Okay, a few things.

Forgot to tell you, but I added stuff to the Games in chapter 93, if you want to go back and read from the time they arrive to the day the Heartfilias spend together. Unless you read the WHOLE chapter, you shouldn't get too depressed. If you read chapter 93 after the 94th chapter was posted, with the Dragon Slayers, then you're fine (see, I forgot to tell you awhile ago).

Also, I changed and fixed the poll on my profile. If any of you guys are having trouble voting, please let me know. If you could go and vote, I'd really appreciate it.

If their name isn't on there, then they're already paired or won't end up in a relationship. Feel free to PM me about any specific character you'd like to know about.

Chapter Ninety Eight - Slayers and Snakes

When we got back, there was (of course) a party for Lucy's return.

She was still a bit upset over what happened to her family, but she was glad to be back home.

"Hey, cheer up," I told her, rubbing her back. "It's not you, okay? It seems like everyone of our generation have asshole fathers."

"Hey!" Gildarts, Silver, Rex, and even Macao said.

"I'm kinda offended for Dad, too," Cana said. Gray nodded besides her.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, asshole or stupid fathers."

The kids nodded, satisfied.

"Hey!" Gildarts and Silver turned on their kids.

"It's still true," Gray said, before the two of them vanished back into the party.

I smiled, laughing and nudging Lucy's side. "Get going, Lucy. Your dragon's finally here. I think you should teach him how to dance."

Lucy smiled and nodded, hopping off of the chair and grabbing Natsu away from Gray, who he had started to fight with. Upon seeing that Natsu was dancing with a girl, Gray grabbed Juvia (while blushing the whole time) and dragged her to the middle of the guild, too.

"Asshole fathers, huh?" Laxus muttered, sitting down beside me.

I smiled softly at him and leaned into his side. "Maybe this generation has shitty dads, but the next one will, at the very least, have one amazing dad," I said quietly, squeezing his arm.

He blushed a bright red and looked away, but pulled me into his side. "Thanks, Elle. They're going to have a pretty amazing mom, too."

"She's already pretty much the mom for half of this generation," Erik said as he passed us by, headed for a platter of poisonous berries that Mari had for him.

Now I was blushing like crazy, but it also warmed my heart.

There was a crash, and Erigor passed us by, cackling madly.

"Get him, babies!" Bickslow shouted, riding on top of his souls. "Come on, Evergreen! Freed!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Evergreen shouted, chasing after them.

"I'm taking no part in this," Freed shouted from where he sat beside Levy, decoding something.

"Where did the catnip go?" Millianna asked.

"Millianna, no!" Kagura shouted, chasing after the girl.

"MY CAKE!" Erza shouted halfway across the guild.

I smiled at Laxus. "Now it's starting to sound like home."

Within seconds, almost the entire guild was in a brawl, with the exception of Orga and all of the kids he brought over (Wendy, Sting, Rogue and Yukino). Even Sting tried to join in on the fighting, but Rogue held him back.

"Hey guys," I told them.

"Can you pick me up, Ellie-nee?" Yukino asked.

"Sure," I said, grabbing her. She was still small for her age, and easy to carry, and sometimes she liked to just curl up on me and rest her head on my shoulder while I rocked her back and forth.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"No problem," I said, basking in the feeling of my home.

Eventually the kids calmed down and I lead them all into the training room. "Treasure time!"

"Treasure?" Gajeel asked.

"I told you that Elle would probably help you start it off," Erik said to him.

"No adults allowed!" Natsu shouted, slamming the door shut before anyone of the older generation could enter.

"I count for our generation, idiot!" Erigor shouted, banging on the door.

I rolled my eyes and opened it, pulling him in.

"Why can't we go in?" Gildarts asked.

"I'll tell you later," I said, slamming the door shut in their faces and activating the runes.

"Wait, there was actually a reason for keeping adults out?" Erigor asked incredulously.

"Yes, not that Natsu knew it," I said, glaring at the boy, who pouted and hid behind Lucy.

"Anyway, on to the treasure," I said, standing in the middle of the room and rubbing my hands together eagerly, trying to ignore the birthday chart on the wall behind me.

Layla's name was still on it. It hurt to see it, but it would hurt even more for it to be gone.

So it was easier to just not think about it.

"I wanna see!" Sting said excitedly. "Ella-nee, where's the treasure?"

I stared at him, focusing my attention back to the kids, because everyone knows you can't take your eyes off them for five seconds. "Calm down. Story time first."

He pouted but sat down, crossing his ankles and scooting closer to Natsu.

