Chapter Fourteen:

"And that concludes the second day of the Grand Magic Games!" Chapati announced over the cheers of the crowd.

"And here are our scores thus far," Yajima said. "Fairy Tail got a rough footing on the first day, only coming up at third place, but they've clawed their way back to the top! They're sitting pretty in first place with 36 points!"

"And in second, the newcomers to the Grand Magic Games is Phoenix Grave, with 28 points!" Chapati added.

"Coming in at third is Twilight Ogre with 21 points. But seeing as they only earned one point today, who knows how long they can stay in the top three," Yajima noted.

"Especially seeing as our hometown guild, Sabertooth, is only trailing one point behind at 20 points in fourth!"

"And in fifth, we have Blue Pegasus!"

"In sixth, we have Lamia Scale at 10 points!"

"Quatro Cerebus is in seventh with 9 points!"

"And finally, Mermaid Heel in eighth with 6 points!"

"Thank you once again for joining us, Master Bob!" Chapati said the Blue Pegasus' master.

"Anytime, ducklings!" Bob assured them.

"Well, that concludes today's events! We'll see you tomorrow, folks!" Chapati cheered as the live feed ended.

By this point, all of the Fairy Tail children had filed into the dugout and were cheering and congratulating Layla and Igneel.

"That was awesome!" Minette shouted.

"Yeah, you guys really showed them!" Von agreed.

"Eh, it was fine," Meeko shrugged.

"Can it, Snowflake!"

"Make me, Stardust!"

"Must you two always argue?" Lorelle asked, both July and Vance propped on her hips. "Really, it gets old."

"Try living with one of them," Layla muttered.

"Who's side are you on?" Igneel asked.

While the rest of the kids continued congratulating the two Dragneel kids, Persephone sat at the back of the room, thinking over her conversation with Carmen.

He obviously hated Elena as much as everyone else but felt he had no choice but to go along with her plan.

He was also their best chance at getting their parents back.

But how to convince him to help them? He was obviously scared to go against Elena and had given up hope. But they didn't have very many leads to go off of.

And they were running out of time.

Their parents had been trapped in that other dimension for three days now. That was three days without food. And there's was no telling how long Juvia's water supplies would last.

The dugout door opened and Farrah shuffled in, head lowered.

"Hey, uh, Farrah, you okay?" Lorelle asked.

"Sissy?" July asked, holding his arms out to her.

Farrah lifted her brother into her arms as she turned to the other children. "Yeah, I'm okay." Her brow furrowed when she noticed something. "Say, where are Cato, Benedict, Storm, Na-"

The sound of a slamming door vibrated through the hallway.

"LAYLA! IGNEEL!"

"Nashi!" Layla cheered as she and Igneel ran into the hallway to meet their older sister.

"Nashi, did you see us in the-" Igneel began until Layla set a hand on his shoulder.

"Um, why does Nashi look so angry?" she asked.

"And why does she have one of her fire weapons ou-OH, GEEZ! RUN!" Igneel screamed as he and Layla took off down the hallway, Nashi close behind them.

"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU TWO THINKING!?"

The rest of the Fairy Tail kids just watched as Nashi chased her younger siblings down the hallway.

"Nashi!" Cato shouted as he chased after her. "Nashi, wait! They were just trying to help! Calm down!"

"And I don't wanna heal anyone else! Put the fire away!" Storm added as he followed after them.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Koree cheered as she followed after Storm.

"Koree, you're not helping!" Roman screamed as he chased after Koree.

"Ugh!" Persephone groaned as she ran out of the dugout and after the other five members of the Birthday Gang. "I leave you imbeciles alone for one hour and look what happens!"

The rest of the Fairy Tail just blinked as the rather chaotic parade rushed down the hallway, then they all turned to Bianca and Benedict, waiting for an explanation.

They didn't get one.

Bianca simply said "'Sup?" as she made her way back into the dugout with the rest of her friends.

"How have those six not destroyed an entire town yet?" Benedict asked.

"Bold of you to assume they haven't," Farrah replied.

"Oh, you're back, good," Benedict said with a coy smile as he plucked July from Farrah's arms.

