*Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.*

CHAPTER 1 That Fateful Day

Lucy stretched, waking up warm and content, it's been 3 days since the horrors of Ichiya's "Parfum" incident around town. Today she planned on finally returning Natsu's cloak that he had to give her once her bunny outfit was destroyed. She sat up and looked out the window. It looks like it's still early in the morning, the sun must have just risen. I will just head to Natsu's house rather than to the guild. I don't want them all to start the teasing again.

Turning her body so she could slip out of bed, she collided with a large, warm object. Looking to her right, she spotted a mop of pink hair sticking out of the top of her covers. She gave one swift 'nudge' with her foot and Natsu toppled to the ground, wrapped in her blankets. "Lucccyyyyyy! Why'd you do that?!" He whined.

She frowned at him, trying to sound patronizing. "Natsu, how many times have I told you?! You can't just climb into my bed!"

He sat up and huffed grumpily, "I don't see the big deal. We are a team and a team should do everything together!"

She held back her smirk, while she felt like melting on the inside. He was always so dedicated to her and Happy; their little team. "Natsu . . It's inappropriate for you to do that."

He jumped to his feet, blanket falling to the floor around him. "Why is it inappropriate? You always try to explain it and I don't get it!"

Normally at this point Lucy would get frustrated at how dense Natsu can be, but this occasion she was far too distracted by seeing him shirtless in the early morning light. Feeling her face flush, she stammered, "N . .Natsu, w . . where is y . . your jacket?!"

He stared at her in confusion and then suddenly smacked his forehead and excited said, "Oh yeah! I came here last night to get it. I never got it back from you yet. But you were asleep so I figured I'd just get it whenever you woke up." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

Lucy sighed to show her irritation, even if it is just for appearances. She couldn't admit it out loud, but waking up to him and Happy in her apartment always made her feel warm and safe. After her lonely childhood, it was nice to have someone that close, even if they will only ever view her as a friend. She would take any kind of love from the dragon slayer. She wasn't even sure if he knew there was more than just friendship love, that it can go deeper into a new form of relationship.

She crossed the room and snatched up his jacket which was folded neatly and obviously on the coffee table. "Here! I was going to actually head to your house and give it to you but I guess you were super eager."

He started putting it on and glanced at her. "Luce, you wanna go on a job?"

She let her frustrated demeanor slip into an excited one. "Yea! When? Today?!"

Natsu spiritedly smirked. "Whenever you are ready to head to the guild. I told Gray and Erza about it and they are totally psyched to go too!"

Lucy ran off into the restroom, bringing a change of clothes and quickly got ready with a rushed morning routine. After quickly packing a small bag of clothing and supplies, Natsu and Lucy walked to the guild together and ate breakfast waiting for the other members of their team.

Once Erza finally arrived with her mountain of suitcases piled on a small cart, they made their way over to the request board. "What about this one?" "Nah looks too easy!" "OOOOHHHHHHHH! This one is near a beach!" "But the reward is so small, are you sure that will be enough to help towards your rent once it's split?" "This one looks interesting .." "NOOOOO! Erza, we told you we won't do that play ever again!"

Lucy scanned the board, enjoying the team bickering. She found one that caught her eye. "Here guys what about this one?" The team stood behind her and read the request over her shoulder.

PLEASE HELP

TOWN HAS BEEN INFILTRATED BY BANDITS AND ROUGUES

THEY ARE DESTROYING EVERYTHING

Some picture included with a few rough looking faces.

PLEASE CONTACT MAYOR

1,000,000 JEWELS REWARD

The team all greed and went to Mirajane at the bar. As they were about to step out of the guild doors, Wendy shyly came over. "Guys, would it be okay if I joined you all, I don't mind taking a reduced portion of the payout, I'm just looking to pay rent and get some experience."

The group smiled to each other in a silent agreement and Erza walked over to the small, blue haired mage. "Of course Wendy." She placed her hand on the petite girl's shoulder. "We would be delighted for you to join us, and you can have a full share of the reward!"

Wendy looked nervously around the group. "A . .Are you sure?"

Happy jumped with a jubilant "AYE SIR!" while Natsu gave a thumbs up and playful grin, Gray gave a small nod with his hands crossed over his chest, and Lucy gave a warm smile and said "YEAH! OF COURSE!" Wendy smiled gratefully to everyone.

They didn't have to wait too long for Wendy and Carla to go back to Fairy Hills to pack a small bag and return. Dragging Natsu on the train took a lot of effort and energy, resulting in Erza knocking him out. They slumped him against the window seat next to Lucy, his face against the glass. They chatted and enjoyed the quick ride over to Onibus. Lucy ended up carrying to unconscious Natsu until they reached the Mayor's office. The town was quiet, and they didn't see anyone in the streets or hear anything on the way over. The Mayor was locked in his office with defense ruins set up around the property. Happy tripped one and the group was soon stuck. They Mayor came out and once everyone was confirmed a Fairy Tail wizard, he informed them of the details of their problems.

