"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Izuku, no!"

What am I doing?

"Get out of there, kid!"

"He's crazy!"

Why am I running?

"You're just risking your life. You're being ridiculous!"

"Izuku, don't do it!"

Why can't I stop?

He ignored the shouts of the others behind him and kept running towards the cliff's edge.

As he approached the cliff, there was a flash of black light, and the cannon fired. He barely had enough time to think before he threw his hands up in front of him. He shouted as the beam collided with him and sent him back a few feet. He was about to fall back when something collided with his back, and he felt two paws pushing against him and trying to keep him up.

He faintly heard a string of curses over the roar of the cannon.

Violent, intense magical energy surged through his body, filling the void deep inside him. More and more, that volatile magic energy spilled over. It burned him from the inside out, but he still tried to hold out.

"Izuku!" He thought he heard Natsu shouting far behind him.

"Don't do it. We just gotta have faith!"

It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt! It doesn't hurt!

The beam intensified after a moment, and he stumbled. He grit his teeth and tried to stay on his feet, and he could feel himself slipping. He tried to push back against the overwhelming energy.

No! No, don't! I can't fall. Not yet! I can't-

Before he could finish the thought, despite Katsuki's attempts to keep him up, he finally lost his footing and fell back.

No! It's going to-

Before he fell to the ground, a magic circle appeared in front of him, and he was simultaneously thrown and pulled back. He crashed to the ground and looked up to see Erza standing in front of him in a set of armor. Both arms of the armor had half a shield on them, but she only had one in front of her, and the other behind her, the one she used to grab him and pull Izuku back.

She shouted as she endured the rest of the intense blast, and gasped as the magical energy finally tapered off in one last surge. It made an explosive sound as it finally ended and sent her back a few feet. Despite that, she stayed upright and glared at the Phantom guildhall.

The air was deathly silent as the magical energy faded. She looked down and saw there was barely a scratch on her armor. She quickly discarded her armor and whirled around.

Natsu broke out of Gray's grasp and hurried forward to Izuku's side.

"Hey, you okay? Say something!"

Erza kneeled down and looked over him. He was shaking violently, yet still tried to push himself up.

"What in the world were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed!" She leaned down and lowered her voice. "I thought you would have wanted to keep your powers a secret. I know how reluctant you are about this. Izuku, you absorbed so much magic energy. Are you even aware of your limit? Too much magical energy can kill someone!"

He shook his head as he forced himself to his knees. He was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood.

It hurts! It's like my insides are on fire! It hurts so much!

"Izuku, talk to me. You-" she stopped as she saw Izuku's green hair turn white.

"What the…hey what's going on?" Natsu asked.

He struggled to get to his feet and nearly collapsed but refused to fall. He didn't get to pass out, not here and not now. Not when he had so much to do still.

"I'm fine…" He barely managed to get the words out as he slowly stood up. He glared up at Phantom's guildhall as he dug deep into the feast of magic he was given. He slowly stepped forward as he gathered all magic he had taken in. An intense aura of magic surrounded him as he gathered it up.

"What the…"

"What is he doing?"

He could hear the mutters of the other members of Fairy Tail from behind and tried to shut it out as he focused on what was right in front of him.

"Erza…" He muttered. "Y-You're right. I can't always run away, I-I don't get to take the easy way out every time." A magic circle appeared in front of him as he spoke. "I'm tired of losing things! I don't want to run anymore!"

I only get one shot at this- make it count!

He ignored the burning tears in his eyes as he drew his fist back, violent magic energy at his beck and call. He shouted as loud as he could as the magic circle grew brighter.

"Jupiter!"

There was a blink, before the air crackled and dark energy was unleashed, right at the Phantom guildhall. Everyone shouted and screamed as they saw the beam of concentrated energy rage and destroy as it collided with the enemy's guildhall.

The magic stayed active for what felt like forever, tearing through the guildhall and whatever may have been in its way.

It eventually tapered off, and the magic circle faded away as the last of the magic energy was expelled. Izuku glared at the guild hall, and saw a hole clean through the building, just shy of the cannon.

"I…missed…" He groaned as he fell to the ground.

"Izuku!"

"Hey, come on buddy, stay with us."

The rest of Fairy Tail stared in a mixture of horror and awe as they stared at Phantom's guild hall.

"What the hell is that kid?" Macao stared at them. He raised an eyebrow as the boy's hair turned back into its normal shade of green.

"He's nuts!"

"He shot a hole clean through the place, and he calls that a miss?" Wakaba muttered.

Cana blinked before smiling. "Who would have thought that kid had so much fire in him?"

Elfman grinned as he looked at the Phantom guildhall. "Now that was manly!"

"But it took its toll," Mira said. "Look at him. He's exhausted…"

"Even so," Cana held up her cards. "They've seen what Fairy Tail is capable of. If they still wanna fight, then that's on them!"

-.-

"Everybody get down!"

Nobody had expected the magic of the Jupiter Cannon to be hurled right back at them. There were screams and terrified shouts echoing throughout the guildhall. When the magic beam collided with the building, it shook the entire structure and sent everyone into a wild panic.

Jose stared at the screen in shock and gripped the armrests of his throne hard enough to make it crack.

