-Hours before-

Lucy came upon an unexpected sight as she walked into the guild this morning. Erza must have been in one of her "Reign of Terror" moods today, and she couldn't blame her, judging from the utter chaos and destruction of the entire hall. But the amount of effort she saw in righting everything was more than the usual post-skirmish cleanup she was accustomed to. Instead of a cursory round up of broken furnishings and debris, followed by a quick sweep with a couple of brooms, all the tables had been stacked against the outer walls. Erza measured and marked off specific spots across the floor while Laki and Kinana painstakingly laid out blue chalk lines along those markings. What in the world?

"Good morning, Lucy. Your usual, today?" came Mira's ever cheerful greetings.

"Um, yes. Thank you. What happened here?"

"Natsu. Along with Elfman and a few others."

That part needed no explanation. But what about…?

Mira, seeing Lucy's confusion, revealed, "Erza was concerned that Gray would have trouble navigating around the furniture unless everything was placed back exactly where they were before today's morning ruckus."

So the chalk lines were to assist in laying out the tables in a perfect grid. Perhaps Erza intended to leave the lines there? Why not just bolt the tables to the floor? Deciding she'd rather not ask her, not wanting to give her any ideas, she instead wondered.

"But the guild's been trashed plenty of times since Gray's lost his sight. She's never gone overboard like this before."

This was very true. They'd all seen him show a bit more care in moving about the guild on certain days. Lucy was still a little embarrassed by how long it had taken her to realize that his extra caution was due the fact that, on those days, a fight had resulted in a need to put the furniture back into place. Was Erza left unaware of that until today? No wonder she was taking this matter so seriously this time.

"She'd mentioned something about Gray demanding precise measurements, but that doesn't seem like something he'd say," said Mira.

"I think Erza is just upset that something we were doing was adversely affecting him. Still, it's not like we were purposely trying to vex him, and it's such a minor thing. Gray never complained about it, did he?"

"Not at all. Though that may be why Erza's going through all the trouble. Because she knows he'd never complain, so she wants to make sure he'd never have reason to suppress his frustrations."

"That sounds about right. Her heart's in the right place, at least. So where's Natsu? There's no way Erza let him off of cleanup duty."

"He's probably upstairs with some of the guys. They had to carry a bunch of stuff back to the upper floors that fell down," Mira said with a bright smile.

That fell down? Like, from the upper floors? But how …?

Looking around, then up, Lucy spotted a hole in the ceiling. Eyes now wide, she looked back at Mira's cheerful face, then back at the hole. Upon closer inspection, she saw just below the hole a couple of large stacks of dented or broken furniture that she now recognized as those belonging to some of the rooms upstairs. Approaching the hole, she looked up into it, only to discover similar holes punctured through each successive floor above. She wasn't even going to ask what caused those holes, simply accepting that Natsu was most definitely involved, and shrugged it off.

Returning to Mira, who had produced a strawberry smoothie while her back was turned, she accepted her order with a quick thanks, and was about to head upstairs to see if Natsu needed a break, when her com lacrima went off.

Seeing it was Levy, she answered the call, unable to even say hello before she was cut off by the tentatively excited bibliophile's entreaties of, "Lu-chan! I need you to see something in the Archives. This is really big!"

At first taken aback, then feeling a bit of that excitement seeping into her, she gave a quick, "Be there in a minute!", and made a beeline to the Archives, Natsu and her smoothie forgotten.

ooooo

-Archives-

Levy was almost in denial at what she was seeing. Not because she couldn't believe it, and was dreading the implications; but because she so desperately wanted what she'd found to be true, but was afraid she'd too eagerly leapt at her most desired conclusion, and had been hasty in her translations, interpreting only what she wanted to find instead of looking at it objectively. Normally, she'd have every confidence in her work, but they'd been searching for this answer for so long, she just couldn't believe they may have actually found it.

