"What was that large explosion from earlier…?" Jellal silently asked. He and Erza hid in the alleyways as they continued luring the civilians away from other sections of town. They had their backs hugging the walls while Erza slowly peeked her head out.

The swordswoman noticed the crowd that was chasing them was significantly smaller than the last time Jellal lured them. She leaned back inside and held her chin. "It's not looking good out there…" Erza admitted. "It seems whatever that explosion was, it lured a good chunk of the civilians towards that area. If one of our allies is locked in combat, they could be in danger."

Jellal lightly gripped his face and sighed. "I see, I had a feeling this plan wouldn't fully work out…" He stood up and looked towards the opening in the alleyway. Erza stood up as well and peeked out the wall once more.

"Alright, let's hurry and-HHRGH!" Jellal began before feeling a sudden sharp pain on his lower right side.

Erza quickly turned around and widened her eyes in panic. "Jellal! What happened!" After she asked, she saw someone a bit away behind the two. There was a small light that quickly dimmed. A head of a young boy angel poked out who was several feet away from them.

"I think I hit him!" The boy marveled. A green Exceed poked his head out shortly after and noticed Jellal clenching the spot where he was hit.

"Gah! You only grazed him!" The Exceed exclaimed before flying upward. "Quick, let everyone know where they are!"

"O-oh! Right!" The boy replied as the two quickly fled the scene.

Erza bent down and examined Jellal's wound. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Jellal stopped clenching his wound and quickly grabbed Erza's arm. "It's fine…but we need to leave. Now."

Natsu and Happy continued their trek through the castle halls. The two were currently trying to get to the highest point to reach Carla and Chelia, however the two were lost within minutes. Natsu kept on sprinting and sprinting, his patience was wavering.

"AAAAGH! What's with this place?! How the heck do these guys even navigate here?!" Natsu fumed. He proceeds to skid to a stop and looks around the place. They were currently in a long straight hallway with a wide set of stairs in front of them.

Happy was slightly lagging behind, he notices his partner stopping in his tracks and catches up to him. "This place really is empty…Do you think they are all on vacation?"

"Do soldiers even take vacations?" Natsu wonders while scanning the area, he then notices something and points at it furiously. "I swear we passed by that pillar already!"

"Everything in this place looks the same…" Happy slumped while floating.

Natsu clenches both fists as flames begin circling around them, he then looks above him. "Forget this! I'll just create a path above us!"

Happy panics and quickly grabs Natsu's scarf. "H-hold on! Carla is still above us! What if the place collapses on us, or worse you accidentally hit Carla!"

Natsu extinguishes his flames and looks back at his Exceed partner while crossing his arms. "Well, do you have any better ideas?" He asked.

Happy spreads his wings and arms out. "Aye! Since there's no one after us, I can take you up higher from outside!" He suggested.

Natsu plopped his fist on his palm. "Oh! You're right! I was so focused on finding our way that I didn't realize that no one was chasing us! Good thinking buddy!" Natsu praised before glancing back where he came from. "Though why aren't they chasing us…?" He wondered.

Happy began to float over towards Natsu's back, but suddenly a magic bullet shot right through his chest. Natsu widened his eyes as time felt like it slowed down. Happy's wings vanished and he fell on the floor. The fire dragon slayer quickly bent down and held his partner, looking panicked.

"Happy! What happened?!" Natsu panics, seeing Happy looking drowsy and about to pass out. He then senses something and quickly looks at the other end of the room. More magic bullets began raining towards him. The fire dragon slayer quickly picks up Happy and leaps out of the way. He sidesteps a couple more as they all miss him. He holds his partner in a protective grip before looking up the stairs in front of him.

A slim angel with spiky gray hair and glasses entered the room, he was holding two crossbow-like magic guns that were blue. The angel smirks at the intruder. "Well now, so you're the one who took out Balrus? I'm impressed you have energy to spare." He snarkily compliments.

"And who the hell are you! What did you do to Happy?!" Natsu fumed, glaring right at the angel.

"Who am I?" Stark scoffs. "Don't you find my voice familiar? You heard that announcement earlier right?"

Natsu stares at Stark for a brief moment before tilting his head. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to that."

