Nexus Heroes Will Rise:

A/N Hey everyone! For anyone who clicked this story without first reading Nexus, I suggest reading Nexus first or you'll be confused as to what's going on. (Click on username and scroll down my stories to find Nexus). For those of you who have read through a million words of Nexus, hope you're excited for the new Saga of the story. The group from Awul has just left on their journey to Aebrith, looking for their missing friends and aiming to fight the mysterious King. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, One Piece, DBZ, Akame ga Kill, Game of Thrones, Kingdom Hearts, Hunter x Hunter, Fairly Oddparents, or any other media you may recognize characters and settings from.

Nexus HWR 1.0 Taken:

Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Pao Town

Two Hours Ago

Natsu, Gray, Juvia, and Erza sat at a booth eating their breakfast. The normal loud conversations and fights that always made Fairy Tail so lively were absent this morning. The mood of the guild hall was happy, but at the same time it was pretty quiet. Everyone knew why too. Today was the day their friends would be leaving.

People at all of the tables kept looking over at Natsu and his friends' booth, wondering how much longer they would be there for. While they were eating, they heard some loud talking coming from over at the bar. They looked over to see Laxus put a hand on Macao Conbolt's shoulder, then start speaking in a low tone to the older man. Macao pushed his arm off angrily however, and glared at Mira behind the bar as she tried soothing him.

Next to the three of them, Wendy was standing awkwardly. She had a nervous look on her face and was looking down as if she were ashamed of something. "What's going on over there?" Gray muttered as he took another gulp of orange juice from his mug.

They watched as Macao kept shaking his head at Laxus and Mira, then he spun around and looked their way. Erza frowned, "I'm guessing we're about to find out."

The old man with graying dark blue hair and a thick furry mustache marched across the guild's floor. Wendy hesitated for a moment, then followed after the veteran guild member. Macao reached Natsu's table and slammed his hands down on the left side of it closer to the middle of the room.

"What's up Macao?" Natsu asked, shoveling up another scoop of his cereal.

Macao was panting heavily; he looked to be in a lot of distress. "Romeo," the man finally stated after a few seconds. Natsu's spoon froze before it reached his mouth and he lowered it back down while staring at Macao harshly. "Find Romeo."

Natsu was sitting next to Erza on one side of the booth while Juvia and Gray sat on the other. Erza and Gray each looked across the table at each other in that moment. They had confused looks on their faces, because they distinctly remembered every single name Natsu told them back in Port Royal. Elfman, Alzack, Lucy, Happy, Master Makarov, and Romeo was definitely a name they remembered hearing too.

"Macao-san," Juvia started in a quiet voice.

Macao looked around at all their faces, full of pity for him. He shook his head and turned to his left, "Tell them what you told me."

The four wizards at the table looked over at Wendy who was taken aback but then looked back down at her feet. "Macao-san, it was a long time-"

"Just tell them," Macao said, a desperate smile on his face. The old man was sweating on both sides of his face, and his smile just made Wendy feel even worse.

"I should not have said anything. It was wrong to bring Macao-san's hopes up," Wendy whispered, sounding on the verge of tears herself.

Natsu turned to the girl with a confused look. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Wendy looked up at the pink spiky haired Dragon Slayer. She appeared hesitant to say anything, but all four of her friends at this table were looking at her expectantly now. She sighed and then spoke up softly, "It was well over a year ago..."

FD + 176

"Wendy!"

The girl with long blue pigtails turned around a little and froze. She heard the voice but could almost not believe who she was seeing run her way.

"Do you know that boy?" An older girl on Wendy's left asked. The young woman had shorter pink hair that only fell back to her shoulder blades, but was also tied into pigtails.

"Yes Mine," Wendy whispered, tears coming to her eyes.

"And that cat?" The pink haired woman asked in a deadpan manner.

Wendy sniffled a few times and then nodded, "Mm hm!" She turned around on the grassy hill and looked down between the sparsely scattered trees to the two running up towards her. The eleven year old girl rose an arm up and waved at the boy only a year older than her running up the hill. "Romeo! Lily!"

"Wendy," the black cat with white wings flying forward above Romeo's shoulders exclaimed. The Exceed named Panther Lily was holding back his tears so his eyes just looked very watery on the bottom. The two children could not hold it in though and were running towards each other now.

