The team was on day four of their constant vigil, groups of two or three taking turns filling the silence of that otherwise lifeless room with whatever story, conversation, or worthless chatter they could deliver. Having been waylaid in their efforts to form a hunting party to go after Leviathan's Wake, due to Master's concerns about the Magic Counsel's ban on inter guild wars, they had little else to do with their time. Natsu had been quick to call bullshit on that excuse, which made absolutely no sense to anyone, but Makarov was oddly insistent on following that ridiculous edict for whatever reason this time around. He was even more mystified when Erza stepped up and demanded the rest of the team to do as Master says, or face her ire. Even Cana had little choice but to toe the line after that.

So instead, the private treatment room had become everyone's haven as of late. The scent of snow drops was subtle but noticeable if you knew to seek it out, carried from its place by the window. There were a few cat toys scattered about, and everyone knew to leave the door closed to keep Joy, who had no trouble making herself at home, so long as her daddy was nearby, from wandering about the guildhall. A few more chairs had been brought in to accommodate the extra people that tended to find their way in there.

Loren had stopped by on the second day to pay his respects, and to assist Reedus in providing a rough sketch of the mage he'd seen attacking Gray. He'd also dropped off a gift: a small tabletop fountain to add the sound of flowing water to the background. Everyone appreciated the thoughtfulness, some of them coming to understand why Gray found that sound so soothing.

He was also present when the first signs of withdrawal started showing. Because Gray was unable to eat in this state without risk of choking, he couldn't take his pain meds, and the infirmary wasn't stocked with the necessary intravenous drugs that he could have taken safely. Such drugs were highly regulated, and the guild infirmary just didn't have the right credentials to carry them.

It was good that Loren had been there. His experienced eye had seen the strained breathing and slight tremors for what they were, and had saved the team a lot of heartache and distress at having to witness their friend's reactions to the withdrawal that much sooner, and before his symptoms could grow worse. Porlyusica or Wendy would have figured it out in due time, but this extra day of being able to treat the symptoms was more than welcomed.

All this was more for everyone else's benefit than for Gray. He wouldn't have felt a thing. Or remembered it if he had. This was just another incident in which the needs of the family were just as important as the needs of the patient.

Each member of their team contributed what they could to the running commentary throughout the day. Loke was there everyday, whether summoned or not, to recall past adventures on and off their various missions. Lucy read from her manuscript, pausing every once in a while to ask Gray's opinion on certain plot points or dialogue. She could swear his brow knitted slightly during those times. Natsu and Happy were good at providing humorous banter, but would find themselves stuck in awkward, somewhat sad silences throughout.

Wendy and Carla would tell stories from their time in Cait Shelter and Lamia Scale, and even call Chelia on speaker at times so she could join in the reminiscence. They even sang a soft, slow duet at one point. Wendy was sure she'd seen his heart monitor display a small uptick in activity for a moment near the end.

Erza was present during the song, having stopped by when she'd overheard them, and was inspired to bring with her the following morning a recording of the soundtrack from "Grimm", purchased as a souvenir during her and Gray's outing. Lucy thought adding music to the mix was a great idea, and offered to call upon Lyra the next time she was available.

Lyon started off each visit by playing the recording of Ur's message. He wasn't sure if he'd imagined that slight twitch in his brother's eye, or the small hitch in his breathing each time he'd played it, but it gave him hope all the same. He'd then spend the rest of the visit talking to whoever was there to listen, recollecting his time with Ur before and after Gray came along, or of his adventures during those seven years the core of Fairy Tail were missing. Or of the many lessons he'd learned, and the many times he'd felt proud for every bit of progress Gray had made in his recovery. He'd even expressed his gratitude, more than once, for how close they've grown over the past year.

