Chapter 75

Efforts

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip

The Sky Sisters flew over the land, looking down at the sheer number of monsters marching at the city. "Look at all those monsters…" Carla stated behind Wendy.

"All of this heading for the town…" Chelia mumbled. "Let's leave the town's defense to Lyon and the others."

"Natsu is there too." Wendy added.

"We need to get to Orochi's main army and take out that monster tamer." Carla declared.

"I'm sorry about this, Happy." The God Slayer told the Exceed carrying her.

"Don't worry, you're light anyway." He told her.

"That's not it…" She mumbled. "I want to protect the town using my own powers but…"

"There they are!" Carla shouted, pointing at the swarm of humans on a small cliff.

The Excceds let go of their cargo and the two girls dived down, each kicking a man in the face. They then turned and both unleashed a breath attack, blasting the mob. Carla kicked a man in the face as Happy dropped into a sprinting stance. "Here's the results of my training!" He declared, his wings glowing white.

'I don't have Carla's gift for magic, I don't know the first thing about weapons, and I can't transform like Lily…' "But what I do have…" His wings grew in size as he looked up. "IS SPEED!" Happy was suddenly launched forward by his own power and a mach cone quickly hit several members of Orochi Fin in the head or gut.

"I'll go take down the monster user!" Chelia declared, rushing into the mob.

"Chelia, slow down!" Wendy shouted as a scent caught her attention. She tackled Chelia to the ground as a blast of magic flew past them.

"I've seen that little girl before…" A voice declared as a man stepped forward from behind the monster tamer. "I wonder if she can fly now…" The ground exploded under him as Wendy looked up at Bluenote Stinger.

"My body… won't move…" Chelia groaned in pain.

"There isn't anyone that could move under my gravitational powers…" He declared, turning his gaze to the God Slayer. "We'll start with you…"

Chelia was suddenly picked up to her fight as Natsu grabbed her by her shirt's collar. "Found ya." Everyone stared in shock as he seemed unaffected by the increase in gravity. "How dare you steal my Happy…"

"I'm sorry…" Chelia mumbled.

"Natsu, this isn't the time for that!" Carla shouted.

"That guy is here." Wendy added. "The one who almost killed us on Tenrou Isalnd…"

"Bluenote Stinger…" Happy declared.

Natsu looked up at the gravity user and stared him in the eye. "I don't remember him."

'I've seen him before…' Bluenote told himself. 'Yes, the small fly. But…' His Gravity Magic suddenly increased, forcing even his own men to the ground. 'Why do I get so annoyed with him!' He suddenly launched himself forward and threw a punch, increased by his magic. "DIE!"

Natsu stood in place before his own fist caught fire, blasting him out of the way. "Like hell I will!" Chelia slipped from his grip, only to be caught by a pair of talons.

"Don't worry. I got you." Lisanna told the girl, her arms now wings.

"This isn't the end of Fairy Tail!" Natsu declared, causing Bluenote to blink in shock.

'Fairy Tail… that's right.' The older man looked up and Natsu was seemingly replaced by Gildarts. 'It was Fairy Tail!' He looked up in excitement for the fight, only to get hit by a massive blast of fire from Natsu's face. The very ground itself melted before the attack finally subsided.

Bluenote was smoldering from the attack as he suddenly collapsed. 'Just one attack!?' Carla was in shock.

'Just how much has Natsu grown over the last year?' Wendy asked herself.

Lisanna landed next to Natsu and sat Chelia down, earning a glare from the duo. "Uh… I'm sorry for taking Happy?"

"Hey, check it out." Happy pointed out.

The trio turned to see Orochi Fin to the side a small white flag in one member's hand. "…we surrender."

Margret Town

"The last of the monsters left." Lyon explained. "Thank you for your assistance. You've improved a great deal, Lucy."

"Oh, it was nothing." The blonde chuckled.

"I haven't even gotten to go all out yet…" Natsu growled in annoyance.

"Don't worry, you'll get your chance soon." Lisanna said patting his back.

"Hey, where are Wendy and Chelia?" Lucy asked looking for the two.

"Apparently, they have some things to discuss." Yuka explained.

In the center of town, Chelia and Wendy sat underneath a tree. "It was useless…" Chelia mumbled, confusing Wendy. "I wanted to show you that I'd be okay even if I was alone, but Natsu messed it up."

