Tadaima! Did you miss me? XD Sorry for the wait! Enjoy reading!

Note: I switch between I and we when describing Ilse and Juvia's actions. I'll use I when Ilse does something that only has an effect on her state, while I'll use we when the action counts for both her and Juvia. Remeber: Ilse has all the control, Juvia can only talk in their head. She'll feel the same things as Ilse though. For example: when Ilse picks up a piece of glass and cuts herself, Juvia will feel that too. But when Ilse is sad or scared, and her heartbeat raises, Juvia's wont. Also, when Ilse makes a sound or says something, I'll also use I. But when she screams (out of agony) I'll use we, since Juvia feels that too.

The spell worked this way: by chanting it, the time would move forward at incredible speed. I needed to travel to a month from now, so as long as I kept the magic running we would go travel further. We watched the hideout and the flashes named Ohredos and Yara doing their everyday stuff.

Juvia thinks that mister Ohredos and miss Yara are very consistent in their daily activities.

She was right. They did exactly the same thing every day. Yara got up, had breakfast and went studying. And when it was dark she would have supper with Ohredos and go back to bed. The wizard himself did the same thing, except that he just went into the forest to come back with all sorts of plants to make into medicine instead of studying.

Ilse-san? How do we know when a month has passed? Do we have to count or something?

No no, Yara said that she would light a second fire at the right date, so I'm waiting for that.

We waited a few more minutes, untill I finally saw Yara struggling with a lighter-lacrima next to a huge pile of wood. I decided that it would be best if we came out now, since I didn't want to miss the moment.

"Nos pervenivimus."** Time slowed down to it's normal speed until we were able to move normally. A little dizzy, we approached Yara and waved at her. As soon as she saw us, she gave a little smile and rose to her feet.

Isn't miss Yara's smile a little sad? Juvia asked. I agreed, her smile was bright, but her eyes showed her worries and doubts. What could be eating her away? She did trust us to finish the mission right?

"Hey Ilse, and Juvia of course. I'm not going to waste to much time talking to you, but I did some research on the demon and it appears that you can enter the demon's cave through a passage located on the other side of the city." She said, showing us a map and pointing at the location. "It was the plan of an old disbanded dark guild to wake the beast up and let it destroy the town, but apparently the whole guild got destroyed by Gildarts before they started. They did mess around in it's cave though, so you need to find out what the reason is the demon wakes up and stop it, okay?" While instructing us, I couldn't help but notice that she was trembling.

"Yara, are you okay? You're shaking as if it's winter." I said, wanting to hug her, but keeping in mind that that might be awkward for Juvia. She gave a shaky nod.

"I'm fine." She looked even more sad. "Now go! You shouldn't waste your time waiting here!" She pointed towards the city. "Here's a cloak... a little disguise is always useful." She handed us a dark blue cloak, probably one of Ohredos, since it was a little too large. After giving her a encouraging squeeze in her hands, we put it on and the hood over our head, only showing my orange scarf dangling from our shoulder, and ran off to the city.

Crossing the city was difficult. Not that we got discovered or anything, but we got slowed down too much for my taste. Going around was not an option, that would even take more time. But through the city meant... running into them.

The first one we saw was Lisanna, talking to Elfman while they hang around in one of the larger streets. As we ran past them, I could hear a part of their conversation:

"Grim mood these days... New girl..."

"Juvia... want to know what she was thinking... always evil?"

I scowled. We are surely the main topic in the guild, aren't we.

Juvia thinks so too. She feels sad that we couldn't tell them.

We caught Elfman's attention, but before he could look a second time, we fled into an alley, taking a detour. This was bad, we only had limited time and detours weren't scheduled. I was too busy with my thoughts that I didn't even hear Juvia's warning before we literally bumped into someone. The person was tall... with long black hair...

"Oy, look where you're walking, Cloaky!"

"I'm sorry, Ga..." I was just in time to stop myself from saying his name, and we ran away. I could almost feel his gaze following us. We ran until we found a hiding spot near the main road, halfway to our destination. Everything okay, Juvia?

Yes, Juvia finds it difficult to see all her friends, but she knows it's for the best.

Okay, let's take a final sprint, so we won't lose to much time. I hope that we don't run into someone anymore.

Juvia doesn't know if she agrees with that or not.

