I'm really sorry this story has been abandoned for months on end. I've been in a slump for quite some time, guys, and felt so insanely lazy about writing. One thing I've learned in AP Psych class: if you are pushed or rewarded to do something that you already like, it may decrease your intrinsic love for that action. In other words, forcing someone to do something they have always liked makes them stop liking it.

My parents have been, shockingly enough, pushing me to write a book and get it published. I love reading and I love writing. But I also have applications to do for university, schoolwork to keep up with, and – I might as well be honest – I am still seventeen. I am not very mature, I am lazy, I might as well still be a child. Everyone has their own time, their own rhythm of doing stuff, and you can't force that.

Apologies if I'm not making sense, it's currently one A.M. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Also I just noticed that (new?) feature that lets you put a cover on your story. If anyone feels like making a cover that would be greatly appreciated since I don't have a scanner / tablet / etc, or else I'd just have to... Photoshop a cover. Or something. Have a great Christmas (if you celebrate it), and a happy new year, everyone!

Chapter Eighteen.

The adrenaline slowly drained out of Lucy, leaving her legs wobbly. She allowed herself a moment's respite, then forced herself to stand up. Around her, the sounds of battle still raged, but the earth trapped Lucy within a makeshift cell and obscured her vision. She shakily summoned Taurus, who gave her a boost amid streams compliments at "Lucy's great behind."

Lucy pulled herself up and tottered on a tall, rectangular slab of earth. From her new vantage point, she could see that Natsu had dealt with Kain Hikaru nicely. The doll-user was now a charred, smoking lump on the ground — his defeat, Lucy noted with a giggle, was very similar to the way she and Natsu had taken him down in Tenrou Island.

After defeating Kain, Natsu had not been idle. He'd joined Erza, pitted against Bluenote Stinger. Lucy felt a tremor of fear for them; she knew that this Grimoire Heart mage easily outstripped the rest in power. An unexperienced watcher might have thought that Erza had been unable to keep up with Bluenote's power and that Natsu's presence barely evened out the battle, but Lucy recognized the glint of steel in the redhead's eyes. Erza pressed grimly on with Natsu by her side, fists flaming angrily.

Gray appeared to be evenly matched against Rustyrose, mostly unharmed except for a few bruises. Wendy, Lucy noted with surprise and awe, was holding her own against Kawazu. The youngest member of their group was a miniature whirlwind, her blue hair splayed this way and that as she weaved around Kawazu's egg bombs. Lucy realized, with no small degree of shame, that she'd always thought of Wendy as a fragile child who ought to be protected. But it was not the case anymore. It had never been the case. The cocoon had broken, and before Lucy's eyes was a butterfly.

A cry of surprise snapped Lucy out of her thoughts. Levy, it seemed, was having the most difficulty against her opponent. She dropped to the ground to avoid Kawazu's sword — a move that seemed too desperate, too panicked, and Lucy knew that when panicked, people made horrible mistakes.

Lucy scrambled down from her perch and made her way to Levy. Taurus' axe swung twice at the wall blocking the way to Levy, denting it. The wall came down on his third swing, revealing Levy straining to keep her Solid Script: Guard up and Kawazu slowly chipping away at her defenses.

Taurus bellowed, charging straight towards Kawazu. The Dark Mage let out a surprised caw and jumped up, his fear allowing him to leap well above Taurus.

"I had everything," Levy gasped, leaning against Lucy, "under control, Lu-chan."

Eggs rained down at the bull spirit, who at first appeared clueless as to what he should do. He attempted to reach up and pluck a falling egg from the sky — "No, Taurus, bad eggs! Move!" — changed his mind, and lumbered away.

The eggs exploded against the ground. Taurus looked appropriately cowed. "Bad eggs," he agreed.

A sideway glance to Lucy. "Lucy-san has better eggs," Taurus decided.

Lucy shrieked. "Get the chicken!"

