Real-life hit me like a truck this week which is why the chapter is shorter than usual. Apologies.

Beta-ed by xenosaiyan and MasterPrince713

"Neo-Hell's Core can create Etherious bodies. I need you to transfer Natsu into one," Lucy read, Happy's chicken-scratch writing squeezed onto the tiny slip of paper. The blonde lowered the note, her mouth listing open with shock. "Where did you get this?"

"According to Irene, Happy left it in my pocket while I was unconscious in the woods," Wendy explained. "It makes sense. With End's senses, this was the only way he could get a message to us without him knowing."

"So he put it in your pocket while you were unconscious?" Carla frowned. "If that tomcat wanted to talk with us, why didn't he just leave Salem's cabal and join us?"

Lucy sighed, sinking into the Xiao-Long living room couch. Wendy had gathered herself, Carla, Erza, Gray, and Loke to reveal Happy's note to them, Oscar having tagged along as he'd been with Wendy when she found it. Despite the night of rest, the Celestial Spirit Wizard was still burdened by everything that they'd learned from Jinn, watching Aquarius, Virgo, and the rest of her spirits join up with Salem's scheme, and then… End.

She may not have created the demon as she'd originally theorized, but her unknowing attempted murder had still set him against Fairy Tail. Add in the resentment he must have already felt towards Natsu for the years he'd spent imprisoned in his own body, and it was no wonder he'd reacted so violently when he'd seen her at Haven.

"He's trying to play the long game, like I did with Avatar," Gray noted, scowling as he leaned against the wall. "Even if Neo-Hell's Core can make empty Etherious bodies, it probably isn't a short process. He can't make one without Salem finding out about it."

"So, it could work?" Oscar inquired, a hopeful quiver in his voice. "We make bodies without their own consciousness and then we just plug Ozma and Irene into them?"

"And Natsu too!" Wendy enthusiastically nodded. "It's perfect! The answer to all our problems!"

"Let's not get too excited," Carla cautioned. "If these bodies do take time to make, it's unlikely that we'd be able to create one under Salem's nose any more than Happy has been able to."

Wendy pursued her lips together, her brow furrowing in thought. "I don't think we need to do it under her nose."

"What?" Carla exclaimed.

"You can't be serious!" Gray shouted. "Wendy, we can't join her!"

"I'm not saying we do, necessarily," Wendy replied. "But whether we decide to join her plan or not, we'll need all the help we can get. We need Natsu! Salem wants us on her side. If we say we're willing to join her and then tell her about this, she'll let us do it. We can jump ship and fight her once we're done if we need to."

Lucy paled. "You want to… use her?"

"Wendy," Carla worriedly spoke. "Did Irene suggest this?"

"Huh? No," Wendy clarified. "This is my plan."

Carla's eyes widened, a look of shock and concern shifting over the Exceed's face. Lucy could completely understand the feeling. Since when was Wendy capable of coming up with something so underhanded? Or was that just how desperate they all were?

"Um, it's a nice plan," Oscar said. "But there might be a big hiccup in it. Salem might be all for Natsu coming back, and maybe even Irene. But she and Ozma aren't exactly on great terms—"

"We will make her compromise," Wendy declared, iron in her voice. "She wants us. She needs me, if she wants to enchant End's fire into the Eclipse Etherious. And to get us, she'll have to help us save everyone, you and Ozma included."

"And those she's already killed?" Gray piped up. "What about them?"

Everyone was quiet after that. Whether at Menagerie, Atlas, or Haven, all of them had witnessed the consequences of Salem's agenda. They knew she had the best intentions, but that fact would be little comfort to Weiss, Penny or anyone else who'd lost family members to her machinations.

Loke took a small step out into the middle of them all. "I've been watching things from the Celestial Spirit World for centuries. I've watched the princess do horrible things. I've watched Ozma do horrible things. Each time, both of them only did so under the ironclad belief that, if they did not do so, the entire world would die."

"The others believed that too," Lucy murmured. "Aquarius, Virgo, Capricorn… all of them believed that Salem's plan is our only chance."

Loke frowned and reluctantly nodded. "Even Aries believed it was the only way we would not ever have to make such a choice again."

"But you didn't," Gray pointed out. "You didn't side with her."

"I was waiting for you all," Loke reminded them, mournfully shaking his head. "I've been in an echo chamber so long; it becomes difficult to imagine anything else. I was hoping… I was hoping that maybe you'd all see something I've missed. Some third option way out."

"We may not have time to find one," Erza noted, speaking up in the discussion for the first time.

