I'm baaaaaaaaaack.

Howdy, folks, how's it going?

Yeah, I'm still alive.

First things first, I apologize for the long, long wait. The exam period was much longer than anticipated, and then I spent two weeks away from home.

But you guys aren't here for excuses, you're here for the story.

Now for the reviews:

zGrimLock: Yep, Urabrask's mentality is pretty much still Phyrexian, but his most extreme tendencies have been mostly curbed by the girl's influence. And c'mon m8, it wouldn't really be a MTG story without Planeswalkers ;) . Also I believe it's been stated that Koth survived.

Varus the Shadow Sage: He certainly did m8. On Urabrask's lack of expression, perhaps a few explanations are necessary. It's not that Urabrask doesn't have feelings, they are what caused his predicament in the first place. The problem here it's that in his original form, what passed for a face was completely inhuman, and so now his brain has literally no idea which muscles to move, except for the more negative emotions he's more familiar with(read:rage). His vocal cords have much the same problem.

Caloodles: I think I'll keep it the way it is. I don't mind that few people read it, as long as those few people enjoy it.

Drake202: I've said it once and I'll say it again m8. Ponctutation, it's important xD.

The clue I was talking about was the Gut Shot, Urabrask's Praetorian magic uses many of the red spells from the phyrexia block. The ability to go unnoticed is not due to artifacts, it's a comical reference to the fact that is title as a Praetor is "The Hidden", but I do have some plans for artifacts. Read on to see.

What exactly happened with Lisanna will be explained during the Phantom Lord arc.

FinalGuardian:Get ready to see the results of that m8.

Inquisitive Dark: Always nice to see your work being appreciated :) . I can say that, for the moment, everyone with knowledge of Phyrexia thinks that Urabrask is dead, but it won't be so forever.

I have considered making someone from the guild awaken the spark, yes, but I have no idea how to go about it, and if I do, I'm sorry to say it probably won't be Lucy.

And now, without further ado, enjoy the chapter :)

/

It was a pleasant afternoon in Fiore. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, the birds were singing, all that good stuff.

Then, the peace was suddenly broken by the sonic boom of a passing magic vehicle, moving at speeds that would break traffic and safety laws anywhere in Earthland, most of its passengers hanging on for dear life.

"I can't believe we've left them behind! Again!" The red-headed pilot cursed for the hundredth time."How could I possibly have been this careless?!"

"Erza, please calm down!" Angel said as calmly as she could, even as she tried her best to remain upright, and shot a concerned look at the magic plug attached to her friend's arm. "I'm as worried as you are, but at this rate, by the time we catch up to them you'll have no magic left to help in any way."

"As if that ever stopped me! I'll crawl and wield a blade with my teeth if I have to, but I have to make sure Urabrask and Natsu don't get in trouble because of my mistake!"

The white-haired girl sighed, knowing there would be no changing the Knight's mind. Erza may be harsh with the other members of the guild, but she was even harsher with herself.

Gray, Lucy and Happy were too busy being afraid for their lives and holding on to the vehicle to give any significant input to the conversation.

When the mages had noticed the disappearance of their friends, their first action had been to pull the emergency stop lever (any protests from the worker on duty were quickly silenced with a headbutt from Erza) on the station, after which they had rented a magic vehicle from a nearby dealership in order to catch up to the train.

Of course, the train wouldn't be stopped forever, and they were all somewhat concerned that they'd be unable to reach it.

So imagine their surprise when they finally reached the railway, and shortly after, found a single carriage, the last one, in which they had traveled, dead in the tracks.

As they stopped their own vehicle and cautiously approached the unmoving wagon, it quickly became obvious why it had remained here, whiled the rest of the train had resumed its voyage. After all, it was hard for a carriage to move when its entire front third had been melted to slag, not to mention the numerous dents and burn marks all over its frame.

Also, the carriage occasionally shook and buckled, as if something was being tossed around within, followed by some muffled noises that could have been screams.