In a blast that should have destroyed the damn Fairy Tail guild, or taken down one of their strongest had she been brave enough to block it- instead that brat. The one that's been a thorn in his side this entire time now had the audacity to take the attack and redirect it back at them!

He ground his teeth as he watched the operators of the cannon get up off the ground after having fallen down. He turned his gaze back to the screens and saw Titania and Salamander gathered around the little pest.

First, Gajeel failed to do the boy in, and then he chased off two of my best. And now the wretched child dares to use our own attack against us? Where the hell did Makarov find this boy? He's gotten too lucky for too long. That pest needs to die!

"S-Sir, several floors have been damaged, including the area of the Jupiter Cannon's lacrima. There's severe damage there."

"Many areas are unstable now. What would you like us to do?"

His body trembled with barely contained rage. "Charge it again."

"W-What?"

"But sir, at least one of the supporting lacrima was destroyed, and two are badly damaged. Even the main one sustained damage due to the collapse of some of the floors and-"

"Sir, charging and firing off another shot could backfire and kill us too!"

"I don't care!"

As Jose seethed, a dark aura surrounded him. He forced himself to regain composure as he stood up and activated the loudspeaker.

-.-

The voices were faint, but he could hear them.

"I swear this kid has a death wish!"

"He's literally insane."

"One could argue Eighth was too…"

"Izuku! Hey, come on, say something!"

"Well, I mean, he did rip off that guy's face."

"This kid really knows how to give you a heart attack, geez…"

"Taking all that magic energy and using it all at once must have been hard on him. He saved us from the Jupiter Cannon. I don't blame him for passing out."

"He's gonna be okay though, right?"

"Come on Ninth, you can't pass out just yet."

There was a low growl and the sound of wings flapping. "Damn it Deku, you better not have fucking died!"

Deku?!

There was a harsh smack, with claws added to boot, and Izuku gasped awake. He sat and looked around, not minding the stinging on his cheek.

"Katsuki!"

"Hey, it woke him up, didn't it?"

Did I…black out?

"You're up!"

He looked up to see Natsu, Erza, and Katsuki gathered around him. Behind them were Lucy, Gray, and Happy.

"Don't scare us like that!" Lucy said. "What were you thinking? You could have gotten killed…all because of…because of…"

"Hey! You don't get to pity yourself Key Girl. We don't have time for that shit. Get over yourself!"

"Be nice, Kacchan." Happy said in a tone Izuku would use.

"Fuck you, you flying blue rat! Call me that again and see what happens!"

Erza shook her head as she looked Izuku over. "How are you feeling? Can you stand?"

Izuku nodded and let her and Natsu help him up. He relied on them to keep him upright, he didn't trust himself not to fall to the ground as soon as they let go. As he got to his feet, there was a crackling noise that came from Phantom's guildhall. After a moment, a voice began speaking to them through the loudspeaker.

"Makarov has fallen, and you pathetic fools have lost your trump card! It won't be long before you lose your beloved Titania as well!"

"Who…"

"Jose." Erza scowled.

Izuku looked up. "That's their Master?"

Erza was silent as the man continued.

"You should all know by now that victory is beyond you. Surrender Lucy Heartfilia now, and we may be willing to show mercy."

"In your dreams, old man!" Someone shouted.

"That's not gonna happen!"

"You didn't put a scratch on us, so don't go trying to scare us!"

"As if any guild would be willing to hand one of their own over to a monster like you!"

"You hear that? We're not going anywhere, Lucy's staying put!"

"I won't ask again!" He raised his voice.

Lucy stared down at the ground as she listened to everyone reject Jose's request. All of them saying the same thing, that she wasn't going anywhere, that Phantom had to leave. That Fairy Tail wouldn't lose.

Izuku was barely able to take on that cannon, and he and Katsuki are the ones that have suffered so much because of my selfishness. Fairy Tail's at risk all because of me…what are our chances at victory? Would it be better to just leave? How many more people are going to get hurt? If I put them in this situation, wouldn't it be best if I-

She was torn out of her thoughts as Erza raised her voice to shout at Jose. "We would never betray her like that. We would never betray anyone like that! You'd have to kill us first!"

She gasped and began tearing up.

"You can stop asking 'cause our answer ain't gonna change!"

"Don't act all high and mighty, Phantom. You haven't won yet!"

"Just you wait Phantom! We haven't even gotten started!"

"We're taking every one of you jerks down!"

They heard a growl over the loudspeaker and a hard slam. "If death is what you want, then I'll give you a second helping of Jupiter!"

"B-But sir-" A faint voice was heard.

"You have 15 minutes to make a decision!"

The cheering stopped as the loudspeaker clicked off, and they all looked at each other.

"Another shot of Jupiter? But the building is damaged. You think they can actually do it?" Macao asked

"They're probably bluffing. They gotta be. You hear that other voice? They don't wanna do it." Wakaba waved the concern off.

Cana frowned as she watched a dark miasma begin to pour out of the windows of the guild hall. They slowly began to take shape and make their way over towards them. "No, he's gonna do it. There's no way Izuku's attack didn't cause some serious internal damage, but they're willing to risk it."

"Wait, what?" Others looked at Cana. "But, if those lacrimas they use are unstable, won't it backfire on them?"

