After tearful reunions and Gajeel fixed the door of the place they were temporarily calling home, what remained of Fairy Tail got down to business. The only citizen in the group of survivors was a small child, who hiccuped as she sought comfort in an equally upset Asuka's arms. When Lucy had glanced their way, Natsu had muttered, "They both reek of those Marks."

"Okay, so let's hear what happened here first," Gray said firmly, daring anyone to say anything else. "Then we'll explain what happened with Blue Pegasus and what we know about the Marked so far." Everybody automatically accepted the name for their new enemies, and Levy's eyes lingered on Gray's own Marks for a moment afterwards.

Lucy took the moment of silence to see who was present, relief filling her when she first spotted Erza and Happy. The blue cat flew over to hug Natsu and the dragon slayer grinned, returning it tightly as the Exceed sobbed. Levy was seated close to Gajeel, practically touching the angry iron dragon slayer and holding Lily in her lap. Wendy was sniffling quietly near Cana, who looked beyond miserable as she hugged a small glass of alcohol she'd managed to rescue. And then there was Asuka and the child, both quiet.

Levy was the one who began to explain what had happened in a quiet and pained voice. "Um, after you guys left, it was quiet for a few hours. Everyone was...you know, being like usual. But then Erza came downstairs - and we were all freaked out, because she wasn't supposed to be down with us until we were sure she was okay - telling us that we needed to leave, because Laxus had lost it. Um, M-Mira was thrown through the ceiling and it's all a blur after that, but-"

"Master stepped in," Gajeel grunted. "They fought. The building practically blew up. A lot of people died. Bit later, there's those fucking things everywhere and now we're here, hiding out."

"He managed to take Laxus out," Levy said quietly.

"Master died in the process," Erza finished, her eyes furious. She was more upset than Lucy ever remembered seeing her, even at the Tower of Heaven.

"Gramps is...dead?" Natsu seemed astonished at the idea of such a thing. "But...he was stronger than everyone. Even me."

Lucy rolled her eyes. There are quite a few that are...were stronger than you, Natsu, she thought.

"His injuries were too grave for Wendy to help him," Cana rasped, "He died early this morning, maybe one or two o'clock. And we've tried to get out of here, but there's always those things, the Marked."

"Moving on," Gray said tiredly. "The same thing basically happened near Blue Pegasus, we think. As for the Marks..." He held out his arms. "Obviously I have them. Juvia, too, she was touched when we were fighting. Natsu says he can smell who has it, so we might as well get that out of the way first..."

"The two runts over there," Gajeel interrupted, jerking his thumb in Asuka's direction. "Erza and Cana, too."

"Sorry, but don't touch them," Gray instructed. "That's definitely how it spreads." Erza and Cana exchanged saddened looks and Lucy found herself longing to hug each of them. "So far we're okay. It has to get to a certain point before we lose our minds and go after you. But we as a group agreed: the second you turn, you need to be put down. We can't take the risk of killing any more of our friends and guildmates."

Murmured agreement filled the air, and Lucy blinked when Natsu suddenly spoke up, his voice blunt but serious, "Keep an eye on Luce, by the way, she's having these weird little pain things. They're random, but her heart stops and she passed out for a while yesterday."

Lucy snorted. Passed out? They both knew she'd done more than pass out. Nonetheless, she stayed silent, only glowering furiously at Natsu for stating this out loud. Happy transferred himself to her lap, hugging the blonde as he sniffled, crying quietly into her shirt. She soothingly ran her hand over his head, murmuring, "Hush, Happy, it'll be okay."

"C-Charle's gone," he sobbed, shaking his head. "It's not okay!"

Shock flooded Lucy, and she realized in that moment that it was why Wendy hadn't run over to greet them like she'd thought she would. "Oh, no," she breathed, grief filling her as she thought of the little white Exceed. "Poor Wendy," she breathed. Her eyes darted to the blank looking sky dragon slayer, taking in her pale appearance. Wendy glanced up, as if hearing her, and Lucy offered her arms open. Tears fell from her eyes as Wendy threw herself at her, and Lucy soothingly ran her fingers through Wendy's long blue hair as the young girl hugged her and Happy with a sob.

"Sh," Lucy soothed, ignoring the sympathetic looks from the others. She continued to reassure the young dragon slayer as everyone else fell into an uncomfortable silence, filled only by Wendy's and Happy's sobs.

