Me: I'm gonna skip a chunk of time here because I REEEAALLY have something good planned for this chapter and I've wanted to write it for a long time! Okay, so if you read the previous A/N message, you know this is set before the seven-year gap. This is right after the Fairy groups leave for Tenroujima. Alright! Here we go!

3 HOURS LATER

Diana's POV

I tried my best to keep my footsteps silent as I walked through the thick underbrush of the thick forest behind the dude's mansion.

"Hey! Stop, thief!" A small voice shouted. I looked up from the ground, my eyes flicking around rapidly. I heard a quick crunch of branch to my right and dove there. I was right on target and caught a wiggling mass of person.

"Caught ya!" I growled. The person, a male, responded with a growl and a kick to my knee. I let go and he whirled to face me, black hair strewn around messily after our unsuccessful encounter.

"Who are you? Are you with the blond guy and the brown haired girl?" He asked, almost frantically, cobalt eyes flicking from side to side. I squared my shoulders and summoned a spear.

"Dia-chan! Diiiaaa-chaaan! Dia-Oh, Diana, there you are!" Kira and Inazu came tramping through the underbrush to see me and the male facing off. They skidded to a stop and I noticed Inazu step protectively in front of Kira out of the corner of my eye. I focused back on the boy and chucked the spear with a war cry; it hit the boy in the shoulder, sending him tumbling backwards onto the ground.

I dashed over, accidentally tripping over a tree root and losing my footing. I tucked my foot up under me and did a flip so I would land on my feet and grabbed my spear from his shoulder. I wiped it on the grass so the blood wouldn't stain it, but just as I was doing that, something collided with my chest. It wasn't quite a solid, but it was gritty and firm, like sand. It infiltrated my lungs, stealing my breath and I just barely retained the grip on my spear as I collapsed to the ground.

I struggled to breathe but the sand seemed to be everywhere, in the air, in my eyes, in my mouth, everywhere. I couldn't hear anything and I felt a bit of claustrophobia. With a jolt, I realized I was trapped in a ball of sand; a sand coffin. I was growing light-headed, the lack of oxygen to my brain affecting what I thought. I willed my arms and legs to move so I could break out but they wouldn't budge. Coherent thoughts were becoming a struggle.

Have...to...live...for Kira...For Erza...For Fairy Tail...Have...to...Fight! I squeezed my eyes shut. Let's go. Now or never, Diana. It's not that hard. You've seen Erza do it many times. Just GO!

My body got heavier. No, that's not what I wanted! Lighter, lighter than air...Fluffy too...Like a cloud...Ungraspable...Unhittable...Too agile for words...Kuraudo armor...Cloud armor...The only one I've been able to flicker on before...I arched my back as unimaginable pain spread in my body, starting in my chest and flowing out around my body...Light-headed...Must..con...sen...trate...Ca n't...hold...on...

"Oh, what a shame. I thought I could have a little fun with Erza's pupil. I guess she's not that strong." I heard a light voice say. It was unmistakably male. I gritted my teeth.

Can't let him...disgrace...Erza's name...Can't let him...hurt my friends...Can't let him...Disgrace Fairy Tail! A white light met my closed eyes. My head was pounding and I was still gasping for air. I felt heat, so much heat, as if the sands were burning my flesh. The light just got brighter and brighter, as if urged on by my will. I opened my mouth to scream but not a sound came out of my oxygen-deprived lungs. The light got steadily brighter...brighter and brighter...

Just then, I felt release. I sucked in air, panting. The heat was gone, replaced by a sharp coolness and so was the abrasiveness against my skin. The light was mostly gone and my eyes snapped open. I looked down at myself. What looked to be blue ribbons covered my chest and long, airy pants covered my legs down to my ankles, decorated by alternating sky blue and white patches, making it blend with the sky. The pants were exactly as they looked; pants. However, the blue ribbons were not; they were actually flexible bands of metal, colored to match the pants and only covering my chest so as to give me full range of motion for my arms and torso, which enabled me to use my full speed with both the katanas that had replaced my spear as weapons. I closed my eyes, thinking for just a moment.

This armor increases my speed, but decreases my defensive abilities. That should be easy to compensate for though. I've got to finish this off quick and get the dog. I have to finish this job and tell Erza about my Requip! I leaped, no, soared up into the air and then landed on the ground.

"Oho! She has some fight left after my Sand Coffin? And armor too..." I looked towards the speaker, a blond male with a forest green eye color. I heard him whistle.

"Under different circumstances, I'd be smitten with you. Of course, as it is, I suppose I have to defeat you," he said. He shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll let you live. But first, I do have to take care of you." With that, he formed a ball of sand on his palm. It seemed to swell into his palm and started circulating, forming an all-consuming, gritty black sandstorm in the palm of his hand. I cringed inwardly at maybe getting hit with that. He shot it flying at me and I just got my sword up in time to deflect it back at him. He sidestepped it and I noticed his focus was off me, on his teammate who I'd hit with my spear. I soared up and did a flip, my eyes on the boy.

"You're wide open!" I shouted, and slashed out with my katanas several times. I retreated a couple steps to see I'd shredded his shirt and some of the skin underneath. Apparently, my blade had also nicked his face; he had a long gash from his temple to his cheek. His eyes wandered up to meet mine and his hand went slowly to his face.

"Wow..." he breathed, fingers probing the gash in his cheek. His gaze was fixed on me and I held a katana out in front of me with a glare. He stood staring at me for some time before his hand fell to his side.

"Impressive...I can't beat you. Not yet. So, this will have to suffice. Sorry!" A ball of sand made its way towards me and I brought up my blade to deflect it. To my surprise, it went through my blade, almost like a gas.

