Chapter 15 : Children

" Yeah, since it seems preety clear that you were already expecting this, " Igneel clapped his hands and rubbed them together eagerly. " Let's get straight down to business..."

And Metallicana finished the sentence grumpily, " And get some fucking answers for once."

Grandine's hand landed with a meaty smack on the metal dragon's black spiky mane as she tsked disgruntledly at him, " Language, Metallicana!"

The said man swatted his hands irritably at the woman, retorting sharply, " What, it's not like you've never heard me curse before."

" At least not in the presence of children!"

Metallicana's steely red eyes met Marie's lavender ones, her eyes blinking innocently back at him.

" This thing?" He jabbed a finger in her direction, and stared incredulously at Grandine, " A child? Oh please, even Tenebre knows she has an even pottier mouth than mine- GAH! What was that for?!"

He glared at the dark blue haired woman and rubbed the growing bump on his head as she gathered the girl into her arms, " How can you accuse Marie of such... such blasphemy!", she gasped at him with a horrified expression.

Igneel sniggered at the exchange between the two, little purple haired girl winked cheekily at him from beneath Grandine's arms as she continued her innocent facade in front of the sky dragon, infuriating the iron dragon even further when she managed to poked her tongue out at him without the woman noticing.

" The little devil..." Metallicana hissed.

" I wish i had a kid of my own..." Draco sighed, looking dreamily in the distance when his reverie was broken by a sharp scoff from the person opposite of him,

" This is fresh, coming from a kid like you."

Draco folded his arms and scowled at Kori, " Hey, just because my age resets every million years or so doesn't mean i'm younger than any one of you here kay?"

" In fact," He posed dramatically, flicking his spiky black hair out of his face with a flourish, " I'm am older than any one of you here."

" And you do seem pretty proud of it."

" Can we please," Nero said rather exasperatedly as he reined in his mate, dragging her back into his arms with the latter being rather unwilling to do so, but after much persuasion, she relented and let him pull her into his arms, " just get to the main topic at hand."

" Agreed." Lumiere and Noir nodded and said together in sync.

" I hate it when they do that." Draco expressed with a shudder.

Terra simply scratched at her human skin in reply.

" Just one thing before i address that issue," Tenebre said, then hesitating with the next part of her sentence when they all shot her a sharp look.

Her eyes flickered over to look at Kori and she said.

" Just how did you get captured by Pheles?"

Nero's arms instantly tightened around Kori's shoulders in response as his eyes narrowed, letting out a low growl from the back of his throat at the memory of his mate's capture.

Kori remained impassive, but her hand trailed over to Nero's hand at her shoulder and clenched it tightly for support, only Tenebre and Nero saw the slightest bit of fear and anger seep through her the slight crack of her cold mask when she told her tale,

" It... It was roughly 2 months ago, I was just patrolling my end of the Water Zone, when a portal just.. opened up from under me."

Kori let out a ragged breath as she leaned her weight onto Nero, who simply wrapped his arms tightly around his waist and pulled her to him, resting his chin on her shoulder near the crook of her neck.

" Everything else after was just a blur. I could only remember either darkness, or pain, and the next thing i saw was you and that celestial spirit of yours."

A heavy silence fell onto the group when Kori finished speaking, and Tenebre ran her hand through her hair in an action of anxiety, finally freeing her much disturbed braid from its confines, " I sorry to ask, but do you really not remember anything else? Not even a small detail like any sound or smell?"

Kori thought for a moment, and then rather hesitantly, as if she was trying to force the memory through a fog of forgetfulness, she said, " There was this... strum in the air, like the sound of strings..."

Tenebre's complexion seemed to pale even more," Strings? Are you sure?"

Kori nodded with more certainty.

" This ain't good then," Tenebre said shakily," This means that Pheles has somehow got hold of a mage with either Dragon Manipulation magic or Soul Control Magic, like that girl i... disposed off earlier on."

" I hate to say this but... with all this going on, none of you will be stepping foot on Earthland anytime soon."