"But you'll still have fresh eyes on the situation," Loke declared. "Maybe that'll just reveal there isn't a better way… but at least then we'll know for sure that there really is nothing else we can do."

Erza sighed. "Perhaps there isn't. But Wendy is right about one thing. We'll be going to the Grimmlands to reclaim our family. That means Natsu and Happy just as much as Yang and Jaune. If negotiation can accomplish that, then there's no reason to rush into a fight."

Carla cocked an eyebrow. "We're not rushing into a fight?"

Lucy gulped. Erza was usually able to keep a tighter leash on her battle lust than Natsu, but the last time she set a mandate specifically against starting a brawl was during the mission to retrieve Master Makarov from the Alvarez Empire. And this time, there was no Laxus on Christina to bail them out if they could not keep to that guideline.

"Whether going after the Gods really is our only option or not, Salem has a great deal to answer for," the Fairy Queen growled. "But with both her and End present, direct combat would be an ineffective means of achieving our goals."

Gray's hand rose to his face, his fingers contemplatively stroking his pointed chin. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Definitely not," Wendy advised. "You didn't see him at Haven, Gray. Even if we all spontaneously unlocked our semblances tomorrow, I'm not sure we could take him."

"Semblances," Lucy muttered, the matter providing a slight kink in her morose mind. Her eyes frantically scanned her guildmates, memories of her wonderful new super-strength courtesy of her aura bringing a tinge of excitement to her thoughts. "Have any of you guys unlocked your semblances?"

Carla frowned. "I wish. Unfortunately, neither Wendy nor I have been as fortunate as Jaune in that regard."

"I was focused on finding food and a place to eat for my first few months here and dealing with Atlas Intelligence the rest of the time," Gray grumbled, crossing his arms together. "Recovering from Bane Particles didn't give me much chance since I got here."

Lucy turned towards Erza, the other wizards all following her gaze.

The Fairy Queen's eyes flickered between her friends in mild confusion. "What?"

"What's your semblance?" Lucy asked. "I mean, you've been out of your sphere for nearly twenty years now. You have to have unlocked it by now. Right?"

"Well… um…" Erza murmured, her cheeks burning red. She tickled the side of her face as her eyes nervously refused to meet her guildmates' gazes. "Well… obviously, as a champion arena fighter, I had to do extensive training with my aura… and… um…"

"You haven't unlocked yours either, have you?" Lucy deadpanned.

Erza visibly deflated. "No. No, I have not."

"How!?"

"Ahem, if I may?" Oscar said, though the green flash behind his eyes indicated that Ozma had taken control. "I have quite literally been around since aura was created and have been teaching its use for some time."

"Didn't you create it?" Carla inquired.

"It was one of my many attempts to recreate magic without relying on ethernano. Though, semblances were an unplanned mutation of that experiment," Ozma confessed. "Research over the ages has been able to narrow down that a semblance, no matter what, requires a visceral need. It can be as dire as saving a friend in need, or as comparatively low stakes as needing to go faster in training. So long as the person still feels the intensity, it could in theory be unlocked."

"I see," Lucy nodded, before frowning back at Erza. "So, years of professional arena fighting against some of the best fighters on Remnant, all of whom were presumably experts in their individual semblances, and you never once felt this need? How!?"

Carla groaned. "Because she's Erza."

The redhead sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "I was using magic to boost my strength without realizing it. Breathing exercises, heh."

"We don't have time to work on unlocking our semblances anyway," Gray pointed out, turning to Wendy. "But if End is one of our big problems, there might be another way to handle him and get Natsu back at the same time."

"What do you mean?" Wendy asked.

"If Happy plans to transfer Natsu's consciousness, that means he must know where the flame-brain is," Gray reasoned. "So, in theory, you could enchant him to take back control from End—"

"No!" Lucy protested, leaping to her feet. "Absolutely not!"

Gray whirled on her. "Why not? If we do that, we remove Salem's most powerful supporter from the board and get Natsu back. Hell, he might even get End's power."

"He might," Wendy admitted, though the Sky Dragon Slayer was frowning. "But their original body is heavily regulated by the Book of E.N.D. I'm not sure I can influence that with an enchantment, at least not one quick enough to cast before End caught on and burned it away."

"And even if you could, we shouldn't!" Lucy insisted. "We have a way to save Natsu without putting one of them back in that hell. We should take it."

"Which still leaves us with the most powerful demon ever created to deal with!" Gray argued. "A demon that burned Haven Academy to the ground the second he caught sight of you."

"Because I tried to murder him!" Lucy shouted.

"We didn't know he existed!"

"And that's supposed to make it alright?!"

