Fairy Tail 1. Fresh Beginning

**Hey everyone! I am new at publishing fanfictions so please give me constructive criticism and help me out along the way! Shoot me a message about the thing I need to work on or things that you love too! Thanks to Yuuba from Tumblr for my picture! She was nice enough to give me permission to use her art.**

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**ENJOY****  
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"Lucy just jump!" A male's voice cries out in desperation.

"I can't!" She hesitated and looked around her. There was no way. "I won't make i-!" The earth under her rattled and moved causing her to lose balance unexpected mid-sentence. The sudden chaos made her fall to her hands and knees, the gap between the two was getting bigger.

Panic struck them both, from the other side she could hear him cursing and yelling, most wasn't audible enough for her to hear. Oddly enough hearing his loud mouth was soothing to an extent, causing her to let out a faint chuckle. "Lucy please!" He was begging now and the loneliness and guilt in her chest was swelling up. Now she couldn't find the words, she struggled to even fathom their situation. How? How did this happen? The debris in the air irritated her eyes enough to get her to start getting agitated and emotional to the point where tears started to run down her cheeks. 'Please let this be a nightmare! Please wake me up!' The male continued to yell for her response and just as she was about to let him know she was still there the ground jumped and shifted again, she fell the rest of the way down and lay on the ground now.

"LUCY!" He was starting to really yell now, she could hear the hoarseness in his voice.

There was no turning back though. She had to do it. The smoke caught in her throat and she couldn't yell anymore. Lucy reached out for him one more time and closed her eyes.

"Goodbye…

…Natsu…"

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_"**LUCY!**"_

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"Hey!"

Lucy grumbled and moaned, she felt a large weight holding her down, she struggled to try and get it off but it wouldn't budge.

She kept moving back and forth, for some reason it felt like all of her muscles hurt, panic began to set in and she had no idea why, "Lucy hey wake up." A deep voice commanded her. An echo of the same voice played in her mind, hearing someone calling out to her over and over- louder and louder. She began to instinctively struggle a little more.

"Wake up!" He yelled and placed her face firmly in his hands, her eye shots open and she could hardly breathe. The first thing she noticed was how soar and dry her throat and mouth felt, her eyes stung like she as if she was staring into the sun for too long and yet again her whole body hurt. Her cheeks felt stiff like she was crying with all her might recently.

She blinked a few times to get a clear image of what was in front of her face until a cute voice to her left asked if she was ok. Lucy shifted her head to the side to see a blue cat peeking over the side of the bed, "Happy?"

"Aye Sir!" he happily replied, throwing a cute fur fist into the air. She managed a short chuckle but it was still hard for her to breathe, her lungs were stinging so she was trying to get herself to take short breaths.

The hands that were holding her face firmly grasped on to her cheeks again and made her look at the person on top of her. "Lucy did you have a bad dream?" The deep and manly voice belonged to someone she had been very close to for a long time now. Seeing his sharp features made her heart feel lighter for some reason.

Without reason she reached up and touched the Salmon pink hair on his head, it was so soft and the texture felt nice in her fingers. She closed her eyes to take in the warmth and comfort of it all without realizing what she had started doing this to a person without warning. Lucy's eyes shot open again and she realized how close their faces were, and that she was essentially petting his head.

Her heart quickened and the blood rose to her cheeks faster than a humming bird's wings could flap. She didn't notice the redness on his ears since they were both focused on one another's eyes for what seemed like several minutes.

"Natsuuuuuu, I think Lucy is fine." The cute blue kitty teased as he was now sitting on top of Lucy's bed and giving a mischievous grin to his lifelong friend. Happy held back a laugh when Natsu turned to face him and his forehead and cheeks were beginning to flush.

Lucy instinctively took both of her hands and plowed them against his chest, sending Natsu flying across the room, "W-Why were you on top of me?" She yelled, now embarrassed of what she had done to him and very worried about what he would think of it. Strangely enough she felt a lot better and could breathe normally again. Lucy caught Happy's cocky smile and her face was completely one shade of red.

"You're the one who was thrashing around and hitting people in your sleep!" Natsu retorted from the floor of her room. He jumped up on to his feet again and pointed at her accusingly, "It's all your fault!"

Lucy puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him and Happy, "That doesn't mean you can just hop on top of a pure innocent maiden!" She posed like a shy girl from a magazine until Happy let out a pffffffffft sound before he started to laugh.

She looked over her shoulder to glare at the cat, "More like manly and monstrous." He continued to laugh until Luc managed to whip her leg around and kick Happy off of her bed. Lucy huffed once more at the two but Natsu and Happy started to laugh and bicker at each other. It felt nice and she looked between the two and smiled whole heartedly, for some reason seeing the two of them together and acting like goof balls felt so nice and normal today. She ended up to start laughing at the two and grabbing her stomach.

Natsu stopped grabbing at Happy's ears to look over at Lucy laughing and smiling. He loved the way she smiled and laughed, it was as fulfilling and bright as a camp fire in the dark. Running in to see her look like she was in so much pain had him worried. This morning he woke up and knew something was wrong he had the overwhelming feeling to find her, and that he needed to make sure she was here and only seeing her immediately. Through all the things they have been through, the memories seap through every now and then which makes her have nightmares about it, which he found out through Levy and Erza, but he had never seen anything like this before or to this extent. Something about this nightmare seemed different though. He couldn't put his finger on it.

"So what made you come here this morning?" They were now doing their own separate things at this point, he was of course raiding her food and she was getting ready for the day. She stared into the mirror to look at her face and put the finishing touches on her makeup and hair. The go-to outfits for everyone in the guild have changed to give more uniformity in the guild. Her shirt was a strapless sweetheart neckline that fit to her torso and chest, sheer white overlay drop sleeves that open at her shoulders- sitting at her elbows and running down to her wrists where the fabric cinched to fit and tied with a marine gold ribbon and the sleeves of the shirt are slit on the inner parts of her arm to give her the ability to lift her arms up as high as she needed to as well. The shirt was solid white with marine blue edging at the top and bottom with vertical lining of blue along the side seam as well- a gold star that sits between her breasts, the side tails sitting under her bust and the bottom tail and stopping right where her naval was. Lucy's skirt was now a marine high-low style that fit to her figure at the top but cinched at the bottom of her hips so the fabric flairs out and "wrinkles" out to give it a flowing look. The "high stopped mid upper thigh and the "low stopped mid shin to give her a stylish but decent look. She had gold short tights underneath for security that matched her gold ribbon choker. Instead of boots she now and blue ankle boots. Her favorite part of her look was her half up do with two braids from her ears to the back and tied by a gold ribbon, the bottom half being curled and perky sitting at her shoulders.

She took a confident stride out of her bathroom to find Natsu stuffing his face with her newly bought muffins. "Just felt like it." He replied the best he could without dropping crumbs out of his mouth. He wouldn't tell her that it was because she had the intense need to see her that would be weird. "We should head to the Guild soon though." Lucy gave him a very unimpressed and disappointed, she snatched the last muffin and began to eat it as well.

"Say the one stuffing his face with my muffins." Lucy held back a blush as she looked him up and down at his new outfit. It wasn't too different from his others. Not a lot of the members had too much of a change since they had worn the same styles for so long. Erza for example wore her armor all the time, she choose an armor that fit the overall style and now wears that as the comfort outfit. Natsu's had some color changes but not much difference in style. He was still wearing a black vest with gold lining and a collar, a thick fabric cuff around his muscles matches the color and style they sit on his upper arm and his wrists. The master gave him his puffy pants back but black with gold flame decal up the right leg. A black snap off cape attached at the neck of his shirt and the back of the cuffs on his arms to resemble and tie in his dragon slayer side. His shoes were the same black sandals as usual though. The major difference is that these fibers were more resistant to heat than his others.

Natsu caught on to her looking him up and down and gave her a puzzled look, "Just looking at your outfit again, I wonder what everyone else's are like?"

Happy ran up to the two and threw his hand in the air, "I think everyone is back from their missions!" Without warning a pair of white wings materialized on his back and he became eye level with the two. "I wonder what Carla's looks like!"

Lucy rolled her eyes playfully at his cute little crush, "Wanna race to the Guild?" As soon as the boys heard race they were out the door. She laughed and ran after them, grabbing her brown key bag and whip on the way out. She had the intense need to see everyone again, some had been gone for a long time in order to help pay back some of the cost of rebuilding the Guild and the new uniformed outfits. They've been through a lot together and this was just one of the many ways everyone has come together to make something special.

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**"_Why would you do this?"_**


	2. Levy's Start

**Alright everyone I've been working hard to keep chapters flowing so this is the next chapter that I've been working hard on. Trying to make this one lengthier than the first chapter. Still working on the transitions from Microsoft word to so bear with me.**

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Happy waited by the Guild doors for Lucy calling out to her to hurry up, she really didn't focus on what he was saying until she got to the point where she had to stop jogging, her muscles were still hurting from this morning and this was her limit. "You're so slow! Like a fish out of water! Huhu!" He chuckled a little before drooling over the thought of fish. She rolled her eyes and walked past him as he started to fish through his bag for a fish he was saving.

Lucy got to the door and and stretched her arms and back a little before pushing the door open, just as she suspected a mug flew past her head, barely missing by an inch. "Some of us don't have wings or monstrous strength." Happy was ignoring her at this point and flew in with fish in paw.

Lucy followed him in and glanced around the room. For the first time in a while she couldn't immediately spot Natsu. Instead she saw Juvia and Gajeel sitting back to back, usually you couldn't tell that they used to be teammates in a different Guild, they sparsely talk and interact on a normal day. Gajeel seemed to be reading a book, which was odd. Juvia was in her own world admiring Gray from afar as he started to show off his recent triumph and laughing with other male guild mates. The blue haired woman had an outfit reboot along with everyone else- she had a tight fitting tube top shirt with a white illusion neckline that covered her collarbone and shoulders and a double layer of blue lace that laid on top of her bust and shoulder blades. The lace connected where the mesh of the shirt ended which gave it a nice elegant look. She decided on a pair of blue tight fitting shorts that hugged her upper thigh and a white sheer material that wrapped around her hips and gathered to her right side and cinched behind a black tear drop accessory. She had black wedged shoes with black ribbon for a choker and wristlets. Juvia had actually helped Lucy with her hair when they were deciding their new look and Juvia's ended up turning out simple but pretty. Pulled back halfway and tied off to the left side of her head it looked like and upside down tear drop while the rest of her hair was actually bobbed. The cute fangirl was glowing with joy just to watch Gray interact with others.

Gajeel seemed to be able to ignore everything around him to really focus on the book in his hands, his face seemed so confused by it though so she decided to walk over and offer some help since it seemed Levy was nowhere to be found. The simplicity of the iron dragon slayer's outfit was almost like Natsu's, very similar to other styles he has had on. A big black trench coat with silver lining and rivets up the opening. Chains hung from each rivet in a random fashion criss crossing in the front to hold the coat together partially, the sleeves were just strips of black fabric that sat from his elbows down to his lower arm and they all connected just under his arm pit. He had black pants with silver rivets up the side seams and chains in the some form as on his coat and an iron bar that looked like it could hold something hung from his belt loop. Black boots like usual as well since he had to have something close to his comfort zone.

"Whatcha doin?" Lucy looked over his shoulder to see the words on the pages but her sudden appearance gave Gajeel an instant reflex to shut the book and stiffen for a moment. A bead of sweat trailed down his face and he coughed to try and recompose himself. "Levy trying to get you to read books?" She backed up for his comfort and clutched her hands together behind her back.

The bushy black haired man scratched his head and turned his upper body to look at her, "Squirt said if I read this I'll get ahead of Salamander." He paused and gave a sickly expression before continuing, "I've been reading this thing since we got back and I can't find jack that'll look like it will make me stronger." His face became unusually stressed and he turned his attention back to the book.

Lucy looked at the pages to try and find the title but found nothing, she softly touched the book and motioned for him to let her turn to the cover of the book and find the title. It was a book about the history of Dragons, or at least the little we remember of them since they are supposedly extinct. She hid her Cheshire grin from Gajeel and cleared her throat, "Yeah Levy is right." She paused and glanced around for Natsu, she was in the clear, "If you read this you'll get ahead of Natsu by a lot!" Lucy pointed at the clump of pages at the end of the book, "You have to read it all though just in case because I don't remember where it is in the book." She saw his shoulders move up and down, suggesting that he sighed heavily. Poor Gajeel was being tricked by Levy to do some reading so that they would have more to talk about. Speaking of Levy, if Gajeel was here then she should have been close by. The blonde scanned the hall again and found no traces of her, not even Pantherlily.

"Luuucyyy!" A young girl cried out, the voice became louder until finally she was plowed into by a smaller figure. The younger girl threw herself around Lucy's body and it seemed like she was trying to make herself smaller, still whimpering.

Lucy began to pat the bluenette's head and smiled softly, "Whats up Wendy?" The girl had gotten taller the past couple years and began to get her curves slowly but surely. Her hair had thankfully started to grow out since she had to chop it off and it was now at her shoulder blades. Her outfit began with a white long sleeved shirt with cut out swirling detail along the side of the sleeves facing out and a green sheer poncho styled to top it, a gold decal of blowing wind sat at the base of her neck. Instead of a dress like normal she decided on green shorts with white frayed bottom edges, gold bangles on her wrists and green ribbons clipped into her hair.

Wendy sniffled and looked up at Lucy, "Natsu is being weird!" She whispered loudly and looked for the pink haired monster a couple times more. Carla came strolling up behind Lucy at this point and had her paws on her hips in a matter of fact manner.

"Trying to hide from Natsu behind the one person he spends the most time with isn't the best idea Wendy." Lucy was surprised by the comment but enjoyed the thought that everyone knew how close they were, or at least someone noticed.

Wendy stomped her feet a little and grabbed at her hair,"Uwah Lucy!" The girl clearly did not want to be caught by Natsu and Gajeel was at his breaking point with the yelling while he was reading. With one hand he grabbed Wendy and shoved her under the table. Lucy jumped and reached for the girl instinctively and before she could blink she was gone.

Gajeel glared at Lucy from the corner of his eye before returning his attention to Wendy, "Stay under there pipsqueak."

Carla nodded her head in agreement and ended up walking up to the bench, using her upper body strength and legs to hop up onto the bench, "Wendy was talking about our latest mission and how she was becoming stronger. So Natsu started to challenge and threaten her to battle and she ended up running away." It made sense, he definitely gets that way and challenges anything that moves to a battle to test his strength, and poor Wendy was caught in his whirlwind for now today. The white cat had a dark pink dress with lighter pink swirls all throughout the dress. Carla was an Exceed like Happy which meant they have wings they can summon with their own magic, they both came from the world of Edolas as well, Exceeds now resided in this world though and have attached themselves to human familiars as well.

"Hot head ain't ever going to grow up that's for sure." Carla added and stretched her body out, the two must have just gotten back from a mission.

Lucy thought about it and decided that Carla was right, "But with someone so energetic around you always feel young! So in a way it's a good thing that he is so enthusiastic about this stuff!" The three came to an agreement no matter how stupid it sounded out loud.

Gajeel started to smell something in the air and pointed behind him, "Speaking of the nuisance." At this point Juvia had already quietly moved herself form the bench, thankfully. Natsu came charging and ran right into Lucy's back, quickly grabbing her before twisting and hitting backs with Gajeel. The Iron heart reached behind him and grabbed onto Natsu, throwing him and Lucy over his bushy hair and into a wall. "Kyah!"

Carla winced when they hit the wall not too far away, Natsu had acted like a cushion for Lucy though. She watched them both moan and groan and did not try and ask if they were o.k. so that Natsu wouldn't find Wendy. "Hey Metal Brain be careful!" Natsu yelled from behind Lucy, throwing his arms around in frustration.

"Ya damn hypocrite! I'll pummal you Match Head!" Gajeel quickly stood up and pointed at Natsu with book in hand. People around them laughed at the situation and minded their own business but sometimes they were too hot headed for their own good. Lucy groaned and rubbed her back, still sitting on the ground in front of Natsu who ended up laying vertically behind her, at least until Gajeel got up to threaten him with a beating.

Both of them were face to face now and growling at each other like animals before Lucy managed to get up to yell at Natsu, "Why'd you have to take me with you?" She hissed. Both the boys looked at her like they had forgotten she was even there. Gajeel scoffed and went to sitting back on the bench and reading his book.

Natsu turned back to Lucy and put both fists on his hips, "Well I was coming to tell ya that Levy is looking for ya." Using his thumb to point behind him and the other to start scratching and flipping paint chips out of his hair. Gajeel grumbled at the fact that some of the debris landed on him but didn't take a moment to brush it off himself.

Around this time Pantherlily appeared out of nowhere and stood by Lucy, "I knew sending that numbskull would be a hassle. Lucy follow me." Without even hearing her answer he turned away to what she assumed Levy would be.

"Hey I just told her that!" He raved on, Gajeel told him to quiet down and they began to fight again by the time Lucy had followed Pantherlily only halfway across the hall. She sighed at her team mate but nothing she could do would stop his rambunctious habits. Gray quickly jumped into the fight and she could hear them all yelling at each other as well as collective enablers cheering them on. Pantherlily had on his new black pants with a chain belt in order to tie himself more to Gajeel and because of the color scheme of his fur.

