"To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short." Confucius
It has been two days and two nights since Mira found her guild mates passed out in the library.
After they found out that Juvia and Jellal were in the same situation, Mira made sure to find the two as quickly (and in Jellal's case, discretely) as possible. It wasn't hard to find their sleeping forms in the exact places they had described. Juvia looked like she had been putting away some flour because she was found sleeping on her stomach on top of a mess of white powder. She had appeared unharmed by the fall, and as Elfman picked her up to move her into the infirmary she gave a dreamy sigh of "Gray-sama". Jellal looked far less restful as he slept. His brow would frequently furrow together as if he was concerned or upset by something.
It was later that first day that Meredy came by the guild hall looking for him. She explained that he had intended on meeting with Erza. Meredy explained that he usually checks Fairy Hills first, and then comes to see if she is at the guild hall after that. She and the rest of Crime Sorciere became worried when he didn't meet back with them by noon. Mira assured her of his safety while they attempted to learn what caused their dreaming sickness. Cana agreed to make a calling card for Meredy so that they could let her know when he was awake again.
Once the infirmary beds were filled with the eight sleeping mages, Mira thought that the difficult part was over, but that was when the trouble started. Mira had left Wendy to monitor their guild mates with the help of Happy, Carla, and Lily. Also joining the young dragon slayer in the infirmary were Jet and Droy who were fawning over Levy's sleeping form, and Romeo, who was mostly helping keep Wendy company as she watched over her patients. Mira left the small group to monitor things; she needed to return to the bar and manage the guild hall. It was just after 1:00 pm when Lily had flown down the stairs calling for her.
"What's going on Lily?" Mira asked with concern in her voice.
"It's Juvia." He said simply and Mira looked worriedly down the bar.
"It's okay Mira-nee," Lisanna said as she stepped behind the bar. "You go take care of them. I can take over down here." With the reassurance that everything would be taken care of, Mira hurried quickly up to the infirmary with Lily.
"What happened?" Mira asked as she followed Lily to the infirmary.
"We aren't really sure." The black exceed claimed as he flew with the bar maid. "Everything seemed quiet and then all of a sudden…" Lily didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as they were overwhelmed with the sound of hysterical crying. When they entered the infirmary, they were greeted with a strange sight. Juvia thrashing about in her bed, Jet and Droy were attempting to hold her down while Wendy was trying to get close enough to examine her. Romeo, Happy, and Carla were standing off to the side completely drenched and dripping water.
"Can't you do anything about this, Wendy?" Jet shouted as he struggled to hold Juvia down.
"I'm trying, but I can't figure out what's wrong with her. She's moving around too much!" Wendy cried out in frustration.
"What happened?" Mira said trying to take lead during the commotion.
"Everything was fine, but then Juvia just started crying and thrashing about. I tried to figure out what was wrong when this happened." Romeo stated motioning to he's water-logged state.
"They can't get her to hold still so that Wendy can figure out what's wrong and Wendy cannot figure out what's wrong if she is so frantic." Carla explained with her arms crossed, looking about as happy as a cat that had just had a bath.
"Jet, Droy, let go of her." Mira said as she rushed over. The boys backed off, each of them only half soaked, and Wendy let Mira get close to the water mage. Mira sat on Juvia's bed and reach over to touch the water mage. She removed Juvia's hat and began to run her hands across Juvia's forehead and hair.
"It's okay Juvia, it's just a bad dream. Shh, it's okay." Mira spoke softly trying to sooth the sleeping mage. At Mira's touch, Juvia turned to grab the skirt of Mira's dress to pull her closer. Juvia quivered in her sleep.
"No… no… mom…" Juvia mumbled as tears fell from her eyes and she gripped on to Mira like a life-vest.
"Its okay, Juvia. You're safe, I'm right here." Mira cooed as she continued her gentle touches. Slowly, Juvia began to relax just a little more. She continued to shake and cry in her sleep, but she was no longer thrashing or drenching anyone in the room. "Okay Wendy, check to make sure that everything is okay with her."
Wendy held out her hands, trying to find anything that was wrong with Juvia. She shook her head after a few minutes. "There's nothing physically wrong with her."
"She's just frightened." Mira said, continuing to brush Juvia's hair softly.
"How did you know how to do that, Mira?" Wendy asked in amazement.
"Well after Lisanna had disappeared, something similar would happen to Natsu." Mira said with sadness in her voice. "He was inconsolable while he was asleep. He would often set things on fire in his sleep without meaning to. Porlyusica called them night terrors. Sometimes he would wake up still screaming, crying, and shaking. Other nights he would thrash about in his sleep until he would wake up. More often than not, I had to shake him until he opened his eyes."
