A/n: Please tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you! :)

Disclaimer: FT doesn't belong to me!

The guard kicked Erik's leg, hard. "Quit staring and get moving, prisoner!"

Erik had been taking in his surroundings while the guard led him on to his cell. As they passed cell after cell, he'd noticed a couple of his gang's underlings lurking behind those bars. It took him a while to take in the fact that, just like that, he was back in the hellhole known as Magnolia Prison.

Man, he really was hopeless.

"You do know who I am, don't you?" Erik hissed to the guard, a short, chubby man clad in the typical but ugly green uniform. This was the one thing he missed about his past life, being able to order people around with just a bat of his eye. And he had the perfect scheme up his sleeves after Gildarts had backed him into a corner. "You know perfectly well that I can destroy you by bringing out your deepest, darkest secrets. Oh, I know all about your past, alright," he taunted as the guard's eyes widened in disbelief. "You had a brother, who you were very close to. But then, he ran away. At least, that's what you told everyone, but he didn't really run away, did he?" he drawled, enjoying making the guard suffer.

"S-STOP!" The man yelled, his voice wavering.

Bingo.

"If your superiors knew, would you still be here?" Erik asked scornfully. "Maybe you would be on the other side, instead of forcing me to get moving."

"Fuck you, Cobra," the man growled as he practically shoved Erik into his cell. "What do you want?"

Erik smirked. "First, you can start by bringing me a list of every man who has entered and left this prison in the last twenty five years."

"What the hell are you going to do with that?"

Erik pointed a finger at the guard, enjoying this game. "Your brother didn't run away. He was really killed - "

"Enough! I'll go, just shut your mouth, you damn snake!" the guard backed away, a terrified look in his eyes. He was trapped.

"Is that the best insult you could come up with? I'm disappointed in you, Nadal," Erik drawled. Nadal gave him one last look before practically running to get away from him. Now that Erik was alone, he glanced around the room he was supposed to call home for the next few days. Besides a bed that hardly looked like it was comfortable, and a bucket that reeked of urine, there wasn't anything else that would help keep him occupied to pass the time.

Well, he'll have all that information to go through, though. He knew that everyone he'd dealt with had at one point or another spent a part of their life in Magnolia Prison. It was a hub for prisoners before they were sent elsewhere, whether to be killed or released. He was sad to admit that a portion of those prisoners who had been released ended up performing more crime by joining gangs.

And he knew that whoever wrote the threat message to Kinana had to be on this list.

"I would like to speak to Detective Clive, please," Kinana informed the receptionist as she ventured into the police department.

"Do you have an appointment with him?" the older woman asked silkily. "Detective Clive is terribly busy at this moment, I'm afraid. Unless you have an appointment, or have evidence pertaining to a certain case, he's not accepting visitors."

Kinana's heart sank in disappointment. Of course he wasn't going to see her until she had evidence to prove Erik's innocence, but how on Earthland was she going to find it? "No, I don't have evidence," she said softly. "But can't I speak to him? He has been handling my case, and I'm afraid that the culprit will strike again."

The woman peered at Kinana through a pair of round glasses, and Kinana felt as though she was seeing right through her. "The culprit has been caught, so rest assured that you won't be getting any more threat messages. Now, run along. I don't have all day, dear. Can't you see that I'm sorting through these files?"

Kinana bowed her thanks and slinked back into the waiting room, where she plopped unceremoniously onto a chair. She knew talking to him wasn't going to work, but she wanted to try anyway. Why was she such an idiot?

"Kinana, is that you?" A deep, familiar voice asked with surprise.

Kinana looked up to see Erza Scarlet standing by the doorway. The policewoman, with her flaming red hair and stern gaze, was rumored to be feared by every male member of the police department. "Miss Erza!" Kinana greeted, hastily standing up. Remembering that Natsu had taken the most damage the night before, she added, "How is Mr. Dragneel doing?"

She smiled fondly. "Oh, he'll live."

"I was the one who put him in danger," Kinana said sadly. "If I hadn't put on my concert, none of this would had happened. When he wakes up, please tell him that I'm sorry."