"Hey, why are you-" Farrah began as Benedict turned to his sisters.

"Portia, Vera, keep an eye on July for a minute, I need to talk to Farrah," Benedict said.

"What do you-"

"C'mon!" Benedict grabbed Farrah's wrist and dragged her down the hall, the opposite way that the Birthday Gang had run in.

"What was that about?" Meeko asked.

"Shall we explain it to him?" Minette asked Eva and Von.

"Do we have to?" Von asked.

"Yes," Eva replied.

"Aw, fine! Ahem."

The triplets all stood and began to sing:

"When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie, that's amore!"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Benedict, what are you doing?" Farrah asked as Benedict pulled them into a closet and flipped the light on, closing the door behind them.

"What the heck were you doing?"

"What?"

"Going off to a jail full of psychotic, murderous, dark wizards, ALONE!?"

Farrah jumped in surprise at the small, sonic boom that vibrated the room. The boom, by itself, didn't surprise her. She grew up in Fairy Tail. Loud noises and shaking were par the course. But she knew that when Benedict got angry, or scared, or stressed, his magic would get away from him, causing noise vibrations, or sonic booms.

Just like this one.

"You were all busy, and-"

"Then you should have waited until one of us wasn't busy-"

"-and you all had jobs to do here-"

"-I would have gone with you if I had-"

"We needed you here spying on Phoenix Grave."

"Persephone could have taken over!"

"She already was. You were both spying, or supposed to be."

"She could have handled it on her own."

"This arena is huge, how-"

"That jail is huge! What if you had gotten lost!"

"Gotten lost? What do you think I am, an idiot?"

"Well, after today, I'm starting to question it!"

"Oh, c'mon. That was just harsh."

"Harsh? HARSH!? No, getting your skin burned off by a maniac is harsh!" Benedict said as he pointed to the scars on his neck. "And that jail is full of maniacs just like that! And you went in there alone!"

"Did you think maybe that's why I didn't want you going with me?" Farrah asked.

"What?"

"Your dad's in there. And he saw you! I saw how shook up you were and I didn't want to put you through that again, that's why I didn't ask you to go with me."

"I can handle my dad," Benedict argued.

"Clearly not!" Farrah said, pointing to his scars.

"That was years ago."

"And yet you're still scared he'll hurt me."

"Not just him, any of them! There are thousands of dark wizards in that jail-"

"-and they're all locked up."

"Yet two of them managed to get our parents taken away from behind bars. Who's to say they won't try something else?"

"Yeah, like coming after you?" Farrah asked. "The son who protected his mother and sisters and got them out of danger so they could then turn around and throw him in jail."

"They could just as easily come after you!"

"Why is that?"

"You're the daughter of Fairy Tail's Guildmaster! Do you know how many of those crooks are behind bars because of Fairy Tail?"

"I'm a dragon slayer, I can handle it."

"You haven't even accessed dragon force yet!"

"I used Fairy Law, that argument is invalid."

"You used it once! Once on one single target! This is thousands of targets!"

"Whatever, they probably don't even know who I am," Farrah scoffed.

"Maybe, but they sure as heck know you're in Fairy Tail because, on top of going into a jail by yourself, you thought wearing teeny-tiny shorts was a good idea!"

"My shorts are not that small!"

"Small enough that everyone can see your guild mark!" Benedict said, pointing to the yellow emblem on Farrah's thigh.

"Ugh! Y'know what! It doesn't even matter because I'm fine! Nothing happened, okay?" Farrah shouted.

"And what about next time? Huh? What about when you try and sneak off and go in there alone again and something does happen?"

"Fine! I'll bring a lacrima with me!"

"No, I'm coming with you!" Benedict insisted.

"No, you won't! I already told you, with your dad being in there it's too much for me to ask."

"You're not asking me, I'm telling you I'm going!"

"Benedict, what if-"

"What if what? I can't handle it?"

"Well, yeah! What if it's too much? You get a flashback and can't handle it!"

"Shows what you know, because I'm not a scared little boy anymore! I can face my dad and I'll be fine!"

