A/N: Just read this, and tell me what you think after. *evil laugh* thanks to Epicocity as always! ALSO LINE BREAK HAS RETURNED

"Come on, come on

Put your hands into the fire"

-Thirteen Senses, Into the Fire

"Wendy, why don't you talk?"

The words were not unfamiliar to her ears, she'd heard them many times in the last seven years, and yet the fact that they could come out of Romeo Conbolt's mouth was still surprising in it's own way to her.

They were in her room at Laxus's, playing a game of cards that didn't require talking (per usual) . He came over to her house often during the summer, and they usually did a variety of things, mostly involving playing ball outside, but the rain was coming down hard today, and they were stuck indoors.

Her hand hovered over the pile of slick, smooth cards, she had been about to pull one. She froze in place, her brown eyes growing wider as her heart beat faster with every exhale and inhale of her body. She hadn't expected him to ask that, and suddenly she couldn't move, couldn't will her feet into taking her away, taking her far, far away from him and his words. He shifted uncomfortably, she could hear his shirt rustling against the carpet, could hear his disgruntled exhales at her silence. What was he expecting, a verbal response?

She lifted her head, tears coming to the front of her eyes. Wendy felt betrayed. Romeo had been the only person that hadn't asked her that, including Natsu, and the fact that he could be so thoughtless hurt her far more than she thought it could.

"What?" he asked her in defense to her tears, but she was so frustrated, and so done with everything.

She had been asked that question by so many people over the last seven years, in so many different ways, as if they thought she could answer. Didn't they think that she wanted to talk? Did they think that she knew what unspeakable force froze her vocal cords all those years ago? Her own voice had betrayed her, leaving her with nothing but silence and the judging stares of didn't know how that felt. Natsu had even been wary of her at first, asking her why she wouldn't speak to him, her own brother, but she couldn't tell him why. She couldn't tell herself why, she didn't know the answers.

She wanted to tell Romeo this.

But she couldn't.

She couldn't talk.

So instead, she picked up a whiteboard she kept for these occasions, she scrawled words across it, so fast that they blurred together, the words barely legible. She shoved the board at him, and he sprang back like it had stung him. She got to her feet quickly and ran, ran,ran from the room, trying to escape. He didn't understand. That question ruined her life.

"Wendy?" the knocking at the door was frantic, resonating against the wood rapidly, desperately, "Wendy honey, let me in."

She didn't tell Natsu what happened after they had fought with their parents.

"Wendy please, I'm sorry," her Mother's voice caught, "We were wrong I'm sorry-"

She hadn't said a thing.

"Wendy please, you have to wake up honey," her Mother's voice was soft, "They're coming for us."

"Who's coming?" she'd finally spoke up.

"This isn't real," her Mother whimpered, "I'm not real. I'm just an illusion, I'm inside you." Wendy darted to the door and shoved it open, but the hallway was empty.

"Mom?!" she called, "MOMMY!"

There was no answer.

That morning, she had tried to tell Natsu that their parents weren't coming back, about what exactly their Mother had said the night she vanished, but her throat sealed up and wouldn't let her talk. Everytime she even tried to write it out her fingers began to ache so badly she couldn't hold a pencil. Some greater force in the world had not wanted her to tell her brother. Romeo couldn't understand that, and she couldn't even tell him in her own way, so she gave up. She had just let people assume she couldn't talk. Only Natsu knew it was a lie.

Romeo had been the one person in her life who never asked her that question. He seemed to accept her disability of some odd part of the world, refusing to let that get in between her their friendship. She had let herself believe him, let herself trust him, but that was her greatest folly.

He was just like all the rest. She stormed out of her room, her bare feet slapping against the hardwood floors. She felt betrayed, betrayed by her best friend.

Romeo stared after Wendy, his mouth open. His eyes were wide as he reread the words she'd scrawled on the board: I hate you. He didn't understand what he'd done to offend her so, other then asking her a rather obvious question.

He felt immensely guilty however, the feeling settling in his stomach like a queasy weight. His Father had once told him you needed to know everything about someone before you could ask them out, but now he was regretting asking him in the first place.

Had he just ruined his relationship with her?