"Yeah, and it'll take Jose with it!"

She huffed. "You really think that jerk won't find some way to keep himself alive? Please, besides, if it fails there's no telling how far an explosion like that will reach. He might just be planning on taking Fairy Tail with it."

"But he has his own guild members in there."

"At this point, I doubt he really cares. Besides, you see those things there? Heading towards us? They're created using Jose's shade magic; he won't miss them. He may as well think whoever's inside are just like them, unimportant."

"Geez, how the heck did someone like him become a Guild Master, let alone a Wizard Saint?"

Izuku was quiet as he listened to Cana speak. He stared ahead at the building and looked over it again and again. Bit by bit a plan began to form.

"So we just gotta wreck the cannon, right? And then we beat up on all those guys inside?" Natsu asked. "Easy enough!" Natsu let go of Izuku and was about to take off until he raised his voice.

"Hold on!"

He skidded to a stop, then looked over his shoulder. "Don't worry, I got this."

"No," Izuku said and took a deep breath as he gently pushed Erza away and stood up on his own. "Even if you do destroy it, then what are you going to do? You can't just run around fighting people at random, you'll be wasting time and energy."

"Then what do you suggest, nerd? You actually got a plan?" Katsuki raised an eyebrow.

Izuku nodded. "Well, part of one at least."

"Part of it?!"

"We need to give ourselves every advantage we can get. Priority one, destroying that cannon. Like Cana said, there's no way it's in good shape, but we need it to stay out of commission. Even if the backfire wouldn't reach us, there are still people in there. They don't deserve to die."

"We were gonna take out that cannon anyway. It shouldn't be too hard, I'm a pro at wrecking stuff." Natsu grinned.

"What other priorities are there?" Gray asked.

"Our second priority, is taking care of Aria from the Element Four."

"What? Why him? You wanna take on the guy that took out Master?" Happy shouted.

"If his magic works the way I think it does, I'll be the best match-up for him. Take him out, and maybe get Master Makarov back his magic. A lot of this advantage banks on getting him back on his feet."

"Are you insane? You just took the Jupiter Cannon head on, and you still wanna fight?"

"Priority three." Izuku ignored the objection. "Gajeel. He's one of their hardest hitters. Take him off the board, and that's another advantage. There's a reason Phantom is going all out. They tried doing things the sneaky way, but that failed, so all they've got is brute strength. Take out the strongest of them…"

"And they have nothing left." Erza finished. "The rest of the Element Four will pose a problem, as will Jose, but we'll handle that as we go along. Izuku's right, we need every advantage we can get right now. Strike hard and fast, don't waste energy."

"If you do go against the Element Four, don't waste time on certain members. Physical attacks won't work on Juvia, and Sol is fast and can move through the ground. Don't get caught in a bad match-up."

They all nodded and Erza looked at the rest of them. "Gray, go with Natsu to destroy the cannon, Izuku, and I will handle Aria."

"And Gajeel?"

"Whoever comes across him can fight him, but don't be reckless!"

"Alright! You ready, Happy?"

"Aye sir!"

Natsu took off, and Gray ran after him after using his magic to make a bridge over the water.

"Don't think you get to leave me out of this!" Elfman ran forward with Gray.

"While you're in there, the rest of us will defend the guildhall! You with me?" Cana was met with cheers from everyone as the Phantom Soldiers drew nearer.

Izuku took off running toward the cliff's edge, with Katsuki and Erza following nearby. "You ready, Kacchan?"

"You sure you wanna do this idiot? You really think you can handle it?"

"As sure as I can be."

Katsuki shrugged. "Alright, your funeral, nerd." He picked up Izuku as he jumped off the cliff and began to fly toward Phantom's guild hall. Just behind them was Erza, who had requipped into a different armor and begun to fly behind them.

"You really think you can take on the strongest of those Element jokers or whatever?"

"I don't want to run anymore." He muttered and clenched his fists. "I don't want to be the helpless one every time. I've had enough of that. I want…need to change, for the better."

"And you think this is the way to go?"

Izuku nodded after a moment. "I suppose, this is my starting line."

They didn't realize that behind them, Erza was smiling.

-.-

Lucy watched as her friends took off towards Phantom's guildhall. Guilt bloomed in her chest as she took a step forward. She wanted to go, she wanted to fight. She had no right to make them handle this burden on their own. Not when it was her fault.

"Lucy!" A hand gently grabbed her arm and she turned around to see Mirajane looking at her. "Come with me."

She tried to protest, even as she looked back and saw the others go farther and farther away.

"M-Mira, I can't just…I have to fight too. I'm respon-"

"Nobody blames you Lucy, I mean it. You don't have to feel guilty. This is all of Fairy Tail's fight. They hurt us, and we won't let them get away with that. They're trying to hurt you too, and we won't let that happen."

"But I can fight. I not helpless. There has to be something I can do, I'm-" she reached for her keys and paled in shock. "My keys…I dropped my keys! But when…"

Mira winced in sympathy before shaking her head and sighing. "Lucy please, just do as I say."

Lucy looked up in confusion as Mira raised a hand and a shimmering light appeared. She passed out almost immediately. Thankfully Mira caught her and brought her over to Reedus.

