My boots thudded up the guild hall's wooden steps as I raced up to my room to grab my pack. What did I neded? I rushed around my room in a panic, trying to get everything together as fast as possible. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get to Alvarez. I didn't care what this 'big conflict' that Acnologia was talking about. I was just going to get my sister back.

As I was rummaging throughout the bedroom, I looked at Mavis' spot on the bed. The covers were still strewn from her constant moving around during the night. I saw a small indent of her body where she slept.

I shook off the thoughts. These weren't going to help her right now. Only I could. I grabbed my Hopper's Crook, put in my earring and put Rin on my shoulder. I could probably catch a night train out to the coast, then stow away on ship to make it to Alakitasia. From there, Alvarez was only a freight ride away.

I tightened the leather straps on my canvas ruck, slung it over my shoulders, and walked down to the large front doors of the guild. I turned the latch, but felt a muscular hand grab my arm as I was about to head out.

"Gildarts, I won't hesitate. Don't mess with me."

The auburn-haired mage stepped forward, imposing a threatening presence. "We need to talk," he said. I watched as I saw Master Makarov step up next to him. He looked disappointed; I was used to that look by now though.

"We saw what was in the room." said the little wizard.

"So you know why I have to go."

He shook his head. "No," he responded. "I know why we have to go. Mavis isn't only our first master, but also our guild's secret weapon. Our strongest asset. And, most importantly, our closest guarded secret. That lacrima is the single most powerful entity in this plane of existence. If whoever took her finds out what it's capable of, then there's no telling what carnage would ensue. So, we're going with you."

I turned, pulling my collar up high on my neck. "I don't need babysitters," I said gruffly. "I'm getting her back on my own."

"Yeah, you sure did a bang-up job of protecting her here," Gildarts stated. "Why not let the guy who just failed to save the most important object in the world go and try to get it back."

I grabbed his thick throat and squeezed, black mist entwining my arm as I did so. I could feel my left eye burning underneath my blindfold.

"You shut up," I hissed aggressively.

Gildarts' expression remained constant, seemingly unphased by my death grip. I released him, turning to move out the door.

"Send your own group if you want," I called over my shoulder. "But I'm not waiting. And if they do catch up with me, we're doing things my way." I pushed the doors open and escaped out into the night, leaving two Masters behind me in the dark hall.

I was on top of a train now. No matter what happened, I always seemed to be riding these rails. They were the only constant things in this life that I lived since I had left Tenrou. Well, now that I had the guild, I guess there was one more constant. I looked over to my left, where a slumbering Mirajane laid, covered with my coat. She had drifted asleep a little while ago.

No later than a half hour after I had left Fairy Tail, I was caught by a slough of wizards from the guild that Makarov and Gildarts had chosen to recover the Lumen Histoire, another word for the lacrima that held Mavis' body. They didn't really know what it was, but they knew that we needed it back, and that I would tell them all that they needed to know.

I had a small army of wizards at my disposal: Mirajane, Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Erza, Gray, Levy, Juvia, and even Laxus had tagged along. The two Dragon Slayers had their respective Exceeds in addition. The rest of the gang were down below, sleeping the ride away. I guess they needed their strength. But I couldn't sleep. There was no way that could happen. I would sleep when I had Mavis back.

I climbed over to Mira, reaching into a pocket of my coat that was covering her. Out of it, I produced my silver harmonica. Breathing the cool evening air through it, the harp hummed the same bluesy tune that I always played. I looked out into the cloudy, black sky. No stars were out tonight. And why would they be. There was no cause for beauty tonight. It was a time of darkness. Of grief. And anger.

Mira stirred at the melody, looking up towards me. "I didn't know you could play the harmonica," she said softly.

Still staring out at the horizon, I said, "You pick up a few things when you're riding these rails. The blues is just one of them." I turned and smiled.

"Aiyum," she said. "Aiyum, look at me." I turned my head to my friend, looking at her large blue eyes, still shining amidst the dark night sky. "We'll get her back."

I returned my gaze back to the horizon, clenching my jaw. "I know," I said. "Because now, I have no holds barred. I will do anything to get her back."

