Mavis told Harry that he had been shown the Lumen Histoire because she felt he would be an asset in its protection. More importantly though he'd been shown because Mavis felt he should know the history that the guild, and more specifically she, shared with Zeref. She was convinced that Zeref would eventually target Harry once he drew the same conclusion she had about him being the originator of the 'One Magic'. Which was still a concept that Harry kept flip flopping on his acceptance of. He understood why she suspected something of the sort might be true, but it felt sort of conceited to view himself as being that important.

Magic had existed before he had after all.

Regardless of Harry's viewpoint on the theory, Mavis believed that Zeref would attempt to find a way to possess Harry's magic for himself. Whether that included mind control of some sort, removing the power from Harry entirely, or some other even more sinister plan she couldn't say. Once upon a time she had thought her love for Zeref could change the man for the better, but apparently, she had given that dream up for dead.

"More juice?"

Harry startled out of his thoughts to see Mira standing in front of him with a pitcher of juice and an expectant look on her face. "Oh, sure. Thanks, Mira."

She nodded and gave him a smile. She poured the juice and then bustled away. The guild was busy today. Every mage Harry knew personally was here along with a fair few he had never actually spoken to.

"No job today?" Lucy asked with a smile, pulling herself through the crowd to take a seat next to him.

"Mmm… hadn't decided." He answered honestly. He had enough money to make it to the end of the month comfortably and the rest of the guild was still in a buzz about the events that had been reported from Era yesterday. Someone had destroyed the Magic Council chambers. All members were reported dead and the uncertainty as to why it had happened seemed to be keeping rumors floating around.

"Hard to get excited about a job when so much is happening." Lucy nodded. "I mean, the council was mostly jerks, but they certainly didn't deserve to die."

Harry opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off as a slam sounded. Someone had burst into the guild hall and was beelining for Makarov where he sat on the bar. Eyes were already turning as the man, Harry was pretty certain his name was Jet, relayed some urgent message to the guild master. Makarov paled several shades before the man was even done talking and whipped in Harry's direction.

"Harry!"

Harry startled bad enough to knock over his juice when his name came out of Makarov's mouth.

"With me, now."

Harry slid out of his chair, sharing a confused look with Lucy who also joined him. Makarov moved with enough haste that Harry somehow struggled to keep up with the much shorter man. They reached the guild's new infirmary doors and Harry felt his stomach drop.

Porlyusica had insisted they add the room to their guild since they had so much available space to do so in. Apparently, she was tired of having patients in her home. It was barely more than a few cots set up in a mostly blank room with dividing curtains for privacy and a separate entrance from the main hall. It hadn't been finished officially. The room hadn't been used for anything more serious than a sprained ankle yet, but apparently today it was getting its first major case. More accurately cases.

Laying on every single one of the cots was a prone body. Freed was closest to them when they entered and the only one of them that appeared to be even partially conscious. His eyes were staring at Harry and Makarov as they entered in that hazy way that spoke of a horrible fever and delirium. Harry darted forward with no prompting. He may not have technically been a healer by the wizarding world's standards, but he'd learned that he was fairly capable in this new age with his stronger magic to compensate for his limited spell knowledge.

"What happened?" Makarov asked, tone hard as steel.

Harry pushed magic toward Freed to try to figure that out as Freed opened his mouth to respond. There was a sharp popping sound and Harry recoiled with a yelp. His fingers were singed where he'd tried to send magic in. He'd never seen anything like it and apparently Freed wasn't the cause because he looked equally startled under the hazy look. Thankfully the pain that struck Harry didn't seem to have affected they already ailing man though. There were no scorches on Freed's skin, just Harry's.

"Devil particles." Porlyusica was kneeling beside the smallest form, an old man Harry didn't recognize. He wasn't sure if she'd been in the room when they entered. He'd been too horrified by the downed guild members to have glanced around. "It's an anti-magic poison. It's fatal even in small doses."

Anti-magic poison. Harry looked down at Freed's pale skin with new understanding. The poison had rejected his magic? It would take a creative solution to solve this, or perhaps just a large amount of sheer force?

"They're after ex-council members?" Lucy repeated something someone else had said that Harry had missed in the midst of his rushing thoughts.