Lucy quickened her pace for a second to catch up to him, "So, what does she need me for?" She tried to break the silence and the tension she had felt coming off of him.

He only briefly turned his head to look at her before sighing, "I can't tell you until we get there." Pantherlily was an Exceed just like Happy and Carla, his magic gives him the ability to change his shape and become a buff humanoid panther with a sword that changed sizes with him as well. It was pretty interesting to see during combat. With a scar over his left eye and the Fairy Tail Guild symbol on his back, you would never be able to tell that his true form was this tiny cat. "Let's just say she found something interesting."

Lucy watched all the doors go by, followed by some nice wooden stairs leading up to the second floor. The Guild floor plan had changed many of times since she joined all because of how many times it had been utterly destroyed. This time they had left over money from the Grand Magic games and some money chipped in by its members to help rebuild it another time. She only really hung out in the "Mess Hall" area with everyone since the mission/help board was posted there. "So is she having trouble interpreting it?"

They rounded a corner and went past some more doors that were almost Victorian-like before stopping suddenly at a door with a gold plaque saying 'Library', "Something like that. That's where you come in."

He pushed the door open for her and the smell of old and new books wafted through her nose, she had now found another place to sit and relax now, good thing she paid attention on how to get here. The only problem was navigating the place, it seemed like a few minutes of going through the aisles and rows of books before they even got to Levy. She was laying in the middle of a dead end row of books that curved into what looked like a place for groups to come and sit to read. The bluenette book worm lay face up on the floor with a book on every in of her body opened up and faced down on top of her.

Pantherlily motioned her forward and Lucy took a step forward still utterly confused, "L-Levy?" She bent down a little to try and see if Levy was even awake before the petite girl shot up and basically threw all the books off her body and on to the floor. Lucy jumped a little and instinctively put her hands out in front of her.

"Lucy!" Levy shouted and in the blink of an eye she was up off the floor and jogging towards her, within a moment they were clenching their fingers together like lovers. Lucy tried to avert her eyes a couple of times just from the awkwardness but something about her cute shinning expression made her look back.

Levy giggled and waited for a response, "You seem very energetic Levy, Lily told me you needed help?" Instantly the girl's mood changed and her grip on Lucy's hands loosened a little. Levy's uniform was now consisted of a longer hairdo than normal, it seemed she wanted to try shoulder blade length hair braided into a single thick braid and tied with an orange ribbon. A white thick and soft cloth headband with a silver book pendant hanging from the left side next to her ear, and orange tight fit dress that accentuated her bust and hips since she had started to get some definition in her bust line currently. The dress had a ruffle bottom and had a white piece of fabric on top of the ruffled part and opened up in the front to keep her legs shown. The white fabric on top only reached her knees and was very translucent. Levy did have orange sleeves that started at her elbows and mirrored her dress at the wrists but the fabric turned white and ruffled out about half an inch off the wrist. She wore a pair of orange flats to give it a more simple feel that she loved but was still girly at the same time.

"I found something."

"Lily said you had. What is it?"

"Scary"

"Then why do you need me? Why not the boys?" Lucy felt a little stiff at the thought of something dangerous being found, it seemed weird that she would be needed to handle something like that.

Levy shook her head and let go of Lucy's hands entirely to run around and look for a book. Lily gently touched Lucy's leg to gain her attention while the bluenette ran around, "She wants to keep IT low key."

Levy tossed a couple of books around, which was odd for her, before finding a thick leather book with a red cover that was weathered and tattered. "I can trust you two not to tell, and I need advice…" The girl seemed very distraught at this point and Lucy's heart only felt heavier and heavier.

Lucy began to walk farther into the middle with Levy, "What did you get into Levy?" She whispered, now wary of how loud she was talking and if someone might be listening. Which wasn't too likely since even she didn't know where the library was in this new building.

"I don't know!" She whined back and did a wiggly dance that kind of reminded her of a worm, which was fitting to say the least.

Lucy in all seriousness touched Levy's left shoulder and smiled, "Tell me from the beginning."

The girl trifled through the pages of the big book, looking for a specific page, "I had a…" She paused in frustration, probably trying to remember the page number of what she was looking for. Lucy took a glimpse of what she could see and saw that the pages were pretty old and yellowed. "I might have found a dragon." She finished and cringed at the reaction she thought was going to come but instead Lucy was frozen in shock.

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**That's it for now! Tell me how you guys like it so far! Things are going to get a little more sped up at this point and hopefully interesting for everyone! The romance part will come just a little later but hopefully not too late. (I can't wait to write it!)**


	3. It's a Secret

**HEY! Finally finished the 3****rd**** chapter and thankfully it was on time! :D**

**Everybody feel free to leave comments! Ask about the story, tell me what I can improve on, tell me things you want to see and are hoping to see in this story! I am very much open to feedback and suggestion for the progression of the story since two heads are better than one. Enjoy!**

Levy sighed in relief that her best friend didn't yell, it would've hurt her ears being in close proximity like this, but at the same time the frozen reaction wasn't the best. She kept flipping through the pages until she found the picture and entry she was searching for. "That can't be Levy. The only ones around are supposed to be in the past hundreds of years ago! Or under that castle as bones! Or… Or Acnologia, but we don't even know where he went." Levy looked up at Lucy and turned the book around for her to see.

"I saw this in a dream. He whispered to me. He told me where to find him and what his name was." Levy stared in to Lucy's eyes with determination unlike she had ever seen. Lucy grasped the book firmly in her hands and began to read. She could tell now that is seemed to be a diary of sorts, or maybe a journal. There was a picture of an egg sitting in a cave, it was hand drawn in black ink so with time some lines had shrunk or smudged but overall the picture was still detailed. On the right side was a name in all caps that read AATOS. In the description it had mentioned that he was a dragon the color of the new fallen snow. The writer of the book had only the vague description and a picture of the egg, the egg was never described and it seemed that he or she had guessed what the dragon would look like based on the egg's color and markings.

Lucy flipped the pages back and forth, not much was written afterward and not much had been written before it, just some hand drawn maps that marked the places they had been. The egg was circled on one of the three maps made and had "his" name written outside the black ink. "You said you spoke to… him?"

Levy propped herself on her toes for a moment and for some odd reason tried to explain the method to her madness, "He led me to this book. The only book that has the egg's location. That picture in there is exactly what I saw in my head." She began to twiddle her pointer fingers and rock back and forth on her heels to the balls of her feet. Levy looked like she had remembered something though and continued, "The only thing I question is the description of the dragon is made but if he was an egg then there would be no way to tell what it would look like yet…. And… this book looks old. How is the dragon still an egg?" She looked at Panther Lily who only stood with his arms crossed, he still had not processed the information and just acted as a safe and a messenger. He still did not agree with Levy's decisions in the matter and was thankful that levy brought Lucy to help instead of trying to deal with it on her own.

"How do you know that there is even an egg there still?"

"Well he told me he was there. At the place in that book." She breathed in deeply and let it out shortly after, "It may not even be Aatos but I believe if someone goes there… A dragon will be waiting."

Lucy this time looked at Lily who said and did nothing in response, "A- dragon?"

"Well it takes two dragons to make one… We may find more dragons then just him…" Everyone felt uneasy at that thought.

Lucy stared at the map and parts of it looked familiar to other she had seen during the search for the clock pieces about a year or two ago. "Are you going?"

The bluenette gave her a stern look, but her eyes were filled with fear, "I-I am going. I feel that this is something only I can do… Whether anyone else goes is up for them and me to decide."

Panther Lily rolled his eyes and grumbled a little, "She hasn't told any of the Dragon Slayers about this and it's too dangerous for her to go alone.

Lucy nodded and grasped Levy's hand, "We need someone else Levy."

Levy's face lit up when Lucy and included herself in on this mission but she was still upset that they wanted even more people to know. If what she dreamed had come up short and really was just a dream, the more people to witness it, the worse the embarrassment. If it turned out to be true and harmless that would be fantastic, but more than likely it will endanger the group who went, and the more people the more potential people to get hurt or worse."Why can't it just be us three?"

Lucy shook her head. "Levy we are strong enough to take care of ourselves to an extent and strong enough to probably take care of each other, but the potential for how dangerous this could be is too high to take a risk. One more person can make the difference between life and death." Levy knew that her friend was right but she didn't want it to be so.

Lily stretched his arms up over his head, cupping his paws together. Finally Levy was getting some sense talked into her, it was a relief. "The odds that there is another dragon there is low. But the odds that if we do find another dragon and it's NOT a man-eating dragon is low as well."

"We don't even know if the dragon egg or not, won't eat us." Levy finished their thoughts and popped her lower lip out like a pouty puppy.

Lucy let go of Levy's hand and put it on the book, "And if this thing wants to be found Levy. It'll contact anyone who is listening, and I bet a lot of people were listening."

Lily had not even thought about that part and he rubbed his temples the stress of the situation was now getting to him, "You'll need someone that is reliable in combat to back you up."

"That's what you are for Lily!"

He held up a paw to stop her, "I cannot go or else Gajeel will get suspicious. Plus I have limited magic to keep me in my battle form and make my sword usable."

Lucy giggled and closed the book to help think of a fourth member, "If we are serious about keeping it a secret. The next person will have to blend in. So it'd have to be a girl."

"Juvia would blab to Gray probably."

"Erza would tell the Master."

"Or Jellal." Levy had made a point about that, since Jellal and Meredy were now all about this dark magic stuff and eliminating Zeref.

"Bisca has a child." Lily commented and the girls nodded in agreement, all of them took a moment to remember her cute little face before continuing.

Levy snapped her fingers, "What about Cana?"

"If you can get her to stop drinking from now until we leave." Lily corrected.

Lucy held back laughter, "Yeah that's not happening."

"Evergreen would tell Laxus."

All of them sighed collectively at Laxus' posse, they were head over heels in love with their blonde leader which at first was over bearing and now seemed more like a norm. In a single moment they all locked eyes with each other and came up with the perfect fourth member. Their plan was to get them in on it and that night leave for the location of the egg.

Lily held up both of his paws, "I still think the Slayers should know at some point, what if it turns out even more dangerous than we thought and the three of you aren't enough?" The truth was that he could not hold the guilt of knowing where those if two had went and not tell anyone, especially if something ended up happening to them. He would have to deal with some of the strongest people in the Guild getting on him about it. His fur felt like it was turning grey with just the thought alone.

Lucy took the time to recall the ways they had contacted one another in the past. They had someone that could send messages telepathically but not with a far enough distance to be useful for this, plus that would be someone else to tell about the dragon problem. Then she remembered the long distance lacrima the Guild had been able to purchase. "Lacrima, we have some that work at long distances, we'll just borrow it for the short time we go. We'll call in every two hours and if we miss a call then you can send them after us." Levy was weary about that plan but if they couldn't agree on anything Lily had threatened to outright tell Gajeel about it.

"That plan works, Gajeel has been absorbed in his book Levy gave him so it'll be easy to get and hide the Lacrima for you to use." Levy blushed at the thought of Gajeel actually reading a book she suggested. Although it was just a way to trick him into reading something, it meant a lot that he went ahead and took her word for it.

Lucy nudged her friend with her right elbow, "I saw that by the way, it almost seems like you want to tell him about this."

The book worm squirmed around and began to pretend to get agitated, "W-well who wouldn't want to tell someone important about something important?"

"Someone important huh?" Levy wiggled her eyebrows and kept nudging the smaller girl into turning red.

Lily snickered, "Can't make fun of her when you are in the same boat Lucy."

Levy stomped her foot and pointed at Lily, "YEAH!" They all laughed whole heartedly and exchanged momentary happiness before their grueling mission.

"Alright. So tomorrow is when this thing commences right?" All three nodded and split up. Levy and Lily stayed behind to clean up the piles of books while Lucy navigated her way through the isles to get to the door. It took her a good ten minutes to do so unfortunately but once she got to the hall navigating wasn't as hard anymore. She looked left and right to make sure no one was there before jumping out and closing the door behind her.

The plan was now coming into place and the only pieces missing were the Lacrima and the fourth member. Lucy felt great on the inside knowing that Levy trusted her with this information instead of someone else, and that she was able to go on this adventure with her best friend.

Anxiety began to set in faster than she had expected as she walked down the quiet halls. Why did it have to be them? Did Blue Pegasus ever have to deal with things like this? Lucy dazed out from her thought to the real world and still ended up getting lost in the back half of the Guild. It was frustrating to the point where she didn't even care when she got out anymore. At least if anyone saw her they wouldn't know where she came from.

She thought about the times that Blue Pegasus and the rest of the Guilds helped Fairy Tail out over the years. The time with Oracion Seis, the seven year search when most of their guild disappeared, The Grand Magic Games and much more. If it weren't for the others being there, they would have failed to save their nakama and the world. Sometimes the people in this Guild were either the cause or the fuel that created the conflicts to begin with though.

Lucy loved her adventures with her friends but the emotional toll of a lot of them began to build and carry a heavy weight on her mind and on her heart. Their luck was running out and one day, something big will happen and someone won't make it out.

Just as she had started to really get lost in her thoughts she ran straight into something thick and sturdy, "Kya!" She ended up yelling out as she fell backward, thankfully she had run into a person and they ended up snatching her arm out of the air to keep her from falling.

She noticed that hair anywhere, blonde and spikey, the scar on his face was iconic. "S-sorry Laxus."

"Zoning out blondie?" He had a cocky tone in his voice but the way his voice was always seemed like he was better than everyone else anyway and bored with the world. It had gotten him in trouble several times before.

Lucy defensively stood up and threw her arms to her side, "N-no just trying to figure out how to get back to the hall."

Laxus raised an eyebrow at her and began to give her an unwavering stare. She felt the suspicion leaking off of his body and it made her want to flee in fear of ruining everything. Lucy decided to say her goodbyes and wave, "She is up to something." He crossed his arms and watched her run. He brought back his long fluffy black cape and started out with a new design of a maroon short sleeved shirt that sat tight against his body and had a gold and long lightning bolt that sat on the edge of his shirt and stemmed off and up his torso in the front and back with black lining, his shorts were black jean material with tears all around the pant and sewn back up to get a frayed look, black combat boots completed his overall look for his uniform.

Evergreen poked her head out behind him to watch the girl run, "She looked nervous to me."

"It could be from Laxus' aura of greatness though." Freed cooed and wiggled around like a fangirl.

"Maybe she is not feeling good, right babies?" Bickslow held up his hand to touch his wooden floating dolls.

Evergreen adjusted her hair, it sat in a messy bun on the back of her head and the ends sprawled out from underneath it. The hair piece that she put in to hold it all together had "branches" that stuck out around as well with some purple beading on the ends. She had an ivy green halter top shirt with no sleeves and a diamond peep hole for her chest and a keyhole diamond back, the hole areas were lined with royal purple fabric, the shirt was tight fit to her body and had beautiful vine details in purples, gold, and browns all over. Usually she goes for the sex appeal with her outfits so her bottoms were royal purple short shorts with matching mesh that continued until her knees and tattered at the bottom. Ever accessorized with gold bangles and a gold belt and ivy green two inch heels.

She grabbed onto Freed's maroon jacket and gave him an unamused expression, "You need to get over your obsession." He had decided not to change his appearance other than his hair being shorter and only hitting his shoulder blades.

"You are just unfaithful toy our leader ElfEr." He tried to stand triumphantly until she started to pound him with her fists angrily.

Bickslow watched the two and began to cackle maniacally. His uniform consisted of metal shoulder pads on top of his long sleeved deep grey colored shirt that sat tight to him, it was striped with imperial purple and lined with black fabric. Bickslow chose to wear metal knee pads as well that sat on top of black pants, grey rectangle fabric hung long ways off of his belt and had a black skull pattern on each piece at the very bottom. He wore what seemed like ankle boots but had the appearance of a single piece of black fabric over his feet and up his leg, tied but a deep grey string at his ankle and two inches above that.

Laxus without a word turn down where Lucy came from, the other three fell in place soon after, a little bit of walking and he managed to spot a suspicious blue haired midget tip toeing around with books in her arms and Gajeel's Black Cat Companion following right behind her. The two girls were definitely up to something and he was going to find out.

**EXCITING! So how did everyone like this chapter? Getting a little bit deep with these one emotion wise and I'm starting to creep into the pairings a bit. This next chapter is going to be a doozy though so make sure you get some comfort food to eat. I appreciate every view I get and if you are starting to love/like this story and wanna keep up with the updates then go ahead and give it a fav and a follow! It would definitely keep me going with this and give me some incentive to keep making weekly updates! See ya next week!**


	4. Can it be a dream?

**HEY! I know it's early but I had the chapter written out and since I'll probably be done writing the 5****th**** chapter by Wed-Fri I thought I'd post this early to kind of try and get the story moving a little faster for those who are loyal and those who don't know if they like it yet.**

**So here is a treat for everyone and I promise another chapter will be coming out still by the end of this week, probably on Friday so if you want alerts on updates of new chapters please follow or favorite! Enjoy!**

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It took Lucy awhile for her to get to the Hall, in the midst of her thoughts distracting her and the guild being so new, it was yet again very hard to navigate to the point where it was frustrating. The room had thinned out since lunch time was over and groups were on missions by now. Her teammate lay unconscious on the floor next to his best friend Gray, next to them was Erza Scarlet happily eating her strawberry cheesecake.

