Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters.

The letter seemed to be made of lead in the hands of Erza. A weight she held begrudgingly after recieving it and a specific order from Master Laxus. Give the envelope to Jellal and don't open it. Straightforward and simple, yet intimidating. Who is she to not have the right to know what Jellal would be getting himself into? How is she supposed to sit on her couch and wait for him to walk in and then possibly give him something horrible. Who was this Marcus? What does he want? Why Jellal? Her thoughts consumed her for hours as she awaited Jellal's return. He was still close to Magnolia so it should be no time at all before she sees him again. She sent him a message through his communication lacrima saying he needed to meet her at their place. He told her he would be there first thing in the morning. She couldn't sleep a wink, simply spending her night clutching the letter.

Dawn had only just begun its rise into pure morning when she finally heard the lock of the front door turn. The mop of blue hair sifting through the door frame as Jellal's eyes found Erza's. Erza stood up and went up to hug her partner and kissed his lips. He sighed into her and held her close, slightly glad something important had come up so he could see her. He had been preparing to return to the woods where he had found Nathan to see if any other clues to his identity would make themselves known. Thankfully he got Erza's message last night since he was set to leave early in the morning.

They parted from their kiss and Jellal curled Erza's scarlet hair behind her ear. " What's going on? Are you secretly just trying to get some alone time with me?" Jellal snickered.

Instead of the usual glare he would expect from his teasing, Erza looked down to the floor then to the envelope she had in her hand. "This is for you. It came from a man named Marcus Lunar. He says it is request from whoever he works for, and he wants to meet with you in person. No one from the guild was allowed to read the message until you got your eyes on it. So here, he said everything you need to know is written on it."

Jellal narrowed his eyes at the envelope. "I've never heard of a Marcus Lunar. Strange he went to Fairy Tail to get ahold of me specifically."

Erza sighed, "He claimed it was an urgent matter that could not wait for the royal family to get this to you. He figured it would be faster for someone of Fairy Tail to find you."

"I see." Jellal broke the seal of the envelope. Erza hugged herself and did her best to not peek at what was written as Jellal opened the envelope and began to silently read its contents.

Jellal Fernandes,

I trust that my instructions to Fairy Tail were upheld, and only your eyes are viewing what is written here. That is mostly for your own sake more than mine. I am sure the members of Fairy Tail would certainly not appreciate what I have to say. I am well aware about your exploration and discovery in the forest near Clover Town. Your previous benefactors were kind enough to inform me of your recent stay in their humble cabin and to the fact that you seem to have made a new friend along the way. You see, I too was sent to find the source of that mysterious black magic that suddenly appeared in that forest. I am part of an organization that wishes to completely erase all aspects of Zeref's legacy from this world and reshape it by our own vision. We are the White Warlocks, and it is our duty to nullify whatever or whoever it is you found in those woods. I know you haven't reported any of this to the magic council and I'm sure you wouldn't want them to think you were plotting against them would you? Bring to me your newfound companion by Tuesday's sunset or else I will have no choice but to inform the magic council that you are conspiring with a dark wizard. Meet me at the Magnolia Cathedral by sundown if you would like to keep your status as a free man. I sincerely hope you haven't gotten Fairy Tail involved in your mess, it would pain me to have to destroy an entire guild to get to one person.

-Marcus Lunar.

Jellal read everything twice over and could only stare at the letter in silence. The White Warlocks? I have never even heard of them before. How did they know I was investigating the dark magic rumors. Could they have ears in the royal family or the council? He knows about Nathan as well. Forgive me Thomas and Martha, I never meant to put you in harm's way. Jellal's wrist shook as he crumpled the letter into his fist, frustrated he was already put into a bad situation so soon.

"Jellal, what did it say. You have to tell me!" Erza bore into him with her beautfiul brown eyes and her fists tucked to her sides out of anxiety. Jellal furrowed his brows and burned the letter to ashes with his magic.

"There is apparently an organization of wizards named the White Warlocks set out to destroy every aspect of Zeref's legacy in our world. Marcus is a member who knows about me finding Nathan and wants me to bring him to the city's cathedral. He says if I don't he will report me to the magic council."

