First I would like to make a quick thanks to those that have followed, reviewed and favored this story. And with that, please enjoy.

There was quite the commotion over Wendy once she ran, and tripped, into Bob's manor that was just south of the Worthwood Sea. Carla, and the new Cait Shelter member known as Remy, walked in moments later, after she had introduced herself. Carla also drew some of the attention herself, especially from Happy.

Once the others' introductions were out of the way, Remy decided to talk to the others, leaving Wendy to her own devices. He still kept a watchful eye on her while conversing.

Carla's arms were akimbo as she glared at him. "Does he think that we're here to slack off?"

"I'm so nervous, Carla," Wendy spoke into her hand, her eyes darting back and forth. "I don't know what to do."

A long, heavy sigh escaped her lips as she let her head lull to the side. "This is going to be a long mission."

Just then a gentle hand was laid upon, Wendy's shoulder. Her brows waved, and she followed the arm up to its owner, Hibiki, from the Blue Pegasus guild.

His eyes were half-lidded and there was a smile on his face as he spoke in a smooth tone. "Would you mind coming with me, little lady?"

Meanwhile, Erza and Remy were in the middle of a conversation.

"I just find swords more honorable," Erza stated to Remy, "Portraying more a sense of justice than any other weapon."

Before he could speak, Lucy exclaimed, "Bad touch!"

He looked towards her before following her gaze. Once he saw what she was seeing, his eyes widen as he bared his teeth. Erza immediately caught sight of the point canines showing, before they disappeared into a lips only smile as he turned to her.

"Excuse me for a moment, Erza." With that he stamped away from her before she could respond. She watched him with a blank frown.

Once he stood by them, Remy grabbed Hibiki's wrist, yanked it from Wendy's shoulder, and wrenched it into an awkward angle, causing him to yell.

"Hibiki!" shouted his partners while Wendy, Lucy, and Sherry gasped. Gray, Jura, Ichiya and Lyon watched with wide eyes, while Natsu tilted his head to one side.

Hibiki glared at him, grunting in pain, while Remy returned his look with half-lidded glare. "I know we're working to together for the moment, so I'll let you off with a warning. Should you ever touch this girl, who is far too young by the way, again, not only will I cut off the offending appendage, I will also cut off an appendage that need not be mentioned."

Ichiya decided to step forward at that point, "Excuse me, good sir." He struck a pose, pointing two fingers at him. "But if you'd be so kind as to let my colleague go, I would greatly appreciate it and will deal with him myself."

Remy relaxed his glare, but still looked at Hibiki with a sneer. "I believe I've made my point, anyway." With that, he shoved him back to his partners, both of whom caught him before he fell. They glared at him for a moment before, Ichiya snapped at them.

"Men! What have I told you about the fact that this is a business-only venture?!"

They all straightened up and stood at attention then bowed their heads. "Sorry, boss!"

Wendy looked up at Remy, hand in front of her mouth. "Did you have to be so mean to him, Remy?"

Carla looked up at him, as well. "I have to agree that the way you handled that situation was over-the-top."

His arms had been folded across his chest as he looked down at Wendy. "Look, I know you wanted to come here to meet the Salamander, but for all intent and purposes, I'm treating anybody who decides to touch you, in a way that isn't just shaking your hand, as a threat for the time being."

He glanced around at all the eyes on him, hearing some of them mutter about his extreme methods, before returning to his gaze back her and Carla. "I know it's extreme, but I'd rather get the point across so that we could at least have one less thing to worry about."

A sigh escaped Carla's lips as she folded her arms back into her sleeve. "I suppose that is a good point." A half-lidded glare formed on her face. "Still, you can't just go around threatening to cut off body parts." She pointed a paw at him before she continued. "We're here help take down a dark guild, and if we lose everyone's trust before we head out into the Worthwood Sea-" Remy raised his hand. cutting off her speech. "I know. I know. Save me the lecture."

Carla folded her arm back to its original position with a humph. "You're certainly not doing a very good job of convincing me that you know."

Cobra wanted to avoid drawing any attention to the little dragon slayer that had joined the weak guild alliance. Since he first spotted her in the forest, traveling with that sword nut dragon slayer and the talking cat, the idea of her being caught in up this business gave him an odd feeling. He didn't know what it was at the time, so he just pushed it into the corner of his mind, making certain that Brain would not know about her.

However, when Brain uttered the name Wendy, and she almost immediately responded, that feeling came back. This time, he knew what it was. Dread. He never expected that he would experience this sense himself, and after he had listened to Erza's thoughts, listened to the time she had spent in the Tower of Heaven like he had once upon a time, he knew why he felt this way.

No emotion appeared in his face, yet his fists were clenched in his pockets as he turned towards Brain. "Aren't you gonna cast the spell already?" He just hoped that he would forget her and finish the main job at hand.

"Do you know her, Brain?" Angel asked. His eyes darted down to her, silently cursing the girl, before returning to his leader.

A smile formed on Brain's face, making Cobra very uneasy. "There's no doubt about it. That's Wendy, the Maiden of the Sky."

He furrowed his brow, wondering just what does that mean. The Maiden of the Sky.

His thoughts were cut short as Brain continued. "Fortune has smiled upon us today, my friends." He aimed his skull-topped staff towards her. "GRAB HER!"

Cobra's eyes widened as a swirling black and green beam appeared from the dark-purple magic circle formed by the staff. Yet, he did nothing as the young dragon slayer was pulled towards them, along with a foolish, blue cat that was not unlike the white one.

He only clenched his fists tighter, his arms shaking. He didn't understand why she had to be here, nor did he understand what Brain would want with her; he didn't care to think about the latter.