Harry tried to more powerfully run magic into Freed's arm. The pop this time was louder and Harry felt the burn up to his wrists. At least it didn't seem to be injuring Freed any. Maybe if he just pushed from one side he'd be able to push the poison in a specific direction?

"Stop it." Porlyusica slapped his hands away from Freed who was barely awake now and watching them with half shuttered eyes. "I don't need more patients on top of these ones." She barked.

Harry grit his teeth and nearly started arguing back, but small hands clutched his still smarting wrist and pulled him gently backward. Wendy was giving him a concerned look that bordered on crying as she glanced between him and their sick guild mates. He winced and let himself be pulled slightly further away. "I want to help too." She said, voice incredibly upset. "But I don't think there's anything we can do here. Even the poison healing spells I know aren't doing anything."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but she continued. "They're meeting in the guild hall to try and figure out how to keep this from happening to anyone else."

Harry felt his mouth close with a painful snap. He glanced back at their guild mates who were laying there completely helpless and dying. Could he really do nothing about this? Guilt ate at his stomach.

"We're needed out there." Wendy said, eyes almost pleading with him to see reason. It just made him feel a different kind of guilt that a child had to be his voice of reason. He swallowed down his anger at his inadequacy and let Wendy pull him out of the infirmary.

"Loke has the addresses of four former council members." Erza was saying, pointing out where those locations were on a map someone had rolled out hastily. "We'll have to divide into teams and try to track down the ones whose locations we are capable of finding. For others, like Jellal, we'll just have to hope that-"

"I can find him." Harry cut in immediately. He wanted to do something. He needed to feel useful. Erza paused and the look she gave him when she glanced up was almost hopeful in a way that made him suspect he hadn't been too far off in his assumptions when he stumbled on them on that beach and thought they'd been about to kiss. He distantly noted that it was somewhat less creepy now that he knew they had grown up about the same age.

"I'll go with him." Wendy immediately offered, but Harry shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't think it's a good idea. I'll likely have to line of sight apparate. It's riskier with two people and I wouldn't want to hurt you if I made a mistake."

"Right, we'll divide people up to search for the remaining ex-council members." Erza cut off whatever Wendy's retort to that was going to be. "We don't know what their goal is so we're aiming to retrieve the council members and get them back here for the sake of their safety. We also need information. We need to find out if they know why council members are being targeted and we'll need addresses for any other ex-members that you can get."

"Right!" came the cheer of the gathered guild members.

"Anyone not out searching for council members will be here ready to head out as soon as we have new addresses and names. You'll also be back up if any is needed."

The guild cheered again and Harry spotted Cana starting to hand out cards to specific people as Erza broke them off into teams. A large part of the guild would be staying behind, Harry noted. It seemed Cana would be coordinating communication efforts.

Erza approached, handing Harry one of Cana's cards. 'Call Cana' was emblazoned on the front with a small picture of the girl in the middle. He raised his brows at the thing. "Thank you for offering to find Jellal."

He nodded. "It's fine Erza. No need to thank me. He did me a favor in the past after all."

Erza gave him a scowl. Apparently, she didn't consider the prison break a favor for Harry. That was fair in some respects. It was more a favor for the kids they'd let go. "You'll be the only one man team." She said, face serious. "If you get into any trouble please use the card to call Cana. I'll have her list you as priority one for back up if calls come in."

Harry nodded, just a bit distracted.

"Alright Fairy Tail!" Makarov's voice rang above the den of voices and everyone quieted. "OUR TARGET IS TARTAROS! They're part of the Balam Alliance, but we took down the other two and we'll take them down as well!"

A roar went up through the guild so loud it vibrated in Harry's chest. They must have gotten the identity of the guild from Freed while Harry had been encompassed in trying to heal him.

"We fight for our precious bonds, and we'll make them regret ever daring to touch a member of Fairy Tail!"

Harry joined the second roar of approval.

Wendy was upset she hadn't been able to accompany Harry. Of all her guild mates she would say that her bond with Harry was probably the most substantial if she excluded her pre-existing friendship with Carla. It was a friendship that had started quite suddenly and developed like wildfire. Wendy felt close to Natsu, Lucy, and Erza too, but over the last few months she'd found a burgeoning kinship with Harry that she hadn't quite understood until very recently.

