Heart-gripping emotions seem to clench tightly around Gabbey's heart and neck. Her eyes burned with the need to cry, but she pushed the water works away. She needed to. 

Whatever Chai said was false, he was just messing with her head. Trying to throw her through a loop to distract her. 

Of course Akemi was her mate! Gabbey knew for a long time that they were mates! Ever since they've had their dinner date, Gabbey knew she was the one. 

But. . .

Gabbey couldn't help the small sliver of doubt to push through, as much as she cursed herself for doing so. 

Now that she was thinking about it, Gabbey could never remember actually taking Akemi to a real restaurant. They usually went on a picnic, or to the arcade, anywhere but the only fancy restaurant in Oak Town. 

Akemi stated before that she hated having one-on-one dates at restaurants, anyways. 

There was also the other person. . .

   "W. . .What did you say?"

   "Don't get all weepy-eyed on me, girl," The bastard that sat in the throne sighed. "I simply said, you really didn't believe Akemi was your real mate, did you?"

   "Why are you saying that!" Gabbey snapped tearfully. "You don't know anything about soulmates, or even if I have one!"

   "Now that's were you're wrong." Chai stated. "I know soulmates are everywhere, they're people who have been connected with your soul before you were even born! But, then, their are mates. The only lovers you get because your souls match so perfectly. Almost like a twin flame. . ."

   "You son-of-a-!" Gabbey went to pull herself forwards, about to give Chai a piece of her mind, before Akemi kicked her legs out, a small knife against Gabbey's neck. 

   "Careful now. I don't want to kill you now, but I will if I have to." 

If Gabbey could control anything fire related, she knew that stream would be rising off of her. Her body was shaken, with fear or anger, she didn't know. 

The metal floor was making her knees hurt, the red carpet that led up to Chai's throne did nothing to relieve the slight burn.  

   "If, and if, I were to believe you," Gabbey snarled. "Why would you need me to think I'm mates with. . .her."

   "Because of this." Chai waved his hands and a different pair of unfamiliar hands held in her place as Akemi relinquish her grasp. The dark-haired woman that held Gabbey's heart walked pass without a glance as she walked to Chai. 

As if making sure Gabbey could see, Akemi stopped besides the throne and dug around in her pockets. The gleam of the Infinity Elixir Stone in the dim light made Gabbey stop breathing, her breathe caught in her throat as Chai took the stone with unfiltered glee. 

   "You've been played since the day you left this city in ruins," Chai cackled. "It only took two years to rebuild the machine and one day to find where you hid the Stone!"

Gabbey's head dropped in defeat. 

   "When you said you made the bond, my daughter, I didn't know you meant you made it so strong that it continued on after death!" Chai regarded his daughter for only a second. "Well, it worked out in the end, anyways."

   "You're not going to get away with this," Gabbey seethed suddenly, her head whipped up to the deadman. "Fairy tail is going to come and destroy you, for good."

    "Fairy tail?" Chai grinned. "They'll be too busy fighting off my guild to even think about ruining my plan. Not that you will be around. We have our sacrifice, my workers!"

The whole hall erupted into cheering, the crowd happy to finally help their master see his only wish. To see Zeref rise, to help serve the dark mage and to wipe the world away. 

   "Go ahead and take our guest to her room. I'm sure she's missed it dearly." Chai's sly tone made Gabbey jump forward, only to be held back by the guards. 

   "You're going to wish you never went down this path," Gabbey sneered. "You're a deadman, Chai! You're screwed!"

Gabbey's insults and bad mouthing continued all the way down to the dungeons, even after the double doors slammed shut to the throne room. The guards payed her no mind, dragging her roughly through the halls. 

Her movements and cursing became more erratic as the hallways that she traveled in her nightmares surrounded her. 

The guards opened the same creaky door that whined and drug her into the same damp cobblestone room. They nailed her hands up like they once were and left her to dangle above the ground with the same grins on their face. 

   "You're dead!" Gabbey snarled, her eyes glassy from pain. She was still refusing to cry. 

