It had been three days and they hadn't made any head way. Left with just a jumble of words, Makarov cursed the woman who had made this so difficult. He wondered if she had laughed as she wrote these. He could imagine it now, a young woman in her twenties just sitting at a desk, giggling to herself as she created one of the most difficult word puzzles he had ever had the displeasure of solving. Well he couldn't say that it was solved yet could he.

Jose's patience was also wearing thin. They had already had enough of each other's company and were now at each other's throats.

They had started working in silence, not saying anything unless they thought that they had gotten somewhere. So far nothing.

He sighed, staring at his collection of words. Whatever they tried, nothing fit together, at least in a way that made any sense.

He wanted to pull his hair out at this point and it appeared that Jose already was.

"We're getting nowhere with this." Jose said, as he flung his hands across his desk, scattering papers everywhere. "Now look what you've done."

"Me, you were the one who pushed them off of the desk." Makarov said crossing his arms as he glared at the other man.

"Whatever you twit." Jose murmured as he leaned down to grab the papers he had carelessly flung.

He was about to comment on the other man's idiocy when he noticed that Jose had not moved. He was staring blankly down at two sheets of paper, each with different words on them. "What is it now?" He said, annoyed with Jose's lack of emotion.

"This is it." Jose whispered, standing tall again and looking back and forth between the letters.

"What is what?" He didn't like being left out of the loop.

"Give me your list."

"Why?" He pressed.

Jose laughed. "It was in front of us this whole time. Separating them by dates is correct, but only the first word of every paragraph aligns with each other. The first word of the first paragraph of every letter makes the first sentence."

"And the second word of the second paragraph then makes the second sentence." Makarov said, as it all hit him. How did he not see it before? It was now so obvious.

Both men quickly got to work getting every letter back out in order. Out of the thirty letters they found that each had two paragraphs at the most. And after decoding they discovered some of the sentences ended and started new sentences on that line, so after they got one sentence down, they had to go on to the next before starting the second group of paragraphs. When they were done they now had 40 words, but instead of answers they had more questions.

Dear Uncle, if you are reading this, I may already be dead. Everything is not as it appears, do not trust anyone with this. Look to the North for answers. I can't tell you much more, I wish I could.

He gave Jose a second to process this, watching the man fall to his knees in tears. He walked away letting the man grieve.

Once he was just out the door the questions began to hit him. How did Sasha know she was going to die? Who could they trust? What was in the North? What answers would he find there? Would it finally lead him to the truth? Did this mean that Ivan thought he would die too? Was this the same for Remy? What did this all have to do with Bickslow? And why couldn't they say what was going on?


Whatever this was, it had caused him to lose two members of his family so far. He was going to recover them. He swore he would dig up the truth or die trying.

It had taken them four days but they finally reached a Raven Tail safe house. They would have moved faster, but his companion had wanted to stop in every town and get food.

She had not brought up her drunk escapade from the other day and for that he was grateful. She must have been too drunk to even notice.

As he sat down and started unloading things from his bag she watched him.

"What?" He asked, already annoyed.

"Why are you unloading here, why not wait till we get to the guild?" She asked.

He chuckled. "Well if they haven't discovered that I've had communication troubles we could be here awhile."

She gave him a funny look. "Aren't there communicators here?"

"No, this place could be raided when no one is here. That would lead the council right to us." He said, taking out a cigarette, he would need them if he had to put up with her constant blabbering.

She looked around the small building. "Who would want to raid this dump?"

She had a point, it was small, made really for one person not two. There was a small kitchen with only a stove top on a counter with only three counter spaces, one taken up by the stove and another by the sink. There was a small closet full of canned food, but no fridge. A small table with one chair sat across from it. There was a small couch, which the two of them were sharing and a bookshelf full of all kinds of books. There was a bed in the corner, which meant that one of them would be in the bed and the other on the couch. The bathroom was horrible, there was a toilet and a shower, but the two were so scrunched up that you had no room to move in there. There was no sink in there though so all oral hygiene would have to be done in the kitchen.

"So you want the bed?" He questioned. He wanted to figure out the sleeping arrangements out as quickly as possible.

She blushed. "You know we could always share it. It's the biggest piece of furniture in this place."

He shook his head. He wouldn't even think about this. "No, I'll use the couch" She looked like she was about to protest, but he cut her off. "I'm going to get a shower in before bed." He stood up going to the small bathroom, he wanted to get all of the muck off of him.

He sighed as the water hit him. Trying to get himself focused on what he needed to do tomorrow. He would have to get some meat, the canned food was okay, but he wanted something fresher. He was glad that he could return to his Raven Tail uniform, no more uncomfortable civilian clothes.

As he ran his hands through his hair, he thought about cutting it. It was longer than he liked and he didn't want it to get in the way.

He exited the shower, drying off before he changed into a pair of long pants for the night.

Upon exiting the bathroom, he froze. Carma was changing her clothes. Sure he had seen her body before, but now she stood facing him without a shirt or a bra on. She smirked at him as he stared, not knowing what to do. She walked over, touching his chest, sending sparks up his spine. He didn't know why but he really wanted to touch her. Wordlessly he brought his hand down her spine, hearing her gasp. She looked him in the eye. "I want you."