Though there was an established schedule, there wasn't really a pattern of who came and went. Sometimes, other members of the guild would stop by to offer support to those on the team who were there at the time. As for the team itself, at least one of them was always there, but it was never predictable who would join them. Natsu wasn't always with Happy or Lucy. Cana didn't always join whenever Loke was around. Lyon had a set time every day, but would often come in hours after his shift was over, and stay a while before he was sent home. Natsu had the same inclinations, but was easily convinced to get some rest whenever someone threatened to call Erza.

Master came in first thing every morning to hear any news from Wendy or Porlyusica, and would join when he could, sending his children, Lyon now included, to eat if it was during a meal time. He would then sit on the edge of the bed, petting Joy, who'd always find her way onto his lap, and just talk of whatever was on his mind, which varied every day.

Even Joy seemed to get in on the action, taking her rightful place by her daddy's side, purring a soothing little symphony whenever the humans in the room came to a lull in their conversation. She seemed to understand perfectly the need to keep a constant noise in the background, and was glad to help in her own way.

This was the not-so-set pattern that everyone had come to expect in the last few days, so it was quite a shock to see some new faces in Gray's room on that fourth morning.

Natsu and Lucy, upon entering the room, were mystified to find not Lyon and Cana as they had expected, but Bickslow and his dolls. He was seated in one of the chairs, which was leaning back precariously on its two hind legs, his feet propped up on the end of Gray's bed. Joy was sitting in his lap, her head going from side to side, calmly following the movements of his floating dolls as he gently petted her. His helmet laid on a side table, and those creepy dolls of his flew around in odd circles and crests and dives, performing what appeared to be some kind of dance for their amusement?

Wait a second. Were they acting out the scenes from the comic book Bickslow was reading aloud? This was getting weird.

"Oy, you just missed the others. They left to help Mira set up the guild for the breakfast rush."

"Rush! Rush!" cried his babies.

"Lyon and Cana?" asked Lucy, still confused.

"Nah. We sent those two home hours ago. Mira came in last night and found Lyon almost passed out, and Cana was accusing Gray here of cheating at a card game. Guess Mira figured they weren't resting during their off time, and asked Elfman to join them. My team was just coming in from our mission, and she told us what happened. Laxus escorted Lyon home while Evergreen made sure Cana made it back to Fairy Hills. I stuck around, since Elfman isn't known for his gift of gab, and the rest of my team came back and hung out here until just a little while ago."

Neither of them knew what was stranger: The image of an inebriated Cana dealing out and playing both hands of a rather one-sided game of blackjack to a senseless Gray, or of Laxus and his crew choosing to spend all night with him without any urging from anyone. Sure, their teams got along okay, but they weren't known for doing good deeds for each other.

"And don't worry. We made sure to keep the chatter going all night. Not too loud, in case he was actually trying to sleep or whatever. Porlyusica came in earlier to check on him. She didn't say as much, but her lack of remarks about stupid humans was enough to tell us we did a good job. Nothing's changed, by the way. He's not any better, but at least he's not any worse, right?"

"Not worse! Not worse!"

The direct question broke them out of their confused stupor, and they both finally acknowledged that they weren't dreaming, and came further into the room, Natsu depositing the bags of takeout he'd been carrying onto a nearby table.

Lucy began, "Thank you, Bickslow. We really appreciate you and the others stepping in like that. I think we've all been feeling the strain lately. It's harder than I thought to keep a 24 hour watch with just our team alone."

"Hey, it's no problem at all. We're all members of Fairy Tail. It's what we do for each other. Don't be too shy to ask for help. Ain't a single member in this guild who'd say no."

It wasn't so much them not wanting to ask, but the lack of those available to help. Everyone was too busy helping with repairs to the damaged parts of the city, including their own team members when they weren't on vigil. Sure, they've had visitors come and go, bringing in meals and such. Wakaba's wife had even brought over a casserole for them yesterday, and stayed to chat a little about the "stubborn young boy who'd saved my husband from a rival guild so many years ago."*

But for the most part, everyone within what's become their inner circle has pretty much adopted this attitude of "this is our responsibility, no one else's". So Bickslow being here, along with Elfman and the rest, was almost a splash of cold water in the face of their selfishness. Some part of Lucy felt they were doing everyone a favor by not burdening everyone else with their worries.

