Two weeks passed, and the Council hadn't made a move on Fairy Tail to get Cynthia. Though this brought relief to the guild, a few of the members couldn't help but remain on edge, such as Erza, who always remained vigilant. Cynthia was instructed to always leave the guild with at least one other person on her side in case the Council tried something. Lucy decided to do a little shopping, so Cynthia decided to accompany her, wanting to be some kind of help. The two were walking down the semi-crowded streets of Magnolia with shopping bags in hand. "Thanks for helping me shop, Cynthia," Lucy said to the girl with a smile.

"I just wanted to be helpful!" Cythia replied, giving a nod.

"Oh, Cynthia!" Lucy started, remembering something.

"What is it?" Cynthia replied, looking up at Lucy.

"You know Wendy's birthday is coming up soon?" Lucy asked, sliding out of the way of a passerby.

"Wha!? It is!?" Cynthia nearly dropped the grocery bags she was carrying. "When is it?!"

"The end of the month!" Lucy replied. "It's the second of August today…so…the 31st!"

"I have to get her something…!" Cynthia nodded to herself. "I'll go on jobs and start saving money!"

"That's the spirit!" Lucy said with a cheerful grin. She then bumped into the shoulder of a male walking past her, so she turned around to apologize. "Oh, I'm so…" She stopped when she realized who it was she had bumped into. Luke turned around, groaning. "Watch it!" Lucy yelled.

"You're the one who bumped into ME," Luke replied, obviously very annoyed. "So where's my apology?"

"You don't get one, of course!" Lucy smirked. "I'm not even sorry, so there."

"I'm not in the mood for your irritating attitude, Heartfilia…" Luke groaned, looking eye to eye with Lucy.

"Oooh, you're using my last name, I'm so scared," Lucy replied with a sarcastic tone. Cynthia blinked; this was a different side of Lucy she had only seen whenever Lucy and Luke met like this.

"Okay you know what…" Luke leaned in, glaring into Lucy's eyes before pulling away with a smirk. "I'm not even going to let this bother me; the loser has no right to taunt to winner."

"What did you say…?" Lucy narrowed her eyes a bit more hatefully at Luke, realizing how quickly he was turning the tables.

"You heard me," Luke replied as his smirk grew. "Loser, three times in a row, shame isn't it?"

"I'll beat you the next time! I'll make sure of it!" Lucy yelled, her temper starting to uncap.

"That's what you said before we fought the third time…And I still won, you went down really easy that time…" Luke said, grinning tauntingly at the memory. Lucy couldn't think of a comeback for that one, he was right. Her performance in their third battle was terrible, laughable. He made her look like a laughing stock in front of everyone.

"I…" Lucy started, and then she looked down shamefully, unable to find any words.

"Exactly," Luke shrugged. "Better luck next time," he said as he walked off.

"Lucy…?" Cynthia looked up at Lucy, who quickly replaced the frown on her face with a faint smile. "Come on, Cynthia. Let's go…"

"What was that about Lucy...why does he act like that even though he cares a lot about you...?" Cynthia asked, tilting her head slowly.

"He doesn't care..." Lucy mumbled. "Not anymore..." The blonde celestial mage muttered quietly to herself as images of a certain time played back in her head, sighing after.

"Lucy..."Cynthia frowned.

Luke walked off, grumbling to himself about the incident White Eclipse had a few days ago with two mages; the flashback replaying in his head over and over.

{Flashback}

Everyone let out a scream of pain as the magic circles around them exploded, sending a violent pain throughout their entire body. Reve backed away, pulling out a pistol as he took aim at the green haired male. "Ah ah ah…" the figure next to the male replied, wagging a finger as they brought Aira in front of the male with some sort of telekinesis. "I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

"Aira!" Selene shouted, holding her sides as she started to recover from the sudden magic.

"L-Let me go…!" Aira attempted to struggle free, but she was unable to.

"…Tch…" Reve put his gun down, glaring at the two figures. "Who are you?"

"The name's Aloysius," he replied, smirking. "My…partner and I were given orders to send you a message."

"So you attack my guild?" Calium replied, his magical energy starting to rise as the building began to shake.