He couldn't stop her as she grabbed his face and kissed him. He leaned into the kiss giving in to her completely. He felt her hands at his waist as she rushed to free him of his pants. He wasn't thinking as he pushed her until they fell on the bed. His mind completely hazy. Breaking away for air, he didn't register what he was thinking, as he dove back in. His last though being. 'God, I want you.'


"So you sent the boy off with his girlfriend, huh." Ivan chuckled as Remy walked in.

"How did you know?"

Ivan laughed. "I overheard Lisanna when he came to pick her up."

Remy chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I wanted to see if something would work." He blushed to himself, knowing that this was a long shot.

Ivan cocked an eyebrow at him. "What did you want to see?"

He stood up and grabbed Ivan's hand. "Do you trust me?"

After a couple of seconds Ivan nodded and his eyes flashed, sending them to a small mountain cliff. Ivan looked at him confused, as the sky lit up. He could tell the other forgot that it was supposed to be a meteor shower tonight.

Keeping his hand on Ivan's, he changed his eyes over to soul power, this was the only time that his particular ability would work. It didn't matter to him if it wasn't true, but it would make a lot of sense if it was.

He looked at Ivan with his eyes still activated as Ivan looked at the sky. His heart started beating as if it was going to beat right out of his chest. It was true there was no denying it. For the first time in his life everything made sense. How had he not noticed the truth when it had been right in front of him? Sure they had slept together once, but now his mind was screaming at him. Asking him why he never did it before.

He didn't think as he turned Ivan around, forcing his friend now lover to look at him.

"Remy, what's wrong?" Ivan could clearly see the look in his eyes. He knew it had changed. He knew if he tried this, he could never go back. All he wanted now was to be with the one he loved.

He looked Ivan in the eye, almost groaning as he kissed him. Ivan responded immediately, clinging to him. In seconds they were on the ground laying in the small grass near the summit.

As he started kissing his lovers neck, he heard Ivan whisper something but he couldn't make it out. As he pushed Ivan down into the grass, he looked down at him locking eyes with him.

"Remy…" Ivan whispered.

He found himself admiring his friend in a way he hadn't done before. "Promise me, you'll stay with me forever."

Ivan looked both dazed and confused. "Why wouldn't I stay with you? I love you."

He felt himself smirk, as he captured his lips again. Tonight would be different from the last. Tonight he knew the complete truth and he would never let his lover go.


His training was slow and he just wanted a night to relax, Remy hadn't let up on his training at all and Ivan almost killed him yesterday, but what surprised him was that his father was going to allow him to go to the surface for the night. There was a meteor shower and he insisted that he take Lis up to see it.

He led her out of the guild hall into the grassy field just as the stars began to appear in the sky. She smiled instantly as the first meteors began to flash across the sky.

They walked for a while before finding a good place to sit and watch. The sky was clear tonight and the moon was almost gone so it was dark enough to see the meteors as they fell. He took her hand, using his magic they could both see the souls flying through the air. Tonight they were more wispy then normal. It was probably due to the lack of moonlight.

"It really is amazing." She said, pointing up at the sky.

"It's one of the great mysteries of life." He chuckled to himself, as two souls began to dance in the wind. The trails of light in the background making them shine. It was as if they had a silver glow to them this night.

"The shower or the souls." She said, turning her face to look at him.

He didn't think as he looked over to her. He had seen her soul before, but it was never this magnificent. It was as if a golden ora had surrounded her soul. The sight of it taking his breath away.

"Bickslow?" Lisanna looked at him confused as he pulled her forward, kissing her. He had never felt this daring in his life and while they had spent one night together, he had never wanted someone as much as he wanted her now.

She pulled him closer in seconds, gasping as his tongue made its way into her mouth. He felt as she began to work on removing his shirt as he worked on her clothes. Once she was free from her shirt, he began to nip at her neck, making her moan against him. She started touching the hard abs of his chest and he groaned. They looked into each other's eyes one last time before falling into the grass.

"Make love to me." She whispered, caressing his face. He complied, giving her everything he had. Somehow he knew she was his and he was hers and they would be this way forever.

Authors Note

Yeah, for some reason I wanted to get almost everybody laid this chapter. I guess it just became a running theme, but we did finally get those letters decoded. I wonder where it will lead Makarov next. Also I may check in with the Fairy Tail guild, we haven't seen them in a while we have. Also Remy may need to explain this meteor shower thing, what do you think?

Anyway the OC story is for Arlinton this time. Basically I wanted a military theme for the Brass family. Arlinton is a pun off of the Arlington military base and cemetery. I figured since the character was going to die when he was duty that the name fit. His name was actually a typo as I was going to name him after the base itself. This last name Brass is due to the fact that most military bands use brass instruments. It is also the name of a high ranking official in the military. So you see the Brass family are all based on military words. He smokes because many soldiers during the world wars were issued cigarettes with their gear.