On the night that Harry had been promoted to S class Wendy had stuck to his side like glue. She'd had a fight with Carla that felt raw at the time, but more than that she'd been proud. She'd been part of the reason Harry had made it through the rounds. She'd been a part of a team that had won. Harry had been so appreciative and supportive through the trials that at the time she'd wondered if that was what it was like to have an older brother.

Then Harry had gotten drunk and he'd spilled his secret. Wendy reminded him of his daughter. His dead daughter.

Wendy hadn't known how to take that. At first her mind had rebuked the thought. Wendy was her own person thank you very much. She wasn't a replacement for someone's dead daughter. The thought of him seeing someone else when he looked at her had hurt.

It was likely a good thing that it was several days before she saw him again. She'd needed time to work through those feelings. She realized that maybe, just maybe, she was being unfair. Harry obviously hadn't sought her out to replace his daughter, and she'd been the one to deepen their friendship anyway. There was nothing overtly wrong with his feeling fatherly toward her except that it made her realize that it meant he saw her as a kid. Maybe that's a large part of the reason it stung.

Wendy constantly felt as if she had to prove herself to the guild because of her age. She was the youngest active mage in the guild and she knew that everyone saw her primarily as a healer and person to be protected. Harry had always made her feel like she had the potential to be more than that. The idea of him seeing her as just a weak kid… the idea of him seeing her the same way she knew everyone else did… that had hurt.

As the days passed though she started to realize that maybe she'd overreacted. He clearly didn't see her as incapable or a handicap. Why would he pick a teammate that he felt would slow him down more than help? It took her awhile to realize that, if anything, his affection had only helped them get closer.

Harry kept most people at a distance. Wendy wasn't blind. They had started out as acquaintances and Harry had struggled not to distance himself from her as well. By some miracle he'd found a way past it. At some point he'd stopped putting on the mask of a friend and started just being honestly friendly. She couldn't say with certainty when it had happened, but she was certain it was the primary reason that it had hurt to have her perception of their relationship change.

"Wendy?"

Wendy snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at Carla who was giving her a familiar appraising look. Carla had known her long enough to know when she was getting in her own head. Wendy offered her a smile and Carla held the stare a moment longer before letting out a sigh and facing away.

"We'll be arriving soon. Make sure you're ready."

Wendy's brow pinched, but she didn't say anything. This was another thing that had happened suddenly. Carla was always so incredibly outspoken, but she'd seemed subdued the last couple of weeks. Since their fight if Wendy recalled correctly.

Wendy likely would've asked Carla what was wrong in the past and apologized for upsetting her friend. Right now, she was wholly okay with letting Carla keep her distance. Wendy loved Carla dearly, but sometimes she toed the line with what she said. The night they fought she'd crossed it. If Harry had heard her comment Wendy didn't even want to think of the hurt it might have caused him. For all his strength, Harry was incredibly easy to push away or injure emotionally.

Wendy had grown up with only Carla to befriend. Now that she was gaining new people in her life that were also important to her she didn't want to have to choose which one got to be happy. She wanted everyone to be happy, but Carla seemed almost offended by the idea of anyone getting close to Wendy. Sometimes Wendy wondered if Carla disliked everyone in the world but her.

Whatever her feelings were Carla seemed to be intensely thoughtful lately, and quieter than was normal for the cat.

When the train pulled into the station Wendy was first out of her seat with her bag slung over her back and ready to go. Lucy and Natsu were equally eager to get to their mission. Wendy was happy she'd been allowed to go on one of the first teams deployed. At least she'd be able to occupy her mind with the task at hand and not worry about the guild members in the infirmary, or the memory of Harry collapsing when they'd gone to find Natsu and Gray. She knew logically that he was better now, but the idea of him going off on his own after that sat wrong.

It took Lucy very little time to direct them to the correct address and once there they were faced with a small old man with the strangest cat ears on his head and the deepest scowl Wendy had ever seen. Lucy went through a basic explanation of why they'd shown up on his doorstep and all he wanted to know was how they'd found him. He was a grumpy old geezer who was clearly intent on making their job harder.

"You'll be safer with protection." Lucy argued, but no one wanted to explain that they knew his location because Loke had slept with the man's granddaughter.

"Nonsense. You're a problem guild and you're clearly trying to use me as bait."

