"I wish I had an exceed."

Natsu looked at Dani, who was playing with the little blue kitten. He saw the sad look in her eyes even though she tried to be happy. Natsu didn't like it when Dani was sad. He scooted closer to her and gave her a hug.

"Maybe you'll find an egg and a cat will hatch out of it too."

"Maybe. Wanna go for a walk with me? We could go explore the forest."

Natsu stood up with a smile on his face. "Sure. Maybe we'll find you an egg while we're out."

That seemed to get Dani's attention and she perked up instantly. "What are we waiting for!? Let's go!!!"

Dani scooped up Happy and grabbed Natsu's hand. She pulled him behind her as she ran out of Fairy Tail, nearly running into Laxus on the way out. Natsu laughed as he allowed his friend to drag him along.

They reached the forest in no time. They explored the trees and the little caves that they found. They even sparred against each other and practiced their magic. All in all, the two mages had loads of fun.

"I love running through the trees. Do you like running through the trees, Natsu?"

"It's alright, but I like just the idea of hanging out with you, Dani."

Dani was surprised at what Natsu said, but then she laughed. Natsu smiled as he watched Dani laugh. He love watching her laugh. Dani stopped laughing and smiled as she and Natsu lay on the forest floor. She looked at the sky through the leaves. Suddenly, she shot up and started to look around.

"Do you hear that?"

Natsu tried to listen to whatever Dani heard. "What? I don't hear anything."

"Listen closer. Wait...Over there!!!"

Dani scrambled to her feet and ran into some bushes on the other side of the clearing she and Natsu were in. Natsu sat up and watched the bushes, waiting for Dani to come back.

"Dani?"

"AWWW!!! YOU'RE SO ADORABLE!!!"

"Dani!?"

Natsu jumped up and ran into the bushes. He found Dani on the other side and she was holding something. Dani smiled when she saw Natsu and turned around to show him what she found.

"Isn't he the cutest little thing you ever saw!?"

Natsu looked at the little animal in Dani's arms and smiled. The creature was a baby fox. The little fox looked at Natsu with big blue eyes and smiled.

"He is cute, isn't he? Looks like you found your exceed, Dani."

"Really? This is so amazing!!!"

"Whatcha gonna name him?"

"Hmmm...I think I'll call him...Koda."

Natsu snapped his eyes open. He had another dream about Dani. Tears had fallen in his sleep and landed on the pillow. Natsu looked down at the purple pillow beneath his head and sighed. It was still hard to wake up and see that Dani was missing. Natsu slowly got off the bed, making sure to smooth out the covers afterwards. He then left the house and headed to the guild hall.

"Hey, Natsu. Glad to see you're back. I was starting to get worried."

Natsu smiled slightly at Lucy. She always worried about him.

"Hey, Lucy. Has anything happened with the girl?"

"No. She's still unconscious, but the little fox was awake for a little while before he fell asleep again."

Natsu sighed. He was hoping the girl had made some progress and woken up. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about her that seemed important. Natsu decided to put the girl aside in his mind and went to go look at the request board. However, it seemed like the doors were just begging to be harshly opened because they were blown in from the outside. Shards of wood went flying, making some of the guild members crouch down to protect themselves. Natsu was blown back onto his back. A few shards of wood managed to cut him, but they weren't serious. He sat up and looked at the broken doorway. A group of about seven entered the guild, each of them wore a cloak similar to the one the mystery girl wore.

"Sorry to barge in like this, but it seems you have something that belongs to us."

Natsu wasn't sure what the lead man was talking about, but then he saw a symbol on the man's cloak. It was a bit hard to make out, but it was clear enough so Natsu could see the letters STS.

"STS? Wait...you're the bastards that hurt the girl in the infirmary."

The lead man laughed. "I wouldn't say hurt. It's more like "corrected". She wasn't following the rules and needed to be punished. By doing that, we correct our girls. Now, if you will please...hand her over."

