Lucy's dark eyes fluttered open, a weak groan of pain escaping her as she sat up slowly, rubbing her head as she tried to clear her mind of the blurriness. How long had she been unconscious?

"Damn it!"

A blast of ice entered her vision, just moments away from striking her, and she gasped, rolling out of the way and shoving herself to her feet. Okay, so she hadn't been out for very long. She reached for her keys, which had fallen to the ground, letting her fingers wrap around Virgo's key. Gray swore, sending an Ice-Make: Lance attack at their opponent, who merely chuckled darkly, a wall of black deflecting the blow. The ice-make mage looked fairly beat up, already covered in various wounds, and Lucy felt a flash of guilt. It was always him getting injured.

Lucy glanced over her shoulder. Surely Erza would have evacuated the people and would be returning soon, right? Or Natsu would have dealt with the people below and would come to help soon. Her gaze settled on their enemy and the space he stood in front of. There was a huge flight of stairs behind him, which meant that they were getting closer.

"Look out!" Lucy's head snapped up at Gray's shout and she dove out of the way when a ball of black energy crashed into the spot she'd been standing in. She winced when some strange searing heat nicked at her, slicing a deep gash in her arm, but ignored it, instead darting forward. "Gray! Keep distracting him," she called, somehow managing to duck around the furious enemy as she made a run for the stairs.

Gray grinned. "On it!" Before the strangely cloaked man could do anything to stop her, he launched a full out ice attack on him, effectively keeping him from sending any more of his strange black energy after her.

Lucy stormed up the stairs, panting for breath as she turned to climb another flight, thoughts racing through her mind.

"There's a couple dozen people, stationed in various areas around this room and the one they're in."

If Natsu was correct, then she'd have to be careful and pray that someone showed up to help her upon reaching their goal, because while she knew she could match some people in strength, she was nowhere near capable of fending off more than one mage at a time. Virgo's key was still held tightly in her hand, which had been slicked with the blood that dripped down her arm, striking the floor with the soft sound of dripping liquid.

She ducked behind a corner when she caught sight of someone approaching, watching as they raced down the stairs without noticing her. Two or three more were close behind, all hissing words to each other, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she wasn't discovered. So this was the floor their captives were hidden on. She swept down the hall at a run when she thought it safe. She paused at every room she came across to check for them, but found nothing.

So it made sense that the second the last door was opened, she had to duck to avoid a wall of stone sent flying at her head. A mage, dressed in a cloak similar to the leader's, glared at her. Lucy caught sight of a sobbing woman holding a wailing infant behind him, entrapped within a stone cage, probably created by the very mage she found herself fighting against.

"Ah, Miss Heartfilia."

She whirled around, the blood draining from her face when the leader of the group appeared behind her. Part of his mask had been cracked, she noticed with satisfaction. She just hoped Gray was okay. The stone mage relaxed, smirking and cackling now. "Stay back," she warned, preparing to summon Virgo's key.

"I'm glad you could make it," he went on as if she hadn't said anything. His voice was muffled by the mask, but not enough to hide the power behind it. "We didn't intend for such damage to happen, you understand. You see, we merely wanted to check up on you. We only wished to see how you were doing after my pet attacked you." Lucy's eyes became slits as she glared at him, her grip on Virgo's key tightening enough that her knuckles became white. "Feeling alright? Any lasting damage?"

"Shut up," Lucy gritted out. Still, she found herself curious. These people had been the ones in charge of the thing that had nearly killed her. Why did they have such a creature under their control?! "Shut up right now."

"Ah, so there has been?" His tone was smug. "I apologize, but it's a necessary part of our work, you see. I doubt you'll ever understand, but this is all to help our cause." He paused, then continued. "Our cause is an important one, but I won't explain it to such a simpleton. Perhaps you will learn of the truth when you are dead. Now. If you'll excuse us, we have business to attend to...kill her. We're behind schedule, and that Salamander brat is causing me problems alongside Titania and the ice-make one." He swept out of the room without another word.

Before Lucy could even move a muscle, something hard slammed into her back, sending her sprawling forward as she fought to catch her breath, her eyes wide with shock. The whoosh of something soaring through the air had her rolling away to avoid another wall of stone slamming into her - this time aiming to crush her head - and she held her key out, gasping, "Virgo!"