Stark flinches and lightly scratches his forehead with one finger. "Tch. Are all you humans this mindless?" He insults. The angel then points at Happy. "As for your furball friend, it appears it only took just a single shot to render him unconscious." He explains as he lifts both his magic guns. "My magic bullets can drain the energy of anyone they strike."

Natsu proceeds to gently lay Happy down by a pillar before standing up and glaring at Stark once more, clenching both his fists. "You'll pay for that." He shot.

"Oh please, I know how you dragon slayer types fight." Stark mocks, twirling both guns as they turn purple. "You're only good at close range combat. I won't even have to move from this spot to keep you at bay." He taunts before opening fire at the fire dragon slayer once more.

Natsu backflips a couple feet away to avoid the magic bullets as they land in a line in front of him. He proceeds to propel himself forward towards the angel. Stark slightly adjusts his glasses with one arm and fires more bullets with the other. Natsu stops in place and tilts his body to dodge each shot. The pink haired mage leaps in the air and slams both his fists together.

"You're way more open if you leap that high, you fool." Stark insults, pointing both guns right at him. But he sees Natsu create a large fireball which causes the angel to raise an eyebrow.

Natsu looks down at Stark and smirks. "Jokes on you! I can do long ranged attacks too!" He then chucks the large fireball right at Stark. "Brilliant Flame of the Fire Dragon!"

The bright light of the flames reflects off of Stark's glasses as he remains calm. He proceeds to shoot two magic bullets as they directly hit the flame, causing it to burst in place. Before Natsu could react, a stray bullet grazed his left arm.

Natsu lands on the ground and clenches his arm. "W-what the?! My arm suddenly feels numb!" He exclaims.

"Don't you get it yet? My bullets drain the energy of those they strike." Stark explains once more, twirling his guns as they turn blue. "Now, I wonder what would happen if several hit you at once?" He smirks before firing several bullets directly at his opponent.

With no time to check on his wound, Natsu barely avoids the bullets. He stumbles on his feet and dodges a stream of them before widening his eyes in panic.

"Are you sure you wanted to dodge those?" Stark asks, glancing over at Happy. "He'll die."

Natsu turns around and makes a dash towards his Exceed partner as magic bullets make their way towards him. Right before they hit him however…

"Ice-Make: Shield!"

A wide shield made out of ice appears in front of Happy, blocking the magic bullets. The two look over at the other end of the hallway and notice someone entering the hallway as an icey mist surrounds him.

"I thought I heard obnoxious shouting in this direction. Looks like you didn't even make it that far in, hot head." Gray ridicules as he reveals himself.

"Gray?" Puzzled Natsu.

Stark glares right at Gray. "More of them…"

"Yo. Looks like I caught up to ya." Gray greets with a smirk.

~~~Flashback~~~

"WENDY!" Natsu's roar was heard from outside the entrance of the castle.

Several soldiers gathered towards the entrance, following the smoke that was created by the fire dragon slayer. They all witnessed the destruction he caused.

"Look at this mess…" One soldier commented, noticing the unconscious soldiers that were defeated by Natsu.

"Grr! They even got Balrus!" One soldier pointed at the defeated Tenhei member who was inside.

"They must be in the castle, after them men!" A soldier with a red feather on his helmet ordered.

"Ice-Make: Wall!" Gray suddenly came running in as he skidded to a stop and slammed both palms on the ground. Ice quickly traveled through the clouds right at where the soldiers were standing.

Once the soldiers noticed Gray, it was too late as their legs began to freeze. "W-what's going on?! The clouds are turning into ice?!" One soldier exclaimed as they all struggled to get out. Not before long, the ice completely froze the group of soldiers.

"That moron, did he even realize that people would go after him? Especially after making a scene like that?" Gray huffed.

Lucy caught up to Gray and observed the results of the events that transpired in the area. "Natsu was clearly here, he must have already gone inside." She commented.

"Come on! Let's catch up to him!" Gray urged as the two quickly ran inside.

The first thing the two saw inside was Balrus' unconscious body. They then saw two separate areas that lead to different rooms.

Lucy approached Balrus and looked down at him. "This is that tusk guy we encountered yesterday right?" She realized.

Gray looked at both doorways and scratched his head. "Now we have to figure out where he went…"

"I think we should split up for now." Lucy suggested as she approached the shirtless mage. "We can cover more ground and have an easier time finding the others."

Gray crossed his arms and sighed. "Guess we have no other choice…"

Lucy proceeds to pull out a golden key and raises it forward. "Open, Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" Lucy summons a woman in a maid suit and pink hair. She had chains on both wrists as she bows at Lucy.

"Good day princess. How may I be of assistance?" Virgo greeted with an expressionless face.

Lucy pointed towards the open door that leads to a hallway. "I need your help searching these castles for our friends!" She requested.

Virgo's eyes shine brightly. "As you wish, princess." She obliged before suddenly picking Lucy up, bridal style, which caught the blonde off guard.

"V-V-V-Virgo?! What are you-" Lucy exclaimed.

"Please hold on tight, princess." Virgo asked. "We can traverse through these halls quicker like this.

Before Lucy could protest, Virgo charged right through the door. Leaving a path of smoke behind while Lucy's shrieks got quieter the further the two went. Gray stared on with a sweat drop leaving the back of his head.

"Is it really splitting up if I'm the only one alone…?" Gray wondered before shaking his head and quickly running up the stairs in the second door.