Erza was the first to break the silence. "We must see if any of the other guilds have been affected yet. We cannot just sit and wait for the Marked to attack."

"She's right," Cana agreed, downing what remained of her alcohol. The brunette then proceeded to hurl the glass at the wall, watching as it shattered upon impact. The shards struck the floor, scattering wildly. "Maybe there's a way we can fix this...we just gotta look and ask anyone who's still alive."

"It's possible," Gray muttered, looking thoughtful. The ice-make mage glanced at the silent Asuka, who looked as if she was already half-dead. The dead look in her eyes told all of them that she had more than likely witnessed the death of her parents. "We might as well try...should we leave now, though?"

"Why not?" Natsu argued, speaking up for the first time in a while - excluding breaking his promise not to tell anyone - with a fierce look on his face. "It's still early. Sun doesn't set for a while."

"I don't think we should," Levy said quietly, watching as Wendy began to quiet down in Lucy's grasp. She looked exhausted, and Lucy was glad she wasn't the only one to notice. "The little ones aren't able to travel like this, Natsu. The youngest can't even walk yet."

"Juvia could drive the vehicle here," Juvia piped up. "The vehicle was left at the entrance to Magnolia."

"That's true," Lucy admitted. "Wendy would have to walk though. It's not safe to put her in there with Asuka and the other one...and Wendy's not...I don't think she needs to be traveling like this."

"I'll carry the brat," Gajeel offered. Most of them stopped to stare at him in surprise, and he became irritably defensive. "What? Trying to help you idiots. Don't have to, you know."

"No, that would be nice of you," Levy reassured quickly, gently patting Gajeel's arm. Lily snickered quietly in her lap, and the iron dragon slayer shot him a look that promised violence if he didn't stay quiet. "Thank you, Gajeel."

He only grunted in response, scowling and looking away, just daring anyone to say something further.

"Okay, then it's settled. We're leaving now." Erza stood, her dark eyes serious. Cana stumbled to her own feet, her cheeks flushed slightly. Lucy was the last to rise besides Asuka and the child in her arms, looking reluctant to do so when Wendy only tightened her grip around her middle.

"I really don't think we should be going anywhere," Lucy protested, but she was ignored when Juvia said with a forced cheerful tone, "Juvia will bring the vehicle here." She shyly looked over at Gray, who sighed as she asked, "Will Gray go with me?"

"Fine," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Let's go." The two slipped out of the building without hesitation.

Frustrated, Lucy gave up, shaking her head. "Come on, Wendy," she sighed, "We have to go. Idiots," she added under her breath. She was frustrated beyond belief. How stupid could these people get? More than one of them needed rest - that included her, she'd been exhausted after her midnight pain spree and the nightmares that accompanied it. But then again, these were members of Fairy Tail. Who was she kidding? They wouldn't listen to anyone at times like this.

She helped the sky dragon slayer to her feet, making sure she had Happy tucked under her free arm, the tensed when Asuka suddenly gave a horrified cry. Everyone's heads snapped around to look at her as she stared at the child in her arms with terror. Erza leaped to the rescue by hurrying over and kneeling beside her, checking over them with a near motherly look on her face. She pulled the child away with a grim look only moments later. "She's dead," Erza murmured, shaking her head.

A mere moment after the words were said, Lucy felt a twinge of pain race through her. She gave a soft gasp, cringing, and Wendy's eyes snapped to her when her heart faltered for just a brief moment. But, just as quickly as it came, the pain left her, and she found herself just a little tired, nothing like the times before.

"L-Lucy?" Wendy whispered, as if sensing the need to keep this quiet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lucy answered softly, hugging herself. "I'm fine."

Erza set the dead child aside, instead pulling Asuka up into her arms, careful not to slam the girl against her armor as she was used to doing with the older guild members when hugging them. Asuka gave a weak sob, hiding her face against the redhead's armor.

When Erza spoke, her voice was cold. "Let's go."

XxXx

The group set out the second Gray and Juvia had returned from retrieving the vehicle. It was Juvia who sat in the cabin with Asuka, reassuring the young girl that it would be alright, that her mother and father wouldn't have minded her leaving Magnolia. Lucy had to bite back a small flood of tears at the thought that Alzack and Bisca wouldn't be minding anything anymore.

