"It's over here…" Mii pointed to the cave with her bloodied arm so Raven and Chelia could go in ahead. She followed shortly after with Kagura in her arms. "Geez, you need to tell me your secret…" She muttered as she walked into the cave where the others were waiting; they all had a nice little fire set up to keep them warm, probably due to the likes of Natsu and Draco. "I found them."

"W-What happened to you guys!?" Lucy's eyes widened at the injured people. "You all look horrible…! And what the heck were you thinking!? That was incredibly dangerous what you did! You could've been killed!"

Chelia looked down to the ground with a bit of shame. "I…I know…" She sighed. "It was my idea. I had a bad feeling so I talked Raven into coming with me to help Kagura…" She then winced, falling to her knees with all her damage catching up to her. "That man was really dangerous…"

"We're in this together, Chelia-san," Sting nodded. "You could've said something. Are you both okay?"

"A little bleeding never hurt anyway…" Raven groaned while leaning against a wall, holding his bleeding side. "While there's no bullet actually inside me, it hurt…"

"Mii! Your arm…!" Happy pointed to Mii's bleeding arm; the female's limb was soaked in scarlet.

"Collateral damage…" Mii responded with a shrug before gently placing Kagura on the ground. "I had to save those kids after all. But that's not important right now…I think we need to give her medical attention now. I can't tell if she's breathing or not."

Chelia scooted forward, placing her hands above Kagura as a soft sea-green light emitted from her palms. "Her wounds are fatal…" Chelia uttered, causing everyone to tense up. "I can keep her alive…but I don't know if she'll regain consciousness. That man really knew what he was doing…the wound in her stomach…across her chest…if he was just a centimeter closer I don't know if she'd be alive…"

"Bastard…ambushing us like that…" Natsu grumbled. "I would've given him a piece of my mind!"

Selene turned to Mii, who didn't seem all too bothered her arm was injured. "You're okay?" She asked.

"Ah…?" Mii blinked. It appeared she zoned out while looking at your arm.

"Are you okay?" Selene repeated. "Why did you save them? If anything I thought you hated kids, given your stunt back in the palace…" Violet eyes turned into a slight glare.

"I have my reasons." Mii responded before looking at Chelia. "Oi…what's gonna stop her from bleeding out? You can't close her wounds, can you?"

"No…" Chelia shook her head. "I can only soften things a little bit…"

"Don't worry!" Yukino pipped up, suddenly pulling out a first aid kit. "This is why I always have this ready in case of emergency!"

"Wha…?" Draco tilted his head.

"You carry around a first aid kit…?" Luke questioned.

"W-Well…" Yukino suddenly felt rather embarrassed about this decision, a red tint spreading along her cheeks. "We don't exactly have a healer in Sabertooth yet, so someone has to nurse the others back to health."

"She's amazing, too!" Sting suddenly exclaimed, just adding onto Yukino's embarrassment.

"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch grinned.

"So…" Yukino began while opening the kit, pulling out some gauze and bandages. "Allow me to patch up Kagura-sama's wounds. Chelia-sama, you've done enough, please rest." Chelia nodded and went to sit next to Raven and try healing him while Yukino moved to Kagura. She began opening up Kagura's blood stained kimono…only to stop halfway through because male eyes were staring. "D-DON'T YOU KNOW ITS RUDE TO STARE AT AN UNDRESSING LADY!?" She comically shrieked, causing Luke, Draco, Lector (who turned the innocent eyes of Frosch away), Sting, Rogue, and Happy to turn away.

"Idiots…" Selene shook her head while crossing her arms.

"I don't see what the big deal is…" Natsu just sat with a stale expression. "I've seen Lu-"

And before he could finish Lucy slapped his hand over his mouth and turned him away, her face heating up in embarrassment. "We're not talking about that!"

Mii sat there with a suggestive grin plastered on her lips. Good thing Yukino's rules didn't apply to her…but then Chelia sat in front of Mii with her cheeks puffed. "H-Hey..! Move it…! I can't see the goods!"

