Construction was probably wild enough when you were doing it professionally. Doing it with your friends was a mess.

Gray and Natsu were always fighting.

Mirajane burst into tears when her blueprints were insulted.

A mysterious wave of water threw a 'character lunch' into Gray's lap.

Nora was honestly about to tape her eyebrows up and into a permanent state of surprise, just to save herself the time.

"Natsu, Gray, Erza, Nora," a voice greeted, and Nora looked away from the character lunch to see a familiar yet pale face. Loke was there, holding up a familiar key-ring and smiling at the four and Happy. "Would you give these to Lucy?"

"Loke." Nora's eyes widened, and she quickly made her way over to her friend. "Gods, you look terrible." She held her hands up. "I-I mean, not that kind—like sick!" She lowered her hands, frowning. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, just tired," Loke assured her, still giving that exhausted grin as he reached up with his free hand to straighten his glasses.

Gray made his way over. "I was wondering where you'd gone off to."

"You've been searching the whole time?" Natsu questioned the boy.

Nora's brow furrowed. "No, he hasn't." She grabbed at Loke's shirt, then she ruffled his hair, causing the orange-haired boy to squirm. "Same clothes, you haven't showered… You've been hurt or stuck someplace."

"What?!" Loke looked up at her, his eyes widening behind his glasses. "How can you tell all of that?!"

Nora crossed her arms. "Well, I know that you got the keys when you found me, you just didn't have the chance to get them to Lucy. So, I already know that you've been missing this long for another reason." She tilted her head. "And I've lived on the road, so I know the signs when folks haven't been able to take care of themselves. Knowing you, if you haven't been able to keep up appearances, you probably also haven't eaten or drank in a while." She raised a hand to his forehead, and she sighed quietly. "On top of everything, you also have a bit of a fever."

"I'm fine." Loke stepped away, looking down bashfully. "I just got… preoccupied, someplace. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" Happy flew over, frowning at the ring-mage. "You don't look good at all."

"Thanks, but I'm fine," Loke pressed, looking up with a weary smile. "Sheesh. It's hard being a male feminist."

Nora snorted. "That what they're calling it?" She said it lightly, as a tease, her tone still edged with concern. "Hm."

"Lucy isn't here," Happy explained to Loke. "Her injuries hurt so bad, she can't move."

"Maybe we should go check on her," Natsu suggested, resting his hands on his hips. "You come too, Loke."

"I'll pass," Loke said quickly. "You know I can't handle celestial wizards."

With that, the orange-haired boy turned and swiftly departed. Nora noticed a messiness in his hurried steps, her worry growing.

Natsu sighed, folding his hands behind his head and watching Loke go in annoyance. "Really? But Lucy's still Lucy."

"Natsu," Erza chided. "We all have our weaknesses. Don't pry."

Nora watched Loke go, only to see him suddenly halt and freeze up in his tracks some distance away. He stayed there for a few moments, then the ring-mage continued his trek.


/\


Nothing says 'comradery' like home invasion.

Nora was starting to learn this about being a member of Fairy Tail and deciding that it was probably for the best that she lived in the dorms rather than trying to find her own place.

When Lucy did not answer the door, the rest of Fairy Tail's strongest team invited themselves into her apartment to investigate, and Nora stood back and watched as Gray, Erza, Natsu, and Happy snooped about.

She kept an eyebrow raised, shaking her head, then she noticed a slip of paper pinned beneath a closed ink-well on the desk and blinked, walking over and retrieving it.

"Uh… Guys?" Nora asked quietly. "Quit digging through her underwear and take a look at this. It's, um… It's from Lucy."

Suddenly, Happy knocked open a chest of letters, Erza looked back. "What are these?"

"Letters?" Gray replied, confused.

Natsu opened one. "Huh…

Mom,

I finally joined the guild of my dreams, Fairy Tail."

"Hey!" Gray protested, near-panic. "Don't go reading those!"

"Today, I met a person named Erza. She's cool and beautiful, warm and full of passion," Natsu went on, and the knight's face flushed. "

Then, Natsu and Gray-"

"Are these all letters to her mother?" Gray asked, frowning.

Happy looked up. "Looks like it."

"I wonder why she didn't send them," Natsu noted, frowning.

"It's a journaling thing," Nora said, and the others looked at her in surprise. "My friend, Ruby, did it sometimes after she left home and she couldn't go and talk to her mom anymore. It helped her focus her thoughts." She looked back at the others. "... See, Ruby would go and talk to her mom's grave."

"... Oh." Natsu's face fell. "So, she didn't send them because… she can't?"

Nora nodded, and Gray looked down, gritting his teeth. "Damn it…"

"But the thing about this is that you write to someone you love about things that are important," Nora said, then she smiled. "It looks like all Lucy would want to talk about with her mom is you guys. That's… pretty neat."

The boys looked up, their eyes wide, then they looked away as Happy sniffled a bit.

Erza bowed her head, her face still flushing somewhat.

"I know I wanna tell Igneel all about Fairy Tail, once I find him," Natsu admitted, then he looked up with a smile. "I'll introduce him to Lucy, and she can write to her mom about it. I bet Lucy's mom'd like that, too!"

Nora's eyes shone. "Hm. Yeah." Then, the orange-haired girl sighed and held up the paper she had found. "But unfortunately, we have a problem… This one's for us."

I will go home.

~ Lucy.


/\


The train ride was miserable, especially with all of Natsu's whimpering about rescuing Lucy.

Joining the betting pool for 'NaLu' was getting more and more tempting for Nora every day.

Finally, they arrived and Gray, Erza, Natsu, Happy, and Nora sprinted (well, in Happy's case, flew) towards the Heartfilia Estate. When they reached the residence, they found a familiar figure standing before a grave in the gardens.

A red cloak fluttered in the wind.

A stone grave laid set in a snowy cliff.

'Thus kindly, I scatter.'

Some things never change.

"LUCY!" The other four shouted, and the blonde looked at them with wide eyes. "LUCY!"

"Why?!" Lucy shrieked, that question ingrained into her like an instinct when it came to reacting to her friends, but a sobbing Happy tackled her and her face fell.

Natsu ran up to her, frantic. "Lucy, you can't do this! You said that you didn't want to be here and your dad's clearly the worst and-!"

"Guys, guys!" Lucy smiled sheepishly. "I'm not here to stay." They all blinked, and the celestial mage laughed awkwardly. "I, um… I faced him, and I told him I wasn't coming back and that he must never threaten my family again."

Natsu's face flushed as Gray's jaw dropped, and Erza laughed out loud in relief while Happy just kept crying into the blonde's chest.

Nora smiled proudly at her friend. "Atta'girl."

"Hm." Lucy looked over at Nora, grinning. "I think I might've changed it all."

"You did Weiss proud, Lucy," the Huntress joked, crossing her arms. "I'll have to figure out how to play you some of her songs. After having to deal with my rendition on top of everything else, you deserve the real deal."

"... You could have at least left a better note!" Natsu fumed, stomping in place. "I will go home?! What was that?!"

Lucy cringed. "Sorry!"


After Lucy waved 'goodbye' to her servants and cast one last look at her home, the group began the walk back to the train station.

"I'm really sorry I worried you all," she admitted shyly.

"Don't worry," Erza chided. "It's our fault for jumping to conclusions."

Gray nodded. "I guess we were worried for nothing."

"Happy was worried the whole time," Natsu remarked, his arms folded behind his head.

Happy smirked at his friend. "You were sobbing too, Natsu!"

"N-No, I wasn't!" Natsu looked away, his face flushing.

Nora glanced at Lucy and winked, grinning deviously. "Heh."

