A/N: And here be another chapter. yay! Thank you all so much for reading and reviews and favoriting and following. It makes me so happy and giddy! So here is another chapter that I hope you all like. I know that I liked it and that it had a new conflict coming up! Yay. No Natsu in this chapter either, but I might have to put him in the next one. Please enjoy, fav, follow, and review to tell me what you think!

I do not own Fairy Tail, if I did it would be a mess.

Chapter Twenty: No Magic Allowed

Della looked to the path that the mages had taken. She couldn't believe her eyes. Not only had the Celestial Spirit mage gotten a hold of the winged horse and dove, but the girl had just seen her make the contracts with the wolf and water serpent with her own two eyes.

It had been hell jumping off of the train in order to follow the group, and it had been even worse that the guild had sent a dragon slayer out to go with the girl as well. Della knew that she could not be seen. She couldn't even allow the slayer to sent her on the wind. And that meant that she had to be extra careful in her following.

Securing her thick cloak around her shoulders once more, and being sure that absolutely no one could see her or even attempt to find her, she stalked forward. Too great was the promise of pain that awaited her if she failed, that she never once let her caution and stealth slip. With the help of the enchanted cloak that hung around her, she moved silently from shadow to shadow; never truly being a part of them, but managing to slip inside of their darkness just the same.

The shining reptilian eyes of Lazarus watched with a satisfied smirk on his face as the mages made their way to the surprise that Mordachi had set up for them in advance. It might not have been the nicest of things for them to get into, but it was also a way for the little key user to get stronger. Lazarus had been told that she must remain alive, but he was not told of the condition that she must be alive in. As long as her power grew, they didn't care if she was wounded or broken in the process.

That was what he said to himself within the confines of his mind in order to reassure himself of the place he had gauged as his own. These confusing feelings that were coming up around the girl meant nothing. He could not let her die, so that also meant that he could not kill her. Though his hands ached to wrap around her neck for eluding such an aura of peace that never failed to make him feel wrong, he knew that without Mordachi's express permeation, he was not able to sate the anger that was running through him regarding the girl.

From his perch that he had been watching from, he also noticed the little human mouse that was scurrying from shadow to shadow. It would be a pain if she got in the way, so the fallen star had almost thought it best to just exterminate the vermin. But something stayed his hand.

He was curious. The little thing seemed to be following with no intent of making herself known or interfering. If anything, it seemed as if the little one was on the same set of orders that he was; to observe and keep hidden. He was also told to keep the star slayer alive, something that he highly doubted that she had been under those same instructions.

Seeing that she would do well as a spy and informant, Lazarus decided that if she was still around later in the following process, he would approach her. It might be interesting to see who she was working for. And he also knew that his leader would be intrigued that there was another set of people watching the blond mage he had decided to bend to his needs.

Lucy and Mira were both still suppressing spasms of giggles when the first sign came into view. Almost on cue they all stopped and stared for a moment.

"No Magic Allowed Past This Point" was written in red letters on top of a wooden sign that said the town name. All three gulped when they realized that they would not be welcomed very nicely in this next town.

"I thought that the last of these places were taken care of years ago," Lucy whispered as she stepped closer to Laxus. For some reason she felt that the dragon slayer was better suited to protect her from whatever was inside of this town. She knew that Mira was an S-class mage for a reason, but from the looks of things, the takeover mage was also edging closer to the lightning user with a concerned look on her face.

"Me too," he answered as he cast a wary eye around the place. He then straightened and said "Hide anything that talks of magic. We don't need to be stopped and questioned about anything. That includes your keys and our guild marks. You never know what people like these will do if we get on their bad side."

The warning was well taken, and so Lucy unclipped her keys from her belt and made sure to keep out the keys for Draco, Columba, and Virgo before she handed the ring to the small dragon that was resting on her shoulder and he took them with him to the spirit world. Almost immediately after that a flash announced the arrival of a black pair of fingerless gloves that covered her guild mark and felt as if they were made by Aries. It was nice for Lucy to feel the concern of her spirits as they till did their best to take care of her while they were forced to be away.

