A/N: This update is long overdue. Sorry, I've had a really busy week (my friends came to visit!). I'll try to keep the updates more regular from now on. This chapter, we find out what happens to Erza and have a showdown with the mysterious attackers that hurt her.


Chapter Five

The world around Charle was in chaos. She was dimly aware of people shouting at her but she was paralysed. Even her thoughts were stuck. They had skidded into a pothole and her mind had juddered to a halt. She could have prevented this. She should have prevented this. What was the point of being able to see the future if you could not stop your friends from being hurt? "Charle." An arm was on her shoulder. Wendy's eyes were filled with tears. "Charle, I need you focus OK? We have to get out of here."

Charle watched in awe as Wendy took charge, the medic in her coming to the forefront. She squatted by Erza's body and felt for a pulse before casting some preliminary enchantments, all the while dictating orders to those around her. "I can't help her here," she said in an unfaltering voice, "Gray-san, I need you to carry Erza-san back to camp, Lucy-san can't do it. Lucy-san, cover us. We will split the focus of their attack by choosing different routes. Charle, fly me out!"

Before anyone could think to protest her plan, Wendy was on her feet and chanting, "O swift wind that dashes through the heavens… Ile Vernier!" Green light enveloped Gray's feet. "Go!"

He did not need telling twice. "Don't come back without that key!" he said to Lucy. Erza would not want them to abandon their mission. The key was the reason they had come to this godforsaken place. The reason Erza was… Lucy nodded in understanding and gave him a thumbs up in reply. "Open the Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!"

Gray sped away with Erza cradled to his chest. Behind him he could hear a velvety male voice saying 'We are!' as the Scorpion Spirit made his appearance. He paused to create a bridge of ice over the ravine that sheltered the Guardian Pig's farm and then took off at full speed. He spared a glance at Erza's face as he sprinted across. Blood crusted over her swollen right eye, her forehead was beaded with sweat and her lips were bloodless and pale. 'Hang in there Erza,' he silently entreated, 'We're going to help you, so hang in there!'


"Sand Wall!" Scorpio raised a wall of sand to protect Lucy and the Guardian Spirit from the magic blasts that were still raining down. Behind him Lucy had changed into her Scorpio Star Dress and was summoning another spirit to reign in the rampaging Guardian.

"Open the Gate of the Ram! Aries!"

"I'm sorry!" The pink haired lamb spirit burst into view. "Wool bomb!" she sent a wave of fluffy pink wool at the Guardian Spirit to try to calm and relax him. Lucy used her enhanced speed to run up the Guardian's body onto his nose. "Hey you! Piggy-chan!" she yelled. Aries's wool had helped rein in the Spirit, but it was still writhing in agony. Lucy grabbed onto the tufts of hair that sprouted on its snout to prevent from being thrown off.

"Ouch!" the Guardian Pig cried, trying even harder to shake her off.

"Stop! STOP!" Lucy was holding on for dear life.

The Pig continued to thrash, the pain in its body too great for it to listen to reason. It careened into the cliffside, sending rocks tumbling down towards Lucy. The rocks broke across her back. She screamed in agony. Aries was too far away to help her bearer and Scorpio was using all his strength to block the barrage of magic blasts that were still coming.

The Pig opened its mouth and let out a roar that sent everything in its path reeling. "Our sand can't hold on!" Scorpio said before he vanished. "I'm sorry!" Aries exclaimed as she too faded from view. Lucy's magic was drained. She clung to the Spirit's fur with all the strength she had left. They were vulnerable to attack from the intruders again and the shots pelted down. It was only sheer luck that was protecting her from being hit. She did not know how long she would last. She narrowed her eyes and sent up a prayer, speaking the name of the one person that could save her from this predicament.

"Natsu."


Wendy landed surefootedly. She barely paused before she set about getting things ready for Erza's arrival. "Charle, get some water." She tossed her companion some canteens.

"On it!" Charle replied, zooming away with the bottles. Wendy was already building a fire. Charle was amazed by how confident Wendy was. She had taken charge of the situation effortlessly. It was such a contrast to her usual demeanour. She could not help but feel a whisper of pride for her best friend. Charle probably would have still been standing helplessly, unable to move, if it had not been for her. Her mouth set into a determined line. Her powers may have failed her once, but they would not fail her again. She would look into the future; find a reality in which Erza survived this. She could still help. She would fix this.


Natsu was frustrated. He and Happy had not even been able to get close to their assailant. "Stop hiding behind your guns and fight me you coward!" he shouted.