"Well, that's Natsu for you." The Sky Dragon Slayer chuckled.

"…You've got to go with Natsu, Wendy." Chelia declared. "After all, he's your idol, isn't he? You'll regret it if you don't go with him. We can still be friends even if we're different guilds. No matter what, we're friends."

"Yeah…" Wendy said with a smile, unaware that Carla was behind the tree.

The Next Day

Lamia Scale waved Wendy and Carla away as the six walked out of the city. Lyon patted Chelia on the head as a single tear left her eye.

"So, where will we be going next?" Happy asked as Lucy pulled out a map.

"Let's see… There's this village to the east called Rainfall Town…" The blonde said. "Apparently, it rains all the time in that village."

"Could it be…" Lisanna asked in excitement.

3 Days Later

Standing outside of Rainfall Town, it was easy to see how the village got its name. "All that rain in one place…" Lucy mumbled. "It has to be Juvia."

"We could get sick if we stay in this too long." Lisanna added, reaching into her bag. "Good thing I came prepared." She pulled out two umbrellas and handed one to Lucy. She huddled over to Natsu and opened hers up, Happy flying under it.

"That's so sweet." Lucy smiled as Wendy had a mild blush on her face. Under their protection, the six walked into the storm covered area. "There's not even a shadow here…"

"Maybe nobody lives here anymore…" Wendy suggested next to Lucy.

"No, I can smell Juvia." Natsu declared. "This way." The group walked onwards until they finally found the water woman sitting on bench in the storm. "Yo, Juvia!"

The girl looked up and her eyes went wide and she rushed over. "My darling Gray!"

"Calm down." Natsu held out his palm and hit her face, snapping her back to reality. "How ya been, Juvia?" The Water user stared at her old guild mates before suddenly collapsing into his arms. "What's wrong!?"

Lisanna pressed her hand on Juvia's head before pulling it back. "She has a bad fever. Let's get her inside!"

Rushing into the nearest house, the group quickly set Juvia into the bed. "This house looks well lived in." Lucy said looking around. "I wonder if this is Juvia's home…"

Natsu sniffed the air as he looked around. "Smells like Gray too."

"Juvia once lived… together… with Gray." Juvia panted out, causing blushes to appear on the Wendy and Lucy's face as Lisanna smiled for her friend. "Alone." She said with a glare at Lucy.

"Wow, she's really proud of herself." The blonde mumbled.

"We ate together." Juvia continued. "Trained together… worked together… Slept together."

"Not information needed!" Lucy shouted as Wendy almost passed out from the blush on her face.

"Well, tried to, but he kicked me out." The water user confessed, earning a sigh of relief from the two girls. "We were happy. But then one day, he changed… He started going out alone… and then he stopped coming back altogether… That was half a year ago."

"What a bastard, leaving you alone." Natsu growled in annoyance.

"So you don't know where Grey is now?" Happy asked.

"She wouldn't be here if she knew, would she?" Carla pointed back.

"I tried looking for him for days…" Juvia confessed. "But… he was nowhere to be found. So I decided to wait… This is where we had such happy times… He'll come home eventually…" Tears started welling up in her eyes as she turned away in shame.

"I'll find him for you." Natsu declared, looking out the window. "I'll bring everyone back together, so we can be a guild again."

Wendy looked over the older woman's shoulder and found that she had fallen asleep. "You said you'd find him, but do you ever know where to start looking?" Carla asked.

"Even I don't have an idea on where he is." Lucy added.

Natsu stared out the window, a stone dead look on his face. "It's somewhere around here, wasn't it…" He mumbled, confusing Lucy as he turned around. "We need to go to Sabertooth."

Wendy and Carla stayed behind as the others had left for the aforementioned guild hours ago. "This is bad. For Some reason, my healing magic isn't working on her fever." Wendy mumbled

"We can only hope the others find useful information at Sabertooth." Carla declared, looking out the window.

"I'll do what I can here." Wendy added. "But thwy need to find Gray and bring him back soo.

Outside Gazania

Lisanna in her rabbit form raced along the ground as Happy flew next to them. "Just let us know if you want a break, Lisanna." Natsu told her.

"Don't worry, Natsu. I'm fine." Lisanna spoke up.

"I think I finally see it." The cat declared.

Lucy turned to the side as she saw the towering guildhall of their former rival. "It's huge."

