When Natsu charged at their enemies the fight that broke out was ferocious. There was no other way to phrase it. They were grossly outnumbered even with Mira and Laxus there to help. Each of them had at least 5 or 6 opponents and Lucy tried to calm her roiling stomach as sounds of fighting filled the previously still of the mountain evening. She had no time to worry about the others, the moment they caught sight of her, all the masked man seemed to come at her at once.

"Leave Luce alone, you bastards!" Natsu's enraged roar rung through the air as he jumped into the fray and scattered their enemies. But he couldn't keep them all off her, this became clear when three managed to draw him away and proceeded to keep him busy. The rest quickly moved towards Lucy again.

They were stopped once more when thunder laced the skies and lightening rained down on them. "You're not taking Blondie on my watch!" Laxus growled and tried to engage as many of the opposing mages as he could, but there were more than any of them could handle alone. Mira and Erza had been driven even further away than Natsu and Lucy could see that both women were having trouble keeping up with the attacks continuously coming at them. It was clear that this was vastly different from the previous attempts. These guys were a hell of a lot stronger than the last group and they were getting desperate.

Lucy quit wasting time, and summoned Sagittarius and Scorpio, those two fought long range and she wanted to keep the creeps after her blood as far away from herself as possible. She didn't need to say anything to her Spirits, they immediately positioned themselves close to her and tried to keep away anyone who tried to get closer. It was a good tactic. Both Scorpio and Sagittarius were excellent shots and the enemies had no prayer getting through the blasts of sand and rain of arrows. Donning her Sagittarius Star Dress, Lucy drew her bow as well. Time to get serious.

She tried to keep an eye on her friends through the battle going on, but kept losing sight of them. The only one she could see at any time was Mira who was flying above their heads and striking anything that moved. Soon enough she also saw Erza taking flight in her Black Wing armor, swooping down on the masked men like a bird of prey...

Almost groaning at her own stupidity, Lucy paused her own arrows to summon Aquilla. Bird's eye perspective was always a bonus in such fights. The Celestial Eagle appeared in a flash of light and grabbed Lucy's shoulders in his huge talons, effortlessly lifting her up and out of immediate danger. This allowed her other Spirits to move around and attack the ever approaching enemies more directly.

Three gates open. Her magic was dwindling quickly, but she could take one more gate. One more Zodiac Spirit, that may just give them the edge. But before she could even reach for Loke's key something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. One of Natsu's opponents had managed to get in the Dragon Slayer's blind spot. She couldn't warn him nor could she get there fast enough, even flying with Aquilla. There was no choice.

Her fingers found the silver key and she raised it high, shouting, "Open! Gate of the Shield Constellation! Scutum!" and pointed towards Natsu.

With a flash of golden light Natsu was surrounded with a dome made of transparent stars. Scutum was impenetrable, the ultimate defense. There was no attack, magical or physical that could break through it. This Lucy had tested thoroughly after acquiring the key. It withstood an attack from Erza's Giant Armor, Natsu's roar and Gray's Ice Bazooka. It only faded when her magic was gone. Erza's Adamantine Armor was a joke compared to Scutum.

And the dark mage who just launched an attack at Natsu from behind him got to feel Scutum's special ability on his own skin. The pure light energy Scutum was made of absorbed any and all kind of magic and sent it back where it came from. And so Natsu stayed safe inside Scutum and his attackers got a nasty surprise when the attacks aimed at him hit them instead.

Five bastards down. Unfortunately, that was all her magic could take, Scutum took a lot to stay out, especially when repelling attacks. With a shower of sparks it disintegrated, going back to the Spirit World. She had enough to keep her other Spirits out for a bit longer, but if the fight dragged on any more, she'd be out in the middle of it.

The others seemed to be nearing their limits as well... Everyone except Natsu, that is, whose reserves of magical energy were nearly limitless and growing. Lucy shot down as many of the enemies as she could get before she had to let go of her Star Dress, a couple of minutes later she also had to close one of the gates. "Aquilla, put me down now, please, I have to close your gate, I'm almost out of energy."

"Very well," agreed the humongous bird before he gently lowered her to stand on her feet behind Scorpio and Sagittarius.

Scorpio turned towards her and assessed her with knowing eyes. Their connection was strong enough that he felt her energy faltering every now and then. "How much longer?" he asked quietly and Lucy shook her head.

"I don't know, maybe 5 minutes, 10 if we're lucky."

Scorpio nodded and turned to Sagittarius. "We're gonna step it up a bit, dude. Lucy's running out of juice."

Sagittarius only inclined his head once, as sign that he'd understood and intensified the barrage of arrows. He was shooting at least 5 at once, and not one went astray. Scorpio likewise, poured more energy into his attacks, the small, concentrated blasts of sand, becoming bigger and faster. They wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, Lucy knew. Their magic run out much faster in the human world than in their own.

A commotion to her left, turned her attention to Gray who was out of breath and barely holding himself up, she couldn't see any serious injuries, so he was likely just exhausted. He pulled himself together one last time and took down five dark mages with his Ice Geyser. He collapsed afterwards and Lucy run towards him, unwilling to let him just lie there defenseless, even if she couldn't do anything to defend him either.