Levy, not to anyone's surprise, stuck close to Gajeel and Lily, who she carried in her arms after asking if she could. The trio walked a bit ahead of the now slowly moving vehicle that Erza had offered to drive. Gray had decided to grudgingly grant Juvia a favor and sit with her and Asuka, and Cana walked beside the vehicle, looking lost in thought as flipped a card between her fingers. Happy was flopped unhappily on the brooding Natsu's head. The fire mage would pause every now and then to glance over his shoulder to check on Lucy, who walked hand in hand with Wendy. The youngest dragon slayer had skipped out on Gajeel's - surprisingly serious - offer to carry her in favor of sticking close to the quite celestial mage.

Lucy hugged herself, wrapping her arms around her middle with a small pain of grief for all of the guild members they had lost. Why? she thought miserably, Why is this happening to us? I know we've done our fair share of destruction, but does that really matter compared to all of the good we've done?

They'd been traveling for a few hours at this point, making their way through the countryside. They'd come across only one village so far, and it, too, had been destroyed. Juvia had made sure that little Asuka hadn't seen the destruction, but that hadn't saved the rest of them from the disturbing sights of bodies that had been torn into pieces.

It was in that town that Lucy saw one of the most heartbreaking things she'd ever seen. A dead infant, no more than a few days old, clutched to the bared breasts of its dead mother. The mother lay slumped to the side on the ground, her eyes glazed over. The killing wound was obvious, as her head was nearly decapitated from her body. Blood had long since stopped running from the injury.

Cana clapped a hand over her mouth, the usually tough woman looking sick, and Lucy tucked Wendy under her arm, both looking straight ahead and refusing to examine it further. Gajeel, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the task of checking the body for marks. He was careful not to touch it, sniffing carefully instead. Levy kept back, grimacing, and set Lily down upon the Exceed's demand. Lily joined the iron dragon slayer, glancing at him. "Well?" he demanded, though he was sniffing as well.

Lucy found herself curious despite the situation. Did the Exceeds smell as well as their dragon slayer companions? It appeared not, however, as Lily quickly gave up. "Nothin'," Gajeel reported, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Only smells like death. There's some around here though, I can smell them from here...be careful."

"Great," Cana grumbled. For comfort, the card mage took a few more cards out. These she didn't flip around between her fingers, instead holding them at the ready, her dark eyes serious. Tension followed this, and the smallest of flames appeared at Natsu's fingertips.

"Come on," Lucy said with a look of misery on her face. She forced herself to move forward, her free hand tightening into a fist so tight her knuckles turned white. Erza, who had a higher vantage point then all of them at the moment, suddenly called, her eyes darkening, "It appears that we will be stopping for the time being."

"Great," Lucy gritted out, knowing simply by the tone of Erza's voice that they were about to face another group, pack, or whatever it was of the Marked. Her hand went to her whip, ignoring the warmth of her keys as her hand brushed against them. One nearly seared her flesh when she accidently touched it, and she was fairly sure it was Loke or Aquarius, maybe even Taurus or Gemini.

Erza slammed a fist on top of the vehicle, denting the roof. Gray swung the door open with a confused expression until he took in the wary aura rising from everyone there. He gave a curt nod and stepped out, and Lucy fought the urge to slam a hand to her forehead when she realized he'd somehow managed to lose his pants during their time traveling. Juvia spoke quietly to Asuka before also climbing out, and Erza requipped into a set of armor that Lucy hadn't seen before. The armor cloaked her from head to toe, and when she caught Lucy's curious look, the scarlet-haired mage said quietly, "I don't want to accidentally touch one of you."

Lucy mentally applauded her. That wasn't a bad idea at all. Too bad Gray couldn't keep any clothes on, otherwise she would have suggested they all do that.

A snarl filled the air, and it took her a moment to realize the sound had escaped Gajeel, who was glaring off to their right. She followed his gaze and sure enough, there was a mutated creature, it's gray tongue hanging out of its rotting mouth, it's crazed black-red eyes gleaming in a lethal way. It was soon joined by a few more, and Lucy found herself relieved that this hadn't happened in Magnolia, which she knew without a doubt was a hell of a lot bigger than this small village.

Natsu spoke up for the first time in a while, and Lucy shuddered at the harsh tone he used as flames lit along his arms. "Don't let them touch you," he warned, his onyx eyes darting to Lucy momentarily and sticking there. Lucy grimaced, reading the message he was silently sending her with ease.

Don't let what happened previously happen.

In other words, don't have an attack, and don't pass out. While they had more people with them this time, they didn't have the hands to spare to protect their unconscious comrade if it happened.