They group of bandits/rogues took over the shops and stole from the civilians. They claimed to kill anyone they spot out on the streets at first sight.

Natsu jumped off his spot near the wall where Lucy dumped him and yelled. "I'm fired up now!" He took off running out of the building with two fiery fists. Gray stared after him, muttering "Idiot."

Soon every member was in combat. Gray captured 6 bandits near the shops by the train station, Erza was in the park and just finished tying her 20th captured ruffian. Happy was attempting to gather and tie the random trail of bad guys Natsu knocked out and place them with Grays.

Lucy had Loke and Virgo out. Loke knocked out 4 bad guys while Virgo tied them up. Lucy knocked out 2 herself already and was still battling a third one with her whip. The man whips out cards and threw them at her. She jumped, narrowly dodging the explosion that occurred when they made contact with a shrub behind her. As the man grabbed another card, he froze and stared at it. Lucy, not wanting to miss her chance ran towards the man. Just as she was about to land one of her Lucy kicks, he grabs her leg and flips her over him, slamming her on the ground. Letting out a painful groan she shot him a disgruntled look.

He stared back at her, eyes filled with confusion and sadness. "I'm sorry miss." She stared blankly at him. WHAT? Why the hell would he apologize to me, we are in the middle of a battle! I mean yeah that hurt, but my kick would have hurt him too.

Before she could get up, he flicked his card to her. She closed her eyes in anticipation, knowing that card magic can vary and she wasn't sure what to expect. Feeling the small card land gracefully on her chest, carefully opened her eyes. He stood there, above her, face filled with anguish. "I can't bear to hurt you, after seeing what the future has in store for you. You will be going through enough as it is. I really am so sorry." With that he stalked away before changing his mind.

She sat up, confused and stared after him, before frantically picking up the card. It had a picture of a person floating with what looks like it could be wind swirls around them. Above and below the person there were these weird purple cuts. Loke came over and put his hand out to Lucy, worry etching his expressions. "What happened over here?"

Lucy allowed him to help her up and wordlessly handed over the card, glancing back towards the direction the card mage wandered off to. Loke stared at the card for several minutes before suggesting Lucy asking for Crux to look into it. Virgo finished tying off the last of the men and Loke and her dragged them over to the pile near Gray.

Once Virgo went back, Lucy went stepped away and called out Crux, showing him the card and asking him to look into what it could possibly mean. He said he would go back to the celestial world and look into it because it would be faster.

Lucy soon arrived back to where she left Gray and Loke, only to find Erza, Wendy, Carla and Happy gathered as well. Letting out a sigh, she looked around. "Where's Natsu?"

"I'm right here Luce!"

His voice came directly behind her, causing her to jump in surprise. She turned around to glower at him. "You don't have to scare me like that!"

Erza looked at the group of people. "Looks like many of the people belong to a dark guild. I wonder where their leader is."

Natsu lifted one of the bodies he was carelessly dragging behind him. "Do you think this could be him?"

The group stared at Natsu with disbelief. Wendy finally said, "Looks like it could be!"

Erza looked around, clearly pleased. "Well I think we did catch everyone."

Lucy looked down towards her feet, slightly ashamed. "No. I . .I accidentally let one escape."

Erza frowned but Gray walked over and patted her on the back. "It's okay Lucy, it happens." He smiled reassuringly to her.

Wendy looked around and mumbled apologies that she let one slip away as well. Erza looked to Natsu, "Natsu, can you hunt them down?"

His smiled stretched across his face, accepting this challenge. "Oh yea! I'll be back soon. C'mon Happy!" The duo set out and was soon out of sight. The remaining members started to gather the men and place them in police carts that started to arrive. After about 40 minutes, Natsu slowly made his way back with 2 people dragging behind him. He tossed them wordlessly to the cops and stalked off.

Lucy stared after him, asking Happy, "What's up with Natsu?"

Happy frowned and glanced at his pink haired friend. "One of the guys said something to him. I didn't hear what, but it is bugging him. He wouldn't tell me what the guy said."

Once the group had the reward money, the Mayor treated them all to lunch and they were ready to depart. Erza looked to the group proudly. "Well that was finished much quicker than expected! How about we walk back to the guild. We will be able to make it before nightfall still." This cheered up Natsu and everyone agreed that some fresh air and exercise would be preferred than short train ride.