Tenebre then quickly waved her hands frantically in front of her at the dragons when they seemed to fall even deeper into a pit of despair, " Hey hey, you may not be able to see them in Earthland, but that doesn't mean i can't bring them to you!"

All of them perked up instantly at that, even the two cloaked dragons at the back, who were silent throughout the entire episode earlier on, but at this moment chose to finally speak up.

Lumiere flicked back her hood, her platinum hair tumbled out to her waist in waves as her intense white-yellow eyes stared straight into Tenebre's as she said, " Does that mean-"

" -we'd finally be able to meet our brother's children?" Noir finished for her as he did the same thing, running his hand through his tousled jet black crew cut after he pushed back his hood, jeweled amethyst eyes gleaming darkly under the light of the surrounding braziers.

" Weisslogia." Lumiere clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

" Skiadrum." Noir looked up into the dark abyssal sky of the Void.

" Our brothers, may your souls rest in peace in eternal realm. " They echoed together.

(AN: Just in case you guys are confused, Lumiere is Weisslogia's twin sister and Noir is Skiadrum twin brother, and let's just say the four of them are really close, like blood brothers/sister.)

" Yes, you'd finally be able to meet Sting and Rouge, along with Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy and Stilla."

Tenebre then winced at the thought of something and grimaced, " The other dragons would probably give me a lot of grief for only letting you guys meet your kids though..."

Marie whined from where she stood, her voice muffled from Grandine's boobs, " Hey, don't give me more work to do!"

Nero simply shrugged it off, " Meh, i'm sure Igneel here will do something about it."

" What, me?" Igneel pointed at himself.

" Yes you." Grandine looked at the red haired man, " Would you be a dear and kindly explain the situation to the other dragons?"

Igneel sweated under Grandine's overly sparkly sickly sweet smile and nodded without objection.

Draco mumbled behind his back, " Although there aren't any other dragonslayers that we know of other than the ones mentioned earlier on."

" Can i go back now...?" Terra grumbled, her frigidity hands attacking at her short dark spring pixie hair this time.

As the dragons had their happy episode whilst envisioning about their reunion with their children, Tenebre took several cautious steps backwards and away from the group as Marie's attention was somewhere else other than on her.

When she deemed that she was of a safe distance from the purple haired girl, she cleared her throat,

" Marie?"

The said person looked at where Tenebre was, only to find nothing but an empty space, she then swiveled her head to look at the far end of Tenebre's table and saw the very person standing rather smugly right there, sending her an apologetic smile, she said

" Settle the rest for me?"

Even though spoken like a question, Marie wasn't left with much choice when Tenebre opened up a small rift directly below her feet and instantly disappeared through it, leaving her with nothing else but an amused, " Ta ta!", when the rift snapped shut.

Marie blinked several times in disbelief.

" Oi Kori, are you doin' something to the damned temperature?" Metallicana asked gruffly, his crimson eyes eyeing the ice woman almost irritably, " It's cold enough here already!"

" Excuse me, but do i look like i'm doing anything?" Kori snapped indignantly.

Just then, a black and purple aura surrounded Marie's petite body as her body trembled, Grandine backed away from her and asked with wary wide eyes,

" Marie dear, are you alrigh-"

" TE . NE . BRE..." The little girl growled furiously, cutting the sky dragon off sharply, " GET BACK HERE YOU FUCKING BITCH! "

The dragons stared open mouthed at Marie as she continued to curse at Tenebre like a seasoned sailor.

Metallica nudged at the horrified Grandine, then folding his arms, he said, looking smugly at her,

" See, i told cha."

" What do you mean?!" Natsu voice raised up unintentionally, his eyes wide open in horror as his arms around Lucy's body tightened, " What condition? Why is her life in danger?!"

" Shh!" Serpe hissed, frantic eyes flickering between Lucy's stirring body to Natsu's," You finally got her to sleep peacefully and now you're trying to wake her up?!"

But his warning came too late when Lucy groaned at the commotion around her as well as at the sudden soreness of her body, her voice making the two men freeze in their spots.

" Ow ow ow, dear Mavis, why on Earthland does my body hurt so much..."

