Just a quick heads up for future chapters: I'm going to be doing multiple fights at once so they may bounce around from place to place a lot. Also i'm going to be taking a few liberties with the story and adding my own stuff, so if you don't like that its not following the anime or manga sorry but why are you reading fan fiction then?

Sting, Rouge, and Yukino were halfway to the Fairy Tail Guild when a familiar figure stepped into their path.

"M'lady!?" Sting stammered.

"Honestly. You three think I wouldn't realize what you were up to?"

All three gulped at the fierce look on Minerva's face. Then just as suddenly as she had appeared her scowl disappeared as well.

"Well we should get going. I already went to the Fairies guild hall, they could really use our help right now."

They just blinked at her.

"What?! It's not like dragging your butts back to the guild will do me any good so lets get going already!"

They all smiled when they caught sight of a dusting of pink on Minerva's cheeks.

X

"C'mon Luce, lets kick his ass!"

Mard Geer quirked an amused eyebrow at Natsu's declaration.

"Do you honestly believe the two of you stand a chance against me?"

"You know damn well I can take you by myself!" Natsu boasted a giant malicious grin on his face.

"But where is the fun in that? I wanna see the look on your face when an "Inferior creature" helps me kick your ass!"

The amused look on Mard Geer's face immediately fell and Lucy felt a shiver of fear crawl down her spine. Natsu leaned in close to her. His warmth like a security blanket soothing her worries.

"We got this Luce." He whispered to her.

"Natsu, the only real fight I've been in was against a bunch of crazy religious humans!"

"You worry too much Luce! Fighting is instinct and smarts, you got smarts in spades so just listen to that voice inside you and you'll be fine!"

With those frustratingly unhelpful words he shot forward towards Mard Geer. Lucy's pulse went into overdrive as Mard Geer's vines shot out at Natsu. Of course he dodged them easily, but Lucy still worried. He did have a bad habit of being too cocky sometimes, she seriously hoped this wasn't one of those times. Suddenly her intuition screamed at her to act and she found herself pulling out her celestial whip and the key for Cancer. She lashed out with the whip pulling Natsu out of the way of a vine he failed to notice while she summoned Cancer to deal with the ones suddenly surrounding her.

Amazed that Natsu had actually been right. Lucy felt her confidence build as she continued to provide support for Natsu. Mard Geer looked furious that she wasn't as easy a target as he'd thought. She was covering Natsu while dodging the attacks he sent her way with relative ease. The moment passed quickly, however, as Mard Geer found an opening and took it. Lucy barely had time to comprehend what was going on before cancer pushed her out of the way and was skewered from all sides by thorns.

"Cancer!" Lucy screamed as the spirit returned to his realm to recover.

"Spirits are only as strong as their Star Child! That will forever be their downfall!" Mard Geer gloated.

Infuriated, Lucy lashed out at him, Wrapping her whip around him. She pulled hard and managed to fling him across the room right at Natsu's waiting fist. There was a satisfying crunching noise which Lucy hoped was his nose breaking, but she didn't have time to find out as she was once again dodging attacks from his vines.

X

As Fairy Tail advanced further into Tartaros, Gray found it increasingly odd that they had yet to spot even one of the Nine Demon Gates yet. Granted most of them tended to avoid him at all costs, but there was one who wouldn't be afraid to face him.

"Gray-sama look out!" Juvia cried pushing him aside as a blast of ice completely engulfed her.

"Juvia!"

"That's a great girl you've got there Gray. You ought to take better care of her."

Gray couldn't say he was surprised. He was the only person in Tartaros who was immune to Gray's powers. His corpse of a father, Silver Fullbuster.

"You know damn well I do take care of her." Gray said as he put his hand on Juvia's forehead and unfroze her. Luckily for Juvia, Undine's are made of nothing but water so being completely frozen had no permanent damaging effects.

"Juvia go on ahead."

"But Gray-sama-!"

"Go! You know as well as I do he's only here as a distraction. Go a head and if you find him-"

Gray gave her an intense stare that made her insides quiver.

"-Show that bastard no mercy."

Juvia nodded and directed the rest of their group around Silver.

"Now Gray, how about we make this the last time eh?"

"I planned on it Dad."

X

Thanks to Minerva's Territory Magick, the group from Sabertooth made it to the area Tartaros was currently hovering above. They could see a group on the bottom half of the colossal cube pushing back against a demonic onslaught.

"I hear Gajeel up there barking orders." Rouge said covering one ear in annoyance.

"Sounds like his isn't the only group up there." Sting said looking to the eastern side.

"Alright lets get up there. Sting, Rouge help out where you can. Yukino and I will find Lucy." Minerva said before warping them up there.

Gajeel nearly took Stings head off with his Iron Dragon Sword when they appeared next to him.

"Watch it!" Sting shouted.

"Don't just pop up outta nowhere then!" Gajeel growled back.

Rouge quickly pushed Gajeel out of the way of an incoming green ball of Magick.

"Can we please focus!" He said angrily.

"Right! I need to get to Lucy, on the way here I saw a spell in the stars that may help, but we need to cast it together!"

Gajeel nodded and pulled out a glowing Tarot card.

"Oi! Any word on Salamander and Bunny Girl yet?"

From the card came a plethora of voices all saying they hadn't seen either yet. They were just about to lose heart when Juvia's voice rang out through the card loud and clear.

"Gray-sama's group found E.N.D-san near the western entrance. Lucy-san wasn't with him. He ran towards the center of the main building structure."

"If they're still in the main structure, chances are they aren't keeping her in the dungeon. M'lady do you have any idea where they might have her?" Sting asked.

Minerva thought back to the terrible mistake she'd made years ago of joining up with Tartaros. She hadn't seen much of the guild then but maybe...

"If they wanted to use a Star Child's power they'd have to make sure she could see the stars right?"

Yukino nodded.

"Then I know where to go, c'mon!"