I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.

Ragnas Bredvolts: Yes I'm a huge fan of TFS, and there's no lack of references to their work in my DBZ Next Generation fic. As for the Freed issue, I'm not proud of that but in my defense, I don't have a great understanding of his abilities and I needed Gajeel to escape with Lucy. If it's any consolation, I promise to make up for that weak moment in the arc with the epic showdown to come in this chapter. As for Elfman and the part about his memories, I'm glad you like it. That part was meant to show how that incident turned out different from canon. I hope to meet your expectations in this chapter, and you have a nice day as well.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gajeel quickly rebounded off a wall from where Natsu had sent him flying and landed on the ground "Okay first of all, the term is Shoo Bee Doo Baa you moron. Second of all, I knew I could smell you coming. Took you long enough though. Now the real fun can begin. I guess it wasn't too hard to catch a Salamander if you have the right sort of bait."

"Unlike you assclowns from Phantom I actually watch out for my friends, I'm not letting you lay a hand on her." he shot a quick glance back at Lucy "Just hang back, this one's gonna get ugly fast."

"Oh yeah, now this is gonna be fun. Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel charged at Natsu and let an iron club fly out from his arm.

"You wanna bet?!" Natsu grabbed ahold of the iron club with his flaming fists and promptly swung Gajeel straight into a wall.

Gajeel quickly rebounded off the wall and then used another iron club to block Natsu's incoming Fire Dragon Iron Fist, the force blowing the wall clean apart as a result, only for him to get sent flying into another wall.

"FIRE DRAGON TALON!" Natsu dealt Gajeel a fire enhanced kick, only for the ensuing explosion to send him flying backwards.

Lucy looked on in awe of the fight "Woah…"

"Hey Lucy!" that was when Happy dropped down next to her "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, he actually didn't do anything to me, but…"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just that I've never seen Natsu like this."

"Aye, he's a lot more fired up than ever before. I wouldn't want to be that other guy right about now."

Gajeel pulled himself out of the wall and cracked his neck "You know for a Fairy you're pretty cocky for your own good."

"Better a Fairy than Phantom scum." Natsu let out an outright snarl "As payback for what you and your buddies did to my guild and for kidnapping one of my friends I'm gonna use my fire power to melt your ugly iron face."

"Sounds like it'll be a blast, why don't you come and give it a shot?"

"Fine by me!" so they both charged forward and started trading even blows, fire against iron, but this ended when Natsu was forced to retreat and gain some distance once Gajeel summoned an iron sword "Looks to me like that's one hell of a gnarly looking toy."

"What you mean this thing? This is what I call my Iron Dragon Sword, anything it touches it cuts to shreds. I figured I'd give you an up close and personal demonstration."

"Oh yeah you're making me piss myself with fear."

"Let me show just what Iron Dragon Slayer magic can really do!" Gajeel charged forward and brought down his iron sword.

Natsu wasted no time in dodging every strike from the iron sword, only to quickly notice a problem 'Dammit, he's trying to force me to keep my distance!'

"Not so cocky now are you ya little bastard? Don't bother trying to hide it, I can tell that you're scared now." Gajeel broke away from his assault "You know I do have to give a little bit of credit for being such a nimble little Fairy."

"Yeah I guess you're no slouch yourself."

"But the two of us still have a score that we've gotta settle from the other day."

"I thought that was this morning."

"Whatever, the point is that there's no time like the present wouldn't you agree?"

"I say we go at it Metal Mouth, I'm all fired up now."

Lucy was growing increasingly nervous 'As Dragon Slayers they both have the ability to take the powers of the mythical creatures, which means that two wizards both strong enough to kill dragons are about to duke it out right in front of me. I don't like where this is going.'

"Iron Dragon Scales!" Gajeel quickly covered his body in iron dragon scales "Alright Fairy, I hope you're ready for what comes next."

Natsu let out a growl "I say bring it."

"You asked for it. Iron Dragon Hard Fist!" he let a fist fly forward at Natsu, the force sending him flying back into a wall "Yeah that's right Salamander, this is why you don't fuck with an Iron Dragon Slayer." and then he proceeded to deal Natsu a fierce barrage of blows with fists made out of iron.

Natsu barely managed to duck under a kick that unleashed a shockwave that left a large crevice in the ground 'Dammit he just cut through the floor with the force alone, his attacks are twice as strong now that he's covered in dragon scales! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu quickly blitzed in front of Gajeel and landed a fire covered fist right to the face, though thanks to the iron it didn't even scratch him.

"Points for effort but lacking on the effect Salamander, I hate to break it to you but your puny hand can't even scratch this steel."

"...FUCK!" Natsu started rolling all over the room in pain "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT HURTS LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER!"

"You good?"

"Fuck you man I'm fine, that didn't hurt at all!"

"I'm not deaf you idiot so cut the shit." Gajeel dealt Natsu a quick headbutt, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap "Face the reality, you just don't want your friends to see you get your ass handed to you." he brought down his iron nails.

Natsu quickly rebounded and retreated before he could get hit "Alright you walking trash can, I say it's time for me to blow your ass away! Fire Dragon…"

"Iron Dragon…"

"ROAR!" the two of them both unleashed two simultaneous roars, one of fire and the other a powerful tornado infused with shards of iron, both colliding in a power struggle that pretty much blew the room apart.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke wasted no time in taking off his glasses and throwing them aside "Alright Jose, let's do this."

Jose let out a chuckle "Well well, the Thunderclap of Fairy Tail. That is what they call you isn't it? Powerful, courageous, driven and quite noble hearted. Being able to destroy you will bring me unbelievable amounts of pleasure."

"I think we'll see about that."

"You seem quite full of confidence especially for one of Makarov's brats."

"I doubt you'll be able to keep that smug look once you realize what a wizard of Fairy Tail, not to mention a Dragon Slayer, can really do. Just take a good look, what's standing before you now is the thing you despise most, a member of Makarov's guild that's surpassed even the likes of your magic power."

Jose felt his eye twitch, but he simply let out a chuckle "I never thought that someone that comes from Makarov could actually have a sense of humor that wasn't so crude or brash or downright irritating."

"Go ahead and live in your little world of denial, in the meantime I'm going to show you the power that I've gained over the last year and a half of training, the power that I gained for one sole purpose: To protect my guild!" Luke dropped into a stance and began powering up in earnest, a sphere of light surrounding his body, his teeth grinding furiously and his veins throbbing from the strain that he was feeling, his body beginning to crackle with electricity which grew more and more visible with each passing second, the energy ripping apart the entire room as a result.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cana ceased with her attack on one of the Phantoms once she noticed the light shining down on the Phantom giant "Oh man, things are about to get insane."

"What the hell is that?" asked Bickslow.

"If I had to guess that's Luke after he got pissed off by Jose, and now he's showing him what he can do once he gets to full power."

"You mean that's Luke, are you serious?!"

"He didn't spend all that time away doing nothing you know, he's been getting stronger with each day he was gone until he reached the level he's at now."

"Oh, well if that was his plan then I'd say it pretty much worked. But do you think it's going to be enough to take down their master?" this was followed by a roar from Luke that would've left blood on the mic, an unimaginable shockwave and a blinding white light that covered the entirety of the Phantom Giant, as well as the battlefield itself.

"I think it's safe to say he's got this covered." Cana looked up to see the Phantom soldiers gathering above them into a massive black and purple sphere with arms and hands "That thing on the other hand is going to be a real problem."

"Yeah no kidding, this is pretty bad." and this was followed by the Phantom blob (or Jellyfish form as it's referred to) smashing down on the Fairy Tail guild hall with its large number of arms, much to the horror of everyone present "Son of a- That thing is trying to tear down the guild hall!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The roars subsided, but the room was left a mess.

Gajeel was left standing tall and proud and looming over where Natsu was hunched over and covered in wounds "It looks to me like there are some pretty big differences between dragons that use fire and dragons that use iron aren't there Salamander? You can shower me with flame attacks until you run out of hot air but it's not gonna be enough to crack my armor, on the other hand it only takes one of my iron blade breath attacks to rip your puny body to shreds."

