of those injuries?"

All at once, everyone in the guild noticed my rough bandages and bloodstains. They all gasped in shock and murmured in low voices, wondering if the one responsible was really who they thought it was.

"Th-this is nothing, you guys," I said hastily in an attempt to placate them. "Really, don't worry so –"

"Lucy, there's no point in lying to them," Sting reasoned as he stepped out from behind me. "They need to know the truth, so tell it to them straight."

"But –"

"No, he's right," Rogue interrupted as he and Yukino followed suit.

"This is a serious matter, Miss Lucy," Yukino insisted. "We can't afford any leniency."

I stared down at my feet. Of course, they were absolutely right. We needed all the momentum we needed if we were to combat this crisis, and my hiding the reasons for my injuries wouldn't help any.

"Sabertooth?!" Carla noted in surprise, calling them to the attention of everybody else. "What are you doing here with Lucy?"

I blinked. I realized that I'd never introduced them to everybody else when I'd come in here.

"We rescued her," Rogue said simply.

"That's right," Yukino jumped in emphatically. "We were on a mission that happened to take us to Mount Hakobe, and we found Miss Lucy there by chance."

"And it was really lucky, too," Sting sighed as he ruffled his blond hair. "I don't know what would've happened to her if we hadn't been there."

I winced inwardly, reminded of the burn scars I'd gotten only hours before. I really didn't want to think about what would've happened either, but it was more likely that not that I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for those three showing up when they did.

"Don't worry; we'll explain it all from the top," Sting promised. "But before that, I'd like to make a formal request from Sabertooth – Lucy told us about your situation, and we'd like to help you out."

Once the guild was filled in on what had happened after the demon had kidnapped me, they were utterly incensed – and pretty confused on top of it.

"You mean, Natsu's magic was what did that do you, Lucy?!"

"I can't believe it; there's no way that he'd hurt her!"

"But he's been acting really weird, hasn't he? I wouldn't put it past him from the way he's been recently!"

"Guys, I keep telling you; it wasn't Natsu who hurt me!" I cried, interrupting them. "The demon was just abusing his magic in order to mess with me!"

"That's right!" Wendy insisted. "Natsu wouldn't do this to one of his friends!"

"What's this about him coming to our guild hall to destroy it, then? Natsu does that all the time, doesn't he?" someone invisible from the crowd yelled.

"Honestly, what is wrong with you people?!" Carla protested. "This is utterly pointless! Fact of the matter is that our guild is in imminent danger! Now is not the time to be playing blame games!"

"The lady cat's right," Sting finally butted in, silencing everyone. "From what we've gathered, it's safe to assume that the demon will be striking here first. We've got to figure out a plan of action, not argue about whether she got hurt by Natsu or not. That's not the important thing right now. You're all in danger, so don't waste your time arguing about pointless things!" He pointed at our group accusingly. "Plus, you guys aren't the only ones in danger here! This demon is out to nuke all of Fiore just for kicks! If you don't get your act together right now, everybody will die! And I do mean everybody!"

That seemed to knock sense into everyone in the guild hall. It was bizarrely quiet after Sting's little outburst, which only drew to attention how serious this situation really was, and how personal it had gotten for us.

"C'mon, you guys are better than this," Sting griped, glaring at the lot of them. "I know you are. You've dealt with crazier things than this before with a cool head, so why're you letting the stress get to you like this now? This isn't like you at all, Fairy Tail."

I stared down at the floor helplessly. I knew that Sting was speaking the truth here. We were all dispirited, nervous, and scared in the face of this adversity – all the things that we were never supposed to be. We should've been strong, full of heart and confidence, and unrelentingly persistent, because that was the Fairy Tail way – it was what we were known for. We were supposed to stand tall and plow through any and all enemies in our path. That was what we should've been like.

But despite this, with Natsu gone, it was as if there was a void in the place where the heart of our guild was supposed to be – the driving force that had kept us going all this time. I'd only taken it for granted up until now – the strength of our bonds that had pulled us through countless trials – but I hadn't realized before now how crucial he had been to that fortitude. Most, if not all, of the opponents that we'd faced had been taken down more or less due to his involvement.

In short, we were at an utter loss as to what we should do now because we couldn't count on Natsu to help us pull through another problem this time. This time, he was the obstacle – the obstruction that we had to pull down. We knew that the demon was the actual enemy we had to eliminate, but in possessing him, it had turned Natsu against us in a sense of the phrase. Because of this, everyone in the guild was thinking the same thing: We don't have Natsu this time. He's our enemy now. How are we supposed to get through this without?

