The alarm finally cut off after several minutes, leaving the forest quiet. The crickets had stopped their chirping at this point, leaving the only noises coming from the two running between the thick trees, their breaths short and raspy. The silence was rather unsettling, making Lucy even more anxious than she already was.

Not a word was uttered between the two as they ran back to the old residential building for what seemed like hours. When it finally came into view, Lucy couldn't help but feel relieved, although she knew the others would be furious. The alarm undoubtedly woke them up, and she could just picture how upset Natsu would be.

The two crashed into the residence hall, slamming the door behind them. A dark room was all that greeted them upon their arrival, but soon a head poked out from the hall, quickly followed by several more.

"Luce?" A quiet voice called out softly. "Is that you?" A body stepped into the room carefully.

"It's Kenji and I." The blonde said aloud. Just then, a pair of small arms wrapped around Lucy's waist.

"I was so worried about you, Lucy-san!" Wendy cried out. Smiling softly, Lucy stroked the young girl's hair with one hand, pulling her tighter to her body with the other.

"I guess we've got some explaining to do, huh?" Kenji asked, stepping up beside the blonde.

A fire was dancing in the fireplace, casting a bright glow on the room everyone was currently huddled up in. Lucy shifted uncomfortably as everyone stared at her and Kenji, awaiting their explanation. She honestly didn't know what to say, since she knew she wasn't supposed to leave the residence hall, but had anyway, making her friends worry so much about her.

She knew that, out of everyone, she had disappointed Natsu the most, and she felt ashamed of that. This mission was supposed to go so smoothly, nobody would have guessed that she had been gone at all. She knew she wasn't supposed to be so reckless, but she wanted to do something.

"Well?" Erza asked, her stern gaze piercing a hole through the two. "What happened?"

So, Lucy took a deep breath, hesitantly explaining why she had left with Kenji, and why there were alarms. As she told the story, she studied everyone's faces, trying to determine what they were thinking of the entire situation. She got nowhere with this, however, since they all had a blank face.

When she finished, she expected them to yell at her, but there was an uncomfortable silence. The blonde glanced over at Kenji, who did the same. She could tell that he didn't really care what everyone thought about their actions, but he was still plagued with anxiety. What happened at the lab had really shaken him up, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

"I say we go after those guys." Natsu broke the silence, his eyes deadly blades.

"And do what? Kill them?" Erza asked. Lucy could see Wendy flinch, and she just wanted to pick her up and take her away from this awful place. She was too young to be in this type of situation.

Levy saw Lucy looking empathetically at the young girl and decided to take Wendy to her room, where she'd stay with her for the night. She didn't need to hear this conversation. Once the two bluenettes were in the bedroom, everyone continued on with the conversation.

"I shot some of them, and they probably won't survive out here with bullet wounds." Kenji said. A shiver ran down Lucy's spine as she remembered the cries of pain echoing in the night. What if there were children who were hurt because of them?

"Do they know where we are?" Juvia asked. This question had been in the back of everyone's mind, but everyone was too scared to ask it aloud.

"I don't think so. I didn't tell them where we are." Lucy stared into the fire, trying to lose herself in it. She shouldn't have left, and she wished she hadn't.

"Good." Gray said, moving to the hallway. "I think we should all follow Levy and Wendy's example and go to bed. We need to train ourselves harder from now on, and we need to rest before that."

"I agree." Erza said, standing up. "Lucy, you need to be kept under watch, along with Kenji. What you two did was reckless, and you two can't be trusted to be alone again." The blonde felt her stomach drop as she stared at the red head before her.

"What? No way!" Kenji stood up, staring Erza down. "I don't need a babysitter. Especially by one of you. I think that this proves that Lucy and I are fine by ourselves, since we took on so many threats at once."

"Shaddup! You almost got Luce killed!" Natsu stood, and Lucy could tell he wanted to punch someone in the face.

"Natsu, I'm the one who tried to leave without backup. Kenji only came along to make sure nothing happened!" Lucy didn't want things to escalate between the two, since they hated each other enough already. "I know that we don't deserve to be trusted, but don't you think keeping a watch over us is a little extreme?" She looked over at Erza, but felt her blood run cold at the demonic aura radiating off of the woman.

"You get no say in this situation. Either of you. You both put everyone in danger, and because of this, you will be watched. Gray, you will keep an eye on Kenji. Lucy, you're with me. We can sleep in your room if you want." Without waiting for a response, she disappeared down the hall and into Lucy's bedroom.

"This is dumb." Kenji muttered as he sulked to his own room, Gray close behind.

Lucy looked at Natsu, who just simply looked away from her. He was disappointed, and she knew she deserved to be ashamed of herself. An overwhelming hopelessness formed in the pit of her stomach. She would never be free from everything until she got off of this goddamn island.

The following days were miserable for our blonde friend as she always had a pair of eyes on her. She felt like Erza was training her harder than anyone else, which always ended up with Lucy on the ground, a stick pointed at her chest and a bruised bottom. There had been no sighting of the mad scientist and his army of people, but Lucy was glad for that. She didn't want to know what would happen between her group and theirs.

Her group had tried several times to come up with an escape plan, but so far, none of their ideas were reasonable. If they built a raft, they could easily be killed by any water creatures. They had no idea how to build a ship, which pretty much left them out of options. Lucy could tell that everyone was beginning to feel as though they would be on this island until their deaths, which was very plausible.

One day, Levy and Lucy were on the roof, staring at the rest of the island. The cool breeze felt good on their tired bodies after a long day of training. Everyone else had gone inside as the sun began to set, leaving the two girls to relish the beauty of it. How could such a beautiful place be so dangerous?

"Ne, Lu-chan, I think we should go back to the plane." This took Lucy by surprise.

"Why's that, Levy-chan?"

"Well, there could be supplies there that we could use. Clothes, batteries, maybe even dome non-perishable food?" Her blue haired friend looked at her, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Maybe even some books?"

At this, Lucy couldn't help but chuckle. She didn't blame Levy for wanting to escape the island for a bit, even if it's just through stories.

"I think that sounds like a great idea! I know that I left a few things behind that I'd like to retrieve. Especially my clothes!" She had been forced to wear the same outfit everyday, which was really gross. The two giggled and began to feel excited about the idea of fresh garments.

They were so caught up in the conversation that they didn't see a ball of blue and another ball of white hurtling towards them from the horizon. Two furry, terrifyingly fast balls of fur.

One hit Lucy in the chest, sending her sprawling backward as the other did the same to Levy. They were so shocked that they couldn't cry out. Lucy sat up, rubbing her head. In her lap lay a blue ball of fur, which looked back up at her with large eyes.

"Kyah!" She and Levy simultaneously scrambled backwards, wondering what new threat just introduced itself.

"Wait!" The blue ball called out in a high-pitched voice. The two girls looked at each other, confused. They looked back at the balls, which now resembled two little cats with wings. One was white and the other was blue.

"Did... Did you just...?" Levy couldn't finish her sentence due to the shock of what just happened.

"Talk?" The white one finished for her. The two girls stumbled backwards, their eyes twitching.

"Are you a Heartfilia?" The blue one asked, pointing to the bluenette.

"No, dummy, it's her!" Said the white haired cat, pointing to Lucy.

"Eh?" The blue one looked between the two humans, sniffing the air slightly. "Ohhh! You're right, Charle!" The small white one just sighed, pointing her attention to Lucy once more.

"I'm Charle and this is Happy. And we've come to warn you."

(A/N) Hey guys! I know it's been, like, over a year since I updated. So, here you go! Of course I had to involve the Exceeds in some capacity!

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~StarCrusader~