Natsu straightened himself back up and shot Gajeel a smirk "So you think I can't crack your armor huh, you sure you're not feeling a draft there buddy?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Gajeel suddenly tensed when he felt a crack form on his iron scales.

"In case you haven't figured it out I don't breath just regular old fire, the Fire Dragon Roar can destroy anything it touches. I think it's time for us to stop screwing around, so let's get down to the real fight so that I can shatter you into a million pieces."

"I say you can try and you can fail, now let's get to it!"

"Come at me Black Steel, I'm ready when you are."

"The sky isn't big enough for two dragons Salamander, so that means I'm just gonna have to take you down."

"You can try!" and so the two of them charged towards each other at full speed, fire and iron colliding in blazing glory as they took to the open skies and used their element to propel themselves upwards, where they promptly began trading even blows.

Lucy could only look on in awe from her place back in the room "What's happening up there, some kind of fireworks?"

"No they're actually going to to toe right now." Happy told her "They're both Dragon Slayers but they're also evenly matched- Look out!" he yanked Lucy out of the way of where one of the horns of the Phantom Giant nearly fell on them.

"Well that's just great, now we've gotta get out of here!"

Natsu and Gajeel both landed on the ground, both panting heavily 'Dammit this bastard just won't go down, but at least he's out of breath too.'

"Hey hold on a second." Gajeel quickly picked up a few scraps of metal off the ground and started eating them.

"Hey what the hell that's so not fair, you're eating?!"

"Yeah I'm a Dragon Slayer it's what I do, what's your point?" Gajeel promptly swallowed and shot Natsu a smirk "Thanks for waiting for me to finish my little snack Salamander, now I've got a fire in my belly."

"Hey that's my line you asshat!"

"Not anymore!" and then Gajeel started powering up again.

"Hey where the heck did he get all of this energy from?" asked Lucy.

"It's because he ate all that iron." Happy told her "When Dragon Slayers eat stuff based on the element they use in their magic they replenish their magic energy and increase their power by a lot."

"So Natsu needs to eat some fire in order to even the score."

"Yeah but he can't eat his own fire, it has to come from some kind of outside source."

"Well yeah I get that but how the heck do we make that happen?"

"Go ahead and say goodnight Salamander. Iron Dragon Lance: Demon Logs!" Gajeel fired off a barrage of metal spears from his arm at Natsu and pierced him all over, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Come on Lucy think, something with fire. Do I even have any kind of fire spirits? Dammit that's right, I lost my keys when I got attacked." she pulled out one key from her pocket "This is the only key that I have on me right now, the new one Saggitarius. We haven't worked out a contract yet but I don't care, this is the only change we have right now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Following Luke's thunderous display, it was clear that the smoke clearing and everything dying down wouldn't happen on its own anytime soon.

Jose was more cocky than he should've been "My my I didn't take you to be so much of the unruly type. Of course unruly as you might be, it doesn't change the fact that you do know how to put on a show, and that just means that killing you will please me that much more." he looked back and his smirk widened "Let's begin the show then, shall we?"

"If you insist." with a sudden flash a figure bathed in a golden light blitzed in front of Jose and dealt him what seemed like a few shockwaves.

Jose stumbled back a few feet before he recovered "Quite the development, I can't remember the last time I was struck in a battle." he blitzed forward.

The figure cranked his neck to the side, another set of shockwaves attacking him and sending him flying through a wall, as well as ripping apart his coat, while the golden light disappeared to reveal Luke in all of his glory, his arms, legs and face now covered in what appeared to be golden colored dragon scales "You picked a fight with us Jose and now you're getting exactly what you asked for. The glowing magic energy, the dragon scales, the incredible power that stands with yours, this is the power you wanted to see. The power of Dragon Force."

Jose pulled himself out of the rubble and removed the destroyed sleeves of his coat "I must admit it is truly a sight to behold. Dragon Force is the final form a Dragon Slayer is able to take, the form they take when they take on the power of a dragon, the power to destroying everything in their path. I must say that I'm very intrigued, I would love to see the fabled power in battle for myself."

"Oh trust me you're about to, but the downside is that you'll be the one on the receiving end for this one." without missing so much as a beat Luke blitzed through Jose, leaving only a shallow cut on his cheek but at the same time obliterating the wall behind him 'So this is just how fast I can go when I'm using Dragon Force at full power, it feels even more incredible than it did during training. I feel like I can really win this- No, I have to win this. If I don't then he'll kill everyone else. I'll use this power like I promised myself, to protect all of them!'

"A simple increase in power won't do you much good." Jose quickly charged forward and started unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks.

Luke dodged and weaved his way around every strike, as well as managing to parry any blasts of magic energy being hurled at him, but eventually he grabbed Jose by the arm and dealt him a spin kick to the torso, sending him skidding backwards.

"DEAD WAVE!" Jose stopped himself before he could be thrown off his feet and fired a blast of magic energy from both hands.

Without missing so much as a beat, Luke whipped out his sword from its sheath and with a mighty roar he cut through the blast, sending the energy to blow apart the rest of the room as well as part of the surrounding rooms.

"You think cancelling out one attack will be enough to stop me?!" Jose promptly charged at him again.

Luke gladly met the charge as they began trading even blows, quickly taking the upper hand as he dealt Jose a kick to the chest, an uppercut to the jaw and a quick slash across the arm from his sword.

"SHADE ENTANGLE!" Jose summoned his magic ghosts in an attempt to grab Luke and strangle him.

Luke dodged the ghosts with a series of backflips and blitzing away, leaving the ghosts to further wreck the Phantom building, while he quickly emerged before the explosion that took place as a result of them, and he charged forward while dodging the barrage of magic bullets being shot at him and started firing off a barrage of punches, kicks and sword slashes of his own.

Jose dodged and blocked most of the strikes being thrown at him, receiving a few slashes here and there, and he eventually managed to force his way through to Luke and tried to hit him with a Dead Wave at point blank range.

Luke blocked the Dead Wave using only the blade of his sword, and he dealt Jose a quick kick to the torso and dodged every attack thrown at him afterwards "Lightning Dragon…. IRON FIST!" he blitzed through Jose's barrage of attacks and slammed a lightning enhanced fist into his gut, sending him crashing through several walls behind him 'I can't believe it, I'm actually keeping up with one of the Ten Wizard Saints. I guess he trained me up better than I thought he did. At least now I know that I'm strong enough to protect them. But I don't have any time to brood over that, there's no way someone like him would go down that easily.'

Sure enough, after but a moment Jose burst forth from the rubble with a burst of magic power looking a little bit battered and slightly injured, but he simply dusted himself off and gave a malicious smirk "You know the thing that irks me about Fairy Tail the most?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me either way."

"It's the fact that there are so many spectacular and powerful wizards like yourself who would willingly align with Makarov. Since you can't be tempted to join Phantom Lord there's only one way to change that, I'll have to kill you with my own two hands. That will send the wretch into the deepest of despair, one that he's long deserved. Imagine how he'll feel when he finally awakens only to find his dear guild hall completely obliterated and all of the children he loves so dearly dead and gone, he'd be lost and completely consumed by sorrow. Once he's been reduced to that miserable state I can swoop in and kill him, but first I'll be sure to make him suffer. I'll torture him until he has no choice but to wither away and die. For as long as I can remember Phantom Lord has always been at the top, we have the most powerful wizards with the strongest spells. We also have more capital and more members than any other guild. However, in recent times Fairy Tail has begun to catch up and our position as leader is in jeopardy. Various names such as Luke, Erza, Gildarts, Laxus and Mystogan became widely known, and stories of people like the Salamander and the so called Thunderclap spread across the land like wildfire. Now in these times Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail are considered to be equals, the top two guilds that are representing this kingdom. I'm utterly disgusted by a thought like that. I refuse to be equated to such a feeble guild!"

"So you mean to tell me that we're fighting for our lives because you're having some kind of jealous temper tantrum?"

"Jealous temper tantrum you say? Don't be absurd, we simply wanted to prove to the kingdom that we are the dominant guild."

"You're trying to slaughter innocent people for something so petty, wow the Magic Council just doesn't have any standards for the Wizard Saints do they?"