Mine sighed as her companion ran down the hill they had just climbed. She walked after Wendy and watched as the girl embraced her friend. Aww, sweet. As the pink haired woman thought it though, she was also on the lookout for any enemies, darting her gaze to the left and right as she walked.

"Wendy! I can't believe I found you," Romeo had her by the hands and he leaned back with their arms fully extended towards each other. "Everyone is going to be so impressed! They said I needed Lily to watch over me, but look at me now!" Romeo was so excited he was speaking almost too fast for Wendy to follow.

"Wait? Others?" Wendy asked.

Romeo nodded his head a few times. "Yeah! Fairy Tail. We built a guild nearby. There's a town and all these people helped us out. There're these really strong guys, and soldiers, and a new kid showed up a few weeks ago who can turn into aliens!"

"Aliens?!" Wendy exclaimed in surprise.

"Wait," the older girl behind Wendy stated, finally walking up to the two of them. "How did you find us?"

Romeo let go of Wendy's hands finally and looked up at the taller girl who was probably in her late teens. She had pink eyes to match her hair, and those eyes were glaring at the kid making him sweat. He gulped, and then held his ground firmly as he said, "I was actually just out here on a hunting mission with Lily."

The black flying cat wearing green pants had a red sword strapped on his back. Panther Lily flew forwards a little and said in a gruff voice, "You there, what is your name?"

Mine's eyes narrowed at the cat. Being a trained assassin meant she was more cautious than most, and she could tell the cat was stronger than it looked. Wendy saw the tension growing and she quickly held up her hands. "This is my friend Mine! She's been traveling with me for a little while! She's a really good person Lily," Wendy assured, and the black cat nodded his head, seeming to take her word for it.

Romeo looked at the older woman and said, "Pao isn't that far." He looked back at Wendy, "Let's go back!"

Wendy nodded. She wiped her eyes and face with the sleeves of her long-sleeved blue shirt. When she lowered her wet arms, her eyes were still watering but she managed to keep from crying in joy anymore. She smiled up at Lily, then down at Romeo and asked, "Who from Fairy Tail is there?"

Romeo turned back and started marching victoriously the other way down the hill. He had a proud grin on his face and could already imagine the praise he would receive from the others upon bringing back Wendy. "There's the Master, and Laxus is there too," Romeo started while the two girls followed behind him.

Lily waited until the two girls were walking before flying slowly behind them. The black Exceed continued, "Elfman, Mira, and Lisanna are all together. Alzack and Bisca and their daughter Asuka too."

"What about Natsu?" Wendy asked, looking over her shoulder at the flying cat. Lily hesitated, then shook his head no. "Erza? Gray? Juvia?" Every time, Lily just shook his head no. "What about Gajeel? Did you show up with him?"

"Gajeel isn't there," Lily stated harshly, looking away fast and ending it there. The black Exceed paused for a moment, then questioned, "Is Charla-"

He saw Wendy flinch badly and the flying cat's eyes widened for a moment before he closed them tightly. "Ch-Charla," Wendy started, but now those happy tears she had been holding back were coming out for a different reason.

Mine sighed and put an arm around the shorter girl's head, grabbing the shoulder farther from her and squeezing it tightly. She pulled the smaller girl into her side and gave her a little half-hug. She was about to say something to her, when the sniper's eyes darted to the left and her hand clenched tighter on Wendy's shoulder.

Wendy noticed the tense clench of her friend's hand and looked up a little to see Mine staring off to the left with a narrowed gaze. "What is it Mine?"

Lily was deep in thought after learning of his friend Charla's demise, but he noticed the pink haired girl looking off to their left as well and he realized he had been too distracted to notice. "We're being watched-"

"What are you talking about?" Romeo asked in a carefree tone. He turned around from the front of the pack and looked behind him at his friends with a small smile, "Everything is fine! Come on, if we hurry we could make it back to Pao before dark..." He faded off as the three in front of him turned his way and then started staring with horrified expressions at something behind him. His face covered in sweat as the two girls stepped backwards in fear, and even the black Exceed was sweating. Lily's white wings vanished and his small form grew twenty times into an over six foot tall muscular man with the face of a gruff panther and black fur all over his toned body.

The boy with wavy black hair did not want to turn around. He noticed the shadow fall over him, and then kept getting larger so that it covered all three of the figures in front of him too. Even in his muscular human-like form, Lily still looked scared and backed up while drawing his large red sword that extended in length when placed in his grip. Romeo gulped and turned away from the blue faces of his friends, turning fully around and then lifting up his eyes to take in the entire creature behind him.