Yukino joined them willingly, sitting next to Lucy (who sat next to her dragon). Rogue was dragged along, too, and Gajeel ended up seated near them as well, next to Rogue and Levy, who was with Lucy.

Natsu and Gajeel glared at each other.

I rolled my eyes.

Seeing that everyone was seated, I turned to them all, where Laxus stood behind me with his arms crossed, trying to get the kids to behave. Orga was trying to get his attention so Laxus hung the eight-year-old upside down until he stopped struggling.

Natsu muttered something that sounded like, 'at least he doesn't just do it to me'.

I turned to them. "I went searching for keys-"

"Like Lucy's?" Natsu asked eagerly.

"No," I said. "The keys I found are Lucy's. I gave them to her. I wasn't expecting to find treasure there as well. So, few things first. Don't go crazy, and you five," I stared at the slayers, "go one at a time. Then you can browse for others, not yourself. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded eagerly, with both Natsu and Sting practically vibrating with excitement. Gajeel was trying to hide it, but even he was a bit excited to see what I had (though I think he was underestimating the size of it). Wendy and Rogue looked interested, but they weren't going crazy like the others.

"When I bring out the treasure, will you guys be able to restrain yourself?" I asked.

There was no answer.

"Right, Freed we need a barrier," I said.

He got up and began writing an enchantment across the room.

"Woah, this is so cool!" Sting said, poking it. "Rogue, Yukino, come check it out!"

Neither of them moved, so he grabbed both of their hands and dragged them forward, making them poke at the barrier.

Freed ignored them, going across the room and essentially cutting it in half. He spun to me and everyone else. "Only those with permission from Ella-sama may pass."

I nodded. "Did you put me in?"

He began to blush.

I rolled my eyes. "Eleanor Rigby has permission to pass."

And then I slipped through the barrier.

"Wendy goes first," I said.

The boys began protesting, and I glared at them. "I said Wendy goes first."

I turned to Wendy. "Before I requip it, know that most girls, and even some boys, like choosing something that matches their eyes or hair or something, and then take to wearing it. You are allowed one piece of jewelry for that, and then you may choose five things. Understood."

"Why do they get more?" Gray complained.

"Dragon Slayer secret," I said. "If they choose to explain, they will. For now, know that there's a reason. When they're all done, everyone else can pick a few more things, okay?"

Everyone nodded. "Don't worry, Erik," I said, closing my eyes. "You'll get more stuff as well."

Spreading my arms, I requipped the piles of treasure onto the floor, within the barrier.

All five dragon slayer's had wide eyes as they stared at the pile of gems, gold, and other precious metal. Gajeel looked like he was about to start drooling.

"I give Wendy Marvell permission to pass," I said, and held out my hand. "Come on, Wendy!"

The five year old took my hand and I pulled her inside. "We'll start searching for your jewelry. Any idea what you'd want to wear?"

"Do you remember when we were five?" Cana asked Levy and Juvia. "And the pile was a lot smaller!"

"It was still pretty big, Cana-san," Juvia said. "At least bigger than us."

"This," Wendy said, coming forward. "Ella-nee. I found it."

On a chain was a bird, that was covered in white metallic feathers.

"It reminds me of Grandeeney," Wendy said quietly.

I kneeled down and hugged her. "You'll see her again, sweetheart."

She hugged me back, and continued browsing.

After she picked five things, she rejoined the others.

"Rogue is next," I said before anything could be said.

"Why?" the other three boys whined. Most kids were snickering.

I stared them down. "Because he's behaving, and you're not. Rogue Cheney has my permission to pass."

Rogue got up and passed the barrier, inspecting the jewels before grabbing six things and turning to me. "Can this be made into a bracelet?" he asked, holding up one of them, which was actually three interconnected gems connected, into a triangle-like shape. (I'd tried to separate them when I was taking account of everything I had found, and it still didn't come apart).

I nodded. "We'll see about making it in a bit, alright?"

He nodded and returned to the others, and my gaze landed on Gajeel, Natsu and Sting.

Of the three of them, the next one was…

"Gajeel Redfox has my permission to pass," I said.

"Gihihihi," Gajeel said, getting up and passing the barrier. He managed to restrain himself as he started digging through it. "You've got some pretty good things, here, Lynx. How many can I have?"

"Five," I said. "Plus one more if you'd like to wear it as jewelry everyday."

He nodded, searching for a few more things and grabbing five things. "Is that jewelry offer still open?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Then I'll get it later."

