Lucy watched from her place beside her personal heater as Wendy tried to tend to Levy's arm, her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm. She was glad Gajeel had cut down a massive tree for them to sit on...sitting on the snowy ground didn't seem too fun. Levy was refusing to allow Wendy near her, however, and the young girl was at a loss as to why.

"I want to make sure Gajeel's wounds are taken care of first," Levy was trying to insist, ignoring her badly twisted arm in favor of trying to check on Gajeel. But the iron dragon slayer was having none of it, growling at her as he kept stepping away to avoid her touch. She huffed impatiently. "Gajeel!"

"You're going to get the Marks!" he snapped.

"Oh, for the love of- I already have them!" Levy shoved her hair out of her face, purposely standing on her tip-toes and getting in Gajeel's face. Or, at least, she tried to, the height difference making it seriously difficult. Nevertheless, her goal was accomplished, and Gajeel swore when he saw the single streak of black beginning its course down her face. "Now. Give me those," she muttered, snatching a roll of bandages they'd managed to scavenge from a building on the outskirts of Hargeon. "Sit down, shut up, and let me do this, because we need to get moving and I can handle walking with an injured arm. You can't walk for too long with an injured leg."

Gajeel glared at her, then huffed and simply dropped down to sit in the snow. Levy shivered in her coat as she knelt beside him, ignoring the piercing furious glare he gave her. "You're such a child," she muttered to him.

"You're a shrimp," he fired back, pissed off about the fact that she'd won over the matter and that she had the Marks.

With a sigh, Levy paused. She set down the bandages she'd had in her hands, ignoring Gajeel's sputtering of surprise as she grabbed his cheeks and held him in place so she could gently press her lips against his. His glares vanished, replaced by a shocked expression, and she beamed at him. "Good. Now stay quiet."

Sting watched with a slight amount of amusement before returning to searching the area for any sign of Yukino. The celestial mage, who Lucy had learned had also lost her keys, had disappeared overnight, somehow escaping the notice of Natsu, who'd been on guard while the rest of them slept.

"So let's clear this up," Sting said as he looked around them. "These little painful moments of Lucy's mean someone's changed into one of the Marked completely or have died."

"Yep," Lucy said dully. "Which means the second I have one, we either need to be careful or mourn whoever's dead." Natsu pressed lightly against her and she leaned into him in return. The dragon slayer hadn't said a single word since she'd woken up, but she was glad he was there, still willing to let her at least be around him.

It was, after all, her fault Happy was dead.

"Okay..." Sting frowned, eyes darting to the quiet Rogue for a moment. "So...what are we doing about those that change? These guys are going to be changing eventually," he added, waving towards the five ones in their group with the Marks.

Jellal gave a wry little smile from where he was quietly seated beside Erza on the opposite end of the log that Lucy and Natsu were on. "It's obvious, isn't it? One of you has to kill us."

"Not right now," Levy said hastily when Wendy's eyes filled with tears. "When we get close to turning...we can feel it when it's going to happen. You get this huge headache and a really bad fever if you're really fighting it." She gently prodded at the wound on Gajeel's leg, then set to work on cleaning it out with a little bit of alcohol they'd found. The murderous look on his face as she did so had Lucy flinching, and Natsu tossed an arm around her shoulders, watching them carefully.

"Great," Rogue sighed, not looking the least bit enthusiastic about the matter at all.

"Um," Wendy said softly, moving to tug lightly at Sting's arm. He glanced down curiously. "C-can I ask what happened to Lector and Frosch?"

Sting tensed, and Rogue's gaze darkened hatefully as he glared at the youngest dragon slayer. Wendy flinched at his look, but didn't back off, instead turning her curious look on Sting. Sting didn't answer for a few moments, but then he finally murmured, "They were killed by the Marked when they attacked our guildhall."

"Charle, too," Wendy mumbled softly. "And Lily, and now Happy. I guess they don't like Exceeds then."