Erza's eyes widened at his words, her mouth suddenly feeling dry making it hard to respond. "What?! You haven't done anything wrong and the council trusts you! Even if Nathan is a black wizard you are only doing everything possible to find out everything about him! This bastard has no right to threaten you! Besides, Nathan is a member of Fairy Tail now so the council and him be damned!"

Jellal sighed and crossed his arms. "I never informed the council because I thought it would be safer for Nathan if I only spoke to you and the other S-Class mages about his situation. The man doesn't even know who he is, and now this warlock is set out to destroy him. If the council gets word of Nathan they will no doubt arrest him since at minimum he is an illegal alien in the kingdom. They will also question me and the guild for harboring a potential threat. I can't let this man make things worse. I have no choice, I must take Nathan with me to the cathedral by sunset tonight. I will attempt to reason with the man and in no way will I let him take Nathan's life. You can't come with me either I can't let the guild become even more involved. Perhaps it wasn't the greatest idea to have Nathan join Fairy Tail after all."

Erza slammed her eyes shut out of frustraion, shaking her head to the reality in front of her. "You can't expect me to just stand by while you face off with a potential maniac! Nathan is a member of Fairy Tail and it is my job to protect him as well! Like it or not I'm following you to the cathedral for back-up. There's no way I'm letting that bastard harm either of you!"

Jellal pinched his brow, knowing how fruitless it was to argue with her. "Fine, there's no stopping you anyways. We will find Nathan at the gulld hall later today and inform him of what's happening. His powers may come in handy too if this leads to battle. Don't inform the other S-Class mages of this man and tell Laxus I'm responding to the request. Just say it's only a minor private investigation I need to undertake. Are you good with that?"

Erza nodded and hugged her fiancé, . "Please be safe tonight Jellal, I don't know what I would do without you. I know how strong you are but everything about this seems so out of place."

Jellal wrapped his arms around her torso. "I know Erza, I don't like how this is looking either. We will find a way out of this though, one way or the other. Nathan will be kept safe."

They stayed together in each other's arms as they conveyed their stress and worries through their eyes. Neither wanting sunset to come. They would have to find Nathan soon, and be prepared for a fight.


Natsu had never once used the training grounds that were added behind the guild hall when it was last rebuilt. Nathan, however, was very much appreciative of the addition that morning. The enclosed space was surrounded by enchanted walls that repaired themselves every ten minutes or so, same with the wooden dummies he had been squashing into pulp for the last ninety minutes. He could feel the effects his flamed fists had with each strike, absorbing the inbred magic that was contained within the psuedo adversaries. Perhaps they would regenerate more quickly if he had not been constantly disrupting the magic's flow. He was trying to will the flames to not consume the foreign magic and focus on only the power of his physical hits. Even with the full focus of his willpower, he couldn't stop the absorption completely, but it was very minuscule now compared to when he started.

He was able to surge the extra magic he had obtained throughout his body and his flames tightly danced on his arms, making the perfect gauntlets for his fists. He felt no pain from his strikes, as if his fist was passing through a thin gelatin layer. He couldn't test his reflexes in this state just yet, but Lucy would be arriving shortly. He looked forward to having an opportunity to strike something that could actually fight back. He was comfortable in this new skin but worried about Jellal's words when they had sparred... exceptional potential in this world of magic, but it can also be dangerous if you don't discover how much energy you can control within your body all at once.

He wasn't sure what would happen when he would reach his peak. There was no way the small amount of magic in the dummies and the walls could get Nathan to that point, but Lucy's spirits should be able to push him to his limit. His flames felt more like an extension of himself now than ever before. He looked forward to seeing what the full potential of this power really was. The same flames seemed to send sparks through him as he realized he was sensing the aura of his favorite person nearby. He wiped the sweat from his brow and went to find the basic gray shirt he had left on a bench. A minute later, the blonde hair that was his favorite sight in the world showed up in his view. The gate to the grounds opened automatically sensing the approach of one of the guild members, and Lucy waved at her new found friend. She approached him with a bit of a shy smile, hoping not to repeat any of the awkardness they shared the previous night. She took his form in and realized he had already been hard at work this morning.

