"This is everyone that made it through?" Gray sweatdropped, looking at everyone that had gathered in the clearing.
"Erik and Rogue were lucky enough to get a serenity route, as were Gajeel and Levy-"
"You call that lucky?!"
"Gajeel!"
"Gray and Loke beat Wendy and Mest in a battle route, and Lucy and Cana beat Freed and Bixlow in another battle route. Natsu managed to get past Gildarts-"
"WAAA?!"
Gray looked around. "Where are Juvia and Lisanna?" Gray sweatdropped once more when Makarov's jaw dropped, lines going down his face.
"Juvia and Lisanna met with her. The female knight who doesn't know how to hold back!"
"Then by process of elimination…" Cana trailed off, sharing a sympathetic look with Lucy.
Rogue giggled quietly behind his hand. "They met with Mi~ra!"
br/
"What the hell could those two have possibly done to get out of there alive?" Erik asked with wide eyes as Elfman and Evergreen arrived.
"They told Mirajane they were engaged and it caught her off guard," Natsu mumbled under his breath, making the other Slayers in the area snort.
"What the hell is up with this trial? 'Pick a path' 'Find a grave', seriously?! I just wanted to fight Salamander and Erza!" Levy rolled her eyes, irritated, as Gajeel complained for the ten thousandth time about fighting.
"Oh for the love of- Is that all you care about? Seriously Gajeel, it's like you don't even care to notice me!" Levy finally snapped, whirling around to face him with crossed arms.
"Now that's- Don't go putting words in my mouth, Shrimp I never said that!" Gajeel growled.
"Well it sure seems like it! You only ever care about fighting people and never spare me a glance!" Levy growled back.
A beat.
Gajeel smirked. "Gihi. You want my attention? Start fighting for real," He patted her head, not noticing Levy's eyebrow twitch in irritation.
"Because I'm 'small and weak', huh?" She said to herself. In a split second, she whacked him in the face with her bag, sending him to the ground. "Fine! See if I care, I can do this without you! Stupid Gajeel!" She stormed off, leaving him laying in the dust.
"What just happened?" Gajeel groaned, still on the ground.
"Ugh, males. I can't believe I thought he'd- " Levy huffed, storming through the trees. A small smile graced her lips as the land around the bluenette reacted to her presence. Levy sighed happily, gently stroking a blooming flower.
"Maybe I should head back…" Levy said to herself when her ears picked up on a sound. She looked around, focusing her hearing on the person approaching her.
"Gajeel?"
o - o - o
"Did you hear something?" Wendy snapped her head around, eyes flitting around the cliffside they were on.
"What?" Mest asked, spitting out a handful of flowers. Wendy sweatdropped, staring at the man in pure disappointment before her ear twitched.
"I swear I- Mr. Mest!" Wendy gasped, eyes bulging when he was slammed against a rock, the Exceeds and her younger brother standing before her.
"Who are you? Why are you trying to mess with Fairy Tail?" Sting snarled, taking a threatening step forward as balls of light appeared in his hands.
"Sting! Charla, everyone, what are you doing here? What's going on?" Wendy exclaimed, looking at all the Exceeds.
Lector pointed at the older man. "Mest isn't Mystogan's apprentice! He's not even part of Fairy Tail!"
"He didn't recognize the signal flare!" Wendy looked up at her brother's words, finding the source of the sound she'd heard earlier.
A bright red flare had been fired upward, lighting up the clear blue sky, and large enough to be seen all over the island.
"He's been using a mind magic to mess with people's memories and make them think he was Mystogan's apprentice," Charla glowered at Mest as he struggled to his feet.
"His name probably isn't even Mest!" Monmo snapped, he and Belletokia hovering in the air by Wendy's head.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about, I am Mystogan's-" Mest stopped when Pantherlily, full sized, slammed his fist into the rock just to the right of Mest's head.
"No," Pantherlily growled lowly. "You were smart to use someone who is no longer in this world. But the prince would never take an apprentice. Who are you really?"
Wendy's ear twitched again and she snapped her head to the right, eyes narrowing at a tree. The bluenette stared off into the distance, ignoring the others when-
"Everybody get down!" Wendy yanked Sting's arm and pulled him to the ground beneath her, covering as many of the Exceeds as she could, and squeezed her eyes shut.
br/
Wendy peeled her eyes open slowly, arms still wrapped tightly around her baby brother, and gasped softly when she saw Mest shielding her and Sting with his body.
"Natsu?" Happy looked up at his pink haired friend.
"He- Didn't he smell familiar, Happy? And he knew my name," Natsu murmured, drifting into his thoughts.
The blue Exceed sent him a concerned frown before gasping. "Natsu, your scarf!"
The pinkette shot to alert. "What?!" He looked down, hand going to his scarf. Green eyes narrowed in rage and flames sparked in his hands.
The white, dragon scale like scarf given to him by his father, his most precious thing, Natsu's only remembrance of his nest, his home-
Had been dyed black by dark magic.
o - o - o
Rogue glanced up when he saw it. "That's a red flare. Enemies are on the island? How?" He looked down when Erik didn't respond, staring at his older brother. "Erik?"
Intruders. Grimoire Heart. Sting and Exceeds on island. Wendy's in danger. Drake is here, headed for Alpha and the hatchling. Mest is from the council.
"Rogue, shadow us to Wendy. Sting's here, and Grimoire Heart is attacking Fairy Tail," Erik growled.