Lucy's gaze darkened at this and she straightened. "They went after all of them...maybe there was something about them that frightened them or something like that? The first one Juvia went after was Happy. It was only after he was gone that she came after me."

"It's 'cause there's so many happy memories that go with 'em." She glanced at the quiet dragon slayer beside her. Natsu's onyx eyes were hard with anger. "They don't like when we're happy, so the first thing they try to do is get rid of what puts us in a good mood."

Lucy thought back to when she'd been told about how Happy had earned his name, and patted Natsu's shoulder gently before standing. She stretched. "In any case, it doesn't matter if they were frightened or not. They killed all of the Exceeds, and we need to keep going."

"We're not leaving until Yukino's back," Sting said immediately, shooting a look at the others. Rogue silently nodded his agreement, but Jellal shook his head as he and Erza stood, too.

"Lucy is right," Erza said firmly. "We need to keep moving, or the Marked will attack again. Yukino chose to walk away from us, we can't wait for her, Sting. You and Rogue may stay if you want, but the rest of us are going to move on."

Wendy shifted uncomfortably, looking uncertain when Sting fired back, "We waited for that Meredy for a good day before we moved on. Why shouldn't we wait the same amount of time for Yukino? Is this because of what happened in the Grand Magic Games? Because I thought we were over that." Sting's eyes were furious as he glared at them, and Lucy bit her lip, shaking her head.

"It's not because of that," Levy sighed as she stood. Gajeel grunted as he hauled himself to his feet, propping an elbow on her head and leaning against her. She staggered under his weight, but let him, flashing him a brief smile. "The Marked will come after us, especially with the scent of blood in the air. And there are still some of us who can be saved, Sting. We must keep moving."

"The shrimp's right," Gajeel muttered gruffly, "We don't got a grudge against ya, but it's how it is."

Natsu grunted his agreement, but said nothing more.

Sting glanced over his shoulder with a look of distress, not willing to leave his nakama, but it was Rogue who spoke up then, changing his mind. "They're right, Sting. We should keep going. We'll leave a note and some supplies for Yukino, letting her know which way we went if she wants to catch up."

"...fine," Sting agreed, though he still seemed somewhat reluctant. He went over to the small amount of supplies that had been retrieved over the night, and began to pull out small amounts of different things for Yukino.

The others watched him for a few minutes before Natsu finally stood. Lucy glanced at him, making sure he wasn't going to blow up like she thought he might, then turned to Levy. "Do you want me to see what I can do for your arm before we get going?" she offered. "I doubt Gajeel doesn't have a single clue as to what he's doing and Wendy can't help you..."

"That would be great," Levy said gratefully, grimacing in annoyance when Sting ripped a page out of a book she'd grabbed to write on. Gajeel moved back, giving her space, and Lucy studied her arm for a few moments before saying, "Wendy? You worked with Porlyusica before all of this...what do I need to do?"

After Levy's arm had been fixed as best as possible and Sting and Rogue had left a note and supplies for Yukino, the group of survivors were off again. Lucy could tell from where she was walking beside a silent Natsu that Gajeel's leg was bothering him, but the stubborn iron dragon slayer was refusing to admit to the pestering solid-script mage that it was.

"Natsu," Lucy said softly as she strode beside him, catching his attention. He glanced at her, and Lucy bit her lip hesitantly before saying quietly, "I'm sorry. About Happy...it's-"

"It's not your fault, Luce, stop blaming yourself," he cut her off. Natsu folded his hands behind his head, puffing out a sharp breath. "It's whatever's behind this mess. Whoever started this is to blame." He reached over to gently tug on her blonde hair, and she smiled faintly before smacking his hand away. "'Sides. Happy wouldn't like that you're blaming yourself."

"No, he wouldn't," she admitted. She imagined the little blue cat cheerfully teasing her and Natsu for liking each other and gave a warm smile at the thought. At least he'd been proven right before he'd died. She ran over the faces of each friend they'd lost, determined. She wouldn't forget them. She'd make sure she remembered each and every one of them until her last breath.