"You'd be targeted whether we offered you protection or not." Carla bit out, irritation clearly winning over her current thoughtfulness. "That's not the same thing as being bait."

"What kind of idiot just stands around waiting to get killed?!"

"We're offering to move you to Fairy Tail's guild hall!" Lucy cried, clearly frustrated. "That's not the same thing as standing around!"

"Grandfather, they're here to help. We should work with them. Stop being rude." The old man's granddaughter was far more reasonable than he was and Wendy was grateful for that.

"Do you have any idea why you might be targeted or where to find other council members?" Wendy asked. The longer they stood here arguing the more antsy she was getting.

"Too many reasons someone could be targeting council members. People hold grudges." The old man said, mildly more reasonable after his granddaughter chastised him. "Wait… no it could be…"

He didn't get to finish the thought because Natsu slammed the whole group to the ground with a cry of, "Get down!"

Wendy barely had time to inhale before an explosion rocked the home, tearing wood and stone asunder and nearly deafening her. She pushed some magic into her ears the way she'd been practicing with Harry to help soothe the ringing even as she pulled herself up with a cough.

"Is everyone alright?" Carla piped up from Wendy's right and Wendy felt a surge of relief as everyone chimed in a positive. No one seemed to be injured.

"Managed to get it in time." Natsu said, patting his slightly distended stomach. He must've eaten the explosion. Wendy was briefly jealous that Natsu's dragon slayer abilities let him do something that cool.

"Oh, would you look at that." A strange voice added to the mix. "I thought you'd all be blown to bits."

"Tartaros." Natsu's voice came out as sharp as a knife. Wendy had spotted the guild mark at the same time Natsu said the name.

"Oh, and who might you be?" the man that had appeared on the edge of the wall asked. Wendy noted strange animalistic ears not dissimilar to the old man's they were trying to protect. But whereas the rest of the old man was human this newcomer seemed almost inhuman in nature with his sharp teeth and elongated pupils.

"I'm Natsu from Fairy Tail." Natsu answered, his own teeth gnashing in a threatening manner that Wendy only ever saw from him when he was well and truly mad. "And I'm gonna kick your ass."

Natsu launched himself forward and Wendy dragged Lucy's arm back toward the old man they were supposed to be protecting. Having Harry along to teleport him out of this place would've been really helpful right that moment. "We've got to get him out of here." Wendy said, face setting into a determined frown. Lucy nodded. A ring of explosions detonated outside of the house as well as in front of the raging Natsu. Lucy cried out in surprise, barely keeping her feet in the shaking.

"The town has nothing to do with this!" Lucy yelled, eyes wide with anger and a hint of fear. Wendy could feel that fear clawing its way up her chest too. If the man was willing to attack anyone or anything then the people around them were in just as much danger as the old man they'd come to protect. Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy were good mages even by Fairy Tail standards but they couldn't singlehandedly protect a whole town.

"You leave them out of this!" Natsu growled and decked their opponent in the face hard enough to send him slamming into the ground next to the group.

The time for delicacy was over. Wendy shoved the old man into Lucy and made a motion for the older girl to hurry. Lucy scooped up the old man who gave only the barest trace of complaint for once. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them with Happy and Carla trailing after. Explosions rattled the streets behind them, growing more distant by the moment. Wendy kept her eyes peeled. As soon as she was sure they weren't within eyeline of the explosion producing wizard anymore she dragged Lucy back around another corner. Happy and Carla whipped around just after them with the old man's granddaughter in tow, everyone looked winded and frightened.

"We have to keep moving." Lucy looked frantic.

"I'm with the busty one." The old man agreed, earning a momentary look of irritation from Lucy who was still holding him under one arm.

Wendy shook her head. Spending time with Harry was teaching her some things about thinking outside of the box. If they continued the way they were and Natsu somehow became incapacitated they'd have two people to protect in tow as well as being down a fighter. They needed maneuverability more than they needed a constant eye on the man they'd come to protect, and Natsu needed back up.

"Carla, can you take him outside the city?" Wendy was judging distances rapid fire in her head. She wasn't sure how long they'd have. The guy from Tartaros could already be tracking them even with Natsu trying to fight him. She made a gesture in the general direction of Magnolia via the train lines. "If you take him a few miles outside of the city we can meet back up fairly easily on the trains." It would be easy for the cat to sneak on board after it had departed.

