War is upon Fairy Tail. I woke up in the middle of the night with those words ringing through my head, clutching my blankets.

It had been a few days since my escapade with the Superman jump and my legs were almost fully functional, just a little shaky for standing for longer periods of time. Freed had followed Laxus back out onto the job that Bickslow and Evergreen were covering, so my chief babysitter was gone. I hoped to be able to actually do something fun again...

But the words pronouncing the onset of a battle were still echoing in my head.

I was awake and sitting up by the time someone came into the dorms to wake me.

"Mystogan?" The masked wizard was standing in my door, silhouetted by the light from the hall, showing that he was carrying all of his staves and a travelling pack.

"Get up, dress and pack. We leave in twenty minutes."

-vVv-

"Mystogan, what's going on?" I asked, buckling my pack closed and checking that all of my equipment was stowed. There were about another half a dozen children around me, different orphans who were also sponsored by Fairy Tail. They were all sleepy and grumpy at being woken, but also scared. I barely knew any of them...The guild was my family and friends all in one. These guys were sponsored by Fairy Tail, but they didn't spend their time at the guild hall, like I did. I didn't...really know these guys. At all.

"The guild hall has been attacked." Mystogan told me softly. "Makarov has asked that I move you to safety away from Magnolia until this matter is settled."

"Wouldn't that be the Rune Knights job?"

"The master didn't want to wait for them to muster and sent me instead." I looked back at the wide, frightened eyes as the other kids, ranging from my age to mid teens, followed Mystogan into the forest.

"So where are we going?"

"Porlyusica."

"But she doesn't like people."

"She dislikes violence more." And for all that, if someone did come to try and mess with anyone she was taking care of... I didn't finished the thought, but the cold shudder of naked terror was telling enough.

I did not want to see what might happen to the poor fool who tried to do more harm to the fearsome healer's patients.

Porlyusica had some shelter set up for the other wards by the time we arrived and they all went down to rest. I was too alert, listening too hard for any sort of change in the Story.

"Where are you going to be going?" I asked Mystogan, eyeing him carefully.

"Given that our guild might be involved in an outright war within the next day, I am going to prepare."

"And what will I be doing...?" I fished shamelessly. I wanted to start getting my feet wet in more than academic work. I had several combat spells that I wanted to try out, none of which I wanted to test on my guildmates.

The older wizard looked down at me with what I interpreted as a flat stare. It was kinda hard to tell with the mask and all.

"I was going to take you with me." Excitement flared in my chest and I resisted the impulse to bounce on the balls of my feet like an excited puppy.

"Where are we going?"

"A few of the surrounding cities. Jasmine, Greenacre, and White Birch to start." All of those are Phantom Lord bases.

-vVv-

I looked right at Master Makarov when Mystogan took me along to see him in the quiet, dark evening. He seemed somewhat surprised to see me there, but I didn't let him start to question why I wasn't with the other children.

"Master, does this whole thing have anything to do with the recent trouble with Phantom Lord?"

Phantom Lord hadn't always been Fairy Tail's rival. Actually, Jose and Makarov had once been amiable acquaintances. But once both had gotten a little too far into their cups and made it a game of bragging, things had gone south quickly.

Jose had started to insult and belittle Makarov's guild, then moved on to harassing someone he had brought with him to the meeting. Namely a seven year old Laxus. To no one's surprise, Makarov had stepped up and delivered a righteous beat down to the offender and sent him running, defeated and humiliated with a severely damaged reputation.

That event, and Fairy Tail's subsequent rise to number one guild in Fiore and many kingdoms beyond as well, had poisoned Jose with hatred and jealousy.

Every time a Fairy met a Phantom, there was tension and more often than not, someone got hurt. Makarov had issued a blanket order to avoid going on jobs in the towns where they had a representative branch to try and reduce the chance of conflict.

Right now, Mystogan had gotten wind that within a day or so, Phantom Lord would attack our guild.

The guild master looked at me for a long moment...

"You just read everything I was about to explain to you right now with your magic, didn't you?"

"...I didn't mean to?" I wasn't even convincing myself that I actually meant that. Makarov sighed.

"Right...Fae-chan, you're going to make me lose my hair."

"Maybe so, master. But I can't be as bad the others. I haven't blown anything up yet!"