"Natsu, I can't keep this up!" Happy panted. Natsu glanced at his comrade concernedly. An idea sprang into his head. "Alright Happy, fly me up! It's time for Plan K – Kick some bad-guy butt!" Happy obliged and the two went soaring upwards. "There!" Natsu pointed. They were high enough now to see that the magic blasts were originating from a single spot in the treeline to the west of the cave. "Drop me right overhead!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy swooped towards the source of the blasts and released Natsu.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu dove fist first, cracking open the ground. The three men who had been firing shots stumbled, dropping the rifles in their hands. One had been in the midst of replacing the magazine on his and tens of oblong lacrimae skittered out from the open container, one rolling to a stop at Natsu's feet.

"Huh? What's this?" he paused to examine it, giving the men enough time to recover their weapons.

"Hunters! Shoot!" one of the men cried, his authoritative tone distinguishing him as the leader. He pointed his finger towards Natsu. "Take care of him. I'm going after our real prize."

The two remaining men turned toward Natsu as their leader sprang away. One of them was whippet thin, the other considerably more muscled. The thinner one was still fumbling with the magazine of his rifle. It appeared to be a smaller version of the Jupiter cannon they had at Fairy Tail.

"Natsu! I recognise them. They're from the hunter's guild Artemis Nock. They're the ones who told us how to find this place."

"Hugo, cover me! My magazine's stuck. I can't reload my Callisto."

The burlier man stepped forward to cover his friend and unleashed a salvo at Natsu. Natsu ducked and dodged, the shots easier to evade at close-range. "Fire Dragon Crushing Fang!"

The man fell backwards, knocked off his feet by the force of Natsu's blow. The rifle slipped out of his hand and bounced along the earth, all the while firing shots.

"Whoa shit! The safety's off!" The thinner man yelled, diving towards the gun. The recoil of the gun was making it jump around in all directions.

"Look out!" Natsu cried. He barely managed push the man to safety. He felt a shot whizz past his calf and smelled smoking cotton.

"We have to stop it! It's got enough bullets to take us all down." A shot streaked past them again. The movements of the rifle were unpredictable. It was bouncing all over the clearing, too dangerous to approach. It was even managing to get some shots off skyward, keeping Happy away as well.

"L-Ludo," the brawny man managed to say, regaining consciousness. His eyes were wide with fear. Ludo's face paled as he saw that the next shot was heading straight for his comrade.

"Hugo! No!"

Hugo looked to his left and saw the bullet speeding towards him. Was this it? Would this be the last thing he saw before he died? A blinding whiteness enveloped his vision before rapidly giving way to trees. Trees? And stars? He became dimly aware of heavy breathing. "So. Heavy," a childish voice panted. He turned his head to see the blue Bird-Cat had his paws tightly around the scruff of his shirt. He had been lifted to safety!

Not for long, however. He could sense the Bird-Cat tiring. The beats of his wings were slower than before. "Ludo, toss me your gun!" he called down.

"Bastard! We just saved your life and you want to attack us?" Natsu swore, rolling out of the way of shots that were still spewing forth from the Callisto rifle.

"I'm sorry there's no time! Ludo!" he shouted again. Ludo nodded in understanding and tossed up his rifle. The burly man gave it a hard whack, shaking the magazine loose. A single round lingered at the bottom. The next second, he had expertly refitted it into the rifle. "Hold steady Bird-Cat," he instructed in a low voice.

"Aye Sir!" Happy growled, his voice rough from exertion. The hunter held the gun aloft, his eye narrowing through the viewfinder. Crack! The shot sped decisively towards the spitting rifle. The ground erupted in light. The shot had found its mark, but the unexploded lacrimae within the rifle were now unleashing their energy. Natsu found himself thrown backwards by the force of the blast. When his vision cleared he saw the forest around him had been reduced to a smouldering crater, the smoke wisping upwards into a mushroom shaped cloud. Happy and the big man, Hugo, landed next to him. On his other side, Natsu could make out the skinny man, Ludo, rising from the dust.

"That's our Hugo! He isn't called the Sharpshooter of Artemis Nock for no reason," Ludo coughed out, laying a hand proudly on his friend's shoulder. They smiled at each other in relief.

Their respite was short-lived. Natsu was on his feet before either of them could realise what was happening. "You bastards!" he snarled, grabbing them both by the collar. He shook them roughly, hard enough that they could feel their teeth rattle in their heads. "Who the hell are you and why did you hurt Erza?"

The two men stumbled over their words in their rush to explain. "We-we were just hunting the Great Dread! T-tell him Ludo!"