But this here proved that they'd only been selfish in keeping this responsibility for themselves. Of course the other guild members would want to help. This was evident from the very beginning, when everyone contributed to buying new furniture for Gray's house, and held that guild-wide cleaning event the day he came home. From the many cards and gifts they'd sent while he was still in the hospital. And the way everyone, in their own way, would try to make him feel welcomed and included whenever he came to the guild.

Natsu smiled brightly in agreement. "Heck yeah, y'all got our backs! Thanks for reminding us. You hungry? We brought food for Lyon and Cana, but since they're not here…"

"Never say no to free food. But I'm gonna have to take it to go. Like I said, we just came back from a mission late last night. Gonna get some sleep. Laxus' already got us another mission lined up. Couldn't say no to that one."

"Something exciting?" wondered Natsu.

"More like enlightening, we're hoping."

"Well here, I hope you enjoy it," Lucy said while handing him a bag in exchange for Joy, "And thanks again for staying with him. It means more than you can know."

Not used to such sincerity, he blushed as he took the bag and turned to leave, muttering a "You're welcome," as he turned to go, before halting by the door. After a brief pause, he turned around and said, "Look, don't be mad or anything, but I took a peek at his soul while I was alone with him."

Again, they were caught off guard. As an unspoken rule, seith mages never pried into a living man's soul without permission, as it was a very intimate thing to have access to such a vital part of one's being. For him to do such a thing to Gray was almost sacrilegious, but was also a testament to how worried he must have been himself.

Not knowing how else to take this bit of news, they just tossed it onto the ever growing pile of "things they couldn't bring themselves to care about right now" and looked on with a little askance wonder.

Taking their stares as a demand to continue, he did. "It's frayed and a little dull. And there's a lingering sense of something there, like it's… I don't know. It's hard to describe it to someone who's not a Sieve mage, which is why I almost didn't bring it up. But I can tell you that his soul is strong. He's strong. I can't tell you what's going on in there, but he's a fighter, and he's not giving up. He'll come around eventually."

With that said, he turned once more and left, closing the door behind him.

Natsu and Lucy were left speechless, but filled with renewed hope, like a weight they hadn't known they held was suddenly lifted from their shoulders. Lucy almost jumped, still not fully aware of what's going on, what with all the surprises today, when Natsu took her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. She smiled back. Who could be upset after hearing such words of reassurance?

"Better get comfortable. We've got a while before Erza shows up. What'd you bring to read today?"

They both settled in, Joy leaping from Lucy's hold to curl up for a nap in her usual place by Gray's head. He had a proper blanket now, the fleece throw from his couch, and his Frosch pillow was used to keep his right arm slightly elevated to ease the strain on that shoulder, the weight of which would otherwise pull on the newly implanted silicone padding that was now stitched into that ever lingering wound.

"Just a collection of short stories by Kemu Zaleon. They were never as well read as his novels, but I always thought they were wonderful as a little girl. I thought he'd enjoy hearing some tales that didn't take all day to finish. We never know how aware he is at any given time… if he even is aware. And I didn't want him to miss anything important, like he might if I read a longer story to him. He hates it when I skip parts he hadn't read yet."

"He is aware. I know he is. Wendy and Lyon both say they've seen him react to things. He's gonna love those stories."

She just smiled as she opened her book to the first page, and started to read.

No one seemed to pay the boy any mind. As he weaved between the few people around him, whose faces were always oddly out of focus, and never tried to make eye contact, he made his way to the roller coaster. Constructed of wood, and rickety looking, that only added to the sense of excitement at riding such a dangerous thing. Climbing onto one of the unoccupied cars, no one stopping him to see if he had a ticket or parental supervision, or even if he was tall enough to ride, he pulled the questionable safety bar over his lap and waited.

