Clover Town. A rather small town situated in a mountainous area, surrounded by forests. The town is known for the place where Masters of Legal Guilds gather to discuss... their guilds. Clover town has its shared experience of bad luck due to one of Zeref's demons, Lullaby, manifesting in the area.

At the train station, Team Natsu has just gotten off of the train. Erza making Gray carry Natsu off, so the train doesn't send him back to Magnolia. Once he recovered from his motion sickness, Natsu pushed himself off of Gray muttering how he didn't want nor need his help.

"Alright." The team began walking, following Erza. "Previous reports say that the demon was spotted in the forest on multiple occasions. So that's where we'll go."

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Meanwhile, in the Alakitasia, Emperor Spriggan sits upon his throne with his right hand man, The Winter General, standing by his side. The emperor held his right hand out, purple and black magic particles forming. Suddenly, a book materialized in the palm of his hand. He smirked as it did so.

"Come forth," The emperor stood with his free hand out in front of him, "Captain of the Tartarus Army, I.D.E."

"You're so clever, majesty." His right hand man smirked pushing up his glasses.

"This is only the start, Invel." His majesty took his seat once again, and smiled widely at the now opened book.

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"Grr...ngh...agh!"

"Gray what's the matter?" Erza asked, a look of concern formed on her face.

"Did you eat too many fishies?" Happy asked confidently.

"Yeah, I don't think that's it." Lucy commented, sweat dropping.

Gray was hunched over in pain, screaming so loud birds flew away. In a mere instant of a second, his irises turned purple. This didn't go unnoticed by Natsu, who pulled Lucy behind him, holding a protective arm to guard her. Especially, since dark swirling marks appeared on Gray's right side, followed by small ice patches here and there.

"Get away!" Gray roared, an unexpected transformation had taken over him, an ice blue magical aura surrounded him.

With the team blinded, the air around them constantly became colder. When the bright light of the aura disappeared, Gray stood tall and no longer in agony. His clothes had changed to a pair of dark pants with a white belt that had a silver buckle. His shoes were now a pair of black combat boots, and a navy colored coat that seemed worn. The insignia of Tartaros on his right pectoral in navy blue. On his body were strange markings on his arms, neck, and face.

"Ah..." Gray cracked his neck, and stretched his arms, after he smirked. "It's good to be back."

He put his hands hips and inhaled the fresh air. Gray looked around, but stopped when seeing three wizards and an exceed unconscious. He smirked wildly when he saw two familiar faces.

"The Mistress, and the Master." He chuckled insanely. "This is just too good."

"...ngh..." Erza began to regain her consciousness.

"Here we go." Gray smirked, a crazy expression grazing his face.

"What happened?" Erza whispered to herself, "When did it become so cold."

"Erza Scarlet. A Fairy Tail S-Class Wizard." Erza metaphorically jumped at the sound of the deep, monstrous, tone that came from her friend.

"G-Gray?" She spoke, confused.

"Who? I am the Captain of the Tartarus Army, I.D.E." IDE introduced. "But you can call me Captain."

"What have you done with Gray?!" Erza quickly stood, sword in hand.

"What do you mean," He put his fist over his guild mark proudly and changed his voice, "I'm Gray Fullbuster."

"What is this?!" Erza stepped back, not wanting to believe that the demon really is Gray. "Explain yourself!"

"Wish I could, sweet thing," The captain flirted, "One minute I was sleeping, and the next... I find myself in this forest."

"What is your true goal, Captain IDE?" She hissed, pointing one of her sword at him.

"Like I would tell you." IDE smirked, his hands twitching with excitement, "But you can give me all you got."

"Fine then." Erza began to re-equip into a new form she had acquired, "This is my Ice Goddess Armor. It's cold resistant and reduces ice attacks by 50 percent."

"You sure know how to make a man, come running." IDE rushed to the scarlet haired wizard, "Zeroth Destruction Fist!"

In that brief moment, time seemed to slow down. Erza readied her sword to block the demon captain's attack. IDE running, pulling his arm back to punch the receiver of the attack. Lucy and Happy, continuing to remain unconscious. All the while, Natsu jumped in front of Erza, flames blazing, turning the attack to steam.

"Natsu." Erza whispered, grateful for his timely arrival.

"Things just got more interesting." IDE whispered to himself, but with Natsu's advanced hearing, it was still heard.

"What's that's supposed to mean, popsicle?!" Natsu shouted itching for a fight.

"I'm not the friend you know!" The demon shouted, as ice began to freeze over the ground and any plant life in the surrounding area.