"Whoa man, what's an Erza? We didn't hurt no Erza."

"Erza is our comrade, dummy!" Happy snapped from above them. "You hit her with one of your bullets!"

"Whoa, shit man!" Ludo's face paled. He knew what a Callisto bullet could do to a human. Being struck by the weapon meant certain death. Ludo looked toward Hugo for confirmation. He had fired solely upon the giant pig, aiming away from the humans in the clearing.

Hugo scowled. "Alexei," he said grimly. It had been Alexei's idea to follow the group of wizards in the first place. Hunting the Great Dread had become the man's obsession. But now he had gone too far.

"What the hell, I thought your guild didn't hunt sentence creatures anyway!" Happy said.

"Sentence creatures?" Hugo's brow furrowed.

"I think he means sentient. Wait. Whoa, are you saying the Great Dread is sentient?!" Ludo stopped striving to loosen Natsu's grip. "Hugo, we've got to stop Alexei before it's too late. He won't stop until the Dread is dead. The guild! The guild will be ruined!" The blood drained from his face. The rules governing Giltenese Hunters' Guilds were strict. They would be stripped of their license, blacklisted, forced to disband. Their family would be destroyed.

"Yo Musclehead, Matchstick Man" Natsu said coolly, his grip around both their throats not loosening in the slightest. The priorities that had been warring in his chest, Erza and the Guardian Spirit, had fallen silent. A new priority had raised its head. This man, Alexei. Lucy was in danger. An eerie stillness descended upon his thoughts in that moment. A fury so deep that it could not rage seared through his chest. He set both men down on the ground. "You want to save your guild?" he bit out. "Help me save my comrade."


The purple haired man known as Alexei sped through the forest. He was so close. The ultimate quarry was finally within his reach! He had been right. The group of Ishgarians had drawn the Dread out of hiding. This was going to be the highlight of his career. His lifetime. His legacy. Everything he had ever worked for was within reach. Sure, he had seen the Dread speaking to the children and knew he could not legally hunt it. But who would tell on him? Those morons, Ludovic and Hugo did not know, and if they found out, well, there was an easy solution to that as well. He fingered the Callisto rifle in his grip. 'Soon,' he thought, 'soon all my dreams will come true.'


The firing had stopped. Lucy blinked opened her eyes slowly and saw lights flashing in the forest to the west. Natsu had finally found their attackers. Her body was covered in bruises. The Guardian Spirit had finally managed to throw her off and she had landed hard on an outcropping of rocks. She struggled to her feet. The Guardian Pig was still flailing about. The pain from its wounds having chased sanity out of its grasp. The left side of its body was a smoking mass of burnt flesh. Every thrashing movement the Spirit made only aggravated its wounds. Lucy needed to pacify the Spirit and assess its wounds. Maybe attempt to patch some of them up. She wished Wendy was there to help, but Erza needed her help more. She bit her lip, hoping her friend would make it through. She grasped the handle of her whip firmly.

"Fleuve d'étoiles." She attempted to use the whip to bind the Pig in place, but the Guardian kept twisting out of the ribbon of stars. "Damn it," she muttered. An idea struck her and she pulled out another one of her Golden Keys.

"Open the Gate of the Lion! Loke!"

"Your prince is here!" Loke winked at Lucy before a serious expression settled onto his face. "How can I help?"

Lucy transformed into her Leo Star Dress. "I need you to help me get the thong around that pig!"

Loke's face went red and light glinted off his glasses. He pushed them up his nose hurriedly and moved towards Lucy's hips. "Wow, I didn't know the Leo Star Dress came with that!"

Lucy belatedly realised what she had said. "Not MY thong you idiot! The thong of the whip!"

"Aha! So you ARE wearing a thong!"

"Forced Gate Closure!" She ignored her irritation and fumbled for another key. "Open the Gate of the Goat! Capricorn!"

A tall humanoid goat appeared before her. Before Lucy could issue a command, he grabbed the fall of the whip and set off. "I've got this Lucy-sama!"

Lucy flexed the whip, generating metres and metres of starry ribbon as Capricorn helped twist it around the Guardian Pig's body. Finally, the Pig was restrained, but it kept struggling to break free. Remembering that sometimes a quick slap could deliver someone from their hysteria, Lucy took aim at the Guardian's forehead. Light enveloped her foot as she launched herself towards it. "Regulus Lucy Kick!"

It worked. The Guardian fell back only a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to snap it to its senses. Its eyes cleared. "Lucy. What? Why did you attack me?" it questioned, hurt and anger mingling in its voice.