~~~Flashback End~~~

"Lucy's here too?" Natsu asks, picking up her scent faintly.

"Yeah, we decided to split up to cover more ground." Gray answers as he approaches the stairway that leads to Stark.

Stark looks down at Gray with an annoyed expression. "Tch. What do you think you're doing, coming into the royal quarters without a shirt? Do you not have any class, you scum?" He growls.

Gray raises an eyebrow before slowly looking down at himself and noticing that he's shirtless. "Oh yeah, forgot I stripped earlier." He realized.

"I'm getting really sick of your mindless antics!" Stark chides, pinching his nose. He then points at the two "And did I hear you just right? There are even *more* intruders in here?"

Gray looks back at Stark. "I take it you're the guy who was firing at all of us earlier?" He asks before glaring at the angel. "You should call off your civilians. They could get hurt, you know?" He warns. "I thought you guys should be *protecting* them."

"Don't take me for a fool. I saw right through your ridiculous strategy." Stark chuckles. "I could tell you're all holding back from harming any of the civilians, I was simply using that to my advantage."

"Gray." Natsu picks up Happy and gently places him on his back, letting his scarf hold him in place. "This guy is blocking the way, we need to beat him quickly."

Gray looks over at Natsu as he stands next to him and smirks. "You go on ahead, I can take care of this guy by myself." He suggests, looking back at Stark and cracking his knuckles. "Besides, you're the only one who can track Wendy right?"

Natsu gives a cocky smirk and clenches both fists. "Yeah, so hurry up and distract this guy already!" He proceeds to charge at full speed towards the stairs. Gray quickly followed suit.

"I don't remember granting you passage." Stark adjusts his glasses and twirls both guns, turning red. "Guns Magic: Homing Bullets." He shoots several bullets at the two.

The two leap at the opposite ends of each other, avoiding the bullets. But Gray notices in the corner of his eye that the bullets quickly swerved back around towards their backs. He quickly spreads his arms out. "Ice Make: Shield!" He conjures another ice shield which blocks the attack.

Stark twirls his guns once more as they turn from red to blue. "Guns Magic: Barrage." He launches several dozen bullets quickly which rain above the two.

Acting quickly, Natsu's feet erupt in flames as he uses them to propel himself upward. He barely avoids the bullets as he looks down and shouts. "Gray!"

"Right! Ice-Make: Cannon!" Gray quickly creates a large cannon out of ice and fires a thick snowball directly at the angel.

Stark squints his eyes and twirls his guns once more, turning from red to green. "Guns Magic: Heavy." He fires two large bullets right at the snowball which causes it to explode in white mist, blinding the angel. He clenches his teeth tight. "Tch, so that's their plan?!"

"Fire Dragon's…" Natsu begins as a bright red glow shines through the mist.

"Shit!" Stark panics.

"Sword Horn!" Natsu launches himself down right where Stark was standing. However the angel quickly rolls out of the way, causing Natsu to land on his feet and slide several feet behind the angel. He proceeds to continue running through the door. He looks at Stark with a mocking expression. "Looks like I made you move after all! Later!"