"I will ensure that my guild is known by everyone to be the strongest in all of Fiore, but the first step to that is ending your life here and now!" and so with a mighty roar he let out a massive shockwave of black magic energy, ripping his cloak apart and shattering the wall surrounding them with the sheer potency, as well as rippling through the entire Phantom Giant.

Luke was forced to brace himself from the shockwaves 'This is insane, I've never felt this much power coming from one person before. I guess that means that he's finally getting serious, which means that I'm gonna have my hands full with this one.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Phantom Shade Jellyfish monster continued pummeling away at the guild hall despite the attempts everyone was making to stop it, with Cana being the most vocally devastated about these events.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gajeel glanced up at the sound of a roar and a massive storm of magic power flying overhead, and he gave a smirk "Took that bastard long enough to piss of Jose to the point where he actually starts fighting seriously." he glanced over at Lucy "What the hell are you doing?"

Lucy held out the key of Saggitarius "I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits! I beckon you to my side at once! Pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Archer, Saggitarius!"

The gate was opened, and before them appeared what looked like a guy in a horse costume with a bow and a quiver of arrows, and he saluted her "Horse! Well howdy do my lady."

"Wow, holy crap I can't believe that actually worked. Look I don't have enough time to explain right now but I need to know if you can shoot some fire."

"I'm afraid not, but I'm quite proficient in archery, yes indeedy."

"Oh boy, now we're in trouble. And who exactly are you saluting to right now?"

"Hey Lucy take my advice, clear the hell out of the way." Natsu told her.

"Way ahead of you." Lucy pulled both Happy and Sagittarius aside, but then went into anime style depression "Jeez, I feel so completely useless."

"Hate to break it to you blondie but now's not the time to hear about your lack of self confidence, I've got shit to do! Fire Dragon Sword Horn!" Natsu slammed straight into Gajeel with a fire enhanced headbutt, only to end up feeling an intense amount of pain.

Gajeel shot him a cocky smirk "I've got a fire in my belly now Salamander, but what the hell happened to yours? You know a lot of people don't know just how much iron they need in their diet! Iron Dragon Club!" he used his Iron Dragon Club to brutally drag Natsu's face across the ground.

Lucy was horrified by what she was seeing 'I can't believe this, he's so strong but he's so insane too! This is just horrible!'

"Okay now I'm starting to get bored with you Salamander, take my advice and get the hell lost already."

'No way… he beat Natsu… This can't be happening! Natsu can't just lose, can he? Get up, please just get up Natsu! Get up!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Black and purple flames surrounded the area.

Jose burst upwards from within the rubble to reveal himself shirtless, rippling black and purple energy surrounding his body and his sclera having turned black "I have returned."

Luke promptly readied himself into a stance with his sword drawn 'His levels of magic power just shot right through the roof, looks like you poke the sleeping dragon and he's bound to roar your head off. Not that it helps that he has the temper control of a 5 year old, or Natsu. Either way this is bad, I'll have to be careful I don't let my guard down or I'm as good as dead.'

"Come child of Makarov, come and face your inevitable death!" Jose suddenly burst forward at full speed.

Luke met his charge full force, resulting in the two of them trading even blows faster than any of those still involved in the battle would've been able to notice, if they were present to see the battle unfold. Anyway, Luke dodged, blocked and countered most of Jose's attacks before catching his fist with his hand "Looks to me like you finally got serious."

"I will never allow myself to fall to a child of Makarov!" in his rage, Jose hit Luke's hand with a point blank Dead Wave, the force blowing Luke off his feet and sending him tumbling backwards through a wall, and with a mighty roar he fired off a follow up Dark Pulse blast in his direction.

Luke rebounded and escaped right before the blast could hit him and landed on top of a nearby wall.

"MURDER BULLETS!" Jose fired off a barrage of magic bullets from his fingertips, creating a barrage of explosions all throughout the Phantom building.

Unable to dodge or escape, Luke was forced to shield himself, only for his head to snap up once the bullets subsided 'Dammit, I fell for that!''

"DEAD WAVE!" Jose leapt high into the air and fired another Dead Wave at Luke.

"Dragon Sword Style: THUNDERCLAP STRIKE!" Luke thrusted his sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, countering the Dead Wave before it was able to hit him, but at the same time it resulted in him being trapped in a beam struggle.

"This farce of a battle has gone on long enough!" with a roar Jose poured more power into his Dead Wave, overpowering Luke's attack and allowing the Dead Wave to engulf him in the blast, sending him flying high into the air and engulfing him in the massive explosion that followed the blast.

Luke burst out from within the smoke and charged at Jose with his sword drawn, resulting in him stabbing Jose through the shoulder while simultaneously receiving a hand pierced through his own shoulder, before the two of them engaged in a power struggle.

"To think that you have the ability to harness this much power? You're as persistent and stubborn as Makarov!"

"And I'm damn proud of it!" the power struggle resulted in the building being damaged even further, but it ended when Luke slammed his knee into Jose's gut.

Jose spat out some blood and dealt Luke a kick to the chest, sending him skidding backwards, and then he followed up with another Dead Wave.

"Lightning Dragon Iron Fist!" Luke attempted to negate the Dead Wave with a Lightning Dragon Iron Fist, but it detonated too close to him and the resulting blast sent him flying away as a result.

Jose blitzed above Luke and dealt him a brutal uppercut, sending him hurtling high into the air, and then he followed up with another Dead Wave, sending him flying higher into the air and engulfing him in the explosion that followed, and he smirked despite the pain "Such is the fate of all who ally themselves with Makarov."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Dammit!" Cana tried to rush forward to stop the Phantom Shade Jellyfish monster from destroying the guild hall, only to be held back by Erza "Dammit Erza let me go, I have to stop that thing!"

"Cana stop it, there's nothing we can do." Erza told her firmly.

"Dammit just let me go, Luke trusted me with protecting the guild! I can't just sit by and let it get destroyed-" but then Cana noticed something out of the corner of her eye and her protests died in her throat.

Erza followed her gaze and nearly froze at the sight that awaited them in the form of Luke being hurled high into the air by Jose's blast, wounded, charred and unmoving, before freely falling back to the ground "Luke… no…"

"Dammit Luke don't you dare quit on us like this?!" Cana pretty much exploded with tears streaming down her face "No matter what kind of threat you faced and no matter how dangerous it was, you've always just charged in without so much as a second thought! If there's anyone among us who can defeat that ass clown then it's you! I believe in you Luke, and so does everyone else, so get the hell up! Get up Luke! GET UP!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Get up Luke! GET UP!"

'Cana…' despite the searing pain and being stuck drifting in and out of consciousness, Luke was able to hear her calling out to him 'She needs me… she's depending on me… All of them… All of them are depending on me… and I made a promise… I will… I WILL PROTECT THEM!' and with a furious roar, his Dragon Force flared back into life as he landed back on the ground with a massive crash, where Jose was waiting for him, on the roof of the Phantom Giant and they locked eyes "Not yet… I'm not done with you Jose, not yet."

"Such a stubborn one." Jose let out a chuckle "And here I thought you wouldn't have any more stamina."

"I won't give you the satisfaction of taking me out, not when I still have people that I have to protect."

"Honestly, just how many times do I have to knock you to the ground or blow you high into the sky before you finally realize that you can't defeat me?"

"Do you not hear the crap you're spewing out?" Luke coughed up some blood, but his magic energy surged even higher than before "Cana and Bolt, Natsu and Gray, Elfman and Lisanna, Erza and everyone else, they put their faith in me to win this battle. I swear on that faith and on my vow to protect them, that I can't and won't back down."

"Be silent, such disgusting things are meaningless before true power such as what it is that I possess!"

"And that just proves why you'll never surpass Makarov." the two of them charged at each other again, trading even barrages of punches and kicks, but Luke quickly gained the upper hand in their clash.

'His power and speed have increased exponentially, now he may have even surpassed me! No it's impossible, I refuse to accept it! How could one of Makarov's brats possible be able to defeat me?!"