As the group neared Magnolia, Erza stopped everyone and told them she had a surprise for them all. She quickly pulled out a large sheet and stretched it across the field they were walking on. "We shall have ourselves a glorious picnic!" Everyone looked to themselves and heartily agreed, knowing this meant a lot to the red headed mage who apparently has never been on a full real picnic. All of her past attempts have been ruined. Once everyone was sated and happy, they packed up the picnic and started to make their way towards town.

Lucy glanced at the sun that was starting it's descent in the in the summer sky. Today has been an awesome day, except for that weird card guy. She pulled out the card and looked at it. I'll ask Cana when we get back to the guild if she knows anything. Crux has been searching all day and even has some of the other spirits searching as well. Lucy could feel the breeze pick up and she held her arms across herself to try and keep warm.

Wendy sniffed the air. "That's weird."

Gray looked at her curiously. "What's weird Wendy?"

She looked around the group nervously. "The sky . . It's smells weird." She proceeded to take a finger out and swipe it in the air before returning it to her mouth. "It even tastes weird."

Carla looked at Wendy with concern. "What do you think that could mean child?"

Wendy looked around and sadly shrugged. Before anyone could say anything else, Carla gasped, holding her head. Everyone huddled around Carla. "Are you okay Carla?" "What is it?" Wendy looked to Carla with worried curiosity. "Is it a vision Carla?"

Carla just held her head, trying to decipher the scraped vision she just experienced. She didn't even know what she saw. Flashes of color, the guild crying, a bottle of pills, a rope breaking, blood on a white carpet. What could it all mean?

Lucy let out a soft gasp as 2 of her golden celestial keys started to glow. Loke and Virgo stood in front of her. The group stared at her, clearly surprised. Lucy yelped, "What are you both d . . . ." Virgo picked up Lucy midsentence and hauled her to the nearest tree while Loke ran over to Natsu and ripped his back pack off of his shoulders.

Natsu glared at the celestial spirit. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Loke didn't bother to answer as he dug through the contents of the pack. Grapping the rope, he ran over to where Virgo set down Lucy. Loke gave one end of the rope to Virgo and he took the other; Virgo started to tie the roped to the tree with intricate knots while Loke focused on tying his end around Lucy's waist. She blushed furiously and shouted. "WHAT DO YOU BOTH THINK YOUR DOING?!"

Virgo and Loke shared a meaningful look before Loke snatched the card away from Lucy and stalked over to the group of friends that stood gawking. He flashed the card in front of them. "One of the guys Lucy was against stopped mid battle to give her some fortune card. After that he refused to battle her because of the future he saw, he said something about feeling sorry for her."

"LOKE!" Lucy fumed.

The group looked to Lucy. Natsu ground his teeth out of frustration as Gray asked. "Lucy, is this true?"

She looked to the ground, "Yeah, I was going to ask Cana when we got back. I didn't want to worry anyone in case he was just trying to distract me."

Natsu looked at Lucy with concern. "Lucy, he said something to me as well." He looked down at the ground, his fist clenched. "He told me . ."

"OH NO!" Everyone looked over to Wendy. She was staring at the sky, her eyes the size of saucers. Everyone let their eyes follow to where she stared in horror. In the beautiful evening sky, cutting into the blue sky that was starting to blend with the orange and pink hues of the sunset was a large rip. The sky had an enormous tear! Inside, there was some kind of purple light with black clouds and blue lightening streaking out. Their mouths hung open as they felt like they couldn't move.

Hearing Lucy's shriek ripped the group from their focus and they all looked at her. Lucy had tight winds whipping around her while her body hovered several feet above the ground. Natsu ran to try and catch her. Upon making contact with the wind force, he was thrown back, reeling in pain. Loke fell to his knees in pain, starting to disappear. "LUCY! HANG IN THERE!"

Lucy shut her eyes, tears starting to form. She could barely make out shapes outside of the vortex she was wrapped in. She felt herself being lifted until she was at the end of the rope, dangling in the sky. She screamed again. She grabbed the rope and tried to pull herself towards the tree, , but the vortex's pull was too strong. She cried out in pain against the rope that was wrapped around her, digging into her sides. She could feel the vortex shift as something slammed against it repeatedly. She recognized that shade of pink anywhere. She stretched out her hand, trying to reach past the whipping winds. Hearing her name faintly being yelled by those closest to her was breaking her heart.

Although she couldn't see them very clearly, they could still make out a good view of Lucy. Loke grabbed Gray and stuffed the card in his hand. "GET THIS TO CANA!" With a poof, he disappeared. A large blue streak of electricity cut through the sky and snapped the rope. The vortex rocketed towards the heavens and into the tear. It rapidly started to close and soon held no evidence of ever being there.

Natsu sat on his knees, slamming his fists to the ground. Tears streaming down his face, he looked to the sky. "LUCY!"