Before long, it moved. He rode it up and down, away from the strange noise, away from the intimidating heat, away from the dark. Swooping up, up, slowly, far up and up; then down in a rush, along a running bend, then down, down, down. It was exhilarating, liberating in a way. An escape.

'From what?'

…

...

'Or whom?'

…

…

*trickling*

A new sound.

Distant

Familiar

Reassuring

Safe

'A cleansing stream. To wash away my sins?'

...

When the strange and distant words came, they drowned out the crackling and the hissing and the ever present screaming. They followed him above the clouds as the Ferris wheel spun round and round, slow and fast, slow and fast. Pausing at the top to see the millions of stars above, and to escape the suffocating smoke below. The stars were strange. Not tremendous heavenly bodies of horrid, unspeakable fire; but of frozen crystals, shards of ice, of hard brilliance, sparkling, flittering, then exploding like fireworks. Falling upon him like a gentle snow. Cold and inviting.

Safe.

...

He missed the ice.

...

The carousel went round and round, the horse he rode going up and down, up and down, round and round and round. His was the finest horse. The fastest, and the bravest. He wasn't put off by the pink color, or by the small bunny that perched on its head. It looked friendly enough.

He looked up to see the stars of ice through the ceiling that wasn't there. Hmm. Must be a magic carousel. Magic was a thing here, right? The horses didn't appear to be attached to anything. There was just the floor below, and the mirrored column they rode around.

That dark, ominous looking mirror that caused him to look away. Always forward, never to the left. The right was safe, though there wasn't much to see that way. Just the other rides, and the few other people whose faces were still unfocused, who still made no eye contact. What kind of people just ignored an obviously unattended child, riding alone on a magical floating horse around the carousel?

But that was fine. This was better. He didn't need anyone to see him. Better to be invisible.

Sure was lonely, though.

The music played, soft and slow. Like a familiar duet. No. Not the song. The singers. Where were they? It was nice. Soothing. Did the music of a carousel usually include words? He couldn't quite make them out, but he liked the tune. He liked music. He wished it wouldn't end. Except it also made him sad.

The voices were back. Just noise to cover the sounds of crackling, of hissing, of burning. Oddly enough, sometimes it felt like they talked to him? A girl's voice. Asking about… ? Was it his place to say? It wasn't his story. Or maybe it was. Could he write his own story? Would he want to read it? Could he finish it?

The old man (he assumed he was old. He didn't know why) had a calming voice. A nice rhythm and cadence. It was soothing. Paternal.

A young woman. Her words, oddly enough, never changed. But he liked to hear them. He liked to hear her. Patient. Nice. Maternal. Not like her.

*shudder*Back away. Flee from the darkness. Follow the nice words. The safety. The calm. She was nice. And said kind words. Giving. Guiding. Fearless.

He wanted to be like her.

The carousel slowed, but never stopped. He liked it here. It wasn't too fast or loud like the roller coaster. It wasn't so high up that he could touch the sky, but still be denied the crystalline beauty of the far away ice, always out of reach. Here, on the carousel, he could go round and round and round, never stopping, ever going, escaping from the ever encroaching sounds of hissing, and crackling, and sizzling.

Even if it was just an illusion, and he never truly went anywhere. At least he was always moving. Always struggling forward, always escaping from the burning. From the darkness. From…?

Something reflected in the mirror. There and gone.

A specter? A phantom? A mere shadow?

Avoid it. Look elsewhere.

Forward. And to the right.

Always to the right.

Don't look to where the mirrors lay.

If you can't see it, it's not there.

Ah, new voices. New words. Drown out the fear. Focus on the not-hissing, the not-crackling, the not-burning.

The carousel sped up again. Round and round and round. Escape. Faster. Up and down, up and down and round and round and round. He was safe, so long as he kept going forward. Round and round. Round and round.

He looked up once more, to the stars that weren't stars, through the ceiling that wasn't there.

He knew he could never reach them, even from the tallest ride in the carnival, he couldn't hope to touch the sky. But he reached for them anyway. Always striving, always yearning.