"The fact that you say 'yet' worries me greatly...How many explosive spells have you cooked up?"

"...Do I have to answer that?"

-vVv-

This has got to be the most messed up field trip, ever. I thought as I clung to Mystogan's side as we whirled through the air in the form of mist, his preferred method of speedy travel. I had jury rigged a way to share spells between us in order to preserve his magic power. It was disorienting, but a fun way to travel.

"We will be moving quickly, but not necessarily quietly. Or chief purpose will be to disrupt communications and keep Jose from calling in an army of reinforcements." So this had made me plop down and write out a 'shatter' spell. Something that would deal a lot of damage to crystals and similar structures.

"For the lacrima." I had said cheekily when Mystogan asked what I was doing. "You've already got that white noise function on your Archive chip to keep spells from getting through, but paired lacrima can't be blocked by Archive magic." Mystogan had looked at me for a long moment, then spoken.

"Every now and then, I think you have done something like this before."

"I haven't, but there are who knows how many stories in my head about this kind of thing. Call it extreme vicarious living."

-vVv-

Mystogan checked every now and then, whenever he left a ruined Phantom Lord base behind him, that Fae's strength was still up and she wasn't straining herself too hard. As far as he knew, she had never used this much magic consistently in a row. He was cheating, he could simply use his staves to draw on the latent magic that filled the air of this world and go on indefinitely, giving the impression of near infinite stamina. But little Fae was an Earthland wizard and subject to their rules.

She constantly surprised him, and as he had guessed, she was nearly indispensable for completing their errand quickly. As soon as he put her down on the ground of the enemy base, she would crouch and press her hands to the ground with her eyes closed. Then she would rise, and quickly list off the base's state, how many people were present and if any of them were true threats.

Jose preferred to keep the cream of the crop close at hand where he could keep an eye on them and work on tying them to him as securely as possible. So Mystogan wasn't surprised that even Fae with her limited combat magic could handle their enemies. Though her fighting style was something to behold...

"Getsuga Tensho!" She cried, clasping her hands together and bring them around in a wide arc that sent a blade of fast moving energy towards the flagpole of the base they currently were raiding, sending it toppling to the ground.

"What was that story from, Fae?" He asked as she scampered up to him with their prize. She flashed a grin.

"Another big one about shinigami, demons and lots of swords!" He smiled at her ceaseless energy.

"This flag is for Erza then, I take it?"

"Yup!" Her smile froze for a second and she seemed to be gazing far away into the distance...

"Fae?"

"I just saw why Phantom Lord's attacking us." She admitted, her humor gone. "Or the excuse they're using anyway." Mystogan knelt before her, surrounded by unconscious wizards.

"What's wrong?" She shook her head.

"Never mind, Mystogan, it can wait until we've gotten away from here." She held out her hand expectantly and he reached down and took her small hand in his own, already pulling out the appropriate staff for their travelling spell.

I hardly even think of myself as the Edolas Prince anymore, banished or otherwise. He mused, as he took both himself and Fae to their next target, using the chance to assess her magic reserves. I'm more Mystogan of Fairy Tail than I ever was the prince...He glanced down at Fae with a warm smile. I think I like being Mystogan more than Jellal.

-vVv-

They took a short break and Mystogan had Fae eat a small snack and drink something.

"So why did Phantom Lord decide to make their biggest mistake now of all times?" He asked, sitting down beside her.

"You know Lucy?"

"Celestial Spirit Mage that you hang around with? The new bookworm that's made Levy so happy?" Fae sometimes forgot that Mystogan carried a lacrima crystal linked to the main tele-crystal that sat in the guild hall. He used it to give updates on missions or get new information.

"Yeah...apparently she's a runaway heiress and her dad wants her back. So he put out a job request to some of the guilds that would take that kind of thing and Phantom Lord picked it up because Porla knew that she's a new member of Fairy Tail." Fae was very subdued as she said this, staring into her the depths of her water bottle in such a way that made Mystogan feel for her keenly. She was so young, and yet she was burdened with so much...

It was oddly reminiscent of how he had been at a young age, wandering Earthland and closing Anima wherever he found them. But unlike him, Fae hadn't asked for this knowledge.

"Do you need to rest for a little longer? I think I can handle the next one alone?" Fae gave him a look, eyes twinkling with mischief and admiration.

