A/N: I hate life tbh lmao I'm so sorry for being late once again, but I got this out asap! Please enjoy it, dudes and such, I'm really sorry

Though she wasn't cold, Seph shivered in the snowy wind. It was August, but apparently in some places, it might've just been December. The world was just a completely mysterious phenomenon, sharing the same land with different temperatures and weathers. It had been at least four months now, and yet, she still wasn't used to being outside. She wasn't used to seeing the sky and when the weather was clear, the sun and the moon at different times of the day. She had grown an inch, to Laxus' amusement, but didn't get much further than that. She hadn't paid attention to her height very much before escaping where she came from.

She, Laxus and the Raijinshuu had just finished a job in the snowy atmosphere of a village and were heading through the frosty woods to go and catch a train back to Magnolia. Seph couldn't wait to sit around in the warm atmosphere of the Guild and just chat with her team and some others that she had come to be comfortable around. She was becoming used to the crowded Guild and constant greetings she'd get even if she didn't know a person's name, since Laxus tended to get a lot of attention and she was his partner. She didn't mind it anymore.

She suddenly paused in her spot, her feet sunken into the ground and her jacket barely keeping the snow out of her face, and her partner and team paused to wait for her. She had gotten used to the crunching of the snow under her feet, but it had sounded a little different all of the sudden and she looked down, a little surprised to find that there were already footsteps underneath her little feet. They were bigger, but not big enough to be any of the others, and they were heading into the bushes anyways. There was a pair of Exceed feet running after the other pair, the feet not covered with shoes, and she got curious, cautiously walking over to the bushes only to peer down a hill.

"Did you find something?" Laxus asked her, gaining a small nod and a point to the footsteps in the snow. They were fading fast from the falling snow, but they were noticeable enough. She went to step back from the bushes, but something else that was far out of place caught her attention—a couple drops of a dark red liquid that had seeped into the snow.

Seph would've leaned over to inspect it, but there wasn't a point when she already knew what it was: blood.

"Do you think this hill is too steep…?" She asked as the footsteps of the others came up behind her. She heard Laxus hum in thought a bit, his shadow leaning over her little one as he peered down the hill. It was quite steep, after all… but if someone needed help, then as Mages, who were they to turn away?

That seemed to run through all of their minds as Seph was picked up by Laxus and placed on his shoulders before he started to slide down the steep hill, using the trees at his disposal to keep steady and to not go falling down. The others followed, having a little more of a hard time than Laxus was, but managing to stay upright and they followed the dents in the snow that two different bodies had left behind alongside occasional drops of blood. One was a human and one was an Exceed, obviously, but both had been running around in the snow barefoot and that was what threw them off.

It was unclear whether they'd find living beings or dead ones. There didn't seem to be enough blood to add up to dead beings, but the more they saw it, the bigger the likeliness of a dead human and a dead Exceed became. Seph wondered what they'd do if they found dead bodies. Their choices were a little limited in her small head, but natural for someone with the paranoia and facts of possibly getting close to finding such a thing. She eventually came around to the fact of just because something out of the ordinary had happened, that didn't mean that she should have gone chasing after it like a dog would after a thrown chew toy.

They finally came to the bottom of the hill with a small slide, arriving at a nearby river… and next to the river was none other than the body of a young teenage girl. The girl was an average height for her age, if not a little taller, and long, purple hair in a familiar shade sprouting from her head, spread over the white snow. Blood was seeped into the snow under her head, her feet having gone red from the cold weather, and a white dress covered her soaked frame, as if she had fallen into the river and climbed right out.

Seph wanted to turn around, but something made her get down from Laxus' shoulder and move closer. It was just something that she couldn't remember at the moment, something important, and she wanted to know. This girl was probably dead, as her chest wasn't moving, but Seph's curiosity had no boundaries even when the body turned out to be far too heavy for her to turn over on her own. Eventually, probably out of sympathy, Laxus helped her turn the girl's body over onto her back and allowed Seph to catch her breath from trying so hard. She didn't know why she was trying so hard, but when she noticed the dark gray Exceed resting in the girl's limp arms, something clicked and her legs gave out from underneath her.

Oh God, she knew these two very well. Were they that close to…? She couldn't be here, but she couldn't dare to leave these two behind like this. If they weren't already dead, they would end up there.

"… W-We gotta… th-the Guild…" Seph tried to get out, hearing Freed say something and gaining nods from the others.

Laxus used his jacket to wrap the girl and her Exceed up, to give them warmth, and picked up Seph to put her back on his shoulders before lifting the two up like a baby in a bundle. They were both so pale, and the girl's head was bleeding an awful lot… Seph couldn't look. She just spent the trek back to the Guild with her face buried in Laxus' hair.