"Natsu, are you sure Sabertooth has information on Gray?" Lisanna asked the boy.

"Can't say for sure…" He confessed, confusing the two girls. "Listen up, Lucy." He spun around and looked her in the eye, scaring the blonde. "I believe in Gray. But this time, I won't get any information unless I stop trusting him. I will definitely bring Gray back, that I promise you. So until then, please trust me…"

Sabertooth

"Lucy! Natsu! Happy! Lisanna!" Yukino greeted them all with a smile as the four entered the guild. "Now this is a surprise."

"Yukino!" Lucy cheered. "It's been so long. How have you been?"

"I'm good. Thanks!" She said with a smile.

"There's some faces I haven't seen in a while." Natsu turned to the side at the sound of Sting's voice, only to find him massively overweight. "Natsu! Thanks for dropping by."

"What happened to you?" Lucy asked in shock.

"Hey, where's Carla?" Lector asked the blue Exceed.

"Taking care of a sick friend with Wendy. Frocsh isn't with you either?" Happy asked back.

"He took a job with Rogue and M'lady." His answer caught the attention of Natsu.

"Where'd they go!?" He asked, grabbing the face of the cat.

"I… dunno…" Lector mumbled out. "But they just left. So they're probably only as far as the city gates."

"Thanks, Lector!" Natsu instantly took off out the door.

"What the heck was that about?" Sting questioned, suddenly back to his normal size.

"How did you get back to normal?" Lisanna asked.

"It was getting too much, so I had Libra even out his scales." Yukino confessed.

Rogue, Minerva and Frosch walked through the city, intent on leaving for their job. "ROGUE!" The Dragon Slayer turned around just in time for Natsu to grab him and pull him aside. "C'mere! Let's have a chat!"

"Wait up!" Minerva turned back towards the guild to see Lucy panting in exhaustion as Lisanna and Happy landed on the ground. "How the heck are you two this fast now?" She asked, panting in exhaustion.

The blonde finally caught their breath as Minerva nervously started the conversation. "It's been some time."

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you're part of Sabertooth again." Lucy nodded.

"So what was up with Sting?" Lisanna asked.

"Well, we just had out annual 'Tiger-Tiger-Tiger' eating contest." Minerva explained. "He tried his best, but I ended up winning."

"Is that why you guys skipped the Games this year?" Lucy asked.

"No, that was because he said they would be too boring if Fairy Tail wasn't in it." The spacial mage replied. "Lucy…I'm sorry for what I did during the last games. Even if it was a fight among guild members, I overdid it."

"Don't worry about it." Lucy said.

"It's sad that Fairy Tail had to disband like that." Minerva added. "It was such a wonderful."

Lucy chuckled as she held up her hand, showing her guild mark. "It isn't gone. The guild still exists in our hearts…"

"Why the hell did you drag me all the way out here!?" Rogue asked in annoyance as the two finally stopped.

"I wanna see your job request!" Natsu stated, confusing the Twin Dragon. "Just show me the damn flyer." Rogue took out the paper and Natsu grabbed it, staring at the job. "Destroy Avatar… I'll do it."

"What!?" Rogue was in shock at the blatant statement. "You can't steal my job! Besides, do you even belong to a guild anymore!?"

"I'm in Fairy Tail." Natsu declared. "Like I said, I'm gonna take over this job. Only thing I want is to destroy this Avatar. You can keep the money. But you and Frosch can't leave town until I come back."

"You're acting crazy…" Rogue mumbled.

Natsu raced away, grabbed his friends and headed towards the town entrance. "Minerva! Make sure you don't let Rogue and Frosch out of town! Understand!?"

"What is wrong with him?" Rogue questioned in confusion.

"No idea." Minerva confessed.

The memory from last year replayed in his mind. 'Gray will kill Frosch.' Future Rogue told him.

Natsu shook his head in disgust at thw warning. "I won't let that happen." He declared. "Fairy Tail needs Gray!"

Did I cut out Lucy and her Stardress from this? Yes. Why? Honestly, it doesn't really add a lot to the main story. If anything, it detracts from it. But that's a rant for another time. Overall, fairly happy with what I did here. What I added will greatly affect what will happen on later. And if your here for my OC's, don't worry. They'll be back soon enough.

Beta read by General Feng Xiang