Erza took her hand squeezed it gently. "Don't blame yourself, Kinana. The accident wasn't your fault. Besides, it's our duty to protect you, and getting hurt is a part of the job description. We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we joined the force, so don't worry about it. I'm sure Natsu would say the same. Why don't you come visit him when he wakes up and pass on the message yourself?"

Kinana nodded, smiling a little. "I'll do that, thank you! Maybe I'll bring Lucy too," she added, remembering how Lucy seemed to have developed a crush on him.

"He'd like that," Erza replied. "He's staying at Magnolia Hospital, just down the street from here. I'll let you know when he wakes up."

"Thank you, Miss Erza!" Kinana said gratefully.

She patted Kinana on the arm. "You don't have to thank me, Kinana. I'm sorry I can't do anymore to help you."

"No, you've done more than enough!" Kinana insisted, then couldn't help asking a question that she was itching to ask. She knew Erza had dealt with him in the past, so she must be particularly sensitive when it came to this topic. But she wanted to know what others thought of Erik. "You...You don't believe Erik is the culprit, do you?"

Erza took a deep breath. "When I fought him in the past, he was as terrible as criminals could get. He used blackmail to rule over his underlings, you know. He...he knew things that no man could possibly know. Secrets that they - we, the police, even - had kept hidden our entire lives. It was as if he could somehow read our minds, and used that to his advantage. He truly was a ruthless and cunning man. In fact, he was so vile that calling him a bastard would be an understatement," she added with a humorless laugh.

Kinana could only listen as Erza went on. In her mind, she persuaded herself that this wasn't true. This was nothing like the Erik she had met last night, she told herself.

"But then, when I saw him again last night, he'd changed. He'd usually get one of his followers to do his dirty work, but he was investigating your case on his own. And I've never seen him sacrifice himself for anything, especially not for a woman," Erza finished with a small smile. "You were able to change him, Kinana, though I have no idea how. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you two were lovers."

Kinana blushed and quickly shook her head. "W-We're not lovers!" she protested. "We're...we're not even friends," she added sadly, remembering how he had rejected their friendship.

Erza contemplated Kinana's words. "If you ask me, I'd say that he's protecting you. He didn't have to be a jerk, but that's his way of doing things, the bastard."

"Do you...do you really think so?" Kinana asked, hope brimming inside her. She didn't want to lose a friend after just making one.

"I know so," she stated with certainty. "I've had a similar experience in the past," she added wistfully, a red tinge spreading across her cheeks. She quickly shook her head and straightened up again. "I'm sorry Gildarts has been treating you so horribly, but he has his reasons. I'll make sure you get to see him when things have calmed down a little. But until then, try not to overstrain yourself. Okay, Kinana? And next time I see Cobra, I'll make him pay for hurting you," she promised, an evil smirk spreading across her face.

Kinana nodded, knowing that that was the end of their conversation. Erza was already doing so much to help, so she didn't want to impose any more on the policewoman. "I'll try," she agreed, giving the other woman a small wave as she exited the building.

If talking wasn't going to work, it was time for Plan B.

She took out her phone from her purse, staring at the vast number of missed calls and text messages she had received from her friends and family. They must have heard the news from the night before. Most of the calls were from her foster parents, and there were many from Mirajane, Lisanna, and even Elfman. She smiled at the thought that so many people cared about her wellbeing.

As she went through her contact list, her heart skipped a beat when she saw the alias that Erik had entered. But she knew she couldn't reach him now. Instead, she located the number of a certain supermodel that Lucy was a huge fan of.

The phone barely rang once before Mirajane immediately answered. "Kinana-chan, there you are! I've been trying to get a hold of you all day! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you want me to send Elfman over?"

Kinana giggled. Mirajane was overly protective of her due to her resemblance to Lisanna, the younger Strauss sibling, and Kinana found it endearing. Mirajane often joked that Kinana was probably a part of their family in an alternate dimension.