"We didn't. It was someone else. Natsu's gone after them. The others are with Erza. She's hurt."

"Oh," it paused, digesting the information. "Oh no. Did I?"

"No, she was trying to shield you from our attackers."

"I'm sorry." The Pig looked toward the ground.

"You're hurt. Let me and Capricorn tend to your wounds." If any of her Celestial Spirits had any medical ability, it would have to be Capricorn. They set about unwinding the river of stars from around the Guardian's enormous body.

The Pig nodded its massive head. Night had fallen all around them and neither of them was sure that the danger had abated. The flashing lights from the forest had ceased, but Natsu was not yet back with them. "Yes, we should get out of the open," the Spirit said. "It isn't safe. Come on, my cave is right there."

"Too late," a sinister voice called from the roof of the cave. A tall figure stood silhouetted against the sky, an outsized rifle in its hand. It took aim and fired.


A twig cracked in the dark. Wendy looked up from the book she was furiously reading. Her senses were on alert for danger. Her shoulders relaxed as she recognised the familiar smells of her comrades. She took off Lucy's Gale-Force Reading Glasses and got to her feet.

Minutes later Gray stumbled into camp, Erza in his arms. Framed against the blackness of the night they painted a grotesque of newlywed carrying his bride over the threshold of their home. Rivulets of sweat ran down Gray's face. His shirt was soaked but surprisingly he had not stopped to strip. There had been no time. He held Erza slightly away from his body, to avoid his sweat from contaminating her wounds. He laid her carefully upon the pallet Wendy had unrolled by the fire.

"What can I do? How can I help?" he panted. Halfway through the journey, Erza's breathing had slowed dangerously and her temperature had dropped. Wendy laid a hand on Erza's head, muttering an incantation. She gestured with her free hand to a sheet of paper on the ground. "Gather those herbs Gray-san. I've drawn illustrations."

Charle flew into camp, hurriedly emptied the canteens she was carrying into the cauldron bubbling over the fire and flew out again. Gray snatched up the list and shot off into the forest. His breathing was still laboured, but it did not matter to him. He could breathe later. Erza was too important.

Wendy cleaned the dried blood and grime from Erza's body and then draped her in blankets to try and raise her temperature. She focused her healing magic on the lacerations on Erza's face and neck. Fortunately her armour had absorbed most of the damage of the attack. However Erza had still lost a lot of blood. Wendy looked worriedly at her right eye. That was the real problem. It had borne the brunt of the damage.

A metallic jangling disrupted the stillness of the night as Charle flew in with the last of the water, exhausted from her many trips to the river. She sat under a tree and closed her eyes, channelling her clairvoyance. Gray returned next, his hands overflowing with herbs. Wendy wordlessly washed them with cold water from one of the canteens before dumping them in the cauldron. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now we wait."


Hellfire was raining down upon her again. Capricorn had scooped her up and carried her out of range but the Guardian Pig was crying once again in agony. "Capricorn, take me back," Lucy instructed. "I need to help the Guardian. You have to stop that man."

For a minute it looked like Capricorn was about to protest but then his mouth set in a firm line. "Yes, Lucy-sama."

Lucy found herself being set beside the Guardian Spirit. "Open the Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"

A man in a horse costume appeared before Lucy. He saluted smartly. "Hello!"

"Star Dress: Sagittarius Form! Sagittarius, I need your help to block the shots coming towards us!" The same tactic had worked on the hunter from Sylph Labyrinth.

"Right away, hello!"

Both she and the Celestial Spirit took aim, sending their arrows straight towards an incoming bullet. The Guardian Pig stood nervously beside them. It had nowhere to run or to take cover. These two were its only hope. Fortunately it had managed to retain its lucidity and was not rampaging like it had been before.

The two arrows, one made of wood the other made of light, diminished into nothingness the face of the shot from the Callisto rifle. Sagittarius made to protect Lucy and absorb the blow. "Get back, hello!"

With astonishing speed the Guardian set its foreleg before the two, the bright light of the bullet sizzling into its hock. It bellowed in distress. But it had no time to waste. The next bullet was already coming. It sucked in a deep breath and let out a roar that shook the trees and sent the animals of the forest scampering towards safety. For the second time that day, the birds took to the sky and flew hell for leather out of the place. The roar was enough to knock the enemy off the cave, but not enough to detach the gun from his grip. Capricorn seized the opportunity and attacked him, using his advanced hand-to-hand combat skills to keep his opponent from firing another shot.