"No, you won't!" Farrah tugged at her hair. "Lie all you want, I know seeing your dad still hurts you, and-"

"Yeah, well not as much as it would hurt if something happened to you in there and I wasn't there to protect you!" Benedict shouted.

Farrah gasped, turning to Benedict in a bewildered gasp. "What does that mean?"

Benedict hung his head. "We may very well lose our parents because of this. We can't...I can't risk losing you too."

Farrah gasped again. "Benedict, I-"

"Just...promise me you won't go there by yourself again. Please?"

Farrah nodded. "Okay. Okay, fine. I'll let you come with me."

"Thank you," Benedict sighed. He then opened the door to the closet and walked out, leaving Farrah alone to process everything that happened.

"Wha…"

She stared at the door after Benedict.

"Why...why do I get the feeling there's something he's not telling me?" she asked herself as she placed a hand over her heart. "I wonder if he...he feels...like I do…"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The night sky shined over Crocus. Almost everyone was asleep, worn out by the excitement of the day's games. Not the Birthday Gang, Farrah, Benedict, and Bianca, though. They all sat in the hallway of their wing in the hotel, listening as Persephone recounted her tale.

"So...if Carmen's not really enthusiastic about helping Elena, maybe the other five aren't either," Benedict said.

"I'm not so sure," Storm said. "I mean, they tried to kidnap Nashi! That doesn't sound like a group of kids just going through the motions to save their skins."

"But...it kinda does…" Nashi muttered.

"What do you mean?" Cato asked.

"You heard them say that they think I can somehow bring our parents back," Nashi explained. "But if I do that might make Elena angry and she'd take it out on them. Them taking me may not have been so much about pleasing Elena as it was about saving themselves."

"I'm not so sure," Storm grumbled.

"Really? Because I was defenseless while in those magic canceling shackles. If they really wanted to 'get rid of me' why didn't they just kill me?"

"I don't know if I'd say you were defenseless," Bianca said. "You kicked one out the window of a moving car, and busted the other's nose."

"She does have a point though," Roman mused as he stroked his chin. "Still, until we know for sure where the other five's allegiance lies we'd better just focus on Carmen. Just to be safe."

"But how do we get him to help us?" Cato asked. "He's scared Elena will kill him if he goes against her, so until we can assure him that we can keep him safe he won't help."

"I tried telling him that, he wouldn't listen," Persephone said.

"Well, no offense sis, but you're only one person. Maybe if a group of us talk to him about how we'll keep him safe he'd listen."

"There is strength in numbers," Roman nodded. "It's at least worth a shot."

"But when?" Farrah asked. "When will we get a chance to talk to him?"

"Leave that to me!" Persephone grinned.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Carmen laid in his bed. He was tired but couldn't sleep, there was too much going through his mind. His sister, memories of his mother and stepfather, the ever-impending dread that Elena would snap and blame him for something, anything, that she deemed worthy of a beating.

Or worse.

He sighed as he tugged at the chain her kept around his neck. He pulled the pendant, a simple white crystal on a gold chain, out from under his shirt and looked at it.

It was all he had left of his mother. He'd been playing with it like she'd told him not to do many times when it happened. He'd been sitting in her closet, going through her jewelry box, trying on all the pretty, shiny things. Then she came in.

Elena, being over him, smiling evilly, still covered in his mother's blood.

He squeezed his eyes shut as the memories plagued him, holding the pendant against his chest. He'd just happened to still have it around his neck when Elena took him. And since that day he'd never taken it off.

Luna.

That's what the Fairy Tail girl told him his sister's name was.

Luna.

It was such a pretty name. His mother and step-father would have liked it.

He sighed as he tried to force himself to go to sleep. Staying up wasn't going to help anyone.

He rolled over, staring out the window near his bed and tried to sleep.

"Hey!"

Carmen jumped at the sound of a voice.

"Hey, Carmen! Wake up!"

"Who's there?" Carmen demanded to know.

"I'm not in there with you, genius. This is Persephone."

"Who?"

"Persephone Redfox? The girl you fought in the hallway."

"Wha-How?"

"Eh, I slipped an archive link into your mind while I was fighting yah. Anywho, where you at? We need to talk."