"Speaking of which, Gajeel, how good are you at piercing ears?" I asked.

"I'm a bit offended," he muttered. "What kinda Iron Dragon would I be if I couldn't even pierce my ears?"

Erik was laughing in the background, which caused everyone to swing their heads between the dragon slayers. Erik only laughed like that if someone was lying out of embarrassment, something the new dragon slayers hadn't learned yet.

Gajeel turned a bit red. "Alright, so maybe I messed up a bit as a kid, but Metalicana taught me! Now I'm brilliant at it. I'm the one who did my ears."

I nodded. "Some the kids around here want to know if you'll do their ears."

Gajeel looked around and seemed to be thinking of something.

Erik suddenly stopped laughing.

"Okay," Gajeel finally said, getting his stuff and moving back with the other kids.

I looked at them. "Sting, you're next."

He whooped for joy and jumped up, rushing for the barrier before I could give him permission. After slamming into it headfirst, he reeled back, clutching at his head.

"H…Here, Sting-san," Wendy said quietly, healing his head.

He smiled at her and turned to run into the barrier again before I quickly shouted, "Sting Eucliffe has permission."

It worked this time and he passed through the barrier harmlessly, starting to realize what he had done again at my words.

I sighed and looked down at him. "Same rule. Five things, plus one possible piece of jewelry."

He nodded eagerly and started searching through piles, generally disappearing and shouting nonsense.

Eventually, he came back out and looked at Gajeel. "Can you pierce my ear?" he asked, holding up a crystal I recognized – the one he always wore from his left ear.

Gajeel nodded and Sting joined them.

I turned to face Natsu. "Alright, Natsu. You heard me, you know the rules."

"Five things plus something to wear?" he repeated.

I nodded. "Natsu Dragneel has permission to cross the barrier."

He ran forward and crashed into it.

I sighed and muttered under my breath. "Etherious Natsu Dragneel has permission to cross the barrier."

Zeref was currently hiding, holed up with Mavis and searching for a way to turn Kinana back into a human.

He had chickened out on the actual confrontation with him, but I've seen Zeref crying in the shadows more than a few times as he looked at Natsu.

I still don't know what I'm going to do about that; whether I'll just pretend that Natsu has an uncanny resemblance to his brother in the past, or just come clean and explain that Natsu is technically a demon.

Zeref might end up giving it away anyway, crybaby.

Natsu passed the barrier and ran around, disappearing into the piles of gold and gems.

"Should we worry?" Laxus asked.

"Probably," I said, shrugging.

Natsu burst back out a while later, holding five things; one of which was a gigantic block of gold.

I stared at him, my voice going flat. "What."

I had gone through all of that stuff. There was no…gold…bars…

I glared at him and touched the metal. Yep.

Still warm.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL!" I yelled at him. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MELTED GOLD COINS TOGETHER SO YOU COULD KEEP MORE OF THEM!"

He sunk down, looking away guiltily. "You never said we couldn't."

"Can't believe Flamebrain actually had a good idea," Gajeel muttered behind me.

Natsu got mad at that but deflated as he saw my angry face.

I put my hand to my forehead. "Split it in half."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"The bar," I said. "Cut it in half."

He shrugged and melted it halfway through the metal, into two separate pieces.

I threw some Neptune on them, cooling them off.

"You can keep one of them," I said. Natsu stared at me in shock.

"What?" Gajeel demanded. "With that much gold, it's got to be a dozen or so coins in that bar! And that's underestimating it!"

"I know," I said. "But I am slightly impressed that he actually thought of that. So he gets half."

Natsu threw himself at me, hugging me tight, and it wasn't until I wrapped my arms around him and messed with his hair (moving my arms inward) that I noticed what had been changing lately.

I was starting to get boobs.

Ohhhhhhhh.

Everything makes a lot more sense now.

And I've been a late bloomer in this life a lot.

And that also explains why Laxus is growling in the background and Erik is laughing his head off again.

I pushed him out of the hug. "That still leaves one more, plus something you want to wear."

He beamed and darted over to Lucy, picking her up and snuggling into her. "My fifth is Lucy!"

Lucy blushed a deep red, before pushing him off and stammering, "B-Baka!"

I sighed. "Natsu, you can't pick Lucy."

"Why not?" he wined, clinging back to Lucy.

"Because Lucy isn't a thing," I growled back as Lucy gave up and just accepted the cuddly dragon.

He pouted.

I took down the barrier. "Alright guys, you know the drill."