She then blinked, looking down at the arms holding almost gingerly onto her body and her eyes followed it up to the horrified onyx eyes of Natsu's.

Natsu gulped nervously when her hazel brown eyes narrowed instantaneously at him.

" Natsu Dragneel! What did i say about sleeping on my bed and WHY ON EARTHLAND ARE YOU TOUCHING ME..."

She halted mid screech when a sudden wave of fatigue washed over her and she fell back into Natsu's arms weakly, breaking out into cold sweat and going an unhealthy pale shade.

" Luce!" Natsu grabbed her, looking over her frantically and immediately raising his body temperature to warm her up.

" Oh my head..." Lucy groaned, her unfocused eyes looking blearily at Natsu, " What on Earthland happened?"

Natsu discreetly shot Serpe an accusing glare, before turning his attention back to the blond, looking over her concernedly as he swept aside her sweat soaked fringe from her face,

" Well, you just had a nightmare, a really bad one. I had to hold you down cause you were tossing and turning like crazy." Natsu explained, scratching the back of his head, looking at anywhere but her.

Lucy narrowed her eyes in suspicion, and she hummed, " Apparently a nightmare about my life being in danger?"

The two jolted guiltily, but just as Natsu was about to say something, he was saved by the distinctive sound of Happy and Charla's wing beats approaching, almost giving Lucy a heart attack at their sudden appearance.

" This better be serious, Natsu, or i'll claw your eyes out for waking us up at this ungodly hour for no reason." Charla grumbled, glaring holes into Natsu's head as she gently dropped Wendy down beside Lucy's bed.

" Oh Mavis, you're so pale Lucy-san!" Wendy gasped, scrambling over to Lucy's side in her cute blue pajamas with little white bunnies on it, " Happy told me that something was happening to you, where are you not feeling well? Are you hurt? Are you-"

Lucy clamped a hand over Wendy's mouth to stop her yammering and said,

" I'm feeling fine Wendy, just a little weak and for some reason my eyes are a little sore, like i've just cried an entire weeks worth of tears." The blond then corrected herself, " Wait, that's not okay."

Wendy frowned worriedly as she ran her glowing hands over Lucy's head, " Your vitals are fine, you're not sick, but for some reason your magical levels are really unstable."

" After something like that, i would be surprised if it wasn't." Serpe muttered softly under his breadth.

Both Wendy and Natsu heard his soft murmur, and rounded on him, Wendy being the first to speak, " Do you happen to know anything about this Serpe-san?"

Serpe hesitated, " It's really not my place to tell you..."

" Tell me what?" Lucy pushed herself away from Natsu, regaining much of her strength after Wendy's emergency healing session, " Is there something i aught to know?"

The snake zodiac sighed and ran his hand through his hair, " But since it has come to this stage already, thanks to my big fucking mouth." He said, enunciating each word like a sharp jab to himself, Carla shooting him a dirty look when he cussed in front of Wendy.

" I might as well tell you everything from the very beginning."

" Get her!"

" Kill her!"

" Avenge my lizard!" The horde of angry arcadian angels shouted as they chased after a certain dual haired gatekeeper zipping swiftly away from them and their thrown projectiles.

Tenebre ran with an increased urgency as she forced her legs to run faster, each step conjuring up a cloud of dust that billowed up in the faces of her pursuers, leaving behind a field of destruction and carnage that her pursuers left in pursuit of her.

" Dammit, why did i seal up my wings?!" Tenebre mentally berated herself as she ran, tossing a look over her shoulder every now and then.

The scenery changed gradually as she continued running toward the northernmost part of Arcadia with the angels hot on her trail, the grass and nature looked a more natural shade of green and not the specially 'perfected' ones the angels there cultivate.

Tenebre unconsciously smiled when she saw the start of small blue forget-me-not flowers growing in the outskirts,

" Layla's favorite flowers..." She whispered to herself as she ran.

Only then she did she realize that it was quiet behind her,stopping in her tracks and skidding to a stop, she turned around abruptly, causing a huge gust of wind to blow behind her and through the field, scattering stray petals and grass into the wind.

