End of x790, beginning of x791

"They're coming."

Footsteps sounded in the distance as two figures huddled in a small closet, breathing lightly as if one sudden movement would cause their doom, and darkly they knew that was the closest to the truth of the matter. One of them suddenly stood up, amber eyes shining defiantly, turning around as her voice resounded clearly in the silence. "Stay here. I'll go."

The other figure stifled something that sounded between a gasp and a sob, her identical golden eyes widening as she said with a rushed whisper, "N-no! They'll kill you. They'll k-kill you, just like…just like…" Visions of two bodies, fingers intertwined as scarlet liquid spilled on the ground filled her mind.

"Mom and Dad?" The girl finished, a bitter smile crossing over her face as she leaned down to pat her sibling on the head. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Stop lying to me. T-this is all my fault. They're after me, so just let me go. I was the one who decided to go to that house anyways—"

"Stop," the other girl cut her off. "I'm the elder sibling here. I'm responsible for your safety now that our parents are gone."

"You're older than me by what, two minutes? Besides, they already saw me. They know who they're looking for." She hiccupped, and then continued. "P-please don't leave me alone too."

Her sister's eyes softened by a fraction before hardening with a determination in them that the girl could hardly recognize, and she leaned down to ruffle her hair. Her resolve was unwavering. "I need to do this, Ava."

"B-but Mia!"

"It's alright. Since we're twins they won't realize the difference between you and I anyways." She slid the door of the closet open by a fraction, allowing light to illuminate her face. She put a finger to her lips, an almost serene expression coming across her face. "I'll see you later."

It had been about 6 months since she had joined the Trimens, and reaching the 6 year mark since Tenroujima. Since then, Ava had grown closer to the group, their happiness and laughter enticing her.

"You know, that if you ever need a spot in a guild if you decide to quit Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale's always open."

"I know. But I'm fine with my team right now. We work well together." With Eve's long-ranged/scale Snow Magic attacking groups of monsters, Hibiki's finesse and strategy when it came to missions, Ichiya's support Perfume Magic and general knowledge in hand-to-hand-combat, and Ren's Air Magic that made the perfect compliment to both Eve's and her magic, they were an unbeatable team. Especially when it came to their teamwork, something that was lacking when she was at Fairy Tail. Ava smiled, humming thoughtfully as her fingers drummed against the glass-rimmed table in a comforting rhythmic pattern. She was at a cafe, sipping a nice cup of Earl's Gray Tea as she stared across the table at the fellow mage. She had encountered Lyon on one of her missions with her new team-the Trimens- and the two had somehow managed to slip out from their group and rendezvous at the small cafe at the corner of a bakery. She observed the place, it rather clean and nice while not overly expensive or extravagant. It had a sort of modest feeling about it that was challenge. "This cafe's quite charming, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

She knew that Eve or Hibiki would have noticed her absence by this time, and soon the whole team would grow into a panicked state as they would search for her throughout the town. Lyon's team would probably do the same for him. She shrugged mentally. The mission was an easy one: track down a group of thieves who had been terrorizing the citizens of the small town. The thieves were low-leveled mages, and although quite strong in civilian standards, she was sure that her team could take them with no problem. She did hear that they all dyed their hair a rather magnificent shade of salmon pink (for some reason), an action she couldn't help but frown upon. Pink was always Natsu's color. "How's Sherry's cousin, Cheria?"

"She shows a lot of promise." Lyon twitched, wondering why the amber-eyed mage had brought up the pink-haired girl.

"You do know she has a crush on you?" She sipped her tea nonchalantly as Lyon nearly fell over comically before regaining his composure. It was a wonder he could do that so easily, and Ava often wondered how he was able to get back in his role so quickly. A trained actor, he was. That was something she had to respect.

"So that's why she's been acting like that…" Lyon muttered as Ava gave him a mocking shake of the head, fingering a strand of her raven hair as she sighed comically.