"No, that's not what I…" Gray growled, taking a deep breath before returning his gaze to his friend. "Look, Lucy, he has good reason to hate us. I'm not saying he doesn't. But right now? It does not matter. We did what we did back then to save Natsu, and End's not going to let it go just because we say 'sorry'."

"We haven't exactly tried."

"Happy wouldn't have tried to hide you from him if he was willing to give you the chance."

"Happy would have mentioned putting Natsu back in control of End's body if he considered it an option," Lucy countered, running her palms down her face as sweat matted her forehead. "Are we really considering this? We finally have a clear picture of what's going on, that we have a chance to try to talk this out without anyone else dying!"

"People have already died!" Gray screamed. "They deserve justice—"

"Enough."

Erza didn't raise her voice, but her single word command still sliced through Gray's fury like a hot knife through butter, stymieing any louder interjection from Lucy at the same time.

"This is getting us nowhere. We can't ignore any option, but we need to check with Happy that it is possible at all before we risk any more bad blood," the Titania chastised them. "Gray. A word."

Gray gulped but nodded without a word. He and Erza filed out to the back patio. Ozma took the chance to respectfully bow out to the front porch.

Lucy stood in the center of the room, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. Loke came over and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Carla shuffled towards Wendy, but the Sky Dragon Slayer merely moved towards the Celestial Spirit Wizard.

"Lucy," the blue-haired girl said. "It's not your fault."

"Isn't it?" the blonde asked. "I tampered with powers I didn't understand, and I nearly killed an innocent person."

"You had to save Natsu," Loke said. "You were desperate."

"Isn't that what Salem is now?" Lucy pointed out. "Does that make what happened to Weiss's family right?"

Both the Lion Spirit and the Maiden of the Sky looked away, neither one possessing an answer.

Lucy frowned. She believed in Fairy Tail, she always had. Even with the rest of the guild lost to them, even with most of her spirits lost to her, she wanted to keep to that code. But when their current problems could be traced back to unwavering dedication to that creed, what did that leave them to do? Because she didn't think End would care about an apology from her any more than Weiss would care for one from Esper Rosenflos.

Should they delve into more ruthless, underhanded tactics as Wendy and Gray proposed, trusting that their greater goal would be worth it? Even against those they'd created in the first place? Wasn't that what Salem's plan was anyway? Do whatever needed to be done to save the world?

Something had to change, she realized that. But she had no idea what. Or where the line was before they became just like their enemies.

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In Gray's experience, getting called away for a private talk with Erza was rarely, if ever, good. It meant that he and Natsu had screwed up bigger than usual in their scuffles, like smacking the master on the head, or accidentally done something that would get the guild in real trouble with the Magic Council.

As they came out onto the Xiao-Long back patio, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake training out in the yard just ahead, the Fairy Queen put her back to the wooden rail and stared back at her brother.

"What?" Gray challenged, unable to keep himself from going on the offensive. "Even if no one wanted to hear it, someone had to say it! Salem has Yang! We don't have time to sit around and train forever to unlock our semblances! We can't ignore any option, not matter how uncomfortable it might make us!"

"I agree."

"You—what?"

"I agree," Erza repeated. "Between the Gods, the Umbral Spirit King, and Salem, this situation is too dire to immediately discard any tactic that could potentially give us an advantage."

Gray blinked. "Oh. Well… okay then. So then why did you want to talk?"

"Because that is the mindset going through your head, but you don't seem to realize what it implies," Erza said. "Or that it is the exact same mindset Salem had lived with for years."

"What?!" Gray growled, his eyes darkened on his sister in all but blood. "You don't know what you're talking about, Erza. You weren't in Atlas! You didn't see what Rosenflos did! The people she killed there deserve justice!"

"And the people who died when Seram wiped out Earthland?" Erza queried. "Do they deserve justice? Would that not mean that Salem's plan is correct, that any plan is necessary if it avenges such an atrocity?"

"That's different!"

"How?"

"We won't hurt innocent people!"

"Good. Though that does mean we won't consider every tactic. In which case, Lucy is correct that we should consider—"

"Lucy is letting her guilt affect her judgment!"

"And what are you doing?" Erza calmly inquired, fearlessly stepping towards the Ice Devil Slayer. "Look me in the eye, and tell me your judgment isn't being influenced by everything you've been through in the last few months."

"I… I…"

Gray wanted to argue, but he knew he couldn't. Atlas and Jinn had taken everything he'd thought about himself and his life and ripped it all out from under him. It was hardly a unique situation among their group, but with his months-long struggle with Bane Particle poisoning and his Devil Slayer powers egging on his worst emotions, he had to wonder if he was feeling it more than his friends in some ways.