I smirked. She was right. Although I was really scared of being discovered by our guildmates, I actually loved seeing some of them just now. I couldn't really help it. Okay, here we go!

We started sprinting, taking a smaller road parallel to a larger one to avoid the crowds. Sometimes having to elbow the people we crashed into away. The gate of the city was in sight, three blocks to go, two blocks to go, one block to...

We bumped into someone again. While shouting "Excuse me!" we pushed the person to the side, but forgetting to be gentle and accidentally throwing him to the ground. "I'm sorry!" I yelled while running further. Once we were outside the city, we leaned against at tree and took the time to actually breathe again. While sinking to our knees, we discussed what to do next.

If Juvia recalls it correctly, the entrance to the cave was at the end of a little side road we should come across soon after leaving the city. But, Ilse-san, didn't we draw a little too much attention?

We did. I groaned. I just hope no one comes after us. Is there any way to distract them?

Oh, Juvia knows! Ilse-san can 'accidentally' drop some ink at the beginning of a wrong path, leading the Dragon Slayers the wrong way, while we take the right path.

That wouldn't work, we would only be giving away our smell. The Dragon Slayers don't know what we smell like yet, and we also don't want them to. They would track us down with ease. At least, I think Gajeel didn't guess it was us just now... But still, I'd say we just go and finish this quickly.

Ilse-san's right. Let's go.

We followed the main path from the gate till we found the one Juvia had mentioned, hidden away by some bushes thick enough to hide it from the not-looking eye. But easy enough to find for the people who searched for it. After walking around for another five minutes, the entrance was visible.

I was astonished, it was beautiful. The cave was surrounded by magnolia trees, their branches decorating the dull brown-gray stone. On the side, there was a small text carved in the stone, the letters filled out with gold.

"He who is forgotten rests in here.
If men were to wake him up, their days would be over.
Warned are those who read this.
Do not wake the sleeping."

Juvia's next comment really made me tear up, despite the seriousness of the situation.

Juvia thinks the author of that text is a horrible poet.

I totally agreed. It sounded like me trying to be all special and poetic when I was younger... Wait, how did I know...

Did Ilse-san hear that too?

Hear what?

Listen...

I focused on my hearing. Yes, there was a really soft snoring sound, coming from the darkness inside the cave. It wasn't really snoring... more like deep breathing, as if there was a person asleep, which, kind off, was the situation here. I swallowed, clenching my fists. All the brightness from the laughter just a moment ago was gone, vanished with the in- and exhales from the beast beneath us.

Ready to enter?

Juvia is ready when you are, Ilse-san.

I took a deep breath, trying to push away my fear, and we entered the cave. While we walked down, I awed at the beauty of the walls. They were decorated with drawings, showing the fierce battles between people and Zeref's demons. I recognized Deliora, standing in the wreckage of a village, covered with snow. Running my fingers over the painting, I couldn't help but think about Gray. The guy had gone through so much, and when he finally got close to Juvia, this stupid project took her away. How was I ever going to forget my guilt? Not, for sure.

When we got deeper into the cave, things became harder. Not only didn't we have any light, but apparently the ceilings weren't strong enough to carry their weight, and huge pieces of rock blocked our way from time to time. We had to blow them away using our spells, which made me worry. We were probably going to need a lot of magical energy to complete our actual task, and all these blockades took both time and energy. "Ink Nebula!" And the further we descended, the larger the rocks became. "Ink Slicer!" We were able to walk another five meters, before we bumped into the larges boulder so far. I snorted. This was going to take multiple spells. "Ink Nebula!"

Juvia thinks that won't be enough. Of course it wasn't. We only scratched it.

Is a Unison Raid possible in this form? I asked, thinking deeply.

We could try... We took a fighting stance, stretching our right arm towards the stone, while making a fist on our chest with the other.

Ready?! Three... two... one...

"Unison Raid!" I screamed, Juvia yelling along in our head. A large whirlpool shot out of our hand, busting against the boulder. We put in more pressure, shouting harder and harder. Cracks started appearing. More pressure, more energy. More cracks. Until, with one loud rumble, the stone mass broke apart, giving us a free way. I almost wanted to shout in victory, but I was just in time to shut my mouth, as I saw what was behind the mess...

... he was almost... cute.

Well, if you ignored the deafening snores, that is.

The demon was nothing like I had expected. Behind the boulder we destroyed, there was a large open space, the ceiling probably fifteen meters high. To think that this was hidden under Magnolia...