To her relief, the Celestial Spirit appeared in an instant, blocking the wall of stone with a startled look in her eyes, as if completely lost as to what was going on. Lucy winced when shards of the sharp stone clattered to the ground, then scrambled to her feet, ordering, "Virgo. Deal with that guy- Virgo?!"

Virgo stared at her hands with shock...or her lack of hands, to be precise. She whirled to face Lucy with widened eyes, solemnly apologizing, "Forgive me, Princess, I don't believe I am capable of assisting you at this moment. You're-"

The second she'd disappeared, Lucy was horrified to discover black marks racing up and down Virgo's key, constricting tighter and tighter until quite suddenly, the key shattered into thousands of pieces. Too shocked, Lucy didn't even try to avoid the attack the laughing Stone mage launched at her, letting him slam her viciously into the hard wall and driving the breath from her with the force of which she hit it. Black spots decorated her vision for a second and she wheezed for air when she hit the ground.

The stone mage only grinned, kicking at the shards of Virgo's key as he approached. Just as he reached out to grab Lucy by the hair, however, fingers only a breath's away from grabbing her, an explosive amount of flames swept through the doors, engulfing him in searing hot fire that made Lucy cringe away instinctively though she doubted it would hurt her.

"Natsu," she gasped in relief, forcing a faint smile to her face when the dragon slayer stormed into the room, onyx eyes furious. Flames exploded from his hand, sending the stone mage flying back and through the wall, his screaming fading away as he fell from the sixth story of the building.

And then there was silence. Lucy slowly staggered to her feet, making her way over to him, and he glanced at her, eyes scanning her form to make sure she was okay. "You took forever," she rasped, tears forming in her eyes as she took in the golden dust that had once been a Celestial Spirit's key.

His gaze followed hers. "What is that?" he questioned curiously.

"Virgo," she whispered. "Virgo's...I can't summon her anymore...she's gone."

Natsu said nothing, only watched her for a moment before gently ruffling her already messed up hair. They could grieve later, but now they had work to do. So, he said simply, "You're gonna have to get a new dinner dress, Luce, yours is all messed up now."

Lucy gave a choked laugh, wiping at her eyes. "Jerk," she muttered, then started forward, intent on helping the older woman and the still screaming child she held. "Hold on for just a little bit longer," she told her gently, "We'll have you out of there soon, I promise."

"Thank you," she whispered back, tears rolling down her cheeks. Lucy's eyes softened and she reached through the bars to gently touch the infant's cheek - only to have Natsu jerk her hand out from between the bars, growling, "Don't touch them."

"Natsu!" she snapped. "It's not like-"

He cut her off by pointing at the child's arm. Lucy peered closer, then bit her lip sorrowfully. Small black spirals were slowly creeping along the baby's arm, inching slowly but surely upwards. The woman herself had some creeping along the left side of her face, and Lucy hurriedly tucked her arm against her side. "Oh," she said softly. "I'm so sorry. We can't...we can't let you or the child out."

"I don't understand," Xavier's wife stammered. "Why aren't you helping us? Xavier said you'd help us!"

Natsu's gaze was dark as he said gently, "We can't help you. Even if we could, it'd be too late. Those marks...the last time we saw them, we had to kill our nakama because he tried to kill us."

Her eyes snapped wide in terror. "Then...please, at least try and help our grandson," she pleaded softly. "He's-he's not even a year old yet!"

"There's nothing we can do," Lucy murmured, shaking her head. She moved to apologize again when the woman began to bawl into the child's hair, her body shaking. But then Lucy suddenly toppled over with a soft grunt of pain when it ripped through her body. She hit the ground hard, but didn't feel it, only aware of the lack of air she was trying to suck into her lungs.

Natsu cursed, dropping beside her, hands resting lightly on her shoulders and pinning her down when she jerked, wheezing desperately, the sound strangled. "Lucy!" he gritted out, panic flashing through him when he found no heartbeat echoing in a reassuring thud from her chest. She grabbed desperately at his arms, trying to shove him away, but he kept her pinned, ignoring the hysterical questions of the woman nearby. "Lucy!"

It was as if fire was racing through her veins, burning her from the inside out, and the only sound she could get out was a strangled scream that he cut off with a hand over her mouth, careful not to stop any attempts at breathing. Black spots threatened to overwhelm her until suddenly, the pain faded slightly. Her heart began racing in her chest, and she sucked in desperate ragged gasps after shoving his hand away from her mouth, still clutching his arms with a pale face. "Luce?" he murmured, gently pushing some hair from her face, not bothered by the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," she wheezed, her voice a barely there rasp. "I-I'm fine. Just...ow." She threw an arm over her eyes, tensing up as an aftershock washed through her, dancing up and down her spine before disappearing again. "I need...I want to..." She couldn't finish her sentence, thoughts racing, unable to come up with a clear idea of what she wanted.

