My back stretched out against my bed, my gaze up towards the ceiling. This Phantom Lord situation sure wasn't helping me in calming down for the night. It was unlikely I'd be sleeping much if at all tonight. With a sigh, I rolled onto my side, eyeing the picture on my nightstand.

Rogue.. What should I do? I thought to myself, closing my eyes. I didn't want to help my guild and have them get the wrong idea. There's no way I can get close to them, the last thing I wanted is to make them think that I wanted to be their friend. I only wanted in on this fight because I wanted to prove my strength was worthy of others attention.

"Cece? I'm hungry.." Phillip trotted it from our small kitchen. "Can we make some dinner?"

I sat up and smiled towards my cat friend. "Sure, I'm in the mood for some pasta salad." Getting to my feet, I began to head to the kitchen, only to be stopped by the sound of a knock at my door. I raised an eyebrow. Who could that be? I opened up the door to be met with Hayden, a hot pizza in hand.

"Yo." He held a hand up in greeting, scooting passed me, allowing himself into my apartment without permission. "I hope you're hungry, cause I brought dinner."

My eyebrow twitched. "Excuse me, but I don't remember inviting you in. What are you doing here anyway?"

I followed him into the kitchen, Phillip right behind me. "Trust me.. I didn't really wanna come, but with everything going on with Phantom, the guild wanted to make sure no one was alone." Hayden placed the pizza on the counter, opening it up. "And after your little speech earlier, I was the most willing to come and be with you."

Crossing my arms, I leaned up against the counter. "Thanks.. I guess." I muttered as both Phillip and I grabbed a piece of pizza from the box. "Look, I get why you're here and all, but you're wasting your time. I can take care of myself."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? Do you not remember this morning? You know.. Getting beat to a pulp not ringing any bells?"

"I hardly think that's how it went down. I was caught off guard is all. And if I recall, so were you." I narrowed my eyes. "Whatever, if you want to stick around, fine. I won't stop you."

The silence between us was tense, it was clear our ideals were very different. We weren't exactly a good pair to group up, especially out of all the options the guild presented. But if this was all we had, I suppose I'd have to go along with it. I doubted I'd have him around for more than a day or two. This Phantom Lord situation would come to an end very soon, seeing how angry the others were.

After finishing a couple slices of pizza, I brushed my hands off. "Make yourself at home. I'll get my spare cot out for you." I went to walk away, but his next words stopped me.

"Hold on, I got a question." When I looked at him with confusion, he continued. "We never had a chance to finish our chat before we were interrupted this morning. I want to know why you shut yourself out from everyone. And don't give me that bullshit answer that I don't need to know. Your whole attitude is gonna get someone hurt one of these days and I for one don't want to see that happen." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I won't say a word to anyone if that makes you feel better."

I went silent. There was no way I was going to tell him, that was the last thing I needed right now. No one could know. "It's none of your business, understand?"

Phillip flew up and sat on my shoulder. "Maybe.. Maybe you can trust him with this? You need to tell someone, maybe he can help?"

"No." I looked down, my bangs shadowing my eyes. "The conditions of my contract state I can't say a word."

Hayden raised a brow. "Contract? Oh come on, now you gotta tell me."

"If you know what's good for you, you won't push this issue any farther." I snapped, bringing a hand to my forehead. "Please.. Just understand this is nothing against Fairy Tail. This is my own issue and no one here has anything to do with it."

Phillip smiled towards Hayden. "She would never admit it herself, but she actually really likes all of you."

"Phillip!" I yelped, flicking his forehead. "Don't go talking nonsense! You're a delusional cat!"

A chuckle erupted from Hayden's lips. "Guess you really do have a soul in there somewhere. You're not as cold hearted as everyone thinks."

I crossed my arms and looked away, my face flushed in embarrassment. "I don't know what Phillip is talking about. He's just a dumb cat.."

The earth mage walked over and threw a hand over my shoulders. "I think that cat knows more about you then you even know about yourself. You've got a good friend there."

A faint smile crossed my face. "Yeah.. I really do." I let my smile last for only a moment before returning to a blank expression. "Now get off me." I brushed his arm away from me and walked into the main room. "I'm going to head to bed. The cot is in the closet, use it if you want." Before I went into the bathroom to change, Hayden voiced one last question.

"One more thing.. Are you going to help us fight against Phantom?"

My gaze went down towards the ground. "I.." I trailed off, unsure of my answer. Did I want to? Was this what I was meant to do? This was my chance after all. To prove I was worthy of others' respect. I heaved a sigh. "I will. But don't go getting the wrong idea. I'm only going to fight to show these wannabes that I'm more than a punching bag."

A grin spread across Hayden's face. "I was hoping you'd say that. I gotta avenge my loss too ya know."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from a hothead like you." I chuckled. "I'm gonna get ready for bed. Make yourself comfortable."

"Thank a lot Cece."

When morning came along, the guild was informed early in the morning of another present that was left for us from Phantom. Team Shadow Gear was nailed to the giant tree in the middle of Magnolia, clearly gifted to us from Gajeel Redfox himself. At the sight of this, everyone was clearly in angered shock. The second Master Makarov declared war, we were all on our way to the Phantom Lord guild hall. It was our time to strike now.

I stood within the middle of our guild as Natsu burst the door to Phantom Lord open. We announced our presence, and the first real battle began.

I cracked my knuckles, calmly strolling inside. "So this is the fearsome Phantom Lord guild, huh? How sad."