There were some things she never thought herself capable of doing before the incident. She never thought that she was capable of striking someone down, not killing exactly, but wiping their memories with the drugs someone in the rebellion had developed.

She knew what she was doing wasn't much different than what the enemy did, but what else could she do?

"Lisanna," Sting's voice sounded from behind her, and she turned slightly, her blue eyes narrowing dangerously. "Are you sure we want to keep up with this?"

"Do I hear doubt in your voice?" she questioned, stepping closer to him so that her chest brushed up against his. She put as much power and authority into her voice as she dared, her entire being filled to the brink with venom. Sting flinched back slightly.

"What happened to you?" he whispered suddenly, his breath tickling her face, "You used to be so... nice." his voice lingers on the last word, his face scowling. She scowls back at him.

"I allowed you to be my partner, and it was not so you could turn your back on me now." She hissed.

"You allowed me?" Sting asked her, a tone of redemption in his voice, "I thought we partnered up because the incident forced us to."

"Oh Sting," she sighed, "You do know that you're only partners with me because I look like Yukino." his face paled considerably at her words, and she laughed. The laugh was cold, tinged with only the slightest bit of regret.

"I know you don't think I remember you from before the incident," Sting said slowly, "but I do. I saw you up there with your guild, cheering them on. What are you doing now Lisanna? Throwing your life away for what exactly? They're happy." Lisanna closed her eyes, and the memory flew to her mind like it always did at this time.

Lisanna sighed at the piece of paper in her hand, another failed mission. She would soon be a blemish on Fairy Tail's name if she didn't get her act together.

In all honesty, she didn't quite know what was going on with her. Lately she felt as if there was some kind of presence hovering around her, like her life with her family and friends was about to crumble into ashes. She had decided it was just a folly, some odd feeling she was simply getting because she thought about it too much.

When she came on top on the hill overlooking Magnolia however, she felt a sinking feeling in her gut.

Something was not right. The streets were empty, devoid of the normal everyday people that usually crowded around the popular town. She was soon jogging down the streets, towards the guild, trying to tell herself not to trust the feeling in her stomach. Surely it was fine. There was some explanation for this.

The guild's doors were open, an odd sign. Usually the Master preferred to keep them closed, so nosy onlookers couldn't peer into their business. She ran into the hall at once.

"Mira?" she begged the empty air, the guild was empty too, except here there were signs of a fight. Claw marks against the floor, burned tables, even a few swords sticking tip down in the floor. "Erza? Master? Elfman?" she began to shout, "Come on guys, this isn't funny! Come out!" she nearly tripped over something as she moved forward, and looking down in horror she saw Lucy's keys, scattered across the floor like candy from a pinata.

"So you survived my spell," the voice was cold, female, and it was oddly a beautiful, soothing sound, "I hate that there are so many of you who had that anomaly." the voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once, surrounding the empty space.

"Anomaly?" Lisanna questioned the empty air, letting her cat form take over her body so instead of fingers she had claws, claws that she was ready to tear out someone's eyes with.

"It doesn't matter. Your friends, your family, they aren't coming back. I've...relocated them. You might as well give up, you're outnumbered. I'll let you live though, it amuses me to see some sort of resistance to my efforts."

"Who are you?"

"Let me tell you something child, you won't ever find your friends again."

"I told you to get Ultear in here!" Lisanna shouted at him, her eyes flying open.

"This started as a mission to save our guilds from her," he said, "but they're happy with these lives they think are real."

"I'm not happy," she hissed, "doesn't our happiness mean something? I said get Ultear in here damnit. I think we have a lead."

She didn't care if her friends thought that they were living in a happy, peaceful, normal world. She wanted them back, she wanted magic back in the world.

Because it had been three years.

April 12. The day magic, and all wizards, save a few who had some sort of special genetic mutation, disappeared from the world, only to reappear scattered across the country, living fake lives. Natsu, Mira, Elfman, everyone, thought she was dead, like she'd never came back from Edolas. Of course, none of their old adventures existed in their heads anymore.

Not anymore.

A/n: confused? Well the Au is not actually an AU! Plot twist! If you go back you can see the hints I've added in. I hope you guys like this.