It had two long black legs that ended in little twists of darkness instead of feet. The higher up they looked the legs got thicker, until they reached the huge muscular dark body of the massive creature standing behind Romeo. It was a hundred feet tall with two large arms on its sides and a giant face with glowing yellow eyes and dozens of hair-like tentacles waving around over his face and around his head.

"What is that thing?!" Mine exclaimed finally, stumbling backwards farther and almost tripping.

The four of them stared at the giant black monster, no idea that it was a Heartless creature called a Darkside. None of them had seen anything like it before, but they were terrified nonetheless. "D-Do you think it sees us?" Romeo asked, his feet planted to the spot only ten feet in front of the monster's legs. He tried moving backwards but his whole body tensed up and he froze as the two yellow glowing eyes snapped down to look right into his own.

"Does that answer your question?!" Mine yelled over at the boy. She clenched her teeth hard and looked to her right and left, trying to find a good escape route. If only I still had Pumpkin. I still can't believe Naruto went nuts like that, he even managed to break my Imperial Arms. The girl who had escaped from the carnage of Konoha not long ago was now faced with another horrible situation, only this time she was unarmed.

"Hey! You children and cat!"

The four of them snapped their heads to the left and saw a large black-skinned man standing next to a tree nearby. He had no hair on his head and expensive looking clothes on him matched nicely by his fine jewelry: golden rings and diamond necklaces. The man waved a hand towards himself, "This way!"

He was fifty feet away from them, still on the hill actually. Why was he hiding? Mine thought, but then shook her head as there were bigger concerns at the moment, like how the monster in front of them was bringing back a fist and twisting its body.

"Let's follow him!" Wendy exclaimed, turning and starting to run. Lily and Mine ran off too, but Wendy looked back and saw Romeo frozen to the spot as the huge Heartless slammed a giant black fist down towards him. "Romeo!" She yelled.

He couldn't turn away as he watched the fist several times larger than his body come towards him, seeping an evil feeling that made him feel so weak. A second before it was going to hit him, he was slammed in the side by a girl with long blue pigtails, tackling him out of the way. The two of them were thrown even farther as the fist hit the ground behind them. "Ahh!" They both yelled, then hit the ground and tumbled across the hill for a few seconds.

"Wendy! Romeo!" Lily shouted back as he became separated from the other two by a large black fist. He charged the fist with his sword drawn, but skid to a stop as the ground all around the fist turned from green to black. A circle of darkness with a purple center spread out from the fist. Wisps of darkness seeped up into the air from the dark middle, and then it got worse as five black creatures spawned around the hand. They came out of the darkness, little Shadows that looked like imps, with the same glowing yellow eyes as the huge Darkside bent down behind them.

Half of the black creatures turned Lily's way and charged him, while the others ran on the other side of the fist. He knew they were going for the younger kids, but when he lifted up his sword and blocked one of the creature's hits, he found out they were stronger than their small bodies implied. He pushed off of the claw that he parried and then swung his sword at the creature, sending it flying back, only for it to stand back up and then flatten out on the floor.

The monster slid across the floor looking like a shadow, then hopped up on Lily's left side as the other two that attacked him jumped up on his right. The black Exceed jumped back and swung his sword in a wide arc across his body, slicing all three of the creatures.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Darkside's fist, Romeo and Wendy staggered up to their feet to face even more of these creatures that kept appearing. The young boy rose his arms and purple flames appeared over either of his palms in small balls. He chucked the magic forward while Wendy rose her hands to her mouth and yelled, "Sky Dragon's Roar!"

They sent their enemies flying backwards or exploding in balls of purple flames. The two kids looked at each other with smiles and then turned back as the huge monster started lifting back up its fist. "I think we could take this thing," Romeo started, then froze with his mouth dropped as the dark creature rose both hands up in front of it and began forming an enormous ball of darkness that had a glowing orange core like that of a sun, except scarier.

"Okay, scratch that," Romeo said, turning to Wendy and being the one to get her moving this time by grabbing her arm and starting to run. "Let's get out of here!"

"This way!" The black man over to the left of the Darkside yelled again. Around him, other people were running up and they had rifles in their arms. The men had scars on their faces, or golden teeth, or rings covering all their fingers. Ignoring their sketchy appearances, Romeo and Wendy ran their way where Mine was already waving them towards her.