Which turned out to be not even a minute later. She tripped, swearing with what breath she had left as the pain returned, boiling her from the inside out. Natsu gritted his teeth in frustration as he caught her, saving her from painfully striking her head on the ground. "Damn it, Luce!"

"It's not her fault," Levy protested as she hurried to catch up, kneeling beside Natsu and Lucy. She gently touched Lucy's hand, looking grateful that she didn't have to stay away from the shuddering celestial mage. She glanced around, counting the people they had with them. "We're all here...nobody's changing...which means Yukino's either changed into one of the Marked or has been killed by them."

Sting clenched his jaw, grief flashing through his eyes and Rogue looked down for a moment, shaking his head. Silence fell over them as Lucy fought to breathe, Natsu murmuring encouragements to her. When the attack ended, Lucy was left exhausted as usual, her gaze glazed over for a few minutes until she'd almost completely recovered. An aftershock or two later, she was shakily climbing to her feet. "I'm okay," she insisted, wheezing. "I'm okay."

But she wasn't, and they all knew it. There was a look in her eyes, one that hadn't been there before, and it had Natsu looking even more frustrated than before. "We need to find shelter," he snapped impatiently, watching as she staggered over to speak to Wendy. "It's gonna snow again."

"Great," Levy sighed. "Just what we need. More cold stuff to trample through...okay, we'll stop at the next place we can and hang out there for a day or two, wait for the snow to stop. Is that okay with everyone else?"

"I don't have much time left," Erza warned. "I don't know if I will be suitable to be holed up with you for more than a few hours."

All heads snapped around to look at Erza, and Jellal looked anything but happy at this realization. "W-we'll deal with that when the time comes," Levy said shakily, not looking eager at the idea of Erza turning. "Let's just keep going for now, okay?"

Nobody disagreed.

XxXx

It took them until it was almost pitch black outside to come across an abandoned cabin. Jellal was quick to offer to keep guard outside, looking uncomfortable at the thought of being trapped inside a smaller building with all of them. They hadn't questioned it. "More room for us," Gajeel grunted before swinging inside after his shrimp.

Wendy scurried after the two, trembling from the cold, and Erza and Sting was next to follow. Rogue decided to remain outside with Jellal, claiming he'd rather be outside where he could see the shadows of anything trying to sneak up on them; in other words, he didn't like the idea of being stuck inside along with the rest of them, similar to Jellal's reasons. Lucy and Natsu were last to enter the cabin, Natsu looking somewhat reluctant to do so, but not wanting to leave Lucy alone.

"Cozy," Lucy commented, immediately zoning in on the bed. She playfully pulled Wendy onto it beside her and the sky dragon slayer giggled softly when she tickled her lightly. "We call the bed for tonight!"

Nobody protested, and Levy chuckled before turning to Gajeel. "I'll make some food for you dragon slayers...that way we can preserve as much of our rations as we can." He only shrugged, not protesting. She smiled and glanced back at Sting and Natsu. "That okay with you two? Err, Sting, what exactly do I make you?"

As the two began to converse over this important matter, Erza beckoned for Natsu to come over, her gaze serious. She and Natsu began to speak to each other in low tones, and Lucy frowned in concern at that, but didn't attempt to interrupt. If Erza wanted to speak to her, she would have called the celestial mage over. So she set to work on offering food to Wendy. The small girl simply wanted to sleep, however, promising she would eat in the morning, and Lucy proceeded to tuck her into the bed with a gentle smile.

Silence fell over the cabin - excluding a small argument that arose between Erza and Natsu - and Lucy stroked Wendy's messy hair until the young girl was asleep. As soon as she was out for the night, Lucy stood, making her way over to the two mages. "I'm going to bed," she told them, "Just letting you know. Please don't make too much noise...Wendy needs rest."