Unfortunately, their enemy had managed to fire off a shot before being taken down by the Pig's roar and it now zipped towards the Pig's head, tearing a rent through its skull and cracking its head open. Fragments of bone the size of wagon wheels crashed to the ground around it.

"Lucy quick. We don't have much time," the Guardian Pig slurred. It was losing consciousness. It just had to keep it together for a few more minutes. There was so much more to say, so much more it had wanted to tell these brave children who had undertaken the quest but it was being robbed of time. The spectre of death loomed before it, but it had one last card to play. Maybe it could cheat death after all. It had done it once before after all; all those years ago when the dragon slayer had come calling.

"Lucy," it rasped again, "I need you to get the Key. I bequeath it to you. You have completed the Task."

"Now's not the time for that!" Lucy said vehemently. She had emerged from under the Guardian Spirit. Her nostrils filled with the rancid stench of burning flesh. "Yo-your head!" she said, glancing upwards. Tears sprang to her eyes.

"You must. If I die before you get the Key, I'll truly be dead. It happened to one of my comrades before. You must lay hands on the Key," it urged, "Once you touch the Key, I'll be dismissed until the Quest is reset. I can return to the heavens. I can live." The breath shuddered through its body. The light in its eyes was fading fast.

Understanding dawned in Lucy's eyes. "Star Dress: Scorpio Form!" She needed the enhanced speed it granted her; this was going to come down to the wire. She could barely discern the iridescent patina of the key where it leaned against the mouth of the cave. Funny how it still stood there despite the tumultuous events of the day.

"Lucy-sama!" Capricorn came shooting past her. He had been knocked back by the man with the gun. His sunglasses were cracked and his blazer was ripped. "I'm sorry I could not do more."

'Shit. Not now!' Lucy thought, glancing to her right to see that the slightly battered man was taking aim once more. This time, the barrel of his rifle was aimed at her. He must have overheard what the Guardian had said to her.

"I won't let you have it. The beast is mine!" he cackled maniacally. Spittle dribbling from his frothing mouth.

"I'll cover you, hello!" Sagittarius laid down suppressive fire. Arrow after arrow flitted towards the enemy. Lucy mentally thanked her faithful spirit and kept going. She was almost there, she was only metres from the mouth of the cave.

The enemy whipped out a pistol from his belt at an impossible speed and aimed it towards Sagittarius. The cumbersome rifle was too slow for the task and its power was unnecessary against such puny opponents. Sagittarius failed to react in time. Lucy sensed rather than heard his apology as his gate closed. The pistol was now aimed towards her. A bullet whipped past her, grazing her arm. Pain shot up her shoulder and she could feel the warmth of blood dripping down her hand. But she did not waver. She was so close. If she did not reach the key in time, the Guardian's life was forfeit. Considerations of her own safety were far from her mind, her desire to help her new friend forefront on her mind. Lucy grit her teeth and put on an additional burst of speed, the muscles in her thighs were burning. The air cracked as more bullets flew towards her, one of them missing her by only a hair's width. Crack! Crack! Crack! She felt the flesh of her leg rip as a shot ripped into it. Pain wracked her body as her femur cracked. She could feel her leg giving way under her. She was going to fall. The Guardian Spirit was going to die.

"No!" The scream tore itself from her body.

An image of Erza flashed through her mind. That's right. Erza had been in such a situation before. Lucy gathered the last of her strength into her right leg and kicked out as hard as she could. She listed dangerously to the side as she flew forward. For a moment it looked like she had overshot her target, that the unbalanced nature of her jump had veered her too far off course. She stretched out her hand as far as it would go. "Please!"

The tip of her middle finger barely brushed against the cool surface of the Key as she flew past. But it was enough. The Spirit exhaled a sigh of relief that could be heard throughout the forest. Lucy turned onto her back. A smile distinguished itself on the Guardian Spirit's face just before it faded from view. She had done it. She had saved its life!

"You bitch!" She heard the hammer of a rifle cock. "You're going to pay."


Gray paced a groove into the clearing floor. He was vaguely aware of Charle and Wendy consulting each other but their words blended into an incoherent drone. He did not understand anything they were saying, herbs and medicine were far from his expertise.

The infusion took forever to boil. Those twenty minutes were the longest twenty minutes of Gray's life. He had experienced death before. Felt a similar bullet of magic pass through his body. It had been a painful way to die, but this was worse. What if it had passed through her eye into her brain? What if, even as Erza lay breathing before his eyes, her brain was dying a slow death? He gulped desperately, his throat suddenly dry. It did not bear thinking about.