"Well, this is it." Happy noted.

"Oh, geez, I would never have guessed." Lucy said with sarcasm.

"Dumb Lucy." commented the flying cat, missing it entirely.

"I WILL hit you!" The blonde shouted while waving her fist threateningly at the feline, before calming down and asking."But seriously, what the heck happened here?"

As if to answer her question, the carriage's backdoor suddenly exploded outwards as something was launched through it, landing at the surprised group's feet. Everyone looked down to inspect the projectile, blinking as they found that it was some guy they had never seen before, obviously unconscious. "Beaten to a pulp" wasn't an appropriate enough description of the man's state. Seriously, legs shouldn't bend that way.

Everyone but Lucy, who was still staring at the man with in shock, turned to look at the train, to see the Praetor jumping out of it, a palpable aura of anger around him that quickly dissipated when he noticed their presence, Natsu nervously following him.

"Urabrask, Natsu. Are you guys alright?" Erza asked in concern, to which the other red-head nodded.

"I am fine, Erza. You concern is appreciated, but unnecessary."

"Yeah, I'm good to." The Dragonslayer replied, as he crouched down near the beaten up man and began to poke him with a stick, earning a few pained groans in response." If anything, I think Douchebag here got the short end of the stick."

"Still, leaving you two behind like this, it was inexcusable... So please hit me to make us even!" The red-head said as she bowed.

While his head remained motionless, Urabrask's gaze fell on her, one of his oldest "friends". He knew her well enough to know that simply telling her that is wasn't her fault and to forget it, much like Natsu was doing right now, would simply leave the guilt of her perceived misdeed to eat away at her. But at the same time, he found the idea of causing her physical harm rather... unpleasant, which in itself left him perplexed, as he only had this feeling with Erza and Angel for some reason, and had no qualms with hurting anyone else.

Deciding to leave that particular puzzle for a later time, Urabrask approached the girl, and put a hand on her shoulder to make her stand upright.

They stood like that for a few minutes, a faint pink growing on the Knight's cheeks as her vibrant brown eyes stared at his dull grey ones.

Then, the Praetor lifted his hand and flicked her on the forehead, which just enough strength to cause her head to snap back and leave a small mark.

"Ow!" She yelped, more out of surprise than any actual pain.

"There, now we are even." He said, with what Erza and Angel could identify as traces of amusement in his monotone."But next time, please do remember to check where we are before leaving the train."

And thus that particular matter was settled.

"Sooo...What happened?" Gray inquired, tapping the still unconscious man with his foot. "Was there any particular reason for you to mangle this poor bastard?"

"After you left, he began harassing Natsu while he was too nauseous to defend himself..." He ignored the Dragonslayer's mumbled 'I could have dealt with him'. "...And claimed he was a member of Eisenwald. After that, he refused to cooperate when told him I had questions."

At this point, Lucy finally managed to voice her question, while still staring at the unconscious mage. It was like witnessing a trainwreck. It was horrifying, and yet you couldn't look away.

"Did Urabrask really do this...?"

"Aye!" Happy replied way too cheerfully. "Don't let the lifeless gaze and permanent deadpan fool you. Urabrask has the worst temper out of any Fairy Tail wizard! He can fly off the handle with no warning over the weirdest of things." Here the cat approached the blonde and whispered to her. "And on that note, never, EVER, bring anything made of porcelain near him and don't even mention it in his presence."

Lucy gulped, and mentally cried. And here she thought she had finally found another sane, if somewhat weird, Guild member besides Angel, Lisanna and herself. Why did all the loonies flock to Fairy Tail!?

"He may be a criminal, Urabrask, but was it really necessary to leave him in this state?" The White-haired girl asked with a sigh, as she kneeled besides the dark guild wizard and placed her hand slightly above his chest.