Carmen sighed and laid back down. "I already told you, you can't-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard yah the first time. But you're still wrong. Look, I'm gonna put an archive map into your mind. Follow it and meet us at the-"

"No. I already told you-"

"Hey, either you get your butt out here or we'll come in there are get you!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't dare? Ha! That's funny!"

Carmen's eyes narrowed. "Well, you wouldn't. Would you?"

"We're Fairy Tail, of course, we would Have you never heard of our guild before? Get your butt down here in five minutes or we're coming in!"

Carmen groaned. Yeah, they'd coming busting in here like a bunch of lunatics and get him in trouble. Of course, if he got caught sneaking out he'd get in trouble then too.

"Well, at least I can lie and say I was going for a walk or something if I get caught. No way to lie about a bunch of Fairy Tail wizards busting in," he muttered. "Let's get this over with."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Nice of you to join us!" Persephone called as Carmen climbed through an open window and into the Fairy Tail wing of the hotel.

"Whatta you want?" he asked gruffly.

"We want our parents back and we want to help you," Koree said.

"Yeah, well neither of those are possible," Carmen snapped.

"Sure they are," Persephone said. "But you gotta help us."

"And get myself killed? No thanks!"

"Carmen," Persephone sighed as she stood up and walked to him. "We can protect you. We've beaten Elena before and we can do it again. Just tell us how to get our parents back and we'll keep you safe. All six of you."

Carmen ducked his head. "No, you can't."

"Carmen-" Persephone sighed.

"You can't, look!" Carmen pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal a half-rising sun on his chest. The Mark of Elena's guild, Alteria's Children. "She placed these marks over each of our hearts."

"So, it's a guild mark?" Persephone shrugged.

"It's not just a mark. She infused some kind of spell in it. If she thinks one of us has betrayed her she can use this mark to stop our hearts and…" he shuddered. "...and kill us."

The Fairy Tail children gasped as they stared at the mark on Carmen's chest.

"Get it now?" Carmen asked. "Even if you were to take us to the other side of the world you couldn't keep us safe from her. One snap of her finger and we're dead."

A silence fell over the group.

"Sorry," Carmen sighed. "But I don't want to die."

The silence continued, all the children glancing at each other. Their confidence was now shattered. If Carmen were to help them it truly would be a death sentence. Hopelessness began to creep over them.

Until Storm stood to his feet and walked to Carmen's side.

"Can I see that mark again?" he asked.

Carmen shrugged and pulled the collar of his shirt down.

"Bianca look at this," Storm said, gesturing to his sister. Bianca ran to his side and gasped, nodding. "Oh!"

"What?" Carmen asked.

"Our little brother was almost taken by Elena," Storm explained. "She put the same mark on him, but our dad was able to get rid of it."

Carmen's brow furrowed. "That's impossible, it-"

"Did Elena use demon magic to make these marks?" Storm asked.

Carmen shrugged. "I dunno, maybe?"

"Oh. Oh!" Nashi gasped as she jumped to her feet. "Wait here!"

She raced off into a nearby room, returning moments later with a sleepy Layla.

"Nashi, wha-" Layla yawned.

"Layla, remember that mark that was on Luna's leg that one time that Daddy had to get Uncle Gray to come take it off her?" Nashi asked.

Layla shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, that was scary."

Nashi pointed to the mark on Carmen's chest. "Do you think it was made of the same stuff as that?"

Layla furrowed her brow as she drew closer to Carmen. She then gasped, shuddered, and recoiled away from him. "Yeah, that's the same scary stuff."

"Then it is demon magic," Nashi said. "Luna had a small mark on her leg that Uncle Gray was able to get rid of."

"How?" Carmen asked. "That doesn't make sen-"

"He's a demon slayer," Storm said.

Carmen's eyes lit up. "Those exist?"

"They're rare," Bianca explained. "But real. And like Storm said, our dad is one."

"Carmen, if you can help us get our parents back our dad can take that mark off you," Storm said, setting a hand on Carmen's shoulder. "But we have to get the adults back first. Like Bianca said, demon slayers are rare. Our dad's the only one in our guild, so none of here can do it for you."

