DeepTree Forest (entrance area)

"My lance can change the size of an object it touches," Dan said, "like this, haha." He moved his lance to touch four small stones near him, making them twice bigger, then kicked these stones with force to send them toward the ice mage.

      Gray stretched his hand forward, creating a large shield made of ice in front of him. His ice shield stopped the flying stones as they fell onto the ground. At the same time, the blade of the dark mage's spear also hit the ice shield, shrinking it, much to Gray's dismay. The black-haired guy dodged to the side as the blade passed an inch beside him.

      Dan moved the lance to the side to hit Gray with force, resulting in the latter's abdomen being hit by the shaft of the spear, "Don't worry. I won't shrink you. It will be so boring if I do." He smirked.

• • • • •

DeepTree Forest (middle)

        Midnight, trying to stand up, looked at Erza as the surrounding turned into a dark background. He transformed into a dark, gargantuan monster with red round eyes. "I've to win this war," he growled.

     The red-haired beauty faced the monster bravely, she was standing still with her spear pointing backward. While waiting for the monster to seize his first attack, Erza closed her eyes to focus. As soon as she heard the footsteps getting closer, followed by wind changes and the feeling of something approaching, she dodged to the side and jumped high swiftly. She slashed him several times, seemingly without making direct contact, before landing on the ground behind the giant creature. The monster fell to the ground, and the illusion wore off.

"Why?" Midnight asked weakly, as he fell to his knees, due to the side effect of his nightmare spell. That meant he was also injured by Erza when she defeated his visual illusion monster.

"You're underestimating me," Erza gave him a short answer, "Do you admit your defeat?"

       Before she could leave, both Erza and Midnight were trapped by a sandstorm that swallowed them. The Sand God Ajeel arrived, and he looked at his guildmate. "Master ordered you to retreat," Ajeel said coldly, "Good luck," he waved his hand. A moment later, the reflector mage was engulfed by the sand completely. The area around him fused into the ground, as Midnight was transported back to Oracion Seis base.

      Ajeel smirked widely before eyeing to his second victim, "Now, it's your turn, Erza Scarlet. You can't escape this time... HAHAHA."

• • • • •

In front of DeathValley Cave, MistyHill Valley

'I'm here! We're waiting for you, please find us,' Two different voices; one was a soft whisper, and another was a calm voice, reached the celestial spirit mage, which made her look at the surrounding.

"Who's there?" Lucy asked quickly, turning left and then right, to search for who was talking to her.

"What is wrong?" Laxus asked after he had noticed her expression, while others looked at the celestial spirit mage.

"I just heard a voice," she replied before looking at the mountain.

     Laxus looked in the direction of Lucy's glance, he neither saw nor heard anything suspicious. 'Blondie looks like she isn't joking.'

"No one's here other than us, Lu-chan," Sparky commented, he too was confused by his mother figure's reactions.

"I didn't hear a strange sound, Lucelia-sama," Meredy said, hoping that it wasn't a ghost that talked to her princess.

"I think you heard it wrong, Blondie," Laxus said simply. Jellal nodded, "Let's enter the cave."

"Wait," suddenly, the thunder dragon slayer said urgently. Soon the group heard a faint voice calling "Lucelia-sama."

"Isn't it Carla's voice? Is she in danger?" Lucy asked the blond prince worriedly.

"She's fine," he answered back.

       They could spot the flying exceed in the sky as she approached them. They saw that the white exceed was holding a small box. The flying cat landed on the ground, "Lucelia-sama, I've something for you," Carla handed the box to the blonde.

• • • • •

Flashback

      After minutes of flying, Carla found a small tunnel which entrance was narrow, but enough for her to enter. It was exactly the same as her precognition. Her mind told her to find the celestial spirit keys first before joining her masters.

     Without hesitation, the white exceed entered the narrow tunnel. It was dark, however, thousands of little fireflies which resided in the tunnel gave beautiful scenery and enough light.

     Carla, still flying, went along the path, which led to a wider confined place. She saw a pile of tiny stones at the corner of the empty tunnel.

     Removing the stones quickly, she saw a rectangular box beneath the wall which was previously covered. She took it before retreating to the entrance.