"I think you could do all of them!" He coughed behind his mask, face burning slightly.

"Well, I don't think-"

"Pfff, you totally could! You're awesome, Mystogan!" Moments like this, I definitely prefer being Mystogan to Jellal.

-vVv-

It was early evening now and we had been doing this all day, for the last two days. We had hardly slowed down since Phantom Lord's first act of aggression made it clear that war was upon us. I wasn't sure if Mystogan slept or not, but I just conked out for about six hours, knowing that pushing myself further would be detrimental. The shortness of the recovery time was encouraging, as it showed that my training had really paid off. (Although, it probably helped that Mystogan made me take breaks so as to keep up my magic reserves. It had been very strange, but enjoyable lunch entertainment watching him flatten the base in Greenacre. A couple of the Phantom's tried to go for me and ended up on the wrong side of a terrifying illusion of a hoard of zombies clawing their way out of the ground, all moaning: 'Hungry'. Who ever said the illusionist couldn't be useful, huh?)

I jerked sharply, eyes widening as the update rang through my mind.

Makarov has fallen. His magic is drained. A seal on the air around him keeps the ethernano from entering him. He is slowly consuming the little magic he still has in order to keep himself alive. Alongside this, I saw a timer with about 18 hours on it that began counting down. At the same time, there was a...bar gauge of some kind that had a bar of light blue at the bottom. This gauge started to drop, very...slowly.

The timer: how long he can last until his body depletes the magic that he still has. The gauge, how much magic he has.

I had felt when Makarov declared war, and when our guild came calling at Phantom Lord's main base. That had made me feel proud and fierce. This just made me feel scared and worried about the vague emptiness I felt when I felt down the 'what if' possibility. I let another two Stunning spells fly out, taking down a pair of enemy wizards in the way, and made a beeline for Mystogan.

"Mystogan!" It said a lot about his actual power level when he paralyzed the twenty or so remaining thugs and low level wizards, planting his staff upright in the ground to sustain the spell as he turned towards me.

"Fae, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" I shook my head, trembling from more fear than exhaustion.

"It's the Master, Mystogan! His magic's been drained dry!" I felt my eyes well up a little. "He's not gonna last long. He needs more power soon!"

"And it would have to be what's already assimilated to his system otherwise it runs the risk of just killing him outright." Mystogan realized, growling in a rare show of emotions. "At his age-"

"We gotta help, Mystogan! Erza's exhausted and can't leave the rest of the guild with the master out of commission! Mira's protecting Lucy and Laxus isn't anywhere close enough!" This information came pouring into my mind as I sought for it instead of it being forced on me.

"And help we will." Mystogan looked around. "Do you have a wide range spell to take all of them without harming them?" It went without saying that he would need all the magic he had to get us to where we were needed in time. Which meant that finishing these guys was my responsibility.

"Let...let me check." I closed my eyes and focused, digging through my archive of stories, searching for something-

Huh...Really?

What I had come up with wasn't from a story per say, but it did invoke one...It was a song I sang to Romeo when he wouldn't settle down as a toddler. It hadn't ever had any magic, but it had calmed him enough to go to sleep.

I had a good feeling about it. I ran through the words once more...then focused on their words in the way I'd have to to bring out my magic. What they meant to me. What they were saying, what they embodied. I could feel my hair stir slightly as my magic crept into the air around me.

I inhaled and lifted my head and began to sing in a voice that was much older than my own childish tone.

"Sun's last ray

Light of Day.

Lazy sunset slips away

Close your eyes

Go to sleep.

Dream of heaven, dream of peace

Starry skies, moon's soft light

Heaven keep you through the night

Morning light brings the day

Sun's first ray..." The song was short, with a smooth rolling melody that calmed me and when I opened my eyes...

"Well done Fae." Mystogan said quietly, looking around at the unconscious forms of our enemies. I panicked for a split second, thinking they were hurt but then I caught sight of one of their faces.

Peaceful, serene, and a lot more innocent than he had looked to me before.

"If the words of your spell hold true, then they won't wake up until dawn tomorrow and they will be protected from harm." He ruffled my hair gently and I blushed at the approving look he was giving me.

He likes a peaceful solution. And he thought the song was pretty. It was honestly the latter fact that made me so awkward.