"Erza, I'll knock some sense into him." Natsu spoke with a dark look. "Take Lucy and Happy, back to the train station. We'll be there soon."

"Can you handle him?" Erza asked concerned.

"Of course, I can." Natsu determinedly said, "I'll melt the ice right off of him."

"Then it's in your hands." Erza nodded, holding Lucy and Happy, "Don't die on me."

"I won't!" Natsu lifted a fist of flames and jumped towards the demon that was using his friend's body.

"You know, that kinda tickled." The demon spoke smugly, after Natsu landed his punch.

"Grr..." He growled silently, and launched a second attack, "Get out of Gray's body!"

"I don't know what you mean?" IDE put his arms to his sides, shaking his head.

"Grr... Fire Dragon! Iron Fist!" Natsu roared.

"Zeroth Destruction Fist!" The captain countered, and both attacks collided causing mass amount of steam that you could see from Magnolia.

"Tch! I will bring you back, Gray! You hear!" Natsu jumped away, shouting in attempt to reach his friend.

After about an hour of waiting at the train station, with her two guild mates still unconscious, Erza paced back and forth. As she did so, Erza looked to the side of the station, where the town was. She immediately ran to Natsu, who was carrying a beat up Gray on his back.

"You defeated him?!" Erza asked shocked.

"No." Natsu wore a dark expression, "He passed out before I could finish him."

"Did you get any information from him?" She asked, curious about the new found enemy.

"No..." Natsu turned away from the scarlet haired s-class wizard, avoiding her intense stare.

"Let's go back to the guild." Erza dropped the subject, "Gray needs to see Wendy so she can his wounds."

"Natsu... what happened?" Lucy asked, unsure of what had taken place after Gray was in pain.

"He..." He ran around his mind looking for an answer. "I don't know."

"That's why we need to hurry home." Erza stated, walking back onto the train platform with Natsu following suit.

The train home was silent, except for Natsu's occasional gagging and sickly persona. When they reached the Magnolia Station, Erza picked up both Natsu and Gray. She through Natsu off the train, and proceeded to carry Gray over her shoulder. Lucy and Happy followed Erza. walking by the sickly dragon slayer.

"Erza you're shivering!" Lucy exclaimed, noticing how the re-quip mage began to shiver excessively.

"W-What-t?" She quivered. "I d-didn't... even n-notice."

"Natsu should carry Gray." Lucy suggested. "He is a fire wizard, after all."

Natsu then took Gray from Erza's shoulder and put him on his own, also noting that Gray was colder than absolute zero. Though with Natsu's naturally high body temperature, carrying Gray was even making him shiver, but not nearly as noticeable as Erza.

"Guys!" Lucy ran up to everyone at the half finished guild hall. "Something is wrong with Gray!"

"Where is he?! What happened?" Juvia shouted, clearly worried for the raven haired ice mage.

"Don't worry, Juvia." Erza spoke calmly, and gestured to Natsu. "He's right here."

Juvia ran up to the fire dragon slayer, who held her beloved over his shoulder. She ran behind him to get a good look at Gray's face. Gently, she put both hands on his face only to take them away immediately.

"He's so cold." She whispered, a tear running down her cheek. "Is he..."

"No." Natsu answered, which made Juvia relieved knowing he wasn't dead.

"Where is the master?" Erza asked the guild members present.

"He's with Wendy and Mirajane in the temporary infirmary." Levy answered, pointing to a newly crafted staircase that lead under the guild.

In the makeshift infirmary, the conscious members of Team Natsu, and Juvia, sat around an unconscious Gray, who laid one of the few beds.

"Tell me again. What happened?" The master asked, looking at some of the little specks of ice that covered Gray's arms.

"I'm not sure what happened." Erza started. "We were searching for the demon, who was supposed to be in the forest. Then out of nowhere, Gray began screaming in agony."

"Then?" Makarov asked inquisitively.

"I'm not sure what happened. A bright light came from him, and the last thing I remember was Gray yelling for us to get away." She continued. "After I had regained my consciousness, what stood in front of us was not Gray. He called himself the Captain of the Tartarus Army."

"?!" The master's mouth was left agape and he began to shiver in fear.

"Gramps, you okay?" Natsu asked, seeing the man shiver.

"We need to rebuild the guild hall as quickly as possible." His face was grim. He turned to Erza. "I will be away for a few days, see to it that it gets done."

"Of course, but master," The red haired mage questioned, "what is going on?"

"With the Nine Demon Gates of Tartarus defeated. We now face a bigger threat." Makarov paused. "They call themselves The Bringers of Chaos."

"Then we'll take-'em down!" Natsu put his fists together.