"E-Etto…" Yukino had an awkward sweat drop appear on her forehead before beginning to patch Kagura up. "She's breathing…but it's really light. Even if she does wake up I don't think she'll be able to fight."

"I hope she can wake up soon…" Rogue mumbled. "If not, we'll need someone to carry her…and that could slow us down or leave us open…"

It took a few minutes for Yukino to finish; once she did she closed Kagura's kimono and let out a small sigh. "There we go…that stomach wound was especially deep…" She then stood up and walked over to the sitting Mii, crouching down with a soft smile. "Give me your arm."

"Huh…!?" Mii's green eyes widened at Yukino's request. "Why…?"

"Because you're injured." Yukino merely replied. She didn't wait for a response and gently took Mii's arm, beginning to patch it up as best she could. "You're a strange one, you know that?"

"I…" Needless to say, Mii was at a loss of words for once. She didn't even offer up any resistance as Yukino wrapped the bandages around her arm. "What are you telling me this for…? You're the one offering the enemy help!? I-It doesn't even hurt…!" She blurted out, actually flustered from Yukino's actions. "I can still move my arm! It's fine!" Mii was speaking so fast she didn't even know what she was saying…and for the first time since anyone laid eyes on her, she winced in pained. Even Mii wasn't expecting this. "A-Ah…"

"Are you okay?" Lucy tilted her head at Mii. This was one side of her no one saw until now.

"S-Stop showing me concern…I'm fine!" Mii huffed; despite her flustered attitude she let Yukino finish bandaging her arm. Just after she spoke, Gray and Cana entered the cave on a whim.

"Ah, so people are in here…!" Cana let out a sigh of relief. "We can finally get out of that rain now…"

"Cana! Gray!" Lucy exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"Oi…so this is where you guys were…" Gray had a small smile on his face before noticing Mii, which turned that into a hateful glare. "What's SHE doing here?!"

"Aheh…" Mii giggled slightly and waved to Gray and Cana, almost as though she had no shame. What did surprise her was that Yukino stood in front of her in a protective manner. "W-What…?"

"Yukino, mind explaining what this is about?" Gray questioned with a brow risen. "You know she's the reason Hisui is trapped with the dragons, right?!"

"This entire thing is her fault, y'know." Cana crossed her arms under her bosom while waiting for an answer.

"Well, first off…" Mii chimed in. "See…Drake and I HAD Hisui…but some hot guy in a white coat stole her way from us…so I left the dragon's side to investigate these guys…"

"So…you lost her." Gray pinched his nose and let out an annoyed sigh. "I can't believe you. Why did you guys let her on your team again?" He then stared at Natsu, just now realizing the idiot was there. "And where the hell were you?! Jumping off the ship like it was a good idea!?"

"You wanna go right now?!" Natsu stood up, flames erupting from his person.

"Can't you two see that this ISN'T the time!?" Luke groaned from the Fairies stupidity.

"We didn't want to let her out of our sights again," Yukino answered. "So we took her with us…but then we got ambushed by a mysterious man who knows about the Etherion cannon plan. Kagura-sama tried to fight him…but…" Stepping to the side, she showed Gray and Cana the unconscious Kagura.

"We tried to save her…" Chelia looked down again, shamefully. "But he was too strong…and Mii had to save us…why did you save us?"

"…You're kids." Mii replied. "Almost adults…but the point is. You're still too young to be leaving this world. You have to experience it for yourself. It would be wrong if anyone tried to take you out of this world before you could. I guess that's just one thing I love about kids…" There was an honest smile on Mii's lips…for once she was telling the truth without having to shout or yell.

"You like kids…?" Lucy couldn't hold the surprise in her voice.

"That's funny…" Selene was the one who held the highest amount of skepticism. "If you love kids so much, why did you hold a gun to the back of Wendy's head yesterday? I'm sure anyone else would've sufficed."