In the middle, chained to the ground, there was a little boy with white hair, large eyes and a large white uni-brow, revealing that he was indeed a demon. To little fangs were pointing upwards from his face, reminding me a little of Natsu, despite the fact that Natsu's were pointing downwards. Every time he inhaled, it was almost as if his lungs were endless, for his inhales took minutes. His exhales took even longer.

Is this really, a demon...? Juvia whispered, forgetting that he couldn't hear her.

Yes, it is. I frowned. Take a look at the walls...

Said walls were showing paintings, all beautifully drawn and detailed, but the information they showed was a little more grim. The most left one was a picture of a little figure, lost inside a dark forest, and crying. The picture after that showed a group of people, probably a local tribe, who found the boy and took him in. The next ones showed scenes with the boy being happy. But the next one described how the shaman of the village pointed out that the kid was a demon. The villagers didn't listen to him though, and continued caring for the kid. But the shaman, angry because of his people's ignorance, proved the boy's curse by sticking a knife into his body, and showing to his people that he didn't die. He angered the demon by that, and it grew out to it's full size, a huge beast with enormous fangs, standing on four legs. His tail as long as a tree, and his uni-brow ten times as large. He murdered the tribe and their shaman, then traveled further, destroying everything in it's path. Until he arrived at a certain mountain, named Hakobe. There, a really old and forgotten guild was able to catch him and make him fall back to his child size. They then locked him up in this cave, and founded a city above, called Magnolia, after their guild.

Juvia is impressed by the Magnolia guild. How were they able to shrink the demon?

I don't know, it doesn't go into detail there...

Suddenly, little sobs could be heard, coming from the ground. The demon was softly sobbing, tears falling from under his eyelashes and streaming to the ground. The sobs were so sweet, comparing to the loud snores he made earlier.

He must be having a nightmare. I said, walking towards him, wanting to ruffle his hair to calm him down.

Ilse-san, don't! I recoiled. He's still a demon! You can't wake him up! Juvia remembered me. Juvia thinks it is time to look for what will wake him up and stop that.

Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry.

Though, was the boy evil? The demon was, obviously, but the boy? The only reason he unleashed his Etherious form was because of that mean shaman, otherwise he would probably be raised like a normal kid. Wasn't there anything we could do for the kid? Destroy the demon form? Give him a second chance? There had to be something...

Ilse-san? We need to start searching. Juvia snapped me out of my thoughts.

Sorry, I was carried away. Isn't there a way to help him?

No, Juvia wants to help him just as bad as you, Ilse-san, but there isn't enough information for us to say that he isn't evil. So we can't.

I guess you're right about that. I agreed. Okay then, let's start searching.

We started looking around, searching for things capable of waking up little kids that can snore really loudly. But the more we searched, the more anxious we became and the less we couldn't focus. We were running out of time!

Dammit! Why can't we find anything!

Juvia doesn't know. What could possibly be the reason to wake him up?

No idea! Not a single clue!

Why didn't he wake up after we made all that noise, when we broke the boulder in our way?

Maybe he doesn't wake from a sound...

We sat down, crossing our legs and going through all the places we searched in our thoughts again. Until...

"RUMBLE!"

Startled by the loud sound, we jumped up, looking around where it came from. Eventually, we looked up the ceiling, cracks appearing on it everywhere. We watched the cracks, thought about the rubble we had to work through to get here, looked at the ceiling again, and made the link.

The ceiling is going to collapse! We shouted at the same time.

What are we going to do? I yelled.

Juvia doesn'... Wait, Juvia does! Ilse-san, you can control ink right? Juvia yelled back.

Sort of, if I use a pencil!

Well, Juvia can control the water, so we can build a net to catch the rubble falling onto the demon!

Right!

We sprinted towards the chained kid, just in time to look up and see the giant boulder that was about to crush us.

Dun Dun Dun!

** We have arrived.

I'm so happy writing went smooth again! The break and the new project did help! I know this chapter is kind of short, but I hope you guys like it anyway. What do you think of the cover I made? I'm not too proud of it, but it's good enough, I think. It's Juvia and Ilse after they merged.

Well, see you guys next chapter!

See ya,

-Ink

P.S.: Shoutout for Child At Heart Forever for being an awesome writer and friend! Thanks for all the advice!