"Have you still not figured it out?" Luke caught both of Jose's hands and dealt him a kick to the chest, and he began dodging and countering every attack Jose was throwing at him as if it was second nature to him "The difference is that people in Fairy Tail don't fight only for themselves or to prove their own superiority, we fight because we bear the hopes of each other on our shoulders as well. As members of Fairy Tail we have people who push each other to become stronger both as wizards and as people, not only do we actually care about our comrades and treasure them, but knowing that we're out there, knowing that they're part of a real family, that's what gives us the strength to keep moving forward. I know for a fact that I could never have come as far as I have if it wasn't for them. It's because of Fairy Tail, and because of Makarov, that we're all here now standing together and fighting as one. We may fight all the time and we have our fair share of incidents and we may not always get along, but we're all here now trusting each other and fighting side by side. That's what makes us more than just guild, and we're more than just friends. Things like that are what make us a family."

"SILENCE!" Jose dealt Luke a sharp kick to the head, sending him tumbling backwards across the Phantom Giant, and he followed up with a Dead Wave.

Luke blitzed out of the path of the Dead Wave "Dragon Sword Style: THUNDEROUS PURGE!" he slashed through the air and pressed his hand to the blade, resulting in Jose being engulfed in a massive blast of lightning.

Jose burst out of the blast with considerable burns and fired a barrage of magic energy bullets from his fingertips.

Luke blitzed through the barrage and appeared directly in front of Jose "Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" he dealt Jose a lightning enhanced fist to the gut, sending him hurtling backwards and crashing into the shoulder of the Phantom Giant "Now do you get it Jose, this is the power of Fairy Tail, a power you'll never understand, and it's at the top of the long list of reasons why you'll never surpass Makarov."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gajeel grabbed Natsu by the hair and pulled him upright so that he could see out the gigantic hole in the wall "No need to get too down about this or anything Salamander, at least you get one last look at your guild hall before the remodelling is done." this was followed by the Fairy Tail guild hall completely crumbling into rubble "Okay I might be a little bit late on that one, that one's totally my B."

Natsu's eyes snapped wide open when he saw 'The guild hall… it's gone… The place where I became a member of Fairy Tail… the place where I met people like Luke, Gray and Erza… the place where I met Lisanna and Happy… and where I met everyone in the guild… the place where I found my family… and now it's gone…' with these thoughts in mind, Natsu slowly pulled himself back to his feet and slowly stumbled his way forward.

"Natsu please, just don't do this…" Lucy pleaded "Let's just give them what they want, maybe if I just let them take me then they'll leave you alone."

"Lucy you know there's no way in hell any of us would ever let that happen, you've been in Fairy Tail long enough to know better than that."

Gajeel let out a growl "Your guild hall is in shambles and you can barely stand, take my advice and call it quits." he elbowed Natsu right in the gut, sending him flying into a wall and knocking him to the ground.

Lucy was mortified by what she was seeing 'I can't stand watching this happen!'

"Like I said Salamander, take my advice and stay down. I'm personally starting to get bored with this shit and frankly now I'd rather be working on my music."

Happy was horrified by this "Natsu took down the Jupiter cannon and he had to fight two of the Element 4, he used up way too much of his magic power! If only he could just eat some fire then he'd be strong enough to beat this guy!"

"Hate to break it to you Salamander." Gajeel held up his Iron Dragon Sword over Natsu "But this is the end of the line."

"Just a moment." this was when Sagittarius spoke up with an arrow armed and ready "It would appear that I didn't quite understand what it was you were asking of me earlier, when I arrived you inquired as to whether or not I was able to shoot fire, and I answered that I did not have the power to do so. However, now I see it's the fire itself that's important. It doesn't matter that I can't produce the fire itself as long as it is produced, which means that in this case I must use my surroundings to my advantage."

"This is it Salamander, it's over!" Gajeel prepared to cut down Natsu, only to promptly be cut off by Sagittarius firing a barrage of arrows at the machinery nearby, causing it to explode and blow them away.

"Depending on the force one applies when shooting an arrow and the trajectory that is followed by said arrow, it's possible to pierce or shatter steel."

"Okay that man horse thing is pissing me off right about now."

"It is my job."

Lucy had hearts in her eyes now "You're like an archery genius Sagittarius!"

"Well I do aim to please."

"...Dude if you're salute then do it to my face."

Natsu wasted no time in devouring the flames, restoring his strength and with it his confidence and cocky smirk "Just what I needed, thanks for the pick me up Lucy." he was met with a confident thumbs up.

"So what?!" Gajeel promptly charged at him "You can eat all the fire you want but you're still not going to be able to take me down!" he aimed a fist at Natsu, only to be met with a blast of fire to the face, sending him flying into the massive metal horn in the center of the room "Ow."

"Levy… Jet… Droy… Lucy… Gramps… Erza… Luke… all of my friends… my guild… Fairy Tail.

"Iron Dragon Roar!" Gajeel breathed out another roar.

Natsu deflected the roar with his bare hands.

'What the hell, he deflected my breath attack and he did it with just his bare hands!'

"I don't know how many more people you and your guild have to hurt before you're finally satisfied."

"It depends on the kind of mood Jose is in."

"I don't care, it ends here and now."

'There's no way, I can't lose to this punk!'

"I'm gonna make you pay for what you and your guild did to me and my friends! Messing with the Fairy Tail guild is the biggest mistake you've ever made!"

"The only mistake I made was not pounding your ass into the ground! Iron Dragon HARD FIST!" Gajeel charged forward and let a fist fly, only for it to be met with Natsu's own and a surge of fire that cracked his iron scales instantly upon contact 'No fucking way, he shattered my iron scales?!'

"I'M TAKING YOU DOWN BLACK STEEL! DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART: FLAME LOTUS: FIRE DRAGON FIST!" in his rage Natsu dealt Gajeel a furious barrage of fire enhanced punches "For Levy! Jet! Droy! Nab! Macao! Wakaba! Gramps! Erza! Lucy! FOR EVERYONE IN FAIRY TAIL YOU GUYS HURT, FOR ATTACKING THEM AND DESTROYING OUR GUILD HALL!" and with one final punch he sent Gajeel flying across the Phantom Giant, blowing its head clean off in the process.

"No… No fucking way… You can't… defeat me…"

"Yeah you wanna bet? Well I think I just did." and then Natsu fell back himself, and he let out a sigh "Well that was definitely a lot of fun, but I think I'm just gonna rest here for a few minutes okay?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke blitzed through the barrage and appeared directly in front of Jose "Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" he dealt Jose a lightning enhanced fist to the gut, sending him hurtling backwards and crashing into the shoulder of the Phantom Giant "Now do you get it Jose, this is the power of Fairy Tail, a power you'll never understand, and it's at the top of the long list of reasons why you'll never surpass Makarov."

With a burst of purple light, Jose emerged from within the rubble, clearly wounded and with the vein in his forehead throbbing visibly "You know, while I'm going to make your death almost as slow and painful as what I have in store for Makarov there's one thing I think you should be made aware of. While I've never been particularly fond of your guild, my distaste for it was not what acted as the trigger for this war. We were hired by the patriarch of the Heartfilia family to find his missing daughter."

"You mean Lucy."

"Yes, the child of one of the wealthiest men in the entire kingdom is now a member of the Fairy Tail guild. So Makarov is trying to buy his way to the top isn't he?" his body began radiating more black and purple magic with his rage "Now that your guild has unfettered access to the fortune of the Heartfilia family, it's only a matter of time before that happens. That is, if we don't completely wipe all of you off the face of the Earth before that happens." he scowled when he was met with only a chuckle.

"It's absolutely hilarious how much you're whining about something as pointless as the ranking of your guild, but what's really making me laugh my ass off is how wrong your information is about Lucy."

"What's that?"

"Lucy came to us as a runaway, she doesn't have any access to her family's fortune. She rents an apartment in Magnolia for 70,000 Jewel a month, she works as hard as the rest of us just to make a living, she fights alongside us, she laughs with us and she cries with us. As far as any of us are concerned, Lucy is no different than any other member of the guild. And you expect me to believe that she's the reason we're at war? It doesn't matter if she is the daughter of the Heartfilia family, just as flowers don't get to choose where they bloom children don't get to choose their parents. You don't know a damn thing about Lucy or the tears that she's shed."