"I'm sorry, really!" Lucy said again, smiling in embarrassment.

Nora snorted. "It's all good. We all have our drama-moments where we freak our friends out without meaning to. I once got REALLY into the roleplay we were using during a big food-fight and yelled 'off with their heads', and my friend Yang told me later that she wasn't sure if I was joking." She giggled, raising her hand to her mouth. "Ah, miscommunication." She lowered her hand and glanced at Lucy, who stared at her with owl eyes. "I knocked Yang through the ceiling with a watermelon and it took her -like- three minutes to fall back down again, so maybe that's how things got muddled."

Lucy slowly blinked. "You can hit someone that hard?"

"Yeah, but Yang could take it," Nora explained, then she noticed how Natsu was fuming at her. "... I am NOT gonna hit you that hard!"

"I can take anything this Yang can take!" Natsiu protested, holding his fists up. "Try me!"

Nora deadpanned. "Yang had a shield, and her power allowed her to absorb, multiply, and redirect physical damage. She was quite literally built to take it, Natsu." She glanced away. "And... I really hope you never have to figure out if you can take anything Yang could. I mean, she-"

"JUST HIT ME WITH THE HAMMER!" Natsu demanded.

Nora shot an annoyed look at him. "NO!"

Gray glanced around. "Sheesh, what a spacious town."

"It's so calm and peaceful," Erza remarked, grateful for a subject change.

"Kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies," Nora said, frowning. "It's empty. Back home, that's never a good sign."

"Oh, don't worry!" Lucy tried to reassure the Huntress. "This isn't a town, it's our garden! Our land goes all the way to that mountain over there!" Nora blinked, then she pointed to the mountain, and Lucy nodded. "Yep!" Nora lowered her hand, staring at the mountain, and Lucy blinked at the sudden silence. "... What's the matter, everyone?"

Gray suddenly gave a dramatic salute. "All hail Princess Lucy!"

"Said it like it was nothing!" Natsu saluted as well, his eyes wide.

"Natsu and Gray have been beaten!" Happy shrieked as the boys dramatically supported each other as if waylaid by the mere thought of the Heartfilias' massive wealth. "Captain Erza, please: give your orders!" The knight just stared up at the sky, her expression blank. "... Captain Erza's MALFUNCTIONING!" Gray and Natsu screamed, and Happy looked at their resident Huntress, his eyes wide. "Lieutenant Nora, whatever shall we do?!"

Nora shrugged her shoulders. "I'm pretty sure this estate's bigger than any of the four great cities of my homeland, and I was half-feral in the woods for an extended period of my life, so… I got nothing." She finally settled on smiling. "I'm just glad you crazies are my teammates."

Lucy blinked, then she laughed.

Between the confession of the healing Huntress and the laughter of the liberated heiress, the others seemed to snap out of their spell.

It was time to go back home to Fairy Tail.

"... Half-feral?" Gray glanced at Nora, an eyebrow raised.

Nora shrugged. "Wore clothes, bit a kid when his hand got too close to my food. It was fifty-fifty."

"Sick." Natsu held a hand up, grinning, and Nora snorted before high-fiving him.

Lucy snapped her fingers. "That's why you're okay with hard surfaces!"

"No, that was actually just the beds in the dorms at my old school," Nora disagreed. "Great for bouncing, bad for the back. I'd have preferred to sleep on the ground, but Ren said 'no' after Jaune tripped over me for the eighth time and I jump-scared Pyrrha by rolling under her mattress and talking about pancakes in my sleep at three AM."

Nora's new teammates just looked at her, then Erza snorted before closing her eyes and starting to chuckle.

That seemed to flip a switch in the others, and Gray grinned and shook his head as Natsu and Lucy started laughing.

Happy flew over and landed on Nora's shoulder, clinging on and curling his tail around her shoulders once more.

Nora beamed, reaching up and patting the cat's head, then she sighed and looked at the distant mountain with a grin.

The twist in her chest did not hurt so bad, that time.


/\/\/\/\


Nora snorted quietly.

"Okay, admit it: it was pretty funny, how you froze up like that on-stage."

As they walked down the dirt path towards their next job, Erza looked at the young Huntress in annoyance. "If you ever mention that play to anyone, they will not be able to recognize your body as a body."

"Hm!" Nora shook her head. "See, the secret is having no shame." She placed her hands on her hips. "None whatsoever. It's really the best way to live a life, y'know?"

Lucy deadpanned. "That, coming from you?"

"What?" Nora raised an eyebrow.

Lucy held her hands up. "I've just noticed you've got a thing about necklines, okay?"

"Cultural difference, okay?" Nora rolled her eyes, sighing. "I'm sorry, but there's still a lot of things for me to get used to around here. The clothes just happen to be one of those things."

"Huh. Is it really that big of a difference?" Lucy asked, frowning.

Nora cringed. "Well, um…" She sighed, lowering her hands. "It was kind of a regional thing that varied based on personal-preference, but... since I grew up where I did back where I'm from... yeah, I guess."

Mistral was considered the most-conservative with clothes amongst the kingdoms, not that Nora had ever really given it much thought. Necklines just never seemed to dip too far, especially amongst Huntresses—it was just impractical, exposing that much skin.

The only real outliers Nora could recall in the warrior-class were probably Pyrrha, Yang, and Emerald—and Yang and Emerald eventually changed things up, and Pyrrha DIED after she was shot in her un-armored chest. It just was not a good idea.

Nora herself learned pretty slowly that a lack of cover could lead to some serious ouches, aura or no, so the attire she began to wear in Atlas was probably the one she was proudest of. On Anima, she probably could have made better clothing choices.

The most she had ever allowed herself in the chest area was her little heart-shaped keyhole, and even that went away in Atlas. Honestly, with the luck her friends had, it just seemed like a target waiting to happen—probably for Cinder, with her streak.

After this little dip into her thoughts, Nora looked at her friends, shrugging. "I mean, there were a few girls I knew who showed more skin—especially as I started traveling around, but-..." She waved her hands as she tried to organize her thoughts. "Like-..." She placed a hand on her own chest for comparison, frowning as she recalled Yang and Pyrrha's clothes. "Cutoff was here.

Uh..." She remembered Emerald and lowered it slightly. "Here I guess, at most." She gestured to her legs. "And it was really rare when someone left these bare." Nora thought of how impractical some of her past attire had been and cringed. "If you were smart and you weren't wearing long pants or skirts, you were at least wearing boots or armor or sometimes both."

"Why?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.

Nora crossed her arms. "Protection. Warrior culture, y'know? Gotta be practical."

Especially considering that Hunters had the ability to imbue clothing and items with their aura in order to make them more-durable, resulting in clothes becoming like armor and giving regular objects the ability to serve as weapons in a crisis.

Again, Nora recalled her watermelon-hammer with fondness.

"Protection is one thing," Erza said. "But what do you have to be ashamed of?"

Nora huffed. "I just told you, it's not a shame thing." She looked forward. "My people just had a different way of dressing, okay? Showing skin was fine and you could even show a lot if you wanted to as part of a tactic—like my friend Yang, who used to use flirting to make folks lower their guard—but there's a line. A few people I've met since coming to Fiore, girls and guys, would get some weird looks if they went to where I'm from—maybe even get refused service at a store."

"What?" Natsu's brow furrowed.

Nora glanced at him. "There were policies like 'no shoes, no shirt—no service'. If someone walked in wearing what's basically a bra, a shop owner back home had the right to say 'no'. Then, the cops could even be called for things like 'public indecency' and 'public nudity' if the outfit was WAY too revealing-" She noticed how her friends were staring at her and blinked, then she raised an eyebrow. "Oh… You guys don't have any of that, here?"

