Cana was still drinking when the guild quieted down. She had a feeling she would still be drinking for a while. She should have known this was coming after she didn't bother going through with her threat when she failed the last test. If you looked at it logically, she didn't actually fail last year. So this would be the fifth failure. Did she really want to leave the guild still? Would she abandon her family when she ultimately failed again?

She raised her hand to request another drink before it was slapped down on top of the bar with such force her empty glass bounced. Whoever it was had better be glad her father had already fucked off to find someone to warm his bed tonight otherwise they'd be dead.

Slowly turning to the side the image of green hair and a red coat filled her vision and she almost laughed. Of course. Only four of the nominations wasn't dating another, and she couldn't see Pantherlily or Wendy willingly partnering with her and she guessed that left her with Freed. And he didn't look too happy.

"Snap out of it, Alberona. I'm stuck with you and there is no fucking way you are going to ruin my chances by sitting here sulking."

Cana laughed, spinning in her stool to look him in the eye. He was perfectly dressed, as always, hand resting lightly on the pommel of his sword as he stopped her from ordering any more alcohol.

"Gee, thanks, Justine. What a motivational speech. Glad to know I'm such a desired partner."

Freed leant forward, caging her in with his arms as he towered over her uncomfortably close. His competitiveness and need to win this year had overtaken his upbringing, and he didn't care that he wasn't being polite right now.

"You think I chose you just because you're the last option? I could make anyone switch to my team if I wanted them. I can be very persuasive. But you're the strongest option."

Cana sneered. Freed was good, she would give him that, but he still couldn't get anything past her. She refused to be intimidated, leaning forward until their noses touched and she could feel his breath dancing across her lips as she spoke.

"That's a lie, Freed, and you know it."

Freed smirked, finally pulling away as his intimidating facade fell and he crossed his arms.

"Maybe. Better motivational speech though, right?"

Cana snorted, turning back around to the bar and throwing one leg over the other before leaning her elbow on the wood.

"Yeah, I guess. Would have worked a hell of a lot better if you'd let me get more drunk first, though."

Freed rested against the bar, looking around the guildhall. All of the other teams had already left, and he ground his teeth at the fact they were already lagging behind. Grabbing hold of her arm he tugged her away, heading towards his apartment. He knew that all of the decent training areas would be taken already, but they may as well start off with some tactical planning.

"Oh no, you're going sober."

Cana groaned loudly, starting to drag her feet, making Freed curse. It appeared he was partnered with a five-year-old.

"But I'm useless sober! You don't want me to be useless do you Freed?"

Freed tutted, debating using runes to drag her behind him but not wanting to waste too much magical power on this.

"No, you're not. You're not Bacchus, alcohol isn't needed for your magic. Come on. We have planning to do."

Freed looked up from his notes, watching Cana tap her chin as she worked her magic with her cards. The alcohol she had been drinking appeared to have worn off already, but that's not what was bothering him.

"Surely there are far too many variables to discern any useful information from that yet."

Cana lay down a card, not looking up at him as she pondered over them intently.

"And I'm not sure lecturing me about my own magic is going to be any of use to us either, Justine."

Freed sighed, standing up from his chair to go and look over her shoulder but it was useless. He couldn't understand a thing.

"Okay then, Miss Fortune Teller. What are the cards telling you?"

Cana sighed, leaning back and resting her weight on her hands behind her.

"Well, I know that Evergreen and Elfman are going to go against Lily and Wendy…"

Freed rolled his eyes, although she couldn't see it.

"How the fuck is that helpful to US?"

Cana shrugged, collecting her cards in a pile again before sitting up more completely.

"Maybe it means we don't have to fight them? Although I can't tell who wins or when it happens. They could have already knocked us out for all I know. How about you, brainiac?"

Freed sighed, returning to his notes as he glanced over at the card mage.

"Well, your cards take care of a lot of the elemental mages, the only one I'm really struggling with is Juvia. Fire wouldn't work, she just puts it out."

Cana pondered for a second. She knew Juvia better than Freed, she would be better suited to finding her weaknesses.

"We know Juvia is susceptible to Lightning, remember that time with the Thunder Palace and the body link spell and we had… to escape… your trap..."

Cana's words trailed off as she saw Freed's jaw clench, and she suddenly remembered what she was saying.

"Fuck. Sorry."

Freed smiled, but it was obvious it wasn't at all genuine.

"That's okay. It's my past, you don't need to apologise. Now tell me, can those cards go backwards too?"

Cana looked at him in confusion, starting to unpack her cards again.

"Do you mean can I read the past? Yeah, sure, but I'm not sure why that would help."

Freed smiled again, and this time she knew it was real.

"It means we can get past fights, get statistics. Who's beaten who and how many times. This will be a war won with data, and we dominate that field."

Cana nodded, holding her cards in her hand and opening the magic flow between them and her.

"Okay, who do I start with?"

Freed tapped his chin with his finger. He already knew about all of Laxus' fights, and Evergreen's, and Bickslow's apart from one…

"Lucy. She's stronger than she looks and I'll bet she's using that to her advantage. She will be expecting people to focus on Natsu and then sneak attack them. We'll start with her. Pull up as many fights as possible and we will see if it tells us anything."

Cana nodded, allowing her mind to fill with thoughts of the Celestial Spirit Mage. She shoved her mind away from the first place it went to, the women all having been at the spa together not too long ago.