Erza snorted softly. "There won't be noise, Lucy, I will make sure of it," she said seriously.

Lucy grinned at her firm words, then turned to Natsu. "Don't go anywhere," she pleaded. "I know you. You planned on going outside and checking the area out, right?" He gaped, and she glared. "I'm not deaf you know, especially when you're arguing with Erza. Erza's right. Let one of the others go outside. You and Gajeel are better off in here. No offense," she added hastily when Gajeel growled from where he was sitting beside Levy.

A pout appeared on Natsu's face. "I can't just sit around, Luce, I need to do something."

"Then make yourself into a heater," Lucy said firmly. "You, Sting, and Wendy need to be careful. You three are the only ones capable of getting infected that aren't." Of course, that didn't include her, who couldn't get sick, but she wasn't exactly eager to go around happy about such a fact. She stepped closer, gently kissed his cheek with a hesitant smile, forcing herself to pretend she didn't notice the angry glare he was giving her for telling him he couldn't run around like an idiot. "Good night, Natsu. Erza."

Erza gave her a gentle smile, her gaze soft as she murmured, "Good night, Lucy." Lucy frowned. That was unlike Erza in situations like this... Shrugging it off, the celestial mage went to make herself at home on the floor beside the bed despite claiming it for both she and Wendy. She'd let the young girl enjoy the comfort for the night. She'd use the next bed they came across.

It was difficult, arranging one of the thing blankets beneath her and curling up to attempt to get some warmth at the same time, but she was falling asleep in no time, especially when Natsu, grumbling about "stupid Lucy", came and made himself at home beside her, providing himself as a personal heater again.

Smiling to herself, Lucy pressed back against him and fell asleep, pretending she didn't hear Levy cooing over the two of them.

XxXx

Her eyes snapped open to the sound of the door of the cabin clicking shut.

Disoriented, Lucy carefully picked through her thoughts, groggily figuring out who had come in or left. Natsu was snoring away beside her despite claiming that he'd wanted to run around hunting for anything that might show up at a later time. Wendy was still out cold in the bed, murmuring unhappily in her sleep. Sting was passed out against a wall, sitting up with his head rolled onto his shoulder in an uncomfortable looking position. Gajeel and Levy occupied a corner, both seemingly asleep. Levy's head had dropped to rest against Gajeel's arm, and the iron dragon slayer had an arm tossed around her, pinning her against his side. Her lips twitched tiredly upwards at the sight, and she realized who was missing.

Erza.

Yawning, she contemplated whether or not she'd rather figure out where the red-haired requip mage had gone or snuggle up against Natsu again. He seemed more inclined to the second idea, as he rolled over and reached out, seeking her out. But, with a heavy sigh, she realized there were more important matters than warmth and hopped lightly to her feet. The second her feet hit the ground, Gajeel's eyes popped open, glinting a brilliant red in the dark. When he realized who it was, however, he rolled them and went back to pretending he was asleep.

Sticking her tongue out at Gajeel, Lucy slipped outside, careful not to make too much noise. She looked around, noticing that Rogue was nowhere to be found, nor was Jellal. So much for their guard dogs...

Shrugging to herself, Lucy started forward. She might as well try and figure out where they'd all run off to...Natsu wasn't running around throwing fire at anything, so there hadn't been any battle... Humming under her breath, the celestial mage started forward...then stopped dead in her tracks when a low yet firm voice said very clearly, "No."

Ah, so Erza had gone after Jellal. Not surprising, she'd been attempting to convince Jellal that all of them had forgiven him for his past mistakes, that he'd cleared his name thousands of time over. Lucy shrugged, rolling her eyes at herself before turning to head back to the cabin.

"Jellal," Erza's voice answered, sounding desperate. "Please. Do it. I'm almost gone, I have mere hours at the most...and I do not wish for my nakama to witness my death."