"You better prepare yourself silly fairy!" With little interest, I looked to the side to see a Phantom grunt running towards me, a magic rune behind his fist. With little effort, when his fist came towards me, I caught it with my own.

"Is that really what you call an attack?" I questioned, tightening my grip around his fist. "Tell me, you know where Gajeel is?" The man's face flinched, but it was clear he wasn't going to answer. "Sad.." I took in a deep breath. "Water Dragon.. Roar!" A tornado of water expelled from my mouth, blowing the man away and crashing him into the wall.

Around me, different grunts were thrown back, Fairy Tail clearly having the edge over them. As our Master walked out of the room to face Phantom's master, it was clear that our confidence was higher than it had been since the first attack. We were going to win this battle with ease. The only issue we would have, if they even showed, was the Element Four. That was the only thing I was slightly worried about. In a fray like this, strong mages such as themselves may cause a bigger issue than desired.

In the midst of my thoughts, I mindlessly attacked different grunts, not needing to put much effort into my attacks. My main focus was kept on my sense of smell. I needed to find Gajeel before anyone else did. He was my opponent and knowing Natsu, he'd want the Iron Dragon Slayer to himself. There was no way I was gonna let that happen.

My eyes widened as I finally caught his scent. I looked up to the ceiling beams, seeing Gajeel perched up there looking down at the battle. My heart pounded with anger, my fists clenched. How could he be the man my brother admired? A man so cruel doesn't deserve such praise.

A magic rune appeared at my feet, water shooting me up to his position. "Gajeel!" I exclaimed, my fists engulfing themselves in water. I attempted to throw him off his perch, but he simply jumped out of the way, landing on a different beam.

"Eh?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

His words only spiked my anger more. "I'm the one who's gonna beat your skull in for what you've done." Just as I had done earlier, I took in a deep breath. "Water Dragon Roar!" Gajeel simply let himself be taken by the attack, jumping out of the top of the water tornado.

He landed, his eyes slightly wide. "I get it now. You're one of those fairies I beat when I wrecked your guild." He smirked. "The Water Dragon of Fairy Tail. You were quite a disappointment, I thought you'd put up more of a fight. At least now you're puttin' in the effort."

I growled. "How about you stop trying to insult me and fight!" A rune appeared above me as water surrounded my entire form. "Water Dragon Trident Bullet!" I launched myself forward, throwing various kicks and punches towards Gajeel, only to have him continue to avoid my attacks without fighting back. "Dammit! Fight back already!"

"If you insist.." He laughed, throwing himself away from me, extending his iron arm. Before I could even register his attack, his arm rammed into my stomach, pushing me back. A few of the wooden beams broke as my back collided with them, his attack easily had enough force to do even more damage than it had.

He has more strength than I thought.. But that doesn't matter. I let my water swirl around my leg, propelling me back towards him. "Water Dragon Claw!" My leg collided with him, causing me to smile, but my smile quickly faded when I saw what he had done.

Gajeel had caught my leg in both of his hands, his smirk growing. "God you're weak." In a swift movement, he spun around, throwing me hard at the ground.

I landed back down on the guild hall floor, the ground beneath me buckling up as I hit it. A groan escaped my lips as I began to stand back up, only to be shoved back to the ground by Gajeel's iron arm. "Do yourself a favor and don't bother. You and I aren't even close to the same level." When I tried to move him off me, he just increased the pressure against my chest. "I don't know why you even bothered to fight me. You're nothing compared to me."

My teeth clenched against each other as I fought back tears. He was right, my strength was nothing against his. I still wasn't good enough. As the tears rolled down my cheeks, it was then I realized my brother was farther from me than I could have ever imagined. I was a weakling.

"Get off her!" A new male voice shouted and the next moment, Gajeel was launched off me, flying into the wall. I look to the side to see Natsu standing near me, his expression furious. "If you hurt one more of my friends, I'll burn you to a crisp!"

Friend? I shook the thought away and got to my feet, bringing a hand to my chest. A few ribs were broken, that was for sure. But that was the least of my worries right now.

"Geehee," Gajeel laughed, getting back to his feet as well. "Finally, a real fight. Maybe now I can actually put some effort in."

Natsu let his fists surround themselves with fire. "You're no match for me buddy! I'm gonna shut you up!" He shouted, launching forward, the two dragon slayers going back and forth with their fists. Gajeel was at least trying now, unlike how he had been with myself.

I watched their fight in astonishment. Natsu was fighting much differently than I had been. His attacks were fueled by something else, something I couldn't quite figure out. It was revenge or pure anger or even just regular competitiveness. What was it? Was it what I was missing? What possibly could Natsu have that I didn't?

It was at that moment that something, or someone, came falling from above. When it hit the ground, a crater appeared under it. My eyes widened when I realized what it was. "Master!" I exclaimed, running towards him. When I reached him, I saw his form was green and he was struggling to breath. "What happened?!"

Erza appeared at my side, putting Master Makarov in her lap. "Master, say something!"

"I can't sense any magic energy from him at all.." Gray muttered as he joined us. "What happened to him up there?"

Around us, Phantom began to take advantage of the chaos. Almost as soon as our Master was defeated, our entire guild lost all the confidence we had at the start of this fight. Now, the fight was fueled by pure desperation. This wasn't good at all.

Within minutes, Erza was calling for us to retreat. At this point, I had no fight left in me. All I wanted was to win, but with what strength? I wouldn't be any help against more than the grunts, so what was the point in trying? I brought a hand to my face as I struggled to hold back my tears.

I was nothing. I was useless. I was weak.