"Look, I understand how tough this must be for you guys since Natsu's not on your side this time," Sting said insistently. "Believe me; I can see that that guy is basically your entire foundation, and now that he's not here, it's gotta be hard keeping your spirits up." He crossed his arms with a solemn look in his eyes. "But you know that won't get you anywhere. What do people normally do in the event that they lose something that's important to them? They try to get it back no matter what, right? From what Lucy told us, I can guess it pretty easily – that's what Natsu wants from all of you." He then sighed and grinned wearily. "Besides, you know that you guys are more important to him than anything, and it's the same way the other way around. You know he'd do the same for you guys." He unfolded his arms and spread them out wide. "He's an important comrade to you all, isn't he? You need to do all that you can to get him back." His grinned flashed wider. "And of course, save Fiore while you're at it."

"Well put, young man," a new voice cut through the guild hall. "And get him back we will, for he is family."

Startled, we all turned to the guild entrance to find a small, silhouetted figure standing there in the waning light of the setting sun. It didn't take long to figure out who it was.

"Master!" I gasped in surprise. In the fervor of my return, I hadn't even noticed that Master Makarov hadn't been here. Where had he been this entire time?

He ignored me at first, turning to the team of Sabertooth wizards. "Well, seems like we have some new company. Sting, Rogue, and Yukino, if I recall correctly? I will look forward to your cooperation in this endeavor."

Yukino bowed gratefully. "We are honored, Master Makarov, sir," she said eagerly. "We're eager to lend Fairy Tail a helping hand."

"Yes," Rogue agreed quietly. "We do owe a debt. Thank you for this opportunity, sir."

"Yes, of course." The Master then stepped up to me and said, "More than anything, I am happy to see that you are back home safe and sound, my dear. Though I must say that you look none the worse for the wear."

I bowed slightly. "Thank you, Master," I said respectfully. "It's good to be back. And I know this looks bad, but I'll be fine."

"Hmm." He looked over my wounds in concern. "Though you say that, you really should have someone take a look at your injuries more carefully. Perhaps Porlyusica could –"

"No, I'll be fine, Master," I interrupted. "Besides, we don't have the time for me to get recuperation. The demon will probably attack our guild within the hour!"

"Speaking of which, where have you been, old man?" Gray stepped in, staring down at the Master curiously. "You've been gone the entire time Lucy got kidnapped by that demon."

"I've been doing some poking around," the Master said. "I went to investigate the dark guild that you lot were hired to put down to see if I could dig up any clues, but when I arrived at the site, there was absolutely no trace of the building. It was as if it had simply vanished into thin air."

A wave of shock rippled throughout the guild hall at his words.

"Say what?!" Gray exclaimed. "The dark guild is gone?! But that building was huge; there's no way all traces of it would be gone in just a couple days!"

I was in disbelief, too. How could such a huge building vanish like that as if it had never existed? Was it possible that it had been transported away by magic? Or maybe…I didn't want to finish that thought, because if I was right, it would make this situation all the more horrible.

"Master," I said slowly and cautiously. "Do you think that maybe…?"

Master Makarov lowered his head and said gravely, "Of course, I thought the phenomenon strange as well. I first suspected that it could be a branch of the overthrown Tartaros guild, so I went ahead and looked at the record and status of every dark guild in the nation that the Council has – but the name of that particular dark guild was not present in the catalogs at all." His eyes were hard. "In other words, this supposed 'dark guild' had no connection to Tartaros whatsoever."

Erza gasped in horror. "If that's true…then that must mean –"

Everyone in the guild hall waited with bated breath for the Master's explanation, but there was a heavy cloud in the air – as if everyone had already come to the same dreadful conclusion, but they were waiting for the confirmation from the word of our Master.

"I'm afraid so," he said at last, his voice dark. "It is almost certain that that dark guild had been nothing more than a magical apparition. It was a trap from the very start. If I were to guess…the demon had been planning on taking Natsu for itself this entire time."

It would have taken a machete multiple blows to slice through the tension that now filled our guild hall. Everyone was in a state of shock – particularly me and Gray, who'd accepted that mission and had carried it out.

That mission had been a hoax from the beginning? So the people we'd defeated and the building that we'd half-destroyed – none of that had been real? But if that was the case, then…

"H-hold on, something doesn't make sense," I protested. "If the demon had been planning all this from the start, then…then what about the client that posted the job in the first place? Was that person an illusion, too?"