"Good morning Nathan, I know we had a bit of a moment last night but I'm glad to see you so ready to go! Have you been out here long?"

Nathan blushed a little at the mention of his slip up last night and scratched the back of his head with his arm behind him. "Y-Yeah I'm sorry about that Lucy, and I wanted to get a good warm up in before you got here. I have never sparred with a celestial spirit before and I wanted to be somewhat prepared." He was a liitle embarrassed he had left himself get so sweaty before Lucy had even arrived.

Lucy blushed as she admired his figure. His arms were well toned, and the gray shit clinged to his chest. Seeing him all sweaty made her a little flustered but she kept herself from focusing too much on it. She went to go stand on the opposite side of the training arena, ready to completely distract herself from Nathan's good looks.

"All right then. This will be a good analysis of your powers so you can decide what team you will want to be a part of in the future. We have a lot of great mages here and as an S-Class myself I will be able to test you to your limit. Seeing all these dummies around tells me you were working on your close combat skills. I have the perfect spirit for you to continue practing with."

She unbuckled the key pouch attached to her belt and pulled out a golden key with a red insignia on it that Nathan knew well.

"Open! Gate of the Lion, Leo!"

A large magic circle appeared in front of the key and in the next moment a dark orange haired man appeared, wearing a black suit with a white undershirt and red tie. He wore a pare of sunglasses with baby blue colored lenses that he pushed up the bridge of his nose with his index finger. He turned and winked to Lucy.

"Well hello there beautiful, what can I do for my princess on this fine morning?"

Lucy's eyebrow twitched slightly, thinking it was too early in the morning to be dealing with an obnoxious flirt. "Loke, I don't need you to call me beautiful every time you're summoned. You're here to give our newest guild member some practice. If you turn around you'll see Nathan behind you."

Loke smirked at his summoner. "Nathan huh, since when do you train newbies?" He turned to the man behind him and as soon as he looked at Nathan, the smugness on his face vanished. His eyes widened in a stunned silence, as if he was looking at something he never thought he'd seea again. He could only gawk as he continued trying to decipher if what he was seeing was a mistake. He glanced at Lucy for a quick second wondering why she seemed to be acting completely normal in this man's presence. He looked again at the dark haired man as he was processing what his celestial senses were screaming at him.

Nathan and Lucy both noticed his look of shock. Lucy was confused and wondering why Loke was reacting this way, while Nathan had the same look as Loke on his face. Nathan knew from the look in Loke's eyes, he knew who Nathan really was inside. Nathan didn't understand how but he knew it by Loke's face. He couldn't breathe realzing there was no way to diffuse the situation except wait for Loke to say something.

"Loke? What's wrong? Do you know him?" Lucy asked with a tremor in her voice. Her worries from the night before at the forefront of her mind, worries that Nathan was hiding something from her.

Loke released a breath he had been holding and turned to Lucy. "N-No, I'm sorry, I have never met this guy before. I was just in shock the guild finally got a new member. I thought that would never happen. It's nice to meet you Nathan, excuse my rude first impression."

Loke's words were kind but his eyes were not. He gave a very serious look to Nathan that told him Loke was purposely hiding the reason for his reaction from Lucy. Nathan knew this was not the end of it, only the beginning. He reached to shake the outstretched hand Loke had offered him.

"Nice to meet you t-too Loke. You must be one of Lucy's strongest spirits I can tell just by looking at ya. Would you mind sparing with me for a little bit?"

Loke's serious expression didn't fade as he replied. "Of course, let's see what you got. Come at me."