To her immediate right, Erza requipped into Heaven's Wheel and took down ten opponents. That was it for her as well, her armor disappeared and she fell to the ground with a heavy thump, making Lucy wince. But the red-head pulled herself together and sat up, looking around with lucid if tired eyes.

"You okay there, Erza?" Lucy called out and winced again when the drain on her magic became painful. She was running on fumes.

The Knight nodded and crawled closer to the Celestial and Ice wizards. Even out of magic and weakened, they had a larger chance of fending off attacks in groups. A couple of minutes later, Mira descended from the skies and dropped the last few inches in a dead-faint. Luckily though, Lucy noted, the numbers of their enemies were way down, too. Natsu and Laxus should be able to take care of it. They would have to because Lucy felt her own magic sputter one last time before it died and she kept herself awake through sheer willpower. Scorpio and Sagittarius were forced back into their own world.

Laxus jumped over to their huddle and stood at their backs, going into defense as the last of the enemies made a last effort to capture Lucy. Not on Natsu's watch though. The Fire Dragon Slayer finally lost all patience and charged at remaining dark mages, mowing them down one by one with flaming fists. When only three were left standing, Natsu squared off, and with only a heavy scowl released and huge roar towards them. With that the fight was finally over.

"You okay, Luce?" her mate asked instantly running to her side and checking for injuries.

"I'm okay," she murmured and leaned into his welcoming arms. She wasn't able to fight the pull of unconsciousness much longer and blacked out, well aware that the man holding her would never let anything harm her.

Erza groaned as she took in the situation. Three of them were out of commission, she was barely holding on herself and Natsu and Laxus would be hard pressed to fight and protect them if any more enemies came at them. The situation was dire... In fact, it got even worse, when Laxus plopped down beside Mira and exhaled loudly. "I'm done for. My magic is nearly out."

Just great. They were sitting ducks on a mountain trail, unable to press forward to the safe house with the carried Reedus drew for them destroyed and unable to return to Magnolia for the same reason. Natsu couldn't carry all six of them, and she and Laxus wouldn't be able to walk on their own, much less carry someone.

Erza was blearily trying to think of a plan when a flash of light alerted them to Loke's presence.

"Loke, what...?" Natsu stuttered out as he stared at the Lion Spirit.

"I'm gonna take Lucy to the Spirit World," Loke said, already bending down to gather Lucy in his arms, Natsu not protesting on the account of not actually grasping the situation just yet. "There's a place that's gonna re-charge her batteries in a flash. Then I'm gonna teach her how to get you guys out of here. Just hang on for a little while longer."

With that he was gone again with Lucy in tow.

"What just happened?" Natsu asked with a stupefied look on his face. Erza sighed and attempted to hoist herself to her feel on wobbling legs.

"Let's first get out of here. We really shouldn't be sitting out on the middle of the road, especially if those jerks decide to come back." With more effort than she would ever admit to taking, she finally managed to stand upright and dragged herself and a still unconscious Mira to the shrubs off the left side of the road. Laxus followed after her, awkwardly shuffling Grey with him. Natsu run after them, still largely confused.

"But where did he take Luce? And why?" asked the Dragon Slayer and Laxus exhaled, thumping down beside Mira and Erza after leaning Grey against a tree.

"To the Spirit World, dimwit. Said something about getting her energy levels back up. Though how juicing Blondie back up is gonna help us, I couldn't tell you," shrugged the muscular blonde, and shifted on the floor, trying not to look that every muscle and every bone seemed to scream in pain with every movement.

"Luckily, I can answer that," Loke's voice preceded his appearance in a flash of light as both he and Lucy materialized before their friends again.

"Luce!" Natsu shouted and grabbed his mate, squeezing the living daylights out of her. "Where were you?"

"In the Spirit World," Loke answered for his Mistress. "There's something called the Well of Stars, I took her there. Spending just a minute soaking in that water, brings your energy right back. It's how Celestial Spirits heal so fast, the water does that, too. And since Celestial mages and Celestial Spirits use the same magic, it helped Lucy as well."

Erza smiled wryly at him. "I don't suppose you'd take us there as well?"

Loke just shook his head and adjusted his shades. "Unfortunately, even if I could, it wouldn't help any of you. Your magic is too different from ours."

"You still haven't explained why you took Blondie there, though," Laxus grumbled, having for a brief moment hoped that this magic water would rid him of the helpless feeling of empty magic reserves.

"Because Lucy is the only way any of you are getting back to the guild tonight."

It was Lucy's turn to be confused. "What do you mean, Loke? How can I can get us all back to the guild?"

Loke sighed and raked a hand through his carefully tousled mane. "There's many things about being a Celestial wizard you still don't know, Lucy. And that's partially my fault. At the level you are now, you should know all of these tricks, not mention be able to do them effortlessly, and had your mother lived to train you, you would have. I should have taught you everything a long time ago, but there was always some emergency getting in the way. Now's maybe not the best timing to teach you anything, but it's the only hope you have."