"I'm doing alright, Mira-nee..." Kinana was trying her best to be alright in a situation like this, but she had to admit how hard it was. She longed to talk to Laki again, and to see Erik. But there was nothing she could do to bring her best friend back. "But, I was wondering if you'd be able to do me a favor? You're a master of disguise, aren't you?"

There was a pause. "Well, I don't know if you can call modeling a form of disguise, but I do have some knowledge on that matter. Why, what's on your mind, Kinana-chan? I'll be happy to help!"

Before she had left that morning, she'd scanned Magnolia Prison's information page. She was disappointed that they did not accept visitors of any kind. If she wasn't going to gain access to the prison from Gildarts, then it was time she took things into her own hands and put her plan into action. She smiled.

"I have a small request...Could you get me into Magnolia Prison?"

After agreeing to meet with Mirajane later to figure out their plan, Kinana decided to head back to her apartment. It felt strangely empty now that Laki wasn't living with her anymore, but at least Lucy and Levy were there to keep her company, and that was more than she could ask for.

But before she could take another step, a taxi suddenly screeched to a halt in front of her. She jumped, startled, and quickly moved out of its way. A particularly large man with a friendly-looking face stepped out and stopped in front of her.

"You're her, aren't you?" he asked in a bright, cheerful voice. Kinana didn't know why, but he seemed almost too cheerful.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, trying to skirt around him. She'd definitely had her share of talking to strangers.

"His love," the man clarified, a smile dancing across his lips.

"Who?" Kinana asked warily. She felt as though they were talking in riddles. "Sorry, you must have the wrong person. I've never seen you before." As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt that something was off. Was this really the first time they had met? Then again, there was no way she could know someone like this. So, who was he?

He shrugged. "Then it must have been my mistake. I'm sorry for startling you, Miss. Oh, look, there's a bit of dust on your coat. Let me get it off for you," he said, moving toward her. Then, moving with an agility that wasn't possible for someone his size, he pulled away. "Well, see you around, Miss!"

Kinana stared as the strange man walked away, humming to himself. She had no idea what that was about, but shook her head, knowing that she had more important matters to deal with. She was just about to slip her phone in her pocket when her fingers brushed against an unfamiliar scrap of paper, and she frowned, wondering when on earth she had put such a thing there. Wait a minute...

Her eyes widened, recalling the strange man from earlier. He was already out of sight, but there definitely had been something weird about him. He couldn't have gotten a chance to put the paper in her pocket, could he?

She glanced around before gingerly opening it. Her heart pounded as she thought of the worst case. What if it was the culprit again, threatening to do something terrible to her friends? What if this time, the target wasn't just them, but her fans? What if the target was Erik, because he had stopped them from killing her?

Instead, she saw that a single word had been hastily scrawled onto the paper. It was almost illegible, but she could make out what appeared to be a name. She had no idea what it meant, but just seeing the name sent shivers down her spine.

Zato.

Erik looked up when Nadal the Guard stopped by his room. The poor man glanced around furtively as he held out a tray in his hands. "Your meal," he said, practically thrusting its contents at Erik.

Erik was locked up in the special ward, meaning that he was secluded from the other inmates and could not join them for meals. He also knew perfectly why he was there - he had been responsible for killing many people in the past. He knew this, the police knew this, in fact, everyone knew this, but they were frustrated that they couldn't find any evidence they could use against him. This time, though, they had an excuse for putting him there. He could almost imagine Gildarts laughing gleefully, and Dragneel was probably celebrating his capture in some bar far away. Not that he blamed them; he hated them as much as they hated him.

While this made it harder for him to observe fellow prisoners, he knew they didn't like to be stared at. Besides, it was better to mind your own business anyway when you were in prison.

He accepted the tray, staring at how meager his portion of beans were. Besides that, there was a single piece of bread, and he could tell it was stale from the fact that mold was starting to grow on its crust.

Well, he'd had worse. Back in the day, the gang could go a couple of days without food.

Sighing, he picked up the piece of bread and flipped it over. To his surprise, he saw that a list of names had been etched into the underside of the bread.