"Well I'll find out soon enough."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"What else? I have no intention of handing her over to her father without reaping a benefit of some sort, I'll make her my prisoner until her father meets my demands. I'm going to bleed the entire Heartfilia family of their fortune and their precious money making business, and then everyone will truly know that the Phantom Lord guild is the greatest of them all! None will dare to look down on us again, and all of that starts with the complete annihilation of Fairy Tail and its members! Your guild hall has already paid the price." he pointed down to the remains of what used to be the Fairy Tail guild hall "And now your comrades will pay as well, and I'll let you die a slow and agonizing death while mourning over the vow you could never fulfill!"

"...And just like that I'm done wasting time with you." Luke clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and tightened his combat stance "Trashing our guild hall is one thing, but to go out of your way to hurt my friends, to threaten them right in front of me, that's more than enough incentive for me to MAKE YOU SUFFER!" with his Dragon Force burning brightly and crackling with electricity, Luke surged forward with even greater speed than ever before and slammed his fist directly into Jose's face, then followed up with a quick flurry of kicks.

Jose blocked every kick but was thrown to the ground, but he quickly rebounded and attempted to smash Luke into the ground.

Luke blitzed around his attacks and dealt Jose a Lightning Dragon Iron Fist, sending him hurtling into the air.

Jose rebounded and landed on some rubble "SHADE ENTANGLE!" he fired off the magic ghosts of the Shade Entangle.

Luke used small concentrated blasts of lightning magic to dance his way along the magic ghosts and push himself closer and closer to his target as he prepared another Lightning Dragon Iron Fist.

Jose tried to fire another Dead Wave at point blank range, resulting in the two of them clashing in mid air in a brilliant display, gold and purple dancing in mid air for all of Magnolia to see, before they started skidding down opposite sides of the now pretty much wrecked Phantom Giant, only for Jose to be met with a kick to the torso that sent him skidding to the ground along the shore a mere few feet away from where Cana, Erza and the others were.

Luke landed on the ground in front of him, taking a mere fraction of a second to simply catch his breath 'I can feel my Dragon Force about to fade, if I'm gonna take him down then it'll have to be with this next attack.' he spared a quick glance over at the others, a certain brunette in particular 'Good thing I know what I'm fighting for.' he charged forward as he condensed his magic energy into his left arm.

Now losing any cool he may have had, Jose tried to annihilate Luke with a barrage of Dark Pulse blasts.

Luke cut through each Dark Pulse blast with his dragon scale sword, which he wasted no time in stabbing into Jose's gut "And now for the coup de grace, straight from the handbook of the lightning dragon Kaminari, and on behalf of the Fairy Tail guild! Dragon Slayer Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!" and using all of the magic power he was able to muster, Luke fired the powerful golden colored blast of lightning from his hand, engulfing Jose in it at point blank range as he pushed it as far and as hard as he was able to.

Jose could only cry out in agony as he was sent flying high into the air by the blast, leaving him to be engulfed in the massive explosion that lit up the skies of Magnolia.

With the battle appearing to be over, Luke finally powered down from Dragon Force back to his normal form and held up a fist "And that's why… you don't mess… with Fairy Tail…" and as the exhaustion finally got to him he fell flat on his back, but he glanced over to see everyone else from the guild cheering for him 'Everyone…' his gaze softened in the direction of a certain brunette "Cana…"

"You idiot…" Cana slowly made her way over to him and knelt down beside him "You just keep pushing yourself harder and harder to the point where you can't even stand up, you just can't help yourself can you?"

"I did what I had to do… to protect you all." he suddenly found himself being pulled into a tight yet gentle hug.

"Thank you." her voice was soft and gentle.

"Like I said, I did what I had to do." Luke glanced back to see a short shadowy figure appear on the scene and he let out a chuckle "You took your sweet time getting here master."

Sure enough, Makarov appeared before them and made his way over to Luke, his expression remorseful and filled with suppressed rage "We have shed the blood of our children, you have been made to suffer because of the incompetence of your parents. Jose is to blame yes, but I am just as much as he did. And yet you were able to clean up an old man's mess better than he ever could."

"Oh come on, you could've beaten him no problem. I barely managed to scrape by with a win and I can barely stand now because of it. Besides, if two Wizard Saints went at it then it would've created a catastrophe."

"Especially if it were be and Jose. It's been six years since we last came face to face with each other, back then Phantom Lord was ranked at the top and no one knew how large Fairy Tail was going to become."

"And now it's been reduced to rubble."

"The building is just that, a building. A guild is made by the wizards and the bonds they forge with each other, and as long as we stand together there is nothing we can't overcome." he gave a small smile and patted Luke on the head "You did well my child, as did the rest of you. Be proud that you are members of Fairy Tail."

"I know I am." Luke glanced over to see Jose crawling his way out of the water, badly wounded but still alive "Oh crap."

"Don't worry, he doesn't have enough magic energy left to fight with. You've done more than enough this day Luke, let me deal with him." Makarov made his way over to Jose "You know I saw your battle with my child Luke, you have so much power at your command that I can see why the council named you one of the Ten Wizard Saints. However, you're misusing that power for your own personal gain. You could've become a role model for the younger generation, and yet instead you've become a lesson in what not to do in life."

"Oh please." Jose spat out "What is this, some sort of lecture?"

"For my children, not for you. For you it is both a threat and a warning. You will never bother my guild or my children again, do you understand me? I'm sure the Magic Council will be watching us after all the chaos that we've caused, you'd better be on your best behaviour from now on because I know I will." he turned around.

That was when Aria appeared behind him 'Our master has fallen, how sad. But the old man's left himself open again, this is my chance!'

"Nope." and then Makarov took him out with one punch without even looking at him "This war is over, there is no reason for us to fight anymore. But let me warn you now, if you push me to the point of anger then I'll wipe out your entire guild without hesitation. Now just go on and get out of here, and take Jose with you okay?"

"ALRIGHT, WE BEAT PHANTOM!" and then everyone started cheering over their victory despite the pain they had endured.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Porlyusica stood in the East Forest outside her home, her mind drifting with the wind 'I can feel their fear. The trees, the earth, the air. This is exactly why… I HATE HUMANS DAMMIT!" she kicked a crate of apples in frustration and several other things around her "They're so dim witted they have no idea how to solve even a simple problem without raising their fists! You're an absolute nit wit Makarov, I tried to warn you but of course you never listen to me!" she glanced over at a nearby tree and ceased her angry tirade "Mystogan."

Sure enough, Mystogan sat in front of her holding an apple "Do you mind if I have this?"

"I was wondering how the old geezer was able to recover from the spell so quickly, now it all makes sense. When Makarov was hit by the drain spell you gathered his lost magic."

"Wise as always." he bit into the apple.

"Hey, I never said you could eat that!"

"This war is over now."

"I'm not a proponent of any sort of violence, even between loathsome humans. That being said, aren't you one of Makarov's men? You shouldn't be wasting your time here, your allies could have used your help."

"I am aware." the wind scattered around him, revealing a large number of flags with the Phantom Lord guild mark on them.

'The flags of Phantom Lord, there are so many. He must have overthrown every single one of their branches in the kingdom.'

"Would you mind if I take another apple for the road?"

"You are going to pick up this mess you made before you go right? Honestly, I'll never understand humans. They thirst for power and find themselves at war, they forget how much pain and sorrow it can bring All that matters to them is their victory."

"I believe that there is a way to save them from that pain and sorrow, it is a sacred light that guides all of us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Makarov made his way over to where Luke (being supported by Cana due to the fact that he was pretty much unable to stand) and the others were "We are victorious this day, but I had next to nothing to do with this victory. This victory belongs to you my children!" he was met with various cheers.

Bolt and Happy shared a fist bump between cats "Bout time we managed to pull the sticks out of their asses, Jose had that coming for a damn long time."

"Yeah, sure they did…" Lucy just looked away sadly.

"Hey blondie you alright?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Natsu lay sprawled out amongst the rubble of what used to be the Phantom Giant, and he gave a small smile "For once I'm glad Luke got the win, I doubt we could've done it without you ya smug son of a bitch." he glanced over to where the bruised form of Gajeel lay a short distance away from him "Hey Gajeel, can you hear me?"