Angel noticed her ally's controlled anger, brows furrowed as to why. Her musings were cut short when a wall of spiked ice formed in front of them. The wall cut off the beam, causing Wendy and Happy to drop to the ground with an oomph.

Carla ran up to her. "Wendy!"

She opened one eye to look at her and murmured, "I'm ok, Carla."

Everyone, both the Oracion Seis and the Allied Forces, were stunned at the sudden turn of events.

Lucy pushed herself onto her forearms. "G-Gray?"

He struggled to push himself up onto an elbow and grunted, "It wasn't me."

Lyon was barely able to support himself when he spoke. "Nor did I do that."

"Th-then who... was it?" Sherry weakly asked.

Natsu groaned, straining to push himself up, when someone slowly trudged past him. He looked up, watching as at the person plodded forward, hearing hoarse breathing coming from him.

Remy kept moving forward, his breathing coming out as growls, eyes wild with anger. "You. Bastards. Will not. Touch her."

Cobra watched on as the other dragon slayer stood by her when he heard a humph from Brain.

"It appears that this worm still wants to fight."

Remy kept his gaze on them as ice claws grew from his fist. "Carla. Happy, was it? Take Wendy and get as far away from here as you can."

Wendy's eyes became teary. "But what about-" he whirled on her. "I AM NOT GOING TO SAY IT AGAIN! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Cobra's brows waved in surprise, wondering why he would yell at her like that.

Carla decided not to waste any time arguing, and so grabbed Wendy's arm. "Let's go, child." She turned to Happy who was still in a dazed shock. "Get moving, tomcat!"

That snapped him out of his trance. He muttered, "Aye," and moved to grab Wendy's other arm. Glowing wings sprouted from both cats, the light from them fading to reveal their feather. They flew off without hesitation, back into to the forest.

Remy kept his eyes trained on the Oracion Seis, teeth bared, as a guttural growl rumbled up from within him.

Brain closed his eyes as he lowered his head with another humph, despite the smile on his lips. "Foolish boy. You are only delaying the inevitable."

Remy's lips turned into a toothy grin. "I'm the fool? At least I don't look like some kind of weird, tattooed pimp."

Brain's head snapped up, eyes wild with rage. "ENOUGH FROM YOU!" He waved his staff towards him. "BEGONE!"

Wendy sniffled, tears streaming down her face. "I," she sniffled again, "I can't believe," another sniffle, "we just," another one, "just left them all."

Happy looked at her, with a smile on his face. "Hey, don't worry about them. I'm sure they're just fine."

Carla turned her head towards him. "And how can you be so sure?"

"Because they are."

Both cats stopped mid-flight, and hovered in mid-air, all eyes looking towards the new voice. Cobra, with his hands in his pockets, stood atop Cubelios, who flapped her wings to hover, as well. He stared at them with a blank frown on his face.

"IT'S ONE OF THE ORACION SEIS!" Happy exclaimed.

Carla glanced at him with a glare on her face. "We can see that, tomcat."

Wendy looked at Cobra, her eyes full of hope. "What do you mean 'they are?'"

"I mean I heard that they were saved just before Brain could kill them."

Wendy's eyes widened as her face broke out into a smile. "They were?! They're all alive?!"

Carla's eyes were wide, as well. "But who saved them?"

"It was that Ten Wizard Saint," he replied.

Happy turned to Carla, a big smile on his face. "I told you they'd be alright!"

Carla's glare once again returned to her face. "So now you're here to capture us for you leader. Would I be correct?"

Happy's mouth fell open, eyes wide and looking considerably pale despite his fur. Wendy's smile had disappeared also, as she looked to Carla first then to Cobra.

He merely nodded in confirmation. "And before you fly off, listen to what I have to say." He listened in on their thoughts before replying. "Because I haven't taken you in by force, yet."

Carla's eyes narrowed further while Wendy's brows became knotted.

"You three should consider yourselves lucky I got here before my comrades did. I, myself, have no interest in hurting a little girl. My comrades on the other hand…"

Before Carla could speak again he added, "And you're free to leave." He shook his head. "I'm not gonna stop you." Once he realized what he just said, he held up his hand while he turned his head away, closing his eyes. "And yeah, I know I suggested that I'd take you in by force." He put his hand back in his pocket and looked back at them again. "Just forget I said that. So what's it gonna be? Either you come with me under the promise that no harm will come to any of you, or keep trying to escape and risk running into my comrades. It's your choice."

Carla's continued to glare at him through narrow eyes, while Happy glared at him with his teeth bared, instead.

Wendy had closed her eyes, her face slightly knotted and twisted. She couldn't just give into one of the members of the Oracion Seis, and be taken away to that scary man. The same man who just stood there, watching with a smile, while all of her friends were being hurt while she stood there doing nothing but hiding behind a rock. Erza. Remy. Natsu. She had just met the three but she felt like they could be trusted.

She looked up at the snake-rider with a fallen face. Cobra did say that her friends were safe, but she knows that he's one of the bad guys. Would it be a good idea to trust him, too?

Meanwhile, Cobra clenched his fists inside his pockets. He knew this was a stupid idea in the first place, chasing after a little kid and dragging her back to their base. Then again, asking her to come quietly wasn't as brilliant, either. Not that anyone else had to know.

He was perfectly content with just erasing those other damn light guild weaklings and continuing to look for Nirvana without any help from Jellal. Still, he was sure that he was the only one that knew that they were still alive, and knew that if they didn't move fast, they would surely loss their chance. If he were to believe in fortune or luck or whatever stupid universal bullshit that existed in this damned world, he would think this opportunity wasn't all that good. Hell, he might as well just fly away and- "Mister Cobra?"

Wendy's voice broke him from his musing trance and he looked at her, blinking once.

Her head was down, but her eyes met his. "I'll go with you."

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