-vVv-

I clung to Mystogan's side as he turned us both into mist and we raced for the Phantom Lord Guild hall. It was getting dark by the time we got there, and the site was abandoned. But producing light was easy for both of us, I just abused a lumos spell a couple times to create some floating lights that illuminated the main base of Phantom Lord-

...Or where it had been rather, since there didn't seem to be anything there, just a giant crater.

Mystogan looked at it and actually considered it seriously.

"Did the others...?"

"Ah, no. They retreated after Master fell. This one they are not responsible for." I pointed to the road that would have lead to the front door, which was scorched and ruptured with high intensity magic and focused intent. "Although that's probably what they did on their way here." A small army of powerful, skilled and very angry wizards will have a very pronounced effect on the ethernano, even if it isn't inside them. I bet I could point right to where Natsu had walked...

"I see." Mystogan cast about the area. "Fae, how proficient are you at sensing another's magic?"

"I'm not, unless they're using it near me." I admitted, skittering down the boulders and trying to not stress about the countdown in my head. "Once it's out, it's no longer really a part of them or their story."

"Then can you read the battle? We need to know where the master was standing if we're going to find his scattered magic."

That I can do!

I pressed my hands to the rocks and thought back to what I had only been vaguely aware of during my running around with Mystogan, handling the mooks and hired thugs.

Since it had happened recently and I was in the right location, the story came easily.

"This way!" I called, climbing over some rocks and jumping down into the empty space left by Jupiter, Phantom Lords-

-giant mech that is walking along the coastline towards the rest of Fairy Tail.

Several words that were definitely unsuited to a child's lips ran through my mind. Yet another timer appeared before me, significantly lower than the first. It showed about seven hours remaining until Jupiter arrived at our guild hall.

-vVv-

Finding all of Makarov's magic took most of the night even with two of us working at it.

Whenever a wizard cast a spell, he always put a little more magic power into it that was strictly necessary. Whatever spell he desired would then dip into that pool of collected magic and do it's work. Whatever was leftover would then be drawn back into the caster, along with a little extra raw ethernano that came along for the ride. This rebound effect was something many people studied intently to try and increase the efficiency of their spells.

Aria must have been one of them if he had pulled this off.

Master had been preparing to cast Fairy Law if I read the situation correctly. Doing that required a lot of excess magic being projected into the air around him. Much more than usual.

The cost of casting Fairy Law is proportional to the amount of targets it is directed at. Given that Phantom Lord's main guild had contained well over 100 wizards, I'd say Master was aiming to take out about 60-70. And since he had to spread his magic throughout the entire property to mark friend from foe, he would have had to let out a lot of magic power. The cost would have been lower had there not been Fairy Tail mages mixed up with the others, but he had figured that he could handle the backlash.

And normally, he would have been right.

What Aria had done amounted to little more than keeping our master from regaining all that power that he had spread out to cast Fairy Law. If Makarov' magical core was a container when full and a vacuum when empty, Aria had put a lid on it, blocked him from pulling in his magic without him noticing until it was too late and he didn't have enough power to remove the blockage.

That meant that all over this property, Makarov's own signature magic was floating, unable to merge completely with the ethernano since it had been claimed and changed by being inside a human being.

I was trash at sensing another wizard's magic once it had left their bodies. I could point out roughly where Mystogan needed to look and hold on to the power as he gathered it, but that was about it. Still, that took enough energy that I ended up falling asleep at my work and woke up with Mystogan cradling me in one arm as we sat outside Porlyusica's hut.

"Myst-"

It's over. I relaxed as soon as the words passed through my mind.

"What's left of Phantom Lord has surrendered to official custody and they are disbanded." Mystogan told me softly, looking over the... significant number of flags that we had captured. "Everyone's safe."

The confirmation from my magic came when I sought it and I sighed, curling into the banished prince's hold.

"I'm glad..." his hand ruffled my aqua colored hair gently.

"Master says to keep you and the other children here until the Rune Knights are finished with their investigation." He wants to keep you hidden without making it seem deliberate. This did make a moment of uncertainty come over me.

Retrocognition, this extrasensory gift to monitor people over any distance, to see the past as clearly and distinctly as if you were standing right there. It was an ability the Magic Council would definitely want to keep an eye on. But not for reasons I was comfortable with.