"It's difficult to know for sure," our Master admitted. "But that is the safest guess."

"But it still doesn't add up, old man," Gray pointed out frantically. "If that demon had been planning on stealing Natsu's body this whole time, then how could it have managed to set up all those illusions? There's no way it had enough power to do that if it needed to steal a physical body!"

"Of course, that is a sound argument, my boy," he went on. "But we still don't know the full extent of what we're dealing with here. The demon may not have had a physical form, but that does not necessarily mean that it was powerless. The lack of a physical form was likely just a limitation to the demon – keeping it from accomplishing its true goal. Taking Natsu's body was probably just the first step."

"It wants to destroy Fiore," Sting put in, crossing his arms. "And it can't really do that if it's incorporeal. Illusory magic isn't exactly tangible, and if that's the extent of what that demon can do without a body, it was just putting the puzzle pieces together in order to basically get what it needs to get what it wants."

Rogue nodded. "The real question here is why the demon chose to inhabit Natsu," he said solemnly. "I don't mean to belittle that man's strength, but there are many wizards who are more powerful than him, and the demon had a wide enough selection. Why did it decide on Natsu?"

A confused murmur rippled through our guild hall in silent agreement. In retrospect, that bit really didn't make much sense. Rogue was right; there were so many wizards in Fiore that were much more skilled and powerful than Natsu that it was odd how it didn't go for the ones with more magical power. I couldn't make heads or tails out of it, until I remembered a certain bit of information in our conversation that the demon had spilled before it had let us off the hook:

You know as well as I do that this boy is no ordinary wizard. In fact, I rather doubt that he's entirely human to begin with.

It was a really long stretch because I didn't really believe it, but I felt that I should probably mention it anyway.

"Maybe," I began carefully, drawing everyone's attention, "it's because Natsu isn't human…according to the demon, anyway."

Everyone in the guild gasped.

"Say what?!" Gray exclaimed. "Natsu's not human?! You've gotta be pulling my leg here!"

"Yeah, I'm hoping that that's all I'm doing here, because that's what the demon told us!" I countered. "It's impossible to believe that Natsu isn't entirely human besides the fact that he has Dragon Slayer magic. I just thought that it would at least be worth mentioning."

"But if that's the case," Mirajane cut in for the first time, "then it still doesn't explain why it decided to take Natsu. I mean, assuming that this demon was looking to possess the nearest Dragon Slayers, we have Gajeel and Wendy here, also."

"No, it holds some merit in that case," Erza interrupted. "If that really is true, and Natsu was taken because he was a Dragon Slayer, then Lucy's theory may hold – there may have been more than one Dragon Slayer present in our area, but Natsu was the only one of them that went to that dark guild. Planned or not, the demon got what it wanted in the end."

"But…what about what the demon told us yesterday?" Wendy ventured timidly. "About how it had taken Natsu's body because he had…more possibilities?"

My heart skipped a beat. Yeah, it was stupid of us to have forgotten that; the demon had outright told us that Natsu had been its intended target then.

"Yeah, that's true," I mused worriedly. "Not to mention, it had a full demonstration of how strong Natsu was back when it had possessed Jellal. It wouldn't be surprising if the demon planned on taking Natsu's body after seeing that."

"Then why did it wait all this time?" Yukino asked. "This Tower of Heaven incident happened many years ago, right? Why did the demon wait until now to make its move?"

"Probably because as strong as Natsu was back then, he wasn't quite powerful enough for its tastes, taking everything into account," Erza said gravely. "It waited all this time, waiting for him to get stronger, until he was suited enough for its goal."

"So that's what the demon meant, right?" I asked urgently. "The fact that Dragon Slayers have a special type of magic must have confused it somehow!"

"That is definitely possible." Erza sighed. "And of course, the fact that he's damaged quite a bit of unsuspecting property even before his prime definitely says something."

I didn't doubt that for a second. If Erza was the one calling someone out on property damage, then there was no reason to. It took some amount of guts to accuse somebody else of something they themselves were guilty of and actually have it justified.

"Well, this is great and all, but there's something really important we haven't talked about yet!" Carla finally jumped in. "How the demon got to Natsu doesn't matter now; it will do us no good! Right now we've got to figure out a way to defeat it! It could attack us at any moment now!"

"But Natsu already told me how to defeat the demon, remember?" I said. "He told me clear as day – he told us to come at him to kill!"

"That may be, but there has to be some other solution!" Gray argued vehemently. "We can't go around killing people, you know – much less a comrade! Think of all the consequences that'd result if we did that!"