Freed was also going over this discovery, perusing the notes Levy had taken, along with the loose sheets of parchment spread out before him on the otherwise empty table; the ones that had apparently been shaken loose from one of Arius' tomes during Levy's taking her frustrations out on the book laden table it had been left upon. He was currently holding two such parchments towards the light cast by a nearby lamp, placing one in front of the other while turning and aligning it just so. Alongside the parchments in question laid a single scroll, the only one from the collection brought to them by Gildarts last December that, upon confirmation, may prove useful.

They both looked up when they heard hurried feet running towards the door, which was practically thrown open upon Lucy's entry. Slightly winded, that didn't stop her from urgently wondering, "What did you find?"

Eagerly, Levy answered—

-Now-

"—The seals are layered!"

Seated around one of the now perfectly positioned tables, Levy had just finished telling her audience the process of how she and Freed had first found the mysterious parchments, along with the roundabout way in which connections were made and more and more texts and details were categorized and referenced before they'd narrowed down their findings to what now laid before them: The parchments and a scroll Gildarts had brought from Alvarez.

"You see, usually we would remove a number of key runes from the whole formula, which would cause the rest of the seal to become inert. But these are martial grade seals. Instead of written as one continuous chain of individual links, these runes were laid out more like chain mail. Each rune is tied into another, or several others, which makes it impossible to even choose which ones can be safely removed, because the tethered runes would react in unpredictable ways. They were designed this way as a safeguard to keep prisoners from taking extreme measures to escape custody."

"All of which would have been a dead end anyway, since physical removal was never an option to begin with," added Lucy, noticing Gray's unease at the mere mention of having to remove anymore of his skin.

Levy understood Lucy's attempts at changing the focus of this topic, and quickly continued.

"So instead, we focused on augmenting parts of the seal. We wouldn't be able to cancel the whole thing with that method, but we could maybe change the rules which govern them. But we were always at an impasse, because the runes were so unknown to us, written in such a way that just didn't make sense. Until I discovered this parchment."

Indicating the ancient writings before them, she waited as everyone tried to make out what had her so excited. But none of them recognized the language. Not even Levy had a clue as to the land of the scripts' origins. But having stared at these random shapes for so long, she'd become quite familiar with their basic designs, and would recognize them on sight, even if they weren't complete.

"You'll have to break it down for us, Levy. What are we seeing?" asked Cana.

"Take a look at this first."

Drawing everyone's attention to the scroll from Gildarts, she revealed what it had to do with everything else.

"Gildarts found this scroll through some of his contacts in Alvarez. It's an historical account of one of the many wars fought in the era in which this seal was often used. One of the reports mention how all the young boys in a village were taken from their families and conscripted as soldiers for a foreign city state. Some of them were mages, in an era when mastery of magic was very rare. At some point, their unit was captured, and this very same seal was placed on all the magic users."

Levy unrolled the scroll, bypassing the many historical incidents recorded within, and pointed out a small line of foreign letters that were obviously different from the rest of the writings.

"These are just a few symbols from a long dead language, a sample preserved for historical purposes. Other than this scroll, I've never seen these characters anywhere else, and I couldn't figure out why they were even included in this account. I didn't think they were important, since they didn't match the runes of the seal. This brings us back to the parchment. Take a look at this symbol here." Directing their gazes to a single rune on the parchment, she then moved her finger back to Gildarts' scroll, finding its match. "Unless it's just a coincidence, this parchment was written in that lost language."

Though they could see her excitement, they still didn't get the gists of what she was saying.

"How does this help us?" Erza wondered.

"Let me ask you first, just how familiar are you with the actual configuration of the seal?"

Looks and shrugs were exchanged, while Gray just sat, trying to follow Levy's rapid-fire explanations. Seeing nothing but confusion, she shuffled through a small stack of photos, pulling out a zoomed-in image of one of the runes carved into Gray's abdomen.

"This is a photo of one of the seal's runes. Can you find it on any of these parchments?"