"Cultural differences," Gray remarked, his eyes wide. "Gotcha. Remind me to steer clear of your homeland, Nora."

"Hm." Nora shook her head. "Easy enough. When I think about it, it is pretty funny—all the crazy things people did to make sure everyone stayed 'decent'. Who ever even decided 'decent', anyway?" The young Huntress snorted, starting to smile a bit again. "Heck, fashion companies for combatants even developed these anti-upskirt-shot designs so that fighters who wore skirts wouldn't have to think about that while they were in the field."

"God, we need that here," Lucy remarked, her shoulders slumping, then she blinked. "... Nora, I think I've decided that where you're from actually doesn't sound so bad."

Nora winced. "Uh... War, Lucy."

"Ah." The blonde cringed. "Right. Sorry."

"... I don't wear clothes," Happy noted, and all five human Fairy Tail members blinked before starting to laugh. "What are cops?"

"Huh?" Nora stopped laughing and glanced at Happy, an eyebrow raised. "Well, y'know... cops. Policemen?" The cat shook his head. "Law-enforcement."

"Weird name for soldiers," Gray noted. "Or were they more like the Rune Knights?"

Nora blinked. "... No. Cops were their own thing. They weren't soldiers or Rune Knights, they were just... cops." She shrugged. "They investigated crime-scenes and threw baddies in jail. They had guns and badges, and they could dust for fingerprints and run DNA tests-"

"Why?" Natsu tilted his head.

Nora waved her hands. "Because your DNA and fingerprints got recorded once you committed a crime, so cops would be able to find you if you committed a crime again."

The wizards all looked at Nora in surprise.

"... So, your wizards never did criminal-tracking jobs, then?" Erza asked, perplexed. "These... cops handled it?"

"Folks like me only got involved to deal with -well- folks like me who went bad or HUGE criminal operations," Nora explained. "Otherwise, we were supposed to leave the criminals to the cops. My jobs were mainly escort, search and rescue, search and destroy-"

"Right. Monster-hunter." Lucy shook her head. "I always forget you're some sort of monster-hunter."

Nora grinned. "Find me a monster and point. I'll go at it, show you what I've got."

"I've got something better!" Natsu insisted, pointing at himself.

Nora rolled her eyes. "No!"

"Boo!" Natsu crossed his arms, pouting. "If you gotta dress like one of your warriors, you could at least fight like one!"

Nora glanced at Natsu, annoyed, then she smirked. "Tell ya what?" She held up her hand, letting pink light shine around it. "When you figure out how I do this, I will hit you with my hammer as hard as I can."

"As hard as you can?!" Natsu looked at Nora excitedly, then he began inspecting the pink glow curiously. "So, I gotta figure out what magic it is?"

Nora smiled deviously. "Good luck..~!"


The robber guild which Fairy Tail's strongest team had been hired to take out was a bunch of pushovers. It took the six fighters less than fifteen minutes to handle all of them, and they took their time and had fun with it.

Once they were done, the six of them reconvened outside, and Erza smiled. "That took less time than I thought."

"I didn't get to go nuts enough!" Natsu whined, still riled-up.

Gray looked at him, annoyed. "You were plenty nuts back there, buddy." He glanced at Nora, his eyebrow twitching. "Though you weren't the only one, were you?"

"It was one leg," Nora remarked, raising a finger as she rested Magnhild on her shoulder. "Just one. And it was their master's, so I think that you guys can cut me a break." She snorted, giving a small grin. "Break." She noticed Erza's pointed look and coughed into her fist. "I mean, weirdly painful bruising! What a lightweight, that guy—am I right?!"

"Lucy!" Happy held something up. "Look at this jewel!"

"Hey!" The blonde's eyes widened. "You can't just go taking that!"

"Huh?" Happy noticed something and blinked in surprise before becoming confused. "Isn't that Loke over there?"

Nora looked over her shoulder, following the blue cat's gaze, and sure enough: there was the ring-mage, watching them.

"Huh?" Loke seemed shaken from a trance as they approached, then he smiled. "What a coincidence. You had a job around here?"

"Yeah," Natsu replied. "You, too?"

Before Loke could reply, he noticed one member of the group and actually screamed, recoiling. "Ah! Lucy?!"

"This is perfect!" Lucy's face lit up as she waved in greeting. "I wanted to thank you for-"

"Sorry!" Loke raised a hand, grinning fearfully at her. "I'm in the middle of a job!"

With that, Loke turned and sprinted away, screaming the whole way.

Nora blinked. "... Loke?"

"What's is with him?" Lucy asked after a moment, her eyes narrowed and her shoulders slumping.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "... What did you do to him?"

"He is totally avoiding you," Natsu agreed, growing suspicious.

Nora frowned. "Loke's my friend. This doesn't seem like him at all."

"I didn't do anything!" Lucy insisted.

"Hm." Nora rested her free hand on her hip, glancing off in the direction Loke had gone in worriedly. "He's been acting weirder and weirder lately…"

'Like Pyrrha did, before-...'

Nora closed her eyes, shutting those thoughts down. "I hope he's okay."


/\


After that whole thing with Loke, Nora did not know how she ended up getting dragged to the spa town of Hosenka, but… there she was.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Nora cringed, practically strapped to a chair as one attendant worked on her hands while another worked on her feet, both of them seeming bound and determined to make these 'manicures' and 'pedicures' work. "It's official! I know what my Hell is!"

"Nora!" Lucy laughed from where she was receiving a much-more peaceful treatment. "Just try and relax! Let yourself be pampered for a bit! You've earned it, okay?"

"Hm." Erza grinned, glancing away from the blue polish being applied to her nails. "At least the scrubbing was briefer than when I did it for you, yes? And you are not injured."

Nora huffed, opening an eye to glare at the knight. "Gee, comparing this to the time right after I was buried alive sure puts it in perspective. Thanks, Erza."

"You're welcome."


After two hours of scrubbing, brushing, drying, clipping, more scrubbing, more clipping, and painting, Nora gave a firm 'no' to the offers of a public bath and instead went to the rooms so that she could change into her freshly-cleaned clothes and fall face-first onto a mat.

Her hair was mostly normal, though two tiny braids went down either side of her head and met at the back with her clip. Her nails—fingers and toes—had been trimmed and painted to match the blue of her combat attire. Nora was pretty sure five layers of skin had been scrubbed from her body, which was in no way pleasant.

People did this to relax?

"Ugh…" The Huntress groaned as she heard someone return to the room. "Before you ask why I'm in this room, I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I'm hiding from Erza and Lucy." She heard a snort, and Nora sighed. "Next time, I'm going with the guys…"

"Heh." It was Gray crouching there and patting her on the shoulder when Nora looked up, though he was smirking. "There, there. You can rest now, after your 'ordeal'."

"Gray?"

"Yeah."

"Screw you."

"Heh." Gray laid down on his mat and pulled his blanket over himself, still grinning. "Alright, Nora. You can be 'one of the guys' next time, if it makes you feel better."

Nora closed her eyes, smiling. "Gods, it does. Anything to never have to wear-" She sniffed, then sneezed. "Ach-hoo!" She rubbed her nose, groaning. "Perfume again…"

"No rest!" Natsu insisted, grabbing two massive pillows. "It begins!"

Happy held a pillow up as well. "Upa!"

"What's all the racket?" Gray groaned. "I'm sleepy!"

"Hey, look around you!" Natsu shouted, smiling deviously. "We're at an inn! Nighttime in hotels means pillow fists!"

"You mean pillow fights," Gray corrected the Fire Dragon-Slayer.

Nora sat up, sighing. "Wanna get this over with and knock him out?"

