Natsu

Almost at the exact moment I turned the card to show Lucy, a large cloud appeared in the middle of the guild hall. It started to rotate slowly and the air began to swirl with it. Every head there turned up to it, wonder and confusion in every person. There was then a sense of electricity that we could see in the cloud, like small bolts of lightning that cracked and popped here and there but never touching the ground. A thought popped into my head, but it was Wendy that voiced it. "It looks like an anima."

Suddenly, something dropped from it and landed on a nearby table. I didn't have the chance to see what it was when something else landed on top of the bar, a mere foot away from Makarov. It wasn't until the fourth one that fell when I realized that it was people falling from this thing.

One of them landed close to where I was standing. She hit the ground on her feet then rolled with the momentum of falling. When she stopped she was crouched down, both feet spread out slightly and a hand on the ground to stead herself and the other held out for balance.

I felt like I got hit in the chest when I saw her face, and then the air hit my nose with her scent. I couldn't move, couldn't even breath. It wasn't possible. It couldn't have been possible. But then…why did this girl smell like her? Why did she smell like my Nashi?

Nashi

When the portal picked me up, I knew that it was going to be tossed around like crazy. It wasn't my first time in one. I hated it. It felt like I was stuffed in a sack and then two people were playing catch with me. I did my best to keep my arms tucked it at my chest, but that gets hard to do when the air around you is so violent. My hair kept hitting me in the face and at one point it felt like my hair hit me so hard it may have scratched me. That sucked.

After what felt like an eternity I could feel the air change. That was good, it meant that I was getting to other side. If I wasn't careful I would be dropped like a lead ball, so with every muscle I had I pulled my feet together and held my legs out straight below me. I cracked my eyes open and saw the round opening below me and the wooden floor on the other side. As I expected, once I was closed to the opening I began to move faster, but not the same tumbling as before. It was more like I was a bullet being fired out of a gun.

I felt my feet hit the barrier and then the rest of me, I then hit the ground hard and rolled to lessen the impact. When I stopped, I flipped my head up and glanced around me. There were people all around us, staring with mouths open wide. My friends were still falling out of the portal, but I didn't have time to worry about them yet. I needed to know if we were safe.

A small movement to my right forced me to tense up and shift my feet so that my left leg was back behind me, better balance and good for if I had to get up and run. I saw him. He was staring at me with something close to wonder and shock all over his face. There was something about him that was familiar, but when I heard Elena scream I turned to face her.

Some red-headed woman had her and Simon at sword point. Elena had her face buried in Simon's neck, and Simon stood there facing her. He really was too patient. The woman pushed the point of her sword forward and closer to his neck, but before she could do or say anything, a bolt of lightning hit her square in the chest.

I decided then that my best choice was to run. I was worried about my friends, but at the same time I knew that every one of us could take care of ourselves. I reared back with a fist lit up and punched the floor, causing the floor to splinter, but using my power I sent a wave of flame underneath it and throughout the room. The people standing on the floor began to cry out when the heat hit them. I used the distraction to launch myself backwards and the run out of building.

Outside, the cool air hit me like a ton of bricks. I had never smelled anything to clear before. I didn't have to time to stop and savor it, so I just ran. I ran through the streets of this strange city like I had a pack of demons at my back, but for all I knew I really did. Why did this have to happen to us again? And why now? Pops told us that it could take another year or two before he would be able to move us again, so what the hell happened?

Silver

Run. That is what we did if we felt threatened. And we sure as hell did now. We landed in a strange world that was nothing like what we were used to and that is what you do if you are scared and have no freaking idea what you are up against. At least, that's what pops always told us. 'If you don't know the full situation, the best thing is for you to just run.'

So that's what we did.

I managed to grab Lynne before Nashi pulled her little stunt and made it to one of the windows. I was almost half a block away when I heard someone running behind me. My sister was making small whimpering noises as we ran, letting me know she was terrified, so I turned to confront our follower but the nearly tripped when I saw that it was Gunner.

"Dammit, Gunner. Don't sneak up on me like that." I turned back around and kept on running, pulling my sister behind me. "Where's Lila?"

He made a noise behind me that was half growl and half groan. "No idea. We got separated back there."

"Sorry man. We'll find her once this settle down."

"We better." His voice left no room for anything but agreement.

Gunner was never someone you wanted to argue with, mainly because he would never give up the argument even if he knew he was wrong. Besides, with his nose I knew that we would all find each other eventually.

Sure enough, Gunner hit my shoulder and told me take the next right. I did and then followed that street until he hit me again and then said to go right again and to keep going until there was no more road. At the end, there was nothing around us. No people and no buildings, just a field with some trees in the back of it. I wanted to say something to him about his directions, but he walked off.

I expected him to go for the trees but he didn't. He walked along the edge of the city wall until we hit another road, this one dirt. He took off down it, leaving Lynne and myself staring in frustration.

I caught up to him about 20 minutes later at an old and rundown building that looked like it used to be a windmill. We eased our way up to it and then opened the door slowly. Before Gunner got the door open enough to stick his head through, a bar stool flew at him. He slammed the door shut with a shout and then called to the person that threw said stool. "Dammit Lila it's ME!"

Inside, I heard a muffled shout and then the door flew back open and a mass of light blue hair flew out and collided with Gunner. She let go of him and then slapped him sharply across the face. "Where the hell have you been?" she yelled.

Gunner rubbed his cheek and grinned at her. "Looking for you, you dork!" he gave her a playful shove then moved passed her to enter the building.