Once again, each of them scanned the aged pages, glancing at the photo over and over, trying to find it's match. There were a few with certain similarities, but none were a perfect match.

"That rune is nowhere on these pages. Are you certain they're related?" wondered Erza.

"Just watch," she said, pulling out a light pen.

Choosing what they thought was a random rune, she drew it in the air before them, holding the photo next to it for them to compare.

"So what? They both have that little squiggly line underneath it," observed Natsu.

Nodding, Levy chose another random rune, but drew it right unto the first one, so they overlapped each other. She did so again, and once more, so the four separate and distinct runes were now overlapping each other. Some had to be drawn at different angles. The image now matched the photo perfectly. Realization dawned on them.

"The runes are layered, one on top of the other!" cried Cana.

"That's right. That's why we were having so much trouble deciphering these things. Not only were they written in a long-forgotten language, on top of also being encrypted, but what we thought were individual runes were actually several of them superimposed on top of each other, and then each cluster was tied directly into other clusters.

"And here's the part that matters most: Those captured mages from long ago recognized the runes from the seal, because they were written in their native language!"

Now the others felt a stirring of hope.

"Even though they were all scrambled up like this?" Cana asked.

"It'd be the same for us if we saw a few of our own letters written in the same way," said Lucy.

Levy continued, "It took a while, since none of the soldiers were rune mages, but after studying it for some time, they were able to figure out a way to change some of the sigils to allow ethernano to once again flow into one of them. He was eventually able to gather enough of it to free himself and the rest of his unit, and return home to tell their story.

"The records were kept a state secret, so the enemy would never learn that their seals had been compromised, else they would have tried to re-engineer them."

"But you can read them now, right?" asked Wendy.

"Not quite, but from what we've been able to interpret, we may have the key to unlock the seals: A copy of the changed sigils. Try to keep in mind that this account is probably a copy of a copy, many times over. And the runes are still encrypted. We'd be putting an awful lot of faith in this ancient, unsubstantiated account. But if it is accurate, then this could be the means for Gray to get some of his powers back."

"You keep saying 'some,'" said Lyon, "Just how much of his powers would be restored?"

Lucy answered, "That's one of the more pressing questions we couldn't figure out. I looked over everything they had while we were waiting for you guys to return, and there was nothing any of us could find about a quantifiable amount. But the record said the mage was able to gather his magic. That suggests you'd be able to store and cultivate your powers until you actually needed them."

Her last statement, meant only for Gray, drew everyone else's attention towards him. It wasn't until he had all their focus that they'd realized he hadn't said a single word in this entire exchange. Lucy felt the tiniest bit of shame at the thought that her friends had grown so used to his silence, they hadn't even considered it strange for him to have been so quiet this entire time, when he had more reason than anyone to be participating in this discussion. For a moment, Cana was worried something they'd said may have robbed him of his voice again. But he didn't look like he was panicking.

He wasn't relaxed, either. What was he thinking?

"So what d'ya think, Ice Pop? You ready to get your powers back?" Natsu asked.

Instead of answering, he sat there, eyes closed and brow furrowed as he rubbed large circles into the palms of his scarred hands, first one, then the other. He touched the back of his wrist with his fingertips, and slowly dragged those fingers across the top of that hand. He did that again and again, and though most would assume he was simply rubbing the stiffness out of that hand, his friends remembered how he had very little sensation along his damaged skin. He wasn't feeling the back of his hand with his fingertips, but the opposite; he was using the back of his hand to feel along the scarred surface of his fingertips and palms.

Finally, he halted his movements, but kept his hands together, opened his eyes, and asked, "Where's Freed?"

Of all the things they were expecting him to ask about, Freed's present location wasn't one of them. Perhaps he wanted the opinion of the only other person who had worked so diligently on this case for so long.

"He's still in the archives, trying to formulate all the steps necessary to make this procedure work," said Levy.

