*Gen POV*
They reached their destination and they dragged Natsu and Gajeel down, while Wendy and Juvia were carried by Happy and Lily and Cobra and Laxus who stood by their pride and walked (swayingly) down the train.
They waited for the two to wake up, Laxus had to tranform to lightning and travelled from a short distance and back.
Juvia went to the nearest fountain and soaked her hands in there.
Wendy sat down and inhaled a good chunk of oxygen which thinned out the air around them.
Natsu was still passed out and Gajeel asked for iron from Levy. Cobra sat down as well and listened intently to his surroundings.
When Juvia was all okay, Gray watched her as she reached in her bag and brought out a steak and held it beside Natsu, knowing that he would be able to smell it.
When the scent reached his nose, he sprung up and sniffed around only to find Juvia holding out a bento with steak in it. She held it out for him and he gladly took it and ate it.
Levy conjured fire and gave it to Natsu to revive him.
As soon as everyone are okay, they rented an inn to spend the night.
"Okay. So how to we divide the team?" Cana asked.
"Simple. We draw lots," Mira Jane suggested.
"We take down guilds by two?" Erza asked.
"If possible, yes," Jellal said, "There are exactly 9 guilds left and we're 18 here, excluding the exceeds."
"Draw lots seem fair," Erza agreed.
"Or, we can let the cards talk," Cana said then she took a swig from her bottle of whiskey.
"I agree. The cards and the fate! We can let love win!" Hot-eye spoke up.
"Okay then. Cards. Do your thing Cana," Erza said.
Cana drew out her cards and shuffled it.
"Let fate pair us up so that we can win this mission," she chanted and laid out every pair of cards, faced down.
"You guys ready for this?" the brunette asked.
"Yes," they said in unison.
"Show us," Cana brought the cards in the air to reveal the paired individuals.
The results are:
Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Hearthfilia (and Happy)
Erza Scarlet and Jellal Fernandes
(The pair blushed when they read it)
Gajeel Redfox and Levy McGarden (and Pantherlily)
(Levy blushed and Gajeel muttered something about 'shrimp')
Mira Jane Strauss and Laxus Dreyar
(The She-demon only smiled and Laxus smirked when he found out that he has a strong partner)
Wendy and Meredy (and Carla)
(They smiled at each other and said that they'll be good friends)
Cobra and Angel
(They only smirked at each other, Angel rolled her eyes. Cobra said something about what Angel was thinking.)
Racer and Hot-eye
(Racer didn't say anything and Hot-eye only said something about love)
Midnight and Cana
(Cana winked at Midnight and Midnight only blushed at the brunette's reaction)
Juvia and Gray
(Everyone went silent. Gray gulped audibly. Juvia masked her indifference)
"Wait. I can swap partners," Gajeel suggested and he glanced at Levy knowing that the script mage would understand.
"It's up to you. But the cards picked who would work best together," Cana said nonchalantly. She was also worried about it but part of her wants the two to work together. Probably to patch things up or to make a closure or something. She looked at Juvia worriedly, "Juvia, its up to you."
Juvia only looked at her friends and offered a small smile, "Thanks Gajeel-kun for the concern. I agree with Cana-san. I don't want to fuss over this. Let's just get this over quickly," she sighed.
Gray clenched his fist, "Man she really hates me. I just have to endure this. Its my fault anyway," he thought and sighed audibly.
Juvia heard her partner's audible sigh and took it as a sign that he doesn't want her as his partner as well. She bit her lower lip and held her emotions in check, to keep the weather fine.
Jellal stepped forward to discuss his knowledge about each guild.
"Each of your powers are enough to break and finish one guild off," he glanced at every pair, "And I agree with Cana. The cards tactically paired us according to how our magic would work well," he lingered a bit with Juvia and Gray, "we should be done in a week."
"And I will give each of you a communication card that will allow us to call one another, at least to update one another. At least if one pair is done and someone needs help, we can aid each other up," Cana added as she distributed 20 cards, including the 3 exceeds.
Jellal told them the location of the each dark guild and told them everything that he knew. Then they parted ways by pair.