"Anyone else also would've complicated things with their reactions…" Mii responded with a shrug. "Wendy's guard was down so I took advantage of it. Do I feel bad about it? Slightly…she's a cute kid, Cynthia's lucky to have her for the rest of the day…"

The way Mii spoke left an eerie feeling in the cave. The first one to speak was Gray. "What do you mean, for the rest of the day?!"

"Is there something you're not telling us…?" Cana's eyes narrowed before shaking her head. "No, here's a better thing to say. Start talking. Tell us everything you know about the dragons!" Everyone agreed with this sentiment.

Mii sighed, rubbing her injured arm while nodding. "Fine, fine…I'll spill. But can we get rid of this rain first?"

"Can't Jaxon do something about this?" Gray asked Luke, who shrugged.

"I mean…he could. But if he wanted to, it wouldn't be here." Luke replied.

"But it's hindering our progress!" Gray exclaimed.

"Listen!" Luke started. "If it's not hindering his team, it's not a problem…and as it stands now, we've got some injured and need to work things out. We still have some time."

"He's right, settle down." Rogue told Gray before turning to Mii. "Now, tell us everything."

"Right…" Mii cleared her throat. "I'll start with Cynthia first…you know, that girl is honestly something else. Back in Gaius' castle when Wendy was fighting Nasir…I held Cynthia in my arms for a bit. I know she was unconscious but she's…heavy. Not just in weight, but it felt like I was holding dead weight. Those deep injuries on her body…was she hit by a speeding train or something several times?"

"You ah…you could say that…" Lucy had a nervous sweat drop on her forehead at the mention of Cynthia's injuries. "She's…been through a lot."

"Aira did say something about how she shouldn't even be moving after that incident several months back…" Luke mumbled to himself.

"I see…anyway…" Mii continued. "Injuries aside, she was bitten by DRAKE for crying out loud! Wendy may have been able to slow the infection, but that's all she could do. If it started to affect her earlier today…it's going to turn her into a full dragon by nightfall." Those words caused the eyes of everyone to widen. "Unless Erza's team can heal her with the Mystic Water in time…she won't make it."

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Xen and Laura trudged through the rain, making way towards the outer edges of the jungle. Zen was unbothered by the rain while Laura just raised her hood to protect her hair. "Xen, did you notice?" Laura questioned without turning to look at her fellow Commandant. "The Princess, I mean."

"Hm?" Xen blinked before giving a small nod. "Yes, I did notice. Lucius has quite a hold on the female now, it's interesting how a little skirmish ended up with such a valuable bargaining chip within our hands. Though knowing him, he's likely already planned what he intends to do with the woman. She's already beginning to fall under that spell of his, so it's only a matter of time…"

"I wonder if those people will rescue her in time…" She then gave a nonchalant shrug. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. We've more important things to do…" Digging in her pocket, she pulled out the whistle Wes had. "Oh, when I find that girl again, I'm going to have so much fun with her this time…"

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.

"I suppose I don't have much of a choice left…" Venoma rested her injured foot on the ground before clearing her throat. "I'll have to use it to free our King. Otherwise we'll be lost before we can fulfill our duty."

"Are you sure?" Eizen questioned with a quirked brow. "You are aware of what using that will due to you in the long run, yes?"

"I'm well aware. But Dhegensea comes before my own life, as his loyal subject, that is how it is. I'm no mere pawn in this game of fate like Drake's soldiers," The dragon spoke while dusting off her robe. "Now then…" She walked outside into the rain, letting out a small sigh because it was ruining her hair. She stopped walking on one particular spot, and that lone action caused the city to tremble slightly. She was standing on a Dragon Vein, an area that resonates with the power of a dragon to amplify whatever it is they are about to use. "I'll begin with the ancient melody…one said to free a dragon from any curse. The Dragon's Melody."

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Next Time: Rainsong; The Dragon's Melody!