And he didn't want her suffering, but she was sure he was in too much of a bad mood to admit that. She was pretty certain that the "overprotective dragon slayer" act he sometimes put on was going to take over at this rate.

She didn't have time to think after that.

The Marked suddenly surged forward, giving that bone-chilling scream, and Wendy gave a scared cry, her eyes widening and her hands rising to clap over her ears in an attempt to drive out the sound. Lucy set to work on protecting the terrified dragon slayer girl, letting her whip lash out around her, sending one of the Marked flying towards Erza, who simply twirled and let one of the two swords she wielded slice it in half.

The battle was a mess around her. Blood and gore flew everywhere, and Lucy had to fight the urge to flinch when one of Gray's icy lances nearly caused some to spatter her.

While the rest of them were having one of the worst times of their lives - particularly Levy, who was starting to get frustrated that every time she tried to go after one, Gajeel was there, making sure she didn't get touched - Natsu looked almost as if he was actually enjoying himself. Lucy knew he'd been wanting to fight, to vent out the rage the creatures had caused when they'd been the source of the force that was killing and had already killed his nakama. But it still made her shudder when she took in the smug little smirk on his face, one she hadn't seen in a while.

Suddenly, Juvia screamed. "Asuka!" the water mage cried, throwing herself forward in a wave of water, nearly taking out the two Exceeds that had been floating protectively beside the vehicle. Lily had long since lost the energy to keep up his alternate appearance, and there were a few Marked ones attempting to pry the doors open.

In a moment of panic, Lucy did something she'd regret. Her hand darted to her ring of keys, and without hesitation, she opened the gate to Horologium.

Tears building in her eyes when she realized what she'd done, she ordered shakily, "Help Asuka...please," she whispered to him.

By the time the clock spirit had somehow managed to get Asuka out of the vehicle - Juvia was doing a very good job of keeping any more of the Marked away as he did so - Lucy came to two very sudden realization.

One, there was something wrong with Asuka, who had pulled her lips back in an unnatural way, her glare landing directly on Lucy as she scowled, and two, there was an extra spirit that had somehow appeared beside her. Lyra had a serious look on her pretty face as she grabbed Lucy's arm, determination showing. Lucy could already feel both keys beginning to disintegrate. "Lyra!" she cried, "But-"

"There's no time," Lyra growled, slamming a hand over the celestial mage's mouth. "You must listen. There's-"

She vanished, and her key turned to dust at the same that Horologium did. Free, Asuka suddenly launched herself at the nearest mage, who just so happened to be Lucy herself. Panicked, Lucy threw her arms up to try and stop her from tearing into her face, but Wendy came to the rescue, tears pouring down the sky dragon slayer's face as she used Sky Dragon's Roar to kill what had been an innocent child not even minutes before.

The battle almost seemed to pause for a moment as the Fairy Tail mages realized what had happened. But the quick and sudden death of the young girl doubled their efforts. With a roar of rage, Natsu unleashed an enormous stream of flames that nearly sent Gray in flames alongside the Marked. "Not that it would have mattered," he would say later, when they were recuperating. "Should have done it anyways. Would have saved a lot of trouble for you guys later."

Erza jumped out of the way of the fire, which lit the vehicle they'd been using aflame. It was only a few seconds later that it exploded in a huge blast, sending Cana and the Exceeds to the ground, singed and nearly unconscious from knocking their heads.

"Watch it, you pyromaniac!" Gray nearly screamed at the fire mage, but Natsu didn't seem to hear him, instead doing the same thing in another direction. Gajeel shouted at him this time, as the blast nearly struck him dead on.

Juvia came to the rescue, somehow dousing the fires without letting her watery body touch any of them. The water slithered across the ground like snakes, and Lucy moved aside to let it get to a small flame behind her.

And then, pain exploded behind her eyes and in her chest. She dropped to her knees, abandoning her whip in favor of clutching her head with a pained moan. Wendy noticed almost immediately and moved to step to her aid, but then gave a shriek when one of the larger Marked ones loomed over her, dripping with blood as it prepared to lunge for her.

"Damn it!" Natsu leaped to the rescue, inhaling sharply before snarling out, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" The blast of flame nearly incinerated the creature where it stood, and he stepped to Lucy's side, a warm hand brushing against her back as he knelt to check on her. Lucy gave a small scream of pain, however, and he jerked his hand away quickly as she trembled, choked sounds giving away the fact that she couldn't breathe.

