The clock struck one.

Everyone stood in silence as Gray's outburst rang in their ears. Finally, Freed spoke up.

"I have runes drawn around and over the entire building, including the poolside," he said quietly. "The rules state that no human, creature, or anything alive may enter or leave without myself disabling the runes. Not even Levy may erase or modify the runes - I made the orders obstinate and unyielding. We are the only ones in the building, currently."

"Unless anyone was hiding in a room we didn't search earlier. If an intruder were hiding before you set up the runes..." Mirajane replied.

Max disagreed. "There can't be. We searched the entire guild earlier."

"Our team may have skirted over a few places in the library," Erza said after thinking for a moment. "We were so focused on finding Elfman that we did not pause to look around the rest of the library after discovering him in the boxes within a minute or two of entering that room."

"Our group didn't get a chance to look over in the downstairs infirmary," Wendy admitted sheepishly.

"...No one would want to kill Juvia. Or Gramps." Gray hung his head as he looked down at Juvia. "No Fairy Tail member would. There must be an intruder."

His words were followed by silence yet again - it was if Gray had the power to make everyone quiet just by telling them what was on his mind, simply because he seemed to be the most in grief over Juvia's death. He wasn't the only one - Gajeel was holding back tears, as he'd known Juvia the longest, and most of the girls couldn't help but sniffle and wipe tears away. And yet Gray was most in pain - maybe, Lucy and Levy the book lovers theorized, he really had loved her in a not-so-platonic way.

But maybe everyone's silence was in respect for their lost ones. Maybe it was because the pain of losing Makarov, Juvia, and almost Elfman had finally hit them. With bowed heads and clasped hands, everyone stood in one large semi-circle that wound the tables with Elfman and Juvia lying on them.

Juvia...I...love...

In the movies and books, the dying character always got to finish their last sentence.

But this is reality, the thought echoed in Gray and several others' heads. This bullshit world that is taking away my nakama!

Several minutes later, the remaining guild members slowly started to talk again, like before. Most of it were theories about the murderer - an intruder with teleportation magic, maybe? A guild member with a hidden motive?

"I agree with what Gray said earlier," Natsu said, surprising everyone. The pyromaniac never agreed with Gray, never said Gray's name. "I rather believe in an intruder before my friends! We need to look for this bastard."

"But what if one of us is killed...?" Wendy asked. "Do we have something that can help us out here?"

"We have megaphones in Master's office, that we would keep for events. We can use those in order to shout to each other in we are in trouble," Mirajane said as she started backing up towards the bar. "Unfortunately, Warren took all of our surveillance lacrimas to his home yesterday, or else I would have suggested those earlier."

"Loke can make light in the dim hallways," Lucy said.

"And I have Solid Script: Write!" Levy said.

Natsu lit his hands on fire. Lightning surged around Laxus, Evergreen let a few bolts of her fairy magic loose, and Bickslow's eyes glowed.

"A lot of us seem to have a magic that can let us create at least a littleeee light," Cana realized as she drew a card with the picture of the sun on it. Her speech was still slurred and although better than her old drunken state, she still seemed to stumble a little.

Mirajane returned with the megaphones, handing one to about half of the guild members - Erza, Gray, Wendy, Gajeel, Freed, Lissana, Jet, and Max - those who would not be able to produce any sort of light. She gave an apologetic smile to the rest when all eight megaphones were already given out, explaining that there were "no more left".

"Along with those who can create light, those with quick fighting or fleeing skills, and those with megaphones, most of us are well equipped," Erza said. "Why don't we split back up into our groups? However, this time we will take different sides in case a team forgot to check somewhere."

"Thunder God Tribe calls the upstairs," Laxus grunted.

Gajeel glanced at the rest of his team as if sizing them up. "My group will look outside. We got two cats and two agile members. We'll be good."

"Who's the unagile member...?" Levy asked, but decided not to press for the answer when the Dragonslayer did not reply.

"Then our group gets the left side!" Cana cheered. "With the library...where Elfman was found, and the hallway...where Juvia was stabbed..." the drunk's mood quickly fell upon realizing this.

"I'm glad you have enough brains and mind left to remember, Cana," Laxus growled. "I would think you'd be so drunk right now, you wouldn't be able to see the floor until you hit it."

"Laxus!" Mirajane snapped. "Don't stir up trouble!" Laxus glared at her.

"Yeah? Says who?"

"Says Satan Soul: Si -"

"Uh...Mira-nee! Don't start a fight now!" Lissana cried out, grabbing her sister's arm. "What if he's the m-murderer - he'll kill you next!" Laxus redirected his mean look onto Lissana, Mirajane doing the same, although the two stopped their bickering upon the accusation of Laxus being the killer.

"Our group will take the kitchen, then, seeing as that's the last one," Lucy said, breaking the tension. Lissana gave her a relieved look. Everyone slowly broke apart back into their groups, Lucy summoning Loke and Levy a small glowing ball made out of the word light that floated in front of her. Laxus' group started upstairs while Gajeel's team walked outside, leaving the other half standing near Elfman and Juvia's tables.