"Sit down, old man…" the other figure next to Aloysius replied, closing her fist as she started to crush Aira's bones.

"Stop that!" Nami pleaded.

"Speak…" Sidney demanded.

"Oh we will…" the figure threw Aira to Selene, who caught her. Aloysius turned around, large magic circles appearing around every guild member present. Aloysius then whispered, "Rapture…" and snapped his fingers, causing the magical energy in all the mages to explode violently as Aloysius and his comrade left white Eclipse, grinning at the scream of agony echoing from the mountains.

{End flashback}

"I'll get those bastards back for sure next time," Luke said as he made his way through the streets of Magnolia, unsure of where he was really going. "And I'll be sure to shut Lucy up once and for all..." It was then that a small idea popped into his head.

.

.

Another week passed since Fairy Tail nearly got into war with the Council. The Council made no moves against Fairy Tail still, leaving room to believe they truly dropped the search for whatever reason. Back at White Eclipse, things were going as normal, almost as if they weren't jumped by Aloysius and the other mysterious mage. Takeru was in the kitchen with Selene, huddled in the corner with a Key Lime pie in his lap. "Mine…" Takeru said in a possessive voice, not caring how he looked to the others. Kuro walked into the kitchen, immediately going for a bag of noodles when he noticed Takeru huddle in the corner.

"Is he okay…?" Kuro tilted his head slowly, brushing his read hair from on his shoulder.

"We just discovered how much he loves pie…" Selene replied with a slight shrug, pulling off a blueberry pie from the oven and walking into the main room.

"So we make pies now?" Reve raised an eyebrow.

"They're great!" Jaxon nodded with a grin.

"Ridiculous…" Reve sighed before taking every single pie that was made and not consumed and threw them all in the garbage without a care in the world.

"The pie…" Aira poked her lower lip out as she pouted.

"Waste of time," Taya replied. Reve would normally agree with Taya's comment, but he choose to ignore it as he was still upset with Taya for leaving during the fight with Erza; the one time he wanted her there.

"We should be spending our time doing important things anyway," Reve said, dusting his hands off.

"Like what?" Waiston replied, chewing on a piece of ice.

"Well, for starters, I want everyone in here. I think it's about time we settled things with Fairy Tail," Reve smirked slightly.

"Settling this with Fairy Tail?" A voice said from behind Reve.

"GAH!" Reve nearly jumped, turning around to see a teenage boy with black hair, purple eyes, wearing a collared shirt and pants behind him. "Nightwalker, stop doing that!"

"Did he scare you?" A blonde hair girl replied with a tiny smirk.

"Oh, Heather…nice to see you too," Reve smirked. "In fact, it's great to see both of you back here, we were just about to visit Fairy Tail…"

.

.

Fairy Tail was booming with excitement as usual; Gajeel and Natsu were the ones fighting around the guild for no reason time around, causing Cynthia to giggle. "Does Natsu fight with EVERYONE in here…?" She asked, watching the two dragon slayers rolling around on the floor yelling at each other.

"Pretty much…" Lisanna replied, chuckling nervously. "But, he wouldn't be Natsu if he didn't." She gave a small genuine giggle as Natsu and Gajeel were screaming and shouting at each other.

"They make a great team, don't they?" Cynthia said, hoping for a positive answer to renforce her point she's made before about rivals making good teams.

"They do!" Lucy replied with a nod. "You know, when they aren't doing this…"

"I called it!" Cynthia grinned widely, hopping up from her seat as the sight of Natsu and Gajeel fighting started to get riled up. "I wanna fight now!" Cynthia looked around the guild, looking around to see if anyone around was willing to fight. "Come on, where are the fighters!?" Cynthia asked, punching the air a few times so show she was serious.

"They got her all riled up now…" Mirajane giggled at Cynthia from behind the bar.

Wendy cracked a small smile, watching as Cynthia literally threw herself into Natsu and Gajeel's fight just for the sake of wanting to fight. "She's always been one to fight someone…"

"I don't see the girl as any kind of threat…" Mirajane then spoke in a serious tone. "If she has any problems, it's ours to deal with…"

"Hai…" Wendy nodded slowly, remembering the battles she and Cynthia had against the Council a few weeks ago, still feeling uneasy since they haven't heard a single word from the Council since.