Still rubbing those scars, he then asked, "Is that because he's the only one who can do it?"

It was now starting to dawn on them what this line of questioning was leading towards.

Of course Levy and Lucy knew what actions would be needed to rewrite those runes. But they were still reluctant to voice aloud what everyone was thinking. Before either of them could answer, Gray beat them to it when he asked, "How deeply will he have to cut?"

"What the Hell do you mean cut?!"

Oh, Natsu. Never one for subtlety.

Gray turned to face him, and some thought it strange how he seemed the only one willing and able to explain what needed to happen for this to work. The actions needed were often a concept he was unable to even think about without anxiety.

"These seals were carved deep, Natsu. Not just into my skin, but through it, into the muscle underneath. I still can't do a real sit up on my own, and I can feel the scar tissue every time I move. You can't just write over them with a pen, because the seal would still be intact underneath." Turning his attention back to Levy, he concluded with finality, "Freed has to use a blade to rewrite the seals."

Levy nodded, still shy about speaking these things in his presence. She couldn't help that their entire group had been conditioned to avoid certain topics in his company. Then she felt stupid for nodding and responded verbally.

"He'd have to cut all the way through. Maybe even a little deeper, just to be thorough."

"But this is pretty much like any other surgery," Erza pointed out, not understanding why they seemed so nervous, "He couldn't just be sedated for it? I'm sure Porlyusica-san has something that would work."

But Gray knew. He could sense their reluctance to answer, hear them shift in discomfort, understand what they still tried to hold off on saying.

"I'd need to be awake, so you'd know right away if anything went wrong. And I'd need to be aware enough to be able to keep whatever powers you unlock from backlashing. That leaves out decent pain killers, as well. I've been on the damn things for so long, their affects aren't as potent as before. The only things strong enough to dull that kind of pain would also knock me out."

Natsu paled, while Lyon and Erza shared forlorn looks. Looking towards Lucy for confirmation, all she could do was nod. Wendy, however, thought she could sway some of that unease.

"But as soon as the seal is augmented, your body will be able to accept ethernano again. I should be able to flow at least enough of my powers into you to heal the resulting wounds right away."

Gray's cynical laughter was unexpected and rather unnerving.

"You can't heal me—"

"—Why the Hell are you doubting her all of a sudden?" defended Natsu, "Or do you think their plan would fail? Don't tell me you're not even gonna try—"

"—They will succeed. I know they will. And Wendy can heal me all she wants. And then they'll cut into me again, and Wendy will heal me again. And again. Over and over. Because that's all that would happen if you allowed her to heal me right away. Do you think I haven't thought of these scenarios often enough, of all the different ways these seals could be removed? If there's one thing I could do to occupy myself during all those sleepless nights, it was to think."

Turning towards Wendy, he continued.

"Porlyusica told me you can't fix what's already been healed. These aren't just scars. They're healed over flesh. What the Hell would you be healing, but the new holes they'd be carving into me? Then what? The new marks would be gone, and the seal would reactivate. But f*ck it all, maybe we can try again, and again, over and over. Just keep carving into me. Just like before! Over! And over! Hell, we might get a different result each time! Isn't that how it works? When you try the same thing? Over! And Over! Make sure you keep a damn count. You can use my other f*cking arm if you want!"

Gray had grown increasingly and disturbingly more agitated as he spoke, and Lyon grew unsettled. He was about to ask him about it when Cana suggested an idea.

"How serious would the wounds be? Couldn't we just let them heal on their own?"

"Unfortunately, that's not an option," Wendy began, "His circulatory system still hasn't fully recovered from the… from the traumas caused by the demon slayer seals. That's the reason his skin grafts had so much trouble getting fully established, and why it took so long for those sword wounds in his hands to heal. Poor circulation restricts the body's ability to heal injuries. Even if we manage not to nick a major blood vessel, there's still the high risk of infection from leaving the wounds open for so long. He barely survived that the first time around. I don't want to chance a repeat."