Both legs, which jutted out to the sides in unnatural angles, one arm, most of his ribs and his nose were broken, most of them in several places, he was missing a most of his teeth, nearly every inch of his skin was covered with large bruises and second-degree burns, and his face was little more than a swollen ruin due to being punched so many times.

Slowly, the hand began emitting a soft, golden glow, as the low level healing spell worked to fix the man's most grievous injuries, but not enough for him to walk on his own power. Internally, Angel was pouting. She had decided to learn Healing magic from the angels so she could better help people, and Urabrask in particular. But that was supposed to be by healing HIM when necessary, not his hapless foes. Not that she wanted to see him getting hurt, mind you, but healing the bad guys just enough that they couldn't accuse the Praetor of excessive brutality, thus avoiding any flak the council may give him, was a bit annoying.

As she rose, the rusty red-haired young man lifted his shoulders ever so slightly, his version of a shrug, in response to the question.

"Natsu said he had insulted you and Erza."

Hearing this, both girls shook their heads, a bit exasperated that he'd go so far (and yet immensely pleased that he'd go so far for them.)

Gray, meanwhile, stared at the Dragonslayer, who at this point was sweating nervously, hoping he wasn't called out on it by the red-haired knight.

"You sicced Urabrask on this schmuck." He deadpanned."For all your fire, you can be a stone-cold bastard sometimes."

"Look, I admit it may have been a bit much, but the Douche came out of nowhere, started talking shit about the guild, and shoved his boot on my face. All of this while the train was moving and I had no idea what was going on, so excuse me for not being in the mood to let the moron get away with it. By the time I realized what I had unleashed, Urabrask was already mopping the floor with him." The Dragonslayer shivered."It wasn't pretty."

"Still, that was surprisingly cunning, coming from a flamebrain like you."

"What was that, Ice stripper?!"

"Natsu, Gray, that's enough." Erza said sternly, nipping the upcoming brawl in the bud as the two boys immediately entered a fear-induced state of friendliness, and then turned to the Praetor."Did you at least get anything out of the guy?"

"Nothing other than screams." He replied like it was the most natural thing in the world, which made Lucy take a few discreet steps away from him."But he did make some effort to stop us from reaching his bag, so while I was dealing with him, Natsu gave it a look."

"Yeah, but the only thing that caught my attention was this." The pink-haired young man said, as he pulled the object from his jacket.

It was a flute, seemingly carved out of a piece of gnarled and twisted wood, its tip decorated by a three-eyed, demonic skull. And as if that wasn't ominous enough, everyone in the party could feel a sense of wrongness radiating from the item.

Urabrask's lips formed a rigid line and his eyes narrowed minutely, his version of a frown. The magic in the item, the aura around it, they oozed... Black... Like Mirajane... and like... something that he could not remember, but it nonetheless set him on edge.

"That is definitely an evil item." Angel stated in a serious tone, so unlike her usually warm and caring one."But what does Eisenwald intend to do with it?"

"Wait a minute..." Lucy mumbled, something about this flute seemed awfully familiar to her... if she recalled some of the things she had read in her family's library correctly...

"That's it!" The blonde exclaimed, her eyes wide in recognition and alarm as she pointed at the item. "That's what Eisenwald was looking for. Lullaby is the Mass Murder Curse Magic Lullaby, one of the cursed items created by the Dark Wizard, Zeref! It is said that anyone that listens to its tone will perish!"

The faces of Angel and Erza hardened when they heard the name.

"Zeref... If that's the case, whatever it is Eisenwald is planning, we can not let them get their hands on it. Urabrask, destroy it."

Hearing this Natsu tossed the item at the Praetor, who extended his already red-glowing hand for the catch.

But he never had the chance to.

Suddenly, a black blur breezed through them, catching the flute in mid air, then speeding of down the railway.

"No! Stop it!"

Gray reacted immediately.

"Ice Make: Prison!"

A cage of ice erupted from the ground, seeking to engulf the black figure, but it passed through without issue.