"I never said that we really were going to!" I shot back. "Besides, he promised that we wouldn't lose him, and I'm going to believe that!"

"That won't work," another new voice suddenly sounded in the doorway. We all looked up to see who it was, and were mildly surprised at who it was.

"Jellal?" Erza said slowly. "Where have you been?"

"That's not important now," Jellal said as he stepped into the guild hall to join us. "I've come to share a bit of information that is essential in getting rid of this demon once and for all – and rescuing Natsu from its clutches." The look in his eyes hardened. "But keep in mind; this won't be an easy task in any sense of the phrase."

I flinched back nervously in spite of myself. If Jellal was talking like this, then the solution that we were looking for wouldn't make us very happy.

"Well, Jellal?" Master Makarov pressed after a moment without looking back at him. "Go on. Tell them."

Jellal closed his eyes briefly in what looked like resignation. I could tell that he didn't want to share this piece of information…and that in itself bothered more than anything.

He then opened his eyes with a firm expression and began, "Before I tell you, know that Natsu's advice to you is not out of the question. He himself expelled that demon from me that exact same way back at the Tower of Heaven, and it is entirely possible that doing the same to Natsu could result in the demon being purged from his body as it had been from mine. However…" He lowered his head slightly. "Doing that will do nothing more than chase out the demon. It won't be eliminated. If that process is repeated, then it will simply wait for another chance to strike, likely with an even worse machination." He raised his head again and looked at every one of us in turn. "That's why we have to make sure it can't return. We must kill the demon if we are to make sure that no one else suffers the way the two of us have."

Gray stepped forward urgently. "Great plan, but how exactly are we supposed to do that?" he asked. "I mean, if we do manage to defeat Natsu and expel the demon from his body, then we won't even be able to touch it! That's the whole reason it possessed Natsu in the first place, isn't it?"

"Precisely," Jellal confirmed. "That is why we must kill it while it still has possession of Natsu's body. We must strike where it counts" – he pointed to his chest – "in the heart."

"In…the heart?" I asked uncertainly. "But…how will that…?"

"Lucy…" Happy spoke up for the first time this entire discussion after being unnaturally quiet, surprising me and everyone else present. "Remember what Natsu said to you last night? About…you know, what it felt like with the demon inside him?"

My breath caught in my throat once I realized what he was talking about.

It felt like there was something inside my heart moving around all gross-like.

Of course…Natsu had mentioned that 'something' had been moving around in his heart…if that was the case, then that was the likely place the demon was truly residing. Taking that into account, Jellal's suggestion made perfect sense.

"I see, so that's it…" I murmured, rubbing my chin. "Natsu told me that he felt a strange sensation in his heart, like something was moving around inside it. That must be where the demon's actual essence is. So hitting him there should kill the demon, right?"

Jellal nodded. "That's right."

"Well, that's good to know, then," Gray said, cracking his knuckles. "I'll hit that sucker in the chest so hard his eyes'll pop out."

"However," Jellal interrupted, his expression strangely pained, "hitting him there won't be enough to kill the demon. That is simply an attack on the chest; doing so will do little harm to it. The heart itself has to be wounded for the demon to be eliminated."

The atmosphere grew even heavier at his implications, if it was even possible. He didn't say it out loud, but we were able to make a pretty good guess at what we had to do in order to get rid of the demon permanently.

"You…you can't mean…" I whispered in denial, immensely aware of the stinging pain from my burn scars.

"I do," Jellal said, his tone heavy. "If we are to kill the demon…we must strike through Natsu's heart."

Whammy chapter is whammy.

Wow. This took way longer than it should have considering its content, and I am sincerely sorry. Right when I got back from my snowboarding trip, I got really sick and couldn't do anything for about a week. Plus, I just finished my second week back to school, so I have that to deal with now as well – plus I'm still getting over the cold, believe it or not, so my motivation was (and is) pretty low. My other stories have been virtually getting no attention from me at all thanks to this one, so if any of you are following one or more of those, I'm sorry. I'm not meaning to abandon them; this one has just taken priority. I'll work on the others when I have a chance, I promise.

Apologies aside, I hope you enjoyed this update. It might've felt less polished than usual because I actually wrote half of this while under the weather. Next one will hopefully come out much better and faster.

See you then, and thank you for all your support thus far. I appreciate any and all reviews as well. Next chapter things will start picking up again, I promise – and we'll finally finish up Natsu's mind rape session. Heaven knows we all need a break from all that.