"Gray-san. Charle. It's time." Wendy pulled Erza's mouth open and placed a stick wrapped in cloth between her teeth before rising and scooping a ladleful of the boiling infusion from the cauldron. She directed Charle to hold Erza's eyes open. "I need you to hold her down Gray-san. No matter how much she screams or struggles, you absolutely cannot let her go." She saw the expression on Gray's face and her voice softened. "Please. It's the only way to save her life."

Gray acquiesced, moving to Erza's side and grasping her arms in readiness. He laid his knee over her thighs, ready to press down and hold her in place when the time came.

"Now Charle." The white Exceed parted Erza's swollen eyelids and Wendy poured the boiling decoction directly into her right eye. Erza woke with a scream of pain. Gray gripped her arms harder. "Just a little longer Erza-san. Almost finished." Wendy lied with a smoothness that only doctors possessed. She scooped another ladleful of the mixture and returned to Erza's side.

Erza stilled as Wendy's voice filtered through to her. "OK," she garbled out.

Her teeth tightened around the stick in her mouth but she did not struggle as Wendy poured another measure of boiling liquid into her eye. Her self-control in the face of absolute pain took Gray by surprise. He should have been used to it by now. Of course she could take the pain. She was Erza. He slid his hands down her shoulders to her palms and laced his fingers with hers, silently offering her strength.

She squeezed his hands, mangling his fingers in an attempt to relieve the pain coursing through her body. She did not need to do it. She was strong. She could have managed. But it felt so good not to have to.

The four of them continued in silence for hours, Erza grunting her protest when Wendy suggested they take a break, give her some temporary relief from the pain. Finally, the pot was scraped empty. Wendy poured the last of the boiling liquid into the wound. Erza passed out the second she was done.

The remaining three took turns between resting, keeping watch and tending to Erza. She developed a fever in the middle of the night, her clammy brow needing to be wiped down with cool water every twenty minutes. Gray slept fitfully when his turn came. He was relieved that Erza was still alive, but he could not ignore the worry that creased Wendy's brow every time she looked at their comrade. Even Charle was unusually quiet, not uttering a single snide remark when he eventually stripped off his clothes. He was watching over Erza when day finally broke, gently smoothing her hair away from her moist forehead. His pulse quickened when he noticed her stir. Shock shot through him when she eventually opened her eyes and met his. One eye was normal; warmth shining at him from its burnt umber depths.

In the place of the other was a shiny, hard lacrima.


Alexei aimed the Callisto rifle at the blonde haired girl. The Great Dread was gone. His prey was gone. His dreams had been so close to coming true, he could still feel them shifting, whispering, just out of reach. She had ruined everything. "Die!" he screamed. "Die! Die! Die!" He unleashed a round of bullets, emptying his magazine at her. Dust and smoke mingled and obscured her from view but that did not matter. One shot would have been enough to kill her; so many of them would have obliterated any trace of her from the world. Good. It was what she deserved. That bitch.

The cloud of dust began to dissipate. No. Alexei's eyes widened. The dust was not dissipating. It was disappearing. It was if it was being sucked up by something.

"Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!"

The pink-haired boy from earlier stood before him. The blonde girl lay behind him, untouched. "Natsu," she whispered, turning grateful eyes towards her rescuer.

"Yo Lucy." Natsu grinned at her charmingly. It was so good to see his handsome visage again. Suddenly his cheeks puffed up and his face took on a purplish tinge. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"You moron! Who told you eat something random that's not even your element?" She was scolding him, but there was a smile on her face.

Happy flew in, looking at her with concern. "Lucy, are you OK?"

Lucy winced in pain and indicated her bleeding leg. The bullet had fortunately missed any major arteries, but there was no way she would be able to walk. "I'll be alright," she said bravely.

Natsu's expression turned serious. He turned towards Alexei, dragon scales rippling along his bare arms. The influx of energy activating his Dragon Force. "You bastard. You hurt Lucy. I'm going to turn you to ash."

Flames engulfed Natsu's body; their brilliance illuminating the greyness of twilight. Alexei spun his trusty pistols around in his hands once before firing simultaneous shots at Natsu. He was a good shot; every bullet he aimed at the mage found its mark, but it was to no avail. The projectiles were consigned to oblivion in the face of the inferno swirling around the dragon slayer's form.