Turning her attention to Gray, she broke it all down for him.

"The only way to keep the rewritten seals is to allow them to scar over. I'd need to be able to apply sutures deep into the muscle, and work my way through each layer of skin, but I can only do that if the wounds are large enough for me to reach that depth, which, judging by the size of those runes, won't be possible. I could try healing just enough to allow the wounds to scar, but I'm just not that precise. I've never had to do targeted healing before. I may accidentally heal too much, which would reactivate the seal and cause my magic to suddenly stop working. We'd have to start the process all over again. And honestly... I don't think you could handle going through that more than once. I'm sorry."

Truth to tell, she wasn't all that confident he could make it through even the first time, not without suffering some kind of mental breakdown. If she were to do a cost/benefit analysis, then as a healer, she would deem the cost in pain and anguish, as well as any unpredictable trauma, as too high a price for the return of his magic.

But as a mage?

Not one among them, herself included, would think any price was too high to have a lost magic restored.

"There is one way that would work," said Erza, "but it would be difficult to undergo, and would require a great deal of courage and resolve, of which I believe you have more than enough."

Still trying to take in all these troubling ideas and images, Gray merely looked her way and waited, not holding out much hope.

"We can apply heat to Freed's blade, enough to cauterize the wounds."

There was only stillness, as everyone tried to comprehend what Erza just said. The idea had merit, no doubt. But this was Gray they were talking about doing this to. He couldn't even go into his own kitchen if the stove was on.

Again, Gray reacted with laughter, this time with a tinge of mania and scorn. No one could mistake that sound for mirth, not with the desperation and hopelessness they could see in his visage and manner.

" … -cking …. -amber …" he murmured. Natsu and Wendy were both shocked and aggrieved at what they'd heard.

"Natsu, what— " Lucy tried to ask, but Gray cut her off.

"Damn fates are determined to drag me back into that f*cking chamber! Is there anything else you want to add? Or maybe take away, yeah? You know, I offered that bastard my ears and tongue at one point. He missed a great opportunity. Maybe we could do the job right this time, and I can offer up my hands, too. Oh wait, I guess he already took those, huh? *snicker* Guess the argument could be made that he actually did take my tongue, didn't he?!"

Lyon finally intervened.

"Gray, calm down! Listen to me. I'm right here. Your friends. Are right. Here. Nothing like that is going to happen again. I swear. Do you understand?"

Suddenly aware that he was behaving out of sorts, he held off on answering, instead closing his eyes and breathing deeply, gripping his head in his hands as he tried to compose himself.

"Hey, are you alright?" Lyon asked.

" … It's nothing. Just …"

Getting no further answer from him, Lyon turned to Cana, asking, "Did something happen while you were out?" Because he was fine this morning, but he was getting so worked up over this topic. Ever since his reunion with his real mom, he'd improved in so many ways. It usually took a lot more than this to get him past his threshold.

"We had a run in with a thief, along with a really handsie woman who wouldn't take no for an answer. He… lost his voice again. Just for a few minutes," she revealed.

That explained it. His stress had already been way up there before this whole conversation even started. They knew it was bad whenever his mutism kicked in.

Lyon nodded his understanding, then lowered his voice as he assured Gray, "It's okay. Take whatever time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

He got no response, but wasn't expecting one. Turning his gaze to Wendy, he asked, "Is Erza correct? Would that work? And is there really no other way?"

Wendy took a second to collect herself before she answered, though she knew she couldn't have been the only one frightened by that worrying display.

"It would work, but the conditions would have to be perfect. The temperature would have to be precise enough to burn only the required amount of tissue without spreading the injury outward, but it must also be maintained. There's a chance that Gray's powers could spontaneously manifest as soon as that last cut is made. The blade can't be allowed to cool while it's still inside, or it could get snagged, and cause more injury on the way out."