Lucy stopped again, this time her lips parting in surprise and her eyes snapping wide.

Wait...what? She whirled around, brown eyes searching out the pair. It was easy enough to see the glint of red against all of the white snow and she quietly hurried closer, her hands clenched into worried fists. She ducked behind a tree. She'd rather not let Erza know she'd been sneaking out to see where she was going, especially after that previous comment... She peered around the tree.

Jellal was shaking his head, his eyes saddened. "I won't do it, Erza," he said calmly.

Erza looked desperate as she shoved the sword in her hands towards him, slamming it hard into his chest. He winced and was shoved back a step. "Jellal," she said angrily, "If you don't do it, I will. I don't want to force my nakama to be the ones to have to behead me. They already had to do that with Gray. I will not make them repeat it."

A muscle in Jellal's jaw ticked as he gritted his teeth. "So you'll make me do it? I won't, Erza. You're asking too much."

"Please." Erza softened her tone into a pleading one. He shifted uncomfortably when she tried to press the sword into his hands again.

"I can't," he muttered, shaking his head. He adjusted the cloak he wore, his free hand pushing the sword back in her direction. "I can't do it, Erza. I can't."

"Fine." Suddenly resigned, Erza stepped back, gaze never leaving Jellal's. There was a flash of light as she requipped, the sword being traded for a smaller blade. It was a short sword, its hilt crested with a large gem. "Then I will have to do this myself." For the first time in a long time, Erza's voice trembled. "Alert my nakama of what has happened. Tell them that it was my choice." She raised the blade, placing the tip at the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

Jellal's eyes snapped wide. "Erza-"

She slammed the blade home just as Lucy gave a strangled cry, agony shooting through her. She crashed to her knees before toppling over as Erza's body hit the ground, and Jellal swore as he whipped around to look in her direction. "Lucy?! What are you -"

Before he could finish speaking, there was a loud explosion that rocked the ground he stood on. He staggered, fighting to keep his balance as smoke began to billow into the air from the direction of the cabin. His eyes widened as a scream pierced the night, and he gave Erza's body a final glance before darting forward, snow spraying as he slammed onto his knees beside Lucy, who jerked violently, mouth opened in a silent scream of agony. Another explosion nearly sent him falling over, but he saved himself, using his body to protect the celestial mage when debris came falling from the sky.

"What the hell?" he rasped, looking bewildered. What could have possibly gone wrong enough that there was debris reaching where they were? He turned his attention back on Lucy, whose eyes had glazed over. "Lucy?" he murmured, concerned. He dropped his ear to her chest, listening intently for a heartbeat and pressed his lips into a hard line when there was nothing.

Jellal groaned. Why did this have to happen now? "Come on, Lucy," he said firmly, shaking her gently.

But she felt nothing but the pain and heard only the sound of blood roaring in her ears. All she knew was that she couldn't breathe and she needed to. Desperately. She couldn't see, and sounds were echoing strangely around her. She could just barely hear Jellal as he tried to shake her back into awareness, shouting something about Natsu-

Her vision cleared. Natsu. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Suddenly able to gulp down air, she proceeded to do so, coughing and wheezing, shivering violently as the cold snow soaked into her back. Trying to help, Jellal pulled her up into a sitting position, his gaze darting over his shoulder. "Good," he breathed. "We need to hurry."

"R-right," she slurred out, exhausted. She let Jellal haul her to her feet, leaning heavily on him as he tried to usher her forward as quickly as he could. Losing patience, however, he simply swung her up into his arms. Lucy tried to protest, but gave up, closing her eyes. If it got her to Natsu faster, then to hell with it. He could carry her if he wanted.

When they stepped out of the trees into the clearing that the cabin was in...no, had been in, Lucy felt tears sprang to her eyes. The cabin was ablaze, smoke still rising from it, and her face paled when the gleaming moonlight showed some thick liquid dripping sluggishly from a broken piece of wood that was still standing.