"Go!" Lily yelled, slamming his sword one more time across him and smashing the smaller Shadows into pieces. They turned into clouds of dark bubbles and faded as they floated up. The large muscular cat-person turned around and chased after the younger magicians when he finished off his last opponent.

All three of them caught up to Mine, and listened to the bald black man who yelled, "Follow me!" The others around them were firing their rifles and long thin beams of yellow light shot out towards the monster behind them.

"It's not working!" A white man yelled as he saw his beam hit the monster in the face and have no effect.

"Oh it's working! It's working at pissing that thing off!" Another guy with tanner skin and longer hair than his friend yelled back. He did so because the monster had turned its attention from the fleeing children and cat to them, and was now bringing down the huge ball of darkness at them.

"Ahhh!"

Wendy and the others running with her looked back to see a huge ball of darkness crash into the ground twenty feet behind them. The two closest trees lost their green and brown colors and started to shrivel up before flying off the ground, torn from their roots by the explosion that came from inside the ball of darkness. The core ripped apart the ground and destroyed the men who were trying to run from it.

Romeo and Wendy looked back and saw a man who was helping them escape flying through the air. He had been lifted off the ground by the explosion, and as he flew their way his eyes opened in horror, and then his chest lit up bright and a heart floated out of him. His body faded and the glowing red heart burst into a sphere of darkness before vanishing.

"Get to the river!" The black-skinned man leading them roared, announcing it more to all of his men than anything.

As everyone ran away, Wendy looked back to see the dark giant looking their way over the fading dark explosion and the few trees around them. Her run slowed, then stopped completely. Romeo looked back seeing his fellow guild member stopping and he yelled over, "Wendy! What are you doing?!"

"I must fight this monster!" Wendy yelled. She looked back and forced a smile to her face, "Get everyone to safety Romeo. I will be right behind you."

"Wendy no!" Romeo yelled back, but Wendy already started running towards the approaching giant. She leapt up in the air thirty feet and swung her arms out to the sides. Romeo watched in awe as two long whips of air stretched out from her hands over thirty feet in both directions. She swung her arms around and then smashed them forward, crashing the long whips right into the huge monster's head. "Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Romeo watched in awe, She's so strong. He took a step back, but two strong arms grabbed the kid and pulled him the other way. "Huh? Hey what are you doing?!" He yelled at the guy who picked him up and kept running with the boy over his shoulder.

"We've lost too many men to go back empty-handed," the tan-skinned man growled. He had two golden teeth and a scar underneath his right eye, and when he turned to look at the kid's face, he gave Romeo chills. He snarled at the child and said, "Do you want their deaths to be in vain?"

Romeo shook his head, but then looked back again and watched Wendy as they got farther from her.

Wendy landed down on a tree branch and panted hard a few times before catching her breath. She looked at the giant beast that showed no injuries at all, but at the same time every time she hit it she saw chunks of darkness get smashed off and dissolved. It's solid, but it's made of strange stuff that my attacks break through. Am I even doing any damage though? Wendy stepped back and her foot slid off of the tree branch.

"Eep!" She yelped as she fell from the tree. She landed on her feet with her legs bent and put a fist down in front of her to keep from falling over.

She snapped her head back up and crossed her arms expecting an attack to be on its way. Nothing came though, and she lowered her arms to see the huge black creature leaning backwards. It tilted its head up and leaned its chest backwards, confusing the girl even more by throwing its arms out to either side. "What, what are you-" she began, then watched as the Darkside's chest ripped open into a swirling area of dark purple that emitted a strong feeling of evil.

The girl stumbled backwards, then as ten large spheres of darkness shot out of the monster's chest and locked onto her, she turned and ran away as fast as she could. "Vernier!" She yelled, and her legs covered in green light for a second. Her magic buffed her speed and she sped up just as a sphere of darkness crashed into where she was running a second before. She darted to the right, then left.

"Keep going Wendy," she encouraged herself as dark explosions kept happening around her. The trees all around started to thin out even more and she could see a large open field in the distance not a quarter mile away. Past that there was a river and she could see a large brown boat on it.

Across the field over at the river's edge, Romeo and the others had just reached a camp full of people. "Malko! Where are your men?!" An angry figure growled loudly at the bald man leading them to the shore.