"But where did they come from?"
"I don't know."
"What were they doing out there like that?"
"I don't know."
"… Will they be alright?"
"I don't know."

"Laxus!" Natsu huffed in exasperation, tired of hearing the man repeat "I don't know" over and over again although it was honestly true. "Do you know anything!?" Laxus paused for a moment, thinking, and then spoke up.

"You're a hot-headed idiot." He stated, gathering many of the other members laughter in response as Natsu let out a yell.

Laxus was seated at the bar, needing a drink after carrying the girl and her Exceed all the way back and then having to deal with being asked so many questions, and Seph was seated on the edge of the counter close to him, the Raijinshuu at a table nearby. All of them were very worried, but mostly because Seph had said anything since the pair had been found and she had looked quite mortified for a reason unknown to them. Mira was tending to them in the infirmary with Wendy's help and the hours had trickled by with people coming in and no one going out unless they had important business to attend to. While some people chatted amongst themselves, most of the Guild members stayed silent because Seph had been constantly flinching under every single sound that was too loud for her.

The sound of a door opening jerked all of their attentions over to Mira and Wendy, the both of them looking a little flushed.

"They'll both be fine." Mira assured them after making sure that no one was going to come running at her. "They're just resting now. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a couple of visitors, if you wish to see them."

No one could stop how quickly Seph got up and rushed into the infirmary, slamming the door behind her. A couple of them got the weird feeling that she just needed a bit of time to cry out of the sight of others, and many of them had already come to the conclusion that she must've known the pair. None of them dared to speak, though, allowing a couple of minutes to pass before Laxus got up after putting his mug down, having finished his drink, and made his way over to the infirmary. After a couple of exchanged glances, a group of them followed him in, finding Seph sitting on the side of the bed with her knees pulled to her chest in a hug. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her face was a little red, and her eyes were a little puffy, but not so much as to be noticeable from afar.

Mira must've brushed the girl's hair; the balanced purple strands fanned out across the pillow and lay out underneath her petite frame. The Exceed was lying right beside her, the both of them breathing deeply and evenly although they were both so still between breaths that they kept wondering if they would ever take another one after their previous ones. They weren't as pale as they were before, but it was still a wonder as to how they survived. Seph wouldn't dare to think of any other way this could've gone.

"… Do you know them?" Laxus finally asked, knowing that the question would come up one way or another. Everyone went silent, watching as Seph's body went still, and her expression stagnant, and then she gave a small nod, looking quite upset. She very carefully lifted a hand and pointed to the girl before pointing to the Exceed and then letting her hand fall again after she spoke.

"… That's Katie… and th-that's Charles…" She told them, her voice fairly soft, and Laxus gently rested a hand on the top of her head to let her know that there would be no more questions.

That was the only one.

A couple of hours passed by, a couple more chairs being brought into the infirmary for the people who stayed behind after the others had left, before the human girl let out a soft groan and mumbled something, her eyes opening ever so slightly before closing again from the light in the room. Those who were sitting nearby stood up, although Laxus stayed seated beside the bed because looming over her probably wouldn't keep her calm, and she pushed herself up onto an elbow slowly, fighting against the light. She blinked a couple of times before her familiar dark green eyes opened, and stayed open, and her expression froze, blank with shock, when she noticed so many people around her.

With surprising speed, she was on her feet, standing on the infirmary bed and nearly tripping over her own feet, armed with only a large pillow. She didn't waste time before bringing the pillow across Laxus' head, nearly whacking him off of his chair before she used the pillow as a shield, her legs giving out from under her. One of her legs was pulled out from underneath her body and laid over her Exceed companion to protect him as she held the pillow menacingly. Before she could swing it again, however, Seph quickly got onto her feet and held up her little hands in defense, making a sound that no one could place with a word.

There was a pause before the pillow was lowered and the girl, who Seph had introduced as Katie hours before and was most likely right, gave another look of shock, but also one of recognition.

"… I don't understand…" Katie let out, her voice hoarse and her tone laced with disbelief. Seph very carefully and slowly put her hands down, seeming a little unsure herself, and then took a seat again. "… J-…" There was a pause, the young girl having cut herself off from saying something she somehow knew she shouldn't have, and then she opened her mouth to speak again. "… Seph…"

There was another pause and then Seph gave a nod, seeming sure now and if not desperate, then no one knew what she was feeling. The girl reached out a hand before cautiously rubbing behind Seph's ear, and then pulling her in for a hug. A couple of the others made movements as if this girl was going to hurt Seph, but when they found Seph actually hugging back, they relaxed and decided that if Seph could trust her, then they could as well. Seph usually didn't trust people, after all… The girl let go, like she knew that physical contact made Seph uneasy after awhile, and then adjusted her gaze to look over the group that was still in the room. She looked unsure again, but Seph grabbed her hand and shook her head.

