Cana wiped the sweat from her forehead while she tried to catch her breath. It seemed like no matter what attack she threw at Xeno, he was one step ahead of her. She had yet to even see what type of magic he used. He simply dodged any card or spell thrown at him.

"This is getting rather annoying, don't you think?" Xeno asked. He brushed his shoulder, appearing bored of the fight. "Your attacks are going nowhere."

"We'll see about that."

Cana flung three cards once more, nearly running out of them to use. With a swift motion, Xeno dodged the cards, rolling his eyes at Cana'd attempt. His annoyance shifted when he saw the smirk on her face. Before he could react, the cards had curved back, sticking to him. His eyes darted down to look at them. In an instant, he covered his face with his hands as the cards exploded.

Xeno was sent flying a fee feet back. He remained on his knees, taking a moment to regain strength. His left arm and stomach were badly burned while parts of his skin melted off. Cana's smile faded when he looked up, a crazed look in his eyes.

He smirked back at her. Lifting his hand, he revealed a card. The card. Cana could see the small image of the omnicore that had been stored within it. When did he get it? And how?

He stood on shaky legs, but his voice was firm. "I don't suppose you'll bring this back willingly?"

"Not a chance in hell," Cana spat.

He shrugged. "I thought as much."

Meanwhile, across the guild, Natsu and Gray were overpowering their opponent. He looked to be a short and old man. Despite his appearance, his agility was above average. In facts, the two boys were having a hard time keeping up with him at first. Speed and pressure points seemed to be the man's strong suit.

He had knicked Lucy's neck from a distance at the start of the fight, and with his magic enhancement, she was left paralyzed. Better her than Natsu or Gray, she figured, since she didn't yet have her keys back. After seeing what he'd done to their blond friend, the two boys were quick on their feet, not giving the old man a chance to paralyze them too.

He still managed to weaken them in the fight at first, being fast and agile. The man used his magic power to temporarily cut off the nerves in Natsu's left arm. It flailed around while he swung to punch with his right. Gray was lucky to have dodged all attacks thrown at him, but he was getting tired of this back and forth.

The old man was fast, but Gray was beginning to pick up on his movements, and Natsu was too. Just as the man moved to strike Natsu, Gray placed his hand to the ground, freezing the floor and the man in place. Before he knew he was even frozen, Natsu was charging at him. He threw a fire dragon iron fist punch at the man, catching him in the jaw and sending him flying back. The man was knocked out on impact.

"Just thought you'd like to know, I'm right handed!" Natsu grinned, proudly pointing his thumb back at himself.

He shook out his left hand, regaining control over it now that they'd beaten the old man. Gray helped pull Lucy to her feet. She swayed for a second before she could fully move again. Natsu walked over, joining the two.

"Yo, you good Luce?"

She nodded while wiggling her fingers. "Think so. But seriously, did you have to knock him out? I wanted to ask him about my keys!"

Gray facepalmed. "Crap, I forgot about that."

"Well I'm sorry, but I was more concerned about getting you to move again!" Natsu fired back, crossing his arms tightly over himself.

Just as Lucy began to dust herself off, she saw someone approaching out the corner of her eye. She ducked, avoiding a punch and swinging her leg back to kick the man who had charged at her. It caught him in the groin and he doubled down in pain. She turned to see Natsu and Gray fight off men of their own.

"Where did these guys come from?" Natsu asked after he knocked out his opponent.

Gray had also frozen his opponent before another man ran at him. He casually caught the man, flipping him over himself. "And why are there so many again?"

They looked to find the guild hall loaded with more henchmen. But these ones didn't appear to have been magically created. Though they lacked magic power, their attacks were harder to fight off than the ones before. Juvia had made her way next to Gray's side as they fought together.

"Where's Happy?" Natsu shouted between blows.

"He said something about wanting to protect Carla!" Lucy answered.

"That traitor!"

Lucy's eyes scanned the guild. She found the Thunder Legion pummeling the guy they were facing, who appeared to use a unique form of requip magic. Erza was dueling off with another swordsman, and Lucy shuddered in fear for her adversary. The rest of the guild was occupied fighting off the henchman. But she swore she'd seen a third magic user enter the guild….

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her eyes landed on the man. Remembrance flooded her brain of Xeno. He had cut her torture short and seemed somewhat nice. Lucy remembered feeling comforted by his presence. Her jaw clenched when she watched him land a blow on Cana, who looked to be near the end of her magic power.

Xeno turned, his eyes briefly locking with Lucy's. A shooting pain filled her head the instant they made eye contact. She fell to her knees, eyebrows scrunching in pain. Now was not the time to have an episode. Especially if it was as bad as the last one that she didn't recall even having.

"Lucy!"

Natsu called out to her, kicking away at a man who was about to attack while she was down. Worry was written across his face seeing Lucy in pain. He reached his hand to place on her shoulder when she moved, shaking her head as if to clear her mind and pushing herself to her feet. When Natsu saw her face, it looked normal and relaxed again.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "Only hurt for a few seconds that time."

"That's good, right?" Natsu asked, concern still evident in his voice.

"It's definitely better," Lucy stated. "We gotta help Cana. She's not looking too good right now."

Natsu nodded, looking back at Gray and Juvia who seemed to have things handled on this side of the guild. He waved behind him as he and Lucy ran towards Cana and Xeno. Cana was hunched over, a hand on her knee to keep her standing. Xeno looked like he was extending one of Cana's own cards to her, and she was slowly walking towards him.

Natsu sprinted at the sight. He flew, extending his leg and connecting with Xeno's side. The two crashed into the wall while Lucy checked on Cana.

"Are you all right?"

Cana blinked, looking around the guild and then at Lucy. She looked confused. "What…" her voice trailed off.