This place was nice. Safe. Warm.

Though he missed the ice, he was glad it was warm.

-the next day-

"You sure this is the place?" Laxus asked as he eyed the old school through the binoculars. It was abandoned, dilapidated, the roof caved in, with signs of fire damage along one side. Just like most of the buildings within this deserted town, the school suffered irreparable damage during the invasion of Alvarez. Most of the intact furniture and equipment were relocated to another site miles away, and the windows and doors boarded up, the entire building condemned.

"That's according to the intel Erza's friend sent over," began Evergreen, "Leviathan's Wake set up shop here shortly after the war was over. They've been laying low ever since. They've mostly been trying to start up a protection racket in some of the neighboring towns, but the local guilds have been keeping them in check. At last report, their so-called guild master was trying to recruit some better stock, so they could go legit and get proper guild credentials."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would they attack us if they were trying to become a legal guild?" asked Bicklow.

"Probably because of new leadership. Reedus' sketch of the old bastard that attacked Gray didn't match the profile of the guild master that Mystogan's former-evil-twin sent us. If that guy's in charge now, he probably filled those losers heads up with grand schemes and stupid, unreachable goals," Laxus replied, finally putting the binoculars aside, before crossing his arms and frowning. There was something missing here.

"What's wrong? You look less pissed than I was expecting," observed Bicklow.

"Something's wrong here. Let's go," he replied as he led them to the entrance, which was laughably sealed off with crime scene tape. Tearing it down, they passed through a wide hall, before finding themselves in a spacious lobby. Walking across a sturdy plank that had been placed over a large hole in the floor, he continued, "The Rune Knight's investigated this place after these guys first disappeared, right?"

"That's according to the official report, yes," supplied Evergreen.

"And they didn't turn up any bodies or body parts anywhere?"

"Nothing like that's been reported. They just did a cursory sweep to see if the guild left anything dangerous or of magical value behind. There were no signs of foul play, but also no signs of why the guild left. Why?"

"It smells like old death in here."

That made their guard go up.

"Excuse me?

"It's faint. Hardly there. But not because there's so little of it. I'm smelling traces of it all over the place. But it smells old. Like something long dead was unearthed, but the scent's diminished overtime. Something major happened here, but somehow the Knights missed it."

Looking around, they could tell the dark guild hadn't held much value in what was left behind after the evacuation. There were large circles of soot and ash spread throughout the spacious entryway, the floors burnt black in those locations, evidence of the members setting multiple fires to chase away the damp cold that would have filled this place. Taking a knee at one such circle, Laxus poked his finger into the remnants of a pile of ash that still held the shape of an old book, watching as it disintegrated, bits of ash floating away. Any books left behind during the initial evacuation following the war were fair game to use as fuel for their fires.

"Poor Levy would cry if she ever came in here," said Evergreen.

"Pathetic morons couldn't just pitch in for an ethernano-powered heater," replied Bickslow.

Ignoring their banter, Laxus concentrated on locating whatever it was that the Rune Knights had missed. Eyeing the damaged infrastructure, nothing really stood out that one wouldn't expect to find in a fallen ruin. Wood, plaster, and glass littered the floor.

Wires and ductwork were exposed, and pipes could be seen through gaps in the walls and ceiling. The observation that they were pipes graded for heat transfer, not for water transport, flitted through his mind, and he almost let it go to move on to other thoughts when he paused.

If this school was equipped with central heating, as the existence of those pipes suggested, why wouldn't the dark guild just power it up, instead of burning everything to keep warm? He highly doubted the war evacuees had thought to take a large ethernano furnace with them in their haste to leave.

Was it because they couldn't find it?

"What are the chances that this building was offset by Universe One?"

By offset, he wasn't referring to the initial implementation of Irene Belsarion's spell, which altered the landscape of the entire continent. He was talking about the after effects of the spell. Though most everything was returned to their original positions, there were reports from all over that some things were just off. Such as statues or fountains being not quite centered on their foundations. Or whole buildings facing just a degree or two in the wrong direction. Most of these occasions barely caused any issues.