"Okay," Lucy sighed and swallowed the million questions she wanted to ask. "What exactly are you going to teach me that can get us out of here?"

"Remote gate opening. Double or triple gates. Portals. That's just the beginning, the rest we'll get to when the danger is over."

"Damn, I really should have researched Celestial magic more. I have no idea what you're talking about," Lucy admitted, face red in shame. She prided herself in her knowledge and here she was, forced to admit that what she knew of her own powers was woefully little.

"Like I said, it's mostly my fault. I knew you were Layla Heartfilia's daughter and I knew she died when you were a little girl. I knew she wouldn't have been able to teach you much before she passed on. I should have stepped up and trained you."

"Let's agree that we're both at fault and leave it at that. I could have taken the initiative and asked for training, it just never occurred to me, which in hindsight is pretty stupid," Lucy smiled and Loke couldn't help but smile back. "Okay, Master Leo, teach away," she teased with a wink and he chuckled a little.

"First of, as I said, remote gate opening. It's pretty straight forward. You open a gate not in your vicinity, but miles and miles away. It's actually one of the first things a Celestial wizard learns," Loke slipped easily into teacher mode and Lucy listened attentively. "The best way to learn is to do. So, take Virgo's key, envision her gate opening up on that tree," he pointed to a huge bough just barely visible in the distance. "Now, go ahead, summon her."

Lucy was somewhat familiar with the concept, having already summoned her Spirits where she wanted to be, like earlier during the battle, when she summoned Scutum to Natsu's side. Of course, she never thought about summoning her Spirits to somewhere she wasn't even near, but she could see how it could be useful. Really useful, actually. She gripped Virgo's key and concentrated on the tree in the distance.

"Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

The gate opened above the bough and Virgo landed nimbly on a branch and waved. "Well done, Princess!" she shouted. "Got it right on the first try!" Her job done, Virgo closed her gate and disappeared.

"Excellent, Lucy," Loke nodded with a smile. "All you have to do to summon a Spirit anywhere in the world is envision the place you want to open the gate in, and that's it. Ages ago during magic wars, Celestial wizards were used for recon missions, all thanks to the ability of remote gate opening. Next up is double gate opening and creating portals. This is a little bit trickier. First, summon Virgo again, please."

Lucy complied and Virgo bowed to her as she appeared again in a flash of light.

"Now, Lucy, you must open Virgo's gate again, without closing it first. Instinctually, you'll want to close the gate first to open it again. Beat that back. Concentrate of opening the gate twice over, visualize two gates opening at the same time. Try it out."

Gulping, Lucy nodded and closed her eyes. She saw Virgo's gate in her mind's eye and then forced herself to see am identical gate a few feet away. Keeping that image firmly in mind, she drew up on her magic. "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

Shocked exclamations coaxed her clenched eyes open and she stared at two shining gates open a few feet apart, white blinding light between them.

"You're a natural, Princess," Virgo complimented with a smile. "I have never seen a Celestial wizard get it right on the first try."

"Neither have I," Loke grinned at her. "But then again, you've always been at a different level compared to all the other Celestial wizards."

Lucy glowed at the praise and her friends oohed and aahed at the spectacular magic being created right in front of them.

"That's a portal, Lucy," Loke pointed out, standing by the open gates. "Celestial mages don't need teleportation to go places. They can open portals. And that's your ticket home. Close the gates. Open Virgo's gate in the Fairy Tail guildhall. Open a second gate here, and you can all go home. Go ahead, just keep a picture of where you want the gates to open in mind."

Determined to get this right and get her friends home, Lucy closed Virgo's gate and concentrated on opening it again in the guild. She knew she'd succeeded when she felt Virgo's magic resonate in this plain and focused even harder to open the second gate in front of her. This was way harder than opening two gates just feet apart, and consumed a lot of her magic but she refused to give up. This was something she should have known how to do ages ago. Biting her lip till it bled, she focused solely on the two gates and making them both open in their respective places.

When she opened her eyes again, Virgo walked out of the second gate and bowed. "May I take everyone home? One by one, please."

Lucy smiled and stood aside as Laxus carefully deposited Mirajane in Virgo's arms and the Maid Spirit walked into the portal, coming back seconds later and shouldering Grey before disappearing from sight again. Natsu went last and he grinned at Lucy over his shoulder. "You're even more kickass than I thought you were, Luce!"

Pride surged through her and felt her love for him swell even more. It was decided. As soon as this whole thing was over and done with she and Loke would be spending some quality time together and he was going to teach her absolutely everything her knew.

With that resolution firm in her mind, she gripped her faithful Lion's hand tightly and walked through Virgo's gate straight into the welcoming embrace of her guild.

AN: First of, I need to apologize for the delay in updates. I was on vacation for three weeks and I was also working on hammering out the plot for after this threat is over. This chapter is the turning point. I have a very firm image of where I want to take Lucy after this. I hope you all stick with me and NaLu through the adventures of their lifetime.

Please let me know your thoughts on where this is going.