"Now, Lyon, what are we ever going to do with you?"

"Wrong again. It's more like, Ava…" His dark eyes seemed to search through her skull, looking for something that she knew didn't exist. The way he said her name sent shivers down her spine, and she shifted uncomfortably as her hands clasped together. "What are we going to do with you?" The silence following was deafening, and it was finally broken by Ava.

"Hahaha, Ly-Leo. That was real funny!" She giggled, rubbing the back of her head flirtatiously as she winked at him, subtly gesturing to the new arrival of customers with strangely colored salmon hair, her eyes flashing as if saying play along before resuming her dreamy look, noting that all of the people in the cafe had nervously shied away from the group of thieves, eyeing their pink hair warily.

"Indeed. Do you like this?" He raised his eyebrows daringly, smirking at her as he leaned closer so that she could feel his breath on her face. The action was so out of character for the Ice Mage that she momentarily paused, too stunned to do anything before a smirk played on her face. He was always a good one when it came to masking his feelings. They stayed there for one glorious moment, faces nearly an inch away from the other, before Ava blinked and Lyon leaned back again, the former trying to get rid of the feeling of the several lecherous gazes she had felt from the poorly disguised thieves. It looked like she'd beaten her team to the objective.

"Stay focused." She whispered before plastering on her fake smile again, an action that could only be done with years of accumulated practice, sighing romantically as she held her hand to her chest. "Oh, Leo, we should go to the park. It would be so...romantic." Any occupants of the room who had been staring at them before for their rather loud flirting turned back around and resumed their regular business except for the thieves, who were greedily eyeing Ava's bracelets-a rare silver with moonstone embedded in it.

"Alright." He raised his hand for the waiter to bring the bill over, and after taking some Jewels out of a pouch in a theatrical gesture that made the thieves' eyes watch his hands transfixed, paid for himself and Ava. The girl made a mental note to pay him back later (although, somewhere inside her she knew that he would refuse to take any money she offered him: men were always so prideful in that way). "Shall we go?"

Lyon held out to crook of his elbow-like a proper gentleman, she thought amusedly-and she locked her hand with his as the two strolled out of the cafe casually, very aware of the people trailing them. He led her to a rather secluded area right on the edge of the town near the woods, and gestured for her to sit down on one of the wooden benches. "Beautiful," she commented idly as she sat down with him, letting her head lean against his shoulder as her grip on his hand tightened as she felt a presence coming close to them from behind.

It was completely serene. The birds were chirping, the air was fresh and pure, and the leaves moved and rustled in the wind as light shone through the canopy of green that was above them. They sat there for a moment, the air peaceful and tranquil, before everything literally turned to Hell.

"Ava-chan! I heard that you were seen strolling around in a not-so-casual manner with some handsome young gentleman! Is this true-" Hibiki's demand was cut off by the sudden movement of what must have been at least two dozen thieves jumping from the shadows, and both Ava and Lyon immediately stood up and assumed their fighting stance.

"Why, yes Hibiki-kun, I was with a rather handsome gentleman," Ava chirped as she winked at Lyon, continuing in her mock-afraid voice as she put her hands to her chest as she let out a terrified gasp. "But it seems like our wonderfully romantic date has been cut off by a bunch of criminals! Oh, what shall we do?"

"I do not know." Lyon deadpanned, his eyes flat as he nonchalantly kicked a criminal who was trying to jump him from behind in the head. "Maybe we should get help."

The whole team of thieves was assembled by then, a large burly group of mainly men (although she did see a few women) all equipped with some kind of magic or weapon and Ava couldn't help but gasp. "Oh, my. So many strong ladies and gentlemen all here just to rob silly old me? I'm honored." Unconsciously, her hand inched towards her sealing-scrolls, ready to use them at any moment. Her magic was Sealing Magic, which basically allowed her to seal any attack that came flying towards her or sap a captured mage's magic and store it in a scroll for future use. It also allowed her to seal magic briefly in some other object, but she had to move quickly and seal it into a scroll once the battle was over. There were a few downsides, like how she always had to keep several scrolls in stock and on her at all times, along with the fact that it could backfire on her. It wasn't the best to use it in a full-scale battle, but she supposed she would have to make do.