Mira's voice seemed to get quieter the longer she spoke, and yet her words sounded just as clear as if she were speaking through a lacrima speaker. She was looking off in the distance as if she were reliving a memory instead of sitting on the bed running her hands through Juvia's hair as the water mage whimpered in her sleep. Then Mira's head turned sharply to all present in the room.
"But right now they can't wake up. There is no way to wake them up right now. All we can do is wait… perhaps when Freed gets here and we know more then we can wake them…" Mira said with a sad sort of sternness to her voice before turning directly to Wendy. "The best thing to do for them is to comfort them when they begin to panic. Even when they sleep, they can feel the comfort we offer them."
Wendy nodded and hurried to Juvia's side. The young dragon slayer began to hum a little melody as she rubbed Juvia's arms while trying to sooth the woman's fears. Mira gave a smile and let Wendy take over attempting to calm her patient. Mira then stood and turned to look at the others in the room.
"I don't want them to be alone while they sleep. I will get volunteers and set up a schedule for them to be observed. In the mean-time, it might be a good idea to get personal items for them; something that may bring them some small kind of comfort." Mira said as she addressed the room.
"I believe I know just the thing that would be able to calm Gajeel. It will not take me long to retrieve it." Pantherlily said with a smirk on his lips.
"I will likely take Lisanna and go to Fairy Hills to get something from the girl's dorms. I am sure we will be able to find something for each of them." Mira said with a smile. "Happy, could you go to Lucy's apartment and get something that she could sleep with?"
"Aye, sir!" Happy said with a salute before he flew out of the window of the infirmary to get straight to his task.
Everyone followed suit with their tasks to bring their guild mates some form of comfort. Patherlily was one of the first to return with a treasured item belonging to Gajeel. The exceed slipped a black bandana into the iron dragon's hand while he slept. He seemed pleased with himself and offered his assistance to Wendy while the others returned. Happy was soon to follow as he flew over to Lucy and dropped her pink comforter over her sleeping form. Lucy mumbled in her sleep as if she was saying "thank you" and curled into the fluffy blanket. Wendy also made sure that Lucy's keys stayed by her side, slightly tucked underneath the girl's pillow. Jet and Droy had returned from tracking down Gray's home. The only item that they had to show for their efforts was a simple knit scarf. Both men admitted that Gray was really quite private and that the only real reason they brought the scarf was that it was the only item of clothing that sat folded neatly next to his pillow. The scarf was placed next to Gray in the same way they had found it: folded and neat. The boys also admitted that they didn't know what kind of item Natsu would want, but were reminded by Happy that Natsu's scarf remained securely around his neck.
Mira and Lisanna returned a few hours later with their hands filled with treasures belonging to the girls. Mira carried large doll, larger than Happy, that Juvia had made in Gray's likeness. When the doll was given to Juvia, she wrapped her arms tightly around it and appeared to have calmed almost immediately without needing Wendy to continue her efforts to calm the woman. Lisanna made her way over to Levy, who had curled onto her side with one hand under her pillow. Lisanna smirked and placed a very worn leather bound book into the script mage's hand that was tucked under her pillow. Levy immediately grasped the book as if her life depended on it. From Erza's apartment, the sisters had brought a simple stuffed teddy bear that had been found on top of the woman's bed.
Jellal was more difficult to find something for. Mira thought long and hard about what item he could possibly want, and it was not like he had a residence that could be scoured for an item of personal value. After considering her options, Mira finally reached out to contact Meredy for an answer. Meredy came to the guild quickly following Mira's call, and met with the barmaid to discuss the issue.
"I can't think of anything that would help calm Jellal, but you have travelled with him for years now, surely you know what can keep him calm." Mira said to the young pinkette that hid her face under her cloak.
"Well there isn't really a thing that helps to calm him down." Meredy said with a giggle and before Mira could pout in disappointment, Meredy continued. "I have only ever seen Jellal be soothed by one thing: Erza."
Mira felt no guilt for her actions after hearing that tidbit of information from the sensory link mage, though she did need to reassure Lily that she would take all the blame before he would help her with her tiny match-making scheme.
"If she asks me anything, I will tell her that it was your idea." He said as he transformed into his battle form and picked up the sleeping requip mage.
"Of course, I will take 100% responsibility. Erza will never know you were involved." Mira replied with that angelic smile that never hinted that the woman held a demonic soul in her body, let alone several. Lily simply raised an eyebrow as he lowered Erza into Jellal's bed, positioning the two so that they faced each other. The sight caused the she-demon to give a shriek of glee and causing Wendy to form a small blush and giggle.
It was late by the time everyone had been settled with their precious belongings. Mira had told Wendy to go home with the promise that she would have someone watch her patients overnight. Mira was also insistent that Happy go home as well, fearing that a panic attack in the middle of the night would frighten the young exceed. Pantherlily offered to watch over Happy for the night and assured the bar maid that he would make sure Wendy got some rest as well. Mira had bribed Cana to watch the mages during the first night. Her reward for her effort would be as much alcohol has she could consume during the night. With a bribe like that, how could she refuse?