After all, it wasn't as if there wasn't plenty to despair over. Though his sympathy for End was extremely limited in the present, he was not blind to his own faults in the past, plotting the demon's death for events he'd had no part in. And for what? Being a demon of Zeref? As if he didn't have enough reasons to be ashamed of his little tantrum during the Alvarez War. Why Juvia had nearly sacrificed herself for him was beyond him.

Whatever he and the water wizard might have had would never come to be though. He hadn't seen her during the battle with the White Witch or even during Jinn's visions, but time stopped for no one. He hoped she'd lived a long, fruitful life, maybe even gotten over her love for him and moved on to someone who could actually be there for her. He wanted her to be happy with them. Even if he dearly wished he could have been that person.

It might have been better that he wasn't though. After all, look how well he'd done watching Weiss's back in Atlas.

He turned away from Erza and leaned over the patio rail, his gaze cast out to the backyard where Team RWB trained. His eyes easily found Weiss, incased in her new Ice God Armor Gigas, sweeping her colossal frozen broadsword across the grass, slashes of black frost shooting from the blade with each move. Somehow, he knew what her face was like under the Grimm helmet, scrunched together and drowned in fury. Just as he'd once been, at his lowest point.

His guildmate, his student, his friend, his… something else that might have been. He'd failed her. He'd let himself be used to bait Esper's trap, and Weiss was reeled right in. And when it had come down to him and Winter to bail her out, he'd been completely outfoxed by the Gate of the Maiden. If Penny hadn't intervened and Winter hadn't sacrificed herself, the latter of which was a last resort of last resorts for Fairy Tail members, he would have delivered the Ice God Slayer right into Salem's grasp. Just as he'd delivered her mother and Klein.

Every day on Patch, as he'd screamed and endured the slow process to cleanse himself of Bane Particles, his rage and hatred for Esper, for Salem, for himself, had stewed within his soul, his Devil Slayer powers feeding his growing well of darkness. He'd learned from his previous experiences and did his best to fight against his magic's influence, but… it was hard. Especially when he knew that he, and Weiss, had a great deal of legitimate reason to be furious.

A firm, comforting hand clasped around Gray's shoulder. He turned to find the familiar sight of Erza looking on him with immense sympathy.

"I'm not saying your fury isn't justified. It is," the redhead assured him. "But we do not have the luxury of seeking justice for the lost over ensuring the survival of those who still live."

Gray sighed. "So we just… let it go?"

Erza scowled. "Only if we have to. We have to have our priorities in order, but if we can obtain both, we will."

"And what if there's another line? Another line we can't cross?" Gray demanded. "Do we justify that in the name of survival?"

"I… I don't know," Erza confessed. "I guess… we'll know when we come to that line. But we can't ignore any possible option out of hand."

"Heh," Gray blithely chuckled. A frown creased over his mouth as his eyes found Weiss once again. "Try telling her that."

Erza followed his gaze, profound sadness marring her beautiful, still bandaged face. "She's suffered far more than she deserves. Though I suppose that could be said for all victims of injustice."

"And each one has every right to want justice," Gray frowned. "She's been stewing in it for months. I'm afraid… I'm afraid that she's become like I was." He glanced down at his arm, imagining the putrid black mark that he had to fight so hard to keep at bay. "Like I still am."

"All you have ever been is human," Erza comforted him. "Perhaps that is a condition that we must be responsible for, but it doesn't mean we can't help each other with its pitfalls."

"You want me to talk to her?"

The Titania nodded. "You and Ruby are probably the only people who have half a chance of keeping her from throwing away what she has for justice."

Gray snorted. "I can't make her forgive them. Even if I thought she should, which I don't, that's her choice to make."

"Again, I agree," Erza replied. "But she doesn't need to forgive them. Just… tolerate them until we can figure out a way to save the world."

"Save the world…" Gray wryly muttered. The Ice Devil Slayer groaned, striding away from the rail and off the patio. "Did you ever think it would come to this, Erza? Back when we were just two kids running around the guildhall, did you think we'd ever end up trapped in the future and responsible for saving it."

"I can't say I did." Erza managed a small smile. "But back then, I also never thought I'd be a mother. I never thought I'd be guildmaster, or that I'd reunite with my friends from the Tower of Heaven. Or battle myself from another dimension."

"Heh, point taken," Gray noted, managing to walk off with the barest of smiles. The life of a Fairy Tail wizard had never been something that could be considered 'normal' for people. They were a guild of monsters after all.

