Note: Hey, guys. Back, not going to say much but so sorry for the long wait once again and please do tell me what you think. I hope you'll be able to leave a comment or two so that I can understand your view.

Special message, guys. Please read slowly. Maybe once or twice. Try to imagine the situation happening right in front of your eyes. Trust me, do it right and you'll experience a whole new world.

Lastly, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Crystal Shelter. Ea mused that the name somehow suited the situation, it being the shelter of… 'casualties of war'.

The village wasn't as bright and busy as one would expect a village to be. But this village wasn't the same as other villages. It had been through a war just a week ago. As she and Ea walked towards the village, she noticed the rubble more or less the same the last time she came. Honestly, that made her slightly worried. Maybe she should have stayed longer to help out?

But as they walked on, it was like a whole new area. There weren't many buildings, no. But there were enough. Enough for this village of decreased population. The people with the scars walking around, the children playing around, possibly haunted by nightmares and traumas.

They were saved – for now.

"It's the Fairy Tail mages!"

And suddenly all attention was on them. They were bombarded with questions and thankfully, the leader, she guessed, managed to stand out in the crowd and manage the traffic.

"Pardon me if I'm wrong. Lucy, and Ea from Fairy Tail, am I right?" He said, his voice smooth and calm.

"Yes," Lucy replied while Ea just gave a smile.

"May I know what brings you here? Are you volunteering again? We'd be –"

"I'm really sorry, but this is urgent."

Lucy stared stunned at Ea's sudden statement. His tone was so commanding, so different from the usual awkward and kind Ea. She unconsciously smiled. Who knew that Mr Red could be so leader-like at times.

"You see –" Then he looked around to see everyone's curious and puzzled gazes. "Uh, I'm sorry, but can we speak somewhere else?"

Once they were in a more private location, Lucy got straight to point and asked, "We need more information about the people who attacked your village."

Shock and fear was clearly evident on his face, but he complied. He knew what was needed to be done and he understood fully that the matter wouldn't be brought up if it were not as urgent. So, Ea and Lucy started interviewing everyone. It was a slow process, it took hours and even with the clock ticking so intimidatingly, they were at a dead end.

No one really knew exactly what happened. All they heard was just screaming, and shouting, pain, fire, and noise. It was a frightening thing, really. The people started shaking but continued on so they could help Lucy and Ea. Not wanting to disappoint the people that they were possibly at a dead end, they left the village, looking extremely grateful and confident.

Nowhere else to go, they took a train back to Magnolia.

"Come to think of it, where do you live, anyway?" She asked, carrying her backpack.

"In the guild. Mira said I could be the 'night guard' and let me stay for free," he joked.

"Wow, for two whole weeks? Guess you need some serious help."

"Hey! I'm not lazy, it's just… I used the money to buy something!" He retorted and crossed his arms.

"Oh yeah, you told me about it, didn't you? Isn't it about time you tell me?" She said, smiling.

"Hmm… I guess so," he smiled, "since you were so kind as to take me as your partner," he answered playfully, giving a little bow.

"It's only till you find a permanent one, Ea. And I'm sure you'll find one soon." Part of her wished it wouldn't happen, and another just want it to happen so badly.

"You know, I don't have plans to make anyone else my partner." His casual manner didn't surprise her, and he knew that she knew it too. Even if Lucy was going to keep him at bay, he would try and try again. She would soften up, he was sure of it.

Lucy just mirrored his smile and resisted the urge to protest. We'll see about that.

When they were back at her apartment, the nice smell tempted Ea to take a deep breath. "You have one hell of a good-smelling place."

She laughed. "And you say that after smelling it."

He took another deep breath. "Smells sweet."

Just like you, Lucy.

"The air's really stiff. Can you help me open the window?"

"Ah, fresh air," he said as he took another deep breath.

They took a seat facing each other on her dining table and they decided to recap. Lucy started writing notes down as she explained.

"So, after Sunny Town, Ron escaped, possibly by manipulating people's memories and masking his face? Then there was this attack on the village which might, or might not be Ron –"

"I think it's safe to assume it's him. I mean, you should trust your instincts," he said, not taking his eyes off of her as she scribbled more notes.

"Hmm, okay then. He attacked the village, with another guy… And the villagers said that there was fire and screeching noises. At last, what he shouted out: Let the games begin."

Ea shook his head disbelievingly. "Ron is one messed up dude."

Lucy sighed exasperatedly. "And I'm the one who's got to clean his mess."

Ea couldn't help but chuckle. Her sense of humour even in this situation was heart-warming.

"So, to sum it all up, we're probably against more than one person, hopefully just two. Ron displayed powers of memory manipulation, face masking, and elements? I mean, he used plants to fight me during our first fight… He actually used cards to summon them but it was easy to figure out how to overcome that," she concluded, confused.

"What? How?"

"I just guessed that maybe if I disrupted the process of emitting his magic into his summoned items, the summoned items would be weak or something. It turned out to be correct."

Ea mirrored her smile. But before his mind could wander someone else, he said, "So, he uses cards too. Anything else?"

"Wouldn't want their fight to interrupt ours, no?"

Idiot.

"He can use teleportation too, but I'm not sure about his range. Hopefully, it's just a small range," Lucy said in a disappointed manner.

Ea laughed. "Hey, no worries! With all these different kinds of magic, it means that he doesn't have a main one so you'll find tons of loopholes when you fight him again."

Lucy couldn't help but smile.

"Let's get back. Uh, should we assume that there's another enemy with him?"