It wasn't until morning when things began to feel like they were really out of control. Mira was upset that Cana had left the room for any time at all. Mira had Warren go to find another volunteer for the night. She didn't want the same thing to happen to someone else. She spent some time cleaning the cut on Levy's face, feeling guilty that the small mage ended up hurt. But what worried her the most was the possibility that the dream had hurt her. How could Mira protect them against their dreams?
The only thing that she knew for sure was that the sooner Freed got here the better. They needed to figure out what this spell was and how to get their friends out of it.
It wasn't long before Wendy came back to the guild with Happy and Carla right behind her. When Mira asked about Pantherlily, Wendy said he wanted to take the next night watch and stayed to get some more sleep. Mira explained what had happened with Levy, and Wendy was able to heal the cut without much trouble. Mira sent Lisanna up to the infirmary when she arrived at the guild, so that Mira could go back and manage the bar. At first things seemed to be going well, until Mira noticed frost forming on the walls and banisters of the guild hall. It didn't take much to realize that it must be due to their resident ice mage.
"Mira!" The woman heard her name being called by her sister. Mira leaned up against the bar, put her head in her hands and let out a deep and frustrated sigh before straightening up and heading up to the infirmary. Just like she had suspected, the infirmary was almost completely covered in frost. The most of the ice seemed to be building up around Gray's bed.
"It's Gray!" Lisanna said as soon as Mira came through the door. Wendy came up quickly behind her, shivering slightly. Carla followed close behind attempting to keep the girl's legs as warm as possible.
"It's starting to spread to down stairs too." Mira said as she began to rub her arms trying to get some warmth.
"Mira-san, we can't let everyone be this cold for too long. They could get really hurt." Wendy said through shivers.
"It's okay, I've got an idea." Mira said and sent Lisanna down stairs to get Macao and Romeo. When Lisanna had returned with the two fire mages, Mira and Wendy had gathered as many blankets as they could. Romeo set to work heating up the infirmary blankets while Macao began to build up a decent magical fire.
"Now you're sure that this fire won't burn anything, right?" Mira asked the older fire mage.
"It won't hurt a thing," Macao reassured with smile as he held out the orange flame in the palm of his hand. "With enough control you can get fire to do exactly what you need it to. The only thing this flame will do is produce heat."
Wendy set to work right away once Macao's flame was strong enough. While being as gentle as possible, Wendy started off a slow moving wind just above the flames. The result of her gentle breeze moved the heat across the room and over the sleeping mages.
"It worked Mira-san!" Wendy squealed in excitement. The room already felt much warmer and some of the ice appeared to be receding from the walls of the infirmary. Mira felt herself let go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"Good," Mira said quietly with a nod. "Make sure that they get warmed up with the blankets. As long as Gray is making ice, it will keep getting colder. Let me know if things get worse."
The relief from the cold couldn't have come any sooner. As it was, Lucy, Levy, and Juvia were already shivering by the time Lisanna had passed the warm blankets around. Gajeel appeared disgruntled by the change in temperature, but not nearly as bothered by it as the girls. Jellal had turned away from Erza, who had moved closer the heavenly body mage. Her body had curled up against his with an arm draped around his body and resting against his stomach. No one thought that Jellal minded, especially since his arm was lying on top of Erza's, and his hand and fingers entwined in hers as best they could. Just the sight of the two made the Strauss sisters giggle. Natsu seemed not to notice the change in temperature at all, which was only to be expected with his naturally higher body temperature. Gray of course looked as though he were overheating. There was sweat on his brow and occasionally he would shake and quiver. Wendy was diligently watching over him while keeping the warm air current moving about the room and trying to stay warm herself.
Pantherlily, Reedus, and Elfman arrived for their night shift just as the frost receded and the sleeping mages seemed to relax slightly, no longer experiencing discomfort from the extreme cold. Wendy was sent home for the night completely exhausted with Carla and Happy following right behind her. Mira had long since dismissed her sister saying that someone would have to handle the bar in the morning. She also sent the Conbolt boys home as soon as the frost had gone. The father and son were tired from the constant need for their magic during the day. Then finally with reassurance from Pantherlily and her brother, Mira allowed herself to go home. It was evident that the stress from the situation was taking a toll on her. She could only hope that when morning came, good news would come with it.
Mira pulled herself out of bed that morning feeling as though she had barely gotten any sleep. She was not her usual chipper self, and had her first cup of coffee before she left for guild. Her exhausted mind was far too focused on the sleeping mages to focus on much of anything else. She made sure to grab her second cup of coffee before going up to the infirmary to get an update on what had happened during the night.