"We're finished here, Happy can take you back to the inn to get some rest while we finish the details." He frowned, a fairly pissed off look on his face. He wasn't happy about this. Something was harming his nakama, and he hated it. Lucy recognized the meaning of the look and lightly patted his arm before attempting to sit up, wincing but capable of doing so.

"Thanks," she rasped shakily, grimacing at the state of her once beautiful dress. It had been destroyed in fighting. So much for using it to go on a date. Oh, well.

And then there was an unnatural shrieking laugh that made both of them whip around to face the cage that contained Xavier's wife and the infant - just in time to watch as she literally ripped the child into pieces with claws that she hadn't had before. Lucy couldn't help the scream that escaped her, her hands clasping over her mouth in her horror. Black marks swirled up and down Xavier's wife, wrapping around her throat, her face, her arms. Everywhere, from head to toe, leaving almost no normal skin as she grinned, licking blood from her hand, her eyes sparkling as she studied the bloody pieces in delight.

Natsu gritted his teeth, jerking Lucy gently to her feet and pushing her towards the door. "Go check on the others. Don't let anyone touch you."

"Natsu?" she mumbled uncertainly, feeling sick when she realized what he was about to do.

"Go," he ordered, cracking his knuckles with an unhappy look. Natsu didn't like killing people. She was almost sure that nobody in Fairy Tail - not even Gajeel - did. So, without another word, she touched his arm, then hurried away, covering her ears with her hands like a child when agonized screams filled the air as the woman began to burn to death.

XxXx

Natsu wasn't back yet, and she was worried, especially after what had happened to Erza.

The red-haired warrior had suddenly found herself faced with the decision of killing several people who had ended up like Elfman and Xavier's wife, and had ended up doing just what was necessary to keep other people alive and safe. Erza had slaughtered every person with the black marks swirling around them and then retreated back to the inn to hide, upset over what she'd been forced to do.

Lucy, Gray, and Happy on the other hand had let her leave before setting to work on different necessary things. Telling Xavier what had happened, something Lucy had decided to do, had been the worst of it all. She'd never forget the pain and betrayal in his eyes as he screamed at them to leave his destroyed home, warning them that if they ever came around the building again, he'd ruin Fairy Tail. Not that any of them had believed that possible. How many times had people tried and failed?

"We didn't get there in time," Lucy murmured mournfully, guilt spiraling through her. "If we'd gotten to the mansion sooner, maybe we could have saved all of those people who died..."

Happy wordlessly patted her arm from where he was sitting beside her in the grass outside the inn. Gray grunted in response from his own place on her other side. They didn't want the company of the clueless cheerful people in the building behind them, nor did they want the closed in walls around them. They needed the calmness the outside air brought.

"I don't think we could have," Gray said suddenly. He'd lost the majority of his clothes by this point though he'd managed to keep a pair of pants on. His eyes were cast downward, his brow furrowed in thought. "They must have had it days before we got there. From what I've seen, whatever it is takes a while to affect the people who have it. Elfman must have traveled like he did for over a day before he got to the guildhall...they found Jet and Droy's bodies nearly three towns over. That's four days of traveling. He was fine when they left."

"Whatever it is," Lucy said softly, "I think Natsu's right. We should avoid touching anyone with it. I'm not sure how it starts, though...so we'll just have to be careful."

"Laxus and Lisanna both touched Elfman, Lucy," Happy said nervously. "And Mira touched Lisanna..."

Lucy's eyes narrowed. "We'll just have to be careful and hope none of them got whatever it is then. What concerns me is that Mira is...well, Mira get's close to everyone. Even when she's upset."

Gray glanced back at the inn. "They have one of the communication lacrima crystals in there. You can use it for a fee. I can contact the master and tell him of our thoughts. They can quarantine those three and anyone that's touched them until we're sure they're okay. I'm sure Freed would be able to set up some barriers."

"Would they be strong enough to hold Mira and Laxus though?" Lucy bit her lip. She'd seen both in battle, and they were strong. Mavis help them if they actually ended up wanting to get out and used a Unison Raid...

