Thank you guys for all the reviews, favorites, follows, etc. Sorry it's so late.


"What the hell are you doing?!" Ifrit screamed, yanking Natsu by the collar.

Natsu kicked him back, "Back off, asshole!"

Ifrit's right fist missed his face, but his left crushed against Natsu's jaw, "HOLY- What did you do to my hand?!" He fell back, staring at his hand.

Natsu rubbed his jaw softly, "I didn't feel a thing… Hmm…" He sat down cross-legged, poking his chin with his forefinger.

"Ugh," he shook his head, rolling over to his side. He found himself staring into a nearly empty fireplace smoking up the chimney. But how did he get on the floor? He sat up and looked around the dark, and now cold, room. "Where am I?"

A voice came from the corner of the room. "Did you kill him?"

He whipped around to see Erza crossed arms and staring at a window that was completely white. She was wearing a blouse and skirt. Obviously foolish to wear when it was near freezing in there.

He took a moment to think about her question while he created a fire in his hand and lit the fireplace. The room slowly came alive, glowing with the yellow light.

"Kill…" He climbed to his feet, "I've killed many men…"

Erza faced him. His steely golden glare reflected the burning fire beside him and glazed his red hair. Ifrit shook out his bed-head before walking to her side and attempted to open the window.

"Don't," Erza warned, "There was a storm last night."

His hands dropped to his side, "Who are you talking about?"

Her eyes narrowed him out, "Natsu."

"No."

"No?"

"I did not kill Natsu, though he did try to make a fool of me."

"Are you lying to me?" Her hands became fists, one of which grasped onto the collar of his coat, "I've heard about you, and how you handle your 'business.'"

He stepped closer, now breathing into her face.

"I did not kill Natsu," he snarled.

His scent… It was so warm and inviting, like a familiar call on a lonely night. She flushed slightly, tempted to lean into him.

"You smell-" she blurted out.

"I… smell?" He stepped back, breathing into his palm to check his breath.

"No, I mean you smell like him," She moved closer, backing him towards the mantel.

"Wait, whoa-" he tripped over himself, crashing down beside the fire. "Like Natsu?"

"Yeah," she said, kneeling down beside him. She leaned closer, nearly pressing her face to his chest and inhaling deeply.

He blushed hard as his heart began to thump harder. This was so weird…

"Look," in her hand, a white patterned scarf flashed into existence. "See?" She pressed it into his face.

He crashed backwards, his face as red as his hair. He was completely lost now… but for a second… He shot back to a sit, "Wha…" He grabbed the scarf, with Erza not releasing it as he held it to his nose. "Y-you're right…" It was faint, but it was him.

She sniffed her scarf before smelling Ifrit again. This time he was alright with it… until she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Erza," he said meekly.

"Yes?"

"What was your relationship with Natsu?"

"… We were childhood friends," she pulled away and settled back on her knees.

"You seem to be more attached than friends."

Her dark brown eyes stared deep into his. "How would you know?"

"I've had friends... sorta." He had a dark, but sad look on his face, "I murdered seven of them just because Loneila said so. Simple as that…"

She was set back in a bit of frustration. Her sense of justice warned her how evil Ifrit was, but he seemed regretful.

He inhaled deeply, recollecting his thoughts before continuing, "Point is: Would you be able to kill Natsu?"

"No, that's ridiculous."

"Would you hurt him?"

"No, I would never hurt-" Her mind flashed back to the night with Jellal. "I would… never… not intentionally…" her eyes casted downwards.

That was supposed to be an easy answer and now she seemed to be lost in thought, staring at the floor. He reached out, resting his hand on her shoulder.

Erza's eyes welled up as she said, "I did…"

A hook formed in Ifrit's eyebrow as she peered up to see his face. He seemed focused, and awaiting an explanation.

"One day, out of nowhere Natsu turned on Fairy Tail. Nearly cleared out half of Magnolia when we finally took him down," she half-laughed at Natsu's strength, "After that, he tried to explain himself. Saying he 'lost control', 'it wasn't him,' or…"

"He felt as if someone was influencing him?" he interrupted, seeming to be following along.

"… close enough." She looked at him awkwardly.

He nodded once to continue.