Erza was very confident as she answered, "Very well. Then Natsu will do it."

To which Natsu was very quick to reply, "Hell no!"

His very blunt denial was unexpected. Erza's anger was not.

"What do you mean no?!"

"Are you kidding me?! Look at him! You're asking me to use my powers, my FIRE-based powers, on him. To purposely burn him! Are you out of your damn minds?!"

"But you've shown more than once that you can control your powers to exacting degrees. You're the only one who can do this."

"My powers are too dangerous!"

"You heard all the other options, and why they'll all fail! This is the only feasible way this would work."

"Then you're not looking hard enough!"

"I don't think we have any other choice," said Lucy.

"I don't want to hurt my friend!"

"Natsu. It's okay. I want you to do it."

Gray's calm, quiet declaration was shocking enough to deflate Natsu's agitation, and he stared with unbelief as Gray sat back and opened his eyes once more. He looked tired, drained, not wanting to be there. But he also seemed to have come back to himself. Though the fact that he'd just given Natsu permission to roast his flesh gave him pause.

"You can't be serious. You don't know what you're asking of me. I don't want to hurt you," Natsu replied, his voice almost pleading in the end.

...

...

" … Physical therapy was painful."

Natsu was starting to doubt whether Gray's sanity was intact after all. What the Hell was up with that non sequitur?

" ... Forcing my burnt and blistered hands to move every day, just so I could communicate, was painful… Talking to my mom again … hearing her voice… reliving that fear, that anguish and sorrow… was painful beyond compare… But all those things, which brought me so much suffering and heartache, also helped me to heal.

"I trust you, Natsu. I wouldn't trust this task with anyone but you. Your power… can do more than destroy. It can create. It helps you protect your friends. It makes those around you feel safe, and confident that no matter what happens, we can count on you to be there. I believe in your powers. I believe in you. You're not trying to hurt me. You're… helping me… to regain my ability to do all those things, too."

Natsu was speechless, while Lucy and Erza were very pleased, hearts warmed by such a stirring vote of confidence for their friend. Lyon was relieved that Gray seemed to have recovered from that disturbing episode.

Wiping his sleeves over his eyes, Natsu sniffed, caught off guard by how emotional he'd gotten over all of this, and replied, "You never needed your powers to be able to do all those things. But… okay. I'll do it. Just show me what to do."

Gray took a deep breath, directing his gaze over all those around him.

"I'm sorry for scaring all of you... How soon can we do this?"

"You're sure about this?" asked Levy, "There's no rush. We're not trying to force you, and you don't have to feel obligated just because we've been working on this all this time—I mean, we were happy to do this for you, and Freed and I would understand if you'd want to put it off—"

"—What kind of ass would I be if I refused after all the work you put into it? You and Freed, Lucy, all of you, have devoted so much time and effort into helping me get my powers back. And… I really do miss them. Even if it will only be a small amount, I would be grateful for every bit I'd get to experience again. So… yes. Whatever the costs, I want my powers back."

Provincial Court Offices, Northeast Region-

The slamming of the door echoed down the hall, following Gajeel as he stomped his way to the exit where Panther Lily was waiting, Juvia not far behind, also angry, but more disappointed than anything else. This was the fourth judge they'd seen, the fourth judge who'd denied their request, almost before they'd even finished presenting the case to him.

'What the Hell are these people afraid of?' wondered Gajeel, 'The bastard's been choking the worms for months now. The people in this region can't possibly be that superstitious, that they won't even consider allowing us to dig his bones up for just a quick peek.'

Barging through the door, they were met by Panther Lily, who knew with one look that their request to exhume Montagne's body had met with a resounding "NO" yet again. The three were on their way to the local Rune Knights branch to commandeer a work space and come up with a new approach.

"Was it the same excuse as before?" wondered Lily.