"No…" Gajeel grumbled "I can't hear a damn thing."

"I just wanna know where you learned to use Dragon Slayer magic."

"I told you I can't hear you ya dumbass."

"You're the second wizard I met who uses Dragon Slayer magic like I do, Luke was the first guy and we both learned it from dragons. Come on man, just tell me where you learned it."

"Just shut up."

"Oh come on, don't be like that!"

"...Oh fine fuck it, I learned it from the iron dragon Metalicana."

"Holy shit, I figured you might have been taught by a dragon. So where the hell is Metalicana right now?"

"The hell if I know."

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS DAMMIT!"

"I SAID I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" they started to butt heads like a couple of idiots, but then they proceeded to nurse their newly bruised foreheads "Dammit, I feel like I've lost a crap load of my brain cells just by talking to you."

"Hey watch it asshat."

"...He just up and vanished without a trace."

"What?"

"Yeah, I had been training with Metalicana but then one day he just up and vanished without even saying a word to me. Talk about a selfish prick."

"Yeah, the same thing happened with me and the fire dragon Igneel, and Luke and the lightning dragon Kaminari." then Natsu felt it click in his head "Wait a second, he didn't happen to disappear on the 7th of July 7 years ago did he?"

"Yeah that's right, why are you saying you know where Metalicana is?"

"I don't have a clue but I've been looking for Igneel and Luke's been looking for Kaminari, and the last time either of us saw him was 7 years ago on July 7th."

"So all three of our dragons vanished seven years ago, year 777 on the seventh day of the seventh month-"

"Dammit what the hell is it with all of the sevens?!"

"How the hell should I know?" they butted heads again "Look I don't even care what happened to him."

"You know what fuck it, just get the hell out of here already."

"Hey you're on our turf you little shitstain, if anyone should leave then it's you!"

"Well you don't have to be such a douche about it."

"Just get lost before I kick your ass!"

"Well just let me know if you hear anything about Igneel okay?"

"Are you fucking with me, why the hell would I do you any favors?"

"Because you and me and Luke are all alike, we're fellow Dragon Slayers."

"Oh screw that, the next time I get my hands on you you're dead meat! I'll have you begging for mercy!"

"You know you don't have to so brutal, I was thinking about calling a truce but if you're gonna throw a tantrum like that then I don't know."

"I'm brutal?! Give ma fucking break, just take a look at what you and Thunderclap did to our guild hall!"

"Yeah but only after you assclowns totally demolished ours first! Oh you know what fuck it, I'm never calling a truce with you!"

"I never wanted a truce with you you little bastard!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed, and things seemed to calm down somewhat, but the damage had still been done.

Makarov observed what remained of the guild hall and let out a sigh "Looks like they really did a number on it huh?"

"Master…" that was when Lucy approached the front of the crowd, her expression solemn and guilt ridden "I'm so sorry…"

"Child you've been through quite a lot lately, but there's no need for you to let it get you down like that."

"But…"

"Come on Lucy, quit pouting and show us that smile already." Luke, now covered in bandages due to the injuries he received from his battle with Jose pulled himself back to his feet, wincing at the pain.

"Luke, you're okay…"

"I drop kicked a Wizard Saint and came out alive, yeah I think that counts as okay. Besides, our team with the best name is back too." he jerked a thumb over to where Levy and the others were making their way onto the scene "Seriously though, we beat Phantom so you don't have any reason to be sad now. It doesn't matter if they destroyed our guild hall, we'll just have to rebuild it bigger and better than before."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Sorry about worrying you like that Lucy, I didn't mean to get you all upset or anything."

"No, it was all my fault."

"Lucy we all know about your secret, there isn't a single person in the guild who thinks you're to blame for what happened."

"But…"

Freed nodded "Luke speaks the truth, in fact I owe you an apology myself. I allowed Gajeel to get the better of me, and because of that you were captured."

"Freed, don't…"

"Lucy, listen to me." Makarov spoke again "Though we may not be able to share our feelings of happiness and sadness entirely, we do share them to some extent. That's what happens when you're part of a guild. When one person is happy then everyone becomes happy, when one person is angry then everyone becomes angry, and when one person sheds tears then they shed tears for everyone. There's no reason for you to feel guilty, so don't cry. You should already know how much everyone here cares about you. Hold your head high my dear, because you are a proud member of the family that is Fairy Tail."

Lucy said nothing, she was unable to contain it anymore and finally started sobbing openly and loudly.

'While I'm glad everything worked out I'm worried about the Magic Council, they'll be absolutely furious about this without a doubt. I hate to think it, but I might even end up looking at prison time.' and then he started sobbing as well.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Days passed, and things felt like normal again.

Luke observed the scene of where the guild hall used to be with a small fond smile 'It's been about a week since the incident with Phantom, now we've started rebuilding the guild hall and everything feels like it's back to normal. Of course after we did beat Phantom it didn't take long for things to take a turn for the worse, mainly because we got confronted by the army of Rune Knights that work for the Magic Council. They rounded everyone up, Natsu taking a little bit longer to get to cooperate, and they took all of us to a military post to question us about the incident. We had to endure a week of daily interrogations, but now it seems like everything has blown over. From what we've been told so far the council has decided to make a ruling on Fairy Tail being punished at a later date. Lucky for us I don't think they're gonna be too harsh, all of the evidence and eyewitness reports they've received clearly shows that Phantom Lord were the ones who threw the first punch and started this whole war in the first place.' he winced at the pain of his wounds 'The wounds from my battle with Jose still haven't fully healed yet.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy sat at her desk in her apartment writing away, but her thoughts were drifting 'You know something mom, I can't help but wonder if dad really was the one behind all of this. You don't think he would go that far, do you? Now that I think about it, he probably would without giving it so much as a second thought. I just don't understand why he's so desperate for me to come home all of a sudden, it's not like he cared about me being there before. Not since… Mom, he would do it again wouldn't he? He'd use his money to try and control me, and now he's dragging everyone else into it. No, I won't let that happen, not this time.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Construction continued to get underway.

Gray rolled his eyes as he watched Natsu take on too many support beams at once and collapse to the ground "You see that's exactly what you get for carrying too much shit at once you moron."

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU CALL ME?!" Natsu pretty much exploded.

"I called you a moron because that's exactly what you are, you got a problem with that?" they wasted no time in getting up in each other's faces.

"Yeah, I've got a problem with the ass wipe that is your face!"

One noteworthy difference from the past week is that Juvia was now stalking Gray from afar with hearts in her eyes 'Oh Gray my love, I wish you would carry me too!'

"Cut it out!" Erza wasted no time in bashing their skulls into the ground with a support beam of her own "Both of you get back to work right now, we have a lot to do so we don't have time to deal with the two of you messing around!"

Luke let out a sigh "Well I know I wouldn't want to work for Erza, speaking of which did you requip into that outfit?"

"Your point being?"

"...Nevermind, at least even the master is hard at work. Hey boss, where do you want me to put these few?"

"Just stick them over there." Makarov pointed over to some random area.

"Way ahead of you." Luke grabbed 5 pillars with one arm and made his way over to the area designated to him, but then he stopped "Why the hell did I just call him boss? Hey you know what, screw it. Hey Natsu, Gray, if you guys are done with your little game of whack a mole then we could use a little bit of help here."

"A little bit on the big side isn't it?" Bickslow pointed out.

"Yeah well we figured we might as well expand the place. I've got the plans right here, feel free to go ahead and take a look."

"Seems a little bit like overkill but whatever the hell you guys want I guess, so what's it gonna look like now?"

"Go ahead and see for yourself."

Bickslow took a look at the plans, and his gaze dulled from behind his hood 'This looks like some stupid little kid did it, and it's in color pencil. Okay first question, which way is supposed to be up? Second question, what idiot came up with these?"

"The one that told you to go fuck yourself with that stupid mask."

"...So it was you then?"

"Maybe."

All the while, Juvia was watching Gray with hearts in her eyes 'My dearest Gray, he can be so cold to others and yet he is so warm to me!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later…

Gray let out a sigh "Dammit I'm starving, isn't Erza at least gonna give us a lunch break or something?" he was promptly swamped with a stream of water that appeared out of nowhere, leaving a lunch box in his lap as a result "What the hell was that?"