Panic swept over Alexei. What was this boy? Surely, he was not human. "Mon-monster!" he mouthed soundlessly. Fear had stolen the breath from his lungs. He discarded the pistols in his hands and reached for the array of other guns he carried on his belt. "St-stay away!" He fired his weapons at the creature that was walking steadily towards him. But the monster kept coming.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" A blazing vortex of fire spewed forth from the wizard's mouth; its power hitting Alexei full in the face, sending him tumbling into the cliffside. His hair and clothes were singed. He struggled to breath, the fire had burnt the air from his lungs. But the wizard was not done. Alexei saw the anger and hatred on his face and trembled.

Natsu brought his hands together and unleashed a dazzling ball of fire at the huntsman. "Fire Dragon King's Brilliant Flame!"

It incinerated everything in its path. Alexei was petrified. He willed his feet to move. To run. But they were rooted to the ground. He felt the hard wall of the cliffside behind his back. The wizard in front of him was terrifying. Soon all that was left of him would be a shadow etched on the stone behind his back. Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he had lost too much of himself in his quest for greatness. He shut his eyes and braced for impact.

An instant of scorching heat tore past his flank, blisters popping and bursting on his forearms. Alexei's eyes flew open in surprise. The wizard had missed. What the hell?

A cool shadow shaded him from the light of the breaking dawn. No, there were two shadows, overlapping. He could see a broad back and another, much narrower one standing before him. His guild-mates. Their arms were spread, shielding him. Protecting him.

"Please," they both said in unison, "please don't kill our guild-mate! Please don't hurt our friend!"

Alexei fell to his knees. What had he done? He had broken his sacred oath as a hunter. He had endangered his friends. His family. Even now, after everything, all those terrible things, they were still protecting him. Tears dripped down his nose onto the earth below his shaking hands.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry!" He was wretched. His noisy sobs reverberated around the clearing, stark in their contrast to the gentle sounds of a waking world.

Natsu looked at him for a long while, the expression on his face forbidding. "You put your guild at risk. Your nakama at risk. To me, that is unforgivable." He paused, taking in the determined expressions on the faces of the two men before him and the pathetic expression of the man behind them. "Lucky for you, it is not me you have to beg forgiveness from." He turned away. "Happy. Let's get Lucy back to camp."

"Aye Sir!" Happy made to lift Lucy into the air.

Lucy had ripped strips of fabric from her t-shirt and bound a makeshift splint to her leg, hoping it would steady her broken bone. Even so, she still could not control the shriek of pain that escaped her lips when Happy tried to move her. It hurt too much. There was no way she would be able to make the journey back to camp.

Natsu was at her side at once. He ran his hands over her injuries worriedly, wondering how he could transport her to Wendy as quickly and as painlessly as possible. "Damn it!" he cursed, realising there were no good options at hand.

"Uh, sorry," interrupted the gangly huntsman timidly, "maybe we can help?"


"Um, Gray-san?" Wendy was peering up through the thick foliage of a cedar tree. "What do you think that is?"

The trio were presently engaged in collecting the miscellaneous items from Erza's pocket dimension that were still turning up in random places. Just that morning Gray had fished a child-sized iron besagew from his porridge after it had found its way into their supply of oats. Charle had assured him and Wendy that the others were making their way back to camp based on a vision she had had earlier, leaving him with nothing to do that morning but wait for their return. He was exhausted. He had barely slept the night before but the nervous energy coursing through his body prevented him from resting. He suspected the same applied to Wendy and Charle. That was why the three of them had embarked on a sort of scavenger hunt to track down the handful of Erza's belongings that they had missed the previous day.

He sighed as he cast his eye towards the fourth member of their party. She was sitting some distance away from their campsite, her hunched back barely visible through the trees. She had not spoken a word since she had regained consciousness that morning. He cursed himself for his inability to control his facial expressions. One look at his mien and she had requipped a mirror into her hand. Abject horror had darkened her face and she had fled, though to his relief she had not strayed far from sight. Knowing that she needed some time to process her emotions, they had all elected to leave her alone. He stroked his chin contemplatively and looked down at the little dragon slayer.

"Hmm, it looks interesting," he replied, "Charle, want to get it down for us?"

Charle grumbled at him but flew up and retrieved the item anyway, dropping it on Gray's head. "Oh?" Gray said, as he examined the item, "Hey Wendy, maybe you'd have some use for this." He tossed it at the girl.

She reached out a hand and caught it, then blushed bright pink when she unfolded the article of clothing. It was a training bra.

"Wow Wendy, it looks just your size!" Charle fluttered over, flipping over a tag attached to the bra to check. The words "Property of Erza Scarlet, Age 10' stared back at them.