"Reedus, please, take her to the safe house"

"Oui."

As he began to paint a cart, Levy spotted the small group and hurried over. "Mira! Where are you guys taking Lucy?"

"To a safe house. Phantom is after her, and if they can't find her then that's for the better."

Levy watched the cart appear out of thin air, and Mira began to put Lucy inside.

Once she was in Levy quickly hopped in.

"Levy!" Mira called out at the same time Jet and Droy did as well.

"What are you doing?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going with Lucy." Levy answered. "You two stay here and help everyone else. I'm counting on you. Okay?"

"But…"

"Please you guys. Take care of everyone alright?"

Her two best friends stared at her before slowly nodding.

"Alright, Levy." Jet smiled. "You be careful."

"You can count on us!"

"Thank you."

Levy ducked inside and Mirajane gave Reedus the go-ahead to leave.

He quickly sped off, and all were unaware of a lone shade following them from the shadows.

-.-

Jose glared at the screens displaying the fights. Fairy Tail hadn't lost any morale with the first Jupiter strike, instead, they seemed even more keen on fighting him and his guild. Glancing at other screens, he could see a few of their members making their way over to his guildhall.

He narrowed his eyes as he spotted Titania and that pesky boy on one screen. Then another showed Salamander and a cat heading toward the cannon, followed by two other wizards.

He grit his teeth and slammed a fist on the armrest of the throne. "Gajeel!"

"Yes?" A voice from above sounded. There was a slight shuffle, and he jumped from the ceiling and landed in front of Jose.

"There are going to be a few pests running about in my guildhall soon- take care of it."

"You got it." Gajeel refused to look him in the eye, then turned away. Before he could leave the room, Jose spoke up one more time.

"I'll allow you to correct a mistake that should have never been made in the first place. I want you to take on that little green pest first." He clenched his fists as he stared the iron dragonslayer down. "I want him dead, am I understood?"

"You got it, I'll make sure to send that fairy brat to hell."

"See that you do."

-.-

"Come on, come on!" Natsu huffed as he punched the cannon. "I'm barely even scratching it! Come on, I thought I'd be at least able to knock it down from here. I mean, it is pretty beat up."

"Looks like we're gonna have to break it from the inside."

"Yeah, looks like it." He got up and looked around. He could see Gray and Elfman making their way over. "Let's see if we can get this done before those two show up."

"You just wanna show off."

Natsu just grinned and dropped into the cannon, then began to make his way down. "Let's get this done!"

As they made their way down, Natsu heard a voice echoing from ahead. Someone was ranting and letting out a couple curses as they paced around.

"You hear that?" Natsu asked.

"Huh?"

"There's somebody up ahead. Looks like we're gonna have to pick a fight to get this done."

"Natsu, you can't waste time with some guy! At least break the stuff before you go fighting."

The dragonslayer didn't respond as he hopped out of the cannon and into the main room. He stopped as he saw the state of the place.

"Oh wow…" Happy muttered.

Part of the ceiling on one side of the room had collapsed, which crushed one of the lacrima. Two of the supporting ones were already cracking, and only one to the side was unscathed. Even the center one had a couple of cracks and chips.

"You know, for a miss, I'd say he did pretty good." Natsu grinned.

"I'll say…"

"You!"

They looked up and saw the person Natsu had heard earlier. A man dressed in orange with black and white hair. He looked at the two of them with a venomous glare.

"What, what about me?"

"It figures that a fairy fly would come here. Do you fools have any idea what you've done?"

Natsu smirked as flames wrapped around his fist. "Yeah, we messed up your cannon and we're here to finish the job! Now get out of my way!"

"Natsu no! We don't have time to waste on this guy!"

He leapt forward to attack the stranger despite Happy's protests. Before he could strike the man, he suddenly hit himself in the face. He cried out as he fell over.

"Natsu, what the heck was that? Come on, we don't have any time to mess around?"

"I dunno what happened! For some reason, my fist just went to hit me. Come on…that hurt."

"Hmph." The man rolled his eyes.

"Just get out of my way!" Natsu shouted as he charged again with fire blazing around him, only to be hit by his own fist again.

"Oh come on! What the heck is going on?"

The man huffed and brushed the hair out of his face. "It seems you have failed to figure it out. Though I suppose I shouldn't expect any amount of cleverness from you fairies." He spat out the last word. "I am Totomaru, he who has complete control of fire. Whether magic or natural, any and all fire will bend itself to my will. Does it make sense now, poor little fairy?"

The dragonslayer looked him up and down with a frown. "So I take it that makes you one of the Elephant 5 guys or something?"

"Element 4! It's Element 4, Natsu, how could you not even get the number right? Just ignore this guy! Break the giant lacrima first and then you can fight this weirdo. Izuku said not to get caught in a bad match up, and this is a bad one!"

Natsu huffed before raising his fist. "I don't need my fire to knock this guy on his butt." He didn't listen to Happy before charging forward. The cat looked around nervously before flying over to some of the rubble and grabbing a rock. He flew over to the lacrima and began beating it with the stone.

"Oh, so you're going to face me without magic. Then that's just fine!" Totomaru pulled out a katana and swung just as Natsu got close.

Happy watched the two fight as he continued to try and break the lacrima.