Taurus sniggered and launched himself at Kawazu, swinging his axe to deflect the incoming rain of eggs. A few eggs rebounded back to their origin, and for the first time, Kawazu knew how getting hit by one of his eggs felt like. He squawked and flapped around frantically, loosing egg bombs this way and that.

Lucy dove to the side as the ground beneath her shattered, while Levy conjured fire and toasted the incoming projectiles. Taurus, not fast enough, was clipped by a few stray eggs. He roared angrily and charged at Kawazu again, jumping high into the air and bringing his axe down with a thundering crash.

A split moment before the axe fell, Kawazu raised an Egg Wall — not enough to absorb the full brunt of the impact, but enough for the Dark Mage to leap out of the way. He loosed another volley of eggs, breaking in mid-air and forming a fist.

Taurus planted his feet and readied his axe, but the giant fist did not come towards him.

It went straight for the two mages.

Levy raised a shield, but the fist broke through it like paper, continued on its way down —

In a last-ditch effort, Taurus powerfully flung his axe towards the incoming fist. His aim was true and the eggs shattered, but the spirit was now weaponless, and Kawazu took advantage of this.

With a triumphant caw, he spat hardened eggs at Taurus, who, without his axe, had to resort to bracing for impact. The spirit was knocked back to Lucy and Levy, breathing heavily as he groped for his axe again.

Lucy saw her spirit wearing down. She mentally berated herself for summoning the wrong spirit — Taurus was a tank, meant to fight similarly large opponents, not an agile mage capable of flight like Kawazu.

But no time to dwell on that now.

"Taurus," she whispered. "You think you can last another round?"

The spirit huffed and glared angrily at the oversized chicken mage, then charged forward for one final try. What followed next, Lucy thought, could only be described as a preposterous dance, in which one partner spat eggs and looked like a chicken, and the other was a bull waving a giant axe.

Beside her, Levy seemed to be having the same idea, for the blue-haired girl's lips were twitching.

Kawazu, with his superior speed, dashed behind the bull spirit and opened his beak to deliver another round of eggs. Levy rushed to intercept, flinging a wall of fire towards the Dark Mage.

He cawed angrily, annoyed at being distracted from his prize and hesitating to leave Taurus escape unscathed. The hesitation cost Kawazu, and the blunt end of Taurus' axe sent him tumbling down.

Taurus swung his axe again, and it Kawazu by a hair's breadth as he took to the air. Taurus growled angrily, but there was nothing he could do; Kawazu was out of his reach.

Suddenly Levy raised her arms and thick black oil poured down on Kawazu. The sludge weighed him down and he dropped to the ground like a stone. Kawazu opened his beak, planning to deliver an egg bomb to keep his opponents at bay, but Lucy wrapped her whip around his beak and pulled hard before he could do so.

Kawazu's eyes bulged, practically screaming Oh, crap. Lucy almost felt bad for him.

The eggs, with no way out, promptly exploded inside his stomach. Kawazu expanded briefly, then there was a comical-sounding puff of air and the Dark Mage sagged in a faint.

Lucy squealed and met Levy's hand in a high-five.

Around them, Grimoire Heart members fell one by one, until only Rustyrose and Bluenote Stinger were left.

"My, my," Rustyrose remarked, elegantly sidestepping a spear of ice. "It seems retreat is the only option."

"Cheh," Bluenote spat angrily. "Get the others!"

"Oh no you don't!" Natsu cried. Erza moved to intercept them, but Bluenote simply held out a hand, unafraid of the two incoming mages.

"Gravity . . ." he curled his hand into a fist. "Fall."

And Lucy swore the air itself bent like a shimmering curtain, and an invisible hand laid her flat upon the ground. Erza took only a brief moment to recover, but that moment was enough for Rustyrose to summon a dozen small, black beasts that raced to pick up the fallen Dark Mages.

"Don't let them get away!" Erza shouted, sprinting to the other Grimoire Heart members. She was too far away, Lucy thought, but as her eyes darted around she realized they might have enough time to keep a single Dark Mage . . .