"Little pencil-neck twerp wouldn't even hear the whole petition! Just said he'd already heard from a bunch of his colleagues about us, and made his decision as soon as he saw his appointment book this morning. They act like Arius is gonna come back to haunt them if we disturb his corpse or something."

"I'm pretty sure the judge also mentioned that without consent from the immediate family, they wouldn't be allowed to grant permission without good reason," Juvia reminded.

"Which we can't get without mentioning the fact that Magnolia was attacked by freaking zombies two months ago, thanks to the Magic Council's stupid gag order. How long do they think they can keep that news away from these people? I think they could handle it a lot better than they're given credit for. They still talk about what happened out here last summer."

"Well, we may have gone a bit overboard with how we kept mentioning Gray's exploits at the time during our original investigation," Lily observed as they passed by a shop window featuring, among a modest assortment of other toys, a small collection of action figures depicting their fellow Fairy Tail ice mage. The boys ignored Juvia as she pulled out a growing list of stores she planned to visit before they were to leave, adding to the list as they all continued to the station.

"It's better they remember the guy who saved their asses than the jackass who endangered them in the first place."

"Master also doesn't want the media finding out, lest Gray-sama learns about it through them," reminded Juvia.

"Didn't they learn from what happened last time they tried to keep secrets from him? And it was a whole lot easier to keep him in the dark before he learned to read Braille."

"Gajeel-kun! That's very insensitive!"

"Sorry! Geez, I'm just saying! Still, it'd be a whole lot easier to get a judge to sign off on this crap if we could tell them about the other necromancer."

"Maybe DeWalt will have better luck with one of the provincial justices," said Lily.

"No. We're just wasting our time. We're going about this all wrong. Once a body's in the dirt, it belongs to the law. It's not a matter of who has rights to it anymore. Not even family could dig him up without permission. It's public policy that the sanctity of burial sites be maintained. If we can't cough up a good reason for an exhumation, we're out of luck."

"Then let's give Mest a call, see if there's been any movement from the Council."

"I doubt those geezers have cracked those files open since the last time we set foot in Era. We may have to get our hands a little dirty."

"I hope you're not planning on beating up a judge!" cried Juvia.

"Don't be stupid. When have I ever done anything like that?"

"You broke that rune mage's nose back in Helleborus," Lily pointed out.

"I did not! Levy did that!"

"Really? I just assumed."

"Gee, thanks."

"I never thought Levy-san had it in her to get so violent," said an impressed Juvia.

"Gihihi. That's my girl. Hold on. Wait a second!" he paused, trying to bring forth recollections of drunken conversations during many weeks of post war celebrations.

"What's wrong, Gajeel-kun?"

"There was something… what was it? Something Levy told me. She and Lucy swapped a bunch of stories from the war, and there was something… It had to do with Mest. Lucy was facing off against that crazy green haired chick and the scary old guy, and Mest came in and did a whammy on the girl's brain. Made her almost kill her own teammate."

"That's right," began Lily, "Carla and I confronted him on Tenrou Island when we were suspicious about his true nature. On top of teleportation, he uses some kind of memory magic… Gajeel, tell me you're not planning on brainwashing a judge!"

"Nothing like that! But we can't give them a good reason to grant us an exhumation order because the Council doesn't want that information getting into the hands of the general public, right? So what if we can use that info anyway, then make it no longer exist?"

"You mean you want the judge to sign off on the order, then make him forget that it even exists."

"Think it'll work?"

"Juvia thinks we'd be walking a very fine line between legality and villainy with that idea."

"So you're saying you're against it?"

"Juvia never said that. She would do anything for Gray-sama. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page going forward."

Seeing no hesitation in her gaze, Gajeel grinned, then turned to Panther Lily. This wasn't a majority rule situation. They were all in, or they'd find another way.

After some consideration, Lily nodded. Anything to protect one of their own.

I think it took me longer than Freed and Levy to come up with how those runes work, and how to break the seal.

Next Chapter- Gray still has misgivings. Can he revisit his Hell again?