Romeo kept looking over his shoulder, but when he looked ahead this time, he stopped running and came to a short stop. The voice that had just yelled at their leader came from a tough-looking lion standing on two legs with black stripes on his beige fur. He had a thick furry mane and was wearing a yellow shirt and pants, along with a necklace with a human skull at the bottom of it.

"Leol-sama," the black man with a low voice greeted the figure who was apparently their leader. While he spoke, Romeo, Mine, and Lily were looking around the camp right at the shore next to a big brown ship. They looked at all the sketchy figures standing up and staring towards them interestedly. Mine saw more than a few of them checking her out and she snarled at them from the looks they were giving her.

Malko continued after greeting his boss, "We were attacked by a monster. My men are gone, but it's not a total loss," the bald man with dark skin motioned behind him at the three figures standing there.

Lily's eyes narrowed at the man motioning towards them. As he did, he noticed something out the corner of his eye and snapped his head to his left to see a very fat man walking towards them. He was holding the end of a leash, and down the rope there was a figure walking on all fours across the ground. It was a human. "What are you-" he started, turning and shouting at the men in front of him.

As he started yelling, two men behind him jumped him at the same time. "What the," Lily growled, lifting up his sword. As he started raising it, he felt something clamp around his neck and a loud ding rang out. Panther Lily reached up a hand and tugged on his collar, "Hey! Get this off me!" He spun and swung his sword at the men behind him, slamming them backwards.

"What are you doing?!" Romeo yelled at the dark-skinned man who helped them escape from that monster. He saw someone approaching him and spun angrily, forming purple flames on his hands.

"HAHAHA! You did good Malko," a low voice laughed and announced. Leol walked forward, the part lion, part human Chimera Ant holding his arms out and laughing. "Two strong ones and a fine human girl. Am I right?" The creature asked, looking around at its human subordinates.

"Yes sir," a sleazy-looking man next to Leol said, licking his lips. "She's quite the specimen."

"Leol-sama!" A higher-pitched voice yelled from up on the ship in the river.

Romeo was tense and he stood next to Lily who was trying to get his collar off. Both of them were keeping Mine behind themselves to protect her. They were watching the men closest to them, but they glanced over towards the ship to see a young woman with lightish-purple skin and messy green hair wearing a yellow dress and a pink hat. The girl pointed out over the field and called out, "Flutter spotted something!"

A larger Chimera Ant flew down from the sky, mosquito wings coming out of the creepy looking bug-man's back. There were other human-sized mosquitos flying towards the ship from out on the field. The main mosquito who was wearing clothes to distinguish himself and who actually had the capacity for human speech, called down, "Leol-sama, we should leave here at once!"

The lion creature looked away from his two advisors and back at the three in front of him. He looked past them and his eyes widened at the sight of something coming out of the small forest across the field. The Darkside's appearance had everyone who didn't see it before freaking out. "On the boat," Leol ordered loudly.

The man's voice sounded a lot closer to the fighters than they had expected. All three of them had looked back across the field to see the monster stepping out of the forest, but they heard the lion's voice right behind them. Romeo heard it closest and turned around to come face to face with the Chimera Ant squad leader.

Leol grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. Romeo struggled and formed flames on his hands, but before he could attack, the lion-man clamped a collar on his neck that he pulled off of the side of his waist. "Romeo!" Lily yelled, swinging his sword at the enemy.

The red blade slammed into Leol's side, but the lion did not even flinch. He turned and laughed at the confused expression on Lily's face, then laughed even harder as the muscular black panther started shrinking into a tiny house cat. "Hahaha! Having trouble finding your strength?" As he asked, Romeo slammed his flaming fists forward into the man holding him up, however his purple flames went out right before colliding with the enemy.

Mine's eyes widened and she turned around, running backwards towards the huge black monster walking across the field. She saw a small figure in front of the giant, and she yelled at the top of her lungs, "WEN-"

Her voice was cut off as a fist slammed into her stomach. Mine's eyes rolled back and the lion Chimera Ant who rushed her tossed her over his shoulder, while his soldiers charged the cat and child behind him who had fallen to their knees. "Get all the prisoners on the ship," he ordered, looking back out towards the giant Heartless. "We're leaving."