"Hm!" Erza suddenly stepped in with a smirk, followed closely by a perturbed Lucy. "All of the pillows of merit in our rooms are already under my control!"

Lucy cringed. "Of merit?"

"This is just gonna escalate, isn't it?" Nora deadpanned. "Careful, gals. You might break a nail."

"I will defeat Erza!" Natsu shouted, throwing a pillow.

Gray sighed. "What am I going to do with you people?" Just then, Erza dodged the pillow, and it struck Gray in the face. "Ack!" He stood, infuriated. "Natsu! Why, you little-!" A pile of 'weapons' had seemingly materialized next to Gray, who looked down at them with a mischievous grin. "Wow! Where'd all these pillows come from?!"

Nora just sat still and watched as the chaos started with Gray striking Natsu, Erza catching a pillow from Gray, and three pillows striking Lucy at once and sending her flying through a wall before she went off with Happy soon following behind her.

Finally, Nora stood, spat on each of her palms, and rubbed her hands together before grabbing Magnhild and shifting it into a hammer. She hefted the weapon onto her shoulder, grabbed three pillows, and threw them all into the air before swinging.

SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Gray and Natsu were sent flying into a wall while a stunned Erza just watched a pillow slide off of her face and onto the floor.

Nora smirked, lowering Magnhild and raising an eyebrow. "You guys actually call this a pillow fight? You should have seen food fights back at Beacon Academy."

"Oh, it's on!" Natsu flew to his feet, slamming one fist into the opposite palm as Gray slid out of the wall. "I'm all fired up, now!"

Nora dropped Magnhild and picked up a pillow, smiling deviously as she channeled her aura into the feathery mass and began to hum a familiar tune.

'I'm queen of the castle,

I'm queen of the castle…'


/\/\/\/\


Gray and Natsu still did not know how they ended up with bruises and bandages while Nora only walked away with some aches and tiredness after that weird, pink light shone around her body and made a sound like shattering glass. Nora had merely smiled a weary smile, stepped over their bodies, and shaken hands with a disheveled but impressed-looking Erza.

The team returned to Magnolia, but there was something off. Lucy had been in a terrible mood for some reason, enough to where she was able to scare Gray and Natsu into submission while they were in mid-warpath.

Nora watched over her enraged friend with a raised eyebrow, her arms crossed, then she closed her eyes and sighed as her aura detected a nearby presence. "You worry me."

"Everyone worries you, goddess," Loke teased softly, leaning against a wall and looking at Nora with a fond smile. "It's what I like so much about you. You have a good heart."

"Hm." Nora opened her eyes and looked over at the ring-mage, frowning. "... You're really sick, aren't you?" After a brief hesitation, Loke grabbed Nora by her shoulders, pulled her behind some crates, and looked her in the eyes before he nodded. "Can it be helped?"

"No," he whispered, letting his hands fall to hang at his sides. "It can't."

Nora felt something prick at her eyes, and she bit her lower lip and nodded. "Okay." She uncrossed one arm, reached down, and grabbed his hand, and he gripped her hand back like she was an anchor. "Have you told anyone else?"

"No. Not really." Loke shook his head. "Very few of the others understand this sort of thing, and I do not wish to burden those who do… but you saw right through me, so you knowing in part could not be helped." He shook his head, smiling bitterly at the ground at his feet. "But all of it? I'm so selfish, Nora… and scared."

"You're not selfish, Loke." Nora squeezed his hand gently. "You just don't want to be alone in this. That's okay."

The ring-mage closed his eyes and sniffled. "But I am, Nora. I'm-..."

"I can't take the last step with you, just yet," she told him. "But I can be there for every single step before then, if you'll let me."

Loke opened his eyes and looked down at Nora, stunned. "But… have you not more than seen enough death in this lifetime, Nora?"

"Yeah." The Huntress nodded. "But I'm not gonna let you face yours alone."

She thought about Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren... and she just couldn't.

Loke stared down at Nora, astonished, then he pulled her into a hug and buried his face into her shoulder.

Nora hugged the boy back, closing her eyes, and she could have sworn that—for a moment—it was like he was not there and he had already slipped through her fingers.

She hugged him tighter, after that.

"Thank you, Nora," the ring-mage murmured, resting a hand on the back of her head. "At the start, I was just curious to see if I could still have a normal conversation with a woman given my reputation. You never even let it faze you, and… you've been a good friend." He pulled away and looked down at her. "This star was blessed to have you in its orbit, even for just a little while."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Hm." Loke shook his head, grinning tiredly. "It was just a saying. Don't worry about it." He rested his hand on her shoulder. "I mean it, though... Thank you, Nora, for being my friend."

"You started it," Nora managed to joke, and they both let out weak laughs. She felt a tear race down her face, and she tried to wipe it away before he could see. "... What do you wanna do? We should do something, anything."

"Heh." Loke reached back to scratch the back of his head nervously. "I dunno." He lowered his hand. "... Wanna lie to my crowd of exes and say that you-my lovely but totally platonic friend-are my new girlfriend, then run away while they chase us with the intent of wreaking bloody vengeance?"

"Really? You're the worst." Nora snorted, then she grinned and punched his shoulder. "Well, if there's a way to go, that one sounds like a blast. Last man standing wins-and don't think I won't trip your womanizing butt to save my own skin, buster. I will."

Loke chuckled, then he wrapped his arm around Nora's shoulders and steered her towards a group of women who seemed to be hunting through the construction site for... someone. "Brace yourself, goddess. We make our move in three, two, one... HELLO, LADIES!"


/\


That night, after an exhausted Nora had already collapsed on her bed to go to sleep (outrunning Loke had been tricky, as was saving him from the violent female horde of his own creation), a cry rang out through the Fairy Hills apartments.

Loke had quit the guild and disappeared.

Nora tugged a jacket on over her pajamas, pulled her boots on, grabbed Magnhild, and rushed off into the night to find her friend.

The entire guild was out in Magnolia, searching for the ring-mage through sight and cries—desperate for a reassurance and explanation that they might never receive.

Nora used Magnhild to fly above the rooftops of the town that was once her new home, her heart thundering in her chest as her wide eyes scanned the streets below.

Loke was her friend! He couldn't be gone, he just couldn't!

Nora couldn't lose anyone else, not so soon!

Nora and her friend were going to be in this together, this time!

It was past sunrise when the Huntress's feet touched the cobblestone again, her eyes wide as Lucy looked up at her with a teary smile.

Clasped to the celestial-mage's chest was a golden key.

"The Lion," the blonde whispered. "Leo."


/\/\/\/\


It was three days before Loke was strong enough for Lucy to summon him.

When she did, Nora was standing right there as the spirit appeared in a golden flash, and Loke blinked in surprise before growing timid.

"Hey, Nora..." He greeted awkwardly. "I guess this means you know the truth, and that I should apologize for... a few things."

"... Idiot." Nora punched him in the arm, and Loke cringed before laughing and rubbing the spot. "That's for running off to die, after I told you I wasn't gonna let you be alone in this. You ever scare me like that again, and I'll-..." The Huntress paused, then she sighed and pulled him into a hug. "Idiot."

"Hm." Loke hugged her back, closing his eyes and smiling. "Love you too, goddess."

"Hm." Lucy beamed at the pair, her eyes shining, then she looked at Nora. "I know that you two are really good friends. Any time you want to see each other, just let me know!" She closed her eyes. "I mean, I don't see why I can't summon him whenever we're at the guild-hall! He's still a member of Fairy Tail, after all!" She opened her eyes and smirked, raising a hand to her chin. "Because Master Mak and I agreed that we're not letting you get away that easily!