Stark growls at the pink haired mage as the mist clears out. "Why you…! Guns Magic: Hom-" He prepares to shoot homing bullets, but notices Gray right behind him about to smack him with a fist. Once again he rolls out of the way and not before long, Natsu was gone.

"Heh, sorry four eyes." Gray mocks, standing up and smacking his fist on his palm. "But you're staying here with me." He proceeds to conjure a large ice wall that completely covers the opening where Natsu went.

Stark slowly stands up and glares at Gray. "I despise people like you. Always flaunting their body and skills, it makes me sick."

"That's not my problem pal. Now I hope you saved your prayers, because I'm going to make this quick." Gray taunts, cracking his knuckles once more.

"Hiiiiyah!" Sync yelled out, rocketing towards Carla and swinging her scythe downward. Carla leaps back and spreads her wings out before taking flight.

Carla begins to fly right at Sync and throws another kick directly at her. Once more, her attack is blocked by Sync's scythe. The small angel quickly grabs Carla's ankle and twirls her in place. She then throws Carla back further away than before. Chelia manages to stop Carla's fall and catches her before hitting the ground.

"Are you okay?" Chelia asks.

"Yeah…" Carla assures as she stands back up and dusts her legs off. She grinds her teeth and clenches her fists. "This is getting absurd! Why don't you just hurry up and move?!" Carla demands, pointing right at Sync.

Chelia stands up and runs to Carla's side. "Carla! Let me help you!"

"I'm fine, just stay back!" Carla urged, stepping towards Sync again.

Sync points her scythe towards the two and glares at them. "W-why would I let you pass? You're both villains who broke into the castle!" She accused.

"We're just trying to save our friend!" Chelia insisted.

"Hmph. If anyone here is a villain it's you." Carla accused back. "With one of your associates kidnapping our friend and using her for your own selfish benefits." She growled and pointed back at the angel. "We won't let you hurt her more than you already did, you monsters!"

Sync widened her eyes and reeled back slightly. Her opponent's words stung. The small angel slowly began to shudder as she gripped her weapon tightly and pulled it towards her, hugging it. Carla and Chelia took notice of Sync's sudden change in behavior and looked puzzled.

"Well we get along do we? How about we be friends, Sync?"

"I-I know…" Sync muttered to herself. "It…just keeps happening…" Her breathing begins to quicken. "I'm…still a…"

"She's a damn monster! She summoned those 'ghosts' again and caused more harm to others!"

Sync bends down, attempting to curl herself in a ball. Her vision begins to get a little blurry as she clenches her head with both hands, letting her weapon lean onto her. Carla quietly urges Chelia to follow as they attempt to sneak past Sync.

"Keep up the great work, Sync."

"N-no…You're…you're wrong!" Sync mumbles, grabbing her scythe tightly as the blade begins to glow a bright purple. The angel shoots up and slams her foot as she twists her body towards where Carla and Chelia were at. "I SAID I WON'T LET YOU GET THROUGH!" Sync shrieks, winding her scythe back.

Carla and Chelia widened their eyes as the former acted quickly and grabbed the latter's back. In mere moments, Sync swiped her scythe through the floor, creating a large gash and unleashing a devastating magic blast. The attack destroys the wall, causing the two to get sent flying out the castle.

As the two fall, they notice where they are heading. A large dome glass window with a garden below it. Due to the impact, Carla was unable to reorient herself and fly away as the two spun while falling. Carla and Chelia braced for the impact as they held each other tightly.

"Virgo! Quick!"

A voice was heard inside the tower. Someone leaps out the glass, creating a hole in the process as they caught both girls. They both looked up and saw a familiar face.

"Virgo?" Carla realized. The maid lands back in the garden and gently lowers them both. Once Carla and Chelia were on their feet, they spotted Lucy by the tower entrance waving at them.

"Carla! Chelia! I'm glad you're both okay!" Lucy beamed, running towards the two.

"L-Lucy?! What are you doing here?!" Chelia exclaimed.

"We appeared to have made a wrong turn exploring this castle." Virgo admitted with a straight face.

Lucy quickly snapped out of her relief and comically glared at Virgo. "You mean *you* made a wrong turn!" She retorted.

Virgo turned to Lucy, still keeping her emotionless expression. "Do I require punishment then?"