She wasn't sure what she thought she would see when she made it to the infirmary. Perhaps she imagined scorched walls, maybe more evidence of ice hanging from the ceiling, or maybe even a crowd of celestial spirits or an assortment of weapons imbedded around the room. Whatever she had expected, this wasn't it.
A small table had been moved up to the infirmary and sitting at the table was Patherlily and Elfman. The two were playing some kind of card game, and appeared to be very concentrated on the hand they were playing. At the same time, Reedus was sitting closer towards the sleeping mages with his art supplies, focused on the developing image in front of him. Mira took a second glance around the room just to make sure that things were really as calm as they seemed. Nothing was on fire. Nothing was shattered or broken. Nothing had weapons embedded in it. Everything looked calm…
Patherlily was the first to break the silence. "Ah, Mira, is it morning already?" The exceed yawned and stretched his muscles.
"Mira-nee," Elfman said as he got up and greeted his sister. "We kept them safe, like real men!"
Mira gave a small giggle at her brother before asking how the night went. As she asked if anything interesting happened, Reedus picked up his chair and made his way over to join Patherlily and Elfman.
"Oh it was indeed an exciting night." Pantherlily said as he jumped up to sit on the table.
"Oh?" Mira asked as she waited for the horror story to unfold.
"Yes," Pantherlily started with a nod. "Are you aware that Gray walks in his sleep?"
"Like a real man!"
"Oui." Elfman and Reedus added on. Mira covered her mouth to cover up her laughter. "Oh no."
"Oh yes." Pantherlily continued with his arms folded across his chest. "He got up several times during the night. Each time he got up we put him back in bed. Somehow, he ended up losing more clothing every time he got up out of bed."
"We strapped him into his bed, like a real man!" Elfman added on. Mira looked behind the trio to find that indeed, Gray was strapped to the bed. A canvas strap rested against his chest holding him to the infirmary mattress. A buckle was visible along the side of the bed. It was simple enough that anyone could undo it, unless of course they were asleep.
"Oui." Reedus said with a smile that told Mira that he was pleased with the solution.
"Oh my!" Mira said as a smile became stuck on her face. "Was that the only thing that happened?"
"Oh no. For most of the night Erza was requiping into different clothes."Pantherlily said and a mischievous smile crept on to his face. "Some of her outfits really are quite… unique?"
"Oui." Reedus commented while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Elfman added on with gusto, "Like a real man."
"Not to worry, she is decent now." Pantherlily said as he flew to the bed Erza and Jellal shared. He gently lifted the blanket to show Erza dressed in a button up pajama top and matching shorts. "It has been at least two hours since she last requipped. I feel safe making the assumption that her dream has ended."
Lily was about to replace the blanket when Mira noticed something odd. "Lily, what happened to Jellal's clothes?"
Lily raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the sleeping mage, who was no longer in his skin tight shirt and traveling pants, but was instead in some light blue striped pajama bottoms and a white shirt. "Ah, yes, at an intense moment during Erza's dream, Jellal vomited. We got him cleaned up and Reedus was able to conjure some appropriate clothing for him. It was not a pretty sight."
"It was manly," Elfman added on. Reedus pointed to a bag beside Jellal and Erza's bed, which Mira assumed held the man's soiled clothing. "Oui!"
Mira placed her head in her free hand as she made a mental note to make sure that someone washed the vomit covered clothes. She took a long drink of her coffee and released a heavy sigh before looking up and asking, "Anything else that I should know about?"
"Ah, yes." Pantherlily added as he flew back towards the table and picked up the hand of cards he had been playing. "Freed arrived about two hours ago…"
Before Lily could finish his sentence, Mira had placed her cup down on the table and rushed back down stairs to the library. She moved so quickly, she had to catch herself on the frame of the door to the library. She was relieved to see the green haired mage who was sitting down at the table. He had a calm, if not tired, expression on his face and was examining a book that was resting on the workbench that everyone just assumed belonged to Levy. When he heard the heavy breathing, Freed looked up to see Mira's questioning gaze.
"Good morning, Mira." Freed greeted, always a stickler for formalities.
"Have you found out anything?" Mira asked without returning the greeting.
"Yes, I have found something." Freed replied with a stoic expression.
"Well?" Mira asked, the suspense causing her that much more anxiety for the whole situation.
"I have not discovered what it was that caused our guild mates to fall asleep," Freed said as he placed the book down and picked up a small piece of parchment. He then made his way over to Mira and stretched out his hand to give her the paper. "But, the person or persons responsible left a calling card of sorts."
Mira took the parchment and opened it up. She recognized the insignia almost right away. She was sure that no one in the guild would ever be able to forget it.
Phantom Lord.