"I think you need to rest," Lucy said, pulling Cana to the nearest wall to lean against.

Cana's eyebrows shot up, "that man," she pointed at Xeno, "he has the card with the omnicore."

"We'll get it back. You just worry about yourself right now."

Lucy smiled at her before joining Natsu in the fight. She may not have her keys, but she did have her fleuve d'etoiles. She pulled it from her clip, whipping it at Xeno and catching his arm before he could punch Natsu. He appeared surprised, looking to see Lucy had been the one to stop him.

"So we meet again," he smiled a smile that made Lucy cringe.

"Where are my keys?" Lucy demanded.

Xeno scoffed, pulling his arm sharply and tugging Lucy with him, the whip unlatching in the process. Natsu responded for her, delivering a swift punch to Xeno's face. He was thrown back by the impact, landing on his feet as he slid to a stop.

"You heard her, now answer the question!" Natsu shouted at him.

"They are in a safe place. Similar to this," he said, pulling Cana's card that contained the omnicore. "Your friend was just about to pull it out of this card for me before you interrupted."

"Cana would never do that!" Lucy said.

"Yeah, she wouldn't help you!" Natsu affirmed.

Xeno rolled his eyes at the two. "Not willingly, no. But if someone were to, say… change her mind, then I think she might."

"Whatever you're trying to say, just say it!" Natsu said.

Xeno turned to Lucy. "Tell me, why do you think you've been having such intense migraines recently?"

"How did you—"

"—And why did I know the location of the omnicore? We wouldn't have let your pathetic friends rescue you if it wasn't part of our plan. Your keys weren't the only reason we needed you."

"What are you saying?" Lucy asked.

"You and I have been linked since the moment we met. You see, the mind is my specialty."

He laughed sinisterly. Before Natsu or Lucy could say anything, Xeno had waved his hand, causing Lucy to crumple to the ground in pain. Natsu rushed to her side. Memories flashed through her mind as Xeno replayed the events she had blacked out for.

The first time she had met him. She thought he was somewhat kind, stopping Kraff from torturing her and sitting across from her. She watched from a third person point of view as Xeno spoke to her. Of how a green glow flashed in her eyes the moment they made eye contact.

"A key component to my magic is maintaining eye contact," a voice spoke.

It was Xeno's. Lucy looked around, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She assumed it was because he was in her mind somehow, so she didn't need to see him to hear him.

"I told you of our plans in order to keep your attention. While you were focused on me, I was casting a mind control spell on you. One that you wouldn't know was placed on you."

Lucy watched as she saw the face of the battered version of her relax. She remembered how she felt the pain lessening. Was it because of him?

The scenery changed. This time, Lucy was in first person point of view. She watched through the eyes of herself from a couple days ago, waking up in the medical bay in the Fairy Tail guild. She stood, heading down to behind the counter of the bar.

Her suspicions that it was her own eyes she was looking through was confirmed when she saw her reflection in one of the glasses. She was shoving things around, tossing some stuff to the ground as she searched for something. The omnicore.

"Unfortunately, the effect of my mind control lessens as time goes on, so I didn't have time to be careful."

Another third person perspective. The time Makarov had arrived back at the guild. Their conversation with him, explaining the news of what had recently happened. Lucy watched as she saw her ask Makarov if he knew where the orb was. The same green glow flashed in her eyes when Makarov answered her question.

"Our guild had reason to believe your old master knew of its whereabouts. When done right, I can read minds through the ones I control."

The next night. Lucy saw herself wake up once more, sharply turning and sitting up in bed. Her bandage over her stomach was hanging off and blood was beginning to flow from her wound. She watched herself get out of bed, the blood falling down her legs and onto the floor.

She traveled to the guild hall. Once inside, Lucy snuck into Makarov's office room. She knelt, finger tracing over the ground before stopping on the corner of a floorboard. Lucy pushed it down, picking up the other end of the wood that had lifted. Underneath the floor was the omnicore.

Lucy watched herself tuck it under her shirt, placing the floorboard back down and quickly returning to her apartment where she hid the orb under her mattress.

Lucy watched through her own eyes. She was sitting in her bed, the omnicore held in her hands. She saw the entire scene with Natsu, their fight, all up until the moment he said they needed to get the guild. When they were going over their plan on how to protect the omnicore, Lucy's vision went green for a second at the mention of keeping it in one of Cana's cards.

Lucy's eyes snapped open. The sounds of battle filled her ears as she realized where she was again. Natsu's hand was on her shoulder, and he was asking what happened. She ignored him, glaring at Xeno.

"I've been under mind control this whole time?!"

"Mind control?" Natsu questioned.

"I'm truly surprised that neither you nor your friends picked up on it," Xeno laughed.

"You jerk!" Natsu charged. "No one controls Lucy and gets away with it!"

Xeno received a hard blow to the stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs. Natsu ran to kick him, Xeno waving his hand before he made contact. In a second, Lucy was between the two, shielding Xeno. Natsu was a second away from kicking her in the head.

"The hell?" Natsu said.

One look at Lucy and he knew exactly what was going on. Her eyes glowed green and her gaze looked just past him. She looked emotionless. Xeno laughed at him, moving his hand while Lucy followed up with an attack towards Natsu.

"I've been having a hard time controlling her. Subconsciously she must have known something was wrong, and that's why she kept getting those headaches."

"So you're the one responsible for hurting Lucy?!" Natsu asked in a murderous tone.

"Technically she's responsible for it. My magic does work best at close range. How will you fare fighting against your own friend?"

X

Hi friends ❤︎

Sorry it took a few days to update, I'm moving and things have been busy! Let me know what you think of this chapter :)