" They've stopped chasing after me?" She said aloud, looking at the empty field in bewilderment.

" That's because they're forbidden from entering our borders, unless allowed by Seraphim herself." A feminine voice said from behind Tenebre, " Of course, you are the only exception, Tenebre."

Tenebre head swiveled to look behind and her eyes widened instantly, her hands flying to her mouth as the figure walked out from behind a willow tree, her blond hair swaying gently in the wind.

" It's been a long time, Tenebre." Layla said, emerging from behind the tree with a gentle smile on her lips.

A single tear slid down Tenebre's pale cheeks and in a single step, she tackled Layla into the grass in a hug.

" Layla!" Tenebre sobbed into the woman's shoulder, her silent steady tears staining Layla's elegant pale blue long strapless dress, her tear stains a stark contrast against the silver sequins dotting the edges of her dress, " You're alive, i mean, dead, i mean, here!"

Layla chuckled and lightly patted Tenebre's head, hugging the girl back," I'm kind of a little bit of both in this place, though there's not much of a difference between the two here."

" This is what we mortals call 'Heaven' after all."

Tenebre reluctantly let go of Layla, wiping her tears away with her kimono sleeves as she stood up, " Then it must be strange to live in the same place as those things you call 'angels'?" she asked as she gave Layla her hand, pulling her upright.

Layla shrugged, " Well, we don't see much of the Arcadians around here, this area is out of bounds to them as per Serpahim-san's orders."

" Out of bounds? Why-"

She stopped mid-sentence and snapped her head to look at the side where she heard a slight rustle from, pushing Layla behind her as she summoned a short black dagger to her hand, " Get behind me, Layla."

The blond looked amused rather than alarmed, even more so when a similar blond head popped out from the bushes, curious brown eyes looking brightly up at Layla.

" Layla, what's all the commotion all abou- OMIGOSH!" The blond shrieked at the sight of Tenebre, falling out of the bush in an ungraceful heap, quickly recovering, she pointed an accusing finger at Tenebre as soon as she stood up," Who is she?! How did she get in here?! We were not told that we had guests! Oh heck, how did she get in?!"

" Lenne, meet Tenebre, my adopted daughter, and Tenebre meet Lenne, my grandmother." Layla gestured to the both of them and Lenne immediately smacked her arm and huffed indignantly, crossing her arms over her pastel yellow chiffon dress with a pout,

" You know i hate it when you call me your grandmother, jeez, i'm just a few years older than you!"

Before Layla could say anything else, Lenne cut her off with a finger, " Ah ah, nope, don't say anything, cause i know you'd just continue to do so anyway."

" Now, moving on," Lenne's attention immediately shifted over to Tenebre and Tenebre flinched back at that familiar gaze she saw occasionally on Layla and Lucy, the same gaze she nicknamed ' The Information Black Hole.'.

" How can you run that fast? How is it that you were able to pass through the barrier? What are you to Sera-chan? Why does your eyes and hair look so weird? Why do you have stars on your wrist? Why-"

" Hai hai, grandmother," Layla lightly pushed Lenne away from Tenebre just before she reached kissing proximity, " I think Tenebre would be more than glad to answer your questions later, but for now..."

Layla appeared behind Tenebre and grabbed her by her shoulders," We have something to discuss, privately."

Layla quickly steered Tenebre away from Lenne, who stomped her feet and waved her hands angrily at them for not having her questions answered.

Soon enough, they exited the willow tree area and entered a cherry blossom grove, Tenebre stared at the trees in awe and whistled impressively, the rain of pink petals drifting down from the branches already making quite a pile on their heads" Wow, are they always in full bloom?"

Layla nodded, " The seasons and layout of our land change and adjust to our moods and desires, so based on what i see here..."

Layla tapped two fingers to her chin in thought as the both of them strolled towards the biggest tree in the grove," I'm guessing my mother's either having a lot of fun drinking tea with the other ladies at the other end of the sanctuary at the moment, or she's just in the mood for sakura trees, she is quite fond of them after all."

" Here we are!" Layla exclaimed as she patted the tree trunk, settling gracefully beside it and gesturing to Tenebre to sit beside her, " Here, let me show you something."