This was the first time she could see Erza's new armor and it was pretty impressive as always. The theme was silver and red to accent her hair; the breast plate fit her better than the first set of casual armor Lucy had seen her in, it had a fairly large red design on the front that mimicked 3 large claw marks ripping into it. She was covered in armor this time with the claw mark details on her upper right arm, left shin, the back of her right thigh and a small one on her back. A sheer red material wrapped around her waist and sat underneath the top part of her armor, it was tattered at the end to give her an edgey and fresh out of battle look, a metal headband kept Erza's hair out of her face and it was line with red fabric to blend into her hair for comfort. The powerful mage's hair was usually always down and long for this particular look she chose to go for a low ponytail folded halfway up the back of her head and pinned, the straggling strands of hair rolled up in a tube shape and pinned into her head again to hold it in place. She wore black "under armor" so that her skin wouldn't be pinched or become exposed. "Wow she is so cool…" Lucy idolized the beauty and strength of Erza, who wouldn't want to be her? The only unfortunate part would be her past and what got her where she was today, it was hard to go through and she was only a child! You wouldn't be able to tell that her right eye was actually artificial, for the longest time she couldn't produce tears in that eye.

"Juvia thinks Gray is so cute when he is sleeping!" A girl cooed from behind her, making Lucy jump and spin around to see her rain woman friend wiggling around excitedly behind her. She purred and giggled while going on about her crush Gray.

The question was a trick though, there really wasn't a right answer to this. If she agreed then Juvia would threaten to hurt her, if she said Gray wasn't cute then she would ask why Gray isn't good enough for her. Lucy was able to give her a corner smile and ask her a question back, "I dunno Juvia is he?" Juvia begun to spin around and go on about how fabulous the ice user was. Lucy managed a glance back over at Natsu, noticing his black guild mark, a flash a smoke went off in her mind and it scared her into taking a step back, it had looked so real it gave her a fright. Juvia saw what was going on and stood still to watch. Another image flashed through her head of Natsu, she could only see the bottom half of his face and his teeth were clenched hard for some reason and it made Lucy's eyes water with overcoming sorrow. A hand gently latched onto her shoulder and shocked her out of the flashes, unfortunately her first reaction was to pull away from the gesture. The two girls locked eyes for a moment and Lucy adjusted herself awkwardly, "O-oh sorry I thought a fly landed on me." She tried to chuckle it off.

Juvia kept her hand extended, "Lucy, Juvia thinks you have something on your mind." Lucy shook her head desperately and gave her fake smile. It hurt Juvia to see her like that and it also hurt that she would not confide in her. Juvia took her hand back and placed it at her side.

"No! Just lost in my thoughts I guess. Can you tell Natsu I'm going home when he wakes up?" Juvia nodded her head and Lucy waved to her before running off.

Levy popped up on the other side of the Hall and said her quick goodbyes to Gajeel before running off to her dorm herself, Juvia found it odd that she left without having him walk her like they do every day. Juvia couldn't really judge their relationship due to her unanswered and the fears that crept up inside her heart, when she started to lose herself in nasty thoughts she firmly tapped her cheeks to snap out of the funk, "Lucy will come to Juvia when she is ready! And so will the others!" With the she continued to go around to talk to others while she waited for her love to wake up.

Later on as the sun really started to set, Natsu and Gray finally woke up from their mini coma to find out Lucy had left without him. "Lucy told Juvia to tell you she went home." The water user's voice played through his head over and over, it almost seemed like a mocking bird after a few good minutes. He had accepted that it might have been his fault since he'd been passed out for 2 hours because he picked a fight in front of Erza by accident.

Happy swished through the air left and right behind Natsu's head, he seemed to be enjoying his little flight and even did some flips, "Upset that Lucy went home without you?" He teased and in the blind of an eye his head hurt. Natsu had turned around and karate chopped his little blue companion in the head, "Aaaaaye that hurts!" he whined and grabbed at his head.

Natsu only stared and watched Happy wreathe in agony, it became creepy quick though, and without a word he turned back around and continued to walk. "Of course I would be, what friend wouldn't be upset?" Happy decided to land on Natsu's head so he could tend to his own head. Happy felt bad for Lucy since she had to deal with his clueless friend, maybe it was because no one taught him what love was so it was so hard for him to realize he had feelings for Lucy. At some point Happy had to help him make a move.

"You're hopeless." Happy let out a deep sigh.

Natsu threw his fists up in the air and stomped around, "What's that supposed to mean!" Was this feeling he had wrong? Do friends not care about these things? Sometimes situations that had Lucy in them made his thoughts all confused and he had no idea what he was supposed to do say or feel.

It was then that he noticed Gajeel trapped in his book still, it looked like he was almost finished with it though, which was really surprising since neither of them read willingly and that book was a little above average in size compare to the ones Natsu read. "Hey iron brain! What are you reading that for?"

Gajeel looked up with the most menacing and soul crushed expression he had ever seen, "None of your business oven-mouth." He was already embarrassed to be reading in the first place let alone being poked at for it, it wasn't his thing and everyone could tell just by looking at him. He also mainly didn't want Natsu to find out why he was reading it, not only would he get shit on for it, Natsu would know how to get even stronger, not that Gajeel knew how either since he didn't understand how this thing would make him stronger anyway.

"Levy gave it to me." It was true.

Natsu managed to catch a glance of a picture of a Dragon roaring and tried to get closer, "She trying to help find Metalicana? Where is Levy by the way?"

The black haired man started emit a somber aura at the question, "Don't know, she threw this book at me a few days ago and took off."

Panther Lily stood nervously next to Gajeel and tried to avoid eye contact with the others, the guilt began to eat him up, "S-she may just be busy."

The others turned toward Lily and stared at him, it took everything in his power not to slip. "Come to think of it where have you been?"

Lily felt like time stopped for a moment and every muscle in his body tensed, "I've been with you the whole time." They all thoroughly looked that exceed up and down trying to remember if that was true, "You've just been reading so much you haven't noticed!" He pointed to the book and tried to push the conversation back on the brute.

For now, it seemed Gajeel would accept it. "Where's bunny girl?"

Natsu cracked his neck, it was some kind of ritual he did whenever Gajeel was around. He didn't know why but he would get tensed up and agitated easily and cracking his neck relieved it, "She took off a while ago. Erza knocked me out and she left."

The taller man scoffed and crossed his arms, the book was closed on his index finger to keep his place, "Still?"

Happy waved his hand and held in giggles, "She ate a cake afterwards too."

The two of them laughed and avoided his fire breath while teasing. Lily watched all three of them play around and his gut began to grumble to uncomfortable levels. The girls better start the plan soon or else he was going to crack.

"So you're going back to the Guild?" Natsu asked, now out of breath from running around.

Gajeel held the book up, "Almost done with this, apparently there is a second one in the library. Figured I'd save Shrimp the time of getting it for me."

Lily was not beginning to feel physically ill, "O-oh I think Levy has it already."

"How would you know?" Gajeel asked and gave Lily a judging glare now.

"Let go see Levy then!" Happy intervened and yelled out. Panther Lily was in a bad spot now and needed to give them all an alibi fast.

Gajeel briefly looked away from Lily when Natsu agreed to go visit Levy, their little conversation gave Lily enough time to think of another excuse, "Levy said she was busy with a girls night tonight remember Gajeel?" He waved his hand over at his buff friend who looked very confused.

The big guy had no idea what the magic at was talking about, he almost felt bad for not noticing Lily was there and now he forgot something the Shrimp said to him? Gajeel shrugged and looked at Natsu, "I guess so, well then I'm leaving then." He walked away before giving anyone a chance to say their parts and Lily instinctively followed him. The Dragon Slayer was still weary of his feline companion since things were not adding up for now he was off to the Dorms.

Happy ascended off of Natsu's head and waved at them both as they walked away. He then turned to face Natsu and put a paw in the air as if he were trying to get a teacher's attention, "Lily seemed off today."

Natsu decided to go to Lucy's now and began to walk in that direction, "Didn't notice." He just wanted to blow off some time at this point and since Lucy wasn't busy until later it seemed like the perfect opportunity to hang beforehand. "So Girl's night is tonight. Maybe that's why Lucy left in a hurry."

"You just want an explanation about why she ditched you." Happy laughed and covered his mouth with his little paws.

Natsu punched the cat's arm, "She ditched you too!" He started to dart toward the girl's apartment now feeling slightly embarrassed for some reason, Happy zoomed through the air after him.

She, however, wasn't prepared for them to arrive. The blonde had been soaking in her bathtub for a while and dipped her mouth under the water to blow some bubbles. The flashes appeared every now and then but not long enough to tell where they could be from.

Was it from the Grand Magic Games? The time Lucy was captured by a group of people and almost turned into a door? The first Guild on Guild battle she indirectly cause because of her father's involvement? She wanted more than anything to go to sleep soon and stop these flashes and reminders, to wake up and find out everything Levy said was just part of a weird dream she had.

The Guild didn't need any more stress, pain, confusion, or sadness. They had just rebuilt again and started anew, they were settled down into an everyday normal lifestyle again. The village had just rebuilt as well and were able to go about their lives from before the last big commotion Fairy Tail was involved in.

It's not that she would ditch Levy and tell her to give up on this mission. It was that she wished she didn't have the option to get caught up in something dangerous again, she wished this problem never existed or at least that someone else besides them would deal with it.

The pain of watching herself die, of seeing Natsu cry for her over and over again because she is in so much danger. Juvia had told her about what happened at the Games and something like that is hard to see or fear for again and again.

Always wondering if they are going to pull through or if they were going to lose someone this time wasn't a good feeling to have. The tears gathered in her eyes and she began to shake, the memories began to play on fast forward in her head. Lucy quickly dipped herself under the water and shut her eyes, the flashes wouldn't stop though and they kept going, the only distraction she had from them was the burning sensation in her lungs and throat. Her lungs screamed for air but she was afraid of the world above the surface, of all the things that could or would happen eventually to her and her loved ones.

Lucy was about to give in to her basic human survival instincts when she was forcefully yanked by her arm from the water. She gaspend and coughed a couple times and folded her other arms across her chest.

"What was that?!" A male voiced yelled, he was very upset and his grip was not gentle. The fact that she was bare in front of him didn't even faze him at this point. He held onto her eyes and demanded an answer.

She was shocked to see him and the flood of wonderful memories started to appear, even the ones that were associated with those bad memories. Lucy wanted to start crying tears of joy and it took her all her might not to give a hopeful smile as if he had just saved her again. If she had he would know that she did that to herself on purpose. It took a second before she realized the atmosphere, she yanked her arm from him and he didn't put up a fight to give it back to her, she dipped her body back under the water, "What are you talking about?" She refused to admit the she just wanted to feel alive.

Natsu's expression softened and he seemed disappointed, "I'm talking about the excessive amount of time under the water."

"I was just about to come up. I just wanted to blow bubbles." Lies and the truth. She looked away from him before he could reply to her, if she had looked at his face though she would be able to tell that he knew she lied to him.

Without a word, Natsu walked out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him. She reached out to grab him but her current state prevented her from reaching far enough to get ahold of his clothes. Lucy quickly jumped out of the bath and released the water so it could drain while she got dressed. She blow dried her hair and put on her makeup before getting dressed and opening the door to find him waiting for her still, "Natsu?"

Her team mate was at her window, trying to pretend he didn't know for her sake. He was upset that she wouldn't confide in him but he knew it wasn't something you could just force, sinc eh had things he wouldn't say to her either. "Levy said you guys are going out for Girl's night." He turned around and gave his signature goofy grin.

"Y-yeah! That's why I took a bath, don't wanna smell bad!" She hurriedly walked over to Natsu and pay punched him in the arm, "Don't tell me you wanna come too?"

She tried to laugh but it wasn't genuine, he could clearly tell the difference between the two laughs. He was about to hit his limit, "Depends where is it?" He asked and saw her awkward and almost frozen expression.

"A-at the Dorm." She seemed uncertain.

"If it's there I can't go."

"W-well that just where we are meeting to see where we are actually going." More lies.

Natsu patted her on the back, "It's getting late, let me walk you there!" Her heart began to beat a mile a minute.

She took a step toward the door wand waved it off, "No no no that's fine!"

Natsu grabbed her arm just like he had in the bathroom and gave her a serious face with a scary grin, he could feel her fast pulse in the palm of his hand, "I insist."

Lucy was flushed at this point, she had not sene him act this way before. His sharp features looked so much better this way, everything fell into place so perfectly when he relaxed his face and got serious. His unwavering gaze and firm grip on her wrist gave her butterflies in her stomach and her feelings began to bubble up, he was making her trapped in a good way that gave her tingling sensations up her spine. Like he was going to be taking charge. "Oh-Okay." His grip became loose and she was able to take her arm back and leave the apartment slowly, he started to trail behind her. She looked around for Happy and saw no signs of the little blue guy. "Where's Happy?"

"I told him to go home without me."

"Did you guys fight again?"

Natsu seemed out of it and probably didn't realize she had even asked a question. It was a long walk of silence before Lucy could think of something she could say to possibly cheer him up. "Wanna get something to eat along the way? I'll buy!" Free food. It was a bribe of something he loves and it usually would cheer him up. This time it seemed to make it worse.

He looked up at her with an indifference expression, "You'll be late won't you? The sun is setting soon." Lucy laughed awkwardly and faced forward again to look at the houses ahead of her.

"R-right."

Natsu stared at her back as they walked. Her hair was different shades of blonde in the glow of the sunset and she seemed to have more color to her skin than normal. She had her regular happy walk and it only seemed to anger him more, he didn't understand why though. "Lucy" He called to her unexpectedly.

She turned around to give him a cute and innocent expression, "Yes?" She tilted her head at him and his heart skipped. His face felt warm either from anger, embarrassment, or some other weird feeling he couldn't think of. Before he could put a name to it she was very close to him, he had unconsciously walked quicker to get to her and they now stood a foot apart.

"Are you hiding something?" Who was the person talking? It sounded like him but it didn't seem like he had control over his thoughts, feelings, or actions.

Her eyes widened for a moment and her expression became very soft, almost as if she was guilty. "No.. I'm not hiding."

To be honest at this point her mind her forgotten the whole thing with Levy today and was more focused on what was happening here and now. She had assumed he was talking about something else and the quickening of her heart had distracted her.

Natsu could hear his pulse in his ears, his heart pounded so hard it was difficult to ignore. The feeling of wanting to hold her in his arms for some reason, it was like he was losing her and he absolutely hated it but didn't know any other reason why besides the fact that she was his best friend. The feelings began to bubble up and he couldn't handle it, "A-alright let's go."

Lucy's heart hurt now and she felt rejected, this time she was the one to silently follow his lead.

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**So I've been able to add some of the love, not all of it of course! But I hope this stirred up some shipper feelings in everyone like it did me! At some point we are going to get to the M rated material. I can't wait to write those parts! : ) give me your thoughts and questions! **


	5. Dragon's Claw

**A little later than expected! My apologies guys! Had some stuff to get done today that popped up. I finished the chapter though and will begin working on the 6****th**** chapter! Please review and asking questions! Would love to hear what everyone has to say! Enjoy ;3**

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Levy threw her stuff around in a panic. She couldn't find the book with the dragon egg's picture in it, and that book had the maps they would need to find it. "Where? Where could it be!" She cursed and hissed.

A couple knocks came from her door unexpectedly which made her jump and turn to make sure no one had let themselves in. Juvia stood on the other side of the door with her hand up in a firm fist to knock again if needed, "Everything alright Levy? Juvia keeps hearing loud banging sounds."

"Y-yeah just looking for a book!"

The short girl let the door open a sliver to look out at Juvia until the other bluenette nervously pointed to her right side where Gajeel and Lily stood waiting. Levy froze for a moment and then let out a small screech, she slammed the door in their faces and locked it.

Lily looked up at Gajeel from the side of his eyes and saw his friend's pissed off expression, he gulped hard and hoped Levy would pull it together soon. "Open up shrimp!" He ordered and started to pound on the door.

Levy grabbed her blankets and threw them over her books and scattered papers, stumbling around and tripping over the chaos. The three outside the door heard her stomping and loud thuds.

"You got till three!"

She let out a small yip and hurried her pace to try and organize and hide, shoving things under her bed and in her closet.

"One."

Levy pulled at her head and yelled, "One second!" At this point she wanted to set her room on fire and jump out the window.

"Three!"

"WAIT!" Levy threw the door open and leaned on the frame, she was panting from the stress and the running around. "Y-yes?"

The three visitors looked in her room and saw the unusual mess. Sure she had book shelves of books and some would sit on the floor but it looked like a tornado blew through the room and after that sheets and blankets rained from the ceiling.

"Uh Juvia will dismiss herself." She took a quick look at everyone before turning on her heel and wakling away.

Gajeel kept glaring at the smaller girl, "Squirt."

She was startled by his deep echoing voice. He leaned in closer to her and Levy's heart began to pound a mile a minute. Levy could feel a pressure in her throat, like her heart had started to make it escape. Did he find out about the plan? Was he going to reprimand her?!

"Y-yeah what?"

He looked her up and down before taking something out of his pocket to hold it up in the space between their faces. "I don't feel any stronger." It took a minute but she sighed in relief and took hold of the thin leather bound book.