She shoved away from Jellal then, and he let her. Stumbling forward, she let out a cry of Natsu's name, but the cry became a terrified scream when something came flying out of the flames at her. She dove out of the way, and Jellal was quick to use his magic as a shield to stop it from ramming into him. It drove him back a few feet before Lucy realized what it was.

Why was it always Gajeel that nearly killed her?

"Gajeel!" she shouted, then shivered when he whirled to face her, his glowing eyes locking on her. Iron scales rippled, raising and falling along his flesh like they belonged to an actual dragon, and Lucy felt a flash of fear when she realized he might as well have the mind of one at the moment.

Never again would she be as grateful for Levy risking her life for her as she was at that moment. The solid-script mage came flying out of the flames after him, her magic working overtime to create a barrier to keep the flames away. "Gajeel!" she shouted, "Over here, he's over-oof!" Something slammed into her and she was sent sprawling, clutching at her torso with a pained gasp.

Lucy threw herself in the solid-script mage's direction. "Levy!" she cried, checking on the other girl. Thankfully, Levy had only had the breath driven out of her. Her head snapped around as a shadow loomed over them, and her body stiffened when she saw the single red eye glaring at them from the darkness.

Rogue was attacking? But he didn't have the Marks quite nearly as bad...was it changing? Was the disease shifting the way it worked?

Gajeel gave an outraged roar and lunged at Rogue. The shadow vanished, slipping speedily along the ground to avoid the attack. Lucy ducked to avoid a missed swing that would have killed her instantly had it connected with her head. Black mist seemed to trail behind the swing, and Lucy grimaced. He was in his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode. As Gajeel chased after it, she spared a glance in Jellal's direction, but he'd vanished.

"Lucy," Levy gasped upon catching her breath. "You're okay! We thought-"

"Sorry, was dealing with unpleasant things." She shuddered at the memory. "Erza's dead."

Levy groaned in response, rolling over and shoving herself to her knees. "Not Erza," she whispered before clutching her stomach. "Ow, that hurt."

Lucy let her gaze keep traveling around, keeping an eye out for Rogue. "Where's Natsu? Wendy and Sting, too."

"Don't know," she mumbled, screwing her eyes shut. "Natsu was the one that blew up the cabin...Sting had Wendy last time I checked. He was protecting her, but Rogue kept going after him in particular. Both of them have the Marks now, Lucy. Natsu's the only one who doesn't."

She tensed for a moment before shaking her head. Now wasn't the time to focus on that. "Come on." She hauled Levy to her feet, staggering herself when her head spun. She was still tired from her attack, and she was absolutely at a loss as to how she was still awake. "We need to find them."

"Lucy," Levy said softly as the celestial mage dragged her forward, her eyes widening. "You're shaking...badly."

"It's...it's fine," Lucy managed to choke out. She released her friend's arm to cup her hands around her mouth and scream at the top of her lungs, praying that the one she was aiming for would be the one that found her. "NATSU!"

It was only a split second later that a ball of flames came barreling through the trees, not seeming to pause to consider the fact that trees were bursting into flame around it. Lucy grinned, tears of relief beginning to fall down her cheeks, and she threw out her arms a moment before someone slammed into her at full force. Both went sprawling and Natsu panted for breath in her ear as he hugged her tightly. "I thought I told you not to scare me like that again!"

"Sorry," she wheezed back, wincing. She was going to have bruises from that impact. She slapped her hands over her his cheeks, ignoring the fire that still raged around them. It didn't burn her. In fact, it had encircled both her and Levy protectively, keeping them safe from the shadows outside. "You're okay? You weren't touched?"

He shook his head, then shoved her back suddenly. "Sting and Wendy are coming this way. I need to go help Gajeel catch Rogue...he's purposely taunting Gajeel. He tried to kill Sting." He shook his head in disgust. "Stay here."

With that, Natsu slipped away, lighting up the night as he darted towards the sound of fighting.