"Alright," she took a deep breath and began softer, "I was in the park the next day, thinking of what to do when he showed up... I refused to talk to him and said that he was a traitor. The next day we had a mission together… And there was a pub nearby our objective where our group decided to rest. We had an argument, and it got overwhelming…" she shook her head clear of her sidetracking, "I let everyone believe he just walked off when it was I who drove him away." Her face lowered once again.

Ifrit watched her with his usual apathetic eyes. He could understand that someone would run after betraying his friends. It seemed logical not to stay there. Maybe he was smarter than-

His thoughts were cut short when a sound rang in his sensitive ears. It was like a drip of water. He searched the room until he found it beneath him. A droplet had fallen, then another. His eyes moved down slowly to Erza. She was crying softly.

"Knock it off," he said under his breath.

"what?"

"I said stop!" He shot to his feet, "Stop fucking crying! Right now!" He was now screaming down at her as she just sat there on her knees.

She blinked her wet eyes twice, "I just-"

"NO! No excuses… stop," he lowered to one knee, "no crying… Not for him." Something tugged on his emotions. There was an odd sensation of guilt. There's no way this was his fault, but he hated Natsu for it.

Erza felt the fabrics of the scarf, running her hand down it and gently grabbing its center. She threw it around her neck, wrapping it loosely and digging her nose deep into it to smell it.

Ifrit offered out a hand to her. His face was almost as if it were made of stone. A cold but understanding appearance. Her hand rose and gripped as tight as she could.

Suddenly his face cracked. In the yellow light, she was surprised to see he was frowning. He turned his attention to her hand, rolling it over and looking at her palm. It was cold and its grip was weak. He pulled her towards the fire's light. She was covered in dirt, and cuts that he hadn't noticed in the dark room. He was a fool for not noticing her slurring. She was pretending to be strong when she's about to collapse.

"Thank you," Erza said quietly, releasing her grip.

"We'll leave in a little bit, for now you should rest."

She nodded before scooting closer to the fireplace.

Ifrit stood up and moved to the window. The snow was built up all the way to the top. He then checked the door by pulling slightly. It whipped open a few degrees with ease, snow pouring through the crack. He stomped down his foot and slammed it closed.

"Frick," he cursed the weather before noticing how loud he was just now. He went back to Erza to check on her. She had laid down, curled into the fetal position, and was fast asleep. Her face was still wet with tears. He took off his coat and spread it over her. It obviously made her happy, pulling it closer into her. He could have sworn she smirked at his deed. Dropping down beside her, he couldn't help but watch the scarlet beauty sleep and snoring softly. She was cute when she didn't put on such a façade. She reminded him a lot of someone...


It was mid-morning and Mirajane was happily going about her business running the bar, waiting the tables, and conversing with her friends.

"Hey Mira, could I get some water?" Levy asked, jogging up to her at another table.

"Sure," Mirajane set down her tray and walked to the bar. "Gajeel come with you today?"

Levy's face reddened, "No, he said he had some training to do. He's been like this ever since Natsu beat him up."

"Maybe you should try and train with him. Natsu and Erza used to do it all the time."

"Haha, are you kidding?" Levy laughed sarcastically. "He'd kill me."

"There's always…" Mirajane's eyes caught one of the entrance doors creaking open slowly. In came Lucy with Gray on her shoulder. They looked exhausted, weak, and about to collapse. "Excuse me," she handed Levy the drinks that she swept away to her table.

Gray was sunk down beside the bar, leaning slightly on his shoulder. A moment later, he was snoring.

"Lucy, what happened?" Mirajane squatted down to check on him.

Lucy dropped into a stool and rested her chin on the bar. "Okay…," she retold what had happened after they had left for the train station and up to the point where they were trapped in the elemental shells. "We spent the next few hours trying to dig under them until we finally broke out. Then we had to spend the next six hours on the train back… Last night was a nightmare…"

"So where is Erza? And Ifrit?" Mirajane tuned back to the entrance, still concerned.

"We have no idea, they were gone when we got out."

Mirajane stared out the open door into the busy streets of Magnolia. Awaiting her friends' safe return.

"Mirajane?" Gray called weakly.

"Yes?" she spun to Gray, now tugging on her dress.

"Natsu,…" he groaned, "he's-"


Province.