"9 minutes until Jupiter fires." An automated voice announced.

"You gotta be kidding, come on!"

"Natsu, it's time to stop messing around!"

One of the cracked lacrimas began to spark weakly.

"I'm trying to get this guy out of the way. What are you doing?"

"Your job!"

"I recommend paying attention you fairy fly!"

Natsu jumped back to avoid getting slashed with Totomaru's katana, and continued to back away. He couldn't use his fire, as much as he wanted to. He was told not to get into a bad match-up. Even so, he was pretty sure he could win.

When he saw an opening he managed to bring a fist down and snap the man's precious katana in two. One of the stray pieces went flying, and Happy cried out as it barely missed him.

"Hey! Watch where you're fighting Natsu! That could have hit me!"

"Sorry, buddy!"

The blade buried itself in the lacrima and caused a few of the cracks to widen.

"7 minutes until Jupiter fires."

"Aarrgh, get out of my way so I can wreck this thing already!"

"As if!"

A magic circle appeared in front of him and he launched a wave of fire towards the dragonslayer.

Natsu grinned and ate the wave of fire, gulping it all down with a sigh. "Nice try buddy, but fire doesn't work on me either!"

"I see, I know who you are now. You're Salamander, Fairy Tail's dragon slayer."

"You got that right!"

"I see." Totomaru glared at him. "It seems we're at a standstill now, aren't we?"

"No way, I can still kick your butt and break your stupid cannon."

"Are you really that foolish to believe that you'll get anywhere? Any fire you use will bend to my will, and you seem keen to eat any fire I throw at you."

"Yeah. And?"

"Do you not see the kind of situation we're in? We can't beat each other, which is fine by me. I just need to waste your time so the Jupiter can fire."

"But won't that blow you up too?"

"I can make a quick escape."

"Well, that's not manly at all!"

Natsu looked up as the temperature dropped, and a large blur came speeding down the barrel of the cannon.

Totomaru tried to get out of the way, but ice had begun to creep through the room and reached his legs to keep him in place. The poor man didn't get a chance to defend himself before a large fist sent him flying toward one of the other intact lacrimas.

Upon breaking, magic energy sparked and discharged around the room. It collided with the walls and the main lacrima before quickly dispersing.

Totomaru groaned as he fell to the ground, having been at the center of the rampant magic energy.

"Come on Natsu, that was just pathetic."

The dragon slayer's head snapped up as Gray hopped out of the cannon's barrel.

"I thought Erza said to hit hard and fast, and here you are stuck on fighting some guy. Besides, didn't we say we wouldn't get caught in bad match-ups?"

"Hey, I was just getting started! I could have dealt with that guy no problem. Then you had to go and ruin it."

"A real man would have already had this done." Elfman crossed his arms.

"4 minutes until Jupiter fires."

"Go on Natsu, get it done. We took care of the hard part for you."

Natsu rolled his eyes and grinned as fire surrounded him.

-FH-

Katsuki sighed as he placed Izuku down on one of the walls of Phantom's guildhall, Erza landed beside them and requipped into her normal armor.

"Alright, we're here. Now what nerd?"

"We find Aria."

"Yeah great, how are we supposed to to that?"

"Seeing as he's one of the strongest wizards in Phantom, it's likely he's stationed somewhere near Jose," Erza said. "If we want to find him, it may be best to start looking near where Jose would be."

"Uh…" Izuku looked at the large guild hall. "Do we know where he'd be? This place is a lot bigger than Fairy Tail's guild hall."

"Knowing Jose, it's likely he's on an upper level overseeing everything. We'll start heading in that direction. Though it's likely we'll run into Gajeel as well. There's no way they don't know we're here."

Katsuki scoffed as he looked around. "Yeah, well we owe that bastard an ass-kicking. I hope we see him again."

"I'd rather not take him on. Not now at least, like I said Aria is-"

There was a loud boom that made the entire building shake. Izuku wobbled and used the wall to keep himself steady as the shockwaves rolled through the place. Erza went to the edge of the wall and looked out to see the cannon that had been charging was now smoking and falling down into the ocean.

"Looks like Natsu took down the cannon with plenty of time to spare." Izuku muttered. "If that's the case he might go after Gajeel and-woah!"

Izuku was cut off as another tremor shook the building. He made his way over to where Erza was and peered around the edge to see half of the guild hall crumbling. The tremors from the cannon's destruction only further destabilized what Izuku hadn't destroyed with his Jupiter blast.

Large pieces of the building crashed to the ground and into the ocean, leaving parts of the building exposed.

"...Holy shit."

"It looks like the initial Jupiter blast did much more damage than we thought. This is good, they're at a further disadvantage. There isn't much space left for anyone to hide."

"But that also means when we're looking around we're more likely to run into regular guild members. And that means eating up a lot of time."

"Not if we're smart about it. Come on, let's get inside, we've stayed out here for too long. We need to go before someone finds us."

Izuku nodded and made his way to the nearest entrance. Upon reaching a door he put an ear to it, and when he heard nothing he slightly opened it and peered inside to look around. When he was sure no one was in there, they ran inside and began to make their way through the halls.

Occasionally they stopped at an intersection, and paused to look around and listen for anyone. Much to their surprise there weren't a lot of people running around in the area.