The dragon slayers stayed back while the rest of the kids (as I put it) browsed. Macbeth came up to me with a string of red beads, and asked if he could trade them for the necklace he got. I gave them to him and he (along with Erigor's help) started weaving it into his braided hair, and I suddenly remembered that Macbeth had red beads in his hair the last time around.

Erik got all of his things, and Natsu, after pouting, went back to searching and got three more things; the fifth thing for his hoard, and two gold bracelets - much like the leather bracelet I'd seen him wear last time around, except thinner and made of gold.

He hurried over to Lucy and gifted her one, which she took, blushing. He put the other one on his own wrist, and I worried about how to fireproof it.

I'm sure Lucy will think of a solution. Maybe.

Whatever.

There was a knock on the door.

Droy, who was closest, opened it. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Are you children done?" Makarov asked. "I believe I have some news regarding Cubellios."

"We're done," Erik said before anyone could say anything else, and the adults re-entered the room.

I rolled my eyes, requipping everything away. "Next time, Erik, ask with everyone else."

"I can read minds, I did check," Erik said.

Well he actually can't read mine, so...

Oh well. I guess I'll just do it later.

I sighed. "But yeah, we can be done for now."

He nodded at me and turned directly to Makarov. "What did you find out?"

"I was right on waiting. Apparently, this girl was connected to something via body-link magic before she was a snake. If we were to change her back immediately, the body link would break, but she would likely lose her memories."

Body…Link…

Body Link Magic had shown up multiple times in the series – Laxus's Thunder Palace, Brain keeping Zero locked up via the Seis…and one more…

"No way…" I whispered.

Erik and Laxus looked at me. "What is it, Elle?" Erik asked.

I ignored him and walked up to Cubellios. "Kinana?"

Cubellios lifted her head and looked at me.

"I need you to answer something. You remember your life before you were turned into a snake, right?"

The snake nodded.

"Did you know a girl named Katja? No, wait, she wouldn't be old enough…"

Slowly, her eyes never leaving mine, she nodded.

I blinked. Kinana had always looked young for her age. Maybe it was a genetic thing? After all, she was twenty in X784, and twenty seven in X791.

So maybe Katja looked younger than she was, too.

"Are you linked to the Clock?"

The snake nodded, and seemed to become defensive, rearing back from me.

"Elle?" Erik asked. "What's going on?"

"I need to sit down," I mumbled, feeling faint, and Laxus caught me and lowered me to the ground right as my knees began to collapse.

I guess I never thought of it, but of course there would be subplots in any series that are sometimes not used; but the author still knows they're there, and hints at them, maybe even counting it as real in their mind, even though they've never out-rightly said it. I know that.

And it would be kinda poetic, in an angsty way. It would also explain why she ended up nearly possessed, and carved symbols into the guild hall wall.

The Infinity Clock.

Kinana was a Celestial Mage. One of Will Neville's.

Poetic in the way that she's connected to the very people Cobra had to take out.

"You're one of Neville's?" I asked. "Aren't you?"

The snake started, and reared back, as if to attack.

"Cubellios, no!" Erik yelled, standing in between me and her. "What are you doing?"

"I understand, Kinana," I said from behind Erik, moving around him and kneeling on the ground, hoping to hell and back that she didn't bite me (I'd survive, considering I have a poison and then a sky dragon slayer, but it'd hurt like hell). "But please remember that I know a lot of things that I shouldn't. We'll break the Body Link on you, and then you can decide what to do, alright? But we need to break the body link in order for you to become human."

Slowly, she curled up and nodded.

"One more thing," I said slowly. "There's a large chance that your main magic will disappear once the Body Link is broken. You'll still have some other magic, I think, but your main magic will be gone."

If anything, she sank deeper into herself and looked very depressed.

"Are you going to tell us what you mean, Elle?" Makarov asked.

I shook my head. "No. That's up to Kinana. But we need to break the Body Link. Now…does anyone here know how to do that?"

Boom! And there's the big reveal.

The whole 'planning out plot lines but not using them' is something even I do. For instance, I was thinking of making Erik already having lost his eye when Elle saves the Seis. That's why, when Brain came across Laxus and Elle after Ultear's escape, he was taking note of the placement of Laxus's lacrima.

I ended up scraping that, obviously. But I still set it up.

Some of you knew about Kinana already, because I can get really chatty about spoilers when I respond to reviews and start a PMing conversation.

Also, my plans for the next chapter ARE A MESS, so it might be awhile longer before I post that one. For those DoD fans, though, that next chapter should be up in a few days.