Hey everyone, here's chapter 7 like I said :D I hope you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Lucy P.O.V.

As soon as we arrived in Oak Town, we check into the local inn and left our stuff in the rooms. Considering it's already quite late in the evening we have to wait until tomorrow to talk to the mayor. We decide to walk around town, see if we can see anything unusual for ourselves and grab something to eat afterwards.
"How about we spilt up in 2 groups for now and meet up here in an hour?"
I nod at Erik's words. "It gives us more room to be covered for today. But please do not split up, under any circumstances. As soon as something goes wrong, call the rest with your lacrima."
Wendy decides to go with Erik, leaving me alone with Gajeel.
"You've been quiet lately. Is it because of Natsu?"
I glance at him sideways and nod curtly. "He was my best friend, he brought me to Fairy Tail. So when he attacked I was really pained and disappointed in him. But now that I know that it wasn't his fault I can't help but feel guilty."
"You'll get your chance to apologize when we find a cure. I'm sure he'll understand when he knows the entire situation."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I hope so, at least." We both come to a stop in front of ruins. Phantom Lord's ruins. "Well this sure brings back memories."
A small smiles graced Gajeel's lips. "This place was were you first showed me your stubbornness and true power. I beat your ass and you still managed to taunt me and piss me off to no end."
I giggle in agreement. "Payback for beating my ass."

Suddenly the wind starts blowing violently around us, dust rising from the ruins. Instinctively I take a step closer to Gajeel's side, his hand reaching out for mine. If we have to run it's best to run together. The dust starts flying up into a vortex, growing stronger every second, taking small rocks along with it. I narrow my eyes when I suddenly see a shadow appearing inside the vortex.
"Gajeel…"
"I see it, Bunny."
The shadow becomes more clear, creating a human form. Or so we though. Large, thick horns start growing out of the top of its head while his fingers grow into shiny talons. It takes a step forward, lifting its head to look at us, burning red eyes aimed directly at us. My body is completely frozen, as If a massive invisible hand his its grip around my body.
"It's going to be alright, Bunny. I activated the emergency lacrima tracker. The others should be here soon."
The demon takes another step forward, and then I see it. Clawed, black wings neatly folded against its back. One of its hands shoots forward, the palm facing us. I can see Gajeel standing on edge even more, ready to jump away from this creature.
"Save me."
My eyes widen further as I look at the demon. The color of its eyes flashing, changing color, as if the person inside is struggling to reconquer its own body. But the demon is too strong. The fight only lasts seconds before the eyes turn red again, a feral growl escaping from its mouth. It expands its wings before flying off into the night.

General P.O.V.

Lucy's knees fail and she drops to the floor, her left hand still held tightly in Gajeel's hand. What the hell just happened? What happened to the person inside?
"Lucy! Gajeel!" Gajeel turns his head to see Wendy and Erik running towards us, worry etched on both their faces. everyone can hear Gajeel clearly sighing in relief when he sees them.
"What the hell happened?"
"A demon. Right in front of us."
Erik kneels down in front of Lucy and reaches a hand out to touch her face. The small blonde still trembling on the ground, staring straight ahead. "We need to get her back to the inn, she's in shock." Erik momentarily closes his eyes when images start flooding Lucy's mind once more. The fear radiating off of her gets stronger when the image of its eyes come in focus again. The sadness when she brings forth the images of the person battling the demon is overwhelming and Erik rubs his chest in discomfort.
His eyes snap open and immediately he lifts the small blonde into his arms. She's in no state to walk somewhere. The team starts running back to the inn, people in the streets looking at them strangely, whispering about the blonde in Erik's arms.

When they reach the guild, Lucy's bed gets cleared and the girl gets placed on her bed. Somewhere along the way she fell asleep, or passed out. A thick layer of sweat has formed on her forehead, her cheeks have turned into a soft pink. Wendy checks her condition and sighs shortly after.
"She's burning up, we need to cool her down as soon as possible." Gajeel gets up to offer his assistance and the bluenette simply points at Lucy's jacket and boots, indicating for Gajeel to take them off. Wendy runs off to grab some towels and a bowl with cold water.
"Keep rubbing the cold towels over her arms and face. I'm going to have to force the heat from her system, so I'll need you two to wipe it away as soon as possible."
Both men nod at her instructions, and both grab a cold, wet towel. Wendy closes her eyes while activating her magic, resulting in a light blue glow coming from her hands. She slowly starts moving her hands across Lucy's legs, she can feel the fever struggling inside the blonde's body. This isn't just any fever, this is a demon particle trying to take over Lucy's body. Wendy opens her eyes and the glow from her hands turns brighter. Determination and power start radiating off of her as she forcefully pushes the fever up Lucy's body, carefully avoiding her heart. Thin streams of sweat start pouring from the Blonde's head, both men wiping it all away as soon as possible, just like Wendy had ordered them. Suddenly Lucy starts coughing heavily, causing everyone to freeze momentarily.

"Roll her onto her side, quickly." The three of them work together to get Lucy on her side as soon as possible. Immediately Lucy's spits out some sort of black goo. That's exactly what they were after, this is what's making people sick and turning them into demons.
"What happened?" Lucy looks at them wide-eyed. Before answering her, Wendy checks her temperature and sighs in relief.
"You were struck by a fever, infused with demon particles. Even after a few minutes it was already trying to take over your body." Wendy jumps up to collect a small jar and uses her wind magic to push the black goo into the jar. "We need to get this investigated. We need to know what the incubation time of this thing is."
"Where will we send it to? The guild? Porlyusica? The magic council?"
"If it wasn't filled with demon particles I could answer every question there is about it."
Gajeel sighs deeply. "What if we send it to someone to investigate and it somehow infects them?"
This though causes Lucy to shiver. Just imagine the old healer as a demon. She's already a scary person.
Erik starts laughing at Lucy's string of thoughts, causing Wendy and Gajeel to look at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Stop listening in on my thoughts, Erik. You're freaking people out."

Gajeel looked away as his mind wandered back to the demon. How come Lucy got infected and not him? Why did her life have to be in danger again? He should have protected her instead of just standing there and stare. How could he have been that stupid?
He's so lost in his thoughts that he cannot hear Wendy and Erik leaving the room, he doesn't even notice Lucy moving until she places her hand on his arm.
"What's going on inside that head of yours?"
His eyes focus on the jar on the ground while he shrugs.
"There was nothing you could have done to prevent this, Gajeel. I'm just glad I had you by my side. You really helped me out there."
"Yeah, you're welcome, Bunny."
The small blonde smiles brightly at her teammate, the action resulting in a small smile coming from the grumpy Dragonslayer himself.

Neither of them realized whatever next was to come from that smile.