They're probably gathered around somewhere else. Or maybe some of them have already started to evacuate?

Izuku stepped out into the hall and Erza followed after him.

"Do you have any idea where you're going nerd?"

"Honestly? No."

"Oh, that's fucking reassuring."

"Well, it's not like there's a map to this place. And we can't just find someone and ask them for directions!"

"Sure we can, after we kick their asses."

"Hold on." Erza stopped them and looked around. "Do you feel that?"

"What?"

Once again the building began shaking, and the hallway they were in began to tilt.

-.-

Amidst the battle of the Fairy Tail members and Jose's phantom soldiers, a loud boom seemed to make the battlefield pause. They all looked up to see the cannon explode from the inside out, causing the entire building to shudder.

"They did it!"

"And with plenty of time to spare!"

"You see that Phantom? You're all outmatched!"

Mirajane gave a sigh of relief as she saw the cannon put out of commission. That was another threat off their shoulders.

"They lost their cannon, do they still think they can win this?" Wakaba muttered.

"They're gonna keep going until they either get Lucy, or we wipe them out," Cana said. "At this point, I'm pretty sure we know which route they'll take."

"Then let 'em keep coming!" Macao shouted.

As they spoke there was another tremor, and all of the Fairy Tail wizards saw half of Phantom Lord's guildhall collapse.

There was a beat before the shades shuddered and began to attack more viciously than before. The added hostility made dealing with them more difficult, but everyone knew what that meant.

They were getting under Jose's skin.

Just as their morale began to rise, they saw the building begin to shift. Different sections parted and rearranged themselves to turn the building into the totally different structure. A few of the Fairy Tail wizards stopped fighting and watched the Phantom building slowly turn itself into a giant.

"What the hell is that?"

"You can't be serious, isn't that overkill?"

"What is that thing?"

Loke frowned as he stared up at the changing building. "That's Phantom's Giant, their strongest weapon. I'm more surprised that they actually made it change considering they're missing half their guildhall!"

As the giant formed they could see that it was missing one of its arms, the left side of the building slightly sagged with no real weight to balance the other side.

"That thing doesn't look too stable, I hope everyone's okay in there."

-.-

"Urgh…so, dizzy. I'm gonna be sick."

"You can't be serious Natsu, if you were a real man you'd make the giant motion sick of you," Elfman scolded the dragon slayer, then stumbled as the room began moving around. It began to tilt and the rubble from the collapse began to slide around.

"It's time to go, come on!" Gray grabbed Natsu and began to run out.

Elfman went to follow but stopped before turning around and sprinting to get the unconscious Totomaru, then running back to the others as fast as he could.

"Elfman, come on!" Gray hurriedly made a staircase leading up to where the cannon had been a short while ago. He quickly climbed out once Elfman caught up, and they hurried out.

"Happy, get Natsu!"

The cat nodded and grabbed his best friend. Now that Gray was free, he put both his hands together and formed an ice staircase to somewhere higher where the buildings weren't being turned sideways.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just go down?"

"Just move!"

They all scrambled up the staircase as the buildings continued to shift and move around. Every so often they had to stop while Gray quickly made an addition to the stairs so they could climb higher.

They kept climbing until they reached the part of the building that had collapsed and was exposed. It wasn't tilting to adjust to the giant's design. As they had spotted their opening the staircase began to crumble.

Happy dropped off Natsu as Elfman threw Totomaru in the same direction. Just as they were about to jump the staircase shattered.

"No!" Happy dropped Natsu and dove to catch one of them. He reached Elfman first and grabbed him, and flapped his wings as fast as he could.

"Gray!" The larger man shouted.

Gray stared at the ground he was plunging towards and grit his teeth. He tried to ignore the pounding of his heart as he put his hands together.

Don't panic. Don't panic!

He spotted some falling rubble just below him, and other pieces that were nearby. He quickly put a plan together. He forced himself to focus as the air around him grew colder.

"Ice Make: Slide!" He focused on the large debris and encased it in ice and added another section that jutted out toward his next target.

He landed on the debris and slid toward another large piece of rubble. He repeated his first method and quickly made his way down until there was no more rubble to use.

When he hit the ground it punched the air of his lungs, but he quickly scrambled to his feet to avoid the remaining rubble that was still falling. He only stopped once he was clear, and wheezed as he sat down to catch his breath.

"Gray!"

He looked up and saw a now recovered Natsu standing at the edge of the safe spot they had found.

"I'm fine!" He waved at him and Happy. "Just go on ahead, I'll make my way up!"

Happy and Natsu seemed to exchange a few words before looking down and nodding at him, then turned around and left. Elfman lingered a bit longer to look around, he stared at their guildhall for a short while before leaving as well.

Gray nodded to himself and looked down. They were separated now, which probably wasn't good but right now he didn't care. That whole thing was a lot more taxing than it had any right to be.

He'd make his way back up in a bit, he just needed a breather and some time to figure out how he was going to do that.

He looked up at the other half of the building, at least that section was intact.

"Erza and the others gotta be in there. They'd better be okay."

-FH-

"You're so fucking lucky I caught you, you damn nerd."

Izuku shook his head as he reorientated himself and looked around. "Erza?"