"Can you cut that out?!" Lucy exclaimed, clenching a fist.

Before they could catch up, Virgo quickly looked up and squinted her eyes. "Princess, someone is coming."

Lucy, Carla and Chelia followed Virgo's gaze and saw Sync falling towards them. Carla widened her eyes and grabbed Chelia's and Lucy's arm. They all quickly moved out of the way as Sync sliced through the glass and nearly landed right on them. Her scythe was stuck on the ground as the angel looked down on the ground, breathing heavily.

"W-who's that?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"We were almost to where we believed Wendy was, but this one caught us and halted our progress." Chelia explained. As she explained, Sync pulled out her scythe and stumbled backwards before landing on her bottom.

Lucy recognizes the scythe the girl is wielding and recalls Rogue's description of her. She quickly stepped in front of Chelia and Carla and swung her arm out. "If you know where Wendy is, then go on ahead! We'll take care of her!" She urges.

Carla nods. "Be careful, she has some strange hidden power." She warns before quickly grabbing Chelia and flying out through the broken glass above them.

Sync shakes her head and takes another deep breath, holding her chest in the process. She shoots herself up and grips her scythe, quickly checking her surroundings. Realizing where she was at, she raises an eyebrow. "Huh? I'm in the garden?" She wonders before noticing Lucy and Virgo standing in front of her.

"She really is just a girl?" Puzzled Lucy.

"Who are you two? Where did the cat girl and pink haired girl go?" Sync inquired, looking around the place once more.

Lucy got on guard. "They're not here, and I won't let you get anywhere near them!" She declared.

Carla quickly flew right back where they were at and swiftly went right through the hallways. After a couple turns, they made it to what appeared to be an end point. Carla landed on the ground and placed Chelia down before transforming back into her Exceed body. The two spot a plain looking door with two unlit torches between it.

"This is the highest room, you think this is it?" Chelia wonders, feeling a little nervous.

"It *has* to be!" Carla responds before booking it towards the room.

Chelia reaches out and widens her eyes. "C-Carla! Wait! More enemies could still be in there!" She warned.

But it was too late. Carla swung the door open. Once she got inside, the Exceed felt her stomach drop as she widened her eyes in complete shock.

"W-what is this?!" Carla sputtered.

Natsu continues to run through the hallways while carrying an unconscious Happy. He climbed up more stairs and nearly made it to the top. But the fire dragon slayer suddenly picked up a familiar scent and quickly skids to a stop. He looks over to his right and sees the room where the scent is coming from. He grabs the door handle and barges in.

The room appeared to look like an average bedroom. There was a large bed in the middle end that wasn't properly made, the window to the left of the bed was currently hanging open, and there were small cracks all over the walls. Despite the condition, there was one thing that stuck out the most to the fire mage; a small patch of blue hair laying on the desk to the far left of the room. Natsu slowly walks up to it and picks it up, realizing that this was where the scent was coming from. He clenched the hair tightly.

"Thank you, for loving me…I love you all. And…I'm sorry…"

"Na…Natsu…?" Happy spoke quietly as he began to awaken. His wings suddenly pop open due to his energy returning. He slides off Natsu's scarf and floats next to him, noticing his partner's furious expression.

"...She isn't here." Natsu fumed. "This was all that I could track."

Happy widens his eyes and looks down. "Oh no…"

Natsu clenches the blue strands even tighter as his fist begins to engulf in flames. The hair remained unaffected by the mage's flames however. He approaches the window to the room and faces his back towards his partner. "Happy, you stay here. Find the others and let them know alright?" He requests.

"Aye…But what are you going to do?" Happy wonders.

Natsu takes a deep breath and winds his arms back. He then swings them forward as his furious flames annihilate the wall in front of him in an instant. The fire dragon slayer turns his head back at Happy one more time before leaving.

"I…may have an idea where she actually is." Uttered Natsu, right before he leaps right out of the window. Happy watches him leave with a worried expression on his face. The Exceed then turns around and flies off to find the others still in the castle.

Natsu lands on the cloudy floor on his feet, causing the mist to spread out far. He growls in rage as his entire body bursts into flames, taking the shape of a dragon. He charges in a straight line, leaving a trail of flames behind him.