Tucking the three keys into a secret pocket that Virgo had stitched into her boot for an emergency just like this, of when Lucy wanted to go have fun without looking as if she was holding keys, and looked towards the older mages who were waiting for her to be ready. Both were waiting for her nod before they were going to go any further.

"Why those three?" Laxus asked as he stopped Lucy again. He wasn't being rude; he just needed to know if she was prepared for anything that was going to happen.

Making sure no one was around Lucy answered "Draco's key is good for when I need someone small or someone who looks human but can be less flashy but powerful. He also might be a good way to surprise an enemy for a moment. Virgo is always good to have; any need that we have and she can do something about it. That includes clothes, weapons, food, pit falls, and a quick way out of anywhere. And then I kept Columba because with him with me I can telepathically speak with any of the spirits on my key chain without even having them hear or calling any of them out. It's good for strategy."

Nodding that it was a good selection, Laxus started to move towards the town, forcing the girls to walk on either side of him so that he could watch out for them as they moved into the town.

"Do we have to go into this town? I'm sure that we could probably just keep going." Mira put in her two cents as she looked a head apprehensively.

"Have you looked around? Places like these are usually isolated and surrounded by rogues and bandits. I wouldn't want to stay out in the open. Not to mention that we need a map and the only way we can get one is to get into town." Laxus answered.

"I could have Pegasus ride us over to Magnolia. He wouldn't mind I don't think." Lucy piped up. She too didn't want to go into the creepy town that had outlawed magic.

"Have you forgotten that we don't know where we are? We are miles from the train tracks and we don't know which way to go. When you got your two keys it seemed to mix us up quite a bit. Also, by the looks of it it's going to storm later tonight. I don't know about you two, but I want a roof over my head when that happens." The dragon slayer ended without any more room to argue.

Both of the girls knew that he was right, but they didn't like this at all. And he didn't like it at all either. Without any more argument, they walked into the town and made sure that they stayed alert so that they would know if something was going to come at them.

It wasn't at all like the towns that they were used to. The colors were faded and chipping into browns and yellows, the houses were pale and worn, and even the people seemed to be flat of color. If Lucy had to describe it she would have said that it was one of the most depressing places that she had ever been to. From the moment she stepped foot inside of the town, she absolutely hated it.

Laxus was able to steer them in the right direction as he lead them through the town that shouldn't have been there. Though he had done his best to relax to the point where he didn't look suspicious, he had extended his dragon senses so that he could feel out what was going on around them. There was no way that he was going to be there without being ready for a fight. HE was just glad that the three of them knew how to fight without magic. He knew that Lucy hadn't before the training that her spirits forced her to do, but now she could try and hold her own.

What worried Laxus the most was that there could be repercussions for using magic in this town. Even if have words or sensors that detected magic would have been against the sign, he had known places that had those kind of things. In fact, he had once been on a mission in a town such as this one, and had to do some serious string pulling to get Bixlow out of a situation when they had detected magic coming from his eyes. That had been a nuisance to say the very least.

They also hadn't liked Ever's fashion style, but he couldn't fault them for that much. Not many people did get it, and even then it speaks of magic that these people despised.

Turing into one of the weather worn buildings that lined the street, he walked into the hotel that was named "The Greasy Duck Inn" and took the girls to the counter.

"I need a room with two beds." He said to the man behind the counter.

The man looked them up and down before saying "What brings you here? We don't get a lot of passersby. And the ones that we do get are up to no good." The three mages did not like the look that he was giving then, and Lucy even wanted to hide behind Laxus. But she managed not to.

With a fake smirk placed on his lips Laxus answered "I just wanted a place where my girlfriend and little sister could go for a while. We were out wandering for a bit, but we needed a place to stay tonight so that we were out of the storm, and so that we can get going tomorrow without any problems. You know how it is."

The man seemed to eye us again before he said "I suppose that is as good an answer as any. Just don't even think about doing anything funny and leave right away tomorrow. We don't like new people around here. It usually spells out trouble."