"Now wait just a minute." The old man protested, squirming in Lucy's grip until the blonde dropped him.

"Happy, you should take Lucy so you can make sure he's protected in case anyone else is looking for him." Lucy opened her mouth to protest this time, but Wendy forged on. "And I'm sorry miss, but he's not after you. I think it would be in your best interest to separate from us. You can make your way to Magnolia but I would give it a few hours before boarding any trains. Just to make sure you're not pulled into any of this again."

"Wendy, I won't let you go back into that fight alone." Carla argued and Lucy nodded vehemently beside her. "You could be injured, child. What ever made you think this could be a good option."

"I won't be alone." She denied just as quickly. "Natsu is here, but he is fighting alone right now. The longer we argue about this the more likely that the guy he's fighting finds us or hurts him. Please, this is the best option. I can help Natsu if he's injured and I can fight. Lucy's a better option for defending him if it's a one on one fight." Wendy gestured at the old man.

Lucy bit her lip, looking a bit unsure. Carla gave her a long, measuring look before she nodded. "Try to be on the train that departs in two hours." Wendy had honestly expected her to fight the decision harder, but she swooped down and grabbed the old man by his shoulders and took off in a low flight pattern to blend in with the buildings until they were further out.

"I'll make sure everyone stays safe." Happy offered, grabbing Lucy. He grimaced. "Although maybe I won't have the energy after this."

"What was that, cat?" Lucy barked as they took off.

"Good luck." The young lady who'd been a good sight more pleasant to deal with than her grandfather offered her a wan smile before turning to dissolve into the crowd.

Wendy set her sights on the road they'd just ran down. She retraced their steps easily, but she didn't make it back to the shell of a house. About two blocks over she nearly ran face first into the man Natsu had been fighting with no hint of Natsu anywhere in sight.

Wendy skidded to a stop and eyed the man warily.

"They sent a kid out to fight me alone?" the man was all teeth as he grinned almost sadistically at her. "Where's the old man, kiddo? I'm all for having a bit of fun tearing you apart, but I got a job to do."

She glared defiantly back which seemed not to be the answer he'd been hoping for. "Where's Natsu?"

"Laying in a crater somewhere back in the old man's house." The grin somehow stretched wider. "Maybe you can join him."

An explosion detonated to her right and Wendy was barely able to jump out of the way of catching it directly only to find herself buffeted the opposite way by a second one. The heat was intense. Wendy's mind flashed back to Alzack's arm in the waiting room after the second trial. She bellowed out a sky dragon roar and launched herself clear of the inferno. Her eyes were wide as she searched for her opponent in the aftermath.

"Up here, kiddo."

Wendy felt her heart try to escape through her throat. She twisted mid air and barely dodged the hand coming at her throat with a poorly timed sky dragon roar. It launched her away from her opponent but also made her hit the side of the building next to them with an unfortunate amount of speed. The air wheezed out of her lungs and she dropped the rest of the way to the ground trying desperately to get her lungs to stop twitching with the need for air. It wasn't helping her breathe at all and her back ached from the solid hit.

On a positive note the move did launch her opponent into the building opposite of hers at an even higher angle than she'd hit, and his fall seemed to have actually caused a bit of damage as well. Small victories, as she'd heard Harry say.

She forced herself to her feet even as her body dragged in ragged breaths. Her opponent did the same. The smile was long gone, replaced with a scowl just as deep. Wendy centered herself, breathing come back into her control. She cast a speed enchantment on herself with a quickly uttered vernier.

"I'm about done playing around." The guy said, stalking forward. "Time to say goodnight, kid."

Wendy darted to the side and around her opponent. She could just see the surprise spreading across his face at her increased speed before she went in for a punch and a voice rang through the street. "Wendy! Don't touch him!"

Wendy was inches from touching the guy and said guy was already twisting around to catch her punch as well. She made a snap judgement and sent another forceful sky dragon's roar his way. The two blasted apart, but Wendy was just able to keep her feet as she skidded away from the man and her opponent didn't go down or hit a building either, much to her disappointment.

