Chapter 14

Lucy was not crying. Not at all. Mira had probably been cooking something with lots of onions in it. Either that, or all the smoke from Wakaba's pipe. Maybe some leftover water from Juvia. Because Lucy was most certainly not crying. After all, she hated Fairy Tail. She hated every one of them. And she was her master's loyal servant, his enemy was her enemy, and she had defeated many enemies before. When she was Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail.

"No, you must stop thinking of that. If you don't, you're toast."

"Ah hya hya hya hya! Fairy Tail, reduced to rubble! Ah hya hya hya!" Wahl giggled, slowly rising up on his two feet. His "little doll" had been taken out by Sabertooth, sadly enough.

"Oh, all those dead fairies! I wish I could have gone in with you, Lucy! It must have been so delightful!" Dimaria giggled alongside Wahl.

"I guess the two of them really do make a great team. Just like..."

"Let's go home," Lucy said, ignoring them completely. She didn't want to think of the blood on her hands, literally and figuratively. Behind her, the guild hall stood aflame, without Natsu present the flames would kill all of them, if they were still alive.

"Of course they are! They are Fairy Tail, they would never gotten beaten by a coward like you!"

"A coward like me."

"Zeref, or as he's known in this country, the Spriggan has a group of bodyguards called the Spriggan 12..."

"Is he copying us!? We were the thunder legion long before this country was born!" Evergreen yelled loudly. Good thing they were camping far away from other people.

"No Evergreen, I fear he is not in fact copying us. This country and the 12 shields are in fact older than any of us. Anyway, if you would allow me to continue..."

"Tell me again why we're not charging right in. We got Laxus with us, that means we can win over anything! Like, they're weak now as well, two of the Shields are following Lucy to Ishgar, and several of them are hardly ever present, so now is our chance to strike!" Bixlow said.

"Chance to strike, chance to strike!" His dolls chanted.

"Bixlow, it would be foolish to charge right into the palace! We won't gain anything, our mission is to retrieve Lucy..."

"Yeah, yeah, we need to rescue the cheerleader girl, but think about it! Zeref is bound to come attack us at some point, but we can prevent that now! All we need to do is cover Laxus, and then he can fight Zeref, and there's no way we could lose!...Unless you doubt Laxus?" Bixlow teased.

"Doubt Laxus, doubt Laxus," his dolls repeated.

"I would never!" Freed said, looking absolutely horrified.

"Then what's the problem?" Bixlow said.

"Our mission..." Freed began.

"Yeah, our mission would be a lot easier if we took out Zeref! Without Zeref in the way, getting Lucy would be child's play!" Bixlow interrupted.

"No, we should stick to the original plan and retrieve Lucy stealthily..."

"Why?! She's not here, and we know nothing about what's going on back home! For all we know, while we're sitting here doing nothing, she could have burned down the entire continent!"

"Bixlow keep your voice down. Even if are alone we're still in enemy territory! We could be ambushed any moment..."

"So when I talk a little bit loud, it's dangerous and could be our deaths, but when it's Evergreen it's okay?!"

"Leave me out of this! I want no part of your lover's quarrel," Evergreen said coldly.

"We aren't lovers!" both boys yelled. All three members of the thunder legion were glaring at each other. They were all tense, all of them were worried about Lucy and Ishgar. Even worse was knowing they could do nothing but hide in the woods.

"Quiet you three!" a really annoyed Laxus said. "Your argument is stupid, we're..." Laxus's eyes widened in surprise, and he stood up abruptly.

"Laxus, what's wrong?" Evergreen asked.

"Freed, you were right and wrong. We are in enemy territory, but we're far from alone."

"You don't mean…?"

"There are two magic presences headed towards us, both of them are extraordinary, but one..."

"Zeref comes to us? Well that makes everything so much easier. I say we give him a good beating..." Bixlow began.

"No, we won't. We won't face Zeref head on. Our mission is to bring Lucy home. Nothing more, nothing less." Laxus started moving in the opposite direction of where he sensed the magic presences, confident the thunder legion would follow him.

"You would take away my Lucy? I'm afraid I can't allow that."

The thunder legion stopped in their tracks.

"Zeref," Evergreen growled. She recognized the voice from Tenrou.

"Zeref's here? Where is he?" Bixlow asked.

"Why little fairy, I am right here." A black orb appeared in front of them. It grew in size and black tendrils of magic swarmed around it. The orb disappeared, and the tendrils shot into the sky, revealing Zeref.

"Why do you even need her? I am much more beautiful and powerful than her," Evergreen said.

