Two days. We've stuck in Clover Canyon for two days. With no food or water whatsoever. My stomach was twisted in knots, and it was twice as worse due to mine and Erza's bond. We soon came across Web Valey, one of the hardest places to navigate. "Come on Happy!" Lucy complained, "Don't tell me that you got us lost again! We've been walking for forever and a half and we still haven't found Magnolia yet! Why are we following a Cat anyway!"

"What do you mean again?" Happy questioned, "How rude! I wasn't lost last time so this is the first time I've gotten us lost."

"First time or not, let's just try to make it our last, ok?"

"Man, I want some food." Natsu groaned.

"We all do." Gray retorted, "Talking about it makes us hungrier."

"I can't help it if I'm hungry, jerk!"

"No, but you can stop running you're mouth, can't you?"

"Listen up!" Master Makarov but in. "We need some food…"

"Yeah! We know!" Natsu and Gray chorused.

"Enough." Erza ordered, however it was undercut by a loud groan from her stomach.

"You're stomach's trying to tell you something, isn't it?" Natsu wondered.

"No it's not, you're hearing things."

"Uh, yeah, real convincing Erza." Gray stated.

"Babe, it's ok to admit you're hungry." I said. There was then a large squeal, and I turned to see Happy and Mizuki grinning like crazy kittens, looking down into the cavern below.

"What are you two excited about?" Natsu asked.

"Down there!" Mizuki cheered, pointing down into the cavern.

"Look, Natsu!" Happy added, "Look!" Everyone peeked down to see a school...flock...group of Wing Fish. They were flying around, smiling wide as they chanted about how they could fly. "Those are Wing Fish!"

"Mizuki read the job flyer the other day!" My Feline companion stated, flying up to me and getting in my face, "She saw that they're a legendary delicacy! And she heard that they were the best fish ever!" Mizuki grinned happily.

"A legendary delicacy?" Gray muttered.

"Wing Fish, huh?" Erza added.

"Sounds good to me." Natsu declared.

"Well done Happy, Mizuki." Master Makarov sobbed, placing his hand on the blue cat's shoulder. "You make this old man very proud."

"Guys, enough with the growling stomachs." Lucy groaned. Lucy's stomach then let out a loud gurgle.

"You were saying?" Gray teased.

"Shut up."

"Now!" Happy declared, having pulled a fishing rod out of nowhere, "Time to fish!" Pretty soon, everyone was holding a fishing rod and was sitting on the side of the cavern try and catch a Wing Fish.

"Aw, come on you stupid fish!" Natsu complained, "Just shut up and let me eat you!"

"Mizuki thinks we should fish harder!" Mizuki stated, a determined look crossing her features.

"I don't know, are you sure these things really taste that good?"

"Lucy, at the moment, I am feeling the hunger of two people so can you please just shut up and fish." I said to her, "Anything edible at the moment would be worth it."

"I didn't know you were that hungry."

"You're going in my belly!" Happy declared. "Right now! You hear! Happy's gonna eat you fish!" It was another couple of minutes before Happy put down his fishing rod. "Whatever, I give up."

"That was fast." Lucy commented.

"Well, I couldn't catch a single fish." I tuned out the rest of their conversation, my grip tightening on the fishing rod. I was starving, I needed to eat, and eat now. In the end, we only managed to catch two fish, it was thin and only half the height of Happy and Mizuki.

"That was harder than you'd think."

"All that trouble for just two fish." Erza added. Natsu then used his flames to cook the things.

"Mizuki, Happy, go ahead and eat them." I said, kneeling next to them and ignoring my stomach begging for the food.

"But...but Yui." Mizuki started, gazing up at me, "If Happy and Mizuki eat them that means there won't be any for you! She thinks it wouldn't be fair."

"They're way too small to split up, if we had a bite we'd just want more." Gray explained.

"Hurry up and eat it before we change our minds!" Master Makarov demanded.

"Ok, don't mind if we do!" Happy declared. He and Mizuki each took a fish, and then proceeded to chomp down. When they finished, they each pulled faces.

"Gross!" They chorused.

"Are you kidding me!" After that ordeal, we all started on our way again to try and find home. I held Mizuki in my arms to keep her safe and for her to not waste any more energy walking.

"I hate to say it, but…" Natsu started.

"All that fishing…" Gray continued.

"Made me hungrier." Master Makarov finished. We soon came across a village made of stone.

"A village!" Erza gasped.

"Houses!" Gray added.

"That means only one thing!" I cheered.