"Diana, don't inhale it! It's sleep-" I heard Inazu shout out. And then my eyelids fluttered shut. I remember one thing passing my lips before passing out.

Asui's POV

"ASSSUUUIIIIIIII!" My ears perked up. Diana?

"Diana?" That was her voice, for sure. I clenched my fists; she was in trouble. A recent nakama, yet one I was determined to protect. I abandon the dog's smell trail, focusing on what I remembered Diana smelling like. Flaming air and sparking lightning, along with traces of metal and a smell I couldn't quite identify. I sniffed the air, tuning my ears to any other sound that may have come from her mouth. Because I knew it was her. I caught a faint whiff of strong magic and heard psychotic laughter. I grinned from ear to ear; that was all I needed!

I took off dashing. A form of ice that flowed like liquid but wasn't quite water trickled down my back, almost like I was standing under a freezing waterfall, and spread up my back as well. It covered my head, working my hair free of its normal updo (see Lahar's hair before the seven year gap and that's pretty much what it looks like, except white.) so it flowed out backwards behind me as I ran. The liquid ice formed a collar around my neck, strong as metal and about twice as cold. The ice froze on my head, making it a type of helmet, with a piece that came down in between my eyes and covered my nose and mouth. It was frozen so that it was see-through but the one that covered my body was a solid white, so white it rejected the sun into my opponents' eyes, blinding them temporarily. My icy boots made little to no sound on the soft, mushy surface of the forest floor and it allowed me to dash like I was on ice.

"Diana! Dianaaaa!" I shouted. A surly roar came from my mouth and I recognized it the sound Icilia had made the first time I'd snuck out of his den to watch the humans that practiced in the snow on our mountain. I got a harsh beating, although it was probably mild compared to what he would have done if I were a baby Dragon. I obeyed him from that point on and I was on the edge of learning the Wing Slash move when he disappeared. It was July seventh, 777. I remember it as clear as day.

I shook my head. No time to mope around now. I had to find Diana. Her tone indicated danger, death, warning. But she'd screamed my name. I needed to get to her. I needed to protect her. I felt the enormous amount of power given off; I'd been battling a wild animal and the surge of power almost knocked me to the ground. I grunted as I hurdled branch after branch. My breath was still even, which was good, but the terrain was getting tougher to navigate and Diana's smell was fading fast. Just then, her smell just about smacked me in the face. It was almost as if she was right in front of me! I sniffed the air frantically.

"Diana!" I shouted, startling a few birds from trees. They flew away, mindless of my horror. What had happened?! I could smell her, clear as day, but nothing lead away from that site! I determined she was nearby, and closed my eyes to sharpen my other senses. I could hear the straining of the branches of trees as a breeze blew sharply across them. The breeze held just the subtlest hint of metal...Metal? METAL!

"DIANA!" I tossed my head back, a burst of icy cold wind and sharp shards of ice skating out of my mouth as I let loose a Ice Dragon's Roar to the sky. I felt my instincts go primal; I had to fight to keep control on my inbred Dragon rage. I felt my feet moving of their own accord, my nose guiding and my ears peeled for any noise. No one dares mess with a dragon's nakama, for fear of the dragon's wrath. Whoever took Diana was about to go through a world of pain.

APPROX. A HALF HOUR LATER

Stronger, stronger, stronger. Her scent kept getting stronger, stronger, stronger. It was getting a bit cooler, but that may have been because the sun was slowly divining below the horizon. I breathed in the crisp, cool Magnolia air and kept running. My breath was coming in uneven spurts; I'd been running for almost an hour. Still, I couldn't bare the thought of losing the Requip wizard's scent, so I pushed on. Suddenly, I heard a shriek. A very high pitched shriek. I stopped in my tracks. I strained my ears for the shriek again. It came, almost bursting my magically enhanced eardrums.

"Diana! Diaaanaaaaa!" I shouted, my voice gaining a rough, growly tone from overuse. I was sure I would have blisters on my feet by the time we were done, but I gritted my teeth and starting running towards the sound.

"ASUI!" My eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in anger. That had to be Diana.

"I'm coming, Diana!" I wasn't running anymore; I was flying. My feet barely touched the ground and I leaped over anything in my way, crashing through entire trees so I wouldn't lose the overpowering smell of her. The sounds coming from my mouth were inhuman, and, deep down, it scared me a little. I'd lost control of the dragon within me more than once, and many people had died because I couldn't contain it. What if that happened here? That thought alone almost made me stop, but the next thought of her being tortured kept my feet pounding on the marshy ground. I hurled over one last branch and came upon just what I was hoping I wouldn't. A male, blond, with green eyes. He held a whip of what looked like sand in his hand and twirled it around in the air like a cowboy. When he spoke, it was with a slight accent that was hardly even noticeable.

"Now, tell me who Asui is!" He demanded. I saw a shivering form on the ground shake her head, messy strands of sweat-soaked teal hair moving ever-so-slightly when she did. Diana! I wasn't thinking clearly when I did what I did just then. I was only thinking of my friend, who had let me tag along on her mission. I was only thinking about how horribly I'd feel if she even fainted on my watch. I shed my ice armor in favor of sites and agility. I leaped forward, claws of ice forming on my fingertips and spikes forming off the bottom of my boots. I jumped towards the sand boy, my expression fierce and fangs bared.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" I roared ferociously. The boy looked up at me with a bit of surprise. I struck out at his face several times with my claws and, as his blood hit my ice claws, my dragon senses took over. My last current thought was really not like a prayer.

Let this bastard find out what happens when you mess with a dragon.