Happy and Patherlily watched Natsu, Gajeel, and Cynthia go at it. "Go, Natsu!" Happy cheered, raising his arms high.

"Gajeel will win, obviously," Lily said with a smirk as he crossed his arms.

"No way, Natsu's got this!" Happy nodded, grinning.

"Gajeel," Lily replied, pressing his forehead against Happy's.

"NATSU!" Happy pressed his forehead against Lily's in a rivalry fashion.

The doors to Fairy Tail sudden flew open, and several members…no, all of White Eclipse walked in. Luke, Reve, Zalen, Heather, Nightwalker, Kuro, Waiston, Aira, Selene, Takeru, Sidney, Nami, Taya, Zain, Michio, Jaxon, Jack, Cygnus, and Master Calium walked in. "Well well…" Reve said, looking at the Fairy Tail guild.

"What are YOU guys doing here?!" Natsu asked, jumping up from his fight with Gajeel and Cynthia as he glared at the White Eclipse mages.

"You better not have come to cause trouble," Markarov glared at Calium, knowing he was the Master of White Eclipse and didn't forgive Calium for allowing his White Eclipse members to harm his Fairy Tail children.

"Of course not…" Calium replied.

"They WHY are you here…?" Erza asked, exchanging glares with Reve.

"We have a proposal," Reve said, keeping his eyes locked with Erza's.

"And what might that be?" Markarov asked.

"We're always going back and forth between who the strongest guild in Fiore is, right?" Luke asked, smirking slightly. "Though there really is no competition…." He added.

"We're the best!" Cynthia commented, unsure why she did. "I mean…carry on…"

"Well, how about we settle it?" Reve smirked.

"You wanna go right now!?" Natsu engulfed his right hand in flames as he smirked at every single White Eclipse mage present. I'll take you all down!" Natsu lunged forward, only to have a giant hand come down and one hit KO him.

"Calm down, Natsu," Marakrov said. "We don't even know what they're really proposing."

"13 members from each guild, randomly picked, fight," Zalen explained. "When a member loses, they are out of the tournament, if you will." Zalen took off his glasses, cleaning them as he went on to explain. "If two fighters tie, they are out of the tournament anyway, and this continues until one guild's members all lose."

"That's it?" Gray asked, smirking. "Well, I guess these will be a short ten battles, Fairy Tail is gonna win."

"YEAH!" The background characters shouted in unison, the idea of showing they were really number one riling them up.

"Calm down, stripper boy," Luke replied. "We don't even know who's in yet."

"When do we find out?" Mirajane asked, unable to hide her evil smirk as she planned on giving every White Eclipse member a showing of her full power if she was picked.

"Here," Calium handed a hand to Markarov. "Inside the hat is a list of names from our guild. You will select the guild members randomly so it doesn't look like we rigged it."

"Hrm…" Marakrov dug his hand in the hat, pulling out a small white slip of paper. "Luke Cloud."

"Game over," Luke said with a smirk. "Might as well pack up now."

Markarov ignored the comment as he kept going. "Kuro Crane."

"Yay!" Kuro grinned excitedly. "This is going to be great!"

Marakrov continued down the list, pulling out the third slip of paper. "Aira Aeolus."

"Me?" Aira blinked a few times. "I'll do my best for the name of the guild!"

"Takeru." Marakrov read from the next slip of paper.

"Heh…aren't we getting lucky?" Takeru smirked, crossing his arms.

"Waiston Tunundra," Marakrov read on.

"Alright! This is going to get good!"

"Reve Volver," Markarov continued.

"Ohp, look at that, the game is already sealed." Reve smirked, his eyes never leaving Erza's.

"Cygnus Gwydion."

"Oh, well this is going to be easy…" Cygnus smirked.

"Selene Marquise."

"Me too? Well, I'll do my best," Selene replied.

"Heather."

"Me!?" Heather looked up with a smirk.

"Jaxon Metero."

"Oh, how about that." Jaxon pointed at himself.

"Zalen Castle."