Deep under the premises of the spire, Katsugi sat in the corner of his cell when he heard the clinking of his gate being opened. It slammed a second later, and the footsteps came closer, stopping right in front of him.

"What were you thinking, brother?" Loneila hissed. "You killed Tomah! Sure, I would have loved to rip his head off but-"

He made no effort to look up. She yanked his head up by his hair.

"Look at me!"

Though he was wincing, he kept his eyes shut. She came closer, her breath brushing his face.

"Look. At. Me." She growled.

He peeked one eye at her dully.

"Good," She smiled as she released his hair. "I don't like it when we fight, brother. Now," She began pacing slowly, "let's start from the beginning… You helped me in securing Natsu, right?"

His eyes lowered, remaining mentally absent.

"Katsugi! You helped capture Natsu! Why would you ruin all your past efforts?!"

"Because I shouldn't have…"

"That's pathetic, brother." She spat at his feet. "You've lost my respect." She turned to leave when he grabbed her ankle.

"And Natsu?" his hand tightened onto her.

Blood splattered against the wall as the edge of her heel glimpsed the bridge of his nose.

"Don't you dare touch me!" She yelled. All the prisoners from the other cells clung to their doors to watch.

His bloodied face pulled back to her with a sorrowful frown, "Please, Loneila,…"

Their eyes met in the dimly lit cell. His sad expression was shot down with her scowl.

"Ifrit's gone, and Natsu's dead. Happy?" His grip released as she slid the gate open and exited. Looking off to the side, she sighed, "This is goodbye, brother." A tear fell from her lowered face as she turned to leave.

The slam of the gate echoed around his cell as his ears rang with her words.

He nodded with his hair over his face, "Goodbye… sister."


Her eyes dimmed open, awakening to the popping of the burnt out logs. She sat up slowly, feeling uneasy and exhaling loudly.

"We need to get back soon," Ifrit said, leaning against the front door.

"Yeah," she rose to her feet, holding onto the mantel as she stood. "First, we gotta figure a way outta here…"

"No need, I melted the snow in front of the door while you slept," he swung out the door. Right as he stepped out, the door fell off its hinges and onto the ground.

"How long was I out?"

"Enough to miss lunch," he goaned unhappily. He turned back to ahead of him and began shuffling along the frozen lake's coast.

"Did you see what happened to the others?" she asked, dragging heavy footed behind him.

"Others? I don't know where we are, let alone anyone else."

"Whaddaya mean? You're the one who acted first when we were attacked."

He froze in his tracks as well as she.

"Attacked?" he scratched his head, trying to remember.

"It was Province."

Immediately he erected himself, "Province... Who?"

"Lucas," she said in a low tone before turning her head away. "He forced me to tell the others of Natsu."

"Hmph," Ifrit began his casual walk again.

Erza sprung after him, "Were you gonna say something?"

"No."

She slowed down a bit to get some distance between them. Her eyes wandered towards the great frozen lake. It was perfectly level- save for a hole near the center. Its reason unknown. She pieced together that a fishermen must have by here... but where's the nearest town?

"Thank god," he exclaimed, ending her train of thought and coming into a clearing. He turned to his left, and disappeared behind some trees.

She trudged on to reach the clearing before realizing he led them to a small train stop. The same they had come in.

"How'd you know?" She asked as she rubbed her hands together for warmth.

"I didn't, just followed my instincts."

"Well, you got us here in one piece," she complemented, kinda.

"So," he began, climbing the few stairs up. "Wanna tell me what we're doing here?"

She looked at him into absolute confusion, "I explained it last time you stood there and asked the same thing."

"Let's get this straight," he spun around holding up four fingers, as to count off his points, "I have NO clue how I got here, in that cabin, who the others are, or why you're injured."

"… Oh! Maybe you have amnesia. You got hit pretty bad when we broke through your fire wall." But then she realized that he seemed perfectly fine; only his clothes were dirty.

"That would explain this," he lifted his left hand. It's knuckles were scraped pretty badly, and looked as if it was smashed against a wall. "It was hurting earlier, but I have no idea how I got it."

"Amnesia," she repeated as the train pulled in.


The guild was crowded as normal when they arrived just after sundown. They ambled down to a table near the full bar where they caught Mirajane's attention almost the instant they sat down. She practically dropped everything to run and sit with Ifrit and Erza.