Wendy was charging across a grass field as fast as she could. She felt the thuds every time the giant behind her took a step, and it looked like it was not going to let her get away that easily. "Okay, you can do this," she stopped sprinting and turned around fast, yelling out, "Arms!" Her arms lit up bright with magic and she jumped up in the air towards the Heartless, punching right towards its chest.

Her fist stopped it in its tracks, but then a huge black hand smacked her out of the air and a hundred feet away.

Romeo was struggling hard against his captors as he was dragged up on top of a ship. They had been packing everything up quickly and the crew started pulling back up the ramp that led from the side of the ship to shore. He saw something come flying out of the air near shore and when it hit the ground it bounced, then bounced again. Everyone on the ship heard the thuds and went over to the side, before rushing even faster to get preparations out of the way.

"Let's get out of here!" Malko yelled, then ordered around a bunch of the men to get the ship ready. The back of their boat started rumbling as the engines turned on, and they started moving forward on the river.

Romeo struggled harder and pulled out of his captors' grips, running over to the side of the boat and leaning his head over the side. He looked with wide eyes over towards shore and inland fifty feet. "WENDY!" He yelled.

The girl staggering up to her feet was limping, one of her legs was covered in blood. Both of her shirt's sleeves had been ripped off, and there was blood coming down the right side of her face too. She heard the scream from her left side and looked over to see a boat driving down a river. She looked closer and saw Romeo struggling to escape the grasps of men around him, yelling her name over and over. He had a collar on his neck and he screamed in pain all of a sudden. Romeo? What is he-

Her thoughts were cut short as darkness surrounded her. It was a hand closing around her body, and as she let out a yelp the hand grasped her. It wrapped her so tight that her arms were pressed to her sides, leaving only her head above the clenched fist's fingers.

"Oh my God," one of the men pulling back on Romeo muttered. He loosened his grip, but Romeo wasn't even moving anymore. The kid was frozen in horror as the Heartless monster lifted a screaming Wendy up eighty feet in the air. It held her right in front of its right shoulder, and then a dark portal appeared on top of that shoulder.

Everyone stared in silence as their ship moved forward down the river, and a man walked out of that dark portal. He had a black coat open down the middle revealing his tan chest that had a dark red and black heart on it. His eyes were the color of gold and his hair silver and long, going all the way past his waist. He stepped out of the dark portal and swung an arm in front of his body.

At the swing of his arm, the Darkside opened up its hand. It held open its palm with the small girl in it. She slowly managed to get up to her knees, then to one foot while the man on the shoulder next to her stepped forward onto the palm with her. "Dear child," the man spoke, making Wendy look up into his eyes. "Give yourself over to the darkness!"

She staggered up on her feet and opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, the man in front of her formed a black blade with key prongs on the end of it out of nowhere and shoved the tip of it straight into her chest. "Agh, ack," Wendy stumbled backwards, the blade sliding out of her chest. Out of the wound though, darkness started spilling out and wrapping around her chest.

Wendy heard her name being screamed and she turned a little, looking out past the giant monster's fingers to the river. She could see a small cat trying desperately to free itself, while being shackled and kicked by the men around it. Her friend Mine was conscious again, screaming her name, while a fat man twice the size and height of normal men reached around her and pulled her back in a bear hug.

And then there was the small boy trying to climb over the ledge of the ship. His collar seemed to vibrate for a second and then electricity coursed through his body. His captors pulled him back, and they all looked over in awe and horror as the sweet little girl with blue hair became completely shrouded in darkness.

It was like the darkness was a flame and the girl was in the center of it, but then all the dark tendrils whipping around sank down into the floor at once. Standing on the palm of that monster's hand was now a figure as black as night, her entire body from her hair to her skin to her clothes. Only her eyes remained white, that is until she turned a little towards the ship, and smiled a wide smile that glowed pure white as well.

Lily, Mine, and Romeo all stared in horror at what had become of their friend. The tall man next to her with long silver hair stepped up behind her back and placed a hand on the dark girl's shoulder. He looked their way and every person on the ship felt a sense of dread deep within them, but then Ansem's head snapped to the right and he frowned deeply.

"They are coming," the man said in a low tone. He lowered his dark Keyblade and it vanished, and then the ground in a fifty foot diameter underneath his Darkside ripped open into a black portal. His Heartless creation sank down into the pit slowly, and he looked over at the ship one last time, along with the formerly blue haired girl at his side. They watched as the ship started to go down and the men onboard rushed inside, while strapping bracelets on their new prisoners' wrists. Then, Wendy sank completely into the darkness.