Before he could say anything, Erza called out a warning, and one of the Marked suddenly threw itself at them. Wendy, this time prepared, used her own dragon slayer magic to get rid of it as she said shakily, "Help the others, I'll protect her."

"Make sure her heart keeps beating," was all Natsu said before calling out for Happy. The blue cat appeared immediately, hoisting the pink-haired man into the air despite the ruffled look he wore. Happy would need serious rest after this.

Vision blurred, Lucy suddenly forced herself to sit up. She tilted, and Wendy gingerly helped her sit up straight, eyes darting this way and that as she made sure nothing came too close. "Come on, Lucy," Wendy said reassuringly, "You'll be okay."

Frustrated, Lucy gave Wendy an irritated look before dropping to her knees again after a failed attempt at standing to fend off the Marked. Wendy let another Sky Dragon's Roar leave her, ripping two of them into pieces.

It wasn't long before Lucy was gasping for breath again, clutching her head as she forced herself to her feet, and the Marked were either fleeing or dead on the ground. The celestial mage sat up after a few gasps, hurriedly searching for each of her friends. They all appeared to be alright - excluding the now dead Asuka - much to her relief. Cana had a bloodied lump on one head that she was nursing from where she was seated on the ground, Lily beside her as he thought something over. Levy was making sure Gajeel was okay - the iron dragon slayer had been amazing, Lucy thought, but had used a lot of his energy to create iron that he could throw instead of slamming his fists around - and Wendy was silent beside her. Gray and Juvia were stumbling over, and her heart gave a twinge of grief when she saw the black Marks on Gray's body...though she was careful not to let her gaze travel too far when she realized he was completely naked.

And then there was her dragon slayer. Natsu had an exhausted Happy tucked safely under one arm as he made his way over, his eyes suspiciously bright. While Lucy didn't appreciate the obvious relaxation he'd fell into over taking out his frustrations, she was glad he wasn't giving their friends dark looks anymore.

"Anyone touched?" Gray demanded when Erza had come over, back in her usual armor. "Did any of you guys get touched?"

They all shook their heads, and Juvia gave a faint smile. "Juvia is glad," she announced. "Even if you are all love rivals, Juvia doesn't want you to get them."

"We're not love rivals, Juvia," Cana rasped, looking exasperated. "The hell would I want with that stripper?"

Lucy gave a breathless giggle, then grimaced when her knees went out - again! Concerned looks appeared on her friends' faces, and she only waved them off. "I'm fine," she tried to reassure, looking exhausted. "Just need some rest..." Her gaze landed dully on the golden dust around her, where what was left of two of her keys remained.

How many more were going to die because of this? Were they all doomed to die?

"Lucy?" Erza panted, her gaze full of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Will be," she mumbled, tears rolling down her cheeks. She hurried to swipe at them. Nobody else was crying, not even Wendy. The sky dragon slayer was gently holding onto her arm, making sure Lucy didn't fall from her seated position and hit her head on the random debris that filled the space around them.

Juvia sniffled, looking back with a saddened yet disgusted look at the bits of flesh that had once belonged to some of the Marked and Asuka. "Juvia thinks we should keep moving," she said softly. "Juvia thinks they will come back with more."

"She's right," Levy said softly. The solid-script mage had a nasty looking gash on her cheek from trying to avoid something that had been sent flying at her. Gajeel kept glancing at it, his red eyes narrowed, as if he was furious about it.

"We can't travel," Erza tried to protest. "Lucy-"

"I'm fine," Lucy insisted. "Just...I'll need some help walking, that's all. Wendy, help me - oof! Natsu! Put me down, I can walk!"

"We need to get going," Natsu said, glancing around. It was then that Lucy realized Wendy looked frightened and Gajeel had a darkened look on his face. All three dragon slayers looked anything but happy. "They're coming back already...and they brought more." He glanced at Cana. "You able to run?"

Cana scowled. "Yes, I can run. I'm not concussed, trust me."

He shrugged. "We can't tell with you, you're always drunk." That said, he took off at a run, ignoring the snarled words Lucy hissed into his ear as she cradled the blue Exceed that had been shoved into her arms. The others followed close behind, Gajeel not hesitating to scoop up a unresisting Wendy and throw her over his shoulder.

The Marked merely watched their departure with growls rumbling deep in their throats, dead gray tongues flicking out every now and then like a snake's to taste the air.