• • • • •

In front of Death Valley Cave, MistyHill Valley

     After Lucy had opened the box and her eyes widened. Inside the box was what she had never seen in her life. She saw two glistening celestial keys; one red, actually orange to be exact, and another white. The bow of the orange key was sculpted into a pair of spreading phoenix wings. Attached to the wings was a small circle connected to the reddish orange shank. The blade of the key was similar to a phoenix tail. Another key was snowy white, with its bow designed to the head of a horse, and a pair of white wings was attached to the stem of the key. The blade was in the shape of a horseshoe.

'Celestial keys?' She whispered in disbelief while Meredy took a quick look at the box, "Beautiful keys... Lucelia-sama, do you know what kinds of these spirit keys are?"

"No," Lucy shook her head, "I'll check them later," she said before taking them out from the box. She put her new keys in her key pouch, "Let's go guys!"

• • • • •

DeathValley Cave

"YOU USELESS BRAT." As soon as Angel entered the cave, she heard Master Brain's yell, followed by a weak cry from Midnight. She ran inside and found that her friend was lying on the ground... a magic circle trapped him inside... draining his magic.

     It was when she realized that Midnight lost his battle to a Fairy Tail member and what he received was the punishment for his defeat t hee didn't come to meet her master immediately, after her battle ended as she was crying somewhere. She knew that they were facing several defeats... but Midnight... she never expected that he also lost.

"Master," she interrupted, although she was afraid that she too might get the punishment. But if she didn't step in, Midnight would die right here right now.

     She looked at her best friend.... his face had a small cut... his clothes were soaked with blood... He also looked at her... fear and worry were written on his tired face.

     The Oracion Seis leader canceled his magic spell, thus freeing the injured dark mage, then glanced at the celestial spirit mge angrily. Midnight tried to stand up, "Father.. don't." he begged him again and again.

     To their surprise, the guild leader walked away, "Take a rest. The last battle will start soon."

     Angel rushed to Midnight and supported him to stand up. Her beautiful purple eyes met his crimson eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked.

'No! I'm not okay. How can I be okay when I failed to avenge? How can I be okay when five of six Oracion Seis elites were defeated.'

     Tears started forming in her eyes. "How can you ask me when you're in worse condition than me?" She whispered. He hugged her, and comforted her, "Don't worry everything will be fine," he said gently. She could only reply with a nod.

      Sometimes, a little bit of comfort was enough, right?

• • • • •

DeepTree Forest (entrance area)

     Gray extended both of his hands, with his right hand overlapping on his left one, and cast an ice spell. The ground below the dark mage started freezing within a blink of time, invading to his feet.

      Trying to break the ice spell, Dan swayed his habaraki, it touched the frozen ground, however, even after the direct contact, the ice floor wasn't minimized. "Sh*t," he cursed, and to his double surprise, the ice invasion spread to his spear, then to the shaft, and his hand.

     Smirking, Gray changed his hand gesture, now his hands were at his left side before extending his right hand to the front. A cerulean blue magic circle appeared below the lance-wielder. A tower of five giant fists made of ice emerged from the magic circle and raised vertically toward the latter's face.

     Everything happened so fast, Dan couldn't block the punch with his shield, as he helplessly received a powerful uppercut from ice fist. He fell to the ground, the ice that covered his hand and surrounding shattered at once.

"Juvia!" Gray called her name quietly, his gaze turned to the distance which was not far away from him. He saw his ally was struggling in her fight. If it was a normal challenge, he would've left her alone in her battle believing that she could win without his help. However, the guild battle they were facing wasn't friendly, and their mission wasn't for the one-versus-one fight. Quickly, he shouted, "Ice-make : Rosen Krone."

• • • • •

DeepTree Forest (entrance area)

     Juvia was tired... regretting that she used her powerful water attacks so early which all turned out unsuccessful to damage her foe.

     Juvia was panicked... knowing that she hadn't found a way to stop Eternal Flame.

     Juvia was stressed..  because her opponent was using Eternal Flame continuously. Which meant if she made a big wrong move, she would be defeated easily.

     What Juvia could do was avoid the fire hair attacks, of course, there were some attacks that she couldn't dodge.

     The water maiden tried to launch more powerful Water Slicers again, however, her attack was in vain again. As her mind focused to find a better solution, she failed to notice the fire emblem from long red hair that directed towards her. Only when the ground near her shattered and ice spikes came out from the ground, did she realize that Gray-sama had saved her.