"Alright well." She needed to go to the library anyway but preferably not with him. Lily gave her a stern expression, telling her it was a bad idea to go there as well. She had to at this point though, there was no backing out of this one. If he stood outside, she could grab and go and no one would suspect a thing. "Well actually I turned most of my books so we will have to go back to get it."

He grumbled a little since he was already heading over there before he came all the way back to the dorms. Gajeel directed a finger to Lily before asking his next question, "Lily said you were having a get together tonight though right?" It was Levy's turn to give Panther Lily the look.

"I'll just reschedule with…" Oh crap. She didn't know who these supposed plans were with and all she could do was lock eyes with Lily to signal him to jump in and help.

"L-lucy!"

Something was very odd with the two of them, some of their stories didn't add up and their actions were out of the norm, almost as if they were on edge. He wasn't a detective though so he shrugged it off, "Alright Lily you can handle that correct?" She asked.

Panther Lily nodded and headed on his way, looking back one more time to give an expression of disapproval.

She didn't mean to be alone with Gajeel, she had actually been trying to avoid him for a few days now since their last mission. He finally let her go on one of his missions and even though they completed the mission, it became the beginning of this new mission. All they had to do was get rid of some local robbers and she just had to stumble upon that abandoned building.

"Hey give me a second." She shut the door and threw a quiet temper tantrum. Her feeling were so conflicted, seeing his face made her want to blab about everything. He was very reliable and strong and would be a great asset for this but she didn't want to involve until he was needed, she didn't want to get his hopes up. And she also wanted to do something for him for a change, to be able to do something without his help. "What in Earthland do I do?" She whispered. Levy took a deep breath and opened the door back up with a big smile on her face, trying to be as genuine as she could. "Lets go!"

He grumbled and let her start the journey to the Guild Library, he trailed not too far behind her with his arms crossed over his torso. A minute ago she was acting so unlike herself, and now she was acting like a psycho with that big fake smile of hers. She was overly peppy and trying too hard. He heard her groaning and moaning from behind that door, his hearing was above the normal humans because of his dragon slayer abilities. He reached for her tiny shoulder to ask what was up but choked at the last second. If there was something she needed his help for she would ask. He repeated that to himself a few times until he sort of believed it.

Gajeel took back his hand and rested it in a crossed position over his torso again, clearing his throat to catch her attention, "So what am I supposed to learn from this book that will make me stronger?"

Her heart fluttered at the question, "Well tell me what you have learned."

He scratched his head and thought back to the parts with the pictures first. "Dragons mainly ruled Earthland in different factions. Until humans rose up to take some land for themselves so they could live better."

She was so excited at this point now,Levy never expected him to actually read through the book and retain information so well. He had told her that he hated reading books so she expected him to quit halfway through. Levy threw her arms up in the air and cheered, "You really did read it!" She spun to face him and walked backwards now.

Gajeel stopped walking, "You told me to? Don't tell me it was a prank Shrimp." He gave her an unimpressed and slightly pissed off face which made her giggle.

"N-no…" She paused to make sure she wouldn't lose it, "I'm just surprised is all." Levy ran back to him and grabbed his buff arm in her arms. She started to drag him along to the Guild now.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, you just poke fun at me when I read."

"You read a bunch Shortie. More than the average human." He smirked and started to chuckle at her. She was finally acting a little normal, with real excitement instead of that fake shit from before.

Levy really liked this moment, he let her cling to his arm and it was nice. His arm was very defined and firm and her arms seemed to fit in where his muscles dipped down and up, which oddly enough felt great. "Tell me more."

He cleared his throat when she kept holding onto him, it was hard for him not to lose his cool over this situation. Gajeel had trouble expressing any… Positive feelings. He adjusted his trench coat before continuing the conversation. "Well some Dragons were fine with the coexisting but most of them were not."

"Metlicana was one of those right? Or else he wouldn't have raised you."

Gajeel shrugged, "That would make sense. Though he didn't like other humans much."

Levy took the moment to hug his arm, she was over stepping their usual boundaries just by clinging to his arm. But since he was alright with this step she wanted to see how far she could go. The feeling of his skin was nice and cold, he really did feel like metal at times. "Even though I really want to meet Metalicana and the others, I still can't help but be afraid of Dragons…" Gajeel looked at her arm and went to put his free hand on it before she started to let go. Unconsciously he moved to grab her arm and pull her back in.

"I'll…" He paused and cleared his throat, "We'll learn how to get rid of those Dragons. I couldn't do it at the Games because I was already worn out when they came, but since then… We've been training to defeat them." Gajeel had to keep correcting himself because he was getting nervous expressing his thoughts to her. Deep down he felt like he didn't deserve this moment they were having, but at the same time he wanted to make these moments happen more often. He lifted his hand off her arm and he felt his face start to heat up.

She began to treasure what he had just told her, even though it was vague, she felt like he really did try to cheer her up. And in the back of her mind she hoped that he was trying hard for not just the Guild but for her as well.

"If Dragons came back soon." A pain in her heart started to grow, "Would you be ready?"

He was shocked by the question and looked down at her, she hid her face though but could tell by her grip that she was feeling uneasy. Her heartbeat could be felt faintly through his arm. "I would die trying at least." She stopped walking and let go of him. Levy stared at the ground and tried to hold back tears. What he had just said was one of her worst nightmares.

She began to reevaluate her decisions now. Levy didn't want anyone to get hurt, and she definitely didn't want anyone to die because of the choices she had made. Different scenarios played through her head and she clenched and unclenched her fists to relieve the anger and the stress. Seeing her friends try to protect her and end up getting hurt in the process, her magic was weak and useless when it came to battles that were important. It made her feel so powerless.

Gajeel walked back to her and watched her begin to tremble all over, "S-"

"I don't want that."

"What?"

"Promise me you won't."

Gajeel was taken back and didn't know what to do, "I can't-"

"Promise me!" She yelled and tears fell down her cheeks. Levy got the courage to look him straight in the eyes.

His heart began to race now. Was it out of panic? Seeing her cry made him feel awful and he wanted to do anything to make her stop.

"L-Levy." She took a very deep breath and started to make sobbing sounds. He never used her name and it felt great to hear it out of his mouth but it also hurt. "I promise to protect you, everyone and myself." In his mind, that was the order of most to least important, he wouldn't ever tell her that though.

She wiped her eyes and tried to give him a smile, he had started to reach for her head to try and pet it and console her, but as she was almost about to look up at him he panicked and withdrew his hand before she saw anything. Gajeel turned away from her to keep Levy from seeing his red face and started to walk on without her.

Levy opened her eyes to see him walking and jogged up behind him, "Wait up!" Things became silent but thankfully not awkward and they walked side by side. She couldn't see his face due to his puffy black hair but she didn't really try too hard to see him. The Guild started to come in to view and it would only be a couple more minutes before they were at the Library. They snuck inside and followed the halls, taking some odd turns and going up a floor before coming across the Library door. "Inside is like a maze so it'd be easier if you stayed here and I ran to get the book." He grunted and leaned against the opposite wall, motioning her to get a move on. She shot him a cute smile before pushing the doors open and disappearing.

She quickly navigated the shelves to find the second volume and longer volume of the book he had just finished reading. Once she grabbed it Levy jogged toward her secret area, with each step she got closer a strange aura overcame her sense and sent shivers down her spine and arms. Before she turned the corner she saw her book lying on the ground in the middle of the isle way. Levy reached down for it and grasped it in her hands and when she stood up tall to look down into her secret area for a brief moment she thought she saw a man standing in the dark, but when she blinked he was gone. "What the."

As quick as he was gone the feeling of someone standing behind her sent electric shocks through her arms and back. "Find me…" He whispered in her ear, she could feel the man's breath on her neck. Levy screamed and spun around to hit whoever it was with the book, only to find no one was there.

Gajeel had already gotten tired of wating and used his sensitive nose to track down Levy's movements through the shelves until her scream echoed through the place. His heart sunk and he started to run through the isles, finding her pale as a ghost and breathing heavily. "What happened?" He aggressively looked around, trying to find the person responsible. Gajeel was ready for a fight and had his fists up to start punching and throwing metal.

"A bug…"

What did she just say? "What?"

"I-uh…" Levy blinked a few times to clear her head and her vision, "saw a bug," She tried so hard to calm herself down and he wasn't buying her story.

He relaxed and stomped over to her, "That wasn't the scream of someone who saw a bug." He glared down at her and decided calling her out on her bullshit was the best way to get answers. Now things were too blatant to ignore. Gajeel didn't mean to be so menacing and aggressive sometimes it was just the way his face and his natural body movements did. This time, however, he meant it and he wanted answers. She was refusing to look at him though, her chest was ascending rapidly and he could imagine how fast her heart beat was. All the signs pointed to something bigger than a bug, and all her weird actions pointed to something bigger than just her being out of it.

The iron dragon slayer snapped his fingers in front of her face which seemed to catch her attention, she jumped and looked up at him obviously by accident, and it was long enough for him to notice her eyes were glossy with tears. "Shortie what really happened?"

"I told you." Shit she wasn't doing a good job at concealing her real emotions at all. Levy never had to lie or keep things from anyone before, at least not something so big. It was breaking her down and making her emotionally unstable, but she took on this job and she made a choice not to involve certain people yet. Levy had both books held in her arms and gripped tightly to her chest. He saw the book he needed and another one below that. There was no title, just a name. "It. Was. A. Bug." Levy looked back down at the floor and then back up to him with a determination he had only seen a couple times before. This time she was the one to start walking away from him.

Gajeel wanted to make her tell him, he felt a heaviness in his chest. His muscles tightened and relaxed over and over to relieve the stress and anger he felt. She wasn't entitled to tell him anything, especially if something was bothering her. He still felt like he didn't deserve that familiar feeling with her. It took everything he had not to push down a book shelf or knock down all the books in the immediate area, it was her favorite place after all. That though hurt him worse.

Most of the way back was silent, crickets chirped and frogs could be heard in the bushes every now and then on the path back to the dorms.

Levy replayed the voice she heard in the Library over and over in her head and something seemed different. The voice was a little off but the message was the same as the one in her dream. The tone of voice seemed more urgent and a little frustrated but it was too quick for her to really dissect it. She held onto the books as tight as possible, it felt good to have the feeling of something familiar against her skin. Gajeel studied her the whole way and she didn't even seem to notice his staring and lurking.

The heavy feeling hadn't gone away and it didn't even lessen one bit. The guilt rode up into his throat with how bad he wanted to make her tell him, as well as his guilt from long ago. He wouldn't be able to start a conversation even if he tried though. The dorms were in sight and only a few light were on, in an instant she went from dead quiet to fake Levy in a second.

"Thank you for walking with me."

He only stared at her, his expression told her everything. It said he was disappointed in her, that he knew something was wrong, that he was hurt, and that he was angry. It was nerve wracking and hard to keep her façade up, her gut rolled and tightened because of her nerves now. "I'll see you tomorrow." Still nothing. "Goodnight." She held out his book, which he did reach out and take from her. Levy without a second to spare pivoted on her heels and ran away, they parted ways for now and she held in her tears and guilt until she could get to her room.

Gajeel looked down at the book and clicked his tongue. He stuck the thick book in his pocket and walked away as well. He had accepted that she made the decision to hide whatever it was from him, but expected nothing mote after all he put her through in the past. He didn't deserve her forgiveness for that day.

Levy ran into her room and threw the cursed book across the room, letting it hit her wall and fall down on top a sheet covering a pile of books from earlier. "He looked so disappointed in me…" He feelings for him bubbled up and finally the tears fell from her eyes and she started to sob, taking quick deep breaths in the middle and fanning herself to try and keep from hyperventilating while crying. It was the second time she would fall asleep this way.

Gajeel and Natsu stayed up late that night relieving their anger the way their fathers taught them to. They spent hours hitting and braking this without using their magic and the straining on their bodies made them too tired and in pain to think about their other emotions.

Lily watched Gajeel work out from a distance and his own guilt started to rise up into his throat, with every punch his companion threw the worse he felt. The moon was mostly black this night except for a sliver of glowing white light, also known as a Dragon's Claw. Lily sat on the ground with his back to a tree and he watched the clouds go by the waning crescent moon.

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**ALRIGHT! How is everyone feeling? I threw so GaLevy in there because it is one of my OTP ships that I have for this show/manga. There will be other shipping and things will get mature later on so stay tuned for those spicy moments. The next chapter will include the execution of their plan and maybe another pairing interaction you haven't seen yet! Follow/Favorite in order to get alerts for updates! Have a great weekend!**


	6. Step 1 Complete

**Hey everybody. This is MB trying to keep going in an orderly fashion with updates every week! Would really love to hear everyone's thoughts and find some more inspiration for the story! Your thoughts are everything so please give me a review!**

**Enjoy this next installment, I might give ya'll a bonus chapter this Sunday if I can get to it, so cheer me on!**

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Levy woke up that morning with a stinging sensation in her eyes. She laid there and grumbled for a good ten minutes about how awful everything was before shoving her covers aside to force herself through the day. She had a loose white shirt on that could only sit on one shoulder and exposed her left shoulder and part of her sadly plain and solid orange bra. Levy started to sport some short shorts for bedtime wear since it was the easiest thing to wear. She navigated her mess of a room, stepping on some stacks of books and – _shit…_ that pen she left on the floor apparently, once she got to her dressed she pulled out a wash cloth and stumbled over to her sink to wet. The cool water felt nice on her swollen tear ducts and burning eyelids. The preparations took only 2 minutes but the healing took a good 45 minutes before it produced public safe results.

She had never used so much make up before in her life until she started to notice the dark circles under her eyes that weren't made from accidental late night/early morning reading. The red marks and blotchy parts of her face needed to be covered up as well so no one would worry or ask. It was the first time she ever consulted a magazine for makeup tips too, it worked splendidly and now she understood why the other girls loved it so much. Levy had a cute face without it but when she learned how to apply eye loner and use mascara she noticed just how cute she could feel. There wasn't much time to ogle at herself today though, it was time to mentally prepare for the execution of her next mission.

Honestly she wasn't going to ever be ready and hopefully Lucy could solo a lot of it, the thought of explaining everything all over again was draining. Levy grabbed the things she needed and started to head out of the dorm.

Lucy, however, woke up in cold sweats, her throat hurt again and it was fairly concerning how dry her mouth felt. "Great, getting sick before the potential end of the world again. That's good." She coughed a couple times and tried to cycle in some spit to make the pain go away. She walked like a drunk person to her bathroom and managed to get herself in the shower safely. The hot water felt nice on her skin, almost like she was being purified of everything negative. After her 15 minute standing bath she took a swig of cough medicine to soothe her throat and stared into the mirror. "Alright…" Lucy took a deep soothing breath and tried very hard not to think about yesterday night. Lily had met her and Natsu on their way to the dorm and told her Levy had called the meeting off. Natsu left straight away and asked Lily to take her home, which they both could tell was odd for him. It made her heart hurt to see his back as he walked away.

She walked out of her bathroom expecting to see his goofy face and hear his upbeat voice, she threw the door open and put her best smile on for him only to see he wasn't there. The room was dark still, it was silent and vacant. Lucy felt a pinch of pain in her chest and she grabbed at her towel where her heart would be. "He must be angry still…" Lucy decided to take her time to get ready today, her usual pep-talk wasn't there and she had no energy to rush to the Guild or start her day any faster than she had to.

The two of them met outside of the Guild, Levy had arrived first and had noticed Lucy was not there so she stayed outside and hid to avoid the other Guild members, Lucy thankfully arrived a few minutes after. They snuck to the side of the building and into the gated area where the Guild stores their trash. "God this is gross."

"Got a better hiding spot?"

Lucy leaned against the hard wall and rested her arms at her side, "Nope, still though. It smells awful."

Levy looked at the dumpsters of trash, the guy must have come around recently since it wasn't nearly as filled as usual. Levy took her spot in the corner where the fence met the building and fit herself snugly in the limited space. "This is going to be harder than we originally thought."

"Whose dumb idea was this?"

"Yours"

"I know but let's just say it's yours because it makes me feel better"

Levy couldn't help but crack a small smile at the bickering, it was a nice distraction from everything. Now it was time to get down to business though. They exchanged a moment of silence before coming together to get a game plan for the way they were going to… Persuade. Their fourth member to come quietly and not go tell anyone else. The huddled together and nodded when they came to an agreement. The idea was bombardment, get the target alone, don't give them escape options, and play on the emotions.

The two girls put their hands together, Levy's on top and stared into one another's eyes. "Let's do this." They threw their hands in the air and initiated their mission.

Operation: Member Mirajane.

Lucy's job was to enter the Guild first and scope out the situation. She tried to nonchalantly slip inside without anyone noticing and walked along the left wall. Somehow she was able to stand against the wall and have a clear shot of the barmaid and the whole room. Juvia was next to Gray and they sat on a bench talking to Cana who took her spot on top of the table. The newer male members were challenging the drunk to an arm wrestling match and were sorely losing. Gray was half naked, per the usual, he managed to keep his dark navy shorts on with silver lining down the side seam and a silver chain belt. A black pendant in the shape of his ice sword was sewn onto his right leg on top of the silver in order to give it some pop. His shoes were black strap sandals similar to Natsu's and they both were not happy about it, those children refused to talk to the Master or Erza for days.