"Red Praetor's Galvanic Blast."

Intense bolts of lightning rained down on the figure, blowing small craters on the ground where they hit, but it narrowly dodged each of them.

A bit further down the path, the figure stopped, revealing itself to be a shadow, a shadow that gave them a mocking, spectral laugh before continuing on its way.

"Oh, no you don't! Happy!"

"Aye!"

With practiced ease, the blue-furred cat, sprouted his wings and picked up the dashing Dragonlayer, the duo in hot pursuit of the shade.

The others turned to the dark mage on the ground, whose shape matched the shadow, to find him awake, and chuckling weakly.

"You're wasting your time... the shade will only stop... when it arrives where I told it to go... You may have found out my objective...and that monster...may have beaten me... but Eisenwald will get you... Eligor will get you... and we will deliver just..."

Once again, Kageyama's tirade was interrupted as Urabrask kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious and once again breaking his nose.

"Urabrask..." Angel said chidingly.

"I have no time nor patience to listen to some deranged tirade. None of us do."

"He's right." Erza said."We need to catch up to Natsu and that shade. Bind him and bring him with us."

"Shouldn't we do something about the carriage?" Lucy inquired."It might be dangerous to leave it on the tracks."

"Good point. Urabrask?"

Without replying, the Praetor followed the knight in approaching the wagon, grabbing it, and with a grunt of exertion, making it topple to the side. Then, they both proceeded to push it into the edge of the nearby forest, causing Lucy's jaw to drop in shock.

"Yeah."Gray chuckled as he saw the blonde's dumbstruck expression."The guy's also a lot stronger than he looks."

"Once he's done, we'll go after Natsu and Lullaby."

"Wait." Lucy asked once she recovered form yet another Fairy Tail-induced shock."Didn't we only rent the magic vehicle for..."

Suddenly, said vehicle disappeared in a cloud of smoke, returning to the dealership.

"... a couple of hours." The blonde finished sourly.

"No worries, Lucy." Angel stated with a smile."We took it for so little time for a reason."

She then turned to the approaching red-heads.

"Urabrask, if you would?"

"Of course." The Praetor replied, then stretched his arms out, palms open and glowing bright red. For a few moments, whatever he was doing didn't seem to be working, then there was a burst of fire and smoke, causing Lucy to stagger backwards in surprise. When they cleared, a vehicle stood in front of them. It was rust red, like the constructs Lucy had seen at the foundry, and like them it seemed to be made of several different pieces of various different models pieced together, in that jagged, alien design the Praetor seemed to favor. Despite that, its overall structure was similar to the one they had used to get here, if somewhat more streamlined. The two most distinguishing features were the countless leaf-shaped exhaust pipes jutting out from the car's rear, all of them belching out heat and smoke, and the strange, triangular treads in the place of regular wheels.

"What is...?" The blonde asked in confusion.

"Well, you have your celestial spirits, I have the angels." The white-haired girl explained."And Urabrask can summon his own creations to him, from wherever they may be. He calls this vehicle in particular the "Oxida Blaze mark III". It's much faster than regular magic vehicles, and it doesn't need the pilot's magic to function. Urabrask said it's because of a "self-contained reactor", but I won't pretend to even know what that means."

"We can't afford to waste anymore time." Erza suddenly butted in."We need to get going. Now."

With that, the Fairy Tail wizards plus their prisioner entered the vehicle (Erza pouted when Urabrask took the wheel. She was a good driver, damnit! ), and with a roar that caused much of the nearby wildlife to run in fright, it blasted forward in pursuit of the Dragonslayer and the Dark Magic he was chasing, a Dark Magic that eagerly awaited a chance to be unleashed...

/

And done.

Not a lot happened I'll admit, but rest assured, things will pick up on the next one, where I will conclude the Lullaby arc.

And for those of you who read Beneath a Broken Moon, it should be updated sometime next week :) .

Cya guys there.