Layla reached behind the trunk of the cherry blossom tree she was leaning on and brought forward a glass box full of letters, the ones on the bottom half of it yellowed with age.

" Are those...?" Tenebre pointed at it inquiringly.

" All these are the replies to the letters Lucy writes to me every night." Layla caressed the box lovingly, her fingers trailing the constellation engravings on the box's cover, " So i know everything that's been going on on Earthland, like the things you've told...shown her, as well as her frequenting dreams."

Layla's smile fell the moment she said 'dreams', looking worridly at Tenebre, she asked,

" How far along is it?"

Tenebre shook her head and slumped back into the trunk, running her hand through her hair in an action of distress,

" According to Serpe, the second seal just broke today."

Layla breathed in sharply, standing up abruptly as she stared at Tenebre wide eyed with horror,

" What?! The second seal isn't suppose to break till she's at least 25!" She bit her fingernails as she paced, " Don't tell me..."

Layla muttered incoherently to herself, her frantically pacing feet flattening the grass below her feet.

" Layla!" Tenebre grabbed the woman by her shoulders, and forced her to stop moving, " Stop panicking and calm down!"

" What have you remembered? What's the problem?"

Tenebre's words snapped Layla out of her frenzied thoughts, but the confused look on her face did not go away, in fact, she looked even more confused than she was just seconds ago,

" I don't understand is how the seal got broken so fast, i made sure that it was impossible for it to be broken, or rather the conditions needed for it to be broken was made to be impossible."

" What conditions?" Tenebre inquired urgently.

Layla tapped her feet agitatedly, " The first condition is for her to come in contact with an immortal's blood, and not just one drop, all the lifeblood of an immortal,"

Layla hugged herself as a shudder ran through her entire body, " And the second is..."

"Fear."

Tenebre looked startled, " Fear?"

Layla nodded,

" Overwhelmingly, unadulterated, extreme fear."

Tenebre spat furiously, " Why the hell would you put conditions like that?! What were you thinking?!"

Layla retorted with just as much venom, " Because those conditions simple cannot be met! They have occur at the same time and-"

Layla stopped abruptly and out a ragged breadth as she said, " The point now is that she's never came in contact with a immortal's blood, and neither did she experience such extreme fear, or at least, not that i know of..."

Layla sighed wearily and leaned onto the sakura tree for support, " But that doesn't matter now, all i know is that if we don't find a solution fast, Lucy going to...

" She going to...die." Layla sobbed out, covering her face as she wept silently.

" Can't you just tell me what sealing method you used, we could use the same method to reseal the Oculos Divae... the eye's power..." Tenebre's voice trailed off when Layla shook her head tiredly.

" I wish it was that easy, Tenebre," Layla said," but i was only able to activate the seal then because the eye has yet to fully attach itself to Lucy yet, so i used my already withering life to stop the complete bonding of the eyes power from flowing from me to her."

" It was created to slowly break as she grew older, the last seal was designed to break when she is 60 or so." Layla explained, " By then she would have lived her life the way she wanted to live, by then she would know that she would die soon from some of the visions the eye gives her."

Layla sighed heavily once again," I was hoping that she would get the chance to use the same sealing method on the next generation when she passed on... "

Layla then turned her full attention to Tenebre and grabbed her by her shoulders with a serious expression on her face,

" You have to promise me that you'd not use the same sealing method i used, not only will you put your own life in danger, Lucy herself would have zero chance of survival, all the seals would break when you try to reseal them, overwhelming her and killing her instantly."

Tenebre stared blankly back at the silently weeping woman, feeling an overwhelming surge of anger and uselessness well up in her chest and clamping down tightly on her lungs, punching through the tree beside her with her entire body trembling.

" Dammit!" She roared into the pristine blue sky, scattering petals everywhere, as if resenting the entire world for being oblivious to her inner agony, " Why can i ever protect the ones i love?! My parents, you, Lucy... "

She punched another tree in her rage, making it collapse onto the one who fell before it, its pink petals scattering into the air, though they were soon stained black the moment they touched the black tendrils that formed around Tenebre's raging self, making it seem as if she was caught in her own black petaled tornado as her body trembled uncontrollably, but not from rage.