"Which means we're still family." Loke pulled away and looked down at Nora. "Now, wanna watch me tell the others the big news?"

"Oh, yeah." Nora smiled deviously up at her friend. "I wouldn't miss that for the world."

Loke smiled, then his eyes grew misty and he pulled Nora into another hug. "I promise, I-I'll tell you everything. I should have-"

"Hey." Nora hugged him back, squeezing gently as she closed her eyes. "You're my friend, and this is something that hurts you. I can wait until you're ready to talk about it." She pulled away enough to look up at him, frowning. "Just promise me that, even if you can't talk about it, you'll let me help you with it however I can. Don't try to face it alone. Just... say the word, and I'll be there. Okay?"

"I-..." Loke stared at her, then his weak little smile returned. "Okay."


/\/\/\/\


Before Loke returned to the Spirit World to continue his recovery, he gifted Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy, and Nora with tickets to a getaway hotel called Akane Resort.

The Lion had promptly laughed at the forced smile on Nora's face before jokingly assuring her that it was more than just a spa and that the Huntress would find something to do.

When they arrived at the oceanside resort, Nora watched in amusement as the others quickly dropped their work-attitudes. Even Gray and Natsu seemed to get along as everyone donned swimsuits and either played on the beach or in the sea, basking in the warm sunlight.

"Nora!" Lucy laughed, splashing around in the water after she and Natsu had finished riding about on an attraction for an hour and the pink-haired boy needed some time to recover from the ordeal. "Come on in!"

"No, thanks!" Nora called from the shore, still in her Huntress attire but with a bright grin on her face. "Water and I don't really mix!"

"Hm." Erza walked over and looked at Nora, smiling at the Huntress. "And you and bathing suits, as well?"

"Don't own one," Nora told her. "Don't really care to. I'm just fine, here."

The knight shook her head, huffing. "Nora, you are on vacation. Relax a bit!"

"This is relaxed!" Nora insisted, patting her bag. "I put Magnhild away!"

"Hm." Erza seemed amused. "To each their own, I suppose."

Nora rolled her eyes, then she picked Happy up so that the blue cat would stop burning his little paws on the sand.

"Thank you!" Happy exclaimed, curling up in her arms. "Ah… Better…"

Nora gave a small smile, sitting down in the sand, then she looked up and watched as Erza and Gray continued their ballgame while Natsu and Lucy shrieked and played in the waves.

She remembered joking with her old friends about beach season just before they got on the Argus train, and her expression softened as she began to gently stroke Happy's fur. She couldn't remember when she started thinking about the people of Remnant as 'old friends', 'old allies', 'old enemies'...

"Does your shield protect you from sunburn, 'cause I don't remember you putting any screen on," Happy chirped, his tail curling around her arm.

Nora blinked, shaken from her thoughts, then she nodded. "Yep. No sun-burns for me." She gave a small smirk. "But do you wanna know a little secret?" Happy looked up at her curiously, and Nora giggled as she pulled a healing potion made specifically for sunburns from her bag. "No one put on any sunscreen."

Happy blinked, then he looked at the others with wide eyes before looking up at Nora. "You bought a potion, but you didn't warn them?"

"Aye, sir," Nora agreed, and she and the winged cat both giggled.


/\


After a long day of relaxation and occasionally getting involved in the others' play on the beach, followed by shared laughter from the Huntress and Happy as the wizards had to split the sunburn-healing potion between the three of them, Nora found herself accompanying the others to the casino part of Akane Resort.

Not a gambler herself after years of she and Ren saving every single lien they had to keep themselves from freezing or starving, Nora again found herself just observing the others' play—which was really fine with her. They were safe and having fun, so Nora was still enjoying herself.

At least it wasn't another spa.

"We truly need to invest in more clothes for you, Nora," Erza teased the Huntress as the two of them and Lucy walked about, the two mages in elegant dresses while Nora still remained in her combat attire—her old set, not the new gear Erza had purchased for her. "I know that the others have lent you clothes, but you seem to avoid using any of their gifts. One cannot live in a single outfit all their life, you know."

Nora crossed her arms. "I do have the things you gave me that I plan to wear more, and I've barely had these clothes for any time at all. Besides, you and Natsu wear the same thing often enough."

"Hm?" Erza blinked, then she grew pensive. "I wear the same thing all the time because it is armor. As for Natsu, he spends what money he makes on his massive appetite." The knight looked at Nora curiously. "I have admittedly not been paying attention to how much food you consume. Is your appetite fearsome?"

"Heh." Nora smiled sheepishly. "It really kinda depends. If I've been fighting, especially with my… one ability…" She gestured to the lightning mark on her armor, hoping Erza would take the hint, and she was relieved when the knight nodded in understanding. "Then, my metabolism picks up and I could eat a… bear." Nora glanced away awkwardly. "The same thing happens when I get around any sort of sugar."

"Hm." Erza smiled, amused, as Lucy let out a quiet giggle. Then, Erza raised an eyebrow. "I'm aware that your people are a warrior culture. Do your clothes bear a special significance beyond their color? I did my best to stay true to your scheme..."

"You did great with the colors. It's just that these clothes-... They're Hunter gear," Nora replied, crossing her arms again. "I can't replace it here."

Erza nodded in understanding. "I see. So, you could not find clothing of similar meaning in Fiore—that is another part of the problem, I presume." When Nora nodded, Erza produced a light grin. "Well, when we return to Magnolia, I know a few armories we can look into—like the one where I acquired the set I gifted to you. I cannot promise we will find anything comparable to your homeland, but we really should find you something else."

"Heh." Nora shook her head. "That's really unnecessary. I… don't spend money unless I really, really have to." She noticed the curious looks she received. "Force of habit."

"Habit?" Lucy tilted her head. "I can understand wanting to save money, but-..."

"Lucy." Erza glanced at the blonde, then she pointed to a table. "Let's try that one."

Nora shot the redhead a grateful look as the three made their way over to a card table, and Nora watched over her friends with crossed arms as the game began.


After a few rounds of cards, Nora zoned out, but a sudden crash brought her back into the world and she placed her hand on her bag, turning back as her eyes narrowed.

"What was that?" Erza asked, glancing back as well as she gripped her cards.

A man in a fish mascot-suit smiled. "I guess the parade has started outside."

"No," Nora murmured, her hand sliding into her bag. "That wasn't fireworks…"

"A straight!" Lucy cried in delight, and Nora blinked before glancing back at her friends, shaken from her trance. "Awesome, Erza!"

The knight was grinning. "I'm really on a roll, today."

"Dealer change," a blond man with a tattoo on his face said as he walked up.

"R-Right!" The other dealer bowed before he scurried away.

Erza smirked. "I have a feeling that I won't lose no matter who I'm up against."

"Yup!" Lucy agreed, winking.

Nora sighed as she walked over, still feeling uneasy as she gazed at her friends. "Don't get cocky."

"If you're so confident…" The new dealer began, starting to throw five cards down. "Why don't we play a special game?"

Nora glanced at the cards, then she sighed. "... See, that's why I said 'don't get cocky'. We always get cocky right before something bad happens."

D

E

A

T

H

The young man smirked.

"Let's play a game where your life's on the line, Big Sis."

"You're…" Erza's fists clenched. "Sho?" Her eyes widened. "Sho, right?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, unbothered by her having to ask for confirmation. "It's been quite a while, Big Sis."

"Big Sis?" Lucy asked, glancing at Erza.

The knight seemed almost-frozen. "You were… safe?"

The young man—more of a boy, really—smirked as he leaned forward. "Safe?"

"Uh… Well…" Erza seemed at a loss.

Lucy frowned. "Erza?"