Carmen hung his head. "I...I can't…"

"What do you mean?" Bianca crossed her arms.

"Tate was the one who cast the spell that took your parents away, not me, and...and he had help…" Carmen muttered. "Help that you can't get."

"Why not?" Bianca stamped her foot.

"Because it was from someone who's dead."

"Huh?" all the Fairy Tail kids asked.

Carmen sighed. "Look, the place Tate sent your parents is a dimension that's in between life and death. A limbo, if you will. In order for him to open a portal in that dimension, though, he had to go there himself. And he had to have a dead person guide him."

"I'm not following…" Koree said.

"I know, I suck at explaining!" Carmen ran his hands over his face. "I don't even know how the spell worked. All I know is that two days before the Games began Tate walked into a portal with no exit-"

"So, wait, he didn't open the portal to anywhere?" Nashi asked. "He just walked into that weird dark space we always pass through?"

"Yeah, and then somehow he found a dead person to take him to that place in between. Once he was there he opened two portals, one that sucked your parents into the in-between and one that brought him back to our world."

All the kids stared at each other.

"So...who did he find to help him?" Farrah asked.

"He didn't say. All he said was that Fairy Tail has a lot of dead enemies."

"Well, he's not wrong…" Cato muttered.

"See?" Carmen sighed. "That's why I can't help you. Sure, you got someone who makes portals, but you also have a lot of dead people who have it out for you. I'm...I'm sorry."

A long silence fell over the group. Carmen sighed and walked back to the window he'd climbed out of. "I really wish I could help...but...I can't…"

Carmen jumped out of the window and closed it behind him. Nashi jumped to her feet and ran back into the Dragneel's suite.

"Nashi, wait!" Storm shouted after her.

Nashi ran into a bedroom and slammed it closed behind her.

It wasn't her room she locked herself in. Rather it was the master bedroom. Her parents' bedroom.

She threw herself onto the bed and sobbed.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She cried. "What do I do?"

She buried her face into the pillow and cried. "How the heck am I gonna get you back? There's no one who's dead who will help me find you, and I can't-I can't-"

She buried her face deeper and cried all the louder. Rubbing her eyes with her hand. As she did so she noticed the Fairy Tail mark on her wrist. She sniffled as a memory fluttered through her mind, of a time when she was little and crying because she felt no one liked her because of her differences.

It was then she remembered something her father had told her.

"That mark means you have one big family to help you, no matter where you are."

Did that mean even in a place between life and death? Amongst the dead?

Nashi got off the bed and began pacing around her parent's room, looking through their suitcases and belongings. There had to be something her parents had that could help her.

Then she saw it. A letter sticking out of her mother's purse.

A letter from Gramps Makarov.

Nashi gasped as she snatched it up. Makarov was dead. And he would help her! If only she could find him once she stepped through that portal. But...there had to be other people who would help her, right?

Nashi tried to think of people she'd been close to that had died in her life. But Makarov was the only one that came to mind.

Trying to find one tiny, old man amongst everyone who'd lived and died did not sound like very good odds.

But they were the only odds their parents had…

IIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Nashi?" Storm asked as he knocked on the door Nashi had locked. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nashi answered.

"Are you coming out?"

"No," she sounded nervous.

"You sure?" Storm asked.

"Yeah, I just want to be alone."

"Well, okay," Storm said. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Okay," Nashi answered.

Storm sighed. He knew she was upset. They all were. Things were looking more and more hopeless by the second. He began to walk off.

Then he heard it.

A familiar noise.

A Styx portal opening.

"Nashi, don't!" he screamed. "Water nebula!"

He broke the door down, but he was too late. Nashi was gone, only a note left in her place.

Hey, guys! Nashi here. I'm going to go get our parents. Keep an eye on Elena and Phoenix Grave and keep kicking butt in the games. I'll be back soon!

"NASHI!" Storm screamed as he punching the floor, trying to tear the portal back in so he could go after her, but to no avail. Tears began pouring down his eyes. "NASHI, YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED! DON'T DO IT! COME BACK! COME BACK!"