But that did beg the question. If he who fights with monsters should take care that they did not become monsters in turn, what did that mean for the monsters who fought with men?

Because after Jinn's revelations, despite his best efforts, he could not blindly see Salem, End, and their cabal as anything other than human, in the metaphorical sense. Esper's pleas for peace back at Amity that he thought so hollow at the time now rang with desperate terror. He still utterly despised what she had done, but he could understand her so easily, her drive to protect that had driven her to monstrousness, as it had him so long ago.

When monsters fought men, they became something so much more horrifying than monsters. They became men.

And there was nothing more terrifying than the rage of humans with something to protect.

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"That was well done, Mrs. Nikos. Or do you prefer, Mrs. Scarlet?"

Erza let out a long sigh as the familiar voice rose from the house, wrenching her eyes away from Gray and Team RWB. She stifled the prick of pride that had flared at seeing Ruby attempt to recreate the glyphs of Fairy Glitter on her arm and schooled her features to stone as she turned to face the new arrival.

"Nikos will do fine," she answered. "What about you? Ozma or Ozpin?"

The old wizard in the young boy's body shrugged. "Ozma, I suppose. Ozpin is merely one life merged atop my original life. I would ask that you help Ms. Marvell do whatever it takes to ensure that Oscar does not join him."

Erza cocked an eyebrow. "I will do what I can. Though, why come to me?"

"It was either you or Ms. Rose. And she looks up to you," Ozma plainly stated. "I am not a fool, Mrs. Nikos. I know that no one here will follow me, and I am no longer certain they should. Whether the expedition to the Grimmlands is for peace or war, it is you who will lead it."

"And?" Erza asked. She couldn't disagree with the time wizard's assessment. She'd never sought the role of leader, but she'd often found herself wearing the hat, leading her friends into battle. But… "What do you plan to do then?"

"Whatever you request of me," Ozma bluntly replied. "If you'll have me, I'll gladly serve under your command."

Erza cocked an eyebrow. "You'll help? No tricks? No other secret plans?"

Ozma shook his head. "I just want to help. I don't want anyone else to die."

The Titania stared at him for a moment, her brown eyes steady and unmoving. Then, she gave him a succinct nod.

"Glad to have you," she declared.

Ozma's face broke with sunshine. "Thank you."

Erza turned away and the time wizard strode forward to join her on the rail of the patio.

She didn't hate him for what he'd done. It was odd to know that. Neither he nor Loke had hidden the fact that he'd had his own political manipulations and assassinations similar to Esper Rosenflos's coup d'etat over the millennia, besides whatever other atrocities he'd committed. In theory, she should have felt just as much rage towards him as she did Salem.

But she didn't know those people, just like she didn't know the swarms of innocents who'd been slaughtered when Seram had unleashed his wrath. She called Weiss family, she'd held Pyrrha in her arms since the day she was born. Seeing their pain, their grief brought about by Salem's forces was far more visceral. If her daughter had actually died at Beacon or Haven, it would have been Gray having to try to keep her from ripping the Queen apart and potentially dooming the world.

Or maybe it was some subconscious effort on her part to prepare for what she might have to do. To keep the friends she still had alive, to stop the Umbral Spirit King from burning the world, she might have to work with Salem. Even if only for Wendy's temporary infiltration to get bodies for their friends, they would have to abide at least some of her plans until they had what they needed.

She did not envy that time. If they couldn't find some way to destroy or moderate Salem's plans, she would have to make peace with her and her band. With Cinder. Hardly an appealing idea.

But as she gazed out at Ruby, Weiss, and Blake training in the yard, as she remembered Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren in the house, she found she couldn't save she wouldn't do if it would save them.

"No matter what, I ask you to do what you can to save Oscar," Ozma asked, both of them gazing out at their students. "But if you need to sacrifice me to save them—"

"I will find another way," Erza declared. "Even if I do not call you friend yet, you are still my comrade. I will not toss you aside."

"I see," Ozma mused. "Thank you. But I'm not sure how effective it will be. And your life is worth far more than mine—"

"I'm not going to die either," Erza clarified. "You don't die for your friends. You live for them. And Remnant or not, Earthland or not, I want to live."

Ozma blinked in shock, only to look down in melancholy. "I hope you will. But I've been around a long time. And, even before all this, in my very first life… the only ones who were ever really capable of changing anything were those who were willing to give something up. If you will not give up your life or my life… how will you change the destitute situation we find ourselves in? What will you give up?"

Erza said nothing. Everyone looked to her to lead them, looked to her for answers. But as much as she scrambled, she didn't know how to find them.

If there were any.

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!