On the bright side a scuffed up Natsu had entered the scene. He looked like he'd been introduced to the inside of a toaster oven, but otherwise he seemed uninjured. Wendy felt the slightest bit of tension leak out of her frame at the confirmation of his safety. "Are you okay?" she asked as he took a step in front of her.

"Never been better." Natsu's cocky grin was assurance that he at least wasn't badly injured. She'd count that as a win for now. He threw himself forward and decked their opponent in the face and Wendy felt herself grimace at the loud clack of teeth crashing together. Then she gave him a petulant look.

"I thought you said not to touch him."

"Should've followed your own advice." The man agreed from in his pile of rubble. A symbol on Natsu's arm lit up and Wendy figured out why she wasn't supposed to touch him. Natsu lit up from the inside out and there was a huge puff of smoke but when it cleared Natsu was grinning despite looking like he'd been introduced to an electrical socket.

"What the-"

"Figured out how to counter your stupid bombs, even when I'm the bomb." Natsu said bitingly, fist clenching. "Guess that means I win, huh?"

The man was looking pretty beat up and for a second Wendy thought he might concede. That moment passed when he let out a bark of laughter. "Guess I did lose, huh?" he said, then the laughter cut off as he fixed them with a sneer. "But I can still take you idiots with me."

His body started to glow like Natsu's had but the light was more intense and Wendy assumed that meant he'd made the bomb inside himself bigger somehow.

A snarl of laughter escaped the man's throat. "Nothing you do now is gonna stop it." He said vindictively. "I'll see you both in hell."

"Natsu!" Wendy was panicking. She didn't know what to do. The light was growing incredibly bright. They likely only had seconds before they and part of the town went up in a massive explosion.

"Follow my lead, Wendy!" Natsu yelled and the fire dragon slayer was making a huge fist of fire easily three times as big as the building they were standing next to. It latched onto the man on the ground who let out a surprised gasp. Natsu hurled the man in the air, straight up with as such force that he went sailing. Wendy likely wouldn't have been able to attain as much height herself, but she caught on to Natsu's plan instantly. She pulled a trick out of Harry's skillset and put a gentle wind in the man's way to slow his descent back toward the ground.

Somehow, miraculously, it worked. They were able to gain just enough height to clear the city from any major damages and maintain it long enough that whatever timer the man had set went off while he was still airborne.

Wendy fell back on her butt, heaving a sigh of relief and Natsu grinned wide enough to show teeth.

"Looks like we did it!" Natsu let out a belt of laughter. "And gramps cant even complain this time. We saved the city and everything!"

Wendy glanced at the street they'd smashed their opponent through to get to where they were. A brick dropped noisily to the ground from a demolished wall.

"Mostly."

Cana had the calling cards lined up. They were the back up contact points for the groups that had gone in search of the targeted council members. Some weren't able to take any sort of contact lacrima with them. Others were just holding onto the cards in case anything happened to the lacrima or it was incapable of connecting. It was a failsafe to make sure they had two points of contact in case of emergency.

Cana knew her role was important. That didn't make it sting any less that she'd been asked to stay at the guild during the first major incident since her promotion.

She tied herself up in taking calls as they started coming in. The news wasn't great. Juvia and Gray were first to report back. Their target was already long dead by the time they arrived on scene. They were already on their way back having found nothing at the scene that they thought was likely to help with the current situation. Lisanna and Elfman were next to call in reporting something similar before their lacrima cut out. They didn't reach out via card though so it was assumed they were on their way back as well.

That left three groups unaccounted for so far. Erza and Mira's, Natsu's team, and Harry.

The lacrima flickered to life in front of Cana and she let out a sigh of relief she hadn't even been consciously aware she was holding. Lucy's face filled the screen before she backed off enough to show a generic setting of what seemed to be a cliff face.

"Oh man Lucy, tell me you've got good news." Were the first words out of her mouth. The rest of the guild members nearby halted what they were doing for a second. It was the first time in hours Cana had spoken so she likely startled them. They went back to whatever they were doing behind her that involved maps and books. Cana hadn't really bothered to ask about it. They were likely listening in now though. Makarov shuffled closer to the lacrima.

"Good and bad actually." Lucy said, face serious. Cana wanted bang her head against the table the lacrima rested on. She only just resisted the urge.