"Alright, we will be going as soon as we can. Um, you wouldn't happen to have a map of the area would you? I'm afraid we are kind of lost at the moment." Mira asked with a bright and flirtatious smile; the type that she only used as a mask in order to get her way.

With a grunt the man gave over the keys and the three undercover mages made their way to the room that they were staying the night in. And right on cue, they had all taken a seat when the first drops of rain from the storm hit.

Outside two figures were trapped out in the rain still watching the blond and her companions. They both were stuck without shelter, but only one was suffering from it. The other didn't really care much about it.

Della sat on the roof of the inn away from prying eyes and other people. With her back rested on the chimney she had taken out her spider spy and had sent it down into the room with the mages. The spider that had been given the name of Aracne was one of many spies that the young mage could work with. It had taken some time, but the spider that was just about the size of her big toe had been her friend for a while and they had even gotten to the point where she could see through his eyes when she had to.

Not that the others of her guild knew that. She was constantly sent out on recon missions and to scout out information. None but the master knew her affiliation with the bugs and animals. It was a part of her powers after all. And the fact that she knew everything that was going on around the guild made loyalty and tightly sealed lips a must.

However, even if the higher ups knew of her spies, they didn't know where they came from. Though some might have thought that she befriended the creatures and trained them, they would have been wrong. Take the spider for example. Before he had scurried away to do her biding, it had been a simple pendant that hung from her neck. She had charmed the silver long ago so that when she ran her magic through it the little thing got bigger and came to life.

Many more silver charms and jewelry shaped as varying animals sparkled from beneath the black cloak. All were charmed by the young girl and were waiting for when she needed them the most. It was a good thing that she wasn't forced to fight any of the others in her guild; if she had then they would know just what her magic was that made it so that she was more useful to the master than they were.

Knowledge was currency in the dark guild world, and at this moment in time Della was the queen of information. However, the master still had the answers to most of the questions that she had. And the fear of pain kept her from using her own magic to find out just what those answers were.

Suppressing the shivers that threatened to shatter through her body, the young girl closed her eyes and concentrated on the spider she had sent as a spy.

She watched the eight different angles that the spider had as he made his way under the bed before the mages could see him and put his spying days to an end. He them peeked out into light as the mages spoke of their plans on getting out of the town as quickly as possible. It wasn't a very interesting conversation, and Della found herself not caring much. If something happened, she knew that Aracne would let her know. He always did.

Just as she started to shiver more violently, she felt the heavy material of another cloak come down on her shoulders. Looking up with fear in her eyes at being startled, she found that she was looking at someone with reptilian eyes and long blue hair.

"Little Mouse, I think that we would both benefit from working together." Lazarus said with a smirk on his face. Unlike the human, he didn't feel the clod of the rain that was seeping into her bones. After all, the fallen star had burned brightest in the cold of space.

Della might not have liked that she had been discovered, but she was thankful for the warmth the cloak offered and the partnership that he spoke of did sound intriguing. Plus, she really didn't want it getting back to the Master that she had been found out. At least it wasn't by anyone from Fairy Tail. "What did you have in mind?" She asked.

"It seems that you have the same orders as I concerning the key holder. I suspect that both our efforts combined will not only make the job better, but also will provide entertainment." Lazarus said. He did not tell the girl that he had plotted something to happen the next morning so that he could push the Star Slayer into growing just a little bit more. The girl didn't need to know that yet.

"I'm listening," Della told the strange man after a moment of thought. She could feel his magic and also knew that under the circumstances she would not be able to win in a fight,

With a smirk Lazarus said "Well Little Mouse, it goes like this…"

A/N: and if you cannot tel by now, I love Della! She is my favorite oc, and it is a shame that she is on the wrong side. Oh, and I literally figured out what her powers were going to be an hour before writing this up. I had a different plan in mind, but I didn't like it. And the three mages are stuck in a strange town with a plotting fallen star and a cornered little mouse! Thing should be getting fun! Please review and tell me what you all think! Thank you!