The moments that are pivotal in life are usually the dramatic or traumatic ones. I could dredge up old fears and terrify just about anyone into submission, or I could recall embarrassing secrets from their pasts and use them as leverage to get just about anything I wanted.

I had realized this long ago, around the time I had gotten good enough with it to see some of the more grotesque skeletons in the closets of my guildmates. I had sworn that I would never divulge the secrets I could read from my friends. Not without their express permission.

"He won't be able to keep me a secret once I become a member officially." I pointed out.

"You're still planning on taking the mark when you turn ten?" Well duh! I'd have taken it years ago if Master would let me!

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You remember what we discussed about patience? Just wearing the guild mark won't automatically make people will view you differently."

"I know...I just...I want it to be official." I rubbed my arms, huddling down on myself. "Even now, there's still the chance that some obscure relative could show up and try to take me away. And without a mark, I wouldn't be able to do anything except go with them. Once I have the mark, then I'll be emancipated from any older family and can go wherever I want!" Mystogan hummed, his chest rumbling behind me as he draped a fold of his cloak around me.

"That's all well and good, Fae-chan, but don't get too worked up. You burned through more magic than you've ever used before in the last few days. As soon as Porlyusica's finished with the others, it'll be your turn."

The pink 'Nalu' ship had gotten quite a bit stronger over the course of the war with Phantom Lord. Since I had been busy fighting, the updates had been shunted aside into a low priority category. Perusing that file in my brain found several other cute moments between them as well as a couple awesome ones. From when Natsu had caught Lucy as she jumped from the tower, trusting that he would be there to catch her, to him thrashing Gajeel, the former ace of Phantom Lord, for hurting her. Frankly, none of that surprised me.

What did was the fact that floating beside Nalu was another ship. Gruvia? The heck is this? I investigated and found that Gray seemed to have gotten himself an admirer who didn't know when her attention was slipping from endearing to stalkerish. Juvia the Water Mage, formerly of Phantom Lord. Watching the moment of when the ship had set sail started me giggling. Poor Gray...

The other kids and I were taken back to town a few days after the fighting had ended. I hugged Mystogan, knowing he would probably head out soon, grabbed my bundle of captured flags and raced for home to show off my trophies!

-vVv-

Lucy was somewhat morose in the aftermath of the fight. She felt so guilty...Her friends had gotten hurt on her account, because they were fighting to keep her with them. She had never felt so grateful and guilty about the same thing before...

They had already started rebuilding. With the damages their guild had been awarded by being the victim in the conflict, they were rebuilding the old guild hall bigger and better than ever.

"Stop squabbling and get to work!" Erza roared at Natsu and Gray who had gotten into yet another argument. The fifth one this morning.

"Didn't they get their fill of fighting Phantom Lord? They have so much extra energy they just have to go after each other?" Lucy asked Mirajane as she helped her spread out an array of snacks and refreshments for the working members.

"When those two stop fighting, we'll know something is wrong." Mira said with a giggle. "But it isn't just that, Lucy. Haven't you noticed someone's missing?"

"Well, yeah of course, Fae-" Oh...

Fae was still off wherever the Master had sent her to keep her out of the fighting. The one thing both Natsu and Gray could and would always agree on: Fae was their friend and heaven help anyone who upset her.

Now that I think about it, everything seems a little off without her here. Lucy looked around. People were much the same, still working, still laughing. But there was a noticeable space where Fae would be. It was easy to picture Fae, walking along a high beam somewhere, carrying drinks around to the workers or entertaining people who were on break.

It is kinda weird to not see her around. She very deliberately didn't think about her own negative feelings in response to the aftermath of the guild war that she couldn't help but feel she had caused. No one in her guild had blamed her for it, and according the the law, she hadn't been at fault either. She was an adult and had taken the proper steps to emancipate herself. Her father had already tried to get the Rune Knights to bring her back to him and when they had refused on grounds of her being independent and a working guild member, he had resorted to sending job requests to wizard guilds to kidnap her.

But it didn't change the fact that every time she saw someone who was still wearing bandages or who was hurt in some way that she felt as if something sharp and cold had stabbed into her gut. Guilt. Gnawing, ever present, never ebbing shame and fear.

He did this...and it's hurt my friends and many other people besides...She stopped that train of thought forcibly. Derailing it and letting it land inside a bottomless chasm.