"Lucy Heartfilia has powers far beyond yours. At the very least she has the potential. With the right training I believe she could possibly even succeed Anna," Zeref said, smiling.

"Your Majesty, we are here."

The thunder legion turned, and discovered the presences Laxus had sensed.

"August, Invel. Didn'tI ask you to keep an eye on the other group?" Zeref asked. The fairies stilled. They knew both of those names. Invel the Winter General, who uses some sort of ice magic, and August the Magic King, the leader of the Spriggan 12. His magic was unknown to them, but it was said that he was second to none but Zeref himself.

"You did your majesty, but I do not see how so many of the shields would be needed to take care of some fairies..." The thunder legion were all surprised to hear this.

"Some fairies? Did Fairy Tail send another rescue team? How?"

"Need I remind you of Titania's strength, and that she alone could probably take out at least one of the other shields I sent to deal with them? They also have three first generation dragonslayers, and if any of those dragonslayers were to go dragonforce they could easily take out another shield each? Zeref paused. "Need I remind you of the power of my brother?" Zeref asked, giving his "bodyguards" a menacing look.

"We will talk about this matter later. However, this group of fairies could also cause trouble if left alone. I will not have them endanger my plan. Invel, August, if you'd please," Zeref said, now back to his usual calm, neutral face.

"Cause trouble? Endanger his plan? What is his plan?" Freed frowned as they all prepared for combat.

"Why does he need Lucy so badly?"

The battle did not go well for the thunder legion, and the next thing Freed knew he was sitting in a black cell wearing magic-blocking handcuffs.

Natsu, bring Lucy home.

A/N: Hi!? Remember me? Remember this story? No? I can't say I blame you. It's been so long. The next paragraph is going to be excuses, so skip if you're not interested in more excuses.

Ahem. The first two weeks were a school project that was really important for my grade. When it was done and delivered, I found my PC and turned it on. It was almost of power. So, I find my charger, but it doesn't work. I figured my PC was broken and delivered it to reparations. They used five months to figure out that there was nothing wrong with it. The guy at the store you used to seconds to figure out the problem (my charger was broken). I got a new one, and barely had time to place my PC on my desk before we left for Crete. I don't bring my PC with me on holidays, it's home only. We returned home after two weeks, so I hurried to write something and send it to AlphaDemon. Then I left for another trip almost at once, and didn't get a chance to do anything. The chapter was crap, so I rewrote it when I got home. I forgot to send it to AlphaDemon however, and didn't realize before I left on another trip. I got home, sent the file, and left before AlphaDemon had a chance to reply. I arrived home a few hours ago. I am really sorry for this, I am hardly ever home in the Summer holiday, or any holiday really. The delay is my fault only. This paragraph was guaranteed full of mistakes and errors. Sorry.

There. Enough excuses for this time.

I hope the chapter was okay, please don't hesitate to tell me any errors I have made. Be it plot, spelling, grammar or anything else, constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Thanks to all the people who followed and favorited this story and me, I really appreciate it. Most of all thanks to everyone who reviewed!

12Rayne (*Evil laughter*) (If I kill someone I will cry (I have a habit of growing overly emotionally attached to fictional characters (my grandparents thinks it cute, my friends laughs and pats my head and my parents and everyone else shakes their head in a disappointed manner) really quick), so I might not kill them. There's other fun stuff you can do that can be just as painful as death.)

Alaina Kuski (Yeah, she really has been trough a lot.)

Guest (I am glad you like it! And if you see something wrong, please let me know!)

Nalu4LIFE (Yeah, it's short. I know. But the story isn't over yet!)

Johnny Spectre (Just… wait. It might happen, or it might not.)

rayanfarah70 (It's been a few months, but the new chapter is here! I am really glad you like this fic, and that you care enough to let me know. You review really made my day, and it makes me so happy reading it again and again. Thank you so much for that review.)

Izzy (I'm glad you like it! And it is kind of sad, yes. And thank you for reviewing!)

Switchlolly007 (Sorry, but it seems there was more than a little wait for this chapter. I am so sorry!)

Guest (The end isn't here yet! And if Natsu can bring Lucy back? Hm… You'll just have to wait and see!)

I probably won't come with a new chapter too soon. I reread the prologue, and… I need a rewrite. It might not become much better, but hopefully it will be a little bit better.

Thanks to AlphaDemon for beta reading my story, she's a great author and without her this story... well... It's incredible how many mistakes I can make in one chapter. I am really grateful for all the help, and I hope everyone reads her stories (don't worry, they're better than mine).

Si-chan