Mentally, Ava ran over her inventory. She had a few scrolls she had recently acquired from the last mission they had, her nearly unlimited stock of all the different types of magic her team and her old team had, several storage scrolls of weapons, a few empty scrolls, and one bottle of ink in the bag that was weighing against her left side. She cursed, stuffing all the things that were in the bag into one storage scroll, holding that in her left hand as she flung her bag to the side to make sure it wouldn't get caught in the upcoming scuffle.

"Cut the crap." One of the thieves growled, his hand shifting towards his weapon-a magic enhanced pistol, it seemed-as his comrades tensed, waiting for his call. It seemed like he was the leader. "We had heard that someone's asked the big guilds to come down, but we didn't expect Blue Pegasus's Trimens and Lamia Scale's Team Lyon to come."

"What can you say? You steal from people, they'll eventually get back at you." Hibiki shrugged, his face still turned down into a scowl but his eyes narrowed and focused. "I'm afraid we can't allow you to continue hurting this town."

"And technically, our team wasn't here for you. We just happened to be in town returning from one of our missions," Cheria added helpfully, and it seemed as if all of the mages had gathered as well.

"Just give up, it won't end well." Eve probably said those words with good intention, but it seemed like that seemed to heighten the tension and anger even more and Ava put her hand on his shoulder, waiting for the other party's decision. Everything was now at a tense standoff, all ready to draw weapons of start their spells before the man made the first move, drawing his pistol and firing towards Cheria, the small girl nimbly dodging as she took in a deep gulp of air as she prepared to counter.

"Attack!"

It was a flurry of movement, and Ren was thrust into the battlefield with that one word as at least 5 men came rushing specifically to attack him. One of the men was wielding a giant battleaxe as he grinned, bloodthirst in his eyes as Ren wondered how in the world was the mission ranked as a regular job as he dodged the first strike before spinning around in a quick circle, pointing his hands at the group of enemies as they were enveloped by a cyclone. "Aerial Phose!"

"Ichiya...san…" Ava managed over the sound of explosions and metal against metal as she voiced Ren's thoughts, her black locks being thrown into the air as she gripped her sword a little tighter. They were lucky there weren't any civilians around otherwise they could have been hurt. Ava sent a mental thanks to Lyon for having the insight to bring them to such a secluded area of the town. "What...mission...rank...was...this?"

"S-Class, men~" He sparkled as he pranced around, barely avoiding a spear one of the thieves thrust at him. "Power perfume!" His muscles began to bulge and grow in size massively as he swung an oversized fist at an enemy as he continued to talk to his team. "These thieves took advantage of mages that were coming back home tired from their quests and often attacked and killed them. Did I not tell you?"

"NO!" Came the unison cry of his teammates, and the man almost pouted at the response but quickly sobered.

"How mean… I am a well qualified S-Class mage and will definitely keep you safe, men." His comment was ignored by all four, and he sighed dejectedly before swiping at another enemy who tried to take advantage of his disposition.

"Sorry...about...this...Lyon…" Ava panted as she swirled around to parry an enemy with a sword she had unsealed. She was never the best at swords, but competent enough she wouldn't be killed on the first blow (thanks to a certain red-head). There was a small respite in the battle in which she took advantage of by shuffling through her main storage scroll, her hand entering in it as it disappeared from view and searching for one scroll in specific, still keeping an eye out for any incoming attack. As her hand closed around a familiar scroll, a smile began to spread across her face before she ducked, narrowly dodging a deadly blast of some kind of poison as she unsealed the scroll. "Seal of Immunity, activate!"