Cana had beautiful Gypsy inspired clothing, they were a light blue color with gold bead and coin accents. She had a light blue soft fabric tube top with wiring to hold her breasts up to give them the perkiness she so loved, gold metallic diamonds danced across her the fabric on her chest. Cana had a sheer cover that lay sideways from her left shoulder down to her right wrist where it connected to a golden bangle, the accents lined the cover and gave her such a fun and vibrant look, even for a drunk. She wore light blue short shorts metallic gold arrows that pointed down on her left side and up on her right, some gold accents hung at the bottom of the side seams of her shorts. She wore a messy side buns that looked fairly attractive with her naturally curly hair, the look was more like an organized mess more than just throwing it up and calling it a day. A blue fabric hair piece held the bun in place and a couple dangling gold accent hung below the bun, the hair piece had tattered and torn pieces to match the chaos of the bun and thin wires gave her the ability to mold it in place. It all sat on the left side of her head and she was able to make come gold coin clips to snap into her hair and give it more uniformity and femininity. Cana loved her new uniform and flaunted it wherever she could, she was able to get some anklets that looked like her hair piece and also managed to get some gold bangles for her ankles as well. She normally walked around the guild barefoot but outside she had some flats to match her outfit.

Levy snuck in and started to try and get closer to Mirajane by walking along the right wall. She was in charge of the distraction and her only idea wasn't present. Usually when Natsu or Gajeel were in the room they could start fighting over anything and they were so loud and childish that everyone paid attention or were forced to when they got thrown into the chaos. They, today of all days, were MIA – missing in action- and that was downright irritating. She knew he would be upset but to not show up at the Guild was something she never thought he would do. Lucy waved over to catch her attention and tried to sign her worries and wondering when they were going to start. Levy shrugged and rolled her eyes. Mirajane was still there thankfully but probably not long enough for her to think of another plan. "I can't find them." She hissed at her friend and Lucy checked the room to confirm.

The two girls silently decided to meet back outside, as they began to trudge along the walls to the front door the Raijinshuu members decided to step in the way.

"Whats up babies?" Bickslow asked, doing the creepy tongue thing that he usually does that shows off his Guild mark. Levy had always wondered how he got into that habit, he towered over her and she was not in the mood for him showing off his height to her. She crossed her arms and waited for the reason for the interruption, glancing over at Lucy who was stopped by Freed.

Lucy crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her right hip, "Alright guys what's up, we don't have time for this."

Laxus had unknowingly to them, made his way down the middle of the Hall and to the door, motioning for his members to bring the girls toward him. Levy gave Lucy a look of confusion, and Lucy genuinely looked scared at this point. She had remembered running into Laxus yesterday on her way home, what if he knew what was going on? They all met at the door and the two girls managed to stand next to one another. "Alright. I have questions that need to be answered."

The blonde tried to act confident but she was on the brink of breaking down and having her whole body shake. He must have figured it out, he might either black mail them, tell on them or want in for some weird reason. The bluenette just did not have the nergy to deal with him but stayed quiet as to not instigate. Lucy obviously knew something about it and she was going to get answers later.

"Where are Natsu and Gajeel?" Freed stepped forward with the first question and both of them were dumbfounded.

Levy crossed her arms and gave them a not so interested look, "I don't know."

Freed looked over to Lucy and she was going to explode either with anger or joy, "Haven't seen him."

Laxus had his unemotional expression again and he looked at the two back and forth, "Well isn't that a first. The both of you haven't been with them recently. And now their absent today. What's with that?" Ever stepped in from behind the group and she gave her leader a look. They were on to something but what they hadn't realized is that the boys weren't involved.

"Well Gajeel goes on missions by himself a lot right?" Lucy elbowed her friend and the girl started to get a little shyer like her usual self.

She fidgeted and shifted into a more vulnerable arms by her side pose, "He often leaves without a word, and I don't have a clue what he is up to recently."

Bickslow gave Freed a look and for some reason gave a cocky grin, "Word is that you're the one that's been hiding the past couple of days, hiding yourself in the new Library to catch up on some reading?" Ever put her hand on the girl's shoulder and that when she knew that they had suspected them all. She couldn't throw the suspicion on the boys and not feel guilty afterward, even if she did they could probably sniff out her lies at this point.

"The new library is big, why don't you guys stop by every now and then?" Lucy snapped, she immediately regretted her words afterward but there was no turning back now.

All four of them smiled, noticing they were getting to them now. "Those words hurt Lucy, you seem to be quick on your feet today though. That's always good, we were worried yesterday when you were walking around like a zombie." Ever took her hand off of Levy's shoulder and walked between the two girls and took her place between Bickslow and Laxus.

Bickslow shrugged and let his tongue hang out again, "Why don't you just tell us whats wrong right babies?" His little wooden dolls floated around him and started to move up and down as if responding to his question.

Levy put a hand on her face and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. They had seen Levy coming out of the Library at some point looking suspicious, they say Lucy after they had their talk obviously, and they almost seemed to know why the two guys were missing. What could she say to get them to go away? Just as Levy was about to say something the Raijinshuu directed their attention to behind them where a white haired beauty walked in between the two girls and gave the sweetest smile you'll ever see. "Hi everyone! What are we chatting about?" Laxus refused to look into her eyes and motioned for his team to start leaving.

"Just checking up on our team mates." Freed answered. Laxus glared over at him and then accidentally met eyes with the demon take over mage.

She grabbed the two girls by their shoulder and brought them in for a small group hug, "Awe isn't that nice. I can take it from here right Laxus?" Mirajane tried fairly hard to make eye contact with him to show she was serious but he just glared back with his seemingly uncaring glare.

The Raijinshuu began to file out of the Guild and into the streets of Magnolia, leaving the three girls by themselves. Lucy couldn't believe that the interruption had actually worked out for the better. If there was anyone who could "scare off" Laxus and his gang it would be either Erza or Mirajane.

Mira gave a firm squeeze to the two girl's shoulders, almost seeming like a punishment, "So girls what's up? How did you spark his attention?"

Levy playfully winced at Mira's gesture and turned her body to face her childhood friend more, "We were actually looking for you."

The take-over mage let go of the two and put a hand on her cheek, "Oh me?"

Lucy looked over at the bar area and it looked as if no one was missing her yet, "Yeah could you come help us real quick?" Their friend smiled happily, loving to be included on their conversation and the three of them walked outside and to a more open area with two benches that sat along the forest edge.

Mirajane chose a uniform that spoke more to her personality with a purple theme she had never worn before. She had a dress like always in a dark magenta shade and the top was a halter styled with a diamond shaped cut out on her chest. The dress fell down beautifully and actually had a slit up her right leg, a set of lavender ruffles filled in the space where her leg would show, the slit only came up to her mid-thigh so that it wouldn't overwhelm the look. A lavender colored ruffle material sat on her left hip to balance out the look and a pink tinted purple belt wrapped around her tiny waist. Small lavender ruffled lined the inside of the diamond peep hole on her chest and the edges of the halter top. Mira wore a dark magenta ribbon in her hair to tie back her bangs, the extra of the ribbon weaved into two braids that would sit on the sides of her face but were tied back with a black rubber band behind her head. She wore heels to match the dress color and a ribbon on her left wrist to accessorize. Mirajane sat properly on the bench and stared at the two girls who were acting fairly nervous. "Please tell me none of you are pregnant." She busted out with her worried first, leaving no room for them to spring anything on her.

Levy and Lucy had to hold on to one another to prevent falling down, "W-WHAT? How did you get that idea?!"

Mirajane blushed indecently and fanned herself off, "Oh no reason." She giggled to herself.

Lucy stomped her foot and pointed at her, "No way spill it sister!" The two younger girls were red in the face and somehow what Mira had said calmed them down from the shock of that question.

Levy couldn't help but giggle a little and Mira began to explain where babies came from, Lucy closed her ears and started to squirm uncomfortably, "And it would be so lovely to see little slayer babies but let's wait till after the wedding."

"W-wedding?"

"You all are getting married right? Don't tell me you've decided to be together and never marry. That's just scandalous. I love it." Mirjane was going to town with her shipping fantasies.

Levy grabbed onto Lucy's arm trying to hold her friend up, she could have sworn she saw her best friend's spirit leave her body at that point, "W-well Mira we actually pulled you aside to ask you a question."

Lucy shook her head and regained her senses, the thought of little Natsu's running around and destroying everything in sight could wait. "Would you like to go on a mission with us?"

Mira clapped her hands together, "I would love to! But I don't go on missions anymore."

They had not thought about that part. After Lisanna had "died" Mira refused to go on missions and did a 180 on her whole personality, becoming more mature and motherly like. Levy remember how fast the change was, and since then Mira had never attempted any missions. "Well this is more like an escort."

Lucy had thought of a loophole, "We would just like to have your company, and it would just be a group of friends going to go get something and come back."

She placed a hand on her cheek to think again and stared at Lucy. "So what are we getting exactly?" That when the two friend looked at each other, collectively and silently agreeing now was that time to give her the information now that she was reeled in.

After several minutes of explanation from them and silence from her, they periodically looked around to make sure no one was around to hear and then both stood in silence to wait for her response.

Mira looked between the two, she could now see the differences in them both. Levy had looked more huggable lately and now that she had the time she could see that she had managed to cake on make up around her eyes, Lucy just seemed a little more docile than normal which meant she wasn't getting any real sleep. She wanted to report this to the Master since it could evolve into a big deal, but they had come to her because they trusted her and needed back up, honestly it flattered her that they came to her with something like this. "Alright."

The two girls had not expected such an outright acceptance, "A-alright? You'll come?" The two girls were just about to cheer until Mirajane held up a hand and gave them a very serious expression.

It screamed 'don't fuck with me' and she stood up, reminding them of her height and deadly aura, "This will go on my terms. When I deem it necessary we are turning back and leaving. When I give the signal for you two to run, you do it. And if it starts getting to difficult for us as a group to handle we will be notifying the others." Her rules were fairly simple. It was a very protective response to everything she had just said but reasonable and rational.

Lucy didn't like the second terms of condition, it didn't sit right with her. Just by saying that it was going to get to that point made it feel like it was already going to happen. Levy stepped forward and put a hand over her heart and another behind her, "I can accept that."

The blonde looked at the two who stared at her and waited for her approval. She only saw it for a second but she saw Levy's finger behind her back being crossed. Lucy was glad she wasn't the only one who disagreed with one of the rules and stepped forward in the same pose as Levy, "I accept that as well, as long you go with us and don't tell anyone else."

Mirajane looked between the two and relaxed the muscles in her face so she could give her sweet smile, "Sounds like a deal. So when are we leaving?"

Levy relaxed and then rubbed the back of her head, "Tonight preferably."

"Tonight? What are you going to tell the others?"

"I was hoping to go without saying anything. I don't want to answer any questions."

Levy nodded in agreement, she wasn't going to be able to face Gajeel at this point and tell him she was leaving. She would end up coming clean or get the truth shaken out of her. "They won't care anyway, they didn't show up today."

Mira elbowed Levy teasingly, "Did you have a lover's quarrel."

She shrugged her away and grinned a little, "Oh shush you know it's not like that."

"You know you want it to be that way though, why not just admit it."

"When you can admit you like Natsu. Luuucy." Levy imitated Happy and all three started to laugh.

"Well what about Mira, we all know who she cares for." Lucy and Levy turned toward the older member and the white haired girl backed away slowly.

"N-now come on guys, there isn't anything like that. We don't even talk so how could you get that idea?"

The three of them shared a nice long couple of laughs before parting ways. Panther Lily was in charge of the Lacrima but Mira had a better access to them and could keep others from looking in that supply room while they were gone. Now it was time to prepare for their journey. Levy started to head for her dorm again to pack, saying her goodbyes to the other two and then grabbing at her bag for her supplies. "Now to figure out the quickest route to this thing." She reached in for the book and pulled it out. Her pulse quickened as she realized she didn't have the right book. Levy tried to recall last night and when she practically shoved the book at Gajeel she had given him the wrong book, so he actually had the most important piece of information, and if he started to read it he would ask questions about it that she couldn't answer. "Oh Earthland what have I done…"

Lucy decided to check in the Guild one more time to see if Natsu was there. She saw the same people as last time, the only difference being that Wendy and Carla had shown up and were talking to Romeo about something. She saw Juvia and Gray still sitting close to one another and she bit the bullet and started walking over. "Hey Juvia. Have you seen Natsu?"

Juvia was excited to have Lucy speak to her first this time but she shook her head, "Juvia has not seen him yet today, it's around his favorite time of the day too."

"That's odd flame brain never misses a meal." Gray cut in, turning in his seat to face Lucy. He had a sandwich in one hand and some fries in the other.

Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled, "Alright well thanks."

Juvia grabbed her friend's hand, "Would you like Juvia to look with you?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, but thanks. I think I'm just going to go home early today."

"You just got her though, aren't you going to complain about rent and then find a job?" Gray teased and Juvia elbowed him hard in the ribs.

Lucy couldn't help but glare at the guy, the nerve of him, she didn't do that… Right? She cleared her mind and just held up a hand, "No no, I already have one picked out. It's a solo mission. If you see him just let him know I'll be leaving soon. He probably doesn't want to see me anywy."

At this point Juvia wanted answers now, this was the second time Lucy gave such a gloomy response and so she stood up and led Lucy away from the table by her arm.

"H-hey!" They both stood at the right wall and Lucy rubbed her arm, "what was that for?"

Juvia tapped her foot and glared at her, "Juvia knows something is wrong with you. Why is Lucy avoiding Natsu?"wwwq

Lucy gulped since her mouth began to dry up from the hard questioning, "I'm not avoiding him."

"Don't-" Juvia held up her hands in between their faces, "don't lie to Juvia. Juvia can sense you're acting a little off. I will ask Natsu if Lucy doesn't answer."

She was caught now, there really wasn't a way to answer her question truthfully so she decided to play on Juvia's emotions. "I-I'm just having trouble being around him lately… He just makes me feel so embarrassed now."

Juvia lit up like a christmas tree and almost exploded like a water balloon. "Wow! Juvia always knew Lucy liked Natsu."

_DOES EVERYONE KNOW?!_ "Y-yeah. So don't tell him, I don't think he likes me back…" Lucy squirmed around like a shy maiden and Juvia was just eating it up.

"Ok! Juvia won't tell Natsu!" The two of them pinky swore and Lucy was now in the clear. She ran off before Juvia asked any more questions and now the water woman was fulfilled and happy.

She trotted over to her lovely gray and sat down next to him. "What's got you so peppy?"

Juvia clapped her hands gently on her cheeks and giggled, "Lucy just told Juvia that Lucy likes Natsu!" She continued to giggle while Gray dropped all of his food and just stared at her.

"Lucy what?"

Juvia froze and looked over toward him, "N-nothing Juvia said nothing." Juvia had expected Gray to catch on to the way that those two interacted by now, guess it was just a girl thing.

"Yes you did! You said L-" Juvia clamped her hands over his mouth and gave him a death glare, which he was not used to.

"If you tell one soul about this Juvia will have to punish Gray." Honestly to her the thought of punishing him was nice, though she would probably prefer to be punished instead. She began to wiggle around , because of her fantasies while Gray struggled to breath.

He finally tore her hands away, "Ok! Ok! I won't tell a soul." Juvia was happy to hear him say that. But Lucy didn't say she couldn't tell Gray though. She was happy with that reasoning, as long as Gray didn't tell anyone it would be fine.

Little did she know Gray was already justifying telling his friend the good news.

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**ALRIGHT! The fourth member of the secret alliance has been set. Some more romantic things are happening and I plan to have a nice heart racing chapter before the three girls leave for their mission. No worries Gruvia will be in this too for all those shippers. Just to let you know I do ship Mirajane with Laxus so be prepared for their love story too! Hope you had fun reading this installment! Can't wait start writing the action scenes!**


	7. Little White Lies

**SORRY! It took a little bit to write the ending of this chapter just because I didn't know I wanted to end it. I hope you all enjoy it and thanks for waiting patiently! It is longer than the other chapters just to make the late posting worth it for ya'll!- I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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Mirajane went back to her regular routine, passing out drinks and food for her guild mates, and dealing with the occasional drunk. In order to build up some revenue for the Guild the Master agreed to open up their lounge area to the citizens of Magnolia. She started to think about what Lucy and Levy had told her, she didn't really have a reason to agree to it. I mean, she wanted them to be safe and she understood their reasoning's to do it without the guys, to be so dependent can get on one's nerves. Mira could pin point the time where Elfman decided he wouldn't take any help from her anymore because of how dependent he and Lisanna had been for so long.

She let out a deep sigh but continued to smile as usual, being positive and upbeat was the only way she could get through life sometimes.

"And then he said." A man at the bar whinned, he had been there for only an hour and was already pretty inebriated to the point where she started putting food dye in water to pretend it was beer, "He says. You didn't find it in time." He was one of the new members of the Guild that came after the Grand Magic Games hype. Master accepted some mages here and there to keep the popularity going and rebuild the team but some didn't realize how hard it was and ended up this way.

He was just above his mid-twenties and she only knew his face, never once had he told her his name but he knew her quite well.

Mira started to refill his phony drink again and she gave him a comforting smile, "Sorry to hear that."