"Th-These are my friends…" She promised, bringing a calm atmosphere over the entire room. That was the first time, out loud, that Seph had addressed them all as her friends.

One of Katie's hands reached up to push back some of her hair before simply landing down again, finding the Exceed's hand as he stirred from the ruckus she had caused. If Seph was right about Katie, then she must've been right about Charles, too. He sat up with Katie's help, although she didn't take her gaze off of the others for long, and when his dark blue eyes landed on Seph, he had nothing to say. He merely fell against her for a moment, perhaps mumbling something or just making a sound, and then got off of her before the two minute mark.

They didn't even need to speak and they understood each other, which was the deepest mystery they had been given to uncover about Seph.

Katie preferred to have her hair in a ponytail, and it didn't take very long for her and Charles to get back to their normal health. They had gladly answered any questions that people had, but their answers seemed to be the same as Seph's. They told everyone who asked that they had escaped from a bad place with bad people and ended up down by the river in their awful states. Eventually, they were up and moving and socializing much more than Seph had been, Katie seeming to be a very out-going girl while Charles kept more to himself, but followed his companion around. Seph smiled a little more with them around, but whenever they would sit alone together and they thought no one was looking, they'd have conversations that seemed to be far too deep for their fragile minds.

After awhile, Katie and Charles decided that if Seph was staying in the Guild, then they would join as well to stay with her. Mira had sewn some clothes for them in her spare time, showing off the soft side of herself once again. While they stayed in the infirmary for a bit, Laxus finally gave into his battling thoughts and offered them the spare room he had, in which they couldn't exactly turn the offer away when they had nowhere else to go and when Seph would be so close-by. No one was bothered by the new members, as new members piled in more and more every single day, but a question weighed down on a lot of their minds: where did they come from? No one dared to ask or continue asking because all they got in return was that they came from a bad place, with bad people who did bad things.

As long as they were safe and content, no one really minded.

It didn't stay that way.

It was the one day that Laxus had told them to head to the Guild ahead of him, promising that he'd be right behind them. He just needed to go and do something first and Katie had surprisingly memorized the way to the Guild much faster than Seph had, so the three of them agreed after Laxus gave Seph a quick pat on the head before going in a different directions. It was the one day, a beautiful Saturday afternoon, when they decided to pass through the park on the way to the Guild. They had gotten caught up in a small game of Frisbee with some kids after the small toy had hit Katie in the back as they walked.

Eventually, they just continued through the park and everything seemed fine. It was nice. It was calm. It was quiet. The park had been emptied out long since those kids ran off with their frisbee in hand.

Wait. No, it hadn't.

A small group of big men, their faces hidden in hoodies yet so vaguely familiar when Katie caught sight of them, shuffled down the path and one of them just happened to catch sight of the three friends, trying to subtly point them out to the others he was with. They slowly made their way over to them, slowly, and Katie paused, giving soft kicks to Seph and Charles' backs before continuing to walk. Seph, for the first time when Katie did that, let out a wince and the human girl made a mental note to think of something else to do when she needed to subtly aware her friends of lurking danger.

They seemed to get the hint and immediately took off, because of their tiny legs and limited magic. Katie continued walking casually until the men got too close and she was able to actually recognize their faces, taking off in a different direction from Seph and Charles. She couldn't afford to have all of them caught, if that's what these guys were here for. Her lungs burned, her feet slapping the pavement loudly, and she took a route that she remembered although it was a little isolated. Taking the back route, she went on and on before taking a sharp right and keeping the distance between them formidable. She almost tripped, staggering, but kept running although her lungs were screaming.

Before she knew it, she was swerving to cross the street before finding that she had taken a wrong turn somewhere, not knowing where to go. She couldn't keep running in an unknown direction, so she had to stop and found herself gasping for air even though she could hear the men behind her, still behind quite a bit. She turned to make sure that she didn't lose the little bit of familiarity in the area, crossing a different street while looking quite frantic… but there was a magic mobile, turning so sharply around the corner and going too quickly that it couldn't stop in time.

A sharp cry split the air, but quickly cut off as Katie rolled a few feet before stopping. Something crimson splattered across the pavement, the car slowing a bit before speeding on. By the time the group had surrounded her like wolves, they were far too late; Katie was already numb. She was aware of the pain, but it was faint, and her crumpled body laid there as it was beaten in even more. She had started crying at some point, but it was silent. The group scattered like a bunch of birds when yelling rang out through the air.

The darkness was creeping ever so closer, gently pushing her down as something sticky dripped out of her mouth and down onto the concrete below. The darkness was inviting her, and she accepted the invitation.