"Hey, Natsu?" Happy mewed as he flew over to his best friend. "Can I stay with your group this time? I'm... scared."

"Sure, little buddy!" Natsu said, ruffling the top of Happy's head fur. "We're down on one member, anyway..."

"Then let us be off," Erza commanded. She turned to face the appropriate direction but quickly faced Mirajane and her group again. "Mirajane...Lissana, Cana, Max... be safe."

Mirajane and Max nodded, Cana waving at them with a loop sided grin and Lissana throwing them one of her many beaming smiles. As soon as the group of four had walked into the hallway where Juvia had been stabbed - marked by the large puddle of blood - the smiles flew off of their faces.

"Well... here we go," Max sighed. "Let's go catch a killer."

Although he did look around with the rest of his team, Gray's eyes were unfocused. When having nothing to do, he would just stand around, staring lifelessly at the ceiling or a wall.

Juvia... Juvia...

Gray-sama... hold hand...

I...love...

Although the other members looked at him worriedly, they also knew they had a job to do. A quest to complete. So they searched the kitchen, and then the infirmary. As they were talking back in a hallway - Loke leading the way with his orb of light while Natsu guarded the back of the hallway with his flaming fists, effectively making sure they could see ten feet ahead and ten feet behind them. Nothing would surprise them this time.

Lucy replayed the events in her head.

Juvia thinks that Juvia knows who the murderer is.

Who? How could Juvia have found out so quickly? Before Lucy, who constantly read mystery novels; before Erza, who solved puzzles faster than the rest of them; before Levy, with a genius mind that only thought logically. There were a few explanations - sheer luck, for example, but one theory stuck out to Lucy.

Then Juvia had tried to speak... and then there was the horrible sound and sight of the stabbing. Then there was a gasp.

A gasp.

Hold on.

Lucy hadn't gasped. Juvia hadn't either - her pain was soundless. Happy wasn't with them at the time. Erza and Natsu weren't the type of people to do that - they would most likely gape before shouting something angrily, weren't they? So was Gray, although seeing as it was Juvia that had caused them shock...

"Hey, do any of you remember making a sound when Juvia was... killed?" Lucy asked her team. "I heard a sound, like a gasping. I mean, I know it sounds weird, but every little clue counts, doesn't it?"

"I do not recall making any noises," Erza said. "But I did hear exactly that - an intake of breath." Natsu and Gray both agreed to the same thing - not making, but hearing, the gasp. Natsu also said he hadn't smelled the air before Juvia was stabbed, and afterwards he couldn't have - the scent of blood overtook everything. Suddenly, the trivial clue seemed to be a lot more important.

"So the noise came from the murderer," Lucy said. "He or she did this because they were shocked - they couldn't help themselves." That one theory was making terrible sense, now. "Then there these really loud footsteps - like the murderer was stomping away. A male?"

"Are you saying...?" Natsu stared at her with wide eyes.

Lucy was on a roll, now. "What if the murderer didn't mean to kill Juvia? Maybe they meant to get someone else, like Erza or myself, instead, but it was too dark for them to see anything. Guys...what if the murderer is a close friend of Juvia's?"

Her theory was starting to take flight, and Lucy hated every second of it.

"A close friend?" Erza echoed. "Gajeel, Lissana, Pantherlily. Maybe Mirajane, but were we not her 'closest friends'?"

Lucy nodded, frowning. "So it could have been one of them... or maybe my theory is wrong."

"I can't imagine any of them killing Juvia, though!" Natsu said. "We're all nakama! We're all Fairy Tail! I don't even know who to trust anymore!"

His words rung in everyone's ears - who could they trust? No one, except for the five of them. Any one else could have swung that sword - except maybe Carla, but what if she was working together with someone? And if taking into account that there could be two people working together, they not a single person was completely innocent except for three people: Master Makarov, Juvia, and Elfman. The two dead and one passed out. Even Pantherlily could have swung the sword in his larger form. The five of them couldn't be considered innocent of killing Makarov, although Natsu, Erza, Lucy, and especially Gray could not have killed Juvia.

Then there was the gasp. A close friend? Someone they'd considered an ally? Or, maybe someone who already regretted their actions such as Wendy, Lissana, Mirajane, Levy - in other words, just about every female. Heavy footsteps could mean anything - Gajeel, with naturally loud footsteps from his metal boots? Evergreen, who wasn't used to using a sword? Wendy when the sword was almost too big for her?

Anyone could be the enemy. Although the four of them were the most unlikely ones, seeing as none of them could have participated in the fourth murder, they were still suspects.

"Well, you could trust us, Natsu, since none of us could have killed Juvia. Have you ever seen me with a big sword before?" Happy asked as he hovered over the Dragon Slayer.

Natsu managed to give a small grin as he reached up to pat Happy on the head. "That's right, little buddy... I trust everyone in this room."

However, everyone couldn't help but think in their mind if Natsu's words rang true - or if there was another piece to the puzzle that they were missing.

Please read and review! Those are what make me update quickly as when I feel that I have more readers, the more (good) pressure I feel to complete the next chapter.