A gold glow surrounded her friends for a moment before it dissipated and Ava knew they'd be fine against the Poison-user. Ichiya had his Pain-Relieving Perfume, but it didn't work on poison which was why Ava had to find something to fill that weakness. Eventually she had encountered a Healing-based mage who had been using his talents to rob the people and sealed most of his magic in several scrolls. It would eventually recover again, so she wasn't too worried about the man who they had left stranded, ridded of Magic, in the middle of a particularly angry mob who had been robbed by the mage. "It only lasts for about thirty minutes, and I don't have any more of that magic stored," Ava warned before drawing a seal in the air before a wave of lightning hit it, the character glowing for a second before sealing and unsealing the attack, effectively reflecting it, as she heard pained cries. "Just give up already, dammit."

"You know they won't." Lyon suddenly appeared in the midst of the battle alongside her, and the familiar presence was a comfort in the world of explosions that rocked the earth as she braced herself and parried another attack with her sword. The metal gave out a small creak before snapping in half and she tossed it aside.

"Try to knock them out." Ava winced as a sword managed to get a light cut on her cheek, the pain reminding her of where she was. She was on a battlefield, there was no time to get distracted, especially since she had brought another team into the disaster. Her eyes hardened as she unsealed another scroll of Flame Magic, her supply of the magic nearly unlimited considering how long she had been working with Natsu.

"I know. Ice Make, Diamond Cage!" His hands moved together to seal several of their enemies in a glittering prison, knowing that to no avail they would be able to melt it. He would have to stay closer to it so it wouldn't melt, but he was sure he could keep that fact in mind. His hands moved to punch another thief straight in the jaw, watching with satisfaction as he flew back several meters and landed with a thud on one of the trees. He turned to see what his other teammates were doing, and was glad to see that they were relatively unharmed as they fought back, not even doubting their team leader's decision of helping the other team. They were growing stronger, that was for sure.

"Lyon-san, duck!" The warning barely came in time, and Lyon trusted his instincts and fell to the ground as a blast of Ice Magic barely missed him. He looked to where the source of the magic was and saw a sheepish Eve giving him an apologetic look before reverting his attention to his enemies. The blonde would be fine: Lyon knew personally that he could handle himself, and he was more worried about himself. He turned, and a flicker of blue caught his attention before he braced himself for the impending inevitable attack, and his world turned black.

.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ava asked for the hundredth time as Jura bent over the limp body of his fallen friend, draping a wet cloth over him as the whole group of mages filed in the inn room, leaning against the walls. The blue haired mage was looking pale: frighteningly pale, and Ava couldn't help but feel bad that she was the one who had brought their group into their mission and even though they technically completed the mission couldn't just leave him like that. Her teammates, luckily, had gotten the message and both teams would be staying in the inn for the night.

"He'll be alright. Lyon's strong." Jura's deep rumbly voice strangely comforted her, and she leaned down towards Lyon's sleeping face, inspecting him. He was taking deep breaths, each one hurried and desperate, and when she put her hand to his face it was strangely warm. It worried her. If she somehow indirectly caused Gray's friend-no, Lyon's death she'd never forgive herself. "Just some side effects from the poison. Your Immunity Spell cancelled out most of it."

"Yeah…" she said, her eyes flashing as she remained silent. Of course her magic wouldn't be enough to protect when she needed it to. She almost bit her tongue in disgust. She was still weak. Even after she had vowed to become strong, when the news of Tenroujima hit Fairy Tail and Laki had collapsed into a heap of sobs and Bisca nearly dropped her gun as she cried alongside her comrades. The mood of the room was sombre, and time ticked by almost too slowly as the group watched Lyon. The hands of the clock continued moving, and gradually, one by one, everyone began exiting the room as night fell upon them. The hour hand was pointing between 10 and 11 when Lyon's eyes fluttered open. "...Ava?" He murmured.