      Several ice-made vines with glittering lilac-colored giant ice roses emerged from the ground, surrounding the hair mage. The motile ice vines and thorns started attacking her, an ice vine swiftly cut one strand of Flame's hair that formed fire symbol which intended to harm the bluenette.

"Gray-sama," Juvia looked around and saw the black-haired guy walking towards her. She smiled, "Thanks Gray-sama."

"What the heck!" Flame cursed, as she noticed that she couldn't use her hair magic recklessly, afraid of her hair getting cut by the vines again. A moment of hesitation, her leg was caught by small ice vibes which made her immobilized.

     Gray and Juvia watched the ice roses and branches attacking the trapped prey in a continuing series. The spikes and roses hit the latter, giving her cuts and injuries. The black-haired guy raised his right hand for his finishing move. The ice flowers and branches, shattered into ice spikes, due to the spell's limited time, "Juvia, NOW!" he shouted.

    The water mage nodded as she raised her right hand, "Water Lock!" A large circular mass of water, which lacked oxygen inside, appeared and captured the girl who hadn't recovered yet from the previous ice attack. One minute of suffocation drained the weak girl out, and she passed out not long after. Juvia lowered the water sphere, while Gray created a rectangular ice prison to put the defeated dark mages inside.

• • • • •

DeepTree Forest (Middle)

"Requip, Wind God Armor!" Erza shouted. A white light emitted from her as she changed into another armor. It was a pink tribal-type robe that covered her upper body in a dark yellow waistcoat-like garb. The neckline was topped with white fur along with a black hem underneath the fur, with short hanging sleeves. Along the forearms were white bandage-like clothing strapped around from the wrist to below the elbow. The lower portion of the armor consisted of a pair of black pants and light, shin-high boots. Erza's long hair was tied into a low ponytail and a pair of small wings that donned either side of her head as hair accessories. In her hand was a light blue sword, which had a long, rolled-up handle with a wide base. The sword had multiple curved edges, leading up to the rolled-up tip at the end of the blade.

      Blowing the sand away and clearing the surrounding, the red-haired knight dashed towards her enemy and swiftly slashed him with her swords several times. Ajeel's bare chest started bleeding, "HOW DARE YOU!" He shouted, giving a death glare at Erza who was unaffected by it.

• • • • •

DeathValley Cave

"Give up. All of you are surrounded," Jellal demanded as he reached into the tunnel, followed by Meredy and Lyon. Laxus and Lucy stepped into the cave soon. Seeing his younger sister pinned onto the ground, in a magic circle, the blond prince shouted angrily, "I'll kill you."

"Release Wendy. Your plan failed, we've already defeated your members. There's no way you could get my blood. It's the end for you," Lucy said, glaring at the Oracion Sies leader.

"STOP TALKING NONSENSE," Brain shouted. He summoned a black dagger in his hand quickly.

     Laxus stepped forward to cover Lucy while Jellal and Erza were ready to counterattack.

     Little did they know, the dagger wasn't to aim at the blonde celestial spirit mage. The Oracion Seis leader turned around quickly and stabbed Angel who was completely off-guard behind him.

      A sharp dagger pierced the silvery-haired girl, her eyes widened in shock, whispering a word "Why?"

      The old man kicked her, and as a result, she fell backward a few distances away, falling to the ground beside the unconscious sky maiden. Lying supine... facing up... she neither could move nor stand up. Her blood from the stab wound began to flow into the magic rune.

"Celestial blood... the blood of any Celestial spirit mages," Brain said heartlessly.

     The Fairy Tail gang, who had witnessed the whole situation, looked at Brain in horror and disgust. "You jerk, she is your disciple," Lucy shouted, anger mixed in her emotions.

"She is just a spawn that I used. If my plan goes  wrong, I can still kill Angel. I won't accept a weak celestial mage as my member for no reason," Brain said.

     For the first time in her life, Angel felt betrayed... by someone who she had relied on most for many years.

"You did a good job, Angel. Let me tell you a secret before you die," Brain smirked... "I planned for the downfall of celestial village seventeen years ago."

"What... do... you... mean?" Angel asked in whisper.

^_^