King grumbled whilst shuffling through his deck of cards. He was quite annoyed for whatever reason during the task. "I do not believe this…" King grumbled to himself.

Heartless walked over to King, her body covered in bandages from her fight with Erza a week or so ago. "King…?"

"Huh…?" King looked up, surprised to see Heartless there. "Heartless, what are you doing here? You've been ordered to rest; you've done more than enough for our plan lately."

"I know…" Heartless replied. "But you've been grumbling to yourself for weeks now about something, I cannot help but show concern over it."

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself about," Joker said as he walked into the room. "Now, do as King asks and return to the infirmary. You fought hard against Erza, but you shouldn't have held back as much as you did."

"To be honest, I didn't hold back all that much…" Heartless replied with a shrug. "She's powerful, and I underestimated her just a little bit…anyway, King, if you would be so kind as to tell me what's bothering you, I'll be on my way after."

"Hm…fine, fine…" King replied. "Joker, do we have any pesky eavesdroppers?"

"We do not," Joker confirmed.

"Good, I don't want the others to hear this…their recent failures have me beginning to doubt their abilities, yet they are still useful so I won't be rid of them yet…" King nodded before continuing with the issue. "Recently, around the time of your mission, Heartless, I lost one of the most powerful magic cards in existence. The Elemental Wild Card, I believe it was called…"

"…Is that so?" Joker raised a brow. "If so, we must find it immediately…if it got into the wrong hands…"

"I'm not too worried about who finds it. We can easily off them if need be…but it's one of the strongest cards to ever exist, and I had it for a reason…" King continued.

Outside the door, the three underlings, Jack, and Daigo listened in, all giving nods (minus Jack). "So, it's true…Heartless did hold back on Scarlet…" Spade nodded a few times.

"Man…sounds like that Fairy Tail bunch really is a tougher than I thought they would be…" Strong nodded a few times. "That Erza chump was rough, but I totally had her on the ropes with my raw power…!"

"Keep your voice down, Strong-dono…" Daigo suggested. "Lady Heartless knows we are listening in and I'm sure Joker has an idea that we're here…we best not overlook this fact and continue listening."

"So, what do we do now…?" Diamond asked while rubbing her arm sheepishly. "Tia's still captured…it doesn't feel the same going through with the plan if she's not here…"

That was the comment that set Jack off. He clenched his fist, letting out a small growl. "Heartless was there…" He mumbled.

"Did you say something…?" Diamond curiously looked over at Jack's whose bottled up anger seemed to be close to uncapping.

"Heartless was there in the Council building…" Jack growled. "Yet she didn't even bother bringing Sis back!"

"Jack, inside voice!" Diamond warned.

Jack walked off, grumbling to himself. He was at least thinking rationally still, but who knows how long that would last. Jack eventually walked into his room, punching a hole in the wall after. "ARGH! Dammit!" He shouted to himself, almost shaking in anger. "I can't believe this! Heartless didn't lift a finger to help Sis yet she claims that she cares about her?! She wouldn't be in this mess if Fairy Tail didn't get her captured!" Jack continued rant, unaware of the complete situation. Joker told him that it was Fairy Tail's efforts that had Tia imprisoned, only bringing up that Ace was involved somewhat now. He didn't have the full story, but that didn't matter to him right now. Jack wanted revenge on Fairy Tail for what they did to his sister…it was then that the Wicked Flames sparked an evil idea into Jack's mind, causing him to smirk. "They want to take away something important to me…? Then I'll take away something important to them…."

.

.

"Look everyone!" Marlene shouted, waving the most recent cover of Sorcerer's Weekly around in the White Eclipse guild hall. "I made the cover!"

"Not bad, not bad…!" A dark skinned male with white hair said from the railing of the second floor, giving a wide grin to Marlene; a new member of White Eclipse, Draco Maipes.

"Things seem to be looking up recently!" Almaz said with a wide grin. "I still can't believe you guys fought off ALL those villainous scum in the Council HQ! I wish I was there…but it was way past my bedtime…" The young hero let out a sigh after.

"Well, we didn't take them ALL down, per se…" Luke said while rubbing the back of his head. "I dunno what happened to all those others…but I heard that some of them managed to escape…"

"Especially those Wizard Hunters…" Cygnus commented, downing a sub like nobodies' business. "Man, they're a dangerous bunch…"

"Hopefully we won't have to deal with them again…" Saeko commented.

"Next time, if they do show up, I'll give them a hot beating! How's that sound?" Draco said with his wide, toothy grin.

"Whatever floats your boat…" Tayakata said while waving a dismissive hand.

"We can rest now," Reve said. "We have more important things to worry about anyway, like next year's Games…"

"That's not for a while…" Aira replied lazily, lounging on the couch with a content grin.

"Still…" Reve started, but he stopped when Kairi came down the stairs with her bags packed. "Huh? Kairi? Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving…" Kairi replied, not daring to look anyone in the eye. The room fell silent as everyone glanced in Kairi's direction. The way she said she was leaving held a different weight than it would if she was leaving to go on a mission.

"Leaving…?" Kuro blinked, placing down his bowl of noodles as he stared at the angelic mage.

