a/n: So I just wanted to say some things before you read the chapter.

1. This story still has around ten..? chapters left, but then their will be another part. So like another story on here, because… it works better that way?

2. Does anyone of my beloved readers like Soul Eater? If you do, I'm contemplating starting a Soul!Maka AU spy story, but it won't be published for a while. Just let me know if you're interested! (I do have some Soul Eater stories already published just btw, but they're one shotsJ)

3. I just wanted to thank PsychoticFreak, IcePrinceRay, Epicocity, amnaK96 for reviewing on like every chapter. You guys make my day, I love you all—and to the other people who review you're awesome too! Please review! It's like better then candy…. Almost.;)

Sage

"Did you hear?" Lucy turned around and leaned over his desk so she could whisper in his ear, "Erza and Gray got caught making out in the river last night."

Her voice contained no sympathy for their friends, only barely suppressed laughter as she looked at her boyfriend, who pumped his fist in the air with triumph.

"I told you they would get together!" He boasted, a grin the size of Ishgal stretching across his face.

"I know, I know, I owe you five jewel," the blonde grumbled, "but can you believe Laxus himself caught them?" a laugh burst out of her lips, "in their swimsuits, kissing in the water."

"I knew it," Natsu sang once more, his voice creaky and uneven. He played with the golden strands of Lucy's hair, his onyx eyes slightly far away.

"What's on your mind?" she inquired, her voice softer. He looks down at her, a gentleness filling his eyes.

"Just wondering," he said, although that wasn't quite true. He was trying to fight off this terrible hunger he could feel inside him, this odd craving for setting things on fire and gulping them down. Who craved eating fire?

"Are you alright?" Lucy looked over at him, her eyes concerned now. "You don't look right." He sighed through his teeth.

"I'm fine Luce," he protested, as sweat beaded on his forehead and his stomach moaned and flipped like it had all morning. Lucy smiled nervously, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss against his forehead, tapping his hand before turning to face the front of the classroom.

"Tell me if you need anything," she said as she refocused her attention on the class. Natsu simply rested his head on the desk, the cool fake wood doing nothing to stop the heat bubbling underneath his skin. What was wrong with him?

"I need a glass of water," he said suddenly, standing up. The teacher looked at him quizzically, but he ignored him. "I need fresh air—" he decided, changing his mind as his feet attempted to move towards the doorway.

The world swirled, and suddenly he was on the ground.

…

"Wendy c'mon!" Romeo's voice is angry now, and she stomped even more determinedly away from him. "You can't run from me forever you know!" She just shook her head. What? Was he expecting her to respond?

He's attempting to catch up to her in the halls, but she's not about to let that happen. She darted around another corner, deciding to take an extra long way to class as to better avoid him. They weren't partners anymore, they didn't have the same schedule, and he couldn't follow her.

Maybe she could find Natsu and ask him to beat up Romeo for her. That would certainly help things tremendously. Her hands shook slightly as she barreled down yet another hallway, not really avoiding Romeo at this point but just trying to delay heading to class even longer, a weary sigh leaving her lips.

She wasn't paying attention when she rammed into Gray. He jumped back in surprise, and the folder in his hands burst open, spilling forth all manner of drawings. Wendy felt a heated blush rising to her cheeks as she darted down, attempting to pick up all the artwork.

The first sketch she picked up was of Erza, and she nearly died of embarrassment just looking at it. Erza was showing far more skin then Wendy ever thought she would, the only thing covering the top half of her chest a collection of bandages, and she was shoeless, her hair pulled into a scarlet ponytail, red sweatpants, and two swords clenched in her grip.

Gray was still picking himself up from the floor, so she dared to look at some more of his artwork.

She was surprised to find a drawing of her brother amongst the art, surrounded by flame, his scarf around his neck, his grin wild, with what looked like scales patching around his eyes.

A drawing of her looking like herself adorned the next drawing, although the mark on her upper arm looked unfamiliar—she squinted harder at the drawing.

"Oh—" Gray began, beginning to help her shuffle up the remaining artwork.

Wendy reached forward to tear a piece of paper from his grasp; her fleeting glimpse hadn't been enough. Three cats were sketched and colored on the page, except they were standing on their front paws like humans, their front paws working as arms.

There was a blue cat, a black one with a scar cutting into his left eye, and a white cat. The white cat is what fascinated her the most, with her little firm mouth and odd clothes. Tears began to prickle at the back of Wendy's eyes, but she couldn't imagine why.

"You can keep that drawing if you'd like," Gray said, finishing collecting all of his sketches. She nodded in response, sending him a small smile to let him know she was grateful. Pocketing the picture, she heads to her next class.

…

The prisons are dark. They stench of urine and sweat, of lost dreams and nightmares. The only splotches of light are the dim flickering candles hung on the wall, sending weak pools of illumination into the cells, mocking the occupants with the promise of a sunlight they know they will never see.

There are guards everywhere, laughing, sharing a drink, holding candles themselves. They line the halls, occasionally jeering at the prisoners, sometimes throwing them a empty bottle of whiskey just to see the glass shatter, see the prisoners back to the very edge of the cell, trying to avoid the pungent shards. Some of them dart forward, trying to seize a few drops of alcohol to dim the pain. It's far below the city, this foul place, and rats scurry back and forth, terrifying everyone with their vast size that shouldn't be possibly.

The occupants themselves, however, are the most scary. Bruised and beaten, they resemble hollowed out pumpkins, with their empty eyes and meaningless words. Some of them have gone mad, rocking back and forth in place, whispering words to themselves, their eyes terribly confused and their brains full of empty nothingness.

In a room, a dark horrible room adjacent to the cells that appears to have no floor save for a rickety wooden bridge across a chasm, there are thousands of birdcages. The odd thing is, while the creatures inside the cages beg and scream for food, water—freedom, they aren't human. They aren't even birds.

To the untrained eye, they are cats. Thousands of multicolored cats, pawing down below as if to free themselves by some force of will. If one stayed longer, gazed at them closely, they'd see the rags that passed as clothes, and hear the human voices echoing out of their systems, maybe even see the dirty feathers as they attempted to fly.

The cages closest to the ground were the quietest cats. The white one, or maybe white wasn't the correct word, she were leaning towards an ashy gray, simply stared forward, as if mesmerized by the opposite wall. The black one was constantly moving, flying, wringing the bars, his red scar looking deadly in the dim light, but he didn't make a sound. The blue cat inside the third one wails occasionally, his voice broken-

"Natsu, please help!"