The morning sun hung low in the sky as it rose over the mountains. We had blown through the rangelands and were coming up on the Fiore forests. That meant we were close to the ocean. After the woods would come the coast. It had been a pretty easy trip so far, but I didn't like all the waiting. I hadn't slept a wink last night, but I didn't feel any fatigue.

The train was slowing down. I got up out of the boxcar, hanging on to the ladder rungs on the iron siding. Peering to the upcoming tracks, I saw a station getting ever closer. It was a crew change. Every few hundred miles, a crew would switch out so the other one could get some rest and prepare for the next trip. But this was bad news for us. Every time a change happened, they looked through the cars. And they wouldn't take too kindly to us hitching a ride.

By evaluation of the rinky dink train station that we were about to stop at, I'm guessing these guys were pretty backwoods. They wouldn't hesitate to start a fight, and I really didn't want to deal with that right now. And I'm sure Fairy Tail didn't want the negative publicity.

I went back into the car, looking at my slumbering guildmates. I went around the small space, nudging each of them with my foot. The mages, after a few minutes, arose from their sleep, dazed but rested. Natsu and Gajeel both still couldn't get up from their sleeping spots, claiming that their motion sickness kept them pinned down.

"We're slowing down," I said. "There's about to be a crew change soon. We need to get off of the car before they find us and want to start something."

Lucy, rubbing her eyes, sleepily asked, "How far are we from the coast?"

I looked out into the landscape. "Not far," I responded. "We can get there on foot from here."

"Thank...god…" I heard from Natsu, still collapsed. A smile appeared on his and Gajeel's faces with the promise of not being sick. Their groans started to subside as the train slowed down more and more.

Mirajane got up from her spot and patted me on the back, silently and comfortingly letting me know that she was awake. I smiled softly as I watched her walk to her pack and get ready for departure. The train finally grinded to halt.

I turned to my guild mates. "Alright, that's our cue. Let's go."

We all hopped off of the locomotive, landing on the loamy soil with the forest in the distance. It looked like everyone was there. Natsu and Gajeel seemed like they had been brought back to life, the Salamander charismatically jumping around and laughing with Happy.

"Are we ready to leave?" asked Erza.

"Yeah, let's go." I said "No good to waste time."

But as soon as I said that, I heard shuffling around in the train car, with canvas covers and boxes from the cargo moving around. There was someone in there. I approached the freight's load cautiously, stepping back up into the enclosed car. Grabbing canvas that I had seen moving earlier, I ripped it off and found a little stowaway.

Well, two stowaways. The small white cat popped out of the small alcove that they had made for themselves, trying to get a breath of fresh air. Wendy was still hunkered down in the boxes, her eyes closed, thinking that I hadn't seen her yet.

I sighed. "Come on out, I know you're there."

She looked up and smiled cutely, trying to make me feel sorry for her. It was met with a disappointed scowl and two of my hands that picked her up out of the storage containers. I set her down on the floor and told her to go out with the rest of the wizards. Before stepping back out of the car, I massaged my temple, my mind racing. I sighed as I walked out.

"What do you think you were doing?!" I asked sternly, getting in the little wizard's face. "Now we're going to have to spare another person to take you back to the guild hall! Ugh!"

I paced back and forth angrily, trying to deduce as to who I was going to send back to babysit the tike on the return journey. I could feel a vein protruding out of my head from the fury that was pumping through my veins.

I felt two soft hands on my shoulders, stopping my stride. It was Mira. She leaned in to my ear and spoke softly. "Can I talk to you over there please?"

We moved a few yards away and started going back and forth.

"Oh no." I denied. "Absolutely not!"

"Come on, Aiyum, she can hold her own. We've had her in constant conflicts before. I promise she's not going to be a problem."

"Mira, I'm not a babysitter! We can't go gallivanting around the Alvarez Empire with some eight year old kid-"

"Twelve!" she called from the distance, correcting me. Good. I'm glad that the conversation wasn't private. Jeesh.

"Anyways, I don't want to be lugging a kid around Alvarez. This is not the job for little ones."

"Aiyum," Mira said, gripping my shoulders and staring into my eyes. "We need her. We're better off with her than without her. I promise."

I sighed. I shrugged off her hands and turned towards the group. "If anything happens to that kid, I'll never forgive myself." I started walking back to my guild mates.

"Atta boy," she said, jogging lightly to catch back up with me.