"We'll have to wait and see," Gray said with a shrug. "They held Mira back when Laxus decided to be an ass. Don't know about them using their magic together though. Doesn't seem likely. I'll go see what they have to say about it. If they haven't lost their minds, I know Mira will agree to it, alongside Lisanna. It's Laxus we have to worry about. Stay out here, wait for Natsu to come back. He might just be finishing up wherever he is. I'm gonna check on Erza, too." He shoved himself to his feet, gently ruffled Lucy's still messy hair, then disappeared into the inn.

"Don't worry, Lucy," Happy said confidently. "Natsu will be back soon." The Exceed glanced up at her, eyes gleaming, and the Celestial mage sighed and flopped backwards.

"I know," she mumbled, letting guilt wash over her.

If only they'd been a few days earlier...

Her thoughts suddenly turned on Virgo, and grief swamped her. What had happened?! What had happened to her friend? Why had she disappeared like that? Never before had that happened...was she infected, too? Was that why the key had turned black and shattered into golden powder?

Her mind snapped to the marking on her back and she narrowed her eyes. Was it her fault everyone was getting into such a state?

"Lucy!" Happy cried suddenly, jumping up and pointing. She sat up, following where the Exceed had pointed, and relief filled her as Natsu slouched over and slumped down onto the ground beside them, his dark eyes looking tired. His clothing was torn in a few places, and even singed, something that rarely happened. His scarf, of course, was wrapped around his neck, not a single thing wrong with it.

"Hey," he grumbled, not looking at them.

She didn't ask him what was wrong. She knew. He'd had to kill what would have been an innocent person, just like Erza had. "Gray's gone to speak with Master Makarov, Natsu. He's going to ask them to look into keeping those that touched Elfman away from the rest of the guild."

"Good." Natsu grimaced, glancing at her. She forced herself to weakly smile, but it disappeared quickly. "You okay? After earlier?"

"Still a bit sore, but I'm fine other than that," she answered with a confident tone. "It's Erza I'm worried about...she said a couple of the attendees turned into what Elfman did, Natsu. She had to..." Lucy trailed off, shaking her head. "Erza's tough...she's had to kill before...but something about this..."

"They were innocent," he whispered. "They shouldn't have died, Luce."

She fell silent, biting her lip. She was in complete agreement with him, of course, but it didn't make it any easier to think of them as innocent after watching Xavier's wife tear a child in half. Happy glanced up at Natsu with concern in his eyes. He was, after all, Happy's closest companion, and when Natsu was upset, he was, too.

"Nobody deserves to have their lives taken from them," she said simply in response. "Not even the bad guys. But people are cruel and this is what happens." Lucy shook her head. "You did the right thing, Natsu. It wasn't pleasant. It was horrible, and you feel bad about it, I know, but it was the right thing to do. Now she'll hopefully be at peace. I doubt she'd blame us."

"Aye!" Happy said, "Besides. She'd have probably escaped and gone after you guys anyways!"

Lucy shot him a grateful look, then looked over when she heard someone call their names. "Gray! You're done already? That was fast."

Gray gave a grim smile. "There wasn't much information to relay over, Lucy. I told them what we thought, and Master agreed...but..." A mournful look crossed his face and Lucy felt her face pale in anticipation of what he was going to say next. "It's Lisanna." Natsu's head snapped around. "She's dead. They discovered the markings on her just a few hours before she turned insane and separated her from the others. She attacked Bisca when she was bringing her some food, and...Bisca didn't have a choice. She shot her. Master's ordering Laxus, Mira, Bisca away and probably are going to separate Alzack and Asuka from the rest of the guild, as well."

Natsu stared blankly at the ice-make mage for a few moments before his expression suddenly darkened into a look of pure rage. With a roar of fury, fire exploded from his hands, effectively destroying one of the nearby trees and sending the few people on the nearby street scattering with screams. Lucy winced, cringing away in surprise and fear. She scooped up Happy and darted back to stand beside Gray in an attempt to avoid being burned alive.

"Have they figured out what it is?" she asked, her voice emotionless. She couldn't summon any more grief than she already had. She felt numb.

"Master's having those that are separated from everyone look into it." Gray gritted his teeth suddenly, clenching his jaw. "Lucy, Erza has to be separated from everyone, too. Think of all those people she touched when getting them out. And some of them turned out to be the monsters that it makes them into."