"A-age t-t-ten?" Wendy whimpered, slumping into a nearby tree trunk, her hands clutching at her inadequate chest. The sting of humiliation was too much. Charle patted her back half-heartedly. "Huh?" her ears pricked up. Something was approaching.

A large green jeep trundled into the clearing. Wendy recognised the two men who sat in the front. A mixture of familiar scents tickled her nose. Tumbling out of the back of the vehicle came a bundle of pink and black. It came to a stop on the grass in the centre of the clearing before predictably throwing up. Wendy sweatdropped. "Welcome back."


It was finally quiet. Gray observed the stillness of their campsite, the midmorning sun slanting across the sleeping faces of his comrades. Wendy had keeled over after setting the bone in Lucy's leg, too tired to even stand. Charle had caught her by the collar of her dress and dragged her over to her bed roll before collapsing onto the pillow beside her. Lucy rested peacefully in the shade of an elm tree, her bandaged leg resting upon a rolled up sleeping bag. Happy lay snoring in her arms, a bubble of snot seeking to escape his nostril. The three men from the hunter's guild had gone off to find them all something substantial to eat. They had left their jeep behind and an inquisitive rabbit was currently scampering across the dashboard, sniffing the various knobs and dials.

Gray succumbed to the weariness that was weighing down his limbs. He sank to the ground and leaned back against the rough bark of a handy tree, barely awake. Though fatigue blurred his vision, he still kept a watchful eye on Erza. Would she be OK? A pink blob emerged into view and approached her. Gray smiled, finally allowing himself to be dragged into unconsciousness. Yes, she would be OK.

Erza looked up at the sound of footsteps. "Natsu," she noted dully. He took a seat on the rock next to her, drawing his legs up and folding them under him. A bird chirruped in the tree above them, its high-pitched trill receding into the quiet. Natsu looked ahead, not glancing over at Erza, not saying a word. The solidity of his presence was comforting.

The magic from the bullet should have killed her. Overloaded her circuits and fried her brain. Yet again, her life was beholden to her artificial eye. It had absorbed much of the blow. Wendy had drawn the remaining magic from her system into it and sealed it into a lacrima. She would have died then, from magical deficiency, if the continent was not blessed with an overabundance of ethernano. It had replenished her empty Origins quickly. Her fever the only evidence that she had been in any danger at all.

The hard shell of the lacrima chafed uncomfortably against the bone of her orbit and Erza found it hard to blink her eye. Her fist clenched reflexively around the object in her hand.

Noticing the movement, Natsu reached out his hand and plucked the object from her grasp. A tattered white eyepatch swung from his fingertips.

"I kept it," she explained, "to remember. Shou, Wally, Milliana, Simon… Jellal. The Tower of Heaven seems like such a long time ago now, yet…" She chuckled cynically. "And yet I cannot bring myself to put it on. There are too many bad memories."

"Is that all?" Natsu groused. He placed the eyepatch back in Erza's open hand and got to his feet before beaming at her. "I'll just make you a new one!"

Surprise overtook her features before a soft smile settled upon her face. "You can sew?" she inquired lightly.

"Of course I can sew! Who do you think makes Happy's clothes?"

He was gone before she could articulate her puzzled reply. "But Happy doesn't wear any clothes."

The next day as they headed towards the next stage of their adventure, a cheerful eyepatch could be seen adorning Erza's smiling face.


A figure detached itself from the eldritch shadows surrounding the forest. It observed the Questers dispassionately, clumping along noisily in their new vehicle. They were a sorry looking bunch. Two members of the group were leaning out of the vehicle, dry heaves retching out of their mouths every few seconds. The others looked equally worse for wear. There were more bandages on their bodies than items of clothing. And yet. And yet they had already retrieved two Keys. The figure pulled a flat transparent rectangle from its pocket and dialled the only contact in the device's memory. "Hello Master?" it rasped. "We've got a credible threat on our hands."


A/N 2: Oof I apologise to Wendy for saying she is hard to write. Natsu is the real struggle. I hope he isn't OOC? Please let me know if you think he is. I try to read a few chapters of the manga before sitting down to write to keep things in character but Natsu is a mystery. Even in the anime, 80% of his dialogue is just funny noises, haha. Next chapter will have a minor tie in with chapter 25 of the 100 Years Quest manga. No real spoilers, just some overlapping characters (that are not present in the original Fairy Tail). I could easily write it without the overlap though, so if any of you don't want even this minor spoiler, drop me a message or a review and I will edit accordingly!

Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and/or reviewed!