Hey everyone, here I am again with a new chapter to follow up. hopefully next chapter won't take me as long to upload as this one. I hope you enjoy ^-^

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!

General P.O.V.

"Good evening, children. How is the mission going so far?" Master Makarov looks at 2 members of Team Celestial Dragon, secretly wondering where the other two members were.
Wendy frowns at Master's question and lowers her head.
"It's going like shit. We didn't get off with a good start at all."
"What happened? Is everyone okay?"
Erik runs his hands down his face and shakes his head slowly. "We went to check out the town and split up in teams of 2 members each. Wendy was with me while Lucy stayed with the Rust Bucket. They were attacked by a demon."
"They are hurt?"
Wendy decides to speak up this time. "At first we didn't notice anything, Lucy was frozen in shock and Gajeel was fine. But when we reached the inn, Lucy was unconscious and hit by a severe fever. She got infected with a demon particle, it was already trying to take over her body. We managed to push it out of her system though and even managed to capture the particle. What should we do with it?"
"I'll send Laxus over tomorrow morning to collect the sample. We will figure out what it is and how to destroy it."
Erik nods at Master's words. "Be careful. It's dangerous."
"We will be. How is Lucy doing now?"
"Physically she's fine, mentally not so much. What she saw and heard at that moment, it still makes me feel uncomfortable. She will probably suffer from nightmares from quite some time." Erik rubs his chest in obvious discomfort.
"Shit. I never thought the mission would be this bad."
"We'll handle it, Master."
Master Makarov nods slowly before sending his children a gentle smile. "Go get some rest, and be careful tomorrow."
"We will, Master." Wendy was the first to answer before getting up and sighing deeply. She's glad she managed to safe Lucy but still fears for her sister's mental wellbeing.

"Don't think about it too much, Little one. We'll all be there for her, at any time of the day."
"What if he comes back?"
Erik smiles down at the Sky Maiden and taps his ear. "We'll hear him coming and kick his ass before Lucy wakes up."
This caused Wendy to smile, for the first time that day. This entire situation was just one big pile of crap. They had to find the dark guild and destroy them. Hopefully there will be a way to cure the cursed people and turn them back human.
"Let's go and get some rest, Nii-San. We'll need it tomorrow."
The two of them slowly start making their way back to the room, both in desperate need of sleep.

Erik P.O.V.

I roll onto my back with a sigh before looking at the clock. 3 am. Why the fuck am I awake at this ungodly hour? I shake my head before getting up for a drink. But as soon as I lift the glass of water to my lips, I freeze. Images start flooding my mind. Is this Lucy's dream? I close my eyes to focus on the blonde's mind. Unlike normally her mind is a mess.

Dust starts rising from the ground, the wind still blowing it up into a vortex. Lucy looks around her as if she's looking for someone, but she's all alone. Or is she? A dark shadow appears inside the dusty vortex and the blonde gasps for air. As the figure becomes more apparent, the area becomes a whole lot warmer. Don't tell me…
"Natsu…"
He takes a step towards her and finally reveals his figure. Two massive horns have appeared on the top of his head while his eyes have turned into a bloody red color, void of any emotion at all. His fingers have once again turned into razor sharp talons. With a closer look I see deep scratches on his arm, right across his guild mark. Did he try to remove it?
"Luce, you have to help me."
Lucy gasps at his words. Was it really Natsu? He stretches out his arm, his hand open for her to takes it. But instead Lucy shakes her head as tears start streaming down her face.
"Give me back Natsu, you sick fuck! You leave him alone and leave his body!"
The demon starts growling deeply and it unfolds the black wings on his back. As Lucy takes a step back, he lunges towards her.

I drop the glass in shock, causing Gajeel to wake up immediately.
"What the fuck, Cobra?"
"It's Lucy."
Not even a second later her scream echoes throughout the inn. We both run towards the girl's room and turn on the lights. Wendy is looking at Lucy, frozen in shock. The blonde is thrashing on her sleep, some deep scratches have appeared on one of her forearms.
"Lucy, wake up!" Gajeel was the first to reach her, lifting her against his chest and holding her arms firmly so she wouldn't hurt him or herself. As he slowly whispers into her ear, she starts to calm down and wake up. So instead I walk over to the small bluenette and pull her into a hug, surprising her from her shock.
"She'll be fine now, Little one."
Lucy starts crying her eyes out against Gajeel's chest while he stroke her hair and back slowly. There's something about Gajeel that soothes Lucy, he eases some of her pain.

'Don't worry, Bunny. I won't leave you alone anymore. I promise I'll keep you safe from now on.' And as if Lucy could hear his thoughts as well she holds onto him even tighter.
"Oh dear Mavis, we should check out your arm, Nee-San."
Gajeel pulls back from the blonde and quickly looks down at her arms. "What happened?" He gently grabbed onto her injured arm and looks at her with worry in his eyes.
"I dreamt about Natsu being the demon from the Phantom Lord guild. He asked me to help him, but his eyes were too dull to be Natsu. So when I pulled back he lunged for me and his talons hit my arm."
"Yeah that wasn't Natsu, Bunny. It was the demon."
"I know, Gajeel. The real Natsu would never hurt any of us."
Wendy kneels down beside Lucy and glares at Gajeel when she hears how growling softly. We all know what it means but now Wendy has to heal Lucy's arm. Her hands start glowing blue as she hovers them above the cuts on Lucy's arm. After a moment the girl frowns in confusion before a pained expression marks her face.

"It's the same as the burns, isn't it?" Everyone, but Wendy, looks up in confusion at my words.
"So This can't be healed by magic either? Is it because it was a demon attack?"
"It could be. Hopefully we'll find some documents in the dark guild. But for now we'll have to get your arm disinfected and wrapped up. We'll be leaving that to you, Gajeel."
The Iron dragon Slayer nods at me and picks up Lucy bridal style, causing the blonde to squeal in surprise.

Lucy P.O.V.

As Gajeel sets me down on the toilet seat, I look at him in wonder. 'What did that growl mean?' Gajeel keeps his worry filled eyes fixed on my arm.
"Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't, actually. At first it burned a bit but now I don't feel it."
"Well at least that's good. However this could hurt." Gajeel dips a cotton ball into some alcohol before he slides it over the cuts. I grit my teeth when the new pain comes crashing into me full force. Gajeel grabs onto my uninjured hand and looks up to me.
"Just squeeze when it hurts. I'll be fine."
I nod at his words, squeezing his hand tightly when he slide the cotton ball over the next cut.

He slowly starts wrapping up my arm, before his hand grabs onto mine again. "We'll make them pay, Bunny. For everything they've done to you, Natsu, and all the other people."
I can't stop the smile from spreading on my face as I look into his eyes. 'I love this side of him, so protective.' I lift our hands towards my face and press a soft kiss on his fingers. "They messed with the wrong guild."
Gajeel grins with his signature "Gihee" before both of us get lost in each other's eyes. His deep ruby eyes are filled with so much emotion. Unconsciously we both lean forward until our foreheads touch. I squeeze his hand gently while I move my free hand to cup his cheek. As he copies my action, I close my eyes while our lips meet. Unlike his rough looks, his lips are gentle and soft against mine.
My lips move in sync with his, his thumb stroking my cheek softly.

'What is this? How come I feel so safe around Gajeel? He makes me feel loved, even more than anyone else does.'