"I'm right here." Ava shifted closer to him, eyes still locked on his tired face. "Do you need something? Water? A new towel?"

"...weak…" His voice caught her by surprise, and she uttered her question with her eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"...still weak...Gray would'a beat them w'thout getting knocked out…" Lyon mumbled, shielding his eyes with his hand as he sunk further into the mattress, covering his body with the beige sheets as he shivered. " 'ts cold."

"I know." Her face was strangely calm as her shoulders slumped at the mention of the other Ice-Make mage, his calm gaze flashing through her mind. "I know." She repeated, the words sounding foreign on her lips. "Sorry Lyon."

"Not your fault…" He managed before his eyelids dropped close, and Ava noticed that although his body was still alarmingly warm, it seemed like he was more relaxed than before.

A smile tugged at her lips, memories of their first meeting flashing through her mind as she brushed her hand against his face.

"Thanks, Lyon."

"Lyon." She nodded her head at him coolly, her eyes downcast as she found herself once again swinging her legs near the water as she sat on the pier. The situation was eerily similar to when she was with Gray, to the point that she couldn't look at the light-blue haired man in the eye. The waves lapped the edge of the sand, seeming to catch onto it before residing again back into the depths of the ocean.

"You are...Ava. Correct?" He asked awkwardly. At this Ava nearly smiled, but the wave of emotions from before stopped her from doing so. Boys, no matter their age, really didn't know how to comfort girls. The memory of salmon-pink hair nearly blinded her.

"Yeah." She watched the water, a dark midnight black reflecting the dark sky, completely dark as clouds obscured her view of the stars.

"Gray told me. About you." He added quickly, sitting down on the dock with her, and she shivered at the sudden burst of cold that he brought as they sat shoulder to shoulder. "I met you once when Lamia Scale helped defeat Oracion Seis, but I didn't really get to talk to you. He...he said you were nice. And...a comrade. Close comrade."

"Yeah." Ava decided to spare the poor man and elaborated, "We sometimes teamed up for some missions. I didn't go to the S-Class exam so…"

"You have other teammates though?" The question lingered in the air for a moment, and Lyon wished that he could take back his words.

"Not really. I guess Laki, but she prefers to do different kinds of missions than the ones that fit my specialties." She stared at the water blankly for a moment. Lyon was...Gray's friend. That meant she could trust him...right? Gray had told her about him: the slightly cockier (she had snorted at that, telling him no one could be cockier than him), older pupil of Ur that had a change of heart after a gone-haywire mission where the two had met after so many years apart. She could trust him. Ava set her chin. She turned, her amber eyes meeting his dark black, and Lyon couldn't help but notice the hesitation in her eyes and wondered what his fellow pupil-of-Ur would do. "Do you think they'd be mad if I quit?"

"Quit...the guild?"

She nodded.

Lyon was silent for a moment, in deep thought and Ava was starting to regret asking him the question before he suddenly spoke, "I think...that they might be angry for a while, but they'll understand and try to be happy for you." Thoughts of the comradery Fairy Tail was known to possess flashed through his mind as he talked.

"That does sound like them." Ava chuckled bitterly, lifting her legs and bringing her face to her knees, her voice slightly muffled. Her black locks covered what was remaining of her face so he couldn't see her expression at all. "You're very honest, aren't you?" She hesitated for a moment before testing his name on her lips. "Thanks, Lyon."

"No problem." Feeling as if he shouldn't just let the conversation end there, the blue-head rubbed the back of his head as he asked, "What are you going to do then?"

She shrugged. "Travel the world. Find a purpose to life. Grow stronger."

"Leaving won't let you forget." Lyon had no idea what possessed him to say that, but she stiffened as her shoulders slumped and he knew he hit the target.

"Was I really that obvious?"

"No, I'm just observant."

The statement reminded her so much of the other Ice-Make mage that Ava bit back an instinctive retort of "You're such an idiot, Gray" and sunk deeper into her misery.