"Food!" Everyone cried. We all ran forward, hoping to the beings above that the people living there would share. We then came to a stop, looking around and realising that the town was empty and eerily quiet.

"There's no one here." Gray commented.

"It does seem awfully quiet, doesn't it?" Lucy wondered.

"Maybe they're taking an afternoon nap or something." Natsu added. "Hey! Anybody here!"

"We're starving like crazy out here!" Happy called. "Somebody cook us some dinner!"

"Wow, Happy, ever hear of the word please?"

"Mizuki wonders if the people here are even taking a nap." Mizuki said, "She doesn't think it's that likely."

"Well, it's either that or they all got drunk and passed out." Master Makarov commented.

"I think that only happens back at the Guild." Lucy told him.

"We do love our spirits, don't we." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in through my nose.

"Yui, what do you smell?" Erza asked me. I then opened my eyes.

"Food, freshly cooked, as if it had just been set on the table." I reported, my eyebrows pinching together. I lifted my hand started to count out on my fingers, "No alcohol, no scent of any person, just...emptyness."

"That's strange."

"She's right." Gray agreed. "Who would leave food just sitting around like that and then just leave? Where the heck are they now."

"Who cares!" Natsu cheered, preparing to run off. "I'm ready to dig in!"

"Not so fast." I said, grabbing Natsu by the ear so he stayed put. "We have to investigate what happened here first."

"We've heald out this long." Erza added, "We can hold on a little-" Erza was cut off by the sound of her own stomach.

"I think you're stomach might have different plans." Lucy said.

"Hmm...yes." Master Makarov agreed. "But which one do we listen to?"

"Search the area for mushrooms or anything that looks edible!" Erza ordered, shouting over the sound of her stomach. "And don't eat the food in the village, ok? While you're all doing that, Yui, Mizuki, Master and I will try to figure out what's going on."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear 'ya." Natsu muttered, rubbing his ear as he left, "Let's go Happy."

"Aye…" Happy responded dejectedly. Soon, the two of them, plus Gray and Lucy, went to go foraging while Erza, Master Makarov, Mizuki and I searched the village. It was eerily empty, and I was getting worked up as the three of us joined back up in the town centre.

"Did you find anybody?" Erza asked.

"Nope, not a single soul." Master Makarov said.

"Me neither." I sighed, crossing my arms, "This place is deserted."

"But if that's the case, who do all these houses have freshly cooked food on their tables." Erza wondered. She then looked down and noticed a line in the floor. "Hold on…This isn't an ordinary crack in the ground. It must serve some kind of purpose."

"Hey, Mizuki, do you think you have enough energy to take me up to see?" I asked, looking down at my arms.

"Yeah." Mizuki said, summoning her wings and taking ahold of the back of my jacket.

"We'll be back soon." Mizuki then started to fly, lifting us high into the air. My eyes trailed the lines that were etched into the ground, silently drawing them with my finger. My eyes then widened when I realised what was going on. "Mizuki! Get me back down there! Quick!"

"Ok!" Mizuki shouted, "Max Speed!" Mizuki put on a burst of speed and we rocketed towards the centre of town where Erza and Master Makarov had been joined by the others. Mizuki dropped me down and She landed on my shoulder. "Guys, we need to get out of here." Just as I said those words, the ground started to move, and the buildings began to sway. "Now! Come on!" I started to run away from the village, trying to make it to higher ground. When we reached a cliff, we looked back down to the village and saw that it was now a bunch of monsters writing around.

"It can't be." Master Makarov muttered.

"Oh man, it looks like we got out just in time." Natsu stated.

"Now I see, it was a Magic Circle." Erza said, causing everyone to gasp.

"Master." I started, looking down at him, "Those lines that were in the village, they were for the banned Magic 'Alive'."

"What does it do?" Lucy asked.

"See for yourself." Master Makarov said. "It's exactly what it looks like. It has the ability to turn inanimate objects into living creatures. It appears the villages cast the forbidden spell only to end up being eaten by the very Monsters they bought to life."

"But why would they use Magic that's been banned?"

"Ths village was home to a Dark Guild." Erza reported.

"No way…" Natsu muttered.

"While investigating, I came across a collection of Magic Tools tucked away in a shed. Upon closer inspection, I realised they were tools used to practice Black Magic."

"Knowing how reckless Dark Guilds can be, they probably thought up some crazy plan and wound up getting burned in the process." Master Makarov explained. "But! There's one thing we should be grateful for."

"Oh yeah, and what would that be?" Natsu wondered.

"The Dark Guild's mischief bought these creatures to life and most living creatures can be turned into food!" I let out a smirk.

