Chapter 2

Throughout the day, I feel eyes on me. I know people watch me, because I'm all over the place, but this felt like full-on staring. A few times, I saw Laxus looking at me from his table on the corner of the guild hall. Was it him who'd been staring at me all day?

I weave through the tables, a tray in each hand. Suddenly, a noise echoes through the guild hall. A howling, deep and dark, filled the building. Everyone froze.

Master Makarov appeared at the top of the stairs, worry tightening his features.

I drop my trays on the nearest table, and move towards the guild master. "Master, what's going on?" I ask in a tight voice.

"I fear a fight is on our horizon." He said solemnly, eyes sweeping over his children in the guild.

"Do we have any idea when they'll attack? Or who?"

"No," he sighs. "If I had any idea of who it is, I might be able to tell. But with only that, I can only say it's a dark guild."

A loud shuffling noise rose up. Every head turns as Cana throws her cards onto the table. Understanding blooms through everyone- if Cana could see something, we could be prepared.

Cana flips over several cards, staring into space, muttering the entire time, until she reaches one card. She flinches, and drops the card.

"Cana?" I say, worried. I move to her seat, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Cana, what did you see?"

"We won't win," she says flatly, taking a huge gulp from her glass.

"What do you mean?" I grab both her shoulders, spinning her to face me.

"I saw darkness. Everywhere. It consumed everything in its path. I don't know where it comes from, but it is pure evil. Even if we put our best up against it, we would fail."

"Master, -" I start, but Cana pushes on.

"That's not the worst part. For whatever reason, I saw you, Mira. You could control the darkness. But you were different."

"Different how?" A gruff voice asks. Gajeel had peeled himself away from the shadows, and into the throng of people. A look of recognition and anger was set on his face.

"Her eyes were completely black. Even in her transformations, her eyes were black." Cana explains, struggling to understand.

"Shit, it's worse than I thought." Gajeel scrubs a hand over his face.

"What, my boy?" Makarov stared pensively at the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"It's Ivan." He growls. "The dark guilds are teaming up, trying to topple the official guilds. Fairy Tail is at the top of the 'most threatening' list. Apparently, he's trying to use the she-devil to take us down from the inside. Everybody trusts her. It would be the perfect way to kill everyone."

All the blood drains from my face. "How would they get me to do that?"I ask, voice wavering at the thought of killing my fellow guildmates.

Fury fills my mind.

"Supposedly, he'll capture you, and take you to the top of a mountain under the new moon, and bind a really powerful dark lacrima to your body. He'll be able to control you through the lacrima. Once it's on, you'll have no chance of escaping it until the next new moon."

"That's similar to what he did to me when I was a kid." I jump, and look over my shoulder. Laxus was directly behind me. He probably heard us talking about his father.

"But he can't control you through it." I choke out. Anger and fear war inside me.

"Hey." I don't respond, too wrapped up in my thoughts.

"Hey, Mira." Laxus speaks louder, directing his voice at me. I look up, feeling my emotions playing across my face. Tears pool in my eyes, but they don't fall.

"We are not going to let him get you. He will have to kill each and every one of us before he can have you, which defeats his plan. We just have to be more careful."

The guild hall is completely silent.

Makarov clears his throat. "Cana, my dear, did you see anything else?"

She hesitates. "After that, it's mostly a blur. Everyone was fighting- Laxus, Erza, Natsu. Raven Tail was front and center. Then, everything goes black for a minute, and it's clear again. Our entire guild is dead on the ground, with Raven Tail standing above us. The next thing scared me the most."

"What?" Master Makarov asks, anger clear on his face.

"Laxus, Gajeel, and Mirajane were with Raven Tail. And all of the dead had the Raven Tail guild symbol burned onto their bodies."