In response to his story he slammed his hands on the bar table, "H-he never said nothin' 'bout bein' TIME" He ended up reaching for the drink before she was even ready to give it to him, which caught he a little off guard. She would have dropped the drink if it weren't for a very familiar arm reaching for the man's hand. "WOAH!"

"I think it's time for you to go home." The tone was hoarse and deep. It gave off a powerful feel that sent shivers up her spine and across her neck.

His arms were so big, the thought of being help in those arms – almost – made her blush. She was very good at keeping her composure though, it was a piece of cake to do in this situation. With all that she has had to go through in life faking calm and keeping composure is something she trained herself to do. "Awe Laxus, no need to be so mean." Mirajane reached over to where the two met and made a 'shoo' motion. Laxus reluctantly let go and the drunkard thanked her under his breath.

Unexpectedly, Laxus didn't have his crew to back him up, it was rare and a blessing. She scanned the area to make sure though, sometimes they stood in the shadows because of their weird obsession. "What's your problem man?" Oh, that's right he was still there.

"Dear it's time for you to go home." Mirajane gently touched his hands and started to turn him around in his stool and push him away from the bar.

He pouted and went along with it but he started to curse under his breath and whine, "But Mirraaaa. You're my go to gal!" He carried on as he left, not bothering to turn around and refuse, guess he actually did care about what said. Laxus looked like he was going to snap at any second, which was amusing to her.

Mirajane giggled and waved at him, he still carried on about something she couldn't quite hear, she almost jumped out of her skin when Laxus slammed his hand on the bar top, "We need to talk."

"Oh wow, that doesn't happen often." She made sure there was obvious malice in her tone, it always made his skin crawl in good and bad ways.

Mira kept smiling at him even though she was upset, she began to clean up the glasses and get ready for her next customer while he regrouped and found the words he wanted to say.

He grabbed the glass filled with the fake beer that she had started to reach for and squeezed it a little too tight, she guessed that he was trying to be intimidating. "Now please."

Mirajane couldn't help but shoot him the nastiest glare she could muster while still pretending to be sweet and kind. This was the kind of expression that sent the bad crawls across his skin, it was just creepy how she could do that. 'I'm sorry who put you in charge of me?"

"I did. When I almost lost you."

His direct approach made her heart skip, and her stomach began to form some butterflies, but it would not sway or break her. "I don't believe I asked for you to do that."

He was pissed at her now, she could see it in the ways his muscles began to move in his arms. "Mira." His voice has a small booming affect that went straight through her, the command in his voice made her knees just a little weaker. It almost seemed like he was doing it on purpose now. "Tell me what they said to you. Something is fishy and-"

"That's my business. Laxus." She emphasized his name in return to make it seem like she wasn't intimidated by him. It seemed to work but as she continued he started holding the glass tighter and tighter until the glass started to form some cracks. "And I don't have to tell you anything."

That did it, the liquid started to seep from the sides of the glass. "I will find out Mira, one way or another. And if it puts this Guild in danger, I will be disappointed in all of you." He leaned in closer to her and almost reached her ear completely, "And don't expect me to save you."

Mirajane wanted to fall into his arms when she felt his warm breath on her ear, but her dignity would not allow her to do so, especially in public. She shoved his face to the side and flicked his hand making him loosen his grip around the glass. "Have I ever needed saving?" He stayed silent and stared at her emotionlessly, "That's what I thought."

He backed up and looked her up and down. "I am watching you all." He started to walk away but that last comment caused her to worry about the secrecy of their plan, she had to think of something quick.

"Laxus." He stopped dead in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, "It's a shopping trip."

Laxus raised an eyebrow at her and a confused expression, "Shopping?" He turned his body completely around and was interested in it now. "What for?"

Mira crossed her arms and leaned onto the bar top, making her boobs look absolutely fantastic, he wouldn't admit but she could see the small redness on the tops of his ears, "For something special. It's a limited edition item that we have to travel far to get. Levy and Lucy wanted me to help barter for it so they could get it cheap for the guys." He chuckled and crossed his arms over his torso in disbelief. "They are upset that they won't tell them what it is so that's why they aren't here. Those babies are pouting."

This seemed to get him in a better mood, maybe it was because she entrusted him with the information or maybe it was the thought of those two losers pouting in their rooms. The pieces added up for now and Mirajane had never lied to him before so why would he question it? "Have fun I guess."

Bingo. Men were easy to fool, pull away enough and when they least expect it give a little incentive and information and they would be putty in your hands. She gave a genuine smile as he walked away but her heart hurt that he didn't stay. She always wanted to treasure the moments alone that they had but he only ever came to her if he needed something from her. "I need to leave tonight." This mission would help her feel more like her old self again, the truth was that she loved missions and feeling like she was relied on. Lunch time was over now and she started to prepare for the dinner crowd to keep her mind at ease.

Levy stood outside of Gajeel's dorm, fear rose up and kept her from knocking, she was hoping he hadn't noticed the book was the wrong one and that he would just exchange the two without asking why. The likeliness of that happening was slim though. "Just do it…" She whispered and took a couple deep breaths, "Take the chance. The longer you wait the more time he has to read that book."

The short girl reached for the door with her petite fist and instead of knocking she sort of punched the door, causing her knuckles to ache really badly. Her heart began to race with every silent second that passed until she realized that there wouldn't be an answer, "Gajeel?" Levy called and tried to look through the peephole the opposite way. Using her good hand she tapped on the door lightly, "Hello?"

There was no answer still, "He isn't here? Then where is he?" She looked down the halls each direction for any sign of movement. If he wasn't here or at the Guild where could he possibly be? It took her a moment but she remembered the only other thing he does was train, he must be at an area that was easy to train in.

Just as she was about to leave, the door creaked open and she jerked around to see Panther Lily, "Sorry Levy I was resting. I was hoping you were Gajeel."

"Hoping?

Lily rubbed his eyes and glance up at her with a guilty expression, "He hasn't been in all night and all day."

Oh shit, her stomach started to rumble with anxiety, "Did he say why?"

The cat shook his head and threw his tiny arms up, "He hasn't said anything that's the problem. I don't know what got into him."

Levy touched her stomach and looked at the ground, it was all because of last night. He just tried to help but she kept pushing him away to keep her secret, there was no way she could predict him acting this way though, it was so unlike him. If she could think back to Tenrou Island he would have shrugged it off. "Where is he?"

Lily pointed back toward the room, "The woods. Last time I checked at least."

Levy kneeled down to him and pat him on the head, "Thank you Lily, I know Gajeel means a lot to you and to keep something like this from him is hard." Lily smiled at her and shook his head.

"I care about you too Levy. I also agree that this secret is in his best interest." They both shared some caring glances and Levy said her goodbyes, promising to bring Gajeel back and letting him know that they were leaving tonight and to be prepared for the call. Lily had already swiped the Lacrima since Gajeel had been busy and with his tiny stature and ability to fly it was easy to get in and out with it.

The bluenette walked out of the boy's dorm and clutched the strap of her yellow backpack tight. "Stay strong." The cool wind blew and it felt great on her neck she for some reason she felt a little more powerful than before.

Lucy rushed home to get prepared for the mission. Toothbrush, perfume, pajamas, hair brush, underwear same old same old things you would pack for a long trip. Her diary was also a necessity, talking to her mother was important and she loved documenting her adventures with friends. On her desk she managed to find a picture of her father to frame, oddly enough it was picture where he was smiling, a picture of her mother sat on the upper level of her desk, she missed them both dearly but she wanted to live her life to the fullest for them.

A little twinge in her heart resounded and it hurt but also reminded her how much she loved them. Now back to packing! Snacks for the trip, mouth wash, pen to write with, make up, magic cat- magic cat? Lucy unpacked Happy and stared at him, "Wh-what are you doing here?"

Happy sniffled and whined, "Natsu won't go anywhere and he keeps ignoring me!"

Lucy smiled and hugged the cat, "Where is he?"

The blue cat rubbed his eyes and went limp in her arms, "He has been outside all day training, Natsu never works out this much!"

He was right, Natsu never trained on his own, the only time he got fighting experience was through their missions and the constant rough housing. That guy was just naturally good at fighting and abnormally strong, it was odd that he was being proactive for such a long time. She thought back to last night and had a feeling he was acting weird because of her, the smart thing to do would be to leave without a word and hope he gets over it, if she went over there he would want answers that she could not provide. The right thing to do was to try and make up with him before she left, if something were to happen to her she wouldn't want the last thing they remembered was their little fight.

Which one to choose? Her heart said talk to him but her brain said he would be fine. Lucy started to think back on everything they've done together and he had never left her alone like she would be doing to him. He never hid anything from her though. Lucy was going to go with heart like always, "Alright Happy leave it to me. I think Carla's still at the Guild if you want to wait there?" Happy flew out of her arms with excitement and cheered. They both agreed to meet at the Guild with Natsu later. He told her that Natsu had been hanging around their house and the lake in the wood where Happy and he fished, she left her packing supplies at her apartment for now.

It took her until an hour before dinner time to get to Natsu's gross and broken up house. The Master always tried to fix the place up but Natsu always insisted that it was only a temporary place and not worth putting money into. It was a quaint little hut that made her smile, she had only been there a few times because he always came over to her place, the inside was a mess and one time she actually decided to clean it! It lasted a week before it all went back to the way it started.

In the distant she started to hear some strange noises, they were loud but she couldn't tell if someone was just yelling noises or actually saying something. Lucy looked around to try and find a light source from his fire and ever so faintly she saw momentary flashes of light toward the lake area. "What could he be doing still?"

She trudged through the brush and made her way closer to him, she tried to be quiet to make sure she didn't ruin what he was doing. She could hear his grunts getting louder and louder and Lucy tried to see what it was, bending down and looking around leaves to see, it wasn't helping too much though. The celestial mage for a moment had not watch where she was stepping and as she came close to him and she caught her foot on a root and fell flat on her face. "KYAA!" Lucy was able to put her arms in front of her face to at least cushion her fall.

Natsu had been doing a bunch of tedious chores the whole day and lost track of time. At first he punched some trees, cut some wood with an axe he found in the rubble of his home, swam in the lake, caught fish, and now he was practicing his magic as well as his fighting. It felt great to do all those things for a change, before he knew it though a whole day had gone by, Happy had come to beg him to come home but he just really needed to get everything out of his system before he faced everyone.

That's when in the middle of his training he heard rustling in the woods, at first he thought it was either Happy or some animals that were just curious, as he kept going though he started to notice that the steps were insecure and made by something larger than just a stray dog or a raccoon. It wasn't until he heard the squealing that he recognized it was his team mate Lucy, he sighed heavily and stopped his practicing.

Lucy let out some grumbles and flipped over to her back, she had dirt all over her now and a couple scrapes from the sticks and rocks she landed on. "Shit..." She cursed a couple more times until she saw a pair of familiar legs and she grinned awkwardly. "Hey there! Just um… Coming to check on you."

He didn't really look to amused until he saw the pathetic state she was in, he couldn't help but smirk and hold out a hand to help her up, "More like I'm checking on you."

She giggled a little and then flipped on her stomach, Lucy took his offered hand to help herself get up and a small blush came to her cheeks. "Y-yeah sorry. Um." The blonde paused and took the time to try and brush some loose dirt off and pick off some twigs, "Happy said you've been out here all day?"

Natsu nodded and looked back at the small open area next to the lake he was at, "Yeah. I uh felt like cutting wood and stuff." The situation was beginning to get a little awkward as they both fell silent.

"Look. Natsu…" Her saying his name grabbed at his heart for a moment and she had his full attention. "Happy is worried about you working too hard." Well that hurt a little bit. Natsu took a shallow breath in, for some reason hearing that only Happy was worried made him angry.

He cracked his knuckles and refused to make eye contact with her, "Oh so you're here because Happy sent you?"

"Well yes." She realized what she had just said and saw his anger so she quickly held up her hands almost touching his sweaty torso, "I mean we both are. I was going to come find you anyway but Happy ended up finding me and told me where you were."

That felt a whole lot better, he smirked and cracked his neck, the situation was still a little stale and he just couldn't stand still. "Well, here I am."

She nodded and started to twirl her fingers around one another, the way she bit her bottom lip inticed something inside of him. "Yeah um I wanted to tell you something too, want to walk back with me and I can tell you?"

The dragon slayer really didn't want to hear what she was going to say, he just had a feeling it was going to be something bad or something that would make him mad. No good news comes after something like that. "Yeah sure." Shit.

They both started to walk through the woods side by side, she still hadn't gotten the courage to say anything that she wanted to say and it was killing her with every step. The silence had been killing Natsu as well, he almost wanted to start running if she wasn't going to say something soon.

"I-." Lucy started to say it but her words caught in her throat. It went on like that for a few minutes as the navigated the woods, it was harder to see as the sun started to dip down further and further toward the horizon. She would trip or fall into his strong shoulders and he was so solid that she could fall into him and he wouldn't falter, it was kind of convenient.

"Natsu I'm sorry." She finally said it. "I know you want me to open up to you but it's hard." The weight in her heart was starting to lift and she ended up smiling at her cowardly self.

He looked over at her expression that seemed so lost and lonely and started to feel bad for letting her be in this position. "Luce its fine I understand. Just." Natsu couldn't go any further. He was about to tell her to lean on him and let him protect her. That wasn't something he hadn't said before but it seemed like the wrong time, the words caught in his throat and he didn't feel worthy of telling her. "I'm here as a team mate if you need me."

"Just a team mate?" His heart skipped and she looked at him with the saddest of eyes.

"Well I mean we are best friends too I'm just- just saying I'm here."

Lucy stared at him but ended up accepting his explanation and looking away from him. She put both of her arms behind her back and held her hands together, it felt nice that he had offered his ear as a friend but it hurt that he still didn't think of her the way she did him. "Alright. Thanks."

They both went silent again and as they reached the edge of the woods Lucy once again misplaced her step and almost fell forward, she let out a whine and closed her eyes but the ground never hit. Instead, a pair of strong hands held her and her face lay perfectly on a muscular chest. Her heart began to race while being in this position and as she adjusted her standing, she looked up into his worried face and for a moment, she wished he would stay like this forever with her. "You alright?" His voice broke through her warm thoughts and she had to blink a couple times to clear her perverted cloud.

"Y-yeah I just tripped. Thanks for catching me." She wasn't moving anytime soon, now she wanted to see his long he was going to let her be this close to him. Lucy placed her hands on his chest and the sensation of his warm skin danced across her skin.

Natsu was having a hard time keeping composure, he could feel her plump chest against his body and her fingers traced his muscles every now and then. Her face was so innocent and lost that he had feelings he never had before. Natsu wanted to pull her in for a hug and even more he wanted to feel her lips against his. "No problem… That's what I'm here for." Oh lord she stepped forward a little more and pushed herself against him even more, his hands slid down her arms and they both started to feel chills.

"Wow I never realized how cold it was starting to get." Lucy gave him her adorable smile and kept looking at him like she was an innocent baby bunny rabbit. She pushed herself against him even more, "Gosh you are so warm as always."

God she was killing him. He grabbed her arms again and pushed her away a little to get some breathing room. "Yeah! I am a fire dragon slayer after all" He started to laugh like numbskull and rubbed his salmon colored hair with his right hand. When he looked back her she looked really hurt.

"Yeah right…" Lucy tried to smile at him and go along with the mood he was setting. She honestly thought for a moment that he would respond to her and now she felt like an idiot for trying. "Let's keep going, Happy is at the Guild."

Natsu let her go and watched her walk away, "Yeah ok."

She was silent for a majority of their walk but wasn't angry enough to walk without him. She needed to tell him she was leaving tonight without him now before she got back to the Guild, she really shouldn't waste time walking back to the Guild with the idiot, but she promised Happy. "Hey. Mira, Levy and I are going out of town for a little while, just to let you know."

Well that was a bomb shell for him, "Want any more company?"

Lucy looked over at him for only a moment but refused to make eye contact, "Well it's actually a make-up trip for girl's night. We'll be back in no time though. Mira will be with us too so you don't have to worry about us."

Well that was a huge rejection, it made sense though that they wouldn't want any men on the trip though. "Yeah ok. Have fun then. When are you leaving?"

"Tonight."

"Oh." Well there went the mission he had seen in the Guild yesterday.

"Yup." They were silent the rest of the way to the Guild and once they reached the doors Lucy said her goodbyes. Some ruckus could still be heard inside and Natsu watched her walk away, something in his stomach churned and he felt like something bad was happening, almost as if he wouldn't see her again.

Natsu waited until he couldn't see her anymore before opening the doors to the Guild and walking inside, Happy immediately attacking his face upon entry. Hopefully Lucy was going to come back soon, and hopefully girl's time out didn't get crazy.

Levy had a harder time in the wooded area of course, her dragon slayer had the power of iron instead of fire. The sun was setting and she tried really hard to tread carefully, especially since there were rocks and roots everywhere that would hurt if she fell on them. "Jeez this stinks." She grumbled and then looked over to find a dead animal just beginning to rot. "Literally."

The bluenette wandered what seemed like forever, the only light source she had was fading quickly into the distance and she didn't have enough energy to use her magic. Her nerves were setting in when she started to realize just how lost she was. "Gajeel!" She called out desperately.