"Erza, tell me it's not true," Mirajane pled with her hands clasped together and already teared up.

"Tell you what?"

"Natsu, is he really-"

"Dead?" Ifrit interrupted, "Yes. He died in my hands a few nights ago; I was unable to recover the body. I apologize."

"Recover the body?" Mirajane's jaw dropped as Erza turned away.

No matter how many times she heard it, the same news stung her so much. She would never be able to make things right with him, or have any late night adventures, or have a one-on-one conversation where he would ultimately shock her with a bit of maturity.

"Probably coyotes or some other scavenger had gotten there and-" he could see how Mira's eyes widened with horror with each word. Even Erza began to cringe. "I'm sorry."

Erza turned to him, "It's not your fault." They locked eyes. He knew what she was connoting to.

"It wasn't yours either, Erza."

Mirajane looked at them both, utterly lost.

"Maybe not, but-"

"I am getting tired of this shit," his golden glare lashed out at her. Some of those around became silent and watched. "Get over it."

"Get over it?" Mirajane got in his face, nearly fuming with anger, "You may not have known Natsu, but we did! He doesn't deserve to-"

"Mira," Erza said, calming her back into her seat. She turned her attention back to him, "You're right, we will honor him for who he was for the rest of our lives. That is how I plan to justify it."

She looked at him with as much confidence and honesty as she could muster up.

"Say it," he commanded, not dropping his glare.

"Say what?"

"Say that you're over it."

Her eyes flicked from him to Mirajane and back. Should it really be that simple? To say you're over it, means things will get better?

The normal Erza would never take such an order from an average person, but she sought some form of relief from her grief.

"… I'm over it." To say it did not have the satisfaction she wanted.

"Good," he pulled away from his lunge over the table and readjusted to look at their guest, "I'm sorry if I offended you, Mirajane."

She simply nodded, "It's okay. Just please, speak kindly of Natsu."

"I will."

Erza was lost in her own thoughts. All the jobs they had done together, all the troubles, everything. The countless times he amazed her, and she had taken it for granted. She always trusted in him to be there, to survive every difficulty, but what happens when the difficulty is her? How did he feel in his final moments? What was going through his mind as he passed? Did he ever think of her? Could he still hate her?

"Erza!" Ifrit called.

"Huh?!" her knees crashed to the underside of the table, "Ow. What's wrong?"

"You might be deaf..." he shook his head. "Mirajane said Lucy and Gray already came by here. They're fine and went home earlier."

"That's good," she sighed.

Ifrit leaned over to their guest, whispering something that apparently worried Mirajane. She turned to look at her funny before placing a hand over Erza's forehead.

"Are you feeling alright, Erza? You feel kinda warm," Mirajane pulled her hand away and felt her cheek.

"I'm fine, just a bit worn out," she rose from her seat slowly, "I'm going home. I will see you guys tomorrow."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Mirajane, I'm fine." Erza turned and trudged to the door where she waved goodbye once more before disappearing behind it.

"So?" Ifrit asked.

Mirajane nodded, "It seems like she has a fever, but there's no stopping Erza."

"I know, she can be hard headed," Ifrit chuckled softly. Mirajane remained silent, staring into her lap. He didn't know what to do so he waited until she did something… anything…

"Natsu's body wasn't recovered," she said meekly, "Could he still be out there?"

Ifrit closed his eyes, throwing his hands behind him, and shook his head, "He passed away in my presence."

There was a moment of silence as the guild began to settle down. The clattering of glasses and mumbling of slurred voices filled the room. He scoffed a bit. It really was a relaxing environment compared to that of Province. He never felt like this before. To belong somewhere. Somewhere so nice.

"How?"

"Hm?" he peeked one eye at her, "How? It's a long story…"

She looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Alright…" he sighed, unhappy to not be able to relax in his own thoughts. "I was at Province. Loneila pissed me off so I took off."

"Loneila? Why does that sound familiar…" she pressed a finger to her lip.

"She's the Queen of Province."

"Oh, you guys came a little while back and had a picnic with Makarov."

He nodded once, "I ran into a crowd of people at the base of Province, all of which were panicking like a bunch of idiots. A prisoner had escaped."

