Gray, Wendy, and Lucy walked silently to their destination. Occasionally, the ice mage would glance over to Lucy who had an annoyed look. Taking enough of the silence of the group, he broke the ice. "So, what is the deal with you and Flamebrain? I'm not great at relationship stuff, but I and the others can tell something is up," he frowned, resting his hands behind his head as they walked. "You are usually all lovey dovey and crap with him, but you seem so... angry with him. Did that idiot piss you off or something?"

Lucy turned away, biting her bottom lip. She knew it was obvious how she was acting with Natsu, but she couldn't help it. It's not that Natsu did anything to make her angry, everyday was about paradise with him. But something has felt off for a while with the couple for a while. At first it was a great spark of fire between the two, but overtime things felt... wrong. She knew Natsu was trying his best to be a good boyfriend, but the feelings she once had for him began to deteriorate. He was more of a best friend than anything, someone to share her troubles with, to laugh with, to talk to, to not... love. But with how overly emotional Natsu is, how could she have the heart to tell him?

"It's.. complicated Gray," she finally responded after a long pause. "I'm not angry with him, or upset."

Gray narrowed his eyes towards the blond, knowing there was something more to this story. "Then why have him sit with Erza? You know he loves sitting with you."

"Just wanted to change things up a bit," Lucy smiled, almost forcefully, gritting her teeth on the inside. "Natsu always sits with me on the train, so I figured he could sit with Erza for once. I mean they are close friends after all."

"Bullshit," Gray muttered under his breath, but she caught a hint of the irritation in his voice.

"What?"

Gray stopped to turn in her direction with a cold glare, pointing his finger towards Lucy. "I said bullshit, Lucy! There's something more going on between you two, so just fucking spill it."

Lucy matched his glare, huffing as she turned to the side to look away from him. "There's nothing more going on, now drop it Gray... please."

"If you don't want Erza down your throat next, I suggest you stop lying."

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes you are!"

Lucy whipped around quickly, slapping the ice mage across the face, stunning Carla and Wendy who were watching the whole exchange. Gray placed a hand on his red cheek with wide eyes, staring blindly at the blond. "Lucy..."

"I-Im sorry!" Tears rolled down her cheeks as she cupped her mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that..."

Before any of them could respond to anything, a group of men walked out of the clearing, weapons in hand with blood thirsty look on their faces.

"Just our lucky days boys! A naked guy, a slut, a little girl and a cat!" One of them gave a feral grin, dragging his tongue along his blade. "Let's have some fun shall we?"

Lucy quickly wiped her tears, reaching for her key belt as Gray smacked his fist into the palm of his hand. "This discussion isn't over Lucy, after we deal with these idiots you're telling me the truth."

"Yeah, yeah... I get it," Lucy glared at the men. "You picked the wrong group to mess with buddy!"

One of the men quirked a brow with an amused smirk. "And tell me blondie why is that?"

"Because we're mages of Fairy Tail buddy, and we don't play nice with bandits," Gray retorted, letting off an icy aura as the men took hesitant steps back.

"You gotta be kidding me! Mages! That damn mayor hired a bunch of mages to do his dirty work?!"

"Let's get out of here!"

The men tried to make a break for it, rushing down the road.

Ice Make Floor!

Gray bent his body down to slam his hands against the ground, turning it Into a solid sheet of ice. The men tripped and slipped, falling flat on their faces. "Lucy, Wendy!" He called out.

"On it!" They both rushed forward, Lucy pulling out one of her keys.

Open Gate Of The Lion Leo

With a golden light, Loke or Leo appeared with a giant grin. "You called beautiful?"

"Rough those guys up!"

"On it!" Loke peeled off the ground, rushing the men with a golden glow encasing both of his fists.

Regulus Impact!

With a golden light surrounding his right his fist, he punched it forward, a giant golden lion face tearing through the most of the bandits. "Your up Wendy!"

"Right!" Wendy leaped into the air, swirling wind encasing her arms.

Sky Dragon Wing Attack!

She leaped over the group, sending a miniature tornado that knocked the rest of them out flat on the ground.

"Well... that was boring," Gray sweat dropped, realizing that none of these guys were mages at all and stood little to no chance.

The group walked up to them as Lucy summoned Virgo to tie the men up together. Gray leaned down to pat one of their faces. "Wakey, wakey idiots."

One of the men groaned, his half lidded eyes opening up to a raven haired boy, shirtless standing in front of him with an icy cold glare. "Finally awake I see, ready to answer some questions?" He asked with a feral grin that pierced fear into the man's heart.He tried in vain to stand up, but a weight pulling him back down to the ground. With wide eyes, he noticed all of his companions with bruises and scrapes littered over their bodies, unconsciously tied up in the rope of their captors. "S-shit..." he cursed under his breath.

A blow to the back of his head, making his head dip down for a moment, causing him to whip his head back in the ice mage's direction. "You bastard kid, wait until the others find you, your good as dead!"

Gray rolled his eyes, grabbing the man by the scruff of his air, using an intimidating glare along with his magic. "Do I look scared of some dark guild? Tartaros was much more a challenge than you idiots. But since we're on the subject, care to talk, or do you gotta become a human popsicle?"

A bitter cold feeling spread throughout the man's body. He looked down in horror, noticing ice particles encasing his skin. "Wait! I'll tell you everything I know, I swear!"

"Now we're getting somewhere," Gray removed his hand with a cocky smirk planted on his face. "What dark guild is helping you terrorize the town?"

"They didn't give us a name, I swear! All they told us is they'd help us rob the town. The only thing I can say is you and your party better be ready for what's to come."

"What do you me-"

A large explosion rung out behind them, smoke billowing out. "Shit! Wendy, Lucy, stay with the bandits. I gotta get to Natsu and Erza! Carla, I need your help!"

"Right!" The white feline sprouted out her wings, taking hold of Gray's arms as they soured through the air. He noticed flames shoot out from the woods as Carla accelerated. "Natsu, Erza, I'm coming!"

Natsu and Erza walked silently side by side, looking around them. "How much farther till we reach the base Natsu?" She asked, glancing over at the dragon slayer.

He took a whiff of the air, tracking on a couple of scents. "Their close, just a bit fur -" his ears perked up as he stopped, causing the knight to stop with him.

"Natsu? What is it?" Erza frowned gently, glancing around her surroundings that was nothing but trees and bushes.

Natsu whipped his head around in all directions, hearing the slightest branch crack under someone's foot. He took one more step before he felt his foot press against something. Glancing down, a large magic circle surrounded him. With very little options, he turned to Erza with fear in his eyes that she was gonna get caught in whatever this was. "SHIT! Erza, get away from me!" He shoved Erza away from him as she fell on her butt.

Natsu crossed his arms in an X formation, awaiting whatever the result of this circle was. His body couldn't move a muscle if he tried, feeling the magic circle holding him in place with no escape as an option. Unfortunately, he didn't have to wait long. With a blinding light engulfing his body, an explosion went off, sending Erza rolling across the ground a few feet from where she was just next to Natsu. The ringing in her ears with blurry vision, she slowly dragged herself off the ground to stare at the billowing smoke that surrounded her companion.

Erza cursed under her breath, bringing herself to her feet, gawking in utter horror with tears pricking the corner of her eyes. She rushed forward, hoping and praying her thoughts were betraying her. With one name in her mind, she screamed.

"NATSU!!!!"

Okay, I had to rewrite this slightly due to two reasons. Not enough description, chapter felt lacking, and for some damn reason this app keeps un spacing my sentences. It's getting slightly on my nerves on why it's doing this. Anyone else have this issue? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless of what was written before. And I'll see you all in the next one. Later :)