New chapter, whooh! I put my heart into this one and I really hope you will all like it ^^

Thanks as always CJ for proofreading!


''Keep walking,'' Cobra hissed as he pushed Mest forward through a door opening.

They had teleported to Crime Sorciere's headquarters with Mest's little regained powers and he was now struggling to walk steadily. His knees felt like jelly and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't go faster than just a sluggish walk.

One final knee to his back knocked him over the doorstep. The room was badly lit, but the atmosphere that drifted around inside gave away who was present.

''It has been a while, hasn't it?'' Jellal said, not looking up from his desk. Apparently, he had some very important documents to read.

''Why aren't you on the battlefield?'' Mest asked, ignoring the question. ''Fairy Tail needs help.''

Jellal's gaze shot up to meet his. The light of the oil lamp reflected fiery in his golden eyes.

Mest could feel a chill run down his spine and tried to hide how badly he needed to swallow from how dry his throat had become.

Not a lot of wizards could exert such magical power from their presence alone. Jellal was one of those. His calm and gentle manners couldn't hide the raw source of magic that lay dormant within him. It was almost like his powers formed a tangible aura around him.

''Some plans take time to execute,'' he answered, hitting a nerve of Mest's.

He could feel his heart beat out of his chest and his breath go up to his throat. ''Are you implying I acted on a whim?!'' He hissed.

''I'm just stating the obvious.''

That's it. ''You arrogant, little-'' Mest leaped forward to drag Jellal over his desk, but was pulled back just in time by Cobra and Midnight.

''Whoah there, big guy,'' Cobra said, piercing Mest's shoulder with a venomous claw. He let out a roar of pain and fell down to the floor.

''You'll get the antidote as soon as you can respect the ones who haven't turned their back on you,'' Cobra warned, rolling him over with his foot to prevent him from suffocating on the foam that was coming out of his mouth now, ''Midnight, take him to a spare room.''

As soon as Midnight had dragged him away and closed the door, Cobra turned to Jellal.

''See? This was a terrible idea!'' he let out. ''I could have told you from the start that the guy is nuts!''

''You don't know him, Erik,'' Jellal said, watching Cobra flinch at the use of his real name. ''He used to be Erza's right hand once and I've trusted him often enough. He always keeps his word.''

Cobra stuck up his nose. ''He has thrown me in jail twice, so forgive me for not believing a single word he says.''


Cana woke up in the morning to the sound of light ringing and a faint light on the other side of her room; someone was contacting her lacrima.

Confused, she got out of bed and walked over to the glowing orb. She hadn't been called in weeks. Curiously, she lay her hand on the object to connect to the other side of the call.

A bewildered face of Mira appeared in the lacrima. Her eyes were wide-open in panic and her hair was all over the place.

''Mira!'' Cana let out. A shiver went down her spine. ''What happened?! Don't tell me the enemy...-''

''We're not under attack yet,'' Mirajane panted as she tried to catch her breath, ''it's Mest.''

She felt her blood run cold. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, bringing her to point of feeling dizzy.

''Someone broke him out of prison last night.''

''Shit, shit, shit,'' Cana hissed as she hit the table with her fist.

''Do you have any idea who could have done this?'' Mirajane asked. ''Finding him is of utmost importance, he's unstable and I wouldn't be surprised if he went after Zeref himself.''

''Of course I don't!'' Cana yelled and started pacing up and down. What was she supposed to do now? Find her father first or chase after Mest. He could be on a different continent for all they knew.

''Cana, I need to be honest with you, as your friend,'' Mirajane said. ''I can't promise we can bring him back alive if we find him and he loses himself.''

A loaded silence followed.

''I understand,'' Cana quietly said.

''There is still time and hope,'' Mira suggested, ''find him first.''

''Don't need to tell me that,'' she said with a faint grin, ''thank you, Mira, I owe you.''

''Please, find him,'' Mirajane said as her voice broke and she held back tears. ''We can't lose a guildmember before the war even starts.''

''I promise,'' she replied and they both nodded in understanding before turning off their lacrimas.

Cana jerked random pieces of clothing out of her closet and threw them into a bag she had laying around. She had no idea how long she'd be gone, or how long it would take her to find him. All she knew was there was no time to lose.

She frantically searched the cabinet in her kitchen for any conserved foods and some random saved-up money in jars. As soon as she was ready to leave, she checked her deck of cards. The first card in the deck was the call-card of her father, which she had torn to pieces years ago. She had managed to restore it, but it had never regained its function.

She shuffled her cards and a piece of folded paper fell out. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't need to unfold it to know what it was. With a shaking hand, she picked it up.

It was the request paper of her first job with Mest.

Tears of rage and frustration burned behind her eyes. Mest had taken it from her desk when he wiped her memories and given it back to her when they reunited not too long ago.

Their reunion was bittersweet and what should have been a new life together for the two of them had turned into a horrible nightmare.

Why couldn't he just have acted like the rest of the guild? Why did he have to go as far as killing in order to feel accepted?

With a balled fist, she crumpled the piece of paper and threw it against the wall.

''Why?! Damnit!'' She yelled from the top of her lungs. She threw her bag around her shoulder and left her apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Her tears felt cold against her cheeks in the frisk weather. She took a deep breath and wiped her face dry with her sleeve.

''Do you need an extra hand?'' a voice behind her resounded.

Cana turned around. Only to find herself looking at her friends. Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Erza, and Wendy stood in the middle of the road she had planned to head onto.

Lucy took a step forwards. ''I'm so sorry for what I said and what we've done to you,'' she said as tears welled up in her eyes. ''We're all just so on edge with this threat of war in the air.''

Cana flung her arms around her friend and held her tight.

''It's okay,'' she cried, realising just how alone she'd been. She looked over Lucy's shoulder at her friends. All unsure about what was going to happen next, but prepared to help unconditionally.

A gnawing feeling in her gut told her that finding either Mest or Gildarts first would impact the outcome of the nearing war. No matter the cost, they had to find them. For everyone's sake.