She yelled like that multiple times and had no results, which was odd because of his sensitive hearing. Levy felt her heart beat in her finger tips and her throat as she started to grow scared, where was he and which way was she supposed to go?

That's when she decided to keep walking in one direction until she found something, the odds that she wouldn't see a familiar land mark at some point were low. The sun was falling fast and her heart beat stayed slow but strong. "I still haven't packed for the mission…" At this point saying Goodbye to him or apologizing wasn't worth it.

Little did she know, Gajeel had already returned to the dorms when the sun touched the horizon. He had done the same as Natsu but he had journeyed a little farther into the woods to find creatures to brawl with. Lily had popped in and out all day to check up but for some reason his cat friend hadn't shown up these past couple of hours.

The tall and muscular mage trudged through the streets feeling better about the night before, though he was feeling disappointed that she had not come to look for him. Gajeel made it to his room and pushed the door open, surprising Lily, "G-Gajeel I didn't expect you to be home," The black cat looked around to try and find Levy but only the dragon slayer stood there. "Where is Levy?"

Gajeel crossed his arms and glared, "How should I know?"

"She went to go get you a long time ago." Lily shifted his stance to cover a satchel behind his back, Gajeel was too distracted by the news to even register what Panther Lily was doing.

"And you let her go alone?"

"You've been out since last night, I didn't think you were going to come back at your own."

He really didn't have time for the arguing, they needed to find Levy because nightfall was coming and she was in the woods alone. "Lets go." Gajeel was out of the door fast with Lily trailing behind him.

Panther Lily had grabbed the bag with the Lacrima inside for the girls, becoming his humanoid form which was just a buff and talle panther that could walk on two legs. This was his exceed magic that was special to him, he chose to do this so he could keep up with Gajeel and hold the bag properly.

Levy took a rest by a tree, walking for so long took a toll on her body and her mind, she was starting to get very tired and her eyelids were heavy, "Ah jeez…"

She managed to look around and began to notice that the area she stopped in was familiar. "What is going on?" Levy could have sworn she passed this area several times.

"_Find me…"_

Her heart felt like it had stopped for a moment after she heard the whisper in the air.

"_Free ME…."_

It was still a whisper but it somehow seemed closer and louder to her. She whipped her head around to try and find the person behind the voice, it sounded like the one in the Library only a little different, it could have been the growling undertone when it spoke. There was no sign of a person in the woods with her no matter how many times she tried to looked around the trees and bushes.

"_FIND… Me…."_

It got louder and more demanding, it seemed like she was supposed to obey him rather than help him. Levy grabbed her head and yelled out to it, "Leave me alone!" She felt like she was being rattled around and the world began to spin. Somewhere in the darkness of the woods she saw a distorted black shadow. The petite girl closed her eyes tight and almost started to cry, her body went weak and limp and she was about to snap.

"Shrimp!"

"Levy!"

Levy woke up violently from the dragon slayer shaking her shoulders, she was still in the woods like in her dreams but when she looked around she could see the lights of the Guild and the Dorms off in the distance unlike in her dream. The shaggy black haired male was towering over her small frame and had a stressed expression, his teeth were clenched so tight she could see the muscle in his jaw move. "Gajeel?" Levy started to wake up after just a few seconds, the dram she had was so real.

Panther Lily had a shocked looked on his face as he ran up to them both, it almost seemed like he was glaring at her.

"Oh hey guys…" She smiled at them both still a little out of it but feeling better after her nap, Levy was just happy to be awake at this point too.

"Don't hey guys me." Lily growled. "You said you'd be fine!"

Gajeel lifted her gently off the ground and looked between the two, "What are you going on about?"

Levy made a slicing motion with her hand across her throat to try and get Lily to stop talking but the Exceed seemed to be ignoring it completely.

"No Levy, I'm done. You aren't going anymore." Lily held onto the strap of the satchel tight, she had realized that it contained the lacrima when she saw the creases in the bag.

"That's not for you to decide!" She tried to yell at him and forced her way off the ground. Gajeel was confused as hell and decided to let them go at it and wait until one of them spills the beans.

Lily threw his bulky arms in the air in frustration and turned away from her so he didn't explode. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then turned back to face her, "What sane person would let you go in this condition?"

"Lily shut up!" She started to cry and her face was beet red. "Stop please."

Gajeel intervened at this point and stepped between the two, he started by facing Lily, What are you two talking about?"

Levy forced himself around her dragon slayer bodyguard and gave Lily a look, "I'm leaving tonight to go with Lucy and Mirajane on a trip."

Panther Lily was at his boiling point now, "A trip?! You can't take care of yourself and you want us to feel OK about you going on your "trip"?" Lily put a sarcastic tone to the word trip, trying to emphasize her little white lie.

"How did you know about her trip? And what trip is this?" Gajeel interrupted their squabble and watched the two react awkwardly, Lily had made a decision that this mission could not go on without the dragon slayers knowing but as he stepped forward to tell Gajeel, Levy stopped him with a soft hand on his arm.

She looked up at Lily and had a very tired expression, her eyes just seemed so vacant but she continued the conversation for him. "I'm going to investigate something with Lucy and Mirajane. I asked Lily for help."

So she asked Panther Lily for help before him? That stung worse than his first piercing. Panther Lily crossed his arms and grunted, not satisfied with the vague answer but wasn't going to destroy everything just yet. "Does it have to do with the way you've been all week?"

Levy looked pained and she started to play with her dress, "Uh yeah… I just haven't been able to sleep well and I really want to do this on my own… I need you guys to trust me to do this." She wouldn't make eye contact.

Lily and Gajeel locked eyes and even though he saw resistance in his comrade's eyes, he didn't feel he had the right to stop her from doing what she wanted. It was nice of her to even ask for his trust, even though it should've been the other way around. "I can't tell you what to do Shrimp." He stared at her and she still refused to make eye contact with him and he grunted, "If you're going to do this you need to be more confident then that!"

She jumped and accidentally caught his eyes.

"Do whatever you have to do." Levy gave him the happiest smile he had seen in a while, it gave him a lighter feeling but the worry still rose. "I'll be here waiting for you to ask for help though."

Levy giggled and nodded, "Ok!" The smaller girl reached into her bag and pulled out his second book, "I accidentally gave you the book I need for this."

He reached into his vest and grabbed the journal to hand over to her, he took a peak at the author of the book as he handed it over to her. Levy reached for it but he snapped it back at the last second, "Levy." Oh gosh he used her name again, her cheeks felt warm and she melted internally. "Is this thing dangerous?"

"I- um." She wanted to tell him it could be, but if he worried more about it maybe he wouldn't let her go, "I promise I'll ask for help if it becomes too much. But I can't say more than that."

Gajeel flipped the book back into her hand and grabbed his. "Let's go Shrimp." He started to walk and Levy quietly followed him. Lily couldn't help but sigh at those two, if only they would admit their feelings for one another, Gajeel would have had the courage to force more information out of her, or maybe she would have just told him. He looked at his bag with the Lacrima inside and decided to go along for now, but if Gajeel asked for details, he would reveal them.

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**ALRIGHT! The mission is going to start! Shit is going down! Will Laxus find out what is going on before they can leave? Will Natsu let Lucy go without him? How will the guys deal with them being gone? And we all know it's going to happen but will Gray really tell Natsu his newfound information? We will find out in the next couple of chapters so please keep reading to find out!**


	8. Release

**Alright this is the next installment. I'll let you know that this is where the traveling starts but I can't tell you anything else. Read and enjoy! I do not own Fairy Tail sadly and the characters here are based off of those characters. OH! I lied one more thing, if you are not old enough to handle M material this is where you stop reading. ;)**

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Lucy ended up back at her apartment safely to grab her things. She saw the door of her apartment from far away and decided to jog the rest of the way, Levy and Mira were probably waiting on them at this point and the mission needed to start soon. The moon was only a sliver of light tonight and the clouds were very scarce, it was actually beautiful to see the stars shinning so much brighter the usual, she would notice that the dimmer the moon became the easier it was to spot stars. She smiled up at the Taurus and Gemini constellations before turning up onto her doorstep.

As she reached for the doorknob she noticed it wasn't fully closed, her heart dropped and Lucy had hoped that she had left it that way. Just in case, the blonde grabbed for her keys and had them ready in her left hand while she reached for the doorknob with her free hand. Lucy quickly turned it and pushed it open, the lights were off but she could clearly see in the middle of her room, a dark shadow staring at her, "Who are you? Why are you in my apartment?" She yelled at the intruder but he didn't move or answer back.

Her knees began to shake but she clutched onto her keys tightly for strength, "Answer me!"

"Run…"

"What?" Lucy felt a cold breeze rush over her skin, did they just tell her to run? Who was this crazy bastard? Her heart felt heavy and her chest felt like something was smashing it.

She stepped forward once, "And why would I want to do that?"

In the blink of an eye the shadow was in front of her face, there were no features to make out, it was just a black silhouette. "Awakened."

Lucy wanted to scream, her whole body told her to defend herself and then run but she was frozen where she stood. "W-who is?"

"Dragon…"

Her knees were going to buckle in fear but something told her to fight on a little longer to get information, "Who sent you? Are you talking about Aatos?"

The shadow went silent for what seemed like forever, she swallowed and tried to take another step back without falling down her steps, she just needed some space between them. Lucy looked down to the ground from the corners of her eyes so she could place her foot and when she looked back up to the shadow she saw a Cheshire smile of sharp teeth. Lucy let took in a sharp breath of air and went wide eyed, naturally she was now afraid for her life. "Death…" It hissed before dissipating into the air.

The tears formed in her eyes as the memories of what just occurred were now stamped into her brain. She shook her head to try and get rid of that evil grin, what was that thing and what was it saying? Her head started to hurt and flashes from her nightmare came forward, smoke and yelling surrounded her. The celestial mage felt helpless again and she dropped to her knees about to cry. "Lucy."

Loke had summoned himself in the street behind her, he could sense something had been going on here in Earthland but he expected her to be in some kind of life or death situation. Instead he just found a crumpled mess on her stairs, "Loke…" She whispered. He immediately walked up the stairs and grabbed her shoulders to let her know he was there.

"What happened?"

"Loke. I don't know what to do…." He lifted her up and helped her into her apartment. She sat on the bed while he walked around the room to find some tea to drink and calm her down, while he did so she explained what had happened the past couple of days with a few exceptions here and there.

The orange hair celestial guardian sighed and straightened out his tux, "It doesn't look like they moved anything or broke anything, whatever they were." She clasped onto a cup of green tea and stared into the liquid, she could see a tiny part of her reflection in it which had an unusually calming effect. "What did he say to you again?"

Lucy looked over at her Leo spirit for a moment before looking back into the cup, "Run. Awakened. Dragon… and Death." They both sat in the silence for a while to think, she started to rotate her cup a little to watch the edge of the liquid slide across the inside surface of the cup, wondering just how little force it would take to get it over the brim of the cup. "What is it supposed to mean?"

Her spirit guardian walked over and sat on her left side, "Maybe finding the egg is a bad idea. I feel like it was telling you to stay away from the egg."

"But why?"

"I wouldn't know the intentions. It could be saying things to make you not go as well. Since we have no idea who they are. Who's to say it wasn't someone else that was approached by the egg's consciousness." Her crossed his arms and sighed. "Honestly not going is your best option."

Lucy threw her hands up at that remark and threw herself on her bed, "I don't want to wuss out over something so vague though. Levy is going to go whether or not I say no, I can feel it."

Loke leaned against her door and looked up to the clock on the wall, it was hitting 9:00 pm and the last train would be leaving soon. "It's up to you Lucy."

She didn't want to hear that, she wanted him to tell her to go. At that point she had her own answer though, Lucy didn't know yet but she wanted reassurance that going was still the right thing. "Thanks Loke…" Lucy started to finish her packing and he saluted her before dissipating and returning to the Spirit World.

"Call for me if you need me." Was the last thing he said before leaving her to her thoughts.

Mirajane cleaned her bar area for the night and checked the room with the magical items that the Guild uses for missions sometimes, some were items brought back from missions as well and put up for preservation or future use for others. She had a key for every door because her involvement with the Guild was almost like a secretary for the Guild Master.

He trusted her with everything and gave her responsibility after her little sister passed away to help create a distraction and a transition. Thankfully it had turned out her little sister Lisanna was actually alive, the pain from then still remained and hindered her everyday life sometimes still. Now that she was back, Mirajane had been able to release some of the worry and start participating in battles seriously like before. She searched through her key rings and found the one labeled 'MS' for Magic Storage.

She had to let Panther Lily borrow the key earlier to get the Lacrima but she needed to rearrange some things just in case someone came in the look around and noticed Lacrima were missing without being signed out. It was helpful to keep track of things in a book Freed had suggested to let everyone know what was available and when it would be available again.

"Alrighty, just gotta move this over here." She grabbed the shelf that had 5 Lacrima's sitting on each and moved it to a corner. Three of them still remained so she arranged them to sit one on each shelf putting the three remaining from top to bottom and moved a smaller table with a magic book on one side of the shelf and a tall doll on the other side and leaning against the empty shelf with her head. "Not the best but it will do for now."

Mira moved a couple more things around to fill up the spot the other items had left and as she started to walk out she heard voices on the other side of the door. She couldn't help but listen in, gossip was another distraction she had taken up on to heal.

"Where did he go? We always stick together and somehow he always gives us the slip." Freed could be heard clearly from behind the door. Seriously his love for Laxus was the cutest thing.

Mira pressed harder against the door to hear the others. "I can't believe he just takes her word and leaves it at that. I know there is more going on." Ever was as annoying as ever. Her matter of fact way of talking drove her and others nuts, she didn't mean to be that way most of them time, and frankly Mira couldn't hater her. Elfman couldn't hate her either, poor guy tries so hard to pretend like he doesn't care because of how awkward they are, but he hates that she hangs around Laxus.

He would do a rant every now and then when he thought no one was looking, since Laxus was stronger than him he felt inferior when she refused to be around him so that she can hang with them. Elfman fights with himself knowing they are all just friends and one time Mira had to show her older sister love and reassure him of that, but he was still human.

She couldn't hear as well anymore since they started to get farther from the door she was behind but she managed to hear the words – fake, babies, plan, and chest. Of course she heard them mention Laxus again but she was starting to wonder whose chest they were talking about, hopefully they weren't trying to say her chest was fake because she was willing to prove them wrong.

As soon as she heard silence she nonchalantly walked out of the MS room and in the opposite direction. He was alone again and she was going to take advantage of it before she left. It took a short amount of time to climb the Guild and navigate to the hiding spot he always ended up at. A small room that had an open back to a balcony, a nice black metal table sat where the room ended and had a glass face. There were four chairs that sat close together and faced the outdoors for those who would want to enjoy the view. Laxus wasn't in this area though, he always climbed over the thick metal railing and onto the roof, it was the best hiding spot because of the small piece of the roof stuck out in a thick triangle shape where the room opened up and there was enough coverage for someone to sit against it and hide from view. She opened the door and he didn't even flinch, sometimes he would witness a confession or two and he would stay silent not to ruin the moment, he assumed this was one of those times.

"One hundred Jewels if you jump." Mirajane teased as she walked onto the balcony part of the room and leaned against the railing. Crossing her arms under her chest and letting her girls show off a little. Laxus was surprised by her presence but wasn't surprised she knew his hiding spot already.

He gave a short chuckle, "Only one hundred? That's a rip off."

Mirajane looked to her right to see him with his right knee peeked and his adjacent arm resting on it, "You look so young that way. You remind me of Peter Pan."

"Don't compare me to a tight loving kidnapper. I at least deserve the guy that has a flying ship."

"Captain Hook."

"Yeah that guy."

It was nice to have a pretty normal conversation but soon they just enjoyed the silence together. "I'm leaving tonight, I'll need you to hold down the fort while I'm gone."

"I feel like that won't be hard to do."

"Says the one who disappears for months at a time. Or how about that time you stayed away for years at a time." Mirajane turned around to lean her back against the edge. "I bet you won't last a day."

He grew eerily silent, his eyes almost went vacant for a moment and she had felt bad for bringing it up. Those times were filled with a different Laxus that he was not proud of, before he had realized the way the world really worked and the strength he could have in others. Sometimes the old Laxus could come out with that way he spoke but he had a good heart. "That's true, if Gramps didn't have you a lot of this wouldn't have been possible."

Her heart skipped a beat and she let it show this time, she always felt safe around him so she never put up a guard. It was so easy to be more of herself when it was just the two of them, these were the moments she treasured. "We couldn't have gotten through some of the stuff we did without your return though. I'm glad you came back." It was his turn to choke back embarrassment.

"Mirajane." Oh god here it went again, thankfully she had herself against the railing or her knees would have failed on her. He threw himself over the roof's edge and down onto the balcony. "I'm not leaving anymore."

She wanted to believe him but someday he would have to leave again to do something important, "You don't have to stay, you have teammates and important missions."

Laxus sighed heavily and walked over to her, grabbing the railings on each side of there and pinning her there, he loomed over her and sent chills up her arms. She couldn't help but blush at feeling controlled and grounded, Mira loved the way he took charge and it always relieved the pent up stress she had. "That not what I mean." He looked troubled and she couldn't help but reach up and touch his rough cheek with her hand.