Despair filled her. "No," she whispered, watching as Natsu decided to take his anger out on another tree. "Not Erza, too... I'm sure she'll be okay, she always is when stuff like this happens!"

"I talked to her about it, she'll be leaving as soon as people have stopped partying or whatever they're doing in there." Gray rubbed a hand down his face, his gaze dark. "Something big is going on, Lucy. We need to start watching what we do, even more than we usually do. If we don't, we could end up in a bad situation."

"So many people have already..." Lucy shook her head, exasperated. "What are we going to do?! Some of the people who have this thing aren't even mages, Gray! Do you know how many people might have this? If it spreads..."

"It already has," Happy said in a small voice. He looked nearly terrified and despite Lucy's annoyance with the blue cat, she felt a flash of sympathy for the poor thing.

"Happy's right," Gray agreed, rubbing the back of his head. "We'll have to restrict a lot of the jobs we take because of this. We've never seen anything this big before, Lucy. It won't end well. I heard someone inside talking about a guy destroying an entire town recently. If one of our S-Class mages manages to fail to escape it, we could be in serious trouble."

Natsu gave a wordless shout, flames exploding from his fingertips to light a third tree ablaze. Lucy winced when someone screamed at him, threatening to call for some of the town's officials.

"Gray," she said softly, hugging Happy tighter. "I don't think there's any "could be" about it. Serious trouble's already arrived."

XxXx

Lucy propped her chin on her hand, staring out the window of the inn room with a blank look on her face as she watched Natsu mumble apologies and tear down the trees he'd destroyed, Happy catching small branches before they could land on anyone. Gray was keeping an eye on both of them alongside the inn's owner, making sure they - Natsu specifically - didn't destroy anything else. She herself was simply trying to doze while it was light out in hopes that it might help chase away her dark thoughts.

Erza had left during the night, just as Gray had predicted before they'd gone to bed...or attempted to, in Lucy's case. Lucy hadn't had the easiest of nights. Again.

She hadn't had the energy to force a smile to her face when Happy had questioned her earlier that morning, and she couldn't hide the black smudges beneath her eyes. It hadn't help that Natsu had been a raging blaze of fire half the night, in a rage over Lisanna's death. She couldn't blame him, of course. But she couldn't grieve alongside him or Happy, either. So many people had died, were dying, and would soon die that she couldn't even feel the sorrow that should have been eating at her. Gray must have been feeling the same, because while he'd looked saddened, he hadn't said anything at all about the matter.

Crash!

Down went the last of the many trees Natsu had burnt to a crisp. A dark look remained in his eyes as he glared at it, not seeming to hear whatever Gray was saying to the glowering owner of the inn. Happy floated around the fire mage's head, looking worried.

Lucy sighed, closing her eyes and letting her head rest against the glass, only for it to suddenly swing open and scare the living daylights out of her. She jerked up before she could smack her head on the hard wooden windowsill, grimacing. Oops.

Natsu's gaze darted up only momentarily at the sound of the window slamming open, then returned to the ground, and Happy gave a small sigh before floating up to the window that had opened. "Natsu's not doing so well, Lucy," he reported.

"He'll feel better some day," she said softly. "This is the second time he - and Mira, too - have lost Lisanna, Happy. You, too. I see those little tears, cat." She smiled gently. She usually hated speaking with the Exceed - he pissed her off beyond belief more often than not - but she knew he was upset, even if he wasn't showing it quite as much as Natsu.

Happy sniffed, then blinked, peering at her. "You don't look good either...are you okay, Lucy?"

"No," she admitted. She doubted lying would do her any good at this point. "I haven't been sleeping very well for a while, but there's been so much going on...I didn't want to bother anyone else."

"You should tell someone when you're sick, Lucy," Happy said with a surprising seriousness in his voice. "Natsu's not gonna be happy. Gray won't be, either."

Lucy shrugged. "Erza's and the others' conditions are more important than me not being able to sleep. Not that big a deal. I'll deal with it later." She pulled back, popping her back with a yawn. "Okay. Time to head outside since they're done...we're leaving now. We'll have to see if Wendy will be able to deal with Natsu's motion sickness when we get back...ready, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!" the cat cheered, though it lacked its usual enthusiasm.

And with that, the two headed out of their room to rejoin their nakama, neither noticing the black marks racing up and down a giggling toddler's arm in the inn's diner as they stepped outside.