I followed and gave a massive sigh of relief when I saw so many of my friends there. Some were missing though. I didn't see Nashi, and Simon and Elena were also absent. But seeing Raiden, Mina and Castor was still a huge relief. The other three were fine even if I didn't know where they were. They were all strong fighters.

I sat down against the wall by the door with Lynne sitting next to me. When the others settled back down, I looked around and spoke. "So, what do we do now?"

"Pops always told us to assess the situation before reacting." Raid said in his rumbling voice.

"I think Nashi decided otherwise." Gunner complained. He was sitting on the floor like me, but against a decrepit bar instead of the wall.

"Can you blame her?" Lila asked. "Look at what she's been through."

"Yeah?' Gunner turned to her. "Look at what we've all been though. None of us is more special than the other, Lila, you know that."

"I know. I just don't blame her for overreacting. I know I wanted to panic and use my magic to get out of there."

"Don't forget it was Raiden that started it!" Mina grumbled. She was on the other side of the room, away from her older brother.

"What was I supposed to do?" He growled at her. "That woman had a sword on them!"

"Who's to say she would have done anything?" Mina took a step closer to him and lifted a hand up. I didn't know what she was going to do, but she was stopped by a pillar of water. I looked over and saw my sister on her knees with her hands out in front of her.

"Enough of this!" she was breathing heavily, probably from emotion. "We have bigger things to deal with right now!"

I couldn't help the pride that started to fill me. My twin was usually so quiet and demure, so to see her like this was incredible. The others saw the change too, so they backed off. She sat back down and I patted her hand and gave her a soft smile. Letting her know I was proud of her. She smiled back shyly and then tried to hide behind her dark blue hair. "So, after we are supposed to do now? I don't remember pops giving us any advice on what to do if we were in a situation like this."

"He told me once," Castor spoke up finally, "he told me to trust my instincts, and that of my friends."

"Well that's helpful." Mina said. She took a seat on a table that didn't really look stable enough to hold her.

"It is if you listen to it." Her brother said. He turned back to me with serious eyes. "Where do you think they would go?"

I thought about it for a moment before I gave an answer. "Nashi doesn't like tight spaces, so she is probably in the forest somewhere. Simon, probably looked for an abandoned building that was far away from anyone. Elena will be panicking so he will want to go somewhere to calm her down without freaking anyone out."

"Alright." Raiden stood up and turned to each of us. "Silver, I want you, Lynne, Castor to head out and look for Nashi. The rest of us will look for Simon and Elena."

"Why?" Mina yelled out. "Why do we have to go look for them? Why can't we just wait for them to come to us?"

"Because that's not who we are!" He stepped up to her, his larger frame towering over hers. "We do not leave our friends alone in a strange world!"

Mina wanted to argue back, but his presence in front of her was enough to force her to step back. She gave me a look that said she would make me pay, even though it was her own damn fault for being so selfish. Then again, just like Lila said, I couldn't blame her. In Mina's mind, bad things happened when you went out hunting for something or someone.

Natsu

When the dust settled and the fires went out, all of the people that dropped into the guild hall were gone. There were shouts all around me of outrage and confusion, but I was silent. Lucy came up to me and touched my shoulder and I could faintly hear her asking if I was ok, but all I could do was stand there and think about that scent. I knew that I had to do something.

I reached up and grabbed Lucy's hand then pulled it to my mouth. I gave it a little kiss than locked eyed with her. "Do you trust me?" I asked her quietly.

"You know I do." She replied.

I laced my fingers with hers then pulled her out of the guild hall at a run. I heard her protest at first but then she grew silent. She trusted me.

I followed the scent down this street and that one until I ended up in the forest outside of the city. Why she went this way I didn't understand, it was all the way on the opposite side from the guild hall, and the longest route to the forest. Either way, this was the way she went.

When I stopped, Lucy decided that she had a question to ask, even though she trusted me. "What are we doing, Natsu?"

"Did you see her?" I asked, not even looking in her direction. My eyes were straight ahead of me, staring in the direction she went.

"See who? One of those people?"

"Yes. The one that landed right by us, did you see her?"

"Yeah, but when all the others dropping, I didn't get a good look at her. IS there something special about her?"

"Very." I didn't say anything else, because I didn't want to get her hopes up just yet. If I was wrong, and this was just a strange coincidence then I would apologize to the girl. But I had to know. I pulled her along again, but walking this time instead of running. I knew she wasn't far, her scent was strong in this area.

I had to stop at one point and close my eyes so I could focus on the smell. It may have been strong, but it was all over. It was almost like she didn't really know where to go so she ran in circles. Or maybe she did it on purpose so throw me off. How would she know to do something like that? Unless she had a good sense of smell like I did.

I finally picked up a trail that strayed off to the left and followed it. It took about fifteen feet before it became so strong that my heart began to pump so hard and fast I thought it might burst from my chest. And then I saw her.

Her back was to us, and she was reading something. It was the same scent, and the closer to her I got the stronger it became. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to know the truth, I wanted to know if it was really her. Lucy was right beside me and she didn't understand what was happening. But when the girl half turned back to us, she saw the book in her hands. Lucy gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth. She knew what book that was, and so did I. It was Lucy's diary that vanished that that same, horrible night.

She looked at me, her hands shaking and barely able to keep her grip on the diary. Her mouth opened and closed several timed, but no sound came out.

Lucy spoke up, her voice soft and quivering. "Who are you?"

The girl looked at Lucy then and said "I think I'm your daughter."