"Erza." Nora's eyes narrowed. "What's the play here?" The knight did not respond. "Erza, I need you to snap out of it and tell me what you want us to do about this guy!"

The room suddenly went dark, and there was a loud crashing sound which was immediately followed by a noise that made Nora jump and sharply turn her head.

"A gunshot?" Lucy asked worriedly as she and Erza rose to their feet.

Nora felt something strange with her aura, like many presences were suddenly retreating from all around her all at once.

"What's happened?" Erza demanded, then the lights suddenly came on again and she found that their dealer was gone. "Sho!"

"Over here, sister," he spoke up, and the three girls looked back to see him scattering cards on the floor.

Nora heard screams and looked down, and her eyes widened as she saw that every civilian from the casino had been trapped inside of the boy's playing cards.

As Lucy and Erza reacted in dismay, Nora placed her hand on her bag again. "Okay, he's getting all of the civilians out of the way… I'm guessing that something's about to go down."

"Intrigued?" Sho asked as he held up a card, his eyes narrowed.

Erza was tense. "Magic?"

"Yes," Sho agreed. "I can use it too now, Big Sis."

"You-..." Erza seemed to have trouble forming the words. "What have you-..?"

"Nyah!" A voice shouted, and a pink glyph formed beneath Lucy's feet, the celestial-mage crying out as an orange rope suddenly bound her in place.

Erza's eyes widened. "Lucy!"

Nora drew Magnhild, shifted it into a hammer, and gripped it in both hands as her eyes went to the source of the spell: a girl in vibrant clothes with cat-like makeup done up on her face and a pair of cat ears on her head.

Nora blinked, surprised. Another case of a… not-Faunus on Earthland?

"Feelin' chip an' dipper?" The girl asked cheerily, holding onto the rope binding Lucy and grinning at Erza.

The knight seemed to recognize this person as well. "Millianna… You can use magic, too?"

"How's it been, Er-chan?" The girl, Millianna, asked casually.

"Let Lucy go!" Erza insisted, her fists clenching at her sides. "She's my friend!"

Millianna tilted her head. "Friend?"

"We were your friends too, once," Sho remarked, folding his hands behind his back. "Isn't that right, Big Sis?"

"... Okay, seriously: do I hit them?" Nora asked quietly, her eyes narrowed. "I mean, they're kids and there's clearly some backstory here—but they're kinda jerks."

Erza shifted uncomfortably, and Sho moved forward a bit. "We were, remember? That is… until you betrayed us, Big Sis."

"Uh…" Nora's brow furrowed. "Kid, you've got some wires crossed. This is Erza 'we would all rather die horribly to a magical cannon than send an ally back to her garbage dad, hit me if I've ever hurt your feelings, obey the master even if he's drunk, fight a Wizard Saint to protect the guild with every bone in my body on fire because I just took a Jupiter blast to protect my family' Scarlet. I think she would actually spontaneously combust before she even considered the idea of betraying someone."

"Nora, be silent," Erza ordered, reaching over to grab one arm with the opposite hand as she gritted her teeth.

Nora blinked, then she looked over at the knight in confusion. "Erza?"

"Don't be so hard on Erza, Sho," a voice chided, and a blocky-looking man formed with his arm around the boy's shoulders. "A man who's a dandy should keep his emotions in check."

This guy and Elfman could never be allowed to hold a conversation.

"What a blockhead!" Lucy exclaimed.

Nora sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Lucy, you don't just say that!"

"Long time, no see!" The blocky man greeted, waving to Erza with a pixel hand. "You grew a pretty hot body there."

At that, Nora raised her hammer. "Those are some bold words from a guy whose head is both disconnected from his body and in smashing range, buddy." She tilted her head to the side, smiling with obvious strain. "Maybe a dandy should go and find where Fiore's supply of 'respect women'-juice is being kept, since it's obviously gone missing!"

"She got you!" Sho snickered as the block-man deadpanned.

"Are you..?" Erza examined the block-man carefully. "Wally?"

"I suppose it's not surprising you wouldn't recognize me," the man said, tipping his hat. "Back then, when I was called 'Mad Dog Wally', I was a lot more… rough around the edges."

Both Nora and Lucy deadpanned.

"You also use magic?" Erza asked quietly.

"You shouldn't be surprised," a voice spoke, and Erza's eyes widened as a massive man materialized behind her. "Once you get the hang of it, anyone can use magic. Isn't that right, Erza?"

The knight spun around. "Simon."

"Ah!" Lucy was shoved to the ground, her bindings tightening. "Erza, who are these people?!"

"Given that they've got you tied up, the civilians are in cards, they're slowly gathering their numbers here, and Gray and Natsu and Happy haven't arrived?" Nora asked, her eyes narrowed as she watched the strange wizards. "I'm gonna venture a guess and say they're the bad guys, and that Erza could be talking a bit more right now…" She glanced at the knight, frowning, then she sighed. "But given she's in no condition to…" Nora looked at the enemy mages, gripping Magnhild. "I'm gonna have to ask everyone to calm down and back off before I start breaking some legs."

"Agh!" Lucy curled up some more. "But why are they calling Erza 'sister'?!"

"... I'm not actually their sister," Erza said softly, eyeing the strangers. "We were all together in the past."

"Together?" Lucy and Nora asked together, Lucy with confusion and Nora with a small hint of suspicion.

Lucy pressed on. "But haven't you been in Fairy Tail since you were really young?"

"It was before that," Erza said, then she faced the four. "Why are you here?"

"Especially since any grudge-match you might have would apparently have to be with a small child?" Nora added, tilting her head.

Millianna blinked. "Why?"

"To take you back, sister," Wally replied simply.

"Release Lucy!" Erza insisted.

Sho seemed unconcerned. "How about we go home, Big Sis?" He held a card up. "And I don't add your other friend to my deck?"

"I'll show you a deck," Nora muttered, freeing one hand from Magnhild to clench it into a fist as she glowered at the boy.

"Nora, don't," Erza said, and the orange-haired girl blinked. "There are too many. Stand down, right now."

"Too many?" Nora's brow furrowed. "Since when has that ever mattered? Erza, what's going on here?" She shook her head. "Y'know what? It doesn't matter." She looked at the group, glaring as she gripped her hammer again. "What if she doesn't want to go with you?"

"Unless you do what we say…" Wally raised his arm and shifted it into a cannon, with a red dot appearing on Lucy's forehead.

Erza panicked. "Stop it, please!" As she reached out, Nora blinked as she watched the cannon disappear before the hair on the back of her neck stood up. "Don't!"

"Erza, move!" Nora shoved Erza out of the way as the cannon re-formed behind the knight and yelped as she took the blast with her aura, the pink light shimmering around her.

"Nora!" Erza caught the Huntress in her arms as Magnhild dropped to the ground, the knight's eyes wide as she kneeled and cradled the older girl close. "Nora!"

"Ugh…" Nora shook her head, feeling her mind start to go foggy as she raised a hand to her forehead. "I feel-..."

Apparently, aura could not protect Nora from all kinds of magic. Physical attacks were one thing. Whatever this was, it was a whole other beast that Nora was not ready for.

"What did you do?!" Erza demanded, looking up at her old friends in outrage.

"Relax," Wally told her. "It was a tranquilizer shot." He glanced at Sho. "You should've gotten that girl with a card. I wasted a perfectly good shot on the wrong person."

Tranquilizers? Then…

Nora blinked.

That made some sense. Her aura protected her from physical damage, but she still had to feel as if attacks had landed.

Tranquilizers back home were in the form of darts. The substances they carried would never enter her bloodstream with her aura, so she would just feel the shot-damage.

Magic was different.