   "Right," One of them drawled. "And my buddy here is the tooth fairy."

   "Good one, Larry!" His 'buddy' snorted as they turned to walk out of the room. 

   "Lets see what she squeals when Hughie gets her hands on her, again."

The only way out squealed shut, trapping Gabbriel in the cage of her nightmares. 

Her hands burned, her eyes burned, and her chest seemed to become smaller and smaller. As if there was something pressing into her. It got hard to breath as Gabbey's red eyes caught a glimpse of the ghost of her past. She didn't know what to do, to make these feelings go away. 

Gabbey wanted her brother. She tried to do something with their bond, to pull or push, to shove some kind of emotion towards Gajeel. She might have sent her panic and terror, but Gabbey's eyesight narrowed down till she felt like she was in a tunnel.

She wanted her brother.

But no one was coming to help her in this stupid plan she made. 

Without anything else to do, a horrible wail ripped from her throat. 

🌹🌹🌹

The guild hall was unusually loud today, which was something that Gabbey noticed right away. The cheers and hollers of the mages in the guild could be heard from the bottom of the ramp that lead up to the hall. 

It made Gabbey's head pound in annoyance. 

Gajeel refused to wake up, and Gabbey didn't want to stay another day in their apartment, so she walked around town until she was lead to the guild she joined. 

So, there Gabbey stood, leaning against the wooden railing of the second floor, with a bowl of cherries Mira always seemed to have ready for her. 

Gabbriel didn't even know why the guild was celebrating. It was probably for something small and stupid. Fairy tail did throw the biggest parties over the smallest things. But the pile of gift in the corner of the room made her assume it was a birthday. 

   "What are you doing up here, all by yourself?"

Red eyes lifted from the first floor over to the tiny bluenette who stood nearby. Levy was giving her space but she was close enough to Gabbey so she wouldn't have to talk as loud. 

   "Gajeel's at home, asleep." Gabbey said shortly. "I wasn't about to sit down their in all of that."

   "No wonder I haven't seen your brother," Levy commented offhandedly. A smirk pulled Gabbey's lips up. 

   "Looks like you don't have anyone to gawk at for a bit."

   "I-I do not gawk!"

   "Sure." Gabbey gestured to the raging party on the first floor, a cherry stem poking out of her mouth. "What's all the fuss about down there?"

   "Once a month, we hold a big birthday party for everyone who had a birthday this month," Levy explained, a smile growing as she saw Macao's kid riding a wild pig. "It just so happened that it's Romeo's birthday as well."

   "Huh," Gabbey grunted, scaring Levy slightly. Levy thought Gajeel showed up suddenly. "Weird."

   "Weird?" Levy asked. 

   "Why celebrate so many birthdays? Why even have a party this big for a kid that's not even in Fairy tail."

Levy paused. "You've never celebrated your birthday, have you?" There was a heavy silence that filled the space between them. "I see."

   "Gajeel and I celebrate our birthday," Gabbey defended quickly. "Juvia joins sometimes. We've just. . ."

   "Never had a party?"

   "Never had anyone else celebrate."

   "Well, that will change this year." Levy stated with determination. "We'll have the whole guild set up a party-"

   "That's a horrible idea."

   "-And we'll have all of your favorite snacks and drinks. There will be a huge  cake as well!" 

As Levy chattered Gabbey's ear off with countless birthday ideas for a birthday that Gabbey barely even remembered the date of, she thought to herself. Long and hard did she think, her eyebrows pulling themselves together before, finally, she stopped Levy from speaking. 

   "Why?"

   "Huh?"

   "Why would you go through all that trouble?" Gabbey asked, tilting her head to look Levy in the eye. "Why would you set a birthday party up just for a member of the guild? Better yet, why do you all fight for each other, even if you barely know each other? You go through all this trouble for someone in the same guild as you, and sometimes you just barely know their names."

A pause. 

A gentle laugh.

Even if Gabbey didn't say it aloud, Levy catch on to what she was asking. 