"A prisoner?"

"Natsu."

"Oh… Why was he a prisoner?"

"I don't know. I don't think Mirajane knew either. Anyways, I went looking for the 'prisoner' as well. Unlike everyone else, I found Natsu just outside of Magnolia, probably close enough to hear him if he cried out for help…"

Mirajane began to tear up, consumed in her own emotions. But something caught her attention: Ifrit was upset. He was tensed up, and his hands gripped on the edges of the table.

"Ifrit?" she said softly.

"I don't get it. The man was dying… Why didn't he call for help?" His eyes moved to her face. "Even when Erza was there, but he did nothing until she left."

"Erza was there?"

"She stopped by because of the noise but I turned her around."

"Oh… Did he have any final words before he…"

Ifrit laughed lightly, "No, but he tried to convince me for twenty minutes that he was a wounded traveler."

She stared at him with her wet eyes, "That's not very funny."

"It was at the time. Anyways, he said he was going to take a breather, but… It was definitely longer than he imagined." Ifrit's eyes fell to the table, his smile fading. "I returned to Province. Worst mistake of my life, believe me. I decided too late to join you guys. I could have saved him…"

He began to drift in his memories. Natsu seemed like a decent man. Not once did he ask him for help or anything. They just talked. He should have done something for Natsu, but like everyone says, Ifrit is a cold, heartless animal. He had come to terms with it and taken his alias with a grain of salt. If they thought he was an animal, he would be a predator.

He looked up, realizing he must have been sitting there in silence for at least a few minutes. Mirajane had her face down in her arms resting on the table.

"Mirajane?" he asked cautiously.

She didn't respond.

He rose from his seat and tapped her shoulder.

"Hm?" she hummed as she awoke. Her eyes were a thin shade of red, and still wet with tears.

He put out a hand that she accepted as he rose her to her feet.

"I'm not really good at this," he groaned as his arms went around her and hugged her tight.

She was shocked at first, but settled in for a few seconds before he pulled away.

"Thank you," she said with her smile.

"Go home," he commanded in his old, rash tone. "You look like you've been crying all day."

She nodded slightly.

"I'll close up here, get outta here," he turned to the bar.

"Again, thank you."

He walked to the back of the bar and waited until she was out the door to reach for a small sign with red letters.

"Everyone! Bar's closed!" he put the 'Closed' sign onto the counter before turning to the staircase.

A large 'aaaaww' followed his announcement.

"This sucks…" Cana said to herself as she sipped the last of her beer.

Meanwhile, she overheard the conversation of two unfamiliar members a table down.

"Have you seen Elfman lately?" The woman asked.

"Nah. He's been gone for almost a week, ah?" The drunkard replied.

Cana turned curiously to them, wasted out of her mind. "Elf-man?"

"What about Luxio? Or Takagi?"

"Nope, they all gone fo' days now."

"Wait- I don't know who those people are…" Cana said to herself.

"Hm, people are just disappearing…" the woman said.

"Who cares? We gonna run out of beer soon."

"I think you've had enough," the woman sighed before leaving the bar.


With more effort than she remembered needing, Erza struggled to push open the guild door. It creaked open, releasing a light humming of whispers. Everyone seemed to be crowded around the bar, filled with a mixture of worried and enduring faces.

"What's going on?" Erza voiced over the group.

The crowd split to allow Lucy and Mirajane through.

"Erza," Lucy sighed in relief, "it's Gray. He's gone."

"What do you mean, 'gone?'"

A young girl with short blue hair appeared from the crowd. "We were walking here this morning, but he had this weird look in his eye…. then he just turned and walked off smiling…"

Erza shook her head, "Doesn't mean he's gone forever."

"I saw him walk out of Magnolia and straight into the forest," Lucy said.

"Even Elfman is gone," Mirajane tuned in, "he's been gone for some time now, but with all these recent disappearances, I worry he might have left as well."

Erza looked behind of them at the crowd watching cautiously. It was smaller than normal…

"Well how many have left?" she asked.

"Over 60."

"Sixty?!" Erza looked around again, this time, the crowd really did seem much smaller. She didn't see Elfman, or Gray,... Levi,... Gajeel,... Master. "Where's Master Makarov?"