"Nora, you're going to be alright," Erza insisted, her eyes still wide. She remained oblivious to Wally forming his cannon-arm behind her. "Just stay with me, alright?"

"Erza." Nora tried to point, tried to warn her friend. "He's gonna-"

Erza looked up, gasped, then cried out as she too was shot. The knight fell to the floor, and Simon kneeled and pulled her away from Nora with a strange gentleness.

The last thing Nora saw before it all went dark was Erza being lifted up and away…


"Nora! Nora, wake up!"

If a certain orange-haired Huntress never had to wake up to someone screaming her name after being knocked unconscious while trying to prevent the kidnapping of a close friend again, she would have lived a happy life.

"Huh?" Nora's eyes fluttered open, and she blinked as she saw Gray and Lucy gazing down at her in relief. "Guys?" She blinked, then she let out a soft sigh. "Erza's gone, isn't she?"

"Happy, too," Lucy replied as Gray helped Nora sit up. "They're being taken to some place called 'the Tower of Heaven', but Natsu got the blockhead's scent. We have to go and catch up with him, now."

"Okay," Nora murmured, then she blinked as she noticed someone else there. "Juvia?"

The blue-haired girl nodded. "Hello again, Nora-san."

"Huh… Last time I saw you, you were trying to kill things and I ended up in a big hole," Nora noted a bit awkwardly. "So… where are you at, these days?"

The other girl cringed. "Juvia would very much like to apologize… and to join Fairy Tail."

"... Cool." Nora shrugged. "There's a free room across from mine at Fairy Hills. Just a heads up: Cana snores like an Ur- a bear."

Juvia blinked, then her eyes lit up.

"Wait, what?" Lucy looked at Nora, her eyes wide. "Just like that?!"

"Assuming we survive this, she'll have had our backs in the field," Nora said as she started walking towards the exit. "If we don't survive this, then I won't really have to worry about bunk assignments. Now, let's get moving." She glanced down, noticing the people still trapped in the cards at her feet. "... AAAAAfter we deal with this."


/\/\/\/\


The next morning, after the military had been alerted regarding the situation at Akane, the Fairy Tail members and Juvia were on a boat and far out at sea. Nora had her hand on an incredibly seasick Natsu's back, rubbing circles as the boy whined in pain.

"Easy, champ," she chided, grinning. "We're gonna get Erza and Happy. You just hang in there, okay?"

Gray looked up. "Where are we?"

"Perhaps we're lost," Juvia lamented.

Lucy looked down at the resident Dragon-Slayer in suspicion. "Natsu, are you sure they're in this direction?"

"We're relying on your nose, here!" Gray complained as Natsu gagged. "Get it together, man!"

Juvia's eyes narrowed. "Juvia will not allow you to betray Gray-sama's trust."

"Easy, folks." Nora waved them off. "I speak fluent Vomit-Boy. He says we're fine."

"... Damn." Gray looked away. "I can't believe that Erza and Happy were kidnapped while we were knocked out. How pathetic is that?"

"Pret~ty pathetic," Nora remarked dryly, glancing at Juvia, and the water-mage cringed.

Then, Juvia frowned. "But how did a wizard as powerful as Erza-san get defeated?"

"Huh?" Gray looked at her, then his eyes narrowed. "She wasn't defeated! You don't know a damn thing about Erza!"

"J-Juvia's sorry!" Juvia stammered.

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Gray, calm down!"

"Yeah, lay off," Nora insisted. "You weren't even there." She looked away. "They cornered us, and Erza wouldn't fight back. Even after Lucy got tied-up and I got hit, she just… sat there, and let herself get taken."

"What?" Gray's eyes widened.

"They said they were Erza's old friends," Lucy explained as she tended to the engine lacrima, then she looked down. "Even we don't know anything about Erza, really…"

Natsu gagged again, then he blinked before standing up with some shakiness and looking around, a cold sweat shining on his forehead as his eyes scanned the seas. "Something feels… really dangerous…"

The sky was filled with dark clouds. Birds which had been flying nearby suddenly dropped out of the air and crashed into the water, and the boat rocked as it rammed into scattered debris from destroyed ships and the large corpses of fish.

As others marveled in alarm at these occurrences, Nora pointed to an emblem on one of the ships, frowning. "What's that?"

"This wreckage…" Gray stared at the emblem, stunned. "It's from Fiore military ships!"

Lucy shivered. "I don't like this…"

"Hey, look," Natsu spoke up, and the others followed his gaze.

Before them, at the center of a barren island with a jagged shore, was a massive, dark, uneven structure which stretched high into the sky. Nora thought it almost looked like some sort of plant, with thick roots at the bottom and a single, tangled shoot reaching high up into the dark clouds to desperately seek sunlight.

"That's the Tower of Heaven?" Lucy asked, her eyes wide.

Nora crossed her arms. "I think they meant the other place."

"Water Dome," Juvia spoke, stretching her hand into the air, and a small blue glyph appeared and shone brightly. Water rose from all around them and formed a dome, and Juvia glanced at the others. "Let us camouflage ourselves this way and approach."

"Whoa…" Lucy marveled.

Nora looked at Juvia with a grin. "Good thinking. With you on the island, we're gonna have a heck of an advantage."

"Hey..!" Natsu complained, still looking rather green.

Nora snorted. "Sorry, Natsu, but let's face it: putting Juvia on an island is probably the same thing as putting you in a volcano or putting Gray in a tundra." She glanced at Lucy. "Strapping you to a comet would probably kill you."

"Yeah, probably," Lucy agreed sarcastically, though she was smiling. "But you've got a point. Juvia's in her element, here." She looked at the water-mage. "I'm glad you're with us."

Juvia blinked, surprised, then she looked away with a frown. "Juvia is simply doing what she feels is right, and helpful to Gray-sama."

"Hm." Nora looked back at the tower. "... Parry this, you cultist losers." She glanced at her friends. "Okay, big rule if you wanna survive a close encounter with a cult: whatever you do, don't drink the stuff in the red cups. It's gonna smell like grape or cherry, but there's definitely rat poison in it."

Gray squinted. "Wait, what?"

"I saw it in a Camp Camp comic," Nora explained, which only seemed to raise further questions from the wizards.

"Ack!" Natsu gagged again, doubling-over and hugging himself. "I just can't-..."

"We're almost there!" Lucy told him a little harshly, then she sighed. "Sheesh…"

Gray looked at the other boy, annoyed. "Don't you have any sense of dramatic tension?"


The boat arrived upon the shore, and the three mages and the Huntress ran across the docks (or stumbled, in Natsu's case) to approach the Tower of Heaven. Upon arriving at the base, Nora noticed Juvia slipping into the water and blinked, surprised, before watching the surface for the water-mage's return.

"This is fine…"

"There are a lot of lookouts," Gray remarked, eyeing the stairs up to the tower warily.

Natsu frowned. "Should we bust in?"

"No!" Lucy protested. "Erza and Happy are captured! If we don't do this right, we could put the two of them in danger."

Gray sighed. "That would put us at a disadvantage."

"Uh…" Nods blinked again as Juvia emerged from the water. "Guys?"

"I've found a way in underwater," the water-mage explained.

"Really?" Gray's eyes lit up. "That's great!"

"Hm!" Juvia looked at Lucy in triumph. "I have been praised! Not you, but I: Juvia!"

Lucy cringed. "Right…"

"Oh, boy." Nora sighed. "This is completely fine."

"It's about ten minutes underwater," Juvia went on with her explanation.

Natsu nodded. "That ain't a problem."

"Nope," Gray agreed.

"No way!" Lucy exclaimed, her eyes wide as she gazed at Juvia. "Impossible!"