   "Oh, Gabbey," Levy smiled brightly. "As long as you're apart of Fairy tail, whether it be through a member or because you are a member, you're family. Everyone here is willingly to do anything for someone they consider family, especially if they really are blood-related." When it seemed like Gabbey was slowly getting it, she continued. 

   "Bond are strong. Family-bonds, friend-bonds, soulmate-bonds. But the strongest bonds are formed when you suffer together. We've all suffered here, from one thing to another, but we had each other to help. Do you get it?"

   "I guess."

Gabbey, in fact, did get it. She had a couple days to think about what Levy said before the whole Edolas thing happened. She thought about it throughout Edolas, she thought it throughout the spa day with the girls, hell, she even thought about it on the days' trip through the forest. 

Gabbriel Redfox loved her twin brother, no one would be able to take him off her pedestal that she held him to. Besides Juvia, no one was able to get close enough. But, more people started to join in, slowly but surely. Levy and Wendy were the first, then Lucy and Natsu, and before she knew it, Gray and Erza wiggled their way through.  Happy, Carla, Daella, Pantherlily, even Gajeel's Edolas self. 

She would never admit it out loud. Only person it would probably travel to was Gajeel, but what else was new? But she definitely showed it through her actions. I mean, who else would help that flame-brain steal a fucking rainbow sakura tree to float down the river for Lucy to see? Who else would willingly go on "girls day" with Levy, Mira, Wendy, and of course Carla. Why else would Gabbey continuously tease Juvia and Gray, flirting with the ice mage just a little to get Juvia red faced. 

They were apart of her family and have been for a while. 

Gabbriel Redfox was apart of Fairy tail. 

As the door to her personal hell opened with a creak, a wicked gleam in Hughie's eye as her favorite play toy was back, Gabbey knew what she had to do. 

Even if it killed her a little bit more.

🌹🌹🌹

The group of fairies and their plus one had finally gotten off that damn train and were now watching the dark forest with keen eyes. 

The whole ride to the forest was filled with a tense silence and minimal conversations. I mean, what could they whole-heartedly start a conversation over? The weather?

That was besides the fact that Gajeel was staring a hole through the floor. Although he kept his slightly cooled expression, his anxiousness showed in little ways. How his foot couldn't stop moving, how his fingers shook slightly, and when he reached to Gabbriel through their bond, he would so still before starting all over again. 

No one noticed the little things, except for a certain bluenette, who only learned from the very girl they were trying to save. 

   "I. . .should have. . .walked. . ." Natsu grumbled from his spot on the ground. His face was green with motion sickness. 

   "It would have taken you twice as long if you did," Lucy pointed out. Natsu groaned.

   "Can we please get a movin'?" Gajeel snapped slightly, his fingers twitching again. "How long did you say this hike was for?"

   "A full day," Lil murmured, eyes glazing over the forest. The train rumbled away from behind them. 

  "We better get started then," Levy glanced down at Natsu. "Natsu, can you walk?"

   "Ughh,"

   "I got him," Erza assured the group. Without breaking a sweat, she swung Natsu over her shoulder, making him wheeze from loss of breath. The armor Erza worn wasn't helping. "Lets go."

   "Great, now we can--" Gajeel stopped talking suddenly, his face turning an ashy white as he stumbled backwards into a tree. An overwhelming burst of guilt, sorrow, and love hit him like the train they just got off of, before. . .

   "Gajeel!" Levy and Pantherlily exclaimed, getting closer to the paled man. "What's wrong?" Lily demanded. 

   "Gabbey. . ." Gajeel breathed out. Levy placed a gentle hand on his bicep, squeezing it to reassure him she was here. 

   "What about Gabbey?!" Daella rushed over, pink eyes wide with panic. 

   "She. . ." Gajeel slid down the trunk, eyes distant. 

   "Spit it out!" Gray grunted with frustration. 

   "Gabbey, she. . .she severed our bond. . .I can't feel her anymore. . ."