Happy Mescana Day!

Today is the 4th Mescana Day and it marks 9(!) years already since I started this crackship. For this year's Mescana Day I wrote a new chapter to this story and I drew a picture of the first chapter that can be found on my Tumblr!

Mest closed his eyes to focus on the sounds around him. Every inch of his body was bruised and sore. He could still feel a faint linger of poison course through his veins. Cobra was a clever one, his poison drains one's magic power too.

However, there was one crucial detail the Oracion Seis had overlooked; the fact that using minor memory magic took less ethernano than transportation. He could get out as soon as he could trick someone into coming into his cell and manipulate them into setting him free.

He had heard people walking back and forth in front of the tiny room he was bound to a chair in. He had overheard something about dinner and smells from a kitchen had started to drift in through the wooden walls.

Rushed foodsteps approached. This was the moment.

''I've brought food.'' He could Racer say on the other side of the door.

''Can you bring it to me?'' Mest asked with a mischievous grin. ''I'm too weak to stand up.''

''You're not that stupid, are ya?'' Racer said as he walked in. ''You're tied up, of course you can't eat on your own.''

He closed the door behind him and walked over to his prisoner.

''Could you do me a favour?'' Mest asked.

''You've got some nerves to ask that,'' Racer replied. ''Do you think I've forgotten our fight already?''

''Of course not, you sure gave me one hell of a beating,'' Mest said and paused. ''There is this lock of hair prickling my eye all the damn time, could you move it over?''

Racer burst out in laugher. ''Really? That's your request?''

He moved closer and lifted a bang with his hand.

Mest looked him right in the eye. As soon as their gazes locked, Racer's eyes turned dull.

''Fool.''

Clouds of dust had started to settle on the battlefield, still crackling with static sparks.

Heavy-breathing, Laxus sank to his knees after dealing the final blow. He had just used red lightning for the very first time, a power inherited from his great-grandfather that had been dormant within him for a long time and had finally surfaced.

As good as it felt, and how relieved he was to have knocked out Wahl, he could not have imagined the toll it would take on his body.

But it didn't matter. He was victorious. He had done all he could, for the guild.

''Finish him off.'' he heard a voice behind him resound.

Laxus turned around as quickly as his beaten body allowed him. His vision had gotten blurry from using way too much ethernano and he was on the verge of collapsing. He could make up a general shape of someone standing on a pile of debris.

''Mest? Is that you?'' He instantly cowered in pain as he felt a sharp pain in his ribs and let out a groan of agony.

Crunching footsteps neared through the rubble around him. But no answer.

''If you don't finish the job, then he'll come back for revenge for sure to finish you instead.'' The voice was now right behind him.

Laxus' mind was fading. Why was Mest here?

He felt a cold hand on his still-pulsing skin. ''You've fought hard enough, I'll finish it for you. Now rest.''

Before Laxus could even do as much as answer, let alone protest. He felt his eyelids grow heavy and his exhaustion grab a hold of him.

''D-don't..'' he muttered before darkness enveloped his mind and lost consciousness.

Mest quickly grabbed Laxus' neck to make him land softly instead of hitting his head on rocks.

After he made sure he had just fainted and nothing more grave, he turned to the defeated enemy.

Mest stood up and walked around the motionless body, which seemed to be that of a cyborg. He kicked him in the side with the toe of his boot.

A low rumble resounded as the body twitched.

''Oh, how unlucky you are,'' Mest said with a cynical undertone, ''you're still alive.''

The man on the ground opened one eye and bare his fangs at him.

''You may not realise it yet, but you were actually lucky to fight Laxus,'' Mest said as he readied himself to use a surge of ethernano. ''I, however, have decided to not take that risk anymore,''

''Yer the fucker who killed gramps,'' the cyborg weakly let out.

''And I will kill you all if that's what it takes to end all of this,'' he hissed and let his hand hover over the man below him.

A gut-wrenching screech that was abruptly cut off ripped through the air.

''He's near!'' Cana yelled, frantically looking left and right while her legs wanted to give out from exhaustion. ''I can feel it!''

Her friends were just behind her, barely able to keep up. Ever since Erza got news from Jellal that he was the one who had abducted Mest, everyone was on edge. How Jellal had described him was more concerning than they imagined the situation could possibly be.

They ran around a few corners. The city of Hargeon was a maze. Sensing someone was close could still mean nothing. Finding them was the real challenge.

Her lungs were burning, but she couldn't give up. It was now or never. If there was one last chance to talk to him, right now was the time. Cana didn't know the state she would find him in, nor what he might have caused already. All she knew was that she was not giving up on him yet.

''Erza!'' A voice echoed from a nearby alley. They all stopped and turned around. Panting, Jellal came running towards them.

''We have to keep going!'' Cana panicked.

Jellal looked at her with cold eyes. ''No, we don't''

She felt her blood run cold. An omnious feeling lingered around them. ''W-what do you mean?''

''He is beyond salvation now, I've seen it with my own eyes,'' Jellal said.

Cana felt rage well up within her gut.

''What do you know about him?! How can you say we should abandon him?!'' She blurted out.

''I just found an enemy defeated by Laxus, but he didn't kill him.''

A hallowing silence followed as everyone listened to Jellal's report in disbelief.

''Mest teleported the enemy,'' he gulped. ''Partially.''