"Most I can last is five, maybe six," Nora admitted, frowning, then she looked at Juvia with a frown. "Hey, I hate to ask you to use any magical power, but do you think you have a spell that could help us out? If not, I can try to find Lucy and I a surface route while you guys take the water pass." She glanced at Lucy. "At the very least, we could serve as a diversion while they get inside."

"Put this on your head," Juvia advised, raising a hand and creating a bubble of water. "It's oxygen trapped in a water shell, so you can breathe underwater."

"Oh." Gray's eyes shone.

"You're awesome!" Natsu chimed, then he blinked. "So… who are you?"

Juvia gasped, mortified, and Nora quickly stepped in. "Natsu, this is Juvia. We met her before when she was… in a rough patch… but she's doing a bit better now and, assuming all goes well, she wants to be a member of Fairy Tail when we get back."

"Oh." Natsu nodded in understanding, then he looked at Juvia with a grin. "Well, you're really awesome! I'm sure Gramps would be happy to have you!"

"Hm." Juvia looked down, her face flushing a bit, then she looked at Nora with gratitude.

Nora winked, then she marveled as she looked at the bubble. "So cool… So, you can -like- go underwater and see reefs and shipwrecks and other neat stuff whenever you want?"

"Indeed." Juvia nodded, then she smiled. "After this is over, perhaps Nora-san and Juvia can go exploring the waters around Magnolia sometime. Is Nora-san a good swimmer?"

"Oh, yeah!" Nora nodded as they made their way to the shore. "I was born on a coast, and my Aunt Lake was a fisherman. She took me out on the water all the time."

Nora placed her feet in the water and held a thumb up, and Juvia placed the bubble over her head. The Huntress slipped into the water, and her eyes widened as she found herself able to breathe and see.

After a few moments, four more shapes entered the water, and while Juvia looked like -well- Juvia, the others…

"Guys." Nora deadpanned. "We're going into a fight… and you put on bathing suits?"

Gray huffed, crossing his arms. "Says the girl who has to walk around cold and wet for the rest of the day."

"Cold? Maybe. Wet? Probably. With my dignity? You better believe it." Nora huffed, then she looked at Juvia with an exasperated grin. "I will never understand any of these guys."


/\


Juvia led the way through the water and up into an underground cavern, and the four members of Fairy Tail and their new companion clambered out of the sea.

"So, this is the base of the tower," Gray remarked, eyeing the strange architecture all around them.

Natsu's eyes narrowed as he rested a hand on his hip. "Where're Erza and Happy?"

"These things are pretty convenient," Lucy noted with a smile as she held her bubble up, resting a hand on her hip. "If a bit tacky."

"Tacky?" Nora looked at Lucy with a raised eyebrow. "They're awesome!"

Juvia looked at the blond in annoyance. "I made yours a bit smaller, Lucy-san, so I'm impressed you made it."

"Ha!" Nora wheezed as Lucy dropped the bubble and deadpanned. "She nailed you. We've gotta keep her for the roasts alone, please."

Suddenly, a man flew into the chamber on some sort of eyeless… worm… dog… bat… dragon… thing. Nora could not really place what the thing was, but it was pink and ugly and it had big teeth and wings.

"Intruders!" The man shouted, and men in uniforms and helmets who brandished spears came charging in. "Who are these infidels?!"

"... Don't drink the Kool-Aid," Nora whispered, leaning towards Juvia, and the water-mage slowly nodded. "Thank you, Camp Camp."

"Well, then…" Gray's eyes narrowed. "Guess there's only one thing to do."

"Right!" Juvia snapped to focus.

Natsu's scarf waved as he was surrounded by fire, and his fists clenched. "You're asking who we are?" He raised a fist, producing a glyph and pulling fire from it. "Your allies attacked us, and you don't even know?!"

Natsu slammed his fist down onto the floor, sending dust and smoke into the air, and Nora drew Magnhild from her bag and kept it in its grenade-launcher form.

"Here we go," she murmured, starting to smirk a bit, then she watched the others leap up.

Natsu snarled, summoning more fire. "WE'RE FAIRY TAIL, YOU IDIOTS!"

Natsu sent a wave of fire at the enemy while Gray chose to send thirteen lances of ice from a single attack into the fray.

Lucy summoned the pink-haired girl in a maid outfit from Galuna—Virgo—to take out waves of… distracted… soldiers, and Juvia stood firm while blades and bullets failed to affect her before lashing out with a slice of water to take out the men who had surrounded her.

Nora, not one to be outdone, glanced up at a platform covered in soldiers which did not seem necessary to the group if they needed to move further up into the tower. So, naturally, she fired a grenade at each side of the platform and sent it dropping down towards another platform, which several more soldiers had unfortunately just started to cross and been caught upon.

Nora winced, her eyes widening. "... They're totally fine, right?"


Soon, every soldier and beast was taken out, and Nora hefted Magnhild's hammer-form onto her shoulder and looked around with a frown.

"We're just about finished, here," Juvia decided, glancing about as well.

Gray nodded. "Seems like it."

"After making all this noise, do you think we'll be-..?" Lucy gulped. "Oh, who am I kidding?"

Virgo looked at Lucy expectantly. "Do I need punishment?"

"Uh…" Nora glanced at Virgo with a raised eyebrow. "No, you're good."

Natsu grabbed one of the guards by the collar and lifted him up into the air. "Where's the blockhead?!"

Suddenly, a face which was carved into the wall seemed to open its mouth and stick out its tongue, its glowing-red eyes gazing down at the group of fighters as entry into the Tower of Heaven was provided for them.

"They're telling us 'come on up'?" Gray asked, suspicious.

"Yep." Nora rested her free hand on her hip. "Into the belly of the beast."


I apologize for making you guys wait so long...

Again.

The good news is that I've written pretty much the ENTIRE Tower of Heaven Arc except for one scene, so it shouldn't be too long of a wait this time!

I say this with the foolish optimism of someone who should definitely know themselves better by now.

Anyway, a lot to cover in this chapter!

1: The final resolution of the Phantom Lord Arc!

I really wanted this instance to sort of relax Nora into a closer group-dynamic with her new team (yay for bonding over shared trauma!) while also highlighting Nora's perspective given certain similarities she was drawn to. It also showed just how little the wizards of Fiore know about Nora, and how-as much time as she's devoted to them-they still have a lot to know about her.

2: Loke's Arc!

Now, this arc was all about Lucy and Loke's relationship in canon. I didn't want to detract from that given how important Lucy and Loke's relationship is throughout the series, but it was important to me that Nora had her role given the friendship I've established between her and Loke.

I wanted to showcase Nora's fear of yet familiarity with loss and her willingness to stand by a friend even though she knows he'll be leaving like everyone else has, and to have Loke confide in her as much as he felt comfortable with but for Nora to respect his boundaries while maintaining a friendship as he had done for her. They've both been through some serious shit, and I wanted them to play an active and understanding role for each other.

Also, something that always bugged me in canon was how Lucy never summoned Loke to the guild-hall just to hang out when she didn't have to save energy for a mission. He just disappears for the most part outside of fights-and while I know that it's not entirely on Lucy (Loke can summon himself after all, and he could show up more), I wanted to keep him as an active member of the guild in this story.

Plus, we got some wild antics with him and Nora. I'm gonna leave the majority of the chase-scene details up to your imaginations, as I can bet each interpretation will be better than the last. Share in the comments!

3: The start of the Tower of Heaven Arc!

I take a special pride in Nora having more bonding moments with Erza and Happy, and the relationship I'm continuing to establish between Nora and Juvia. It's really gonna be a fun arc... especially since this is where I go off the rails.

You've been warned. XD

I own nothing. Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks! :)