Natsu wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like the man at all. There was something about him that screamed evil. Natsu glared at the man as he stood up.

"No. We won't give her to you. You're just gonna hurt her again."

The man sighed. "I can see that you are true to your word and that deeply saddens me. I hate to do this but..."

The man quickly threw what looked like a ball of black at Natsu. It seemed like the ball was made of shadows. Natsu barely had time to dodge. The shadow ball missed him by an inch and exploded when it hit the wall. Natsu couldn't believe that the man tried to hit him. That angered Natsu greatly. Balling his hands into fiery fists, Natsu charged at the man and they started to fight. The other cloaked men started to attack the other guild members and soon, the whole guild was fighting. It may have seemed like the seven men could have been easily beaten, but they were strong.

(I'm awful at writing fight scenes when it comes to Fairy Tail, so I'm just gonna skip the details for now.)

Natsu hunched over in pain, trying to catch his breath. The group of men were stronger than he thought. After all the fighting, only two men were knocked out. Natsu looked at the lead man, his teeth bared against the pain and his eyes screwed into a glare. The man just chuckled.

"You should have listened in the beginning and given us the girl. None of this fighting would have happened if you just listened. Now, how about that girl?"

Natsu continued to glare at the man. "N-No."

The man shook his head. "That's too bad. I thought I could reason with you, but now I see it was pointless."

The man started to form a purple ball of shadow and prepared to finish Natsu off with it. Lucy screamed in horror at the sight. The man grinned, enjoying his moment and then...

"STOP!!!"

All heads turned to the voice and gasped. Standing at the back of the mages was the girl. Her fox exceed rested on her shoulder. The girl wore her bloody cloak, hood covering her face. She walked through the crowd and stopped in the center.

"Stop!!! I won't allow you to hurt anyone else."

The man grinned again and lowered his hands. "I see you've decided to give yourself up. Smart girl. You've finally realized that it's pointless to make people who don't even know you fight for you."

The girl growled under her hood. "That's where you're wrong. These people do know me. They took me in when I was young. They became my family until you took me away. I will not go back with you...and I will not allow you to hurt anymore members of my guild!!!"

Everyone gasped and gasped even more when the girl ripped her cloak off. Under the cloak was a girl with long black hair and bright blue eyes that burned with hatred. The girl wore a top in the same style as Erza's Japanese Cloth armor. Her bottoms were ripped black jean shorts. She wore no shoes, but what stuck out the most on the girl was the purple guild mark on her right shoulder. There was no mistaking the mark of Fairy Tail. The man seemed stunned, but then he laughed.

"Well, you certainly know how to put on a show, but there is something you are forgetting: the Chip. As long as that chip is in your body, you can't use your magic."

"Oh? You mean this chip!?"

The girl grabbed something from her pocket and tossed it to the floor. The man gasped when he looked at the blood stained chip on the floor.

"How did you..."

The girl smiled and pointed to a bandage on her upper left arm. "I cut it out shortly after I escaped. It hurt like hell, but I wasn't going to live with that chip in my arm."

The man glared at the girl. "You little shit. How dare you-"

"How dare I? HOW DARE YOU!?!?!?"

The girl charged at the man as she was quickly covered with flames. Everyone couldn't believe what they were seeing. The girl yelled out her rage as she raised a fist.

"FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!!!"

The man couldn't even bring his arms up before he was hit. The force of the hit sent him flying back into his followers and then onward out of the guild. The men were knocked out instantly, each burned badly.

Out of the entire guild, three people were by far more shocked by what they saw. Natsu had fallen to the floor and couldn't take his eyes off the fire covered girl. A few tears even managed to fall. Gray was stunned as well and felt strange feelings re-ignite in his body. From the second floor, a certain lightning mage felt feelings stir in him too. For all three boys, they couldn't believe that the girl they thought was gone forever was back in their lives. As they watched the girl attack the men and chase them away, they all shared the same thought.

"Dani..."