Two Hours Ago

Every single person in the Fairy Tail guild hall stared speechlessly at Wendy. Even when she mentioned it to Macao earlier, she did not go into as much detail as this time. She didn't want to leave anything out to avoid being asked countless questions by her comrades in the short time they had left together.

"It looked like they were diving," Wendy continued quietly. "As if the ship was some sort of submarine."

Laxus frowned deeply as he looked over at Wendy. He finally turned away with a furious expression on his face. "Laxus," Mirajane whispered as he started walking away with a scary look.

"Damn it!" Laxus roared. Most of the others kept looking at Wendy or were finding their own way to cope, but the ones who did look over at Laxus saw he had punched a fist right through the wall.

"Laxus," Mira said softly as she walked up behind him. "It's not your fault."

"I was right there," Laxus growled, in a voice so quiet only Mira could hear him. "I had been training with Vegeta and thought I could handle it. When we felt their ki's decreasing," he muttered, his own voice filling with disbelief as he thought back on it. "I wanted to trust Romeo, we all saw how much he wanted to be trusted with going out on his own," he snarled and slammed his fist into the wall again, blasting another hole in it. "But his power cut off so suddenly, just like the others with him. We reached the river but no one was there." Laxus shook his head, "If only we had checked the water. They must have been less than a mile away. And now, for almost two years, who knows what has been happening to them. Or what has happened to them?" He added as a possibility, keeping it quiet so only Mira would hear the pessimistic attitude.

"Why did they take the three of them prisoner?" Max called over from his table.

"Weren't they helping you?" Someone else questioned confusedly.

"I don't know," Wendy said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I was fighting the Heartless. When I looked over, they were just being dragged away. That's all I know."

Everyone became silent again, and then Natsu spoke up, "You think they might be where we're going?" They all looked to him and he was staring straight at Gray.

Macao looked at Natsu with wide-eyes, then turned to Gray to see what he would say. Gray frowned deeply, looking from the pink haired Dragon Slayer, to the sad little teenage girl, to the father desperate for help. "It is possible," Gray started. It looked like he was holding something back, but he just added, "We'll look for him Macao. If we find any information on what happened to him too, we'll bring you it too. We'll find him, or we'll find closure."

"We'll find him," Natsu stated, making Macao turn back to him and see the wide smile on Natsu's face. "This is Romeo we're talking about. I'm sure he's fine! Probably a lot stronger than you now old man!" Natsu started laughing and a bunch of others in the guild hall joined in with him.

Gray looked grimly at Natsu as if there were a reason behind him not bringing Macao's hopes up, but he turned away and just allowed Macao to happily thank Natsu and go on being happy. He looked back as Macao walked over to a table where his good friend Wakaba was at and sit down at it, instantly talking about all sorts of things with the man. He looked more energetic than Gray had seen him in the months since teleporting on Awul, and that brought a grin to the ice mage's face too.

Suddenly the doors to the guild hall opened back up and everyone looked over. A man stood in the doorway with spiky hair and an orange gi on. Son Goku smiled into the hall and called out, "Time to go!"

FD + 823 (823 Days since the First Day on Nexus). PRESENT

Great Ocean

Natsu stood at the front of the Thousand Sunny as they sailed east over the water. He had a straight expression and was deep in thought despite the boisterous crew behind him. They had just started their journey a half an hour ago, and the younger kids were all excitedly running around and checking out their new home for who knows how long. They were unpacking, and talking to each other, but Natsu could not get his mind off what they discussed that morning.

"You too huh?" A voice asked on his right. Natsu barely saw him coming over, but when he looked at Gray all he did was give him a small nod. "Yeah," Gray muttered, and he looked out over the water. "Romeo's out there, somewhere," Gray said, his voice dark.

"We'll find him," Natsu said, putting a confident smile on his face to show Gray he meant it.

"I don't doubt it," Gray said. Though he said it, he looked like he had something else to add. He opened his mouth to continue, closed it, then opened it again and spoke in a quieter voice. "Natsu, when I told you about Aebrith-"

"You mean when you talked about how much it sucked?" Natsu asked sarcastically.