"Oh, I see..." Zalen adjusted his glasses.

"Jack Royal."

"Woo! About time I got to see what all the fuss is about." Jack said with a chuckle.

"And last but not least…" Markarov read the last slip of paper. "Sidney Castle."

"OOOH!" Waiston couldn't help but let out his excitement. "IT'S OVER FAIRIES! …I mean…No I mean that!"

"Tch, I'll be sure to knock you all down!" Natsu said with a smirk, seemingly recovered from Marakrov's hit earlier. He eyed Sidney with a glare, praying that he was picked so he could have a chance at beating Sidney.

"Here, Master," Mirajane said as she handed Calium a hat with a list of names with all the Fairy Tail guild members.

"Thank you," Calium replied, taking the first slip of paper from the hat. "Gray Fullbuster."

"Heh, looks like it's over for you guys," Gray said with a smirk as he stood up, his shirt gone.

"Juvia will cheer Gray-sama on!" Juvia waved her hands before sighing dreamily.

"Wendy Marvell," Calium read on.

"M-Me?" Wendy blinked a few times, not expecting her name out of all the others to be called, but she went with it anyway. "I'll do my best!"

Calium cleared his throat before pulling out the third slip of paper, "Cynthia."

"W-What!? Me!? I get to fight!?" Cynthia grinned, standing up on the nearest table, resting her hands on her sides as she gave a confident expression. "LET'S GOOOO!"

"Lisanna Strauss."

Lisanna blinked at the mention of her name, waving her hands around frantically. "I-I'm not much a fighter…you see…" Her expression then changed as she realized what was at stake. "But I will fight if it has to do with Fairy Tail…!"

"That's my sister!" Elfman grinned widely, proud of Lisanna's decision to fight.

"Levy McGarden."

"W-What!? Me?!" Levy shook her head, just surprised that she was picked. "Let's go!"

"Natsu Dragneel."

"YES!" Natsu grinned, pointing his fiery fist at Sidney. "I'm gonna take you down!"

"Keep dreaming, Salamander," Sidney replied.

Calium continued, "Lucy Heartfilia."

"Alright…" Lucy nodded slowly; she was hoping for this; she and Luke on opposite teams. She would prove to him that she wasn't weak if she got the chance to fight him.

"Gajeel Redfox."

"Gihehe, finally, a chance to pound some of you guys into the ground. I like it." Gajeel smirked widely.

"Elfman Strauss."

"Man!" Elfman raised a fist into the air, grinning widely. "I'll show you the power of Fairy Tail!"

"Don't lose, you idiot…" Evergreen commented from the side.

"Cana Alberona."

"Woo! Finally, a chance to wipe the smirks off your stupid faces." Cana said with a sneer.

"Juvia Lockser."

"Juvia will not lose in front of Gray-sama!" Juvia balled her hands into fists.

"Erza Scarlet."

"Heh, now it's really OVER for you guys!" Gray said with a grin.

"I won't lose." Erza said firmly.

"And last but not least…Gildarts Clive." Calium read with a straight face.

"OH!" Cynthia hopped up and down on the table. "IT'S OVER FOR YOU GUYS! …I mean…No I meant that."

"So, Reve, Takeru, Luke, Aira, Selene, Cygnus, Heather, Kuro, Waiston, Zalen, Jaxon, Jack Royal, and Sidney, vs. Fairy Tail's Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Wendy, Cynthia, Lisanna, Elfman, Lucy, Levy, Erza, Juvia, Cana and Gildarts…" Calium said aloud. "These should be some interesting matches…"

"Fairy Tail is going to win!" Lucy raised the Fairy Tail insignia up, pointing her index finger and thumb out, everyone else doing the same.

"Fairy Tail has, and always will be number one!" Natsu grinned. "And we're going to prove it…When is this taking place?"

"Tomorrow afternoon," Calium replied, turning his back as he started walking out of Fairy Tail.

"I wish I got picked…" Mirajane mumbled as she took a rag and cleaned off the bar.

"You'd kill them…" Cana commented.

Mirajane looked up at Cana with the most innocent smile she could muster. "…Luke wouldn't be missed, right?"