Specifically, Kain Hikaru.

It took five of Rustyrose's conjurings to move the puppet mage, overweight as he was. Even as the other beasts sank into shadow, escaping with their Dark Mages, the five unfortunate beasts were left behind, struggling with Kain's girth. Erza was still too far away, they were all too far away to do anything.

So Lucy whipped out a key, summoned the last vestiges of her energy —

A second before the creatures made off with Kain, Horologium burst into existence, trapping the unconscious puppet mage in his glass-case.

Wendy's eyes widened and Levy stared on in sympathy as Horologium's case appeared to swell out of proportion.

"Sorry, Horologium," Lucy winced.

Horologium tottered towards them, then tripped and fell, waving his arms when he found that he was unable to get back up.

"Well," Rustyrose said at last. "His size did always cause problems."

"Leave him," Bluenote said, and they too sank into the shadows, barely missing a fireball, ice spear, and numerous sharp, pointy objects.

"Good job, everyone!" Happy fluttered down, seemingly materializing out of nowhere.

"And where were you when we needed help?" Lucy grumbled.

"Offering moral support! From far away!"

"What are we going to do with him, Erza-san?" Wendy asked, bringing Lucy back from trying to chase Happy.

There was an evil glint in Erza's eyes. "We're going to get information out of him, of course."

Gray and Natsu paled simultaneously, all too familiar with Erza's insistence at getting what she wanted.

Horologium let Kain Hikaru out of his glass-case with relief. The Dark Mage chose this unfortunate moment to regain consciousness. He groaned and opened his eyes, blearily focusing on six mages and a cat.

"Well now," Erza began, her voice saccharine sweet. "You're going to tell us all you know about the Staff and the person who hired you."

Kain looked distinctly petrified, but tried to maintain some semblance of dignity. "I'll never tell you!" He blustered bravely.

"You sure 'bout that?" Gray sniggered.

Natsu waved Mr. Cursey in front of Kain's face mockingly.

The Dark Mage's chalk-white skin turned green.

"Gray, Natsu," Erza sang, "hold him down, please."

Kain bucked and thrashed with all his might. In the end, Lucy and Levy had to help the boys restrain the writhing Dark Mage. Wendy, with Happy in her hair, dithered back and forth, torn between wide-eyed fear, sympathy, and amusement.

Erza took her sweet time plucking out a single strand of hair from Kain's head and sticking it on to Mr. Cursey.

"Let's start off easy," she said. "Who tipped you off and told you that Fairy Tail was going to be down here?"

Kain shook his head mutely.

"One last chance."

Still nothing.

"Are you sure?"

Kain looked like he was about to throw up.

"Well then . . ." Erza raised Mr. Cursey up slowly.

"Awesome! Can I use it? Can I?" Without waiting for an answer, Natsu grabbed the puppet with one hand and slammed it into the other repeatedly.

Kain looked positively comical as he was tossed back and forth.

Erza seemed put off that Natsu had stolen her fun, but she dutifully turned to Kain, who still appeared unwilling to talk.

Gray snorted and stole Mr. Cursey away. "Watch how it's done, ash-for-brains!" He threw Mr. Cursey down and stomped on the puppet with wild abandon.

"I won't . . . talk . . ." Kain moaned.

"Let me try!" Lucy made a grab for the puppet even as Natsu tried to swipe it from Gray, but Erza snatched Mr. Cursey before either of them could get their hands on it.

"Children," Erza said mockingly, the glint appearing in her eyes again as she smiled in perverse glee. "When you want to make someone talk, learn from the expert."

And she abruptly brought Mr. Cursey's legs up in a perfect split.

There was a painful-sounding crack, and Kain howled in pain.

Lucy and Levy gasped in unison, Wendy's hands flew to her mouth, Happy's wings ceased to function, and the boys blanched. Natsu fell to the ground. Gray followed soon.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!" Kain gasped, looking like an overly large ballerina with his perfect split.

"That's what I thought," Erza said smugly.