" No Tenebre!" Layla shook her unresponsive shoulders, " Don't go to that place again!"

Tenebre's pupils dilated as she stared at her violently shaking hands in horror, breathing erratically as she whispered a single name,

" ...Myriana...!"

Black tears streamed from her darkening eyes, soon enough a dark crimson red color clouded over her gold and black flecked silver eyes as her body fell to her knees onto the blackened grass, her eyes remained trained on her hands as if she could see nothing but the spilled blood of all her loved ones, all their bodies laying limp and lifeless in their own blood in front of her, her hands stained red with their blood.

Layla gritted her teeth as she held onto Tenebre's shoulders, ignoring the cuts she got from the writhing black tendrils around Tenebre and grabbed her face with both her hands,

" Snap out of it Tenebre!" Layla cried desperately, shaking her shoulders roughly, " Please, snap out of it before you get too deep!"

Tenebre's eyes remained vacant as she continued to stare down at her hands, but as seconds passed her eyes slowly changed from blood red to something else, something...darker.

"Tenebre!"

" But when i say from the beginning, it only goes back to how much i actually know about this topic to how much Tenebre revealed to me." Serpe added as a second thought.

Lucy simply waved it off, " Any amount of information is fine, especially since i know nothing about what is happening."

" Right!" Serpe rubbed his hands together, " Long story cut short, you inherited some kinda condition that runs in your family, most of it's sealed up by the seal that your mother put on you but it's already showing cracks and its slowly corroding at your life force-"

Serpe stopped abruptly and stiffened up, his face turning sheet white as he breathed in sharply, his sudden change in demeanor startling Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Happy and Charla," Fuck! Now?!"

" What now?" Natsu looked at the man weirdly.

" Tenebre!" Serpe snapped at him, as if expecting Natsu to understand everything with just that word, " I have to go!"

" Go whe- Hey, you didn't finish!" Natsu attempted to grab Serpe, but got a big handful of gold dust instead when he simply disappeared, looking at it in bewilderment," What the hell?!"

" Natsu, language!" Charla chided, tsking disapprovingly at him.

" I don't know, but it has got to be something serious, " Lucy said, looking worried," He looked kinda terrified though, as if something really bad happened to Tenebre. But seriously, where is she?"

" No clue, but the moment he or Tenebre gets back, i'm beating the answer outta them." Natsu grinned widely as he said this, cracking his knuckles, making all of them sweat drop at his obvious glee at beating someone up, all but Lucy.

The blond folded her arms and looked down in thought, biting at her lower lip apprehensively as her arms slowly came up to hug herself, " But... About what he just said, this condition of mine... Has it got anything to do with the nightmares i've been having?"

Natsu flinched at the mention of the word, whereas Wendy and Carla simply looked troubled and confused when they asked, " What nightmares?"

Happy landed on her lap and placed a paw on her thigh, looked up at her worriedly. Lucy smiled slightly at this comforting gesture and stroked the back of his head, mouthing her thanks to the little blue exceed.

Lucy let out a shaky breadth, shaking her head as she grasped at her trembling right arm,

" I don't remember much... But the dreams... they were strange, seemingly impossible but... absolutely terrifying. Puppet-like creatures, the war-torn streets Magnolia, an anguished cry, rain of fire and brimstone and a maniacal laugh echoing through the battlefield..."

Her arms wrapped even tighter around herself,, " But always, always before i woke up, there would be this feminine laugh laughing along... no that's not right..."

Lucy frowned as she corrected herself, " It was more like she was laughing at the maniac, as if she was mocking him, or maybe it was just my imagination... I hope it's just my imagination."

Charla's eyes went as wide as saucers at Lucy description of her dream, greatly unnerved by its uncanny similarity with the vision she had a few days ago in Tenebre's cave,

" Just as a precaution, Lucy-san, can i do another check up on you? " Wendy asked, looking sideways at the worried look on her brother-figure's face, " Just to check if there's really something wrong?"