"Where is she?" Lucy asked Mira after her look around. The white haired barmaid hefted a tray of cool drinks.

"Mystogan took her and the other guild sponsored kids out of town to keep them safe. She's due back sometime today." Lucy smiled.

"So that's what he was doing..." She didn't know much about the masked wizard other than that he, like most everyone she knew now, had a soft spot for Fae and she very clearly liked him a lot.

"Mm-hm. Master told me about it this morning. Once Mystogan got them out of the way, he went around making sure that Jose couldn't call in reinforcements from the other bases. He was carrying a jamming crystal to make sure that they couldn't call for help so really it's no wonder he wasn't answering. If it weren't for him, Phantom Lord would almost have been five times as big."

Oh yeah...he's one of the S-class mages, the ones that are on par with Erza...How is it that Fae seems to magnetically attract the most powerful people in the guild?

Natsu, Grey and Erza were the main ones, but there was Mystogan and Lucy had heard that Fae liked to bother Laxus as well...

"Hey guys!" There came a child's voice cutting through the murmur and the clatter of building. "I'm back!"

"Fae!" Almost as one, people turned towards the cry.

The girl was running towards the building site, unruly aquamarine hair bouncing in short waves and her uncanny bright blue eyes shining. Her delighted grin was big and bright in a way that reminded Lucy a lot of Natsu. And she was carrying some sort of cloth bundle for some reason.

"Hey, Fae-chan!" Gray managed to beat Natsu by a hair to scoop the little girl up into a tight hug. Lucy suspected the only reason Gray didn't get punched was because Natsu didn't want to jostle Fae. She stood on her toes to see Fae snuggle into Gray's arms, speaking in a low, happy tone.

Well, she definitely looks fine.

Either way, the girl was soon surrounded by people welcoming her back. All work had halted for a while. Even the master had shrunk down again to give the girl a hug, making it look sweet and paternal even though she stood almost a head taller than him.

Lucy wanted to see her as well, and verify for herself that she was in fact alright and suffering no trauma from the guild war, but she hung back and waited for the crowd to disperse.

"Lucy!" She was taken aback as the girl flung herself at her after squirming through the press of people. "I'm so glad you're alright. Mystogan says he's sorry for not being able to come by and help kick the main guild's butt. We were collecting master's magic back at their old base so he could recover faster!"

"Wait, what? I thought you weren't supposed to get involved!"

"I told Mystogan to get the non-wizard children to safety. Fae however was to remain with him." Makarov explained to the onlookers, smoothing his mustache. "Even though she bears no mark, she is a known wizard of our guild and I did not trust Jose to leave her alone if she didn't have someone to keep an eye out for her. Mystogan had his own assignment and he took her along with him. Did you have a nice trip, my dear?" The girl grinned and presented the cloth bundle in her arms.

"Yep! These are all the bases I took down by myself!" Lucy's sense of realism cracked...then shattered. The bundle in Fae's arms was actually a collection of Phantom Lord guild flags.

She...she was fighting?! And those are whole base's she took out alone!?

The rest of the guild let out a cheer mingled with laughter.

"Nice job!"

"That's our girl!"

"Way to go, Fae!" Natsu swung her up onto his shoulders easily, looking very pleased and proud. "How many didja get altogether?"

"Seven!" This proclamation was met with further adulation and admiring whistles.

"Lucky number!"

"Did you have fun?"

Lucy just plastered her head down on top of the outdoor bar top and laughed helplessly.

Mom, can you believe these people? A nine year old kid went and took out seven different enemy bases. And they're acting as if she won first place in some competition. Their only concern is if she had fun!

The thought of the battle brought her right back to her unhappy brooding over what her father had done...how far he would go to take her back.

It's probably got something to do with his business. Some deal he wants to make that he needs to marry me off for.

As a child, Lucy hadn't really minded the promise that she would probably be married to advance her father's business. She had imagined all the handsome princes she might one day meet and fall in love with and the one who had captured her heart would turn out to be the same one she was going to marry.

After she had found her dream of joining Fairy Tail, those fantasies had been put away as fond childhood whims. She had a goal, a dream and she was living it every day!

Everything she had now...this family that she had who had fought so hard to keep her safe, keep her with them. Lucy wouldn't trade this for anything. One thing was sure. Lucy was going to have to... talk to her father.