Mira's POV:

After the battle in Magnolia, we had been sent north to support Aisha and then aid Sabertooth and Pegasus, but the weather had been bad on our travels here. We were going to have to stop at some point to wait for the weather to get better. I was wondering if the Twelve themselves were responsible for this weather to cut off reinforcements for the Fiorian forces, none of the information that Aisha had given the master suggested that any of the members in this area could summon snow storms like this. That doesn't mean there isn't one, as Aisha could be playing us.

I was dreading seeing her again, I knew in my heart that I still loved her but that just makes everything worse. She shouldn't be forgiven despite what Master Makarov might believe. I don't know if I could ever forgive her for what she did.

We approached a snowy pass and the weather was getting even worse, we needed to find shelter soon otherwise we're going to be buried underneath all of this snow. Gajeel wanted to press on and force a march towards the battlefield, but everyone else here knew what they needed to do.

A figure clad in all black approached from the front, she waved us down. We walked towards her and as we got closer we recognised the robes she was wearing. She was one of the members of Aisha's squad. She ran towards us.

"You are the backup from Fairy Tail? Are you not?" She spoke with the same accent as Aisha, that unbearably velvety accent. She looked even younger than Aisha from her eyes.

"We are, where are the rest of your squad set up?" Gajeel spoke up and walked directly in front of the young mage. He towered over and it was clear that she felt more than a little intimidated as she looked up in almost awe of him.

"We are in a cave nearby, I will take you there." She turned her back to us and slowly walked down the pass, I noticed that she had blood splatters all over her. They must've seen some action because that isn't her blood.

My feet sunk into the snow as the blizzard raged all around us, I took Lisanna's hand as we followed the Hijaaran. I have lost someone already because of this war, I didn't want to lose my family.

The mage led us to a cave and entered it, the cave was dark and it was hard to see anything. It was at least dry and would allow us to avoid the snow. As we were led further into the cave we saw a flickering light of a fire. We entered the main chamber of the cave and there was the rest of the squad sitting around the fire. Aisha wasn't around the fire but I saw her at one of the walls of the cave, she was on her knees and she had her hands together. She was praying, what she was praying for I couldn't say.

"Princess, we have reinforcements from Fairy Tail." The girl who led us announced, before she headed back to the cave entrance. She must've been on lookout duty to make sure no-one would ambush us.

Aisha didn't stand up or acknowledge us immediately, she was deep in prayer. She had always been devout but now she seems like that is all she has. She must be really worried about everything, I can't say I blame her. She betrayed the guild and was hated by almost everyone, no she has betrayed Alvarez and they would kill her. She has nothing left except her squad and her gods.

Aisha eventually stood up, before turning around to face us. She had her mask completely off, I looked into her eyes and it looked like she looked dead inside. She hadn't been crying because of what happened, she was angry, there was just a lack of any emotion.

"I'm glad you have made it here, we weren't able to reach the battlefield. We got caught here and now we've been here for a day whilst we wait for the weather to improve." Aisha walked forward to us, standing in front of the fire as the light illuminated her. The flickering lights showed the bags under her eyes, her skin was paler and her smile was gone. She looked tired and sick, was this the guilt affecting her or was it something else.

"We made it here fine, we had to fight in Magnolia but after that we headed straight for the North." Elfman was the one who spoke up as the team got settled in the cave, putting their bags down and getting ready to sit for however long it takes.

"What happened in Magnolia once we left? Since you are here I assume you've been victorious, but what actually happened?" Aisha looked over at me and she was clearly very worried, it must've been about her brother. When she had learnt who had been sent to fight him initially she was shocked, she clearly thinks something happened to him.

"We won, the Dragonslayers were the ones to confront Ajeel but when they landed on his ship they suffered from motion sickness." As I spoke, I saw Gajeel out of the corner of my eye recoil clearly upset with that statement. "After the Dragonslayers withdrew from the battle, Erza herself confronted Ajeel; she battled him for a while. Ajeel almost killed her, but she managed to signal Bisca to hit him with the Jupiter cannon. He survived the hit but afterwards Erza defeated him, he didn't die and Fairy Tail didn't manage to capture him."

Aisha let out a sigh of relief and walked towards me. She looked into my eyes but stopped walking before she got too close. "Thank Mai-at for that, he may be an enemy but if I lost Ajeel, I don't know what I would've done." She sat down next to me, she was more relaxed now. I was apprehensive but I decided to sit down next to her.

"It's a horrible thing to lose a sibling, Ajeel might be an enemy but I wouldn't want to kill him." I hadn't met him personally but I remember him trying to kill the team we sent to Alkatasia to save Master Makarov, he even tried to bring down the airship before Laxus stopped him. He seemed like a piece of work but he was the twin brother of Aisha.

"It really is, I know you know what it feels like. I'll hopefully never find out how it feels like, if anyone deserves to go, it is me. I've only got my grandfather and Ajeel, my parents died years ago. My father was the King of Hijaara and was assassinated before the invasion" Aisha looked over at me sadly, she put her hand in her pocket and brought out a packet of cigarettes. She opened them and took one out, she lit it from the campfire and put it in her mouth taking a draw. She hasn't ever spoken about her parents so I had no idea what her relationship was like with them, but she was very loyal to her family she did have left.

"You're back to smoking too? Did you start back when you went home?" I know if she is smoking she must really be struggling, that is understandable after everything that was happening. I didn't like how she was speaking either, it sounds like she was preparing not to come back after this war.

"I did, after coming home I just felt horrible. Seeing my family didn't even help it, being away from the guild and from you just made me feel lonely. The guilt from handing the information over didn't really occur until I ran into Makarov, then after our investigation it was made significantly worse. I handed crucial information to Zeref and to an evil empire, there is nothing I will ever be able to do to get rid of the guilt for that." Aisha looked away from me and into the fire, her nails dug into the cloth robe she wore.

"I won't try and comfort you after everything that has happened, but I won't make the guilt worse for you. All you can do is focus on the present and help us end this war, after that we can see what the future holds for you." I bit my lip as I considered extending an arm around her but I stopped myself. I wanted to shout at her about everything she did, admonish her about her betrayal but I couldn't bring myself to. I don't even know if it would've impacted her, she looks beyond depressed now. I don't think there was anything I could do now to make her feel worse.

"I appreciate that Mira, I know what I did was wrong. I will focus on the battle ahead as I'm going to have to fight at least one of the Twelve, I just hope it isn't my brother." She took another draw of her cigarette as her hand was shaking, her emotions were coming back. I remember what she was like in that park in Crocus, that was openly emotional but this felt worse. She was close to breaking down completely, she is ready to kill herself in the coming battle. I won't let her kill herself, we're not together now but I will not let her throw away her life.