" Go on Wendy, i don't mind." Lucy faked a smile, Wendy saw through it easily, but remained silent, choosing to grasp at her hand instead, squeezing it reassuringly.

" Lemme see..." Wendy let her small hands roam the surface of Lucy's body, her hands emitting a small greenish-blue light as she used her magic to check for any abnormalities, a cute furrow forming between her eyebrows as she concentrated.

After a few minutes, the glow faded away and Wendy huffed, settling down at the side of the bed as she smiled brightly at the blond,

" There's nothing wrong or strange detected, Lucy-san, but i think you should rest at home tomorrow to replenish your magic."

Wendy then tilted her head innocently, " Just curious, Lucy-san, did i interrupt anything that was happening between you and Natsu-san before i came? The both of you looked awfully close to each other."

Lucy's face flared bright red and Natsu turned his face away to hide his blush at Wendy's words, something so innocent that could be interpreted in so many ways.

" M-me and N-N-Natsu?!" Lucy squeaked, stumbling on her words, " Nothing happened between us Wendy! I mean, we're just friends!"

Lucy flinched inwardly when she said that, desperately willing the hurt that blossomed in her heart to not show on her face.

" Yeah, we're just best friends!" Natsu said, a bit more unconvincingly.

" Hmm," Wendy hummed thoughtfully, muttering to herself in confusion, " That's odd then..."

" What's that Wendy?"

" Ah! It's nothing Lucy-san, i was just talking to myself."

While Wendy pondered, Natsu clutched at the spot above his chest, wondering to himself just why was it that he felt a clenching feeling there when he heard Lucy say that they were nothing but friends.

They are just best friends.

Right?

" Tenebre!"

Layla's head snapped up to look in the direction the voice called out from to see Serpe appear there in a shower of gold dust.

" Serpe!" Layla gasped out in part relief, " Thank the gods!"

" How long has it been? What triggered it?!" Serpe pushed through the whirling black wind barrier in an instant and faced his unresponsive master, shooting questions in Layla's direction, " Who the hell are you and why do you look like Layla?!"

" I am Layla, dofus." The blond woman deadpanned, smacking the back of his head for good measure, then returning her attention to Tenebre with a hiss when one of the black tendrils licked at her arm, creating a new crimson line among the many others scattered along her body.

" We were on the topic of Lucy's condition, she felt helpless, for never being able to protect her loved ones, and then she fell into some kind of-"

" Repetitive trance, her eyes changing from blood red to the shadowy mass you see now?" Serpe cut in.

Layla nodded quickly, " Yes, muttering a name, a 'Myriana' i think."

Serpe flinched back violently when he heard the name, an image of a bouncing gray haired little girl with bright blue eyes flashing past his eyes for a moment.

" Fuck, of all memories, why that one?" He hissed, terror evident in his snake like eyes.

" I've only seen this happen to her once before, but it wasn't this bad that time!" Layla yelled over the wind, " Who is this Myrianna and why haven't i heard of her before?"

" That's because Tenebre herself don't wish to remember her, in one of the darkest periods of Tenebre's early life, she was the one who brought hope and light to her."

" But it was taken away from Tenebre in a manner that would scar her for life, a scar so deep, so heart-wrenchingly painful but still so raw after all these years. Hence, this state."

" So what do we do to snap her out of it?!"

" Grab her hand." Serpe instructed, grabbing Tenebre left hand while Layla grabbed her right as directed.

" Now think of all the happy times you've had together and try to channel all that positive energy to her," Serpe closed his eyes as he did so.

" And the rest now, is up to Tenebre."

AN : Ooooooo... and the plot thickens...

( cues dramatic music and grabs a mic ) Who is this Pheles fellow? Who is this Myrianna? What has Tenebre got to do with all of it and what's going to happen to Lucy? ( points and the audience aka YOU ) Stay tuned next time to find out!

In the meantime, ( throws mic somewhere behind ) i'm off to get at least 2 hours of sleep. ( collapses on the spot )

Ja Ne!

~KanaeHitomi~