Lucy stared at the two in silence noticing the tension in the air. Was she missing something that Loke noticed immediately? She watched Nathan's arms and legs light themselves in black flames as he moved into an attack stance. Loke's fist glowed with a golden light as he entered a stance of his own. Nathan moved towards Loke at breath-taking speed and unleashed a flurry of blows that the lion spirit parried just as quickly. The two dashing around the arena in flashes of black and gold. Lucy watched in awe of Nathan's skill even though he said he only recently discovered his magic. He was a natural, and seeing the black flames around him brought a pain to her heart. Nothing about it, besides its fiery nature, reminded her of Natsu's fire dragon slaying magic. Just seeing the flames themselves emit from the powerul mage in front of her cerainly did though. She was starting to get tired of constantly comparing Nathan to Natsu. As if the world would never let her move on from the hurt Natsu's absence caused, and the fact she felt like she was looking for his replacement at the same time.

"Regulus Impact!" Loke roared as his powerful strike sent Nathan back towards the opposite end of the arena. Nathan regained his footing soon after though and prepared to close the distance once again. Lucy was about to tell Loke to not try so hard as this wasn't a real battle, but she noticed how flustered her spirit companion had appeared. He was sweating and breathing slightly unevenly, even though they had only been going at for not even fifteen minutes. Nathan's stamina was not showing the same signs of stress.

Loke stared down Nathan as got himself ready for their next set of blows. " That's some nasty ability you got there Nathan. Your attacks and blocks actually are stealing small amounts of my own magic as we fight. You even negated a huge chunk of power from that Regulus Impact you took head on. I'm impressed. Do you have any weaknesses?"

Nathan smirked at the spirit, " I'll be honest with ya, I think my body is just sustaining itself as it fights by cycling the magic my flames absorb from my opponent. I haven't noticed too much destructive power from my attacks but I think I just need to keep using my magic to understand it completely."

Lucy couldn't help but be amazed by Nathan's display of strength and truly wondered what his full potential was. Loke on the other hand was not pleased by what he heard. His earlier realization certainly making him far more confused as he registered Nathan's interpretation of his technique. He could feel something very menacing hidden behind those black flames, and he was sure it Nathan's good will that was keeping it at bay. What concerned him even more though was what he saw deeper inside Nathan.

"Sorry my sweet Lucy, but I really don't want to use all my magic power up trying to flesh out this guys limit. I have some other things to attend to in the Spirit World today that I would like to be in top shape for. I think you know now that this guy is dependable enough for the guild though right?"

Lucy blinked a few times at Loke's words, coming out of a short daze. "Y-Yeah I think I have seem enough. Thank you Loke, you can head back now."

Loke nodded at his master then gave another pointed look towards Nathan before dissapearing into golden dust. Nathan sighed, glad that nothing worse had come of whatever Loke had seen through him earlier. He used his arm to wipe off his sweaty brow as he turned towards Lucy.

"Phew, that was a good workout Lucy. I think I'm gonna head to the showers and rinse off, then I was thinking of taking a look at what's posted on the job board. I definitely want to take on my first mission soon. What are you doing today?"

Lucy glanced away at Nathan, embarrassed to say she was planning on sticking around with him for the day. Especially now after that whole stunt with Loke, she knew something was up with that. She could grill the pesky lion later. "I wouldn't mind helping you look at jobs. Happy is crashing at my place for now and I didn't have any plans today."

Nathan smiled at her, happy that he would once again get a full day with her. "Sounds great, I will be back soon." He walked away from the training grounds to enter the guild hall through the back entrance. He grabbed his towel,soap and a new set of clothes and headed into the empty showers. As he began to take off his clothes and clean himself he heard a pair of shoes land on the floor suddenly behind him. He spun around and his eyes landed on Loke's stern face and crossed arms. He didn't even have an opportunity to react before the spirit spoke to him. "I'm doing this now so Lucy won't hear us. I don't know what the hell is going on but you have some explaining to do. As a celestial spirit I can see the soul of humans very clearly in addition to their magic, and the core of yours is unmistakable. So don't even try to lie to me like I am sure you lied to Lucy and the rest of the guild, because I can tell she has no idea who or what you really are. You can't hide your true self from me! You are going to tell me right here, right now, why every sign in the universe is showing me that you have the soul of Natsu Dragneel!"