"You never have had a way with words." Once she realized what she was doing she went to move her hand quickly when he grabbed it and placed it back.

They both stared into each other's eyes and for a moment she felt like a kid again, her stomach was rumbling with butterfly and she felt like flying. "When I almost lost you, when I went away because I thought it would be better and almost lost my life." He stopped there and realized the pain in her eyes.

They hadn't talked about those couple of months yet and they hadn't had the chance to. He had heard from others that she wanted to stay by his side and only left when she absolutely had to, he couldn't fight his attraction to her anymore. Just when he had realized and recovered he had heard what the Guild had to face without his team and what Mirajane had to go through. Of course the demon takeover mage wouldn't have told him, she never let anyone worry about her. He had to let go of her hand because his grip became tighter than he would have liked it. "We are still here. I'm still here. I'll always be here." Laxus put his free hand behind her soft white hair and started to pull her closer.

"You better prepare yourself."

Mirajane playfully used her finger nails and lightly grazed them down his neck, "I'm the demon remember?" God they had so much tension and passion that needed to be released. His manhood was telling him to take her before she left but it would take too long and she would miss her train. It was hard to fight with her dragging her nails along his skin. "What's the matter?"

"The fact that I can't have you yet."

Oh jeez he was such a pervert and she loved it, "I'll be back. When the Guild starts to fall apart."

"Don't act like you won't be calling me for help."

"If I do would you come?"

That's when the conversation took a darker turn that he wouldn't realize until it was too late. "Of course, faster than a lightning strike."

"Oh wow so corny Laxus." She giggled and gave him a smooch on his cheek. "Heard your posse looking for you earlier. Better get back to them." He didn't want to but he let go of her and let her walk away, god he liked watching her walk away.

It was his turn to lean against the railing now and grunt over the fact that his teammates didn't have any other friends to bother willingly. "Don't remind me."

"Want me to tell them where you are?"

"Do it I dare ya."

"You caught me, I like hiding spots too much." Mirajane looked over her shoulder to wink and then made her way out. While she could walk away and brush off her emotions and urges in a heartbeat, he was now stuck to wait for his erection to go away.

Nothing he couldn't handle though, "That little vixen caught me in a corner, I hate that." That was a lie. He absolutely loved it.

Levy had everything she needed and she stood by the train station for Lucy and Mira to arrive. She started to fiddle with her dress and before long Lily flicked her leg, causing her to flinch. 'Ow what gives…"

Lily smirked at her, "You told me to do that so you wouldn't fidget anymore."

"Oh right…. Where are they though?" She started to stretch her body out, thinking that if she was just a little bit taller she might see them coming better.

The Black Cat relaxed his body and leaned his back against the train station building, "They'll be here." With a few more minute of silence he finally scratched the back of his head and got up the courage to talk to her again. "Hey listen I'm sorry I almost blabbed I just-"

"Hey." She interrupted with clear force and a monotone voice. "I get it Lily." Levy was back to her peppy self that was more natural than the past few days. It was nice to see that because she was able to get Gajeel's trust and semi-approval that she would regain some of her energy back.

Lucy on the other hand seemed off and they could tell from a mile away. She came running with a couple bags strapped around her body, "HEY!" She started to yell and wave her arms as if she needed to distinguish herself from a crowd.

It took her several minutes to finish running over and she took a well-deserved break sitting on her heels and breathing evenly. "Hey sorry I was almost late."

"No worries we got here early." Levy used a hand to pat her friends head, it was a habit she picked up from Gajeel since he would do that to her whenever she was feeling bad. She started to think back to when he dropped her off at her Dorm after their talk. He didn't make eye contact with her but he put his massive man hand on her blue hair and ruffled it around a little telling her to be careful. It was nice to see his gestures and phrases change into kinder ones.

Panther Lily looked to see Mira jogging over to them from far away. "Looks like everyone is ready to leave. So far so good." Lily grabbed a brown satchel that was sitting by Levy's feet and opened it up to see that the Lacrima was still there. "This one will be yours for the trip. The other is at Gajeel's place."

Lucy raised her hand like she was in class so she wouldn't interrupt but got confused looks from the other two and Mirajane who got over to them in a surprising amount of time from just jogging. "Won't Gajeel find out if you keep it there?"

Levy kicked her feet a little, "Well he knows that this is a mission not a shopping spree…."

Lucy crossed her arms and glared, "Oh so Levy gets to bend the rules?" She teased and smirked at her shorter friend.

"W-well the situation called for it!" Mirajane leaned in and started to play with Levy's cheeks.

She had a devilish grin on and started to fake giggle, "Ooooooh someone's moving up in the book of Gajeel hmmmmmm?"

Levy puffed her cheeks and started to flail, "It's not like that!" They all four started to laugh together and messing around. The fun was just about to begin though and once they were done they put their hands in the middle and gave each other smiles, gazing around the circle at the other members.

"We know the plan, we can do this." All of them nodded and on the mental count of three they lifted their hands in the air and threw the Fairy Tail Guild sign.

"LETS GO!"

It was the start of a once in a lifetime mission with a once in a lifetime team. The shadows in the alley adjacent to the station started to quiver as if something or someone had moved, hopefully it a shadow made by light.

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**HERE WE GO! Did ya'll like the romance scene. I always imagined these two having more of a rough sexual relationship. What about you guys? Let me know you're opinions in the review section and tell me what you want to see next! Also a little update! Work and personal time is getting in the way of making my updates on Fridays SO expect them to come out more around Sunday! See ya next week!**


	9. Getting on Track

**Hey everyone! Sundays is definitely going to be my update day from now on. Working a full time job and it's been harder to balance work/personal/story life D: but I'll work hard to do it earlier. So enjoy this new installment! I do not own Fairy Tail, and a reminder that yuuba from tumblr is the artist of my thumbnail for this story, check out her blog if you want more fanart.**

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"So here is the battle plan."

Since they got on the train the only thing they've done is sleep for the next day. When the sun came up they were a fourth of the way there. Levy opened up the book to find the map and pointed to they were approximately. "Considering we are about a fourth of the way there this may be easier than originally thought."

Mirajane shrugged and leaned back in her booth, "As long as we are prepared for the worst it won't matter how it really turns out."

The petite girl thumped her elbows on the table between them and sighed, "I'll feel like an idiot if it's easy though."

Lucy had gotten back to the seat in time to hear Levy's whine, she slowly dropped her hand on the girl's shoulder so she wouldn't startle and then squeezed it. "We'll think of something to make it cool if it somehow goes that way."

"Yeah, I mean everyone thinks we are going shopping anyway. We can spice it up with some kind of fight." Mirajane crossed her legs and gently tapped Levy's legs.

It managed to make Levy smile and she scoot herself across the booth to let Lucy in. "Which reminds me."

Mirajane watched the two switch spots and fit themselves into the booth. "We should check up I guess. It's almost time to start those anyway." Lucy pointed to their pile of bags next to Mira and she reached over to grab the satchel she had seen around Panther Lily before they got on the train.

Levy grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper so that she could write down her thoughts for the other girls. "How often are we checking in?" Mirajane asked, although she had known most of the plan she never got in on the talk for the Lacrima communication.

The celestial mage held out her hand to grab the magical item, "Well at first I think we agreed on every hour."

"We may have to do every two considering we have to sleep at some point." Levy cut in while she made her bullets and steps simplified to explain. Writing her thoughts on paper made it easier to explain to others.

Mirajane giggled, "Even so every two hours is still pretty often."

"You don't understand Lily will freak if we ask him for two. He almost told on us before we left." The other two straightened up and stared at her.

Lucy held the Lacrima close to her stomach, "Way to tell us just now. How can we trust he won't freak?" Especially after all that stuff she went through with Natsu. He already had a hard time not going for a shopping spree let alone a mission, especially if he knew it could be dangerous, that guy loved getting into trouble.

"Let's hope he doesn't cave to Laxus. Right now he is satisfied with what I told him but if anyone talks about this more he will start an investigation." She rolled her eyes and started to play with her hair. He cared, and she knew it, but it was still so annoying how he started to micromanage everything. With the fact that she blatantly lied to him, if he found out then he wouldn't trust her again, they just got over the bumps in their road and she couldn't imagine the fight this would cause. "I'm counting on no mental break downs."

Lucy started to draw circles on the crystal ball and smirk at Mirajane, "You've got him wrapped around your finger. I wonder how that happened." The two best friend leaned close to one another and then leaned toward their white haired bodyguard.

She giggled and waved them off, "If we are going to start pointing fingers how about you distracting people by confessing your love for Natsu to Juvia?"

That set off fireworks in Lucy's stomach and she tried to hide herself behind the Lacrima, "H-hey she wasn't supposed to tell anyone…"

Levy elbowed her, "That's one of the reasons we couldn't have her come remember?"

Mirajane shook her head and leaned into the table like the other girls, resting her chin on the back of her hands. "No no. I have ears everywhere. She whispered it to herself while I was walking by. Although Gray might have heard." She winked evily and was happy they were distracted with Lucy's love life. Hers was too complicated even for her if she even had one, right now it was sexual tension more than anything.

"Oh jeez if she blabbed to Gray there is no way he won't tell Natsu."

"At least you'll be gone when it happens."

"I feel like that's worse."

Mirajane tried her best not to laugh at her expense but it was too cute how she was embarrassed about it. "Levy you're not off the hook either. If Panther Lily almost told what did you have to do to distract Gajeel?"

Lucy was the one to start elbowing now, "Yeah yeah, what happened?"

"W-well nothing really."

"Do tell~" Mirajane purred at the book worm.

Levy twirled the pencil between her fingers. "It wasn't too dramatic…" She started to recall those awful visions of people and her stomach twisted a little. The sight of Gajeel being worried over her, she had only seen him show that expression one other time it made her blush which the other girls took the wrong way.

Lucy set the Lacrima on the seat next to her so that she could fully lean her right side on the table to fully face her friend, "Spill it."

"Well it was more of Lily yelling at me and me yelling back." The other two gave her bewildered looks since they haven't heard her seriously yell in anger before. "I did cry because of my emotions running high. Eventually I had him say he trusted me."

Mirajane leaned in more, "What did he say?"

Levy sank into her seat and crossed her arms, "He said he did, nothing special…"

"But still Levy that is kind of big. If he expressed any kind of emotion besides anger and pride that is."

It wasn't that it wasn't necessarily true but when she was with him he had other emotions too. Although he really didn't do it outside of their group so she couldn't get upset. It wasn't like they were a couple either so she couldn't defend him. Levy shook her head and sat back up. "Anyway! Battle plan!"

She copied a rough sketch of the map onto a piece of papers and mapped out the train tracks on the map. They would have to take two different trains that intersected halfway there. That would take about a day to get to the intersection so they would arrive at the town by nightfall. "Since there is no way to get in contact with the Inn early we will have to press our luck with getting a room. This area is industrial and has a lot of tourists so there are a bunch of people who rent out rooms in their house too so we may have to take safety shifts."

Lucy ran her finger around the circle Levy had drawn at the intersection, "How long do we stay before we catch the next train?"

"There is no way to tell since this train never goes through our section of the map. We will have to call it like we see it."

Levy grabbed her glasses to see better, her eyes were starting to get worn out and it helped her focus more. "Which is really distressing since we will be so vulnerable." She started to draw the second railway a little more until their next stop. "Which bring us to this second railway. The map I saw was out dated and I think it has a split that goes farther up north but to find out we'd have to stop two thirds of the way there."

"Still looks far away too."

"If there isn't a split that mean we have to rent a cart that runs on magic power the rest of the way."

Levy pointed her pencil at Mira, "Correct. Which isn't good when it comes to escaping potential enemies. If it doesn't split though we go in the opposite direction and back down toward Magnolia."

Lucy sighed, "It seems like this is going to be more difficult than easy."

"The cart won't be so bad to get away, if we get attacked on a train though there isn't any way to escaped really." Mirajane cracked her neck and got comfy in her seat. "Except into the air."

Lucy shivered at the thought of having to fly out of danger, mostly because Mira would have to carry both girls, she was a demon-takeover mage of course and her strength would be multiplied extremely but still if they were in battle it'd be hard to carry and defend. "Everything seem to be split decision. Thankfully we have a way to communicate back to Lily. It'll help get another voice in the situation."

The Lacrima started to glow a little which spooked Lucy a little and Mira giggled, "Speak of the devil." The blonde blushed and grabbed the sphere and put it on top of the table.

It made a small static sound before showing the black cat in side. "Lily hey. Where are you?" They were able to make out some shelves but nothing else.

"A storage room, don't mind it."

"You seem to be in a panic are you alright?" Mirajane asked noticing that Lily was shaking his Lacrima and making the picture fuzzy at times.

He scoffed and looked behind him to make sure no one was there, "Gajeel knows I'm checking up which is fine but it's been hard here without you guys. Try and get this done as soon as possible. "

They all looked at each other and frowned, trying to decide who would tell him the hoops they would have to jump soon. Mirajane decided to speak up and let him in on everything, they could all see him caving slowly and they reassured him that everything would go fine. "H-how is Natsu?"

"Bored and taking it out on everyone as usual."

"He is acting normal though?"

"Yeah why?" The girls snickered at her and she motioned for them to be quiet.

"N-nothing just if you can let me know if he starts acting weird."

Panther Lily didn't question it but he really didn't like the task of babysitter while they were away. "be a dear and stay away from Laxus too mmk?" She really didn't need to tell him that. It seemed like Laxus became more up tight since the white haired mage left and it was starting to get under some skin. Natsu fought him a couple times and lost just in the few hours that girls were gone.

He let them know that the Raijinshuu were up to something too, seems they didn't want to believe their shopping trip story. "How is Gajeel by the way?" the bluenette asked, she was worried he was sulking and mad at her for leaving on short notice.

"He is fine, hasn't really done much though since you three left. He did spar with Natsu once when he got hit with a chair. He mostly reads that book you gave him." She turned a sheet of red and ignored the kissy faces the girls gave her. They all said their goodbyes and after some butt kissing for Levy decided to talk again in two hours and get the update on what was going on back home. Nothing on their end would happen for a while. They were still several hours from the next city and needed to catch up on some more sleep.

Lucy poked at her arm a little, "Wow Levy not one but two books. He really has changed Levy."

"I-I guess but, I think he has always had the potential just never given the tools."

Mirajane tapped the table with her fingers nails and winked, "Or the inspiration."

Levy didn't get what she meant by that too much but she was glad that he didn't seem mad at her. Made she would let him join in on checkups too, it would make her feel like he was the back up this time instead of her. This time it was her mission to fulfill and she was the leader for once.

Even though she was Jet and Droy and they followed her around, they all stumbled around together, there really wasn't a leader. That might have been the reason why she started gravitating towards Gajeel, he had a leadership quality to him and she did owe him for saving her life and not taking her life in the beginning of their relationship.

Lucy gave Mirajane the Lacrima and motioned for her to grab Lucy's luggage. This was definitely letter worthy to her mother, the past couple of days she had been too busy to write and she needed to talk to her.

_Dear Mother,_

_Although Natsu may not find out from me I wonder how he would react if someone tried to tell him how I felt. He probably doesn't even have those kinds of feelings, I wonder if he ever did with Lisanna? _**Ow that hurt**_. What would he say back? What would his expression be? Right now I don't need to worry about that stuff, since I have a mission that only I can do with my best friend Levy, and Mirajane our muscle and cunning of course. It is nice to be on my own and have a feeling that I'm needed, when I'm with Natsu I can rely on him to save me from everything, I want to be able to save myself from time to time and save others. I know I did it a couple times before but the sacrifice for that still gets to me…. I miss her a lot._

_I'm starting to get paranoia, sometimes during the day I start to hear things run through my head and I can't distinguish anything anymore. I can't tell if it's already happened or if it will happen? Is it just nightmares seeping through and my fears starting to announce themselves? Only time can tell I guess…_

_I'm so afraid that I'm going to lose everything though. That my time is running out. Luck can only get me so far and I feel my clock ticking when I'm away from Natsu. I know in my nightmares we are together so maybe it won't happen this time. But when will it happen. When will this end? Will it end?_

_Sometimes I wish you were here to guide and teach me. I feel like you are in a way though, since you will live on forever in my heart and my memories._

_Love,_

_Lucy_

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**Wow this was a hard one to write. I wanted to incorporate a little bit of everything. I'm hoping that this plays a little realistic to you guys if not tell me how you feel in the reviews! Let me know what I can do better and what I do best at! Have a Happy Labor Day for those of you celebrating! Other than that favorite and follow to get updates on WIE! See ya next time cubs! (how do you feel about the nickname? If anyone gets the reference let me know :P)**


	10. Not an Update

Sorry everyone as you can see from the title this is not an update.

I will actually be discontinuing this story because I've not really had any reason to continue other than my stubbornness. I also have run into some personal/medical problems that have kept me from updating as I would like.

I know that at least 22 of you decided to follow and I do regret to inform you of this because I did try to continue for your guys especially the one who joined fairly recently.

I didn't get enough people over these few months encouraging me to go forward though and it takes its toll when I go to update and in the back of my mind I say to myself no one cares if I did or not.

Thank you for following this story so far.

I'll probably go back and try to start another story so if you don't mind waiting a week or two more I might do a story that may be more eye-catching and exciting, hopefully it'll be more popular.

Thanks again and have a good week!


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