"That's right…" Kairi nodded.

"But…why?" Nami tilted her head in a very confused manner.

"Because…" Kairi started, her tone getting lower. She was hoping to slip out without anyone noticing, but she failed to realize how crowded the guild was this hour. "What happened a few nights ago still gets to me…I wasn't strong enough to break through that control, and I still killed Correll with my own two hands. That, and I wasn't strong enough to protect Skye or anything…I don't think I deserve to be in the guild anymore…"

"Is that how you really feel…?" Reve asked while raising a brow.

"Yes…I'm sorry…" Kairi replied.

Reve gave a simple nod, clearing his throat out as he prepared the White Eclipse farewell speech for Kairi. "Though it seems our paths have come to a split, showing that our true goals have a difference, the ride with you has been more than average. Being a White Eclispe match is a great luxury, but not the greatest. The greatest luxury is fulfilling your life's dream; and as you continue to leave and follow your dreams, you must remember three things.

One: Any and all information exclusive to the guild White Eclipse goes with you to the grave.

Two: As your guild mark leaves you , know that we are still friends, you are now competition to those under the eyes of the three moons.

Three: Though your guild mark leaves you, know your history in the guild will forever be imprinted."

"History…" Kairi seemed a little disappointed with the idea of that last one, but she gave a nod and walked to the front doors of the guild, looking back at everyone else.

"We'll miss you, Kairi…" Takeru said with a nod. "Take care of yourself, alright?"

"I will…good luck to you all in the future…" Kairi gave a nod, and with that, she stepped out the front doors…

.

.

"Uwah…" Lucy stretched slightly in her seat, giving a wide grin. "It's almost time…!"

"For that festival thing you guys hold at the big tree every year or something?" Cynthia asked.

"That's right!" Lucy replied. "I couldn't go last time because I got sick…what timing right?" She gave a sheepish grin before giving a determined smile. "Nothing will stop me this time!"

"I only heard about it…" Cynthia replied while tapping her chin. "I don't recall actually going to it because of all the…events that happened within the past year. You know…"

"You don't have to make a list of them…" Wendy said with a nervous smile. "Personally I'd rather not be reminded of some of those things…"

"Right…" Cynthia nodded, a comical sweat drop appearing on the side of her head.

While discussion on the upcoming event was at hand, Carla couldn't help but flash back to the quick vision she had back at the Council Ball. The lone figure in the air with flames surrounding them. It was so quick she couldn't make out the color of the flames or the person, but just the lone sentence stuck with her. ""Say goodbye, Magnolia!"" Carla shook her head, trying to rid herself of the image.

"Something wrong?" Happy asked, catching Carla's off stance.

"Hm…?" Carla blinked, but shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine…really…" She nodded, giving a slight smile.

A bandaged Erza walked from the infirmary, showing signs that she was going to be okay. "That's starting soon…? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because you look horrible." Cynthia said bluntly, yet in the most lovingly way possible. "You'd stampede over everyone and make your condition worse the minute you saw the cake. Bet."

"Well I…" Erza started, but shrugged after. "Fair enough, I suppose…"

"We only have two days to get ready!" Makarov grinned while holding up a mug of beer. "I'll need everyone to go make preparations tomorrow!"

"I'd help…but we know how that would turn out…" Gildarts said while tapping his mug to Makarov's, letting out a chuckle. "But you kids go ahead and have fun, alright?"

"We'll be sure to, Gildarts!" Natsu replied, a wide grin on his face. "I'm all fired up for this festival!"

"This one might be an even bigger turnout than the last few times we've done it..." Max said while rubbing his head in a slightly sheepish fashion. "Since you guys weren't here, it was kinda dead...the people of Magnolia just kinda laughed at us, especially with our performance in every single Grand Magic Games prior..."

"Stop being such a downer!" Cynthia said, slapping Max on the top of his head. "We're gonna have fun, I know it!"

"That's right!" Natsu said with his grin widening. "Now stop complaining and let's get going already!" With that, the eager dragon slayer ran out the front doors.

"He does know we're not starting with preparations until tomorrow, right?" Lisanna asked with a slight giggle.

.

.

"Preparations are complete…" Jack said to himself as he requipped into his Corvus armor. What preparations did he even make? Whatever they were, he was quite pleased with himself and what he did, and even more so at what he was going to do. "Tomorrow is the day I make you pay, Fairy Tail…Prepare yourself, because you're going to face the wrath of the Wicked Flames…" Jack gave a malicious, insane grin as the setting began to darken.

.

.

Happy: "It's time to prepare for that festival! Some people from White Eclipse and that Shaman's Haven place are here too…Hopefully Lucy doesn't get sick and spread her germs all over us!"

Lucy: "Hey! I'm right here and I CAN hear you, stupid cat!"

Natsu: "Ah, don't worry, Happy, everything'll be fine…! Huh, is that Jack!? What's he doing here!?"

Happy: "NATSSUUU! He's attacking the town! What do we do!?"

Natsu: "That bastard want's some more, eh!? Fine by me! I'll fight through every little trap he's got set for us to set him straight! Let's go, Happy!"

Next time: Jack Attacks!