Most of them. But if, on occasion, the offset was too great…

Such as if a school building was seated too far off center of its original foundation? This was a rare occurrence, but annoying, if the shift in position caused any space below ground to be inaccessible due to the entrances being blocked by a beam, or flooring that shouldn't be there.

"What's going on, Laxus?" asked Evergrren.

"I need to verify something. Let's go."

Bickslow and Evergreen followed as he lead them back to the large hole they'd crossed over on the way in. Without a word, he jumped down, disturbing a thick layer of dust and the small bit of debris as he landed, though noting the numerous footprints scattered about. The flooring here was badly damaged, torn apart, exposing the earth underneath. Likely damage sustained during Universe One.

They traversed the dark rooms and passages throughout the basement, Laxus lighting the way, until finally coming upon the aforementioned ethernano furnace. Taking quick strides towards it, he lifted a glowing hand to the magic absorption lacrima embedded in the device, and gave it just enough magic to power it up. It activated without a hitch.

Heat started radiating from the device, spreading throughout the room. Soon, the whole school would be warmed through.

"Thanks for turning up the heat, but you didn't come down here to chase the cold away. What's wrong?" asked Evergreen.

"Why the Hell were they burning books and furniture to keep warm when they had a perfectly functional furnace down here?" Laxus replied.

Taking a moment to wonder about that, Bickslow replied, "Maybe you were right about the building being offset, and they couldn't reach the basement cuz all the access points were blocked."

"That hole we dropped down from, was it there when the Knights first arrived?"

Quickly checking through the reports again, Evergreen replied, "According to the initial assessment, yes. They had to tear a beam down to have a a large enough piece of lumber to bridge the gap."

"Then if the dark guild put that hole there, why weren't they using the damned furnace?"

That was a good question, which caused the other two to focus more closely at their surroundings. That was very odd. Though it wasn't outside the possibility that maybe they'd just recently thought to blow a hole through the floor, it wasn't likely. Otherwise, why bother if they were planning to leave? And one more thing.

"That smell of old death is really strong down here."

They spread out to investigate more thoroughly. It was Bickslow that noticed the lack of footprints, other than their own, in the furnace room. No one besides them had been in that room in over a year. If not for the prospect of gaining more heat, then why was the hole created? They highly doubted a children's school wase hiding a deep, dark magical secret in the basement that the dark guild was trying to discover.

Retracing their steps, they soon returned to the hole, their eyes, now adjusted to the poor lighting, allowing them to notice what they'd missed their first time walking through: There weren't just a few sets of footprints down here. All over the passageway were numerous tracks, of all shapes and sizes. Some were even barefoot. And they all converged along the exposed earthen ground. The ground that now showed signs of disturbance.

"Erza said that the mages who attacked could travel through the ground," reminded Evergreen.

…

"Laxus?"

"... There's hardly any debris down here… ," he muttered.

He abruptly turned back towards the hole, sprinting until he reached the hole, leaping back to the surface. The others followed, each using their own specific methods to join him up top, finding him studying the debris lying nearby, as well as the state of the hole itself.

"What are you looking for?" asked Bickslow.

"They didn't make this hole!"

"What?"

"The dark guild! They didn't do this! There was hardly any debris down there. It's all up here, spread around like it was thrown all around. You see how some of the flooring splinters upward? Someone or something came up from below, and caught these bastards unawares!"

"What do you mean 'something'" wondered Evergreen.

"... Can't really say. We have to get back and report this. I think that attack was just the first wave!" he shouted as he pulled out his com lacrima, rushing out the building with his confused teammates close behind.

* The incident about Wakaba's wife refers to the final arc of Ice Trails. I won't spoil any more than that.

Next Chapter: A discussion of impending troubles. And a visit from Asuka, who gives good advice.