"Hey check it out." Bolt hopped into Gray's lap and opened it up "I wonder where the hell this thing came from."

Gray looked inside and was instantly freaked out by what he was seeing "Is that my face made out of veggies?"

"It still looks pretty tasty, plus just imagine what would happen if Natsu found out your face was actually edible."

"Add that to the list of reasons why I can't eat this, along with it being way too weird. I can see something oozing out of the side."

From her hiding place, Juvia was crying pools worth of anima tears 'This is absolutely heartbreaking, I spent three whole days making that lunch for him!'

"Well if you're not gonna eat it then I'm just gonna take it for myself, might as well see if it at least tastes good." Bolt promptly scooped up a piece and started eating "Hey what do you know, this actually isn't half bad."

"Seriously? I might as well try it too I guess." he promptly took a bite "What the hell do you know, this is actually pretty good."

Of course, Juvia let this go to her head and the hearts in her eyes pretty much exploded 'He likes my cooking, he really likes my cooking! This is a sign, we'll get married and have 33 babies together! I'm so happy I could cry!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke on the other hand met Elfman in front of the tree at South Gate park "So what's up, what's so important you wanted to call me out here like this?"

Elfman breathed a deep sigh and turned to face him "First off, I talked with Cana a while back, and I just want to tell you that I don't blame you for what happened to Mira. That's the kind of guilt I've been feeling myself ever since that day, both for what happened to her and for you leaving for so long."

"Looking back that's not something I'm proud of, all that time I was running from the guilt I felt about her taking that hit for me, but at the same time it was the only reason I was able to grow as much as I did."

"We can't dwell on the past anymore than we already have, but with that being said Luke I called you out here because I want to ask you to help me with something. I need your help to train and become a better man, a real man."

"Where exactly are you going with this?"

"Luke you actually managed to defeat one of the Ten Wizard Saints in battle, that's something only a real man could do. I want to fight you, just like what you did with Erza. I want to test my Take Over magic against your Dragon Slayer magic and your swordsmanship skills, I have to improve on my powers and fighting against you will help me to become more of a man."

"Elfman I'm pretty sure you're as much of a man as that stereotype can get, besides you already did your Full Body Takeover without losing control so I'd call that a win."

"It's not enough, not for any of us. Back then I wasn't able to save Mira from the monster or myself, and this time I couldn't save Lisanna without turning into a monster, even if I did manage to regain control. I was supposed to protect them and I just wasn't good enough. I'm her brother, I have to do what I can to protect Lisanna, like how I failed with…"

"With Mira, we both did back then. Truth be told, after what happened there were a few points where I actually considered not going back to the guild at all."

Elfman's head snapped up with disbelief "Are you kidding me?"

"But the guy I was training with, he's a Wizard Saint too, he gave me a reality check I seriously needed. I was being nothing but a pathetic coward. Even if I did quit the jobs and the dangers wouldn't stop coming, and someone will have to do it. The people I care about will end up taking those jobs again, with someone else being there with them. They'll end up facing the same risks, and there was always a chance that at least a few of them wouldn't make it, ones I might have been able to save if I had been there to protect them. How would I end up feeling then? He told me that I had a chance to reflect on the mistakes I've made and to learn from them, to use my failures to make myself a better wizard, a better person. I wasn't helping anyone by running away and not looking back, instead I should be trying to make myself stronger for their sake if nothing else, so that next time the job goes perfectly and everyone got back safe. I had a choice to make, I would either carry the spirit of the dragon that taught me what I know, or I would be a pathetic sniveling coward. I made my choice, and it's why I'm here now. So going back to your request, we both want the same thing, to protect the guild and its people." he slowly held out his hand "I'm gonna train you hard, so that means I expect you to put in 150% every time like any real man would."

Elfman gripped the hand, then pulled Luke into a bone crushing hug "You're a real man Luke, so thank you."

"And you're crushing my shoulder, still sore by the way." he was promptly released.

"Sorry."

"Forget it, I've dealt with worse."

"So this is where you guys were."

Luke and Elfman glanced over to see Loke coming up to them holding something "Hey hold on, aren't those Lucy's gate keys?"

"Yeah I found them in town a little while ago, I was hoping you could give them back to her for me?"

"So that's where you ran off to, you mean you went to get her Gate Keys? Plus you look even paler than Natsu that time he punched Erza, are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, I just got a little bit beat up fighting with Gajeel. Plus you know how it is with me, being a gentleman is pretty draining."

"I don't have a problem with that."

"And you beat a Wizard Saint, I doubt it's the same thing."

"Anyway I haven't seen Lucy around in a few days, from what I know Jose did some fucked up stuff to her so she's probably too sore to help out. Speaking of which I think I'm gonna go and check on her, you gonna come with me?"

"No thanks I think I'm gonna pass, you know I'm no good around Celestial wizards. I'll see you later." and then he left.

"You know I can never get a read on that guy. So Elfman you gonna come?"

"Thanks but I'm gonna get a jump start on my training, I'll be ready and waiting for you and ready to become a real man." and on that high note, Elfman took his leave.

"...Well okay then, I guess I might as well go find Bolt and Cana and see if they wanna come and check on Lucy. Erza and the others have enough shit to deal with."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Loke…

Loke made his way through the streets of Magnolia, only to suddenly freeze in his tracks, his expression one of horror 'Karen, you don't have to rush me… please… I need more time… just a little more time…'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey blondie!" Bolt popped up in the window to Lucy's apartment "How ya holding up these days?"

"For crying out loud, don't come in through the window cat." Cana poked her head out from her place coming in through Lucy's chimney.

"Look who's talking." Luke just calmly came in through the door "At least I have the common decency to use the door."

"Since when are you the stickler about manners?"

"Since someone has to be to balance out all of the crazy in our guild."

"Point taken, so where is blondie anyway? You'd think she'd be screaming at us to get out of here."

"That's actually a fair point, where would she go? In the bath maybe? Well I'm probably gonna regret this but better than the alternative.' he poked his head into the bathroom "Sorry about this but it's gotta be done."

"She's not here." Bolt poked his head out of the tub.

"How the hell did you get in there?"

"Looks to me like she isn't home." Cana pointed out "So then where the heck did she run off to?"

"No idea, but it doesn't feel the same without Lucy."

"Speaking of blondie, we're probably not gonna get another chance like this." Bolt opened up one of Lucy's drawers and his jaw pretty much dropped "Holy crap."

"For crying out loud Bolt what the hell is wrong with you, going through Lucy's underwear is a serious violation of- Holy shit, where do you buy underwear like that? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that."

"I can think of one place."

"Not the time for that, just close it up before she barges in and accuses all of us for peaking in her stuff when really it was just you."

"I probably would've too." Cana pointed out.

"Yeah there's about a 70% chance of you being drunk right now, as far as I'm concerned you have a bias- Hold that thought, check this out." Luke reached down underneath Lucy's desk and pulled out a box of letters "Damn there's a lot of these things, and all of them are still sealed up. I wonder who they're to?"

"Let's find out." Cana promptly opened one up "Dear mom, today was a very special day because I joined the Fairy Tail guild."

"Hey what the hell Cana, don't just go reading her stuff!"

"It was all thanks to this lightning magic wizard named Luke and his flying cat, yes it's as weird as it sounds. Luke seems like a really nice guy and he's seriously powerful, but at the same time he has kind of a sad feel to him. He's actually the most normal person in the guild, compared to everyone else always fighting and screaming at each other all the time, but they're all pretty cool in their own rights."

"...Go on."

"That's all it says about you."

"Dammit." Luke took a quick glance through the letters in the box "Looks like all of these are addressed to her mother."

"But then why would she never mail them?" asked Bolt.

"I have a few theories in mind, it's not exactly pleasant."

"No need for the theories, I just found this on her desk." Cana held up a note "If I had to guess then I'd say Lucy left this for us, it says that she's going home."

"...Oh crap."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy made her way down the cobblestone road to the giant mansion, her resolve never wavering as she took notice of one of the servants before her "Miss Spetto."