"I'm alright." She called from up ahead. She had requipped into the armor she used to fly over. "It seems the building adjusted itself. If I had to guess, it's because Jose chose to activate the Giant."

"The what?"

"One of Phantom's weapons. They essentially turn their guildhall into a mechanical giant. It'd be impressive if it wasn't in such irresponsible hands." As she explained she broke open a door to the next section and motioned for them to follow.

"If it uses the entire guildhall to transform, I hope whatever members are here were able to find stable ground. I didn't hear any warning."

"At this point Jose is getting desperate, which means we still have the upper hand, but we can't afford to get careless."

Katsuki flew Izuku to the next room where everything was in order, it wasn't tilted like the previous one. They landed on the ground and Erza went back to her normal armor. Once they were sure there was nobody around they began to make their way through that section of the giant.

"So where exactly are we going from here?" Katsuki asked, hanging off of Izuku's shoulder.

"Considering how the previous section tilted, I believe we're in the shoulder of the giant." She stopped and looked around the nearby hallways before continuing on.

"If Jose is probably in the head, then Aria is in the main body, right?"

"Most likely."

Izuku nodded and looked around as there was a slight rumble throughout the building. It wasn't serious enough to make them stumble, but still caught their attention.

"Considering we're here, do you think any of the Element 4 will come looking for us? Or do they count on us tiring ourselves out looking for them?"

"I'm sure they're patrolling different sections of the giant, but if we make our presence known, at least one of them is bound to come after us."

"Considering you clowns are good at wrecking shit, that shouldn't be too hard." Katsuki muttered. "There's a wall right there, break it and see who comes running."

"We're trying not to lose whatever stable ground we have, Kacchan."

"Bite me."

Erza shook her head as she continued to lead them forward. As nice as it would be to make some noise and draw someone in, they wouldn't know from which direction they were coming from.

As well as things were going they weren't familiar with this place, so they had to continue with an air of caution.

"Izuku."

"Yes?"

"What exactly is it that you plan to do when you find Aria?"

He nearly stumbled over himself when she asked. He looked up and she was still watching him.

"I…think you know what I have to do. If his power works the way I think it does, then maybe I can just grab Master's magic from him. I don't want to have to hurt him if I have to, not like…that." He looked away.

"Even though the freak deserves it?"

"Nobody deserves that." He snapped. "Nobody deserves to suffer like that."

"Izuku…"

"That's rich, coming from a parasite!"

Izuku felt the ground before the pain rolled in. He groaned and looked up, only for a boot to slam his head into the ground.

"Piece of shit!" Katsuki went to attack him, but was grabbed out of the air and thrown to the side.

"I was wondering when you were gonna come crawling around, you little leech."

He raised a fist which began to cover itself in metal. Before he could say anything else, Erza appeared behind him, looking downright murderous.

The dragon slayer barely had time to react and cover the rest of his body in metal before Erza's sword collided with his neck. It didn't cut, but it was enough to send him flying. She refused to give him any reprieve and closed the distance again.

She brought the sword down and Gajeel managed to block the blade with his arms. He grunted as she pressed her sword harder down. He panted before shouting and pushing her back, then moving back himself.

"Titania Erza, that wasn't very nice. I've heard about how strong you are, but for a minute there I thought you were actually trying to kill me."

Erza didn't respond. Instead a magic circle appeared below her and her armor disappeared, and was replaced by her Heaven's Wheel armor. She glared at him as she summoned more swords behind her, floating in the air and awaiting her command.

"When Fairy Tail first came to fight Phantom Lord, you had the fortune of having Natsu be your opponent. But now you have to face me, and I will not be as kind as he was."

"Erza…"

"Izuku, can you stand?"

"I-yeah. I'm fine." He got to his feet and looked around. He spotted Katsuki also getting up, glaring at Gajeel all the while.

"Good, now go."

"What? But-"

"Now." A sword flew away from her and landed at his feet. "Go find Aria, while I deal with him."

"Ooh, now I'm gettin' a little scared." Gajeel grinned. "You actually look pretty mad."

Izuku shuddered as Erza tensed up, he swore he could see the rage radiating off of her.

Izuku swallowed hard before grabbing the sword, then going over where Katsuki was and picking him up. He gave the two one last look before taking off in another direction.

"Go ahead and run, little brat. When I'm done here, I'm gonna put you in the ground!"

No sooner than he finished speaking a sword went flying toward him and narrowly missed his head.

"A rather bold claim to make, you are quite arrogant to assume you'll live to see tomorrow."

"Do your worst, Titania!"

-.-

"Hey, what's the giant doing?"

Cana looked up and gasped as she saw the giant using it's only arm to draw a large magic circle. It was shaky, as it was barely holding on.

"That's the circle for an Abyss Break!" Mira shouted.

"Oh, you cannot be serious! He'd take out the entire town with that!" Wakaba shouted.

Cana shook her head as the shade in front of her dissolved. "I don't think he cares. He doesn't care about anything at this point, just as long as he wins."

"Talk about a piece of work…"

Cana stared at the giant and smiled. "Natsu, Erza, and the others are in there. They were able to take care of the canon, I trust they'll be able to stop the Abyss Break from being cast. For all we know they're working on it as we speak."