"Yeah sure. Better safe than never."

Lucy paused and laughed. "It's better safe than sorry."

"What? Uh, yeah! That's what I meant! Better safe than sorry!" He smiled and randomly touched the back of his head. That was embarrassing. "Slip of the mouth."

Her laugh got louder. "It's slip of the tongue, Ea."

He gave up. "Oh my gosh. This is embarrassing."

He covered his face with his hand and groaned, while she laughed heartily. For the first time in this whole mess, she felt okay, like everything wasn't wrong.

Too bad it was short-lived.

A knock followed by a muffled voice interrupted them.

"Special delivery, ma'am."

The voice seemed familiar, and when Lucy got up to open the door –

"YOU! IT WAS YOUR FAULT!"

The man grabbed her throat with a tight and vengeful grip.

Lucy struggled as her body was lifted inches off the ground and pushed against the wall.

Troy? What is he –

"Lucy!"

Ea moved quickly and kicked the man so hard that he tumbled backwards and fell down the stairs. While he was delayed, Ea quickly helped Lucy up.

"Lucy? You okay?" His heart suddenly clenched when he saw the redness on her throat. That was definitely going to bruise. "Do you know that guy?"

She coughed for a while and when she recovered, she said, "Yeah. Not exactly, though. But I don't know what he's talking about."

They both stopped talking when he came back up, a knife at hand, which was strangely dripping green liquid.

"What the," Ea said.

Is that…

Then Troy decided to lunge towards Lucy, which she somehow noted was unusually professional.

"It's poison!" He shouted desperately, worry overwhelming him.

Lucy dodged carefully, but did nothing to counterattack Troy.

"Troy, what are you doing here?" She asked slowly.

"Shut up."

His voice was void of slur, and it was cold.

"Troy, whatever you think I did, I didn't do it."

Lucy phrased her sentences carefully, hoping to get a piece of information from him. Fortunately, Ea read her mind and always stood on guard next to her, silent and ready.

"It was you. Don't even think you can get away with it."

He lunged towards her again and continued, "IF ONLY YOU DIDN'T BRING YOUR FRIEND. THEN AMY WOULDN'T HAVE RAN AWAY!"

It all clicked then. It was Ron's doing. Definitely. She didn't care if she was right this time, but it didn't matter anymore. It was time, anyway. Time for the next clue but she didn't find one. It was time for him to kill someone. Hatred and disgust filled her.

"You done, Lucy?" Ea asked after he punched the man and held him firm on the ground by sitting on his back.

"I –"

Then Ea noticed a flashing card stuck to the man's back. suddenly there was a very loud ticking going faster and faster and –

"RUN!"

They both ran outside and took cover in the corridor, far from Lucy's room. Ea had his arm around her shoulders, pulling her body close to protect her from an impact as they hoped that the explosion wasn't going to be too big.

Boom.

That was it. That small sound voiced out and they got up from their position, quick to return to Troy.

Boy, Ea had hoped that a moment would happen.

And he thought Lucy didn't feel the same.

"Troy! Are you alright?" Lucy asked aloud, fanning the smoke away.

Somehow, Ea saw a different expression in his eyes than the previous anger as he tried to get up. Were those tears? He got up slowly, his body slouched and the rest of his body looking battered. Where else was he stuck with cards?

He reached out his hand towards Lucy, unable to walk.

"Help..me.."

She was going to catch him. She was going to help him walk.

If only she had moved faster.

A card swished by her, fast and silent and hit Troy right in the head. Troy's forehead started turning black and his eyes rolled back. The only sound heard next was the unceremonious thud of the now dead body.

It was as if time stopped. Everything became so clear, and Lucy could even feel the muscles around her eyes growing tired. The tick of the clock was getting louder.

Ron was here. Ron was here. Ron was somewhere here. They needed to get him.

Ea knew it too.

"Let's go!" He shouted and jumped out the window.

She jumped out too, her boots allowing her to land safely onto the hard hot ground. Ea was a fast runner, she noted and there were of the same pace. She had to think Natsu and the others for allowing her to train her Lucy Kick.

Natsu…

No.

She shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

"Ea! Do you see him?"

"Yeah!"

Ea continued running, focusing to catch him. It would've been so easy to catch him if that damned Ron wasn't using his teleportation skills. But he also noticed how short the teleportation range was. He's getting further and further.

"Oh, damn it," he said as he continued running. "Lucy, we're going to have to seclude him and fight him somewhere the public won't be hurt."

She understood the plan, and nodded.

It was a chase, and the winner was the one whose stamina was better.

"Careful, Lucy," Ea suddenly said.

She felt his magic power increasing, and whatever it was, she hoped he knew what he was doing. "Don't hurt the people."

Just as Ea was about to finish chanting, Ron seemingly had finished his own play and tossed a card into a building. An explosion occurred and a tornado of people came out, panicked, screaming and confused. Another one sounded and when Lucy and Ea finally pushed through the growing crowd, he disappeared into the border, leaving another burning building behind him.

They both knew it was no use and both felt guilty for those people who were running out of the building to escape the fire.

Lucy called out Aquarius using the fountain nearby and everyone ended up wet.

You could say that Lucy and Ea received both insults and thanks.

After the whole disaster, both of them wet and tired, they stood at the spot where they last saw him. Lucy sighed.

Now what?

As if he read her mind, he suddenly said, "Let's chase him."

A/N: Let me know what you think, guys! So sorry if it wasn't what you expected.