A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Well, well, looks like we're going to be friends, aren't we, Nadal?" he murmured to himself as he quickly scanned the names, then tore of the crust like any sensible person would do. Most of the names belonged to people he didn't know, of course, but one name in particular stood out.

Zato. He had helped Erik in a past exploit, and was the leader of another gang that used to serve the Oracion Seis called Naked Mummy. While they had split up a long time ago, some of their members remained active by joining other gangs to escape capture.

Erik dismissed the idea that Zato was the true culprit - he was definitely too much of an idiot to be the mastermind - but there was no doubt a connection between him and Erik. If that was the case, though, then there must be someone even higher up working behind the scenes. Though, there was still the question of Kinana. She was an outsider, someone who had never been related to the gangs in any way. Why would they bring her into this?

Unless...

Could this really be so simple? No, it couldn't be, could it?

Erik stared at the name again as he nibbled the bread with distaste.

He still had a lot of thinking to do, but at least he knew one thing. What happens next was going to be really, really interesting.

Kinana returned to her apartment to see that Lucy and Levy were still there, running around in panic as they tried to find her. "Where have you been?" Lucy fretted. "You weren't answering your phone. We thought something had happened to you!"

Kinana felt guilty for not telling them that she had left, but she hadn't wanted to disturb them in the morning. "Sorry," she apologized. "I went to go see Gildarts, but that didn't work out, unfortunately."

She sighed in frustration.

"I'm sorry about that," Lucy murmured. "Gildarts is, pardon my French, an asshole, if you ask me. He doesn't even have time for his client? What kind of detective is that?"

Levy nodded in agreement, and Kinana couldn't help but smile. Her friends were supportive of her, especially after listening to her side of the story. They had seen first hand how Erik had risked his life to save Kinana last night.

"If Gildarts can't help us, we'll have to figure it out ourselves," Kinana made up her mind, her eyes sparkling with determination.

"I'll do research on criminal justice," Levy offered. Her friends knew how much she loved reading. "It's not right for Gildarts to just take Erik to prison without any evidence!"

Lucy nodded. "I'll see if I can dig up some old articles that can help. Also, Levy and I were discussing this earlier, but we think you should put on another concert as soon as you can, Kinana-chan."

Kinana's eyes widened, not knowing what to think. The concert had taken a toll on her, and she didn't know if she could sing again after the horrifying turn of last night.

"Erik is in prison, right? If the culprit strikes again at your next concert, and since Erik definitely will have an alibi, we can prove that he and Erik are two different people!" Levy reasoned. "Besides, the culprit must think that he's free to do whatever he wants now that the police aren't following his trail. So we'll just have to lure him out again. That way, we'd kill two birds with one stone!"

Kinana looked thoughtful. "But...Gildarts is convinced that he's Erik's accomplice," she insisted. "I don't want any more people to get hurt because of me."

Lucy put her hand on Kinana's shoulder comfortingly. "As Levy said, Erik is in prison. I hate that idea as much as you, but there's no way he could hear about your concert when he's in prison. So the chances of him plotting with this 'accomplice' are next to zero," she theorized. "Which means that Gildarts will have to take us seriously whether he likes it or not!"

"You could be right," Kinana admitted. "You guys...thank you so, so much! You have no idea how much this means to me."

Lucy and Levy had identical grins etched on their faces. "Of course. We're your friends, Ki-Chan," Levy beamed. "We're happy to help."

Lucy nodded in agreement, but her expression darkened as she added softly in a voice that Kinana couldn't hear, "It's the only thing we could do."

A/n: here is the next chapter, and it's a lot longer~ the plot is thickening ;) Hope you enjoy! The plot is actually inspired a little by Detective Conan because I've watched way too much of that anime lately LOL. I'm not going to spoil anything though :P I love reading everyone's reviews and seeing your predictions on what happens next~!

Fun fact: All the names of the characters actually have appeared in Fairy Tail at some point XD

leave a review if you liked it? :) Special thanks to Vilandel, MusicalArtist185, bluester, and Stalker sweet for reviewing the previous chapter! New readers are always welcome! :D