"Erza! Let's go! Mizuki, stay with Master Makarov!" I shouted, jumping off the cliff and running towards the Monsters with Erza close behind. "Eclipse Dragon! Sword Horn!" My head connected with one of the Monsters, and I knocked it out. "Eclipse Dragon! Roar!" I managed to cook the Monster. And I smirked, Time to grub out. One of it's smaller tentacles had fallen off, so I grabbed it and took a large bite. As soon as the flavour hit my tongue, I gagged. It was horrible. I spat it out instantly.

"What were you thinking Gramps?" Natsu demanded as we all gathered around him. "There's no way we can eat that nasty stuff!"

"You tryin' to kill us you old geezer!" Gray said.

"True, I would hardly call this edible." Erza stated.

"If you knew it was hardly edible why'd you force me to eat it!"

"I'm never gonna get that taste out of my mouth." I groaned. There as a thud as Happy collided with the side of the cliff, riding a chair. The mushroom that was on his head finally falling off.

"You're mushroom finally fell off." Gray pointed out, "Look."

"I don't wanna know about the stupid mushroom!" Happy complained, "I wanna know why you guys didn't help me! How could you be so mean? I thought we were friends!"

"We are!" Natsu insisted.

"You were just goofing off, right?" Gray wondered.

"What are we going to do now?" Erza asked. "I would rather starve than eat more of that stuff."

"Guess that's what we get for trying to cook up a bunch of Monsters."

"Man, this whole thing sucks." I stated. "Just cooking that thing made me even hungrier. There as a roar, and my eyes snapped over to a Monster towering over Happy.

"Look out!" Natsu shouted, sending a flaming punch. I looked around me and noticed that there were more Monsters.

"Man, these things are nasty." Gray commented.

"In more ways than one." Erza added.

"Let's get these guys dealt with." I stated, dropping into a fighting stance. "Eclipse Dragon! Sword Horn!" After a good majority of the Monsters were dead, we gathered. Unfortunately, the things were persistent, and more Monsters took their place. "These things are never-ending!" There was a rumble that caused me to stumble and try to regain my footing.

"Great, what's happening now?" Lucy demanded. A light shone from the Magic Circle.

"Are you kidding me!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Oh wow! It's so pretty!" Happy complimented.

"Mizuki thinks that you're taking this the wrong way Happy!" Mizuki shouted. "She thinks there's something definitely wrong in your head!"

"This is bad." Erza stated.

"Babe, stay close." I said, taking a closer step to my Mate. The ground then started to crack, and soon broke away from under our feet.

TIMESKIP

"I'm starving." Natsu complained. "Like for real." We continued on our journey, Happy flying bride us while I held Mizuki safe in my arms.

"I can't walk another step you guys." Happy commented.

"Well good thing you gave wings, unlike the rest of us, you show off." Gray scolded.

"I still don't get what happened." Lucy admitted.

"Um, Master." Erza started, prompting me to look at her.

"Yes?" Master Makarov acknowledged.

"I'm not satisfied with your explanation, sir."

"That so…"

FLASHBACK

We all stood around the now-human-again villagers. "Now spill it." Natsu demanded, "What were you trying to pull?"

"We were using the Magic Circle to cast Forbidden Spells." One of them admitted. "But those Monsters appeared and took over everyone in the town."

"So the Monsters we fought, you were all trapped inside them." Erza stated. I put my fist to my mouth.

"I feel like I'm gonna be sick." I groaned.

"When you stepped into the Circle, it activated the spell and we no longer had control of ourselves." A man with a tree on his head continued.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that happening again." Master Makarov said.

"What'dya mean by that Gramps?" Natsu wondered.

"There's no need to sweat the details, my boy." Master Makarov pointed at the villagers, "Now, as for all of you villagers, you should be grateful that someone came along to free you from your possession. I assume you've learned your lesson from this gross misuse of magic, and as long as it doesn't happen again, I won't report you to the Council. Is that a deal?"

"Yes, of course." The female from before said. "We never wanna go through that again. Thank you so much."

"You have our word." Tree-head added.

FLASHBACK END

"When we finally defeated the Monsters, it seemed to activate some kind of self-destructive spell within the Magic Circle." Erza revealed, "That's when you came in."

"That's right." I added, remembering the events. "You managed to not only free the Dark Guild from their botched spell, destroyed the Magic Circle and saved us all, moments before we were to be crushed."

"How did you do it?"

"I'll tell you girls some day." Master said to us. Erza and I exchanged looks. "But what matters now is…"

"We're still hungry!" Everyone complained.