The magic in her arms started pulsing as she shuffled her deck, before spreading them out on the table in front of her. Allowing her magic to guide her she hovered her hands over the cards, picking out three and turning them onto the table in front of her. She studied them intently, before speaking up.

"The cards are telling me to look out for Unison Raids when it comes to Lucy. She's never succeeded in one with Natsu before, but there is nothing to say she wouldn't be able to figure one out in the next week."

Freed noted it down, pen scratching across paper superhumanly fast before he stopped and looked up at her again.

"Good. Tell me more."

Mira groaned as the bed shifted. Fuck, she must have fallen asleep as she was waiting for him. Freed had already changed into his pajamas completely silently, and was now trying to slip underneath the blankets of the bed just as sneakily. She pulled herself up onto her elbows, eyes adjusting magically to the dark as he winced and smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry I woke you, honey. Go back to sleep."

She rubbed her eyes, not bothering to turn on the light before she scooted over to embrace him. She needed to speak to him anyway, and he had been waking up and sneaking out of the house before her for the last couple of days.

"What time is it?"

Freed closed his eyes, stretching his spine out before wrapping his arms around her waist. She tried not to notice the burns and bruises that had appeared across his skin.

"Half one. And I need to be up at four so I need to go to sleep kinda soon."

Mira sighed, moving her hand up to brush his hair out of his face. It had been tied back in a high ponytail every time she had seen him since they had announced the nominations for the trial, at least the few minutes that she had seen him.

"Can't we have a lie in tomorrow? I don't have to work."

Freed moaned, closing his eyes and trying to pull her down to lie next to him but she fought against him.

"You're also the strongest woman in the guild and thus don't need to bother training. We don't all have that luxury, Mira."

Mira scoffed, looking down at him and fighting back the temptation to slap him. She didn't do well being woken up at the best of times, and now he had the audacity to question her dedication? Sure she had taken a break but she had at least been trying to get back up to strength since Lisanna came back.

"You think I don't train? I've been through the trials, Freed. I know what it's like to want to break yourself for a chance to get the title. But the rate you're going? You're going to kill yourselves before you even get to the docks."

Freed rolled away, letting go of her as he turned his back and cross his arms.

"Gee. Thanks for the vote of confidence, babe."

Mira huffed, sitting up completely as she stared over at him in disbelief. This wasn't like him, maybe the training was taking more out of him than she thought.

"You know what I'm saying, Freed. You've had what, nine hours of sleep during the last three days? You're going to be a zombie by the time we get there."

Freed sat up, voice suddenly raising as a fire began to burn behind his eyes. Mira stared him down, the demon inside her stirring as it responded to his.

"I have a plan! We're doing the training logically, balancing physical and mental training."

Mira sneered, her voice lowering as her demon started to anger. She was tired, she was worried and all Freed was doing was making everything so much worse.

"And how is that working out with Cana, eh? How is her chaos falling into your plans?"

Freed swung his legs out of the bed, turning around to stare at Mira as she tried to ignore his right eye had darkened, not protected by his hair now it was pulled back.

"Chaos? Cana is actually a fantastic planner, if you give her a chance. She's strong and fierce, and smart about her magic."

Mira's demon forced her to stand. She didn't want to be below Freed, and her transformation magic started to make her larger as she struggled to keep the Satan's Soul down.

"If she's so fantastic why aren't you still with her then?"

Freed froze. It was a sore subject. They both had histories, questionable histories, but he thought she trusted him. Did she not? Had he ever given her any indication that she wasn't the only one?

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer. And as for chaos, really, Mira? I'm on a team with Bickslow. Bickslow!"

Mira smiled. This was typical of Freed. Everything was Bickslow's fault with him. Freed never, never took responsibility for anything. Her voice went deathly quiet, and she crossed her hands over her chest.

"You know what, Freed. You actually amaze me. I never would have thought you could have blamed Bickslow for this. Why don't you just own up and take responsibility that you're working yourself too hard? Or is that against your moral code? The leader of the Raijinshuu is not answerable to anyone!"

Freed growled, magic power starting to gather around him as his anger rose. Mira's body switched form without her even noticing, and her Satan's soul took over.

"I never take responsibility!? I took the entirety of the penance for the Raijinshuu's actions against Fairy Tail on my own shoulders."

Mira couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips, and Freed's expression darkened as he stared her down.

"You cut your hair!? It grows back! It grew back within weeks. You were going to kill your own guild members and cutting your hair for a few days is a penance?"

Freed narrowed his eyes as his magic built up around him, and his voice was dropped to barely a whisper.

"Get out."

Mira paused for a second. Sure they were angry, but was this what she really wanted? Freed screamed, his magic losing control and shooting forward as he swept his arm to the side.

"GET OUT!"

The wave of magic flew towards her, and her own sense of preservation kicked in as her souls switched and she brought up her arms to block it. The magic almost flowed across the armour of her Demon God Halphus form, and after it had dissipated she turned around and stormed out of the apartment without another word.

A/N - Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone for their reviews! Just FYI last weeks chapter didn't send out an email alert (an issue with the site apparently) so you may have missed the last chapter (Elfman and Evergreen).

Also, make sure to go and check out Gajeelswoman who is my wonderful coauthor for this story ^_^