Almost immediately the old woman's eyes started watering and she started bawling in a comical fashion, the same with pretty much all of the other servants "MISS LUCY HAS COME BACK TO US!" and they latched onto Lucy "I'm so glad you're alright, I was so worried!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry all of you like that." she was met with only more comical sobbing from pretty much all of them, unaware of the figure watching her and the rest of them from a window 'Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised, they haven't changed a bit.'

"Miss Lucy." that was when another one of the servants came up to her "The master has requested your presence in the study." and that pretty much killed the entire mood.

'His runaway daughter finally comes home after an entire year and he sends a servant to request my presence for him? I see he hasn't changed either since I've been gone.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour passed.

Lucy found herself being stuffed into an elegant yet extremely stiff dress, but she just grinned and endured it for the time being 'I forgot about the dresses and how uncomfortable they can get to be, it's been awhile since I've had to wear one.'

The servants looked at her with sheer adoration "It's not too tight for you now is it miss? It looks like the sleeves may be a wee bit too short for you now."

"It's okay, really. I guess I've gotten taller, has it really been that long? Well then I should probably get going."

"Yes ma'am."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jude Heartfilia stood in the study, staring out at the estate through his window 'So she's finally home…'

"Excuse me father, it's Lucy. May I come in?"

"Yes, you may." Jude turned to face her, his expression as cold as ever "You ran away without saying so much as a single word to me, how could you?"

Lucy bowed her head slightly "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left the way I did without speaking to you first. It was a poor decision on my part, one I've deeply regretted since then."

"Well I'm glad you finally came to your senses and left that guild, a lady of your status should never be affiliated with those ruffians. I certainly wasn't looking forward to wasting any more of my money to have it eradicated. I certainly wasn't looking forward to wasting any more of my money to have it eradicated. You forced me to go to extremes Lucy. If you hadn't acted so selfishly then I wouldn't have had to lash out at your guild. You're the one who brought trouble upon your friends."

"Yes, I know."

"It's better that you don't associate with them anyway, you're a member of the Heartfilia family after all. You have nothing in common with peasants such as them, you come from a completely different world than they do. Which brings me to the reason why I wanted you home in the first place dear, it's about our family. I have made arrangements for you to marry Duke Sawarr, the heir to the Junelle family."

"Yes, I suspected that might be the case."

"Try to think of it as an investment in your future, once you're married we'll have access to the vast lands in the south belonging to the Junelle family, which will allow us to expand the Heartfilia railway and bring in millions."

"I see."

"And I expect you to give birth to a baby boy, we need a Heartfilia heir. That is all for now, you may return to your room."

"...I'm sorry father, but that's not going to happen." this caused his entire delusion of controlling her again to shatter "I didn't come here to make amends, I came here in order to say my final goodbyes. I realize that it was wrong of me to just leave without saying anything, it's a decision that I've regretted every single day since then. And that's part of the reason why I came back to tell you exactly how I truly feel before I leave for good."

"Lucy…"

"All of the money in the world can't buy you happiness, I figured out something as simple as that when I was just a child. Finally I'm truly happy, and I have no intention of letting you ruin that for me or for anyone else. I'm going to warn you once and only once, you had better not mess with Fairy Tail ever again!" and so to further demonstrate severing her ties with him, she then proceeded to rip her dress apart "It doesn't matter that you're my father, if you threaten us then we will crush you just like we would any other enemy!" this left him speechless, and she went on with a sad sigh "You know it didn't have to be this way, you and I could've sat down together and talked things out. But now I can't trust you, because your actions have hurt too many people that I care about. I don't need fancy dresses, a big house or lots of money to be happy, I just need to be surrounded by people who accept me for who I am. And I'm not Lucky Lucy Heartfilia anymore, I'm Lucy of Fairy Tail. The people there treat me like family, something you haven't done in a long time. It was really hard for me to leave this house, but that's only because I have so many fond memories of living here with mom. I care so much about Ms Spetto, Bello, Ribbon and Aido, and it's really hard for me to leave them behind like this, but I know that it's time for me to move on. And you know something else, I truly believe that if mom were still alive then she would tell me to always be true to myself, and to do whatever makes me happy."

Jude froze as he saw an image of an older blonde woman appear where Lucy stood 'Layla…'

"So this is goodbye then, daddy." and with that, Lucy took her leave.

'Layla… You would be proud of our daughter for acting like this wouldn't you? She's so much like you, stubborn as a rock.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed, and the sun was setting.

Lucy glanced up at her mother's gravestone, reading from X748 to X777 "Well mom, I think it's time for me to head out before everyone else shows up and storms the place again."

"Yeah I wouldn't bet on that."

Lucy jumped and whipped around to find Luke, Bolt and Cana standing behind her "What the heck-"

"Awhile back we had to reach an agreement with the council that if we do storm a place then we can't do it more than once a month, so… yeah."

"I mean when the heck did you get here?"

"Around the time you started staring into space."

"Oh. Listen I'm sorry for worrying you guys, but this was something that I had to do by myself."

"Hey we've all been there at some point or another."

"Yeah." Lucy turned back to the grave This… This is my mom's grave. She was a Celestial Wizard you know, she was the owner of Aquarius and Cancer's keys before I got them."

"Sounds like she was quite the wizard."

"Yeah, she was. I just wish she could've seen everything I've been up to."

"I think she's still watching over you, and I think she's proud of you for being so stubborn and lucky at the same time."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Lucy gave him a small smile "Thanks. Well anyway let's get going." and so they started walking away, though as she did she noticed all of the servants waving and crying in her direction, so she gave them a simple wave "Seriously though sorry guys, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything like that."

"Hey look it's fine, some things just have to be done. Of course Bolt and Cana wasted no time in jumping to conclusions."

"You were convinced by that too." Cana pointed out dryly.

"I was not, be realistic for a second Cana. And Bolt was crying."

"Pull your head out of your ass." Bolt let out a snort "Eesh, the guy takes down a Wizard Saint and suddenly he's a Gary Sue."

"Hey me drop kicking Jose was your idea, and besides I barely managed to pull out a win against the guy. You know what, time for a change of subject. I have to admit I'm really starting to dig your hometown Lucy, it seems like a pretty peaceful place."

"Oh this isn't a town, this is just part of our garden."

"Hold on, what now." Cana shot her a look.

"Oh yeah, the Heartfilia estate goes all the way to that mountain over there." she received several looks of disbelief "Hey what's the matter?"

"HOLY CRAP SHE'S RICH, AND SHE'S ACTING LIKE IT'S NOTHING!" and then she started jigging, whatever the hell that means.

"One of our best is down for the count!" Bolt quickly sprouted his wings "Captain Luke of the SS Insanity, what are your orders?"

Luke was just starting up at the sky in some kind of daze "Oh wow, the sky really is so beautiful isn't it?"

"New plan, we need a medic! The only sane person in the guild has a screw loose!"

"UPA!" Cana promptly salluted.

"And she's kind of drunk, it was a long train ride."

Lucy was weirded out by this, but she simply let out a chuckle and gave a small smile 'Mom, I know you're looking down on me from heaven. You always taught me that I should follow my dreams, so I'm sure that you would agree with my decision to leave. My friends in Fairy Tail are so special to me, and I couldn't be happier. Fairy Tail is my family now.'

A/N:

And thus the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord comes to an end as a result of two climatic battles, Luke vs Jose and Natsu vs Gajeel. I knew right from the beginning that I was going to have Luke fight Jose, since Luke is the main character of this story and Jose, well he's a gigantic prick.

Now then, due to recent activities with my reviews, I've decided to just come out and say this. A certain someone who will remain nameless has left me several negative reviews of this story, and for a time I was perfectly fine with that. However, now it's gotten to the point where he's spamming the same review for every chapter of this story. Leaving one review saying that you didn't like my story is one thing, that I'm okay with, I know that my stories aren't for everybody. But seriously, if you don't like it then don't read it. Don't just spew hate all over a story solely for the sake of spewing hate. To put it simply, quit spamming your hate reviews for no other reason other than to be a jerk. Seriously, if you want some Fairy Tail stuff that you like then either watch the actual anime, read someone else's story, write your own story, or just go and spew your hate on someone else, because I'm not going anywhere!