"Yeah," Gray said, though he did not sound to be in a joking mood. "I left something out when I explained it to you. And when Wendy told us that story, I didn't bring it up because I didn't want Macao to know." Natsu started staring at his friend confusedly but Gray was looking off the front of the ship out over the open ocean. "On Aebrith, at least on most of it," Gray was hesitating, but he really did not know how to put it lightly. So finally he just came out and said it, "There are a lot of slaves."

"Huh?" Natsu questioned.

"Slaves," Gray repeated. "Over all of the King's lands, the Cooperative of High Lords, most of them accept slavery. Over the weaker citizens, but also over other strong fighters. Prisoners of war, or just people sold at slave auctions."

"Selling, people?" Natsu muttered, his expression getting angry at the idea. "What gives them the right-"

"They give themselves the right," Gray said quickly. "The world 'right' in Aebrith is the equivalent as the word 'power.' If you have power, what you determine to be right becomes so. Under this logic, anyone who has power and does not want to do something, can order someone else to do it. And if they order a person to do whatever they say, that person has to do it. And if a power nullifier is put on someone strong, they can't fight back against you."

"Why are you saying all this now?" Natsu asked.

"Because," Gray said in a grim tone. "Romeo was most likely sold into slavery. Some of the creatures Wendy described who were restraining Romeo and the others sound like Chimera Ants. The Ants don't think of humans as their equals. They were some of the first to start using slaves widespread. They also eat humans, along with most other creatures on this world." Gray grimaced and Natsu was staring at him wide-eyed. "I've seen good people get eaten by Chimera Ants."

"Why do you think Romeo became a slave?" Natsu asked, more focused on that than the human-eating enemies they were going after.

"Mine," Gray replied. "The woman Wendy said was traveling with her, I've met her before."

"You have?" Natsu asked, wondering why Gray did not bring this up at the guild hall with Wendy. "Why didn't you tell Wendy, she's probably really worried-"

"Because when I found Mine it was after taking down a fortress with Zoro and the others. We found her chained to a wall without any clothes on, like the rest of the girls there." Natsu stopped speaking and just stared at Gray in shock as the ice mage stared out over the water. "And if I told Wendy that Mine was alive, Wendy would ask if she was alright. Then, I would have had to lie and tell her that Mine was alright, even though she was not. She was not okay at all."

Gray clenched his teeth and his fists clenched on top of the railing they were looking over. "Romeo was not with her, which means that he was probably sold to someone else." Gray ground his teeth and then sighed after a few seconds and calmed himself down. He spoke in a more nostalgic tone, "When we were destroying that fortress, a group of people came running in at that time. They were preparing to attack later that same day, but decided to help us out instead. They came to free the slaves, and were returning to base after. I convinced Zoro and the others to come with them, and after hearing what else the group was doing, I tried to convince everyone to stick with them too." Gray tssked and sighed again. He put his chin down in one hand and continued looking out to the east, "I should have known they would say no."

"So after that, you split up with Luffy's crewmate?" Natsu asked, having heard a few things now about this Zoro guy who Luffy was looking for.

"Yeah," Gray responded. "I saw him a few times after that, but we stopped traveling together. Still though, I consider Zoro one of my closest comrades. I hope we find him soon after landing. We could really use his help getting across the continent."

"Why would we?" Natsu asked.

"You know what I've already said about there being monsters everywhere? Well, Zoro is one of the strongest people I know, so having his help would really benefit."

"We already have the Mayor and Timmy," Natsu countered. "Do you really think we need any more help?" He asked sarcastically.

Gray thought about it for a few seconds but he did not smile like Natsu did. "I hope not," he muttered.

A/N Happy New Year! Heroes Will Rise officially starts with the New Year! The second part of Nexus begins with a flashback to how Wendy got turned into a Heartless, and also gives the three Fairy Tail mages on the journey another mission on their adventure. Find Romeo. Slavery? Mine was naked? Yeah, those of you who suggested I make Nexus 'M', you got your wish. This is probably the main reason I started an entirely new story instead of just continuing where Nexus left off, so that I could change this rating as things really do get bad in Heroes Will Rise. Thanks for all the reviews at the end of Nexus! Shoutout to Espada-001 for getting the closest to guessing all nineteen characters to travel on the Thousand Sunny to Aebrith! 16/19 was pretty great considering I didn't throw too many hints in there for some of the ones you guessed! Once again, hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review telling me what you think, questions about the chapter or the story in general, and predictions for the future of Nexus! Well, 'till next time!