Mirajane's face drooped into a frown, "He left the day you went on your mission to see the council about Province."

A headache grew as Erza rubbed her temples, "So he can't-"

A loud slam echoed in the room, silencing everyone. Loud footsteps followed, like someone sprinting. A figure slid to a stop at the top of the stairs. He was panting underneath his hood, gripped tightly onto the railing. His breathing slowed as he realized he had everyone's attention.

"So nice of you to join us, Ifrit," Mirajane greeted.

He slowly descended the stairs, keeping his head low until he reached the group amidst the guild.

"Erza, how are you feeling?" he asked, looked up and down her.

She blushed slightly at the sudden interest, "I-I'm fine. You?"

"I… We got ambushed yesterday… right?"

"No, that was the day before."

"R-right..." he froze.

Erza looked at him awkwardly, "You don't remember?"

"Okay you guys, back to our runaway friends," Lucy chimed in. "What're we going to do?"

Ifrit looked at each of them. Runaway friends… People left Fairy Tail?

"What can we do?" Erza rephrased. "We can't follow them anymore, and we don't know where they went."

"I know," a voice rang from the open door. A silhouette of a woman, hunched against the frame called before collapsing.

Within a blink of the eye Ifrit was beside her, lowering her slowly.

"Y-you're Ifrit?" she asked.

"Take it easy, Levi. You look pretty beaten up," he replied, resting her head on his lap.

"Gajeel wouldn't listen to me-"

"Gajeel?" The others were now behind him, and Lucy beside him.

"Yeah, he said he was… ditching us losers to join Province…" her eyes began to tear up.

Ifrit looked up and out the door.

"You're really familiar, you know… Kinda like Natsu…" she whispered before passing out.

"Natsu… I get that a lot." He rested her on Lucy's lap and rose to his feet. Without looking at the others, he stepped over her and into the street. He looked down the street he knew to be east.

"You really are a constant reminder of Natsu," Mirajane said with a smile. She had followed him with Erza right behind.

"Is that a bad thing?" He frowned.

"No, no, it's just hard to stop thinking about him."

"We still haven't planned his memorial service and there's already another problem," Erza stepped forward, "we just need some peace so we can honor him."

"Honor?... He's..."

"It's okay," Erza had a weak smile, "I'm over it."

Ifrit's golden glare met hers, making it really hard to hold the smile.

"You're over… him?" he asked.

She looked once more at Mirajane before nodding, "Yes."

"... Good," he said softly as he began to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Province," he replied barely audible, more so to himself.

"What're you planning?" She began to follow him.

Fires engulfed his hands and lower back, "I don't know… I don't care."

His words spit like venom. It destroyed the path she planned to follow with him as she stopped in her tracks.

"Do you need support?" she asked, almost a plea.

"I don't need anything," he hissed.

"Excuse me," a lower voice came from the sidelines. A bulky man with an eye patch stood before them. He stood more than a foot taller than Ifrit, looking down at them both. He had a short gray beard, and a bright white smile. Large gold-plated shoulder plates rested on him like feathers, and a broadsword wrapped in linen, nearly as tall as he, was hitched to his back. "You said you were on your way to Province, was it?"

Ifrit did not respond. His golden eyes would not abandon the path before him, but he did stop to listen to the stranger.

"Yes," Erza confirmed, "Province was the destination. What's your interest?"

"My dear daughter was said to be the Queen of Province where I come from."

"Loneila - She's your daughter?" Ifrit finally looked at the man underneath his hood.

He nodded, "Yes, I'm-"

"Dead?" Ifrit glared at him. A strange feeling built inside of Ifrit, like a warning flag being raised.

A guilty, or surprised look appeared on the man's face, "My name is George Barony. I am in search of my children."

"Tell your story on the road," Ifrit said softly as he spun back to the road.

Erza did not receive such a glance like George. Even George looked at her with somewhat a fearful expression before trailing behind of him.

"Are you sure you don't need me?" she asked.

He stopped, half-turning to shoot her a venomous glare. Her defensive instincts kicked in with a strong appearance, though she did not feel that way.

"Why? Why do you want to come? To find the one that killed Natsu?!"

"No! I hadn't thought about…"

He whipped away from her, his coat flapping in the wind, "Of course not! Why don't you just get over it?"