"Is that Makarov?" a grumpy voice demanded and then a tiny old man pulled himself into frame from Lucy's side. "I've had just about enough of your guild, Makarov. Hooligans, the lot of them!"

"Michello." Makarov greeted reluctantly from next to Cana. "Glad to see you aren't dead. I assume that's the good news Lucy."

Lucy nodded and opened her mouth, likely to give the bad news, but Michello cut in again.

"They levelled my house. Not a single board still up!"

"We saved your life! Show a bit more gratitude!" Carla's voice piped up from off screen. Cana was delighted to see the tiny old man balk a bit at the venom in the cat's tone.

"Shame he's not the one in the coma." Cana muttered to herself.

"Wendy and Natsu stayed behind to fight off an attacker." Lucy said, before the old man could cut in again. "And a few minutes ago there was a huge explosion over the city."

The guild had been bustling about behind the conversation, but all sound came to an abrupt stop as every eye turned to the lacrima. They already had four guild members and a civilian down. This wasn't turning out in their favor.

"Large enough that Natsu couldn't have neutralized it?" Makarov's tone was dead serious.

Lucy nodded almost solemnly. Carla's head popped into frame.

"We have a rendezvous point set up with Wendy in about an hour." The cat interjected. She didn't seem nearly as worried as Lucy which was mildly encouraging.

"Make sure you're careful." Makarov said, frown still dragging his face down. "If there's any sign that an enemy figured out where you were going you get out of there immediately. We'll send someone out that way just in case you need back up."

Lucy nodded. "We also talked a bit once we got here." She supplied. "I think you should hear what Michello has to say."

"I want compensation for my home!" the old man yelled.

"Not that…" Lucy rolled her eyes. "It took some prying, but he's pretty sure he knows what they're targeting him for now."

"Which is?" Cana asked when neither Lucy nor the old man immediately offered the information.

"Face." The argumentative tone in the old man's voice was gone. They couldn't see his expression because of the height of the lacrima feed, but he sounded terrified. "It's an anti-magic weapon that would wipe out magic on the whole continent."

There was a pause as every processed that. Cana couldn't hold back her indignant groan.

"Again?"

One of Cana's cards crackled to life off to her side.

"Hello?"

"One second." Cana held up a finger for Lucy. "Harry?"

"Oh good, it works." Harry's voice filtered through the card and he sounded relieved. "It's so weird talking to a playing card. Anyway, pretty sure I've got a visual on Jellal. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Might be some… issues. He seems to be arguing with some people."

Cana fought back another groan. Why couldn't anything be simple?

"I'll try to keep you appraised of the situation." He offered, sounding less concerned than amused if his tone was anything to go by. It was almost like he could tell she was aggravated. "I don't think I need back up though. They don't feel like anything spe… okay gotta go."

The signal cut on Harry's end of the card abruptly. She blinked at the thing then glanced at Makarov. "Should we send back up anyway?"

Makarov sighed and rubbed his temples. "He didn't say where he was."

"Ah." She realized he was right. That should've been her first question. If she got him back on the line it would be her first question.

"Alright, back to this conversation." Cana shifted to face Lucy again who seemed to have been listening in intently along with Happy and Carla who were hovering near her shoulders. "So, Face, anti-magic weapon, continue."

"Don't be so blasé about it!" Michello piped up off screen sounding irate, which Cana was starting to piece together was nothing new. "Face is protected by a series of wards. The keys to those wards are held by council members."

"Which ones?" Makarov asked immediately.

"I don't know!" Michello replied angrily. "No one knows all three. Most council members don't even know that Face exists."

"So, our best bet is to find every living council member and keep them alive indefinitely?" Levi's voice piped in over Cana's shoulder. "That's a tall order."

Considering their success rate so far that was a fair assessment.

"Well, two successes so far." Cana chimed back in. "Let's hope Harry and Lucy can keep it that way."

I have been so excited to get to Wendy's evolution into a competent and more self-assured person. She has one of the best character arcs in Fairy Tail. I just thought I'd help her find some more self assurance a little earlier.

Ah, we're getting our first real cold front of the season and it's put me in the best mood. Thank you for the well wishes on my exams and I hope you guys enjoyed. I'm gonna go make tea and find an oversized hoodie.

~Kanathia