Loke looked around as he caught his breath. He could feel his magic energy was low, but stopping wasn't an option. He looked around to see if anyone was struggling, while he was glancing around he jolted and whirled around.

Something was wrong. Something was happening.

"Loke! Everything good?" Jet asked.

"Somethings wrong." He muttered.

"What?"

"I think something's wrong." He took a step forward. "I'll be back."

"Wait, hold on, where are you going?"

"To the hideout, stay here and help everyone!"

Jet and Droy looked at each other before shaking their heads and following him.

"What are you two doing? You have to stay and help the others!"

"No way!" Jet shouted. "If you're checking the hideout we're going too. Levy's there with Lucy!"

"If you have a bad feeling, you really want to just go on your own with no back up? Come on."

Loke gave them a half-hearted glare before shaking his head and continuing forward. "Fine, but be sure to keep up!"

"Right!"

-.-

"How you feeling Natsu?"

"I'm fine buddy, don't worry about me."

Natsu and Happy raced down the halls with Elfman in tow. Once they were sure the building had stopped moving they took off.

"That's great and all, but where are we heading to now? Gray's down there, and we've cleared out one of the Element 4."

"We cleared the first priority, which was the canon, so I guess we go to take care of the other ones. Fighting Aria and Gajeel." Natsu grinned. "I wonder which one we'll run into first."

"Izuku said he has to be the one to fight Aria! Don't you remember Natsu?"

Elfman looked up at that. "Izuku? Taking on the strongest of the Element 4? That's a manly goal, but can the kid handle that?"

"He stopped the Jupiter cannon didn't he?" Happy asked. "And he's got Erza with him."

"Ugh, that's true. Dang it, so I guess we go after Gajeel then." Natsu frowned.

"You wanted to fight Aria?!" Happy shouted.

"Well yeah, we still gotta settle the score for Gramps! But we'll leave that to the others."

As they ran through the halls they were unaware of the person hiding in the floors. As they ran away an eye opened and a thin form slowly slinked out, staring at the group in horror.

"Non non non, jeune homme, he's here?" He shuddered. "Et he's after Monsieur Aria."

There was a loud crash from somewhere that sent their section of the giant shaking. He looked around and watched the Fairy Tail wizards running off. He could likely win against them, they were nowhere near his level, however knowing that…thing was somewhere in the guildhall, it didn't bode well.

The giant was unstable and it would probably just take one big blow to send the place cascading down.

He shuddered as his magic pulsed in his chest in time with his heartbeat. It wasn't until recently he realized he could actually feel his magic, and it was all because of that monstrous child.

He had his pride as a member of Phantom Lord's Element 4, but he preferred his life. And with that thing running around, it was only a matter of time until he ripped the magic out of someone else, and left them to wither away.

He began to slink back into the ground as he resolved to do one last kindness before fleeing. Just to see another day.

-FH-

Izuku panted as he turned a corner and continue to sprint through the winding halls of the guildhall. He had no idea where he was going, all he knew was they he needed to put some distance between himself and the battle between Erza and Gajeel.

"Do you even know where you're going dumbass?" Katsuki looked up, he was still in Izuku's arms.

"No, but anywhere away from a fight between those two is better than being in the middle of it!"

"Fair enough."

Katsuki swatted at Izuku's hands after a moment and began to fly again.

"So we just keep running until we find what we need?"

"Essentially."

They heard voices from up ahead, and ducked into a side hallway. They pressed themselves against the wall as a group of wizards ran past them. They were talking about getting out of there and finding an exit.

Once they were gone the pair stepped back out and continued on their way.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Izuku asked. "They were at the cannon, and with how everything was rearranged, you think they got out okay?"

"Hell if I know. But knowing those lunatics, probably. For all we know we'll run into one of those freaks eventually."

"I don't think there's much ground left to cover…considering half the place is gone. So probably. It might be for the best if we do. It won't hurt to have some backup, especially if someone runs into the Element 4, or their Master."

They eventually reached a large, open room. It looked like a main hall that was surprisingly untouched by all the chaos of the shifting guildhall.

Before the pair could get very far an intense gust of wind knocked Izuku off his feet and threw him to the ground, while Katsuki struggled to stabilize himself.

"How sad…"

Izuku groaned and sat up. In front of him, gusts of wind had gathered and slowly gave form to a large man, draped in a long green coat. Despite the wind having dispersed, his coat still billowed around him.

"Who the hell is this creep!"

The man looked up at them, tears streaming down his face behind his blindfold.

"Just as I was warned. They've sent a child to face me, and all that will be left is an empty husk. How sad, how cruel."

"It looks like we found our guy, nerd. Don't go acting stupid."

"Yeah, I know." He got to his feet. "Are you…the one who took Master Makarov's magic?"

"I suppose it is only kind to introduce myself before you perish. I am Aria of the Heavens, the strongest of the Element 4. I am the one who struck down your Master."

"I guess it's only polite to introduce myself too then. I'm Izuku Midoriya, an affiliate of Fairy Tail." He drew the sword Erza gave him. He activated the magic he took from Gajeel, and allowed metal to cover